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!!!