When I found out about the concert I couldn’t believe my eyes. Bought my tickets as soon as I could and kept sleeping beside it since then. On the night of the concert I was struggling to bear with the excitement, and from the moment the concert began, for me, it was all magic.

With some different formations along it’s 30 years history, the Yellowjackets have a very strong personality throughout  their various albums. Not only that, but as they grew older their ideas became more mature without going Jazz-Fusion-Crazy, keeping the root on the good old sexy Jazz Fusion from the 80’s. And man, what a show!

For quite a few times I felt like standing up by the end of a solo clapping and shouting, as some people did. For some of the parts I could sing along with the piano or the sax and I had to hold some water in my eyes. Even if it would’ve been a ten hours concert it would have been to short.

It’s really, really hard and enjoyable to understand and appreciate each musician of the band. They are all brilliant, funny and huge. As a drummer myself I wanted to give Marcus Baylor a hug by the end of the concert and thank him for doing what he is able to do. He is not only one of the most amazing drummers of the jazz world, but he also does a great job keeping and improving Ricky Lawson and William Kennedy legacy, both former drummer of the Yellowjackets. I could also very easily watch Jimmy Haslip (bass) play for the rest of my life, without being bored. Same for Ferrant (keyboard) and Mintzer (sax).

Well, I think my impression of the concert is pretty clear. After the concert I couldn’t help but asking how have I made until this point of my life without seeing it. It made me happy, light and even more passionate than even was about their music and about jazz.

Apparently our table has the only ash tray on a ten mile radius. Therefore some of the randoms keep coming and going, just to leave their dust around. And that’s when it all began.

She came on a way I couldn’t notice. All I could see was her back going away for a while, but somehow it all stopped until she stopped a couple of meters away. She turned around with her eyes fixed on mine and just stared at me in the same way I couldn’t stop staring at her. After a moment or too to find my breath, my toes curled and I jumped out of the chair rushing on her direction.

Our conversation couldn’t be briefer. Her best friend, the talkative one type, kept breaking into us both. We couldn’t chat really. At least not with the words. Which was good because I couldn’t make much sense of my words for real. And when it looked like could be a good moment, my friends and her friends made sure we would be as physically far as possible for the most of the night.

When saying goodbye all I’ve got was a “It’s such a shame I don’t live here. I really would like to get to know you better”. Followed by a smile that made me black out for a second.

But before going home I got to talk a lot about Dave Matthews Band and codfish dishes with the guy with the awesome accent. It helped a bit.

I went with the Springload team to the opening night of Sutra, on the St. James Theatre on Wellington. The play was one of the most antecipated events of the New Zealand International Arts Festival of 2010. With a big knowledge of what was it about and a lot of expectation there I went to watch the thing.

My lot of excitement was exactly my biggest mistake. Yep, Sutra is amazing and breath taking at some moments but it wasn’t magical. Maybe because we are kind of use to see some of the movements on movies and stuff, even though it is not comparable when you see it live. Maybe it was all the anticipation built around it. But on the end we got a mixed review from everyone that went to it, which helped me made my peace of mind with my not-so-amazing impression.

On the stage there are 20 or so martial arts monks (one of them being a child) and the Belgium dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Sidi visited the Shaolin temple digging through the temple’s philosophy and the relationship between martial arts and dance. There he was asked to help promote the monks’ work throughout the world. Since 2008 they have been travelling around showing what they can do.

What I liked the most on the whole concept was the very clever use of the boxes. Sometimes they were shaped to make a stage on top of the stage, sometimes pilled together to form a dormitory and sometimes used as dominos with the monks inside, among other uses. The high points go to Sidi standing on his neck (!) and to the exciting sequence on the end with all the great fighting moves around the whole stage. The good matching with the music played by the live band is also a highlight of the play.

I don’t know if I recommend the concert or not. Maybe you can buy a ticket for another play in case you have options, but maybe not. Maybe you will think it is not enjoyable and you expected way more, but also there are high chances that maybe not. It wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve seen in my life, but I definitely give a lot of credit to the amazing work this “dancing monks” are able to pull off.

Trecho de Música, Cérebro e Êxtase, por Robert Jourdain

“[...] Uma idéia familiar do tempo está na ponta da nossas línguas: uma única dimensão que se estende para a frente e para trás, até a eternidade, sendo cada instante um ponto de duração infinitamente curta. Imprensado entre o passado e o futuro está algo chamado ‘o presente’, onde ocorre a experiência, inclusive a de ouvir música. Embora nossa vida inteira seja no presente (porque até as lembranças e expectativas são aí experimentadas), não podemos realmente pôr o dedo nesse momento que chamamos de ‘agora’. Afinal, não temos sensores para o tempo, como temos para a luz ou para o som. Não há, aí, nada de sentir. A experiência psicológica do tempo surge, em vez disso, da percepção que o sistema nervoso tem de suas próprias interações com o mundo. O tempo psicológico é a experiência de ter experiência.

Enquanto filósofos e físicos discutem interminvelmente a natureza absoluta do tempo, os neuropsicólogos assumem uma visão mais pragmática. Para eles, é tolice falar de um presente infinitesimal, de um presente que, na verdade, nao está absolutamente aí. Trabalho de laboratório mostra que, quando os acontecimentos se dão de forma extremamente rápida, ou extremamente lenta, o sistema nervoso deixa de senti-los. Sejam quais forem as verdades que oes instrumentos do físico ou as deduções do filósofo possam trazer, o ‘presente’, para o psicólogo, tem um extensão finita, que se pode medir. É o minimo tempo que se leva pra sentir, perceber e categorizar, e é ditado pela velocidade de estimulação dos neurônicos. [...]”

Photo by Sarah Hellas on Flickr

If you ever heard of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age you are a good fella. If you like one of them you already deserve some respect. If you like all of them then well, we could be friends if you want to.

If you never heard about Them Crooked Vultures then it’s a different matter. Them Crooked Vultures is the superband formed in 2009 with John Paul Jones (bass and keyboards, ex-Led Zeppelin), Josh Homme (vocal and guitars, Queens of the Stone Age) and Dave Grohl (drums, Nirvana / Foo Fighters). As expected the resulting work would be a mash up of all the three philosophies with a great dose of personality. And well, it is somehow.

Listening to the CD before the concert is a weird experience. It starts as a punch of sound in your head so strong you can barely hold yourself not to get up and start jumping like a teenager around the room. But then it gets quieter and almost boring by the end. It kind of gets you thinking how the concert is going to be. If it has the same dynamic of the CD you are very likely to go grab a drink and sit by the side of the crowd as it gets by the end.

For my delight no, it wasn’t. On the 28th of January the band arrived at Wellington for a astonishing and loud concert on the TSB Bank Arena.

To start with, seeing three legends like this together on a stage is breath taking itself. You make a small mapping on your mind of who they have been around to, what they did, where they played, all the DVDs and documentaries you saw about them and you wonder if this is real for a bit. Then you go and try to enjoy each one of them separately.

I think John Paul Jones the most legendary of the three. Seeing a Led Zeppelin member playing is a rare joy and has to be appreciated with caution. He is one of the low profile old school bass players, with a precise rock groove and a lot of consistency with the bass drum. And he is the reason that half of the crowd was there, so he had a concert for himself.

Josh Homme is probably one of the biggest douches of the universe. I really think he is too much out there. But well, you cannot deny how good a musician he is. His rock’n'roll attitude is annoying as he over do it all the time, but there, on the concert, it is kind of cool.

For me Dave Grohl is one of the most rock’n'roll being in the world. He is an idol for me not only because his work as a all-porpoise-musician, but as a drummer specifically. His simplicity always wondered me and his directions both in the Foo Fighters and in Nirvana are very respectable. This concert only made me realize that probably with weak band members his music wouldn’t be that good, but the greater the band is the greater he gets. Maaaaannnnn, what a awesome sensation to see him there.

And then there’s the show itself, as a group. No, it doesn’t get boring. I don’t know how they managed to pump up all the songs and there’s no low peak. Even on the slowest song they make a little dance, a little play with the lights and it all gets really interesting. The ideas applied on the light system behind the stage (you can see them on the picture above) are awesome and entertaining as well. And the best of all, they all look like they are having fun playing with friends and having a good time with some good rock music.

On the end of the day, a maaasssive neck soreness, buzzing ear but an indescribable sense of satisfaction. I guess that all means I really liked the concert.

At the moment I’m taking singing and theory/piano classes. It’s been a month now and I couldn’t have made a better choice. My mind is stretching and I’m starting to see things differently. My music taste used to be based on rhythmic stuff with elaborated drums. All of the sudden I’m starting to appreciate other stuff on music construction such as harmonies and melodies and a lot of stuff is starting to make sense on music construction and progression. I’m really happy with it but already can see the no-turning-back path that I’m walking to.

Apart from that I’ve doing a lot of reading on pop and contemporary music. That actually was one of the main reasons to get back to the theory studies. I hope to have something to share here soon.

Eu não costumo mais analizar sonhos. Mesmo porque motivos pra isso eu não tenho. Mas eu sempre tenho um relativo controle sobre os meus sonhos. Aliás, não controle, mas tenho consciência de que estou sonhando – os tais sonhos lúcidos – quase sempre e vira e mexe uso esse fato pra mudar meu sonho. O negócio é que quando eu não consigo e tudo continua dando errado é frustrante.

Ver um monte de coisa ruim sem nenhum sentido ou lógica talvez seja a pior coisa. Outro fato é ver quem você gosta se machucando ou morrendo e cruzar pelo corredor com essa pessoa te dando bom dia na manhã seguinte. Bom e estranho ao mesmo tempo. Fora o tanto de gente que você está morrendo de saudade e que quando te ver diz as piores coisas, quissá tenta te bater.

Eu acho que vou ter um dia chato hoje.

Esse fim de semana pela primeira vez tive oportunidade de ver coisas que eu nunca tinha ouvido nem visto ao vivo. Só nos discos e shows. Vi Big Band de Jazz de Nova York. Vi bluezistas com toda aquela pinta fodona. Vi cubano tocando Afro-Cuban Jazz a torto e qualquer direito. Vi gente cantando com uma voz que nunca tinha visto. Vi quinze músicos no palco dos mais variados países tocando o verdadeiro free-style jazz. Tive a oportunidade de sentar numa roda de Jazz com metalera, contra-baixo e bateria e ficar até de manhã ouvindo um monte de gente falando com sotaque de New Orleans e trocando as mais maravilhosas idéias com seus instrumentos, sem nenhuma sofisticação comercial.

É lá que eu quero chegar.

Fato é que, quando a onda bate e eu me divirto eu entro no meu mundo e não me preocupo. Há algum tempo longe de casa não via olhares reprovadores quando ficava cantando a noite inteira e dançando minhas dancinhas de gordo nerd no canto do salão. Aquele olharzinho que te reprime mas te inveja ao mesmo tempo. Aquele olhar que perde o sentido quando o álcool, o de verdade, bate. E todo mundo começa a fazer o que tem vergonha de fazer quando sóbrio porque agora eles tem licença social pra poder fazer cagada.

Mas desde quando dançar e cantar é cagada?

Que mundo louco…

Fora isso é Mythbusters toda terça de manhã antes de ir trabalhar, gravado da segunda à noite. Sky, TV Digital e HDTV te torna uma pessoa nojenta e exigente.

Em casa eu sabia quais cafés ir e quais restaurantes frequentar. Aonde comprar a roupa mais barata ou onde pesquisar aquele eletrônico mais raro. De repente tudo some e você tem que cavar tudo novamente e reconstruir seus parâmetros. Por várias vezes aqui errei ouvindo uma dica alheia mas é justamente isso que te faz buscar a coisa certa. A raiva pelo erro.

Esse fim de semana foi preguiçoso mas felizmente tive contato com gente diferente que me contou um monte de coisa nova. Ao mesmo tempo que me sinto perdido por horas me sinto engradecendo em outras. Não sei ainda como acelerar esse processo mas tenho que achar uma solução pois eu estou me incomodando…

Não fiz levantamento anual de 2008 e nem vou fazer porque foi um ano pesado e tenso. De toda forma sinto falta das minhas cuspidas vagas e “profundas” aqui no Wimps. Vou voltar a usá-lo como dispensa de idéias loucas. Eu sinto falta disso.

Feliz 2009 ao meio leitor que ainda pipoca por aqui vez por outra!

- Na tomada, né Daph!

Já tenho o que fazer nas horas de tédio.

Tô inaugurando hoje o Vomit Bag, pra falar de Nova Zelândia, tudo que envolve a ida, a estadia e o que vier pela frente. Tô empolgado e agora é só usar os dedinhos.

Quem gostou, bate palminha!

Meu signo ascendente que demonstra como as pessoas me vêem:
Leão
Você se considera um líder natural. Os outros acham você um idiota completo. Você é vaidoso, arrogante, orgulhoso e impaciente, como se fosse a última coca-cola gelada do deserto e costuma lidar com críticas na base da porrada. Os leoninos são excelentes guardas de trânsito, juízes, ditadores e emergentes.

O signo lunar, que determina o meu tino para os negócios.
Peixes
Você é do tipo sonhador, místico, sensível e costuma se doar muito. Se você é homem, as suas chances de ser viado são muito grandes… Você é cheio de conselhos fúteis e não faz nada além de encher o saco de todos que se aproximam de você. As piscianas dão boas apresentadoras de programa infantil e atrizes pornôs.

O signo da minha mãe:
Escorpião
Você é o pior de todos: Desconfiado, vingativo, obsessivo, rancoroso, frio, orgulhoso, pessimista, malicioso, cínico, fofoqueiro e traiçoeiro nos negócios. Você é o perfeito filho da puta, só ama a sua mãe e a si mesmo. O escorpiano leva jeito para terrorista, nazista, dentista, fiscal de receita e juiz de futebol.

(Será que minha mãe tem uma face oculta que eu tenho que descobrir? Tô tenso… )

Veio daqui.

Chora, brasileiro! Morre de fome, mas chora!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWW8jnTQBYI[/youtube]

E porque acabou, afinal?