The Locust

Oh, I just remembered why we hate The Locust! The night that we played in Atlanta, The Locust was playing at a big club there, and we were told that we had a small turnout because everyone was at their show. Oddly enough, they played in Mexico City last Saturday, which was the smaller of our two shows. Someone mentioned that there would have been a much better turnout had The Locust not been playing... Curse them... ha ha!

Things That I will Miss

The comedy routine of Heber, Isidro, and I, waking up in our room at Hotel Virreyes, every morning, sorting ourselves out, and heading down to the mid-century modern lobby to see who from Chicago was already tapping away on their laptops.

My daily fresh-squeezed orange juice... sometimes an orange and carrot blend... and often at Cafe El Popular, Isidro's favorite breakfast hangout... where he had his ritual cafe con leche. if there, always with an excellent cafe espresso, or two. My favorite would probably be El Morro, for the freshest churros on earth, served with tasty hot chocolate... like a DF equivalent to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.

Never being more than five feet away from a delicious taco.

Packs of wild dogs roaming the streets.

Insane taxi drivers, running red lights, driving down streets in reverse gear, swerving through traffic, etc.

Riding the Metro (no need for Berlin references, please) and hearing all sorts of music blaring from CD vendors' backpack boomboxes.

The sea of street vendors with counterfeit and bootleg everything... very different than Canal Street in NYC, and seemingly everywhere and endless...

The constant stream of rickety old collectivos cruising down every major street.

Someone always handing us an Indio or a "Vicky" (Victoria) at a bar or a club or gallery or a party...

The mix of the modern, the colonial, and the crumbling... The nearly incomprehensible sprawl of the city... best observed from the top of the observation deck of the Torre Latinoamericana.

The blend of salsa verde and (creamy) guacamole that I have never seen in Chicago and that I fell in love with, found at so many taquerias. And hey, while we are at it, eating lots of great guacamole, nearly every day.

All of the fantastic people that we met and hung out with while we were there. It was so fun to be a part of this week-long party - um, I mean multi-media arts festival - that moved around different sections of the city --- and spending time with such cool, creative people, day after day.

More soon...
Mark

Photo Sneak Peek

Here are a couple of photographs that Ben Syverson sent via e-mail, prior to him sorting out the zillions of shots that he took down in Mexico...


Mark Solotroff
Under Kabarett
Mexico City
June 22, 2007




Isidro Reyes and Mark Solotroff
Under Kabarett
Mexico City
June 22, 2007

BLOODYMINDED video from Mexico City

Here are the first clips online, courtesy of Sergio Sanchez of Ruido Horrible [http://www.ruidohorrible.blogspot.com/]:

BLOODYMINDED
Under Kabarett
Mexico D.F.

"Trophy"



"Genital Panic"



"A Song For Lisanne, A Young Model"

Mexico City Update 4

We are in a town called Patzcuaro, in Michoacan, where Isidro´s sister lives. It is beautiful here. Very relaxing. We spent yesterday in Guanajuato, visiting the famous mummies there, along with vrious churche, markets, etc. The mummies were definitely cool to see... they are ultra-creepy! The previous night was spent relaxing in Salamanca, where Heber has family. It has been nice to just take it easy for a couple of days, but I miss the energy of Mexico City - but we will be back there tonight - and what a long night it will be... as we will stay up all night, in order to be at the airport at 4:00 AM.

So, Saturday´s show was totally excellent, too. Sergio set us up at a small club called Cafe Soul. We played with a goth-metal band called Omegha... really, really nice guys... who helped us out with gear, set-up, etc. The entire extended Ruido Horrible and Kiddie Riot crew (Sergio, Marcos, etc.) brought amazing energy to the show and we went as hard as we could. Earlier in the day, we met a bunch of those guys a the music market - El Chopo - where they were handing out flyers to the goths, the punks, and the metal heads, who were out in full force. It was great to meet not just one group of people - the rawbits folks - but people from the noise scene, as well.

I will try to post more fter I get back... I have not had ny coffee yet and I am still groggy... Amazing trip, gret travels with Isidro nd Heber, along with all of the Chicago rawbits people that we were with.

More soon...

Mark