Mr. Grossman photographed the hirsute quartet juxtaposed against a jungle of television cameras, amplifiers and other backstage impedimenta, and he shot from the balcony to capture their electrifying effect on the audience.

Astor Place had the impedimenta landlords left on the sidewalk after old tenants died.

Between the driver and passenger seats there was a large, raised, shag-pile-carpeted area, which I was using to lay out my various writerly impedimenta: voice recorder, notebook, pens and so forth.

I pulled down the overhead stairs and ascended after him, apologizing for the suitcases, trunks, boxes, photo albums and other impedimenta that filled the dusty, low-ceilinged space.

Here again one sees the unabated Russian talent rise anew for creating red-tape, soul-globbing frustration, infernal queues, steely impassive officials in uniforms and all the familiar impedimenta from the land of ‘nyet’.