hungry in London

Been in London four days now and am not remotely over my jet lag - I keep sleeping till 1 or 2pm accidentally, and staggering with fatigue other times. Also been sick and hungry a lot (can't afford much food here!!)

The weather is fantastically beautiful and the city is so fabulous I almost can't believe how beautiful it is. I've been here several times before, but it's been a while. Even the little far-off untouristy neighborhoods seem beautiful. Something about the winding little streets and the endless ant-warren-ness of it, the big red buses charging around tiny corners unexpectedly.

I really wish I were here with someone so I could share it. Instead I just walk around on my own.... walking endlessly. I've lost several pounds just in a couple days from all the walking and the small meals. I tried not to eat very much the first couple days and sank into that miserably hungry jet-lagged state where all you have eaten is the cheapest stuff you can find at the all-night shops: a big bag of Dorito's and a cup of instant soup. The take-away Chinese places are absolutely horrible, as are the scary KFC ripoffs ("Dallas Fried Chicken" "Tennessee Fried Chicken")

Musically it's a GREAT time to be here - lots of festivals and parades, escola mestres all over the place. It's all leading up to Notting Hill Carnival at the end of the month, which apparently is such a big deal that the London guidebooks have it listed as one of the top events of the year. File away for future reference: I've got to come here for a full August sometime.

Monobloco is here right now, running workshops. And the mestre of Estacio, Esteves, just arrived. He has a cool deal here where he has a permanent bateria here in London that he comes and visits every August, working them up to the Notting Hill Carnaval. His brothers run the group the rest of the year. He tests out all his new ideas for breaks on the London group, then uses the best ones for Estacio the next year. So the Londoners know all the new breaks before the Rio players do!

I also bumped into what seemed like several dozen other top players and maracatu mestres and Timbalada players and Afro-Reggae players.

It all made me start my usual slow burn of fury against the US govenrment's ridiculous visa policy, which makes it so difficult to bring Brazilian musicians to the US for workshops and tours. The more I travel, the more I see that the visa policy has crippled music and dance instruction in the US. So the US just gets even more isolated culturally. Just what we need.

My dream year would be:
July & August in London (working up to Notting Hill Carnaval)
Sept & Oct in New York (working up to the Halloween Parade)
then Brazil for another five months, of course. (working up to Carnaval)