BLOGOTA
Look, it's almost impossible--no, scratch that, it IS impossible for me to condense the last week into blog form. Even my Lima blog doesn't come close to capturing the depth, intensity and variety of experiences I've encountered on this South American visit. The friends I've made, the musical moments I've shared...it's just huge. I know I have a pretty good record for distilling my week into blog form without pause, but, somethings are just not possible to distill. This trip is an enormous chapter in my life, a time rabbit hole that seems like years long.
My expectations for Santiago were on the neutral side. I knew the obstacles--this last week was an unprecedented, historic week in the live music landscape. Everyone from Peter Gabriel to Blondie to Radiohead to Kraftwerk to A-Ha to Sonic Youth to Chris Cornell to some teen sensations called The Academy Is... were in town playing. I mean, I was the tiniest corpuscle in a massive, blue whale sized blood stream of music--many of these artists were making their first ever appearances in Chile, and people were going NUTS. But, we made the best of it, and I still managed to get some press and SMOKiNG KiLLS is being played on the radio now a bit.
I landed, paid my $100+ "reciprocity fee" and met my friend Cristian, of the band
Radar, upon getting out of the terminal. We headed into town. We'd never met, but we had been in daily contact about the shows here so it was a friendly meeting long overdue. We went to my accomodations, at the home of Juan Manuel and Andrea. Juan Manuel is the owner of Studio Primate, which encompasses a recording studio, rehearsal rooms, and a label and promotion company. Pretty much it was Juan Manuel promoting my shows. JM is a super cool guy, he doesn't speak English really but he's lots of fun, and his g.f. Andrea was on hand to translate most of the time. Getting settled at their flat, JM put on a CD by a legendary Chilean band called
Los Jaivas--I'll let you look up their whole story online, but let's skip to the part where the music stopped me dead in my tracks and I fell absolutely in love with their haunting, hypnotic folk-rock-psych grooves. I listened to this best of collection JM had, Obras Cumbres, every time I could while I was there. There's a great ending to this story, more later.
The days before the shows, we explored the city, including a drive to the top of San Cristobal mountain. Santiago sits in a bowl surrounded by tall mountains, most of which you can't see--the inversion effect clamps a blanket of permasmog on the city and unless it rains, which it rarely does, you can't see far due to the brown haze. San Cristobal is a small mountain in the middle of the city, and it's from here you can cop a nice view of the city. There's a glowing statue of the Virgin Mary on top, and during the daytime, since she's not that eerie in sunlight, they use another effect to weird you out--piped in flute music, an eternal muzak of the angels. Aiyee.
The main building of Studio Primate is a beautiful old home in a neighborhood known for its bars, Arabic cafes and Koreatown businesses. We spent two nights rehearsing the Chilean Disciplines set with guitarist "YoYo" and drummer Italo from the band Sintra; and bassist Guille from the band Casino. These guys were so impressive, they really did their homework; in one sense, rehearsal was more of a formality/social event (in fact, the second rehearsal was more of a barbecue than it was a rehearsal).
A lot of Santiago reminds me of Beverly Hills or other Los Angeles neighborhoods. Like LA, Santiago is not shy about rabid, conspicuous consumption. In fact, it was hard not to have the impression that after the Bad Years, Santiago's citizens just want to be prosperous and that rocking the boat is not particulary welcome. in the bad years, being a great and daring songwriter could get you killed. During my visit, it was hard to detect much of an artistic underground, or much of a market for one. The second venue I played, L'Espaciocal, which is a groovy bar/cinema, is in danger of shuutting down any minute due to lack of patrons. And in this sense, Chile has a real danger of losing its soul, for the price of prosperity for all. It's a great, vibrant city, and Chilenos are wonderful, friendly people. But for all the fancy cars and elegant homes, everyone told me the same thing--Chilenos are terminally depressed.
Food: much like you would find in LA, Santiago food generally takes some form of salad or sandwich involving chicken and avacado (avacados are called "paltas" here for some reason). But did I have some fine chicken and avacado sandwiches. Oddly, the idea of going to a gastronomic restaurant is not really part of the culture, at least as far as I could find. Most of the time people seem to be happiest in a kind of diner. Or a fajitas place. You get the idea? Now, one thing not to be missed is the "completo", a hot dog smothered in, typically, although there are many options, mayo and guacamole. Domino's is a soda fountain near where I was staying, and their completos are the standard by which all others are judged, and have been so for about 50 years.
SANTIAGO, 3/25
The pollution finally got to me. I woke up with my throat inflamed, swollen. It had been bothering me since I arrived but one dry night and I was really suffering. So, I went to a shiny clinic in the rich part of this rich town and consulted ENT doc, who set me up with a cortisone shot and some anti-inflammatory meds and saline cleanser, and just like he said, in two hours I was back in business. He said it was very typical for visitors to suffer like this when they encounter the Santiago smog.
The show was at La Batuta, a rock institution, whose tiny stage has hosted the freaking Ramones, fer chrissake. It's a very pro, tattoo's and leather kinda rock place. The program ran like this: 40 minutes of me solo, 15 minutes of RADAR (I joined them on guitar for a song) and 30 minutes of the Chilean Disciplines. All very different, and let me tell you, Santiagans were not ready for this jelly. First the intensity of my solo set, where I was so proud to be back from the dead after my trip to the doctor, and so excited to play after almost a week since Lima, was explosive. I mean, cortisone is GOOD. I was singing like a million bucks. A billion, maybe. The people loved it, no doubt! Radar played a quick set of dreamy songs from their upcoming album, and then the Los Disciplines Chileno--ROCKED. They were just great, I was totally comfortable and thus was able to cut loose and "come at ya like a spider monkey"...climbing, crawling, sweating, spitting. That was a one-two punch that NO one expected. Like having Tim Buckley and the Stooges on the same bill but it´s the SAME SINGER. Well, boy howdy.
SANTIAGO, 3/26
And right back at ya. I liked this venue a little better. It's in a mall, and you will understand how uninteresting that fact is when you go there and see that Santiago is more or less one giant, interconnected mall. In fact, I am sure that Viña del Mar, 1.5 hours away, is probably accessible by some galleria or other as it too seems to be just an enormous hive of shopping possiblities. But I love a society that wants to sell you stuff, cheap, at every available second. Remember my observation of Framce, where every customer is treated like a nuisance?
Anyway, L'Espaciocal is a underground gem with black painted walls and a massive, ancient cinema projection system that is unfortunately broken and not likely to recover. The staff are really nice, too. Word of mouth meant that this show was more packed than La Batuta, even tho it was further out in the posh wastelands. This show was even more intense. I played a longer, more intimate solo set--even at the piano I forgot about the mic and went a capella. They had to turn off the AC as it was quite loud so we were all sweating and going into a serious trance (it was dark in there too). Then Radar was back and I joined again, and then the Disciplines set was...well, it was unhinged. Like a snarling pack of rottweilers on trucker speed. We scorched every atom of that place. And of course we had to do more...each night we did a full band version of "So Sad About Us" by the Who, but tonite even that wasn't enough, so I did another solo set, I mean, they would not let it end. It was beautiful. The highlight for me was when I began the dreamy 6/8 intro to "Mira Niñita" by Los Jaivas, and the entire audience began to sing the words. It was one of those hair standing moments and certainly we sealed the deal on our mutual bonding at that moment.
The next day Cristian, his girl Carolin, and JM and I went to Valparaiso, the ancient, crumbling port due west of landlocked Santiago. Valparaiso was one of the busiest ports in the world til the Panama Canal put them pretty much out of business. So, it's a gorgeous town, but sad and adrift, frozen in a perpetual 1905. Carolin happened to spot an open doorway and we looked into to find a jaw dropping office building from the turn of the century, with green marble stairs looking like jade, a wrought iron skylight, and massive carved wood doors, mouldings, and panels. All but abandoned, a guy fixing watches on the second floor. Much of the town are the most ramshackle corrugated metal shacks you can imagine, piled on top of each other in a whimsy that makes Dr. Seuss look like Albert Speer. Piss drunks and bloated stray dogs everywhere you look. Marvelous. Valparaiso is cold and misty, and the smell of eucalyptus trees means it is virtually impossible not to make a San Fran to Santiago's LA comparison.
Well, on my last night in town we were amazed to find that Los Jaivas were giving a free concert in the old Mapocho train station--the trains don't run so now the hall is used for cultural events. Los Jaivas have made a collaboration with choreographer Gigi Caciulaeanu called "Paris-Santiago" in which the band plays accompaniment to a massive ballet by the Chilean National Company. They give these shows for free, you just have to queue to get a ticket (but, being on the same label, i was a guest). In fact, when we arrived, I was taken backstage to meet Claudio Parra, the band's keybaord player, who, as it turns out, still lives in France (the band fled to France during the Bad Years). He is a lovely, gracious man, we spoke in French and had a lovely meeting. He insisted that we come backstage after the show. The show, which is marvelous (taking Pilates has given me a whole new appreciation for what modern dance requires of the body) is designed to have encores, and the main one is "Mira, Niñita". I just about died.
We went backstage and had a great chat with Claudio, with talk of some possible collaboration...woah. The fact is, I had never heard of this band a week ago and now they are absolutely required listening. I feel they are a parallel to their neighbors Os Mutantes. They are both trippy, dreamy, lefty, and highly musically playful, ambitious and challenging. If you grok to Mutantes, you will really dig this. Claudio is a wicked pianist, conservatory trained, and to unleash those skills on far out psych rock...well, come on man...this is maestro level stuff.
We finished out the nite at the bar "Luke soy tu padre", owned by Guille of the Chilean Disciplines...and today I headed to Bogota, for an afternoon of shopping and eating with my label rep and my man Juan Pablo who helped set up my show here.
I know the omissions in my story of Santiago are massive, it was just an enormous week, I could never recount it all, but let it be said that my friends here made such a huge impression on me...I started out thinking Santiago was kind of a big business stodge to Lima's beachy cool, but the fact is Santiago has lovely elegance, and the people there are just as generous as you will find on this earth.
In fact, the tour isn't even at the halfway point and I feel like I have lived lifetimes here already. Woah!
Love
KS
Bogota
