Yesterday I biked out to the neighborhood called Palermo-Hollywood for lunch. It's rumored to be the trendy up-and-coming area. I guess it is, but there isn't the concentration of boutiques and cafes one sees in other neighborhoods of this type. We have lunch at a place called Christophe, which was opposite a working-class joint, where swarthy men sat behind a grill filled with roasting sausages.
Stopped at the new contemporary art museum, where there is a show Usos de Imagen, based on a Mexican collection. There are some of the usual international names, but there are also a reasonable number of Latin artists represented. One guy had a video of indigenous women repeating a Spanish phrase they'd leaned phonetically that went something like, "I am saying something that has no meaning to me."
He also had a photo of another indigenous group, whom he paid to dye their hair blond. In another, a truck was paid to block the highway for 5 minutes.
Another artist, Francis Alys, paid 500 Peruvians to form, side-by-side, a huge line, and then to shovel the sand in a massive dune outside Lima – theoretically, moving the whole dune imperceptibly as the human chain made its way across the hill. "Maximum effort — minimum results" was the catch phrase that summarized the effort.
Our show is in a basketball arena called Luna Park. It's much bigger than I feel is reasonable, and it's the wrong sort of place as well.
As it turns out, the place is pretty horrible sound-wise, but not as bad as it was at sound check. It is respectably full, a pleasant surprise to me, and the audience is wonderful — definitely the best in South America so far. They’re all up and dancing, like we're used to, by about the 10th song or so. Some of the guys from La Portuaria, a local band, say hi, as well as Alex Kysler, who is working on a new CD.
The promoter added another date here in BA a few days from now; I'm surprised that he thinks I can fill this place twice, but that's been my experience here. I've previously done 2 shows separated by a few days, and the promoter assumes that word of mouth and favorable press will generate interest in the second show. And sometimes they're right.
A few of us go to an incredible seafood restaurant, where we all share one giant fish. Daniel had made reservations for 20, assuming all would want to have a nice dinner, but there are only 3 of us at a huge table. The restaurant doesn't seem to mind and we gaze out on the modern buildings reflecting in the ship channel.
This morning we bus to Rosario, a nearby town.
Susanna Baca's in town today, playing at a small theater. I'm sorry I'll miss her; we'll be in Rosario. There's also a rock festival in town this weekend that features Café Tacuba and others, so we will miss that too.
