Saturday 22 February 2014

From a whisper to a SHOUT!

I wake to my third leisure day after having a much better night's sleep. I still have a bit of a cough but I am feeling a lot better. At last I can fully appreciate the world and to celebrate that I meet up with a couple of friends of Isabela, Lissa and Bruno and they take me for a walk around some of the city particularly to the municipal market in which we have some lunch and later Lissa goes home and Bruno and I set out for a radio station in which I am to be interviewed. The weather is lovely, rather warm, which makes a long hilly walk a bit of a tough thing to do but the alternative is an uncomfortable crowded subway or a slow expensive taxi, so walking it has to be.

 Bruno talks about the difficulty tourists have in Sao Paulo if they do not speak Portuguese, the city is so big, the roads so complicated, the streets not named or poorly signposted and the police do not speak a word of English and all have diplomas in belligerence and indifference and can easily muster up hostility if pushed (or not even pushed).
Everyone gets around by asking other people and so if you can't ask you will find it difficult.
So we walk and it is tiring but I convince myself that it is good to keep my fitness up, when I am playing I am always driven around so it is good to be doing this.

When we reach the radio station, I am knackered and then I have another taste of Sao Paulo life. No-one is there, despite my interview being requested by the radio station Desobediencia Sonora, no one is in the building. So we retreat to a bar on the corner and wait there. I find it pleasant enough sitting almost in the street drinking a beer and watching the world go by. To my European sensibilities, no-one is there and therefore the interview is not going to happen and as a hour passes I seem to be right.
But no, after a hour Bruno knocks again and then returns to say they are there now.
So we enter the radio station, they offer drinks and I opt for water to revive my tired body and we grab a bit of Wi-Fi time while they set up.

Once we get underway Bruno acts as translator and I become aware that the guys had done their research on me and the Neurotics and ask some really good, intelligent questions. However, they do not get the best of me, I come across as quiet and somewhat tired, my speaking voice still husky. I am not talking with my usual enthusiasm and vigour. I enjoy it but I just haven't got the energy to spark.
Once we completed that we then made our way to our rehearsal studio so that the band can do some finishing touches to the songs in our set and to try to work on a couple we haven't attempted yet. Yes that's right, as exhausted as I was, I still have a rehearsal to do, it's now 8pm and I have been out all afternoon.
Once the rehearsal is under way I have fun and that revives me, it is confirmed that my singing voice is fully back (even if my speaking voice isn't) but I try to hold back a little so I have full voice for my next gig. Left is an image of the view from the studio that night.

Finally, it is time to go and I go off to bed a happy man!







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