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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!
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.
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...
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
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
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
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
