Coming home...

Hey there... it's our last day here in Africa. We've checked into our flight on Air France and now we're just hanging out for a few more hours before we have to go to the airport. We fly through Paris but unfortunately we don't have much of a layover... well, actually I'm excited that we don't because it's gonna be real nice to come home and the quicker the better. We've had a great time in Africa but a month is a long time to be away.
Kinshasa was a good place to end our tour. The audiences are very responsive to our music... in fact, I think they have enjoyed it the most out of all the countries we've traveled in. Another cool thing about Kinshasa is it's the only place that has had upright bass players. We did a workshop a couple days ago... one of the students came up and picked my bass up and started playing. He had pretty good technique too! It turns out that the school we were at had an old, beat up upright bass that all the bass players shared. It was nice to be able to give advice to students on an instrument that I actually play! Even though I spent a week on electric bass here, I don't have the same control as I do on the upright.
Well... this will be the last entry from Africa. Unfortunately I'm not on my computer, so I'm unable to post any pictures right now. After I come home and have a fast connection, I will try to post as many, if not all of the pictures I've taken here.
Looking forward to seeing everyone when I get back!!!

Yesterday we crossed the river to Kinshasa on the Embassy's boat. Originally, we were supposed to take the local ferry. On the first leg of our journey in Dakar, we had a press conference. After we mentioned the places we were traveling to, one of the reporters asked how we were getting to Kinshasa from Brazzaville. We said, "The Ferry," and they all laughed. Andrew asked, "why. . . does it sink all the time..." at which point they said yes. So, needless to say, we were all a bit worried for this particular day and one of our first questions as we arrived in Brazzaville was what we were crossing the river on... and we were very relieved to find out.
It's different here than in Brazzaville. There doesn't seem to be as much order and the people are a bit more on edge. As we were leaving the port, we saw a pedestrian get hit by a big truck... it wasn't bad, he was just clipped. I'm sure he was shaken up, he looked a little dazed when someone helped him up. In a matter of seconds, a mob formed and started to pull the driver out of another car that was adjacent to the accident. There must have been some confusion as to who hit the man. We passed by at this point, so I don't know what happened after that but it just reminds me of one of our warnings on the briefing we had. "If you are in an accident that involves a pedestrian, don't stop. Proceed directly to the Embassy." It goes on to say you can be seriously hurt, or stoned to death... I'm not sure if that counts in the Congo but I wouldn't want to find out.
We checked in to the "Grand Hotel of Kinshasa" which I think is the best hotel we've stayed at... definitely the most expensive place overall.
After checking in, we went straight to CALI (College of American Language Institute). Devin, Andrew and I played trio a couple of tunes for their graduation. Other than waiting in the heat for an hour, it was kind of a fun gig. Sometimes it's nice to play without the drums... although I shouldn't say that too loud, Mark told me his family is reading this blog. :) After that, we had some lunch and went to the Protestant University of Kinshasa to play a concert for the students there. At first I wasn't sure if this audience was going to be very receptive. There were about a hundred... maybe a hundred fifty students spread out in this large auditorium. As we were setting up and doing our sound check, they were just kinda staring at us like we were intruding. Boy was I wrong! This was the best show so far. They really dug us! They were dancing in their seats. At the end of the concert, we handed out the Lincoln Center CDs... well, eventually gave them to their teacher to hand out because it was quickly becoming out of control. Everyone wanted our autographs on the CDs... how do you say no to that? I know we're not on those CDs but I think at that point it would have been an insult to say no. Then we got our pictures taken with just about everybody in multiple combinations... probably a hundred-plus pictures. Unfortunately, because of the chaos, I didn't take my camera out. I think Mark got some pictures... I'll get some from him.
It's always a really good feeling to play for an audience that has lots of energy. The more energy they have, the better our show! Which reminds me... Those of you readers that have lots of energy need to attend our coming home concert next Saturday the 22nd at Jimmy Mak's. We need to fill the place! The show starts at 8 pm and I think it will be a good one... we've been playing quite a bit this month and we're pretty tight. SEE YOU THERE!!!

Brazzaville, Congo...

We're in the Congo now and we're staying at the USG Villa which is a fairly sizable house. We have our own laundry room and we're all very happy about that... except Devin, who spent fifty dollars getting his clothes cleaned at the hotel in Conakry. We also have free internet... the only drawback is we're on the same network as the Embassy, so from 8 am to 6 pm it's really slow. Our flight arrived at midnight on Tuesday. We were all pretty hungry but there was nothing open that late so we stopped by the Embassy and picked up a box of MREs. That's "Meals Ready to Eat". I've always wanted to try one and now I have. . . interesting flavor.

I should get you caught up on our last day in Conakry. In the morning before our workshop, we made a quick stop to watch a bit of the National Ballet of Guinea rehearsal. It's hard to explain the experience we had through words or pictures but it was quite the show. They even pulled us out and danced with us at one point. We had our workshop with Gombo Jazz, the group we saw play on the opening night of the Jazz Festival. Their rhythm guitar player looked just like Miles Davis to me. That night we went to the French Cultural Center and closed out the 3rd Annual Jazz Festival of Guinea. Unfortunately the hall wasn't full... there were probably 60-70 people there but they really enjoyed the show and that's what's important. From there, we had some dinner and checked out of the hotel and you know the rest...

Back to Brazzaville... it's our last day here. We played at the US Ambassador's residence last night. At the start, we were background music while all the diplomats entered the courtyard but later in the evening, we were more of a showcase. Diplomats can party! I would say they're the equivalent of Bankers... once they have a drink or two, their ties come off and they start dancing. It turns out the Ambassador is a banjo player... he came up on stage and played a blues with us. He's quite the pick! After the show, I mentioned that I got my start playing bluegrass and his eyes lit up. We went back and played a couple of bluegrass tunes. One of which, Andrew played bass because it was a song he knew... we have a good video to prove it.
Today, we attended and played at a wonderful function. The Ambassador and his wife decided to clean up one of the local schools that had really been run down. We saw some pictures of how it looked before... there was no roof, the walls were basically falling down and it was dirty beyond belief. With the aid of some local US businesses, they were able to fix it up completely including brand new desks and blackboards. At today's ceremony, the school was given boxes and boxes of school supplies that were donated by a grade school in the States. Andrew said, "It's really cool to see this type of thing from the other end..." as he remembered doing programs like that in grade school. Off to the side of the ceremony, there were seven to eight hundred children all clapping and singing. There's so much energy in these children. We played at the end of the ceremony and all the children came up to the stage and watched us... it was a sea of bright eyes and smiles. They were all enthralled with our instruments and performance... wow! I think that's the reason we came to Africa. As we were leaving, all the kids came up to us and wanted to shake our hands or just touch us. This was definitely an experience of a lifetime.

Casablanca...

Wow! I'm tired... we got to the airport at 1:15 this morning. This time we waited and watched our bags... mainly the bass and keyboard get loaded onto the conveyor belt. Then, on top of that, our expeditor went outside and watched the crew load them onto the plane. We're not taking any chances this time. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:45... it left at 5:20. I didn't feel comfortable falling asleep in the Conakry airport... everyone else had, so I guess I was the lookout. About half of the passengers on the plane were pilgrims heading for Mecca... about half of them probably had never stepped foot on an airplane before. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of confusion at first. Once we got off the ground, I attempted to go to sleep. I was successful at first... the lights were turned off in the cabin, so it was an easy attempt. As soon as we hit ten thousand feet, the lights came blazing on... instant wake-up call. I did fall back to sleep and slept for most of the flight except for the four or five times that the person sitting behind me elbowed me in the head... oh well. Now we're sitting in the Casablanca airport, which is quite a nice, clean looking establishment. One thing that isn't a regular practice in Western Africa is cleanliness. It must be different in Northern Africa. Everywhere I look here in Casablanca, someone is cleaning, or sweeping, or mopping, or polishing the hand rails, etc, etc. We have about two more hours before we board the flight for Brazzaville, Congo. We'll probably get something to eat before the flight... I'm kinda bummed though. I was hoping to get some Moroccan cuisine while we were here but all the food court has is a French pastry shop, a chwarma place and "The Flying Hamburger"...
Well, I guess that's all for now... I'll have to post this once we get to the Congo because I cant get internet here. Frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn!... or is that from Gone With the Wind?

It's a bit later now... we're flying over the Sahara Desert. Unfortunately it's hazy. Hopefully it will clear before we cross the entire thing. We just had some lunch served to us... that's something that's different than the States, they have served meals on every flight we've been on in Africa.
I'm still tired but I'm going to try and stay awake on this flight. We have one stop in Douala, Cameroon, then it's a short flight to Brazzaville. I figure if I sleep for an hour on that flight, I'll still be able to sleep tonight. We're staying at the USG Villa in Brazzaville... that's United States Government Villa. I hope they have laundry services there. It's definitely time to clean. I had our hotel in Freetown do some of my laundry... they washed my white socks with my black dress-shirt. Now it looks like I have really bad dandruff. Maybe we can do our own laundry this time... that would be nice.
-Looks like the haze cleared... but no sand dunes just yet. I'll fill you in...

Well... missed out on the Sahara but what we did accomplish is seeing the sun rise while we were on the plane and seeing the sun set when we were on the plane. We'll also get to fly in Fall and Spring on the same flight... woohoo!!
I'm wrapping this one up, I'll talk to you later.

3 day catch up...

Hey all! The last couple of days have been very nice. On Friday, our day off, Andrew, Mark and I went to Rome Island. I'm not sure if thats the correct spelling, but it's pronounced "room". Wow! What a place. It's a very secluded island about 5 miles from the mainland in the center of what appears to be a very old volcano. There are a couple of restaurants and a hotel that seems to be in decent shape. It didn't even dawn on me to bring my swim-suit. Mark thought ahead though... I rolled up my jeans and waded into the surf which was quite warm. I think it may have been even warmer than Hawaii's water. It's quite the paradise that's literally around the corner from the exact opposite. That night we went to a party put on by some of the local US Marines. Everyone there knew about our band and seemed to be excited to see us at the Jazz Festival on Monday. After that, we went to a jazz club called "La Forchette Magic". It was the opening night of the festival and we saw "Gombo Jazz", one of the top bands in Conakry. We had a workshop on Saturday morning with another local band that played traditional African instruments. It was really interesting to hear the explanations for what each instrument was created for. One of the drums was used to communicate specific events such as weddings or funerals to nearby villages.
We played at the Ambassador's residence Saturday night... our soundcheck was plagued with power problems. Everything here is run on generators and the sound crew had the whole sound system on one circuit. Needless to say, it didn't last long. Speaking of the system... they had a setup that could have rivaled a major rock concert in an arena. There were about ten huge speakers on either side of the stage and this was all for an audience of about 150 people. Ha! No wonder the system kept crashing.
Today we had a workshop at the Higher Arts Institute in Dubreka, which is about 30 miles east of Conakry. It was a very good workshop... I think it may have been the most appreciated workshop from the students so far. Although... we have Lincoln Center compilation CDs that we give away after our workshops and we have plenty enough for everybody. Mark started to give them out and it instantly became a mob of people rushing towards him... people were climbing over the drums to get to him. It became a bit dangerous and we quickly exited to the van... wow!
Anyway, tomorrow is our last day in Conakry. We have a workshop in the morning and then we play the closing concert of the 3rd Annual Guinea Jazz Festival. After that, we go back to the hotel, only to leave a couple of hours later for the airport. We fly out at 3:30 am for Brazzaville, Congo via Casablanca, Morocco. It'll be another long day of traveling, but completely worth it! Hopefully our instruments will make it this time... at the same time as us that is.
Talk to you later.

Conakry, Guinea

Hey there... We arrived in Conakry, Guinea today. As I was warned, it was a very bumpy ride. I don't think my head has been jarred that much in my life.
We've only been here for a couple of hours and I'm feeling quite spoiled. The Embassy here has supplied us with cell phones, bought us lunch and we also have a van at our disposal... with driver of course. It's really nice to have such an organized arrival. The hotel that we're staying at is in the process of re-varnishing the wooden furniture. I think they just did my room... I was only in there for a couple of minutes before I started to get a headache. I requested another room but the hotel is full. They said a room would open up by 8:00 tonight and they will just move my stuff for me. So, in the meantime, I'm sitting outside by the pool having a beer. Not too bad for a December 6th evening, huh?
By the looks of things, Conakry is in much better shape than Freetown. There's much more infrastructure here... there's also poverty, but not to the extent of Sierra Leone's. I'll be able to tell you more about it after tomorrow, along with photos. We have the day off and I'm not sure what we will do... I wouldn't mind just relaxing all day. We'll see. I'll be in touch tomorrow.

This is a quick entry... we're back in Freetown at the embassy using their internet. I just wanted to let you know that our instruments made it here... finally. It turns out they were in Ghana... I guess they saw more of Africa than we did. We have a concert here at the embassy tonight and we leave bright and early (6:30 am) for Conakry, Guinea. It's gonna be a long drive tomorrow... most of the drive will be in Sierra Leone and I hear that it's the bumpiest ride yet. Supposedly the roads will significantly improve in Guinea. I sure hope we will have a reliable internet connection in Guinea... only time will tell. See you later.

Down to Bo...

12/2/07

Today we drove to Bo... more like bounced to Bo. The road on the way here, well... let's just say that it wasn't up to code. The embassy drivers are quite accurate though... we were zooming around potholes and through dips and ruts like it was nobody's business. It's pretty hot here... probably 85-90 degrees and the humidity is real high as well.
We were supposed to have an informal jam session at our hotel tonight, but no other musicians showed up to play... bummer. There were quite a few people there though, so we had an informal gig instead. I must say that after two days on the electric bass, I'm getting pretty good. :) I'm even soloing... and it's not that bad either. Even though the sound isn't what the upright bass can bring, we're still swinging hard.
Well... this is a short entry today. We have a busy day tomorrow- two master classes and a gig that will be broadcasted on the radio. It's about 11:30 pm... I think I'll get some good sleep tonight.

12/3/07

You really don't know how lucky you are to have been born in the US. I've found myself complaining about fairly petty things... and now I'm questioning that. We may have been having slow service and the meat may have the consistency of rubber, but you know what? We're eating... quite well in comparison. Danna, our embassy representative, told me today that Sierra Leone just scored last on the "Human Development Index", meaning It's the most undeveloped country in the world. It really brings things into perspective. She had a good idea... it should be mandatory for everyone who travels overseas to go to an undeveloped country for at least two weeks before they go on there nice posh vacation. I may, or may not go back to the same habits after I get back, but I will think twice before complaining about anything.
Well... gotta leave for our last show in Bo tonight. See ya...

Our show was good... not as many people showed up as we expected. One of the school brass bands made it though. They didn't get a chance to play at the master class earlier in the day, so we let them open up for us. Brass marching bands are quite common here in Sierra Leone due to the English rule early on. It's great that they have music... although it would be even better to see traditional Sierra Leonian music.
Well... I successfully played the %#@ out of the electric bass. On our second song for the night, my A string broke. It was kind of a drag but I made the best of it. I ended up tuning the E string up to A so I didn't have a big hole in the middle of my range. Things were going well... we played two more tunes after that with no problems... ... ... then guess what... my G string broke! Wow... yes, that's the one on the bass. By this time, it was just funny... I was completely expecting another string to break but we decided to only play one more after that and it made it. The best part about it is not that many people in the audience noticed anything. We were all laughing on stage though... this is definitely one of those things that will probably become a story to tell later in life.
Anyway... it's late and I'm tired. We leave back for Freetown early in the morning and I'll finally be able to post these entries. Bye...

Above the water...

It's our second day here in Sierra Leone and we have the day off. We had an unfortunate mishap upon arrival here... we had eleven pieces of luggage on the flight from Dakar. Only 9 made it here. Can you guess which ones were missing? I bet you can... yep, the piano and the bass. Luckily our embassy contact here was able to locate replacement instruments at the last minute. We did the master-class and concert yesterday on borrowed equipment. I played on an electric bass-guitar and Andrew played on a very short electric keyboard. If you were wondering, yes, they did locate our instruments. Unfortunately though, they won't get here until Sunday night... after we leave for Bo. We'll be in Bo for two days, then we come back to Freetown. That means one more master-class and a concert on electric bass... ugh! Anyway, back to Sierra Leone. I said in Dakar that it was a tropical climate... well, this climate blows that one away. It's very tropical here and about 100 percent humidity. Right now we're sitting about ten feet above the water having some drinks. We spent the first half of the day at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary... it's a place that takes chimpanzees from illegal captivity and re-trains them to live in the wild. They currently have eighty-plus chimpanzees and plan to let them all into the wild at one time. It was pretty cool to see them up close... they sure do have personalities.
Yesterday's concert was interesting... we had our sound-check and then we went to dinner where we had the slowest ever service. Our show was supposed to start at eight... we got there at 8:15. On top of that, it's the dry season here... ironically, it had been raining buckets for about 3 hours prior to the concert. There were about twenty people there plus the Sierra Leone Military Brass Band. The military band wanted to play, but they had to leave early, so we let them play before us. Wow!!... At least they were having fun, I'll give them props for that.
It's very different here from Senegal. There's virtually no infrastructure here. They just got through a civil war, where Senegal has been in peace for almost 50 years. The poverty is much more pronounced here... it makes me think of the Great Depression in the US. The town is mostly constructed of tin sheds that people sell things out of and I assume many live in as well. There's not much market for tourism here and the merchants are not pushy at all. I believe it will be a much more "real" experience here in Sierra Leone.
We leave for Bo tomorrow and I doubt there will be internet there, so I'll be back in touch on Tuesday... see you then.

Getting caught up...

First, I have to say I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up on my blog. There's so much going on here... and I'm not just talking about our schedule. It's been an amazing stay here in Senegal... both Dakar and Saint Louis have been very welcoming. Everyone is extremely friendly, even the pushy merchants on the streets. Unfortunately for the merchants... if you take the time to talk to them, they never leave you alone. I came to a realization that I would take more time to look at there goods and even purchase more from the merchants if the they weren't so in your face. Even a simple "No Merci" is a window for more heckling. But, like I said, they are genuinely nice people and would probably give you the shirt off there own back. For those of you that may not know, Senegal was a French colony that gained independence in 1961. Luckily Andrew speaks French... he's been our main translator. I've been able to understand and speak a bit of it... mostly... well, all easy words. Now I can say that taking French from third to eighth grade was beneficial... plus I have a decent french accent. :) We had three shows here, and our music seems to be a hit with the audiences. Plus, working with the local musicians has been very fun. It's interesting to see and hear traditional African instruments mixed in with American jazz. On the flip side, we have played along with there traditional music which is one the things that I was really looking forward to. We had the chance to play with an excellent kora player as well as a couple of African-style drummers. A kora is a traditional African instrument made from a calabash which is a large gourd like fruit. On that first show, I played real hard. After having a week off from playing, my hands were quite sore. Last nights gig was better. I think I've gotten past the initial fatigue... now I'll just have to maintain and not get any blisters.
Right now, I'm on the plane en-route to Freetown, Sierra Leone. We have a short layover in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. After we get to Freetown, we hop on a helicopter to cross the bay. Then... after we just got used to the currency in Senegal, we get to start over with Sierra Leone. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, it just gets a bit confusing dealing with multiple currencies.... even though I work at a bank. HA! Another thing we'll have to get used to is a new embassy staff and sound crew... we were very, very spoiled in Senegal. If our next crew is half as good, I will be extremely happy. I finally found a cord for my camera as you may notice by the pictures... that was a trial!
Well... I'll update after we see a bit of Sierra Leone. Bye for now!

Dakar, Senegal...

Hi all...

We made it to Dakar after 2 long sleepless flights. Well, sleepless for me, that is. Mark, on the other hand, slept the whole way... what a jerk! Anyway, you may notice that there are no photos posted on this particular entry. It turns out I left my USB cord at home... whoops! I guess I will have to buy another one here. In place of the photos, I can tell you all that it is a beautiful day here in Dakar. Clear skies, mid eighties and our hotel overlooks the ocean. It's a very tropical climate here and there are lots of interesting looking birds. We had our first meal in the hotel restaurant and so far, nobody is feeling sick... that's a good start.
Well, our day is fairly light today... we're going to go take a look at the city and get some lunch. Hopefully I will be able to find a cord for my camera so all of you can see the sights of Senegal.
That's all for now...

Let's get started!

Here we are... you wouldn't want to meet us in a dark alley, would you?
This is the start of my first-ever "blog." I'm going to try and keep this up for our entire trip in Western and Central Africa. We will be traveling to Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, The Republic of the Congo (RC) and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. (DRC)
I will try and post as many photos as I can, along with a description or two...
For now though... Happy early Thanksgiving to those I will miss, and I will be talking to you again when we arrive in Senegal!!