Silicon Fly Interview

Brazil, here we come!

Some of you readers might know that I am heading to Rio de Janeiro on the 4th of July for a little over a week for an absolutely incredible photo project, where I will be shadowing a collective of Favela graffiti artists. In order to enter the country as a US citizen, it is required to have a tourist Visa, a direct reciprocal action for the Visa requirements we impose on them. In order to get the Visa, you need roundtrip airfare, application form, bank statements, passport photo, credit card, and most importantly, the fee ($147US). I was under the impression the process would be kind of difficult, or at least take a long time, inside the consulate, but it went very smoothly. Where it got tricky was making the payment. It was one of those TIA moments (This Is Argentina). You can only go to two banks, both of which are mere blocks from the consulate. I arrived thinking it would take 5 minutes. Nope! The place was absolutely PACKED, no seats at all. You had to pull a number to see a teller, I got number 69. They were on 45. Well whatever, I'll wait. The problem was that at about 52, the machine went all haywire and began going out of order, thus creating the problem of the person with the correct "number" going to the window, even if it meant they were skipping 8 people who should have gone before them. After about 45 minutes I finally got my turn, and paid the fee, 30 second transaction. So now, with Visa in hand, I will be setting foot in Brazil in a mere few weeks. YES!!!!!

Viva Argentina, Che!: Tranxgo

Most people know that Argentina's greatest contribution to the world of music is Tango. To this day you can wander around any of Buenos Aires' neighborhoods and find milongas, where people of all ages dance to the classic music. What has happened in recent years however is the world of electronic music that is also beloved by the Argentines, has been introduced and mixed with the old, traditional style. Mixing violins, bandoneon, piano and old vocal samples with hard drubbing, heavy-bass laced tracks produces an amazing, original sound. Three main groups that have taken this new genre (sometimes referred to as tranxgo), Bajofondo, Tanghetto and Gotan Project, have come out with countless amazing tracks. I was fortunate enough to see Bajofondo play live in a free festival to celebrate 200 years of independence in Argentina a few weeks ago, and goddamn, they are sick! Here are a few tracks to download, enjoy and let me know your thoughts!

Gotan Project-Santa Maria.mp3
Gotan Project-Epoca.mp3
Gotan Project-El Capitalismo.mp3
Gotan Project-Mi Confesion.mp3
Bajofondo Tango Club-Grand Guignol.mp3
Bajofondo Tango Club-Naranjo en Flor.mp3
Bajofondo Tango Club-Exodo II.mp3
Bajofondo Tango Club-Duro y Parejo.mp3
Tanghetto-Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode Tango Remix).mp3

Young Squondra Comes to Town: BA and Colonia

The plan when Sondra got here was to make at least two trips to places within the country. Iguazu down, we were going to try to make it to the western wine-country city of Mendoza but it was just asking too much. Decided not to do it for various reasons, one of them being that if we went, she wouldn't get to experience a full weekend in this madness that we call a city. We did make it to Uruguay for a day though, to the city of Colonia. We decided to do this because it's a nice day trip and also because I was at the time an illegal alien and wanted to get that feeling off my chest. Fortunately, the rules are a bit more lax here than they are in the States. Consequences for overstaying your tourist visa is now about $80US, up from the $18 that it used to be a month ago. You get a slap on the wrist and then you're given a pass and another 3 months in this wonderful country. Here are some photos, with captions, of our day in Uruguay...
The view over Rio de la Plata from Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires before getting on the ferry

Street scene

Sondra showing off her wad of "play" money that is the Uruguayan peso on her hog...we couldn't rent mopeds as originally planned since we didn't have our driver's licenses with us...

Just some of the many many street dogs around the town

That's me sneaking into the grounds of an abandoned bullring; interior of the bullring

The rest of Sondra's time here consisted of shopping in ferias, pubcrawling and fortunately, on her very last night, the Grand Opening of Fusion, our very own nightclub/restaurant. Well, it's not technically mine but Dustin, my good friend who started the pubcrawl company, put together this place with some other friends. Will be doing a blog update about this new spot. It's so cool! All in all had a great time with her here, and sounds like she had a good time too because she's hoping to come back in the summer (winter for you Northerners).

3 Videos from the Bicentennial Celebration

There will be a longer post coming but for the time being here are three videos from the Bicentennial Celebration Free Concert at the Obelisco in the middle of the city. La Bomba de Tiempo and Bajofondo performed, it was amazing. La Bomba is an incredible percussion orchestra and Bajofondo is one of the most well known bands to have incorporated Argentina's beloved Tango music with electronic and dance music. EPIC!







This video is of a couple that broke into an impromptu Tango dance during Bajofondo's set. Love that this kind of thing just happens...

Whoa...she's eating STEAK??

For those of you who have known Sondra for a while, you know she has been a pretty staunch vegetarian. Well, while in the land of the best steaks on Earth, she decided to cross to the other side, if but for a moment (and wouldn't you know it, she thought it tasted GOOD) Thankfully there is video proof.

Iguazu Videos

El Tigre y Sus Manchas feat. German Varela

This is a great video Sondra shot of my roommate Tigre's band, El Tigre y Sus Manchas (The Tiger and His Spots) featuring our other roommate German Varela of the pretty well known rock band, Silicon Fly. German absolutely rips it up! This is performed at L'O Bar in San Telmo, Buenos Aires.