terça-feira, 7 de abril de 2009

25th March, 10.000 ft, somewhere between Usa and Brasil, late at night


Very difficult words to write right now, so I'll be as brief as possible. I woke-up, smoked a cigarette and then my brother called from Brazil, with the terrible notice that my mother had passed away. Well, it almost killed me. What can I say more? I cannot remember exactly what happened next, just have flashes of diving in the ocean, packing my things and going to the airport, in order to return to Brasil as fast as I could. Sad. Yes, very sad. In a way, it was the end of Café Funquê tour. But only the end of our First Usa tour. Because there will be more. Because she would like that. Because the show must go on. And, above all things, because we loved to play to everyone of you. That's all, folks.
(by Chokito)

photo above: See u soon!

I'd like to thanks (sorry if your name is not here, but i'm really no good with names...): Leslie, Isaac, Dereje, Magda, Dean, Tallula's bar, Duke University, Chamas Barbecue house, Sergio, Norah, Madalena, Maile, John Durant, Robert, Brian, Derren, his wife and the baby, Margaret, Stephanie, Maria, Linda, Igor, Paula, Elzira, Coutinho, Jacaré, Hilda, Ananda, Moeaux and Chuy, Aaron, Voz alta, El Dorado, Kava Lounge, Gage and his wonderful warehouse, Bodega de la Maiz, The Office, Blu bar, The Copa, Opal Divine's Freehouse, Sxsw 2009, Devo, Taxi, Diego's Umbrella, Vinil Laranja, The Potter Pots, Futumomo Satisfaction, Chiwoniso Maraire, Israel Maldonado, Dub Addis, and everyone that helped us in some way. And, of course, special thanks to JitB. See you soon!

24th March, Sergio's house, San Diego, California


Everybody woke-up, back on the road. More cactus, More rocks, more sand... We passed through 3 or 4 police checkpoints, and were stopped only once. Some conversation, reading (i'm almost finishing The shining, from Stephen King, cool book), two Subways stops, and once in town, we stopped at In-n Out. After, Sergio's house, where we literally camped! By night, car ride with Gabo to O.B., Wendy's, some people at Garnet St., then we went home. Freezing night!! I could not get to sleep. And I could not imagine what tomorrow would be like...
(by Chokito)

photo above: the only photo of Austin!!! Café Funquê, leaving Robert's house on sunday , 22nd March. photo by Hilda Guevara.

23rd March, Lordsburg, somewhere between Arizona(?), New Mexico(?), Mexico(?!), 10:43 pm, Norman Bates motel...


Once again, the desert. We left Austin by 10:00 am, and headed west. I slept the whole trip, 'cause I hadn't sleep at night. Well, it was not very different, the same landscapes, only this time we were against the wind for a long time, which forced us to put more gas in the car. Three or four stops at Subway, music and and then we stopped here, our old hotel...
(by Chokito)

photo above: Lord, i'm three, lord i'm four, lord i'm five hudred miles away from home... the desert. Somewhere between Austin and El Paso. Or between El Paso and Tucson. Or...

22nd March, Jacare's haus, Austin, Tx


Sunday. Everybody tired, but happy about yesterday's show. Barbecue, playing with the dogs, reading, relax day. By 4 pm we went to town, left the car near Blu bar and went for a walk. Shopping day! Very cool rock stores at 6th Street. Tons of t-shirts, posters, dolls, amazing. I bought a Bjork poster and some souvenirs for my friends in Brazil. Later we ate an excellent pizza and returned to Blu, to our last show in Austin. Ananda was there, cool. The guys from Vinil Laranja too, they were going to play after us. But the city was already a bit different, there were less people on the streets, that kind of thing. But we enjoyed it anyway, ehhe. After Vinil's show, goodbyes, we got back home and started to pack everything for the journey home...
(by Chokito)

photo above: the Gabriels, Cacau, and I, or at least, my feet! John's house, SanDiego, California

segunda-feira, 6 de abril de 2009

21st March, Jacare's houze, Austin, Tx


Yeah, today is the Big Day. The D day. Woke -up in the morning, helped Hilda with her plants, then Cacau, Damaceno and I wento Marcia's house, another brazilian friend. Very cool place. We returned home, burrito lunch, then we headed downtown, check in, Futumomo Satisfaction was doing their soundcheck: the girls rock! Then me and felipe went to Austin Convention Center but it was over , we almost got depressed. No free strings, no free t-shirts, nothing. At least I found an old keyboard abandoned in a hall, with a message: "this needs a new home"... Well, now it has! Felipe and I got a pedi-cab and headed Opal Divine's. Man, we kicked asses! The show was great, powerful, everybody dancing and partipating,the crowd was in our hands, it was amazing! Unbelievable! The set-list: Funkator, Xoxote, Sweetness, Circo, A Praia, Fio da Navalha, Milk Shake, Deepshade, El Tango, Johnny and U$200 ( you can see the whole show at youtube.com, just look for cafe funque sxsw 2009!) After, a band from Spain, The Potter Pots, sixties style, then the so waited Futomomo Satisfaction. Another great show. All that japan girls in their bikinis, very cool! After, i went for a walk and saw two nice bands, Diego's Umbrella, from san Francisco, and Taxi, from Venice. The last one was a power trio, with two bassists and a drummer, awesome. Also met Mike, who works in the Key Bar, where Taxi was playing. Nice fellow! After that, I met the others at Opal, then JitB, home, some conversation with Gabo, sleep.
(by Chokito)

photo: Gabo and I with our special fans, Stephanie and Maria,, at Gage's Warehouse, San Diego, California

domingo, 5 de abril de 2009

20th March, Jacare's houze, Austin, Tx


Woke-up early, some chat with Robert, then everybody woke-up. Gabo and Cacau went to downtown, while Felipe, Damaceno, Robert, Ananda ( a brazilian who lives in San Jose, California, and works with dance who came to stay for a couple of days at Robert's house too. Very cool girl!) and I went to Chuy's, a typical Tex Mex restaurant. Excellent food! As big as your face! Back home, me and Damaceno went for a bike ride, very good one, we visited Barton Springs Park. Back home, I met Hilda Guevara, Robert's wife. What a nice person! We talked a lot, such a beautiful soul. After a while,, Gabo appeared here to take me and Felipe to downtown. God, the city was freaking out! Bands, chicks, lunnies everywhere! At midnight Felipe and I entered Austin Music Hall to testify the show of one of our favourite bands, DEVO. It was great, very, very cool! Unfortunately, we could not see the whole show 'cause we had our own show to do, in the bar across the street, Blu. After yesterday's stress, this show was very cool, and agressive, heeh. We met the guys from Vinil Laranja, another band from Brazil, cool. They're planning to stay in Austin after the end of the festival and maybe fix residence inthe Usa, which is also cool. After me and Felipe wento to Which Which, a fast food similar to Subway, awesome. Cold wind (always, in this country...), home, and a great night of sleep, 'cause tomorrow is the Big Day for us...
(by Chokito)

photo above: Damaceno and I, Beatlelesque picture. Durham, North Carolina

19th March, Jacaré's house, Austin, Texas


First thing in the morning, Austin Convention Center, to get our wristbands. There were a lot of stands there, selling clothes, cds, posters, and a lot of people, from all over the world, very impressive. We met a canadian couple, some brazilians, tons of people. We walked to the artist lounge, where we had hot-dogs and beer. The city is not very big, and there are pedi-cabs everywhere. The bands almost always walk together, so there's a huge variety of styles around, from hip hop dudes to mangá style japanese girls. After that we went to The Copa, where we're going to play. We met a very kind girl from Sxsw crew, Heather. The show was good, but it's very hard to play anywhere after playing in such a special place as The Kava Lounge, in San Diego, 'cause the sound there was perfect. And at The Copa... The sound was not that bad, but it wasn't perfect either, and to make it worse they cut the P.A. system in the middle of the last song, which brought the devil inside us, specially Gabo to come out! What an unpolite thing to do! Afterwards, the manager said it was a misunderstood, and etc, but he was not very convincing... It stressed the band a little. Later, there was this fantastic show from this woman, Chiwoniso Maraire, from Zimbabwe. Awesome! And we discover that Austin is also green... JitB, home, sleep.
(by Chokito)

photo above: John's backyard, Wilbur St. , San Diego, California

18th March, Robert "Jacaré"'s house, Austin, Texas


We left the Red Roof Inn by 11:00pm, and went to Robert's house. He is a very good friend of Damaceno, and a samba lover. He plays in a Samba school in Austin, Unidos da Ópera, and carries the totally unusual nickname of Jacaré, which is very strange for a guy from Texas, heeheh. What a place!! Big house, Tex Mex style, with a great backyard, and two dogs, Moeaux and Chuy, and a cat, Ms. Kittin. Needless to say that me and Cacau were the most happy ones to have pets around! Then, a welcome barbecue, with excellent ribs!!! Cool!
Later, Gabo, Felipe and I went to downtown, to Blu bar. There, we met Elzira, who recognized us as brazilians 'cause we were speaking portuguese in fron t of her, and, of course, she is brazilian too, and Coutinho, another friend of Damaceno, who plays percussion with some bands here in Austin. Gabo and Felipe got back home to pick up our instruments, so I went for a walk in the city, all by myself. Amazing, it seems that there are people from every part o f the world here, brazilians, canadians, japanese, africans, very cool. Every bar has a band playing in, the music never stops, you almost cannot find a local without music in the air! A fter Cacau and Damaceno showed up, and we stopped at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop, where there was a strange competition going on: two bikes grounded on the floor, and then 2 guys (or 2 girls) cycling like hell, while their performances appeared in a huge tv monitor behind them, very funny. Gabo and Felipe returned with the instruments but we were not going to play anymore (there was a small chance of performing a set at Blu's), so we tried to get our Sxsw 2009 wristbands , but we're too late, rsrs. JitB, not before getting lost in austin, then home and sleep.
photo above: Not even half-inche of snow and we're already happy, freakin'out! Later this night, it snowed much more and we had our first snowball fight, it wwas awesome.
(by Chokito)

sábado, 4 de abril de 2009

17th March, Red Roof Inn, Austin, Texas


We left Norman Bates motel about 11:ooam, and got back on the road. More desert, more cactus, more Subways. We met some musicians on their way to Austin, too. Little stop at Sonora to eat, than 3 more hours and we finally arrived in Austin at night. It was very late to go to Damaceno's friend house, so we stayed at the Red Roof Inn. The hotel was fuul, and there were some bands there, we could kinda smell it... Cacau and Damaceno stayed in the room, and Gabo, felipe and I went out for a ride. What-a- Burguer, 7-Eleven, and, of course, JitB! Then, back to hotel.
(by Chokito)

p.s.- I'm very sorry to inform that from this moment on we no longer have photos of Austin, 'cause we forgot the damn batteries in San Diego. Said so, this and the next photos are from different moments of our trip in the Usa. The photo above features Dereje, from Dub Addis, and his cute dogs. Durham, North Carolina.

quinta-feira, 2 de abril de 2009

16th March, Lordsburg, somewhere between Arizona and New Mexico, 11:00pm


We woke-up very early in the morning, left some of our things at Sergio's house and left in a rented car to Austin, Texas. Through the desert, just like the movies. Many jokes, lots of songs (some nice ones!) and some stops, for restroom or to eat! Subway was elected the best alternative on the road. And always road 10east. At night we stopped in a motel, Norman Bates style. Cool! Tv, shower, sleep.
(by Chokito)

15th March, Ourhouse, S.Diego


Sunday, but no rest for us! A whole house to clean up! Massive work. After, a little relax at the jacuzzi, some burritos, and Margaret visited us, so cool! At night we moved to Kava Lounge, a awesome bar near San Diego's airport. All the drinks, even sodas, were organic. Crazy. This night, this show, is something to remember. The sound was perfect, the vibe was perfect, the set-list was perfect, it was amazing! Ireally don't know if the acoustic of the house was the responsible, or the Original Crush factor, but it was the best show until now! After, donuts, home and a well-deserved night of sleep.
(by Chokito)

14th March, Ourhouze, S.Diego


Another working day today. El Dorado, Downtown. Very cool bar, old-fashioned decoration, a huge buffalo head on the wall, nice place! We played two sets, and Gage was our sound operator. It was awesome, very good. The only problem was that i got a terrible headache, and could not enjoy it so much. After, the classical JitB, home, and sleep. The very first time since the beginning of the trip that I slept before everybody, unbelievable...
Huh, I almost forgot: in the afternoon there was a jam session at Sergio's garage. Awesome!
(by Chokito)

Friday the 13th of March, Ourhaus, S.Diego


We almost have a true friday the 13th today, with all the fame it has! Today was Linda's bithday, and she is one of our great fans here in San Diego. So, we accepted to play at her party, in her house. It would be wonderful, barbecue, friends, fun... And it was! But there's a funny story behind it...
We arrived at Linda's home at 20:oo, with all our stuff. But Damaceno forgot his mix table, so he and I came back home to pick it up. When we arrived there again, there was two cops in the front of the house, talking with Linda. The taller one asked me if I lived there. Of course i said I didn't, but all I wanted to say was: - no, and you? do you? Hehe!
The people who were in the party started to get sad, specially Linda and Maria, but we called Gage and just moved her party to his Warehouse. Another Gage's show! Cool! And the show was great, the party was great, it was totally cool!!!!!!!!! After, Jack in the Box, South Park session, sleep!
(by Chokito)

quarta-feira, 1 de abril de 2009

12th of March, ourhauz, S. Diego

Long bike ride in the morning, came back home, then Cacau made a mini barbecue, just for me, Gabo and herself, cool! Jacuzzi session, Then Margaret showed up and took Gabo, Felipe and me for a ride. We went to Ocean Beach, nice place, kinda hippie, rsrs! Lunch at theBlue Parrot, very spicy for Gabo, hehe...She left us at home, then we passed at Gage's to pick our things, and there we met Gage's pet, a 6-foot boa constrictor, incredible! It liked Damaceno, and stayed in his arms for a long time (we DO have photos of this, but they are not published in order to keep our drummer's moral integrity intact in Brazil).
By night we played at Bodega de La Maiz, another warehouse close to Gage's warehouse. This show was arranged by Margaret, who became very close to the band. What a cool girl! The show was alright, a jazzy one. Igor and Paula, friends from Brazil, showed up there right at the last song, heehh! After we all came back to our house for a couple of beers. No fast food today. We're getting better, ehehh!
(Obs- the photo above is actually from Gage's Warehouse, 'cause the photos from Bodega aren't here, hehe!)
(by Chokito)

11th of March, Ourhaus, S.Diego


Today we have a gig in a place called Voz Alta, an art gallery near Gage's Warehouse. That sounds good... After lunch, me and Gabo went to Garnet St., looking for some cheap clothes. after, Carl's Jr., what a deception, the photo is much better than the sandwich itself, heehe. Back home, jacuzzi, shower, then we put our stuff in the car and went to Voz Alta. What an incredible place! The paintings belonged to a local artist, Cesar Castañeda, very cool! The place was kinda empty, but the show was very good, anyway. Each one of us played in a corner of the room, totally spread. And we earned cool t-shirts, the whole band. Later, guess what? Yes, Jack in the Box. We should be sponsored by them. Home, South Park session, sleep.
(by Chokito)

10th of March, In- ko-pah Desert, S.Diego


Woke-up early, and went to the desert with Damaceno, Cacau and Robert. Felipe and Gabo preferred to stay at home. A hour later, we were at the desert, very close to USA border. On the other side of a huge wall, it's Mexico. Amazing. It reminded me the famous Pink Floyd's song... Shooting day! 38 Colt, 45, 9mm, 22 rifle, shotgun... Damn, how can it be that something so dangerous can be, at the same time, so fun? For a beginner I did very well. And Cacau shooting was an unforgetable and hilarious experience too! As the sun was going down, we started our journey back. Before going home, we visited Derren, Damaceno's friend. Good fellow. Albertson's, home, shower, dinner and South Park session, just a perfect day!
(by Chokito)

9th of March, Ourhouze, S. Diego


Monday. Absolutely nothing to do. The whole band stayed at home , sunbathing in the backyard like lazy lizards...
(by Chokito)

8th March, Ourhouse, S. Diego


Breakfast, then bike ride with Cacau, along Garnet St. Some nice stores, but the gold mine was Thrift Trader, a second-hand clothes store. Four items for $20. Perfect! Home, lunch, Albertson's, sunbath in the backyard... By night, we wenty to Gage's Warehouse, for another show. Well, it seems we're growing a fan club here, hehe! Stephanie, Maria and Linda are the headmasters'. We played two sets of 9 songs each, very cool. Later, Jack in the Box, our savior. As I couldn't get to sleep, I went for a night walk, all by mysef. Nobody on the streets. Only the shivering cold fuckin' wind and a cat or two...Cool...
(by Chokito)

7th March, Ourhouse, S. Diego


Ihop's pancake breakfast with Sergio, Madalena, Cacau e Damaceno. Delicious! Then we went back home, picked some clothes up and went to John's studio, to shoot some photos of the band. Awesome session, the guy is pretty damn good! Later, chating with Sergio, he told me that John is one of the most expensive photographer of S. Diego. Cool... lucky us! There were solo photos as well, very good vibe. We got back home, dinner, then John showed up with 2 dvds full of of photos and a printed one of myself, fuckin' cool! The freezing weather continues. Sleep!
(by Chokito)

6th of March, Our house, S. Diego, 11:00pm


Breakfast burritos with Cacau and Damaceno, then a lonely bike ride along Pacific Beach, till it's south end, while everybody stayed at home, minding their own business. No problem going south, but the return... against the wind... stupid wind! After, Gabo, Cacau, Madalena and I went to Ralph's in order to buy meat and other things for evening's barbecue. Damn, today was really shivering cold! By night, full house: Sergio and Norah, Madalena, Robert, Maile, John, Charlie, Jennifer, Carol and Fred. Tons of beer, meat (excellent!) and burguers (blearght!). Later Gabo and I left for a night walk, it was freezing! He went to a party, and I headed home. Green dreams...
(by Chokito)