The Gig

On a brighter note, we linked up this really cool guy who owns a bar in managua to set up a show a few days after I arrived. His brother was in this very famous rock band in nicaragua. Basically they were so famous, in the US it would be like hanging out with someone from Metallica or something. We also hooked up with a friend of Zandar's named Xabier (sabi-air). He was a photogrophar from Spain and cool as hell! He took some shots of me in the main market in managua, then we headed back to his house outside of the city. This place was amazing! he pays $600 a month for it, and it was like a mansion. He had tons of really cool art and furniture. It was nice to see someone involved in some kind of art scene out here. He also had a ton of contacts and made our show the official afterparty for an art show he was having earlier that day.
The day of the gig i got Montazuma's Revenge they call it. Apparently everyone who comes out here from somewhere else, has to get past a crazy sickness from the food and water to build up a sort of immunity to it. Mine unfortunately came the day of the gig. During my hippie travelling days, I got disentary from a rainbow gathering in Arizona and it was a bit like that, although not nearly as bad. It kinda feels like your stomach is eating itself from the inside out, and everything that's inside of you is trying to come out. Not fun. Lucky for me, I started feeling better about an hour before I had to play. Some people are sick for a couple of days like that, but it was a mild case for me. Needless to say the gig was a huge success. The place was packed and filled with all of the most important people in managua, including the grandson of the previous dictator who was murdered. He showed up with 6 very pretty girls. Straight Pimpin! There was also a ton of famous musicians there. Basically it was like everyone involved in the music scene there. The place was way into house music. Most of the people there had never even really heard it before and they loved it. I did get a weird request from this girl to play Jeff Mills, and old Detroit Techno producer. That threw me for a bit of a loop. We made a pretty good amount of money at the door only charging $3 and having to pay out for sound and CD players. The owner invited us back to do 2 more shows in December. One of which I'll be playing with the most famous DJ in nicaragua, this guy named Bicentias. He has a huge hit on the radios here. Between him and myself, this is talked to be one of the biggest shows of the year. Kinda funny how easy it is to break in to the scene in a 3rd world county.
The next day he invited us to his recording studio. It was in this big complex owned by the president's wife's son. We got in as soon as we got past the armed guard. There are security guards everywhere here, and they all carry either an AK-47 or a 12 guage shot gun, and they have every right to use it without question. Still trying to get used to that. Anyway this kid had a pretty sick studio in here. I can't say I dig his music at all, but he had some serious gear. Out here, you have to be rich to have gear like that.