Four days before leaving Mérida for Oaxaca, my good friend Javed invited me to play the entire Black Sea Storm set at his birthday party. For the occasion, he asked one of his friends Juan Carlos to let us borrow his P.A. The birthday party was going to take place at “Casa Huapango la 75” with the help and live participation of “Son Jarocho en Mérida.”
Flashback
I did not exactly know how many people would show up and if the event would be set up as a real show or more like a get together in a relaxed and convivial atmosphere. I decided to prepare myself as if I would get ready for any show. In the past, some birthday and house parties turned themselves into the best shows I’ve ever played in my career as a rocker.
I would never forget a show we played for Seth Combs birthday in the year 2004 or 2005 with my San Diego based band Channing Cope. Initially, it was going to be a birthday party with an attendance of 15 to 30 people. Friends inviting friends in a chain reaction type of scenario, when I made it to the house to unload my rock n’ roll gear there were over 200 people around the house hanging out with beer cans in paper bags. A crowd made mostly of young men under the age of consuming alcohol in the United States.
The house we were supposed to play at was facing a canyon. Canyons are one of the main elements that make San Diego so unique and most importantly, a way different than Los Angeles in my opinion. We set up our gear on the front patio that served us as a stage.
We had brought our amps and drum-set with us, and for the vocals, we used a guitar amp from one of the other bands playing that night. With the number of people who had shown up, I had a feeling that there was a high likelihood that the party was going to be shut down at one point. I went ahead and told the other bands that we did not mind as Channing Cope to go on first. Usually, this isn’t the best slot to play, but my gut feeling was telling me
We started to rock out, and the young crowd with no time got into our music. Some of the kids were mosh-pitting and stage diving. With the elevated wooden patio and the canyon nearby, the acoustic was working in our favor. We sounded as we were playing a legitimate show at the club if not better. Our sound resonated in the whole neighborhood. During the instrumental portion of our songs, there was a dude from the crowd that would join us on “stage” and scream into my mic Max Cavalera style. As we started to play our last song on the playlist for that night, that is when a ghetto bird passed over our heads aiming its mounted spotlight to our band performing live. It felt like a scene out of a Guns n’ Roses video from the ’90s. This particular moment was one of the times I felt the greatest sensation of freedom in my entire life. Playing a rock show alone usually gives me an exceptional sensation of freedom, but in this context, all my feelings were amplified, and the ghetto bird flying over our heads as a finale element of the concert was the perfect icing on the cake to make the night an unforgettable one.
Short after we ended the last song, the party was shut down by the San Diego Police. I carried my bass amp to bring it to my car parked nearby. As soon as I stepped outside of the garden area of the house, I saw about 10 police cars on the street. I made a few trips to my car to load up all my gear and left soon after with a rock n’ roll mission accomplished feeling. It was a fantastic show. Probably one of the best I got to play in my life.
During that period of my life, I was taking classes at San Diego City College and working as a barista at the school’s cafeteria at the same time. Once I had made it to campus the Monday following the night of the show, there was a good amount of people greeting me by saying ” – good show, man” while grabbing their cup of joe. I later found out that not only there was a large number of people in front of the wooden patio in the garden area of the house, but there were also people on the other side of the canyon listening to our music. We had definitely made a sonic impact on the neighborhood of South Park on that night.
Back to the JFest19
Back to Javed’s birthday. Fast forward some 15 years later, and here I am still aiming to play shows in gardens and patios. This time in Mérida Mexico at JavedFest 2019. Javed offered me to give me a ride to the party early on, but I decided to take advantage of the morning and the early afternoon to workout and to practice a little bit more for the show. I knew that since it was going to be a birthday party, I probably won’t have much of an opportunity to play during soundcheck. I took an UBER to the address that Javed had given me. It was a scorching day as it is often the case in Mérida. This is my second time in the Yucatan capital, and this is the second time I have managed to be here during the middle of summer. I love and live for hot weather, but Mérida can be a challenge at times, even for someone like me.
Meeting Capi
Once my ride had dropped me off, I had the feeling that I was at the wrong address. I couldn’t see Javed’s car, and there was absolutely no one around. I had no internet connection, and there was no business around where I could ask for WIFI. I decided to walk to the cross street to make sure that I was
Food
The house had a beautiful and substantial garden. Javed, his sister Mari and his mom had prepared some delicious food. Costilla with rice & beans and tortillas to taco-wrap the entire deliciousness. At many occasions during my visits to Nanishe (Javed’s family’s restaurant), I had the opportunity to try many items that weren’t on the menu. Not only I love every listed item, but everything I had at Nanishe off the menu was always incredibly yummy. I absolutely love Javed’s and his family’s approach to food. They’re extremely talented to make things taste good without food being overwhelming after a few bites.
Not only the food prepared for Javed’s birthday was delicious, but there was also plenty of it. After finishing my third plate of this fantastic food, I started to play soccer with a four-year-old kid named Alan. I had not kicked into a soccer ball for the past eight years or so. It felt terrific to have fun with the ball. While we were eating and playing soccer Capi and several other musicians were involved in a jam session called “Son.” A way of jamming with
The Storm
All of a sudden, our perfect birthday afternoon was interrupted by a storm. It started to rain heavily. We all gathered inside the house. Javed asked me if I wanted to take advantage of the situation and play my set indoors. I wasn’t delighted with the sound of the rain that was probably going to interfere with the quieter parts of my set, but at the same time with the heavy rain, the crowd couldn’t go anywhere and will be forced to listen to some Turkish Rock for a full 45 minutes. We set up everything pretty quickly. And I started to play.
The Show
The conditions were challenging, but in a way where I felt strengthened, it was hot inside, the rain was pouring outside. I was playing under casual neon lights. Some people will come and go, others would pay attention to the show. All the challenging factors aside, I felt way better than my previous two appearances in Mérida. Although I am only playing on an acoustic guitar, it really felt like a rock n’ roll show. The black James Hetfield ’90s style wife-beater I was wearing was drenched in sweat. The response of the crowd was extremely positive, and I had a great time performing. I think the live set is nicely coming together, although I feel like I am still far from what I can really do on stage as a solo act. One step at a time I will get there inşallah.
I have three shows booked in Oaxaca. I look forward to those.