10.13.04: Buenos Aires, Argentina - Part II

Last night after a day of promotion some of us go to La Cumparsita, a sort of tourist tango joint in the San Telmo district. It's a small club, with a professional dance couple, who teach tourists from Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico and even South Africa a few steps. I try, too, but I am pretty hopeless learning structured dances. Paul does better.

There are the ubiquitous pictures of Carlos Gardel on the walls — many, many of them. I have about had it with the Gardel myth. I feel like saying, “He’s been dead for a long, long time — get over it, move on!”

This morning I struggle to wake up. I pedal to Casa Del Tango, about 4 km away, to join the strings at a rehearsal by a group called El Arranque. I picked up a couple of their CDs recently; they're incredible. Wild innovative arrangements and impeccable playing. We sit in the dark theater seats watching the rehearsal, and then they play us a few full numbers, which are amazing.

I pedal back to the hotel for some radio and phone interviews; many journalists ask what is going on in NY. They mean: what is the political feeling since 9/11? I usually reply that NY has more or less returned to its cosmopolitan, multicultural self, but the interior of the country, with access only to USA Today and Fox News, is trembling with fear that Saddam or Osama are going to come and steal their SUVs. The lack of information and the continual effort of the Bush administration to keep the population in fear has created a populace that wants nothing more than to close its doors and hide. They want someone else do whatever it takes to protect them from this weird, inscrutable enemy that, they believe, wants to take their comfortable lives from them.

Most of these journalists here, as in Europe, are searching for an explanation from me as to why a people continue to support Bush and Co.  It's a constant puzzle to them. If it continues they will surely lose what's left of their admiration for the North American people, whom they largely have looked up to for their spunk, business acumen, can-do spirit and pop culture.

But I also tell them that I am guardedly optimistic. In our touring experience, lots of ordinary people, many of whom voted for Bush last time around, expressed feelings that he hasn't done a very good job, even if they more or less believe that the war (for one thing) was justified.