Ballad of e-lover

e-lover, e-lover
why do our words get tamed
when we have screens between us
which dissipate all the shame?

e-lover , e-lover
when we share the air we breathe,
why do our tongues get tied
and words fail to please?

e-lover, e-lover
heaven is full of things we miss
will we ever go into a darkened room?
will we finally disconnect and kiss?

The Odd Ones In

and the ones who come out
they just don't understand our love

Siamese Twins

i used to share my soul with the life we led
i shared my heart in my lover's bed
i shared my thoughts and i shared my head
never realizing i was just half-dead

Antony

hope there's someone
who'll take care of me
when I die
will I go...

Untitled

Will you be my lover?

Will you be the one?

Will you be like no other

For how long?

Oh yes I'll be your wild flower

Grown through the concrete

And born to the backbeat of the stars

And yes I'm just a stupid guy

Crushed like a butterfly

Dead-eyed at the drive-by in a car

And like flies on a windscreen

And like insects in glue

We could stick together

If you wanted to

And yes I'll be your wild flower

Grown through the concrete sheets

And born to the backbeat of the stars

And I'm just a stupid guy

Crushed like a butterfly

Dead-eyed at the drive-by in a car

Yeah just a stupid guy

Crushed like a butterfly

Dead-eyed at the drive-by in a car

written by Brett Anderson and Richard Oakes

Zombie Jesus

why, of course... the guy died, and then he was walking all over the place again...

The Man Whose Past is the Future

John Titor... where are you?

Peeping Tom

gotta get my mojo running, engine humming, don't i?

Mexico Pics

here they are. pics from our trip to mexico. hope you enjoy them.

have a nice week, everyone.

PS: yes, edilma. i'm alive :)

It's OUT!!!

have a nice weekend everyone.

kisses, hugs and handshakes.

Mexico. Day Three

we had to be in the lobby at 10:15am. this was our last day in mexico city, as we were leaving the next day very early. carlz, alz and i woke up around 7am, got dressed and just went out walking around el zocalo. everything was closed, but hey, so what? we had a small breakfast, and just walked and walked and walked. we just admired the architecture, the people, the weather. it was a nice walk. going back to the hotel around 10am, we saw that "mixup", a record store, was opening. we looked at each other, and said.... what the hell. went in and bought yet more cds. we met with the rest of the crew in the lobby at 10:15am and we were ready to go to el chopo. one of the event's organizers came to get us, so three of us went with him, the others got a taxi.

when we arrived, the place was packed. lots of people walking around, there was already a band called fuzz playing. they greeted us in a very nice way. we put our instruments in a corner and just gazed at the sight. the backline was pretty good, it was a relatively small place to play, so we didn't need the big speakers or anything. it sounded really good despite the conditions. the band was playing some instrumental surf music and everybody was just observing, analyzing, and moving their heads or feet. they were giving out some sort of bulletin, which they hand out every saturday (when the market takes place), and to our surprise we were in there. there was a review of the group and it said we were playing there. the offer came the night before at around midnight, so these are very organized and dedicated people. we were very surprised. well, they said that we were going to play at 2pm, so that meant that we had two hours to "kill" in el chopo. thank g-d.

we started walking and in the first stand... they had original 7 inches, 12 inches, imported cds from japan, europe, everywhere. special editions. things that wouldn't be easy to find anywhere, especially in venezuela. we went mad. the next stand had bootleg dvds. concerts from morrissey, the cure, placebo, anything you wanted... from any year you desired, from any tour you missed. it was heaven, and yes, it was cheap. the bootlegs were really cheap. around 5 - 6 dollars each.
we saw leather jackets, leather boots, leather accesories, rock t-shirts, cds, dvds, books, everything. the hours passed by and it was time to play, and i had spent around $50 dollars, and had LOTS of things. pretty good ;)

they introduced us to the audience. a nice applause greeted us. we connected to the backline, and just let out our short set of 5 songs. people were enjoying the music, trying to figure out the lyrics, and just having a good time. again, we had a good response from the crowd, and when we finished some people approached us and congratulated us. it was really really nice. we had played in el chopo :)

we went back to the hotel, left our instruemnts and it was already kind of late, around 5pm. this day (saturday) was supposed to be our get-to-know-mexico city day, but this event in el chopo, in the middle of the day, didn't let us do that, but hey, what the hell... we came to play. so we still had to buy some things... and we didn't have time :o so we went to la zona rosa (the pink zone), a very tourist place with lots of big name stores. maybe it wasn't the traditional side of mexico we would have liked to see, but it was perfect for the sitaution. we bought what we needed there, and went to a mexican restaurant to seal the night and celebrate for our wonderful trip. there was a juxebox and we just kept putting some mexican rancheras music in the place. mexican people are usually very calm and quiet, so it was very obvious we were foreigners because we were all shouting and laughing out loud. well, it's good to be venezuelan ;) and yes, the night meal ended with some mana songs... hahaha, if you don't know, mana is a popular rock band form mexico, very big in latin america..... and they're horrible, but it was just for our own amusement ;)

ok, the event had payed for the hote,l but only until saturday morning, but we had decided to stay until sunday, so we had to find a place for the night. we saw a hostel just next door, so we looked at eachtoher and said ..... WHY THE HELL NOT? we were seven and we got a six bed room. so yes, i had to sleep in the same bed as alz. not the first time, so no biggy. at night everyone was falling asleep, we went to a seven eleven just across from the street (yes, seven eleven, very mexican, huh?) and we listened to some electronic music coming out from the spanish cultural center, where we had played the night before. i went in the room and asked who would like to check it out with me. the man for the job was carlz. we got appropiately dressed and went there. yes, there was a dj putting some music and we went in... had a couple of beers, had a good time and went back to the hostel.

at night i couldn't really sleep much because marcos snored like a mofo, and well... it was just horrible. we woke up really really early, had breakfast at the hostel, went to the airport and said goodbye to this wonderful country. mexico, i'll miss you, but i'll see you again, that's for sure.

Mexico. Day Two

we woke up around 7am and i was already feeling a little tiny bit better. alz, oscar, ezra and marcos wanted to walk around downtown but carlz, jarz and i had other specific intentions... for example, we needed to buy picks for the guitars. so we decided to find a musical instruments store. what we found was heaven. four blocks of music stores, one next to the other, both sides of the street. we tested everything we wanted, checked out new gear, and of course, bought our miserable picks :P

this lasted like 5 hours, i know, leave us alone... ;) then we met at the hotel and went to eat. i've been trying to remember what we ate, but sorry, i have no idea... now i actually wonder if we ate at all. anyway, the soundcheck was scheduled for 2pm... but we had to wait for a spanish group that hadn't arrived. we ended up doing the soundcheck at 4pm... it went smoothly, we took our sweet time, and everything fell beautiful on stage. we went back to the hotel, slept a little, relaxed, took showers, got dressed, put our make up on and were ready to... gimme an R, gimme an O, gimme a... ok you get the point.

an opening artist was already playing when we arrived... he was like a surprise or something like that, he wasn't on the bill. anyway, he finished, and it was time for us to take the stage. we were scared, but a little less scared than on bryan adams... we were in foreign lands... didn't have anything to lose... just go out and give the best of what we had. and that's exactly what we did. just when the first song ended, people's reaction was already a positive one. they seemed to like the songs, the group, the show, everything. alz made some stage comments, for example inviting people to go to morrissey's concert in mexico city on november 16, and asking who had been at placebo's performance two days before. by the response, you could see there were some placebo attendees there. that was a relief... maybe they are getting our music. we finished with a medley we've been doing for some time and people seemed to enjoy it. everything looked ok. we got down and took our instruments to the hotel... just 30 seconds away ;) at the hotel, we were happy but of course, we needed to hear people's opinion to really feel that we'd accomplished something. we went back to the venue and stood at the back watching the other groups. 5 minutes passed and we were already being talked to and congratulated for the performance.

the mexican crowd is lovely. they go to concerts just to hear new music. that's something completely different than in venezuela. here you need to have a name... or need to be important. sometimes a completely unknown group will come, but the campaign is so good, that people will go. the new bands have no life here. but not in mexico, they want to listen to what you have to offer. if they like it, you have new fans. if they don't like it... they just go. not a word. beautiful.

people started talking to us... asking about our influences, showing us their placebo or morrissey t-shirts. asking if we were selling the CDs, and fortunately the record company did give us a small number of CDs which we sold that day. people were very very nice. and only by talking with them did we realize that yes... billy se fue had officially been heard... and understood... by foreign ears.

before the event had finished, we were already asked to perform at EL CHOPO the next day. but... "what is EL CHOPO?" we asked. "it's a rock fleemarket. you'll find rock accesories, rock CDs, originals and bootlegs. any DVD of any performance of any band you like. it's heaven." that sounded good :) we were also informed by two different people, that the cardigans guitar player and pixies' frank black were spotted in EL CHOPO buying some CDs. hell, we were happy to play there :)

we were scheduled to be there at 11am, so that meant waking up around 8am... it was already very late and we were tired... and we still had to work the next day. so we just bought some alcohol, went to the hotel and relaxed. after the concert... for the first time in a week... i was not feeling ill.

Mexico. Day One

we arrived at the maiquetía international airport near caracas at 4am and we were very sleepy but excited of course. the complete crew included the four billies, alz, jarz, carlz and myself, oscar the manager, ezra the second manager/photographer and marcos our sound engineer. travelling with marcos was a real experience. he's one of the funniest people i know and he just won't stop talking, and he'll make up some of the weirdest things you could ever imagine. he's such a character. i knew then that this was not going to be a boring journey. just when we were having our passports checked to leave caracas, he was already inventing a new traditional venezuelan musical instrument that was able to create cheese while being played. you just had to be there. we got on board and we were doing a stopover in bogotá, colombia. it was a short flight and it went really fast.

in the bogota airport one thing that caught our eye was the number of policewomen inspecting you... and hey, very beautiful women. you just don't see that in venezuela.... beautiful policewomen. anyway... that was a nice greeting. our stay in the airport was also short and then we moved on to the mexico plane.

now of course, this one was a little bit longer, like three hours long or something like that. the airplane was pretty empty, so we just sat where we liked. i ended up seating next to alz the vocalist. we didn't talk so much as we prefered to sleep, listen to music or watch the movie which was pirates of the caribbean 2: dead man's chest. i hadn't seen the first one so i didn't understand parts of it, but hey, i rented it two days ago ;)

anyway, we arrived at mexico city around 1pm, and there was a van waiting for us. nice. very nice people, very calm and relaxed. they left us at the hotel... a very nice hotel, he had to separate into three rooms, two 2 bed rooms and one 3 bed room. oscar and marcos went to one of the 2 bed rooms. the other one was occupied by jarz the guitar player and his brother ezra (because they were sharing a suitcase) and the 3 bed one was taken by carlz the drummer, alz and i.

ok, it's important to point out that i was burning hot with fever. two days ago was bryan adams concert and i was already feeling really bad. after the concert, backstage, alz (he's a doctor) gave me a shot to stop any virus from invading my body. i guess it was too late, cause it didn't do sh!t, and so there i was, first day in mexico, and i was burning hot with fever. but hey, that wasn't going to stop me.

we went out to check out the place where we were going to play, the spanish cultural center, and it was next door, just next door. excellent. no tiring walks, no money spent on taxis :P after seeing the center, we decided to just walk around the hotel, and see where we were staying.

we were at the zocalo, a great big square, a point of reference, of protest, of ritual and of national celebration. it has a very big mexican flag and it's just in front of the National Palace. very beautiful. it's a very clean place, a little worn out and damaged by the times, and we fell really safe. there were some streets where we were told not to go to, but here we were alright.

ok, now this is the part where we forget our place in space and time and just let ourselves be devoured by the consumer's pitiful world. we found a record store. ok, let me explain, here in venezuela we have record stores, of course, but it's really difficult to find good cds, things that you relly like. if you're looking for something that's out of the top 20s.... the latin top 20s, you're going to live through hell trying to find it. so, understand me when i say that finding a record store in mexico IS a big deal for 7 venezuelans :P

yes, we found lots of CDs. I could have bought 15 CDs that first day, but this was my logical thinking... "i'll stay here 4 days, i if buy everything today... i'll feel miserable the other days, cause i'll want to buy more and i won't be able to... so i'll spread this 10 cds through the course of my trip and i will return a happy man". hell.... it worked :) so i just bought two that day.

anyway.......... walking and walking..... and eating, of course.... we went to a mexican restaurant... don't ask me the name, and we had our share of traditional food. remember... i was burning hot with fever, so i just had a big soup... don't ask me the name... it had everything. chiles, rice, cheese, meat.... very very good. after our long long meal, we bought some beers and went to the hotel. yes, we are responsible. we had a long day ahead of us, with an important event, and we didn't want to stay out late and get destroyed. our room was next to a little terrace, so this guys stayed there drinking and drinking until 2am... i didn't go with them... i was in bed... hoping that i wouldn't feel so terrible the next morning...

... to be continued

In the meantime...

hello people,

i hope everything is fine and under control. this week has been a little hell for me for different reasons, but hey... here i am. i feel pretty ill these last two days, a sore throat has gotten hold of me and well, got a lot of work too, which implies a lot of talking, so no... i'm not feeling better. i hope the weekend will embrace me in a hug of relief. anyway... i'm dying to tell you about my trip to mexico BUT i'm waiting for the pictures. the photographer is really irresponssable :P and i hope this weekend i can get my hands on the pics. in the meantime i would like to share some CDs i bought in the land of zapata. always the music lover i am, i just couldn't miss the oportunity to enrich my CD collection.

Depeche Mode - touring the angel (live in milan) - 2DVD+1CD set
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
Morrissey - the youngest was the most loved (single)
Placebo - placebo (10th anniversary edition) - includes an extra DVD with live and tv performances
Placebo - sleeping with ghosts - extra CD with 10 covers including a beautiful version of kate bush's "running up that hill"
Tones on Tail - everything! (Daniel Ash's post bauhaus project... the compilation includes everything they recorded in their tiny life)
Suede - a new morning (their 2002 final album, which i never bought because it's very pretty and positive, and at the time i was extremely dumb... i really like it now, i'm surprised how closeminded i was years ago... hey, i'll probably say the same thing in 2008 ;)
Suede - singles (this compilation of all their singles never arrived in the stores in venezuela, so now i can say i have their complete catalog. woohoo... shhhhh)
Bauhaus - mask (i wonder why i never bought this marvelous band's second album, but finally i have it in my hands)

plus... we went to the bootleg paradise... rare live DVDs... anything you could ever want... i purchased he following:

The Smiths - live in madrid 1985
Morrissey - live at pinkpop festival 2006
Bauhaus - gotham (1998 reunion performance)
Bauhaus - shadow and light / archive (promo videos and live performance)

and well... i have to admit that the best CD so far is Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5:55. Serge's daughter hooked up with Pulp´s Jarvis Cocker and The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon to write the lyrics, and the french group Air provided the music... plus... Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich was behind the board controlling everything. with this allstar crew, what could go wrong? the album is absolutely marvelous, i recommend it with all my heart.

see you soon, happy friday. i'm going to sleep for three days. kisses, i miss you a lot... especially you, crazy young edi (K)x1000.

The Bryan Adams Experience

being an opening act is shitty. yes, backstage is not as good as the main performer; the food you get is nothing compared to the one THE artist has; the soundcheck is too short and rushed; your sound is supervised by the main artist's sound engineer... and if this person decides you're too loud or doing something that is threatening, your sound can be controlled without your own sound engineer even knowing it. yes... being the opening act is a shitty job... but an important one, and it's a pleasure doing it. we knew all this from the first day we got the news, and we just understood the importance of the whole situation, so we did it with a big smile on our face.

when we started playing the venue was a little more than half-full, and poeple's reaction was pretty good. we were a little scared because this was bryan adam's audience, a mixture of thirty-forty somethings that could easily be put in the category of adult contemporary, where we obviously don't belong. but hey, there were some fans because some people yelled our names and they cheered when our songs were introduced, so that was a nice surprise. the performance went smoothly and when we arrived backstage, the smiles were even more prominent. our resume had just gotten a whole lot bigger :P

now it's time for mister bryan to step on the stage. this guy arrived directly from the airport and he just gave a two+ hour set which included ALL of his hits. it's funny how before the concert i just remembered 5, maybe 6 songs... but ALL of his repertoire was saved in my hard disk, i couldn't believe it. he played everything. the last last song he played with his entire band was my favorite "run to you", then he went to play one final acoustic encore. i was waiting for him downstairs with edilma's cd so he could sign it, but no... being the opening act is not enough... it's a shitty job, remember... so i was very elegantly kicked out of the surrounding areas, and i was able to see how bryan just came down from the stage and got into a car that was waiting for him... and he was gone. oh well... i want to be this famous and arrogant and powerful :)

backstage we were talking about how the most important gig of our lives had been the "worst", but it had been a success. so there it was again...the big smile, just like the one you get when your unfaithful lover says he/she's back again... with love to share and a heart to open.

yes, i forgive you bryan. thank you :D

Mexico way

hello everybody, next week i'll have all the details about bryan adams' concert and my trip to mexico. i'm leaving tomorrow for two gigs in the land of zapata, and i will surely be back with some interesting anecdotes.

have a nice rest of the week and weekend... i'll try to log-in if i have the time.

kisses, hug and handshakes...

Nilz
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