The day Michael Jackson died, I knew something big was happening, and I knew it was going to be a lot of fun. After his death and in the United States, I myself at concerts with bands playing his songs live and everybody absolutely LOVING it. I found myself watching a Michael Jackson documentary with my very Lutheran mom and my Jewish friend Sam. I found myself conversing, live on the radio, with sixth-graders about who he was, what kind of music he made, and what, eactly, was the real cause of his death.
However, what I didn't realize was that Michael Jackson's death was going to be an international phenomenon that had the potential of uniting people from different continents all over the world. The last two weekends that I've gone out, I always manage to hear at least two Michael Jackson songs, and it's fabulous, because 1. All the Americans love Michael Jackson and don't need to know how to dance to dance to his music 2. All the Peruvians love it becuase it's American and in English and it's awesome and 3. Michael Jackson is great.
La moraleja de la historia es that frome here on out, Michael Jackson' birthday is going to be an internationally celebrated holiday (according to the calendar in my planner) until the day I die. In fact, if I'm lucky, the date of my death will coincide with his, so that all of my friends and family can have the biggest, most awesome funeral celebration ever. Also, everyone here is familiar with Thriller.
On a different note, we went to Polvos Azules yesterday, which is the big market-esque place where they sell things like: name brand shoes (LOTS of name brand shoes... as in aisles and aisles and aisles of Nike, Reebok, Converse, and Adidas shoes... all for prices that really, are either equivalent to or more expensive than what we find in the U.S), clothing, pirated music and DVDs, video games, clothes, accessories, posters of weird things, and other stuff. Although I was planning on buying some cheap shoes for basketball (which I didn't find), I (of course) ended up buying 5 cds instead (which cost me the equivalent of $5, more or less. I got some reggaeton, Aventura (a group whose singer makes me, and almost all other Peruvian girls melt into a puddle), and Peruvian Rock. And the Peruvia rock is what I want to comment on most.
Many of you know that I love music, and new music, and "good" music very very very much. And I realized that here, I haven't been listening to anything because almost my entire iTunes collection is English. So, I was determined to do something, and start listening to all of the Peruvian Rock I possibly could. I even checked out a book from the library all about it with history, band profiles, lyrics, and everything! I was well on my way.... thennnnnn, I started listening to some songs on youtube (here, pronounced something like, "yooo toooof") and I realized, "wait a second, these songs kind of suck." And I kept listening and I said to myself, "What am I listening to? This is like stuff from the 80s and the unfortunate alternative rock from the 90s that makes me really stupid when I listen to it." BUT, I still really appreciate it because the peruvian rock from the 80s really expresses a profound sense of disillusion that people here felt, in light of the corrupt politics, the violence, the depression, and other very hopeless circumstances facing Peruvians at the time. The only thing is that, here, like in the United States, the Peruvian rock seems to represent a rather white, bourgeois perspective attempting to affect change in an essentially futile way. Ok ok ok. That's just what I think.
There is this band called "We all together" (and it's not a translation) that is from the 60s and they are like the Beatles, but in Spanish. I swear. They even have a song called "Hey Revolution" (which is also not a translation). And I also believe they took part in a similar array of drugs. And finally, I was talking to this hip hop artist yesterday who told me, when I asked him if he liked Reggaeton, that "No, it doesn't have any content"... as in there's no substance to the lyrics. And I responded, "But what about the rhythm, that's why I love reggaeton." And he agreed and was like, "yes, of course" but proceeded to say how hip hop is a movement that expresses something, ideas that are meaningful and substantive and impotant for society to hear and share and consider. And with that, I absolutely agree.
Anyways, last night, I went to Miraflores and Barranco. In Miraflores, we went to the opening of this exhibit in an art galery of two very famous grafitti artists. I thought their art was really good and interesting and awesome. But what was equally as interesting was that all of the artsy, counter culture, hipster-esque, white Peruvians emerged from the cracks in the walls to congregate in one place and partake in this sophisticated yet definitively "underclass" expression of art. In all of my time here, I haven't experienced something so familiar... that's really not true... but I felt like I was in Madison, standing outside of Espresso Royale, talking with fashionable people, smoking cigarrettes, flaunting their cultural capital, and access to social/economic resources. It was great.
(Also, on the bus ride to Miraflores, I decided that I'm really going to get a tatoo. Of course, of what I don't know, but I'm going to. And when I find something meaning(ful/less) enough to get imprinted on me for eternity, I will let you all know how it turns out.
And this brings me to the point about how everything here takes so long. It is like a fact of nature here. I met up with Mariah, and one of our other friends, and one of Mariah's good friends from Milwaukee, who was with some of her Peruvian friends. My plans included, 1. Go to the opening of this exhibit 2. Leave for Barranco 3. Find a place to drink and dance.
First of all, I left from my house (in San Borja) an hour later than I planned. Then, from Mariah's it took us another hour to meet up with here friend from Milwaukee. Then after we were done with all of that counter-culture nonsense at the galery, it took us another hour (after walking up and down sidewalks in a two block radius and asking strangers to take pictures of us) to finally decide to get in a taxi and go to any place in Barranco. But thankfully, three hours after my journey began, I found myself at Trapiche, this bar that serves drinks from la Selva (rainforest/jungle), sharing some very strong pitchers of 1. Supersexy (pronounced sooopairsaykseee) and 2. Cae Solita.
(On a side note, I really like drinking here as a opposed to in Madison for a few very important reasons. First of all, in Madison, you essentially have 3 to 5 hours to get drunk, socialize, approach someone at a bar, make conversation, and go home with them, sober enough to maintain at least part of your self image and dignity- because you start between 10 and 11 and finish at 2 (bar time). Whereas here, you can start early at 10-11 and typically stay out till 4 (bar time). It is a solid 6 hours- a two hour bonus! Second, given the short amount of time to go out and white people's lack of dancing skills, the main objective is to get really drunk and maybe have some type of interesting coversation. Here, I find myself, very very very easily exercising a lot more self restraint in my drinking with very little difficulty. And finally, all of this paced intoxication and dancing allows be to worry a lot less about needing someon to take care of me when I drink)
Well, I actually need to eat breakfast right now, since I've been sitting here typing for far too long, so I'll have to finish all of my cultural comparisons later...
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