SEATTLE SWISH
In a masterstroke of efficiency, I left Seattle having mixed the Red Jacket Mine album in 5 days; checked in with Alex Chilton in my duty as Big Star's tour manager; visited my friend Julie at her lovely little shop in Fremont, Show Pony, to pick up a copy of the compilation CD she released a few years back with my cover of 'Nature Boy'--the CD is serving as the master as the track will appear on a 7" single in Spain this year, along with my cover of Bob Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo"; dined with my son and my folks; took in at least one Red Mill bacon cheeseburger, one BBQ meal and a couple of meals at Palace Kitchen with legendary wines; saw a few friends; got updates for the latest versions of ProTools and OSX and shipped them to myself in France; sold a bunch of CDs and DVDs; all of this in 5 days. I am sure there was more stuff I'm forgetting. The Red Jacket Mine mixes turned out really good, the band is psyched and I am really proud of the work we did together. Sure enough, I was mixing til about 2 or 3 am on the last day, went back to Brian's place to sleep for an hour, then, Gorblessim, Brian took me to SeaTac at 5.30am. That is a true friend! I flew to L.A. and got myself checked in for my flight to Lima. Made my last calls from the USA on my USA cell, a rare chance to talk for free, then boarded a spanking new LAN Chile plane and we were off to Peru.
LAN gets big thumbs up for the new planes, huge selection of on demand video, generous servings of wine and friendly staff. There were so many good movies that I never got a chance to sleep on the flight. I watched "Breakfast at Tiffany's" which is about one man's doomed attempt to cure a dangerous sociopath singlehandedly, which seems to end on a successful note, but we all know that a sociopath will always give you what you want to hear when it suits them. Poor bastard. Also, there are decidedly unfunny slapstick interludes with Mickey Rooney apparently playing a 1940s newspaper jingoistic cartoon of general Tojo come to life. I did not find the charm, romance or elegance of this movie that everyone else seems to hold in very high esteem.
We landed in Lima at about 11.30 that night, and wheeled my bags out to the throng waiting for people in arrival. I recognized at last a face in the crowd--Pablo "
Kaboogie", who is part of the team organizing my show here, and one of the support acts as well. He and his drummer Alfonso got me settled in to my hostel, wherein I had a private room and bathroom; then attempted to take me out, which involved LONG walks in the Miraflores neighborhood looking for a bar that was still open. We finally found one, and I tried the famous pisco sour--pisco is a kind of grappa, and in order to distinguish it from automotive fuel, they mix it with egg white, sugar, lemon, etc. to make a very tasty drink that has a nasty bite the next day. I only had two and I was really throbbing the next day. But it was a nice get acquainted kind of evening.
LIMA, 3/19
I got up and spent the midday wandering in Miraflores, which is a tranquil neighborhood of colorful little stucco homes, culminating in a series of parks that run along the edge of massive cliffs overlooking the sea.
Observations of Lima:
1) taxis. Compared to France, where a taxi driver will do anything he can to avoid your business, taxis here are plentiful and constantly soliciting your custom. If you are walking by yourself down any street in Lima, every passing taxi, and they are legion here, will give a toot of the horn, just letting you know they're there and aware of your plight.
2) middle class bliss. I know Peru has many impoverished people, however, I see more evidence of a functioning and thriving middle class in Lima than I do in many American cities. I didn´t see obscene wealth, either, tho I am sure it exists. I found Peruvians able to enjoy quite a bit of prosperity, opportunity, and this changes so many equations--again, compare France where you can palpably feel the anger from huge sections of the populace who know they will never be allowed to get into the system that protects the wealth and wealthy from being infiltrated by people from the "wrong" race, background, class etc. People have a skin in the game here, but via the old idea of working your ass off--it's not via E*trade that Peruvians are trying to better themselves.
3) Chernobyl sized plant life. I ate half a papaya that was so big I swear it hads found next to Donald Sutherland's bed in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers film. I had a chirimoya the size of my daughter's head.
4) PMP. I politely turned down the numerous offers to purchase 100% pure cocaine for about $7/g, less than 10% of the European street price (and that stuff has been stepped on more times than a Shibuya crosswalk). I did, however try some coca leaf tea, which is available in any supermarket (the supermarkets here are the best exhange places, as they all take US$ and give you back change in Soles). It had a musky, grassy taste but was very pleasant. No, it doesn't make you chew your lips and act like Richard Pryor. But, it soothes in a very nice way.
In the afternoon, I met up with Pablo and we went to the venue, L'Anfiteatro, which is a great live room in the back of an Italian restaurant. There's a high stage, and a balcony, and lots of big wooden beams, which gives the place a spacious and smooth sound. This show was totally pro, with a stage manager who took care of all the backline changeover, etc. I checked out Kaboogie's excellent set, and joined him for a version of "In the Street". I watched
Catervas, who werwe also excellent, and then my stuff was set up and I did my show. I actually had enthusiastic applause just for walking on stage--people were really interested in this show and ready for it. Lima hasn't been that open for shows for that long, and it's mostly stadium-level stuff with a few exceptions. So, to have some art for art's sake was really something people were in the mood for. It's also important to note that English language study is mandatory from the beginning of school, so English is widely spoken, more so than in say Italy or Spain, and this made everyone able to follow the jokes and lyrical twists of my show quite seamlessly.
So, I was very comfortable, and my voice was in great shape--nothing like warm, humid weather to enrich the vocal chords. I played for 2.5 hours, but when the venue finally told us to stop the show, I had the feeling that me and the audience were just getting started--I was shocked to find it was almost 3am. My set had three distinct parts--the solo set at the beginning, a mini-set of Disciplines songs with Catervas backing me up (three of the Catervas are brothers, BTW), and an impromptu run thru of whatever with Kaboogie on bass and a guy we pulled out of the audience on drums. I even had them do "Lover´s Hymn" in this fashion, and it was excellent. People knew my songs, the Posies songs--there was even a guy screaming for "Oslo" that I would have played had the club not pulled the plug. I sold tons of CDs, and just made a great connection to this town, that seems to imply I should start planning my return ASAP.
The days after the show I spent wandering, eating, etc. Hanging out with Luis, who really put the show together, and Pablo and their friends. After months of non stop studio work, it was nice not to have much of an agenda. I went to see Peter Gabriel at a big dusty field. I stopped to have lunch whenever I felt like it. I took naps. I checked out a Pre-Inca pyramid in the center of the city, and the small museum at its base. I wandered around with Pedro from Catervas checking out Lima's incredible colonial center. Lima has done some amazing renovation projects, and the city is happier, safer and easy on the eye as a result. I feel asleep on the beach. The beaches in Lima are rocky, in fact the surfer place we were in was too rough for me to want to swim in it, but laying on hundreds of smooth round stones heated by the sun...mmm.
Even tho its only 10pm, my eyes are about to slam shut. Until the next dispatch....
Love
KS
Lima
