On this day in 2004

02005-08-15 | Uncategorized | 5 comments

One year ago I wrote:

Sao Paulo – I have been in this amazing city twice. The first visit was in 1994, with a quartet: Jon Gagan on bass, Mark Clark on percussion, Calvin Hazen on guitar and myself. We were picked up at the airport by a van, hired by Sony Brazil. I remember very clearly that we were very excited about being in Brazil and were chatting with the Sony person, when Calvin yelled: “look, there is a loose wheel running down the highway”… and moments later the van started braking and veering to the right… Yes, it was one of our van’s wheels that was rolling down the highway ahead… Once the van had safely stopped, Calvin took off after the wheel…

Several days later we were on our way back to the airport in a different van, when the driver said: “something feels funny” and pulled off to the right. We discovered that the nuts of one wheel had all been loosened. To this day I wonder whether somebody in the band or crew had insulted somebody working at the hotel and this was retaliation or whether it was just another coincidence…

Another memory I have of Brazil: we had all recently read Hemingway, and after drinking a handful of Caipirinhas one of us would always say: “Let’s drink some beer to sober up!”

Oh, and I think Brazilian Portuguese is the most sexy language in the world. You could read a bus schedule and I would hang on every word… Unfortunately I have no talent for speaking Brazilian. I do alright with English, which is a second language for me, but when I try to say a few words in Brazilian I sound terrible and everybody laughs at me!

5 Comments

  1. Matt Callahan

    This is one of my favorite posts. The wheel of the van coming off is hilarious.

    Reply
  2. isa

    Speaking Portuguese is not that difficult. You’re a musician and got rhythm in your veins. Just try to follow the rhythm next time and enjoy the language dance. By the way, thanks for the “sexy language” part. Brazilian people love that word. If I see you someday I’ll speak my best Portuguese.
    Hope you have better experiences with brazilian vans too.
    A suggestion for you: brazilian singer Marina Lima.

    A gente se vê por aí – See you

    Isa

    Reply
  3. keats79

    Driving in Brazil is a sport. I have seen three abreast (2 trucks) on a 2 lane road, passing on both sides at once and my favorite the law that requires one to pull to the right shoulder to turn left across the highway (creates some horrendous wrecks.) I used to regularly ride with friends from Guaruhlos airport to Atibaia; it will really jolt one out of jet lag.

    I found Brazilian Portugese fairly easy to pick up but writing was way hard.

    Reply
  4. Mel

    I want to move to Sao Paulo someday. It’s the mecca for music in Brazil.

    Reply
  5. Mel

    PS I speak some Russian and now I’m learning Brazilian Portuguese. It isn’t any harder to speak than Russian, really, as long as you hold your mouth right. :-) I’ve had a harder time speaking German myself. :-)

    Reply

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