Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Brasilians love Antonio Carlos Jobim (and other news)

Dear Loyalists,

Apart from The Chop having had a hell of a weekend, things are sluggish at best on this post-President's Day Tuesday afternoon in rainy old San Francisco. Over the hoilday we managed to rock Davis and Bottom of the Hill (both) with a little hard drinking at a skeevy, subterranean, motown-jukebox-having Japantown bar in between. With few to no pictures back yet from either gig, I will speak of them only briefly, in hopes that the events will be much better immortalized with clever captions and pedantic sentence structures at some future date.

The G Street Pub in Davis was great. We did not receive any bar napkin hatemail or anti-beard rhetoric this time, but managed to retain our ability to impress the UC Davis crowd with our big-city born, Arby's-induced melodies. We played with Sacramento band Pets who we all agreed were great, so please check them out.
The Bottom of the Hill show on Sunday night was truly awesome. It was hands down the best night of music we've ever been a part of. The crowd was great, The Chop was in stride, and the headliners were amazing. Sugar and Gold went on after us. They have that fine tuned sense of fun that we Delawareans always admire. Grand Ole Party played last and, seriously, if you have chance to see these guys on tours up and coming, please do. They were a commanding presence on the stage, with killer rhythm, vocals...you name it. They deserve the accolades they've been receiving in full.

That all aside, I thought I'd mention one other thing that's been on my mind. Brasilians love Antonio Carlos Jobim.

It is February, and I suppose I've finally gotten back into the swing of things here in California (as have my innards). I'm thinking one more post on my alt-hemispherical vacation ought to take care of things nicely. There's just more I want to say...namely, that Brasilians love Antonio Carlos Jobim.


And I mean, who wouldn't? But they really love him. They give him a bear hug everytime he comes over, (even though they see him all the time), and then they hold on a little too long and let their hands wander a little too far and it's sort of uncomfortable for all involved. Prove it, you say?

First piece of evidence: They named their international airport after him! The audacity!

El Segundo!
They named a street after him in Rio. This doesn't seem like much, right? The street is called Presidente Antonio Carlos. Amazing! This type of subtle "art-meets-politics" social commentary stuff doesn't get past the bumper sticker phase stateside. Kinda makes you jealous there's no "Senators Bacharach and David St." in Kansas City.

And as if that weren't enough...here's the most fiendish display of their affection: They opted to shorten him name significantly, arbitrarily cutting 5 syllables from it to call him "Tom". This mod makes it all the easier for people to name their children after him, chant his name at a soccer match, or pretend they overheard his name on a crowded street. Friends, this is a truly subversive act of devotion. Like spiking the water with smooth jazz and inflecting it with Latin flavor.

Don't say you hadn't heard. They love him. And you should too.

Alone again (naturally),

Rob

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