BUENOS AIRES/MONTEVIDEO
OK, now it's truly out of control. My week in Buenos Aires was a promotion blitz like few I have witnessed, and that includes my years with R.E.M., etc. A 30 minute interview and 45 minute live set on South America's biggest radio show, "Cual Es?" with host Mario Pergolini, kicked it off. I found out that Mario, who is somewhere between a John Peel and one of those big KROQ DJs in terms of influence and celebrity, included "Please Return It" on a compilation CD he produced from the show in 1996. Had I known that...my life story as relates to Argentina would have been a LOT different. But no one told us--management, label...well, better late than never. The live show was a presentation of most of the DiSCiPLiNES album, with my bros the Super Ratones and some new friends, a band called Smitten, backing me up. This set was some of the best, hardest rocking, insane music I have ever made. Capping it off with a thoughtful nod to the band Argentina has adopted as their national band, the Ramones, we covered "I Believe in Miracles" and I even got Mario to sing...I also made two completely mental TV appearances. On "Un Mundo Perfecto" a kind of Jay Leno hosted by Roberto Pettinato, who has been a musician in one of the most important bands in Argentina (and by extension, Latin America, as Argentinian bands have dominated the scene for most of the rock's history here)I was backed by the house band, Paul Schaefer-style, doing "Yours for the Taking" and tearing up the set like a tank on Omaha Beach. Infuriatingly, the network faded the show out before I really got going, and everone--Roberto, the producers, my label--were absolutely mortified, and sent me huge apologies the next day, and vowed to run it this week. So, hopefully you'll see it. I have the full version and will upload it on Facebook when I am on my own computer next weekend.
However, the second appearance, on RSM, me doing YFTT backed by Smitten is YouTube-able in all it's glory. It is OUT OF CONTROL. Even tho the mic cuts out when I scream, some kind of audio safety mechanism...the weirdness just adds to the performance. Trust me, you don't see TV like this every day. All the nice little major label bands doing their polite best to ingratiate themselves with their demographic...compare that to this, pure ANARCHY...but no one got hurt (except me, when I fell in the lottery bowl, er, you have to see what I mean) and everyone LOVED it. The host was a frail blonde thing, who you would think would be kinda mortified but she was laughing and having a blast.
I even took this theory to a big instore at Musimundo, the biggest record store in Buenos Aires, diving on and off chairs and people, backed by a SMitten or a Super Ratone. I took a flying skid on a tall chair and landed on my ass/elbow, still bruised a week later...totally worth it. All in all I was in every newspaper, radio, whatever you can think of, for the week and it was truly awesome. The show was a great cap on the week; we repeated the same set that we did on the radio, me doing D's with Smitten and the Super Ratones. This was in La Trastienda, a very "classy joint" and the owners were horrified when i started climbing on the balcony, broke a mic, made a huge mess, stood on people's tables...but, the people love it of course. This is a rock and roll country, one of the MOST rock and roll places you will ever find, and you cannot take it far enough: this is the country that produced the truly mad genius Charlie Garcia after all..who dove out of a 6th floor hotel balcony to land in the hotel pool WITHOUT INJURY and went back to hoovering, spiking, whatever as if nothing happened. YouTube it. After the Disciplines part of the instore I did a little acoustic set for Posies and KS fans that were there, everyone was happy. And over the course of these days I must have done at least 40 interviews. I was in all three big papers on the day of the show and reviewed very well the day after in Clarin, the biggest of them all (check my FB for all this). In the cab going to the instore, the taxi driver had heard the CUal Es show the day before and was blown away, had also heard my interview on Radio Uno that night, and as we talked Mario P. replayed the version we did of "I Believe in Miracles" by the Ramones....woah!
As soon as the Trastienda show was over I was out in front of the venue playing 45 minutes of solo stuff to most of the audience, and took about 30 of the most hard core fans to a nearby bar to play an hour of covers, KS/Posies/whatever on the piano, sometimes in conjunction with Augustin, the keyboard player of the Super Ratones. And let us not forget that the Super Ratones were the stars of the show, presenting their album to the Buenos Aires public for the first time. They were great, and after awhile I couldnt (the apostrophe has disappeared from its usual spot on this keyboard, forgive me) resist joining them, not only to sing the two songs on their album I sing on (in Spanish and English) but also to play tambourine, drums, keyboards...it was a free for all it was magic.
Beyond that, there is the bottomless, endless metropolis that is Buenos Aires. A formidable anthill of 14 million people...with little apparent differentiation (to a fresh observer such as myself) from neighborhood to neighborhood, so, for me, I was never really sure how far one place from the next was...and the tall buildings mean you never see the river, so you have to orient yourself by observing the sun, or doing what I did: just saying "fuck it" and assuming I would end up where I needed to be. Which is exactly what happens. Yes, this country is a paradise for a meat and wine lover like me. Even their version of SPAM is awesome. I had steaks, intestines, kidneys, tongue, all cooked perfectly. A parillada (BTW in BA and Montevideo the double ll that sounds like a "y" in Spain, Mexico, etc becomes a "sh") for two was an obscene pyramid built with Satyricon specifications...a basket of grilled meat and bits, easily 8 pounds of meat FOR TWO. I stayed with Guillermo, a friend of the Super Ratones, kind of their tour manager, web guru, photographer...in his 10th floor flat. Nearly every day he grilled me up a steak for lunch and always had coffee on in the morning. I would like to, and I could easily do, go on and on about Porteño observations, but...I have to get a swim in before dinner and I still have to tell you about Montevideo.
Which is where I traveled to on Friday afternoon, a ferry left at 4pm and got to MVD at 7pm. Mario from the Super Ratones, and the SRs manager Lisandro saw me off. All the SRs and their friends, crew, families etc are simply wonderful, generous people whom I cant thank enough for making this happen. Ditto to Cecilia and Nacho from S Music, the Disciplines label in South America, they did great work and really built a success story here. And I am now convinced there is much, much more to come.
What we cross is technically a river, but one so enormous that we lose sight of land for much of the crossing. The muddy brown of the Buenos Aires side eventually becomes oceanic blue as we go across.
Montevideo is a beautiful city...as much of it was erected in the 40s when feeding and supplying the allied forces brought tons of cash in, I couldnt help but immediately think of Oakland CA when I was downtown. The city was empty this weekend as most folks were out of town for the Easter Holiday, so I could look down on the city from my hotel and wait 5 minutes before a car or a pedestrian would be seen moving in my field of vision. Eerie, like 28 Days Later. But its so nice to have a city to yourself. The cool kids hand out at a bar called La Ronda which is next door to a record store/tiny radio station/milkshake and snack bar called Cheesecake Records. Both are owned by Felipe, who was part of the team presenting my show (I was in contact with Osvaldo, who is a rock and roll dentist by day and punk band manager by night, super cool guy who looks a little like George Clooney, I swear!). So I hung there for a masticable (grilled steak in a tortilla) and some Uruguayan wine on Friday night, right under a HUGE poster for my show. We listened to Neil Young on vinyl and chatted til it was time for me to sleep in my awesome hotel room.
The next day I swam in the pool (going there in 10 minutes, so I am going to be efficient with my descriptions here!) and then we did the show...Lindolfo is a restaurant in one part, but that was closed for Easter; a show room, in another part; and an open space and patio. You enter thru a big metal gate that slides open, and you are in the open space. Depending on which door you enter from there you go in the show room or the restaurant. They had a piano, so I was thrilled, the only one of the tour. Despite the bad timing of the show with the last holiday of summer, more or less, the place filled up and we had a lovely show. I sat the audience on the floor and sat with them, playing songs with no PA on the guitar, then moved the piano. Next up was a super punk Disciplines set with three of the members of a young band called Astroboy, super groovy dudes who learned different songs than I requested but learned them so well how could you complain? I had them learn "I Got Tired" that afternoon too. So, since they are punky young kids, they played the songs fast and it was over before we knew it. So, time for set three, where I moved my amp out to the patio and played til there was nothing left to play...out under the stars. Felipe has this huge greyhound bus that has a kitchen built in it which he drives around and caters parties, as his bar La Ronda on wheels. It was there, since the Lindolfo bar was closed. So cool. The next day, today, Easter, Felipe took me to his wifes family home, where we had food, and I played with the dogs, the brothers, the babies, and had a great time. Felipes father in law is a painter and just a fun guy and the mother in law is just as awesome, and together they are just wrapping up getting 6 kids to adulthood, wow.
OK, my last post from South America. I have not done justice to the hugeness of this experience. My eyes have been flooded with incredible conversations, sights, experiences, musical moments...my last blog kinda graced over the Bogota show just because I was tired but I will try and add to that as it was also an incredible night...but in the meantime...swimming and more meat ahead!
Love
KS
Montevideo
