Culiacan, Sinaloa
I arrived in Culiacan in the late afternoon. After leaving my belongings at the rental apartment, I rushed outside to take the maximum amount of photos while the sun was still up. Culiacan is not a pedestrian-friendly city. I was able to walk up to the botanical garden from the apartment and then to the river. I had been dry-fasting since my last meal at Comiendo Sano the night before. I decided to prolong the fast and not eat in Culiacan.
I left very early in the morning and took a bus to Hermosillo. I must have stayed a total of 14 hours in the city. It isn’t enough time to get to know a city, but it was still fun to wander in the streets and get lost.
Hermosillo, Sonora
The bus dropped me at a small bus terminal late at night. There was no free WIFI on site. I am about to approach the four-year mark as to be living without a cellphone plan. I managed the situation pretty well so far, but things could become problematic for me in cities based on car culture. The combination of not having a car nor a cell phone plan can be a recipe for small or big disasters depending on the situation.
Since I could not call an UBER, I had to take a cab to make my new room. I was lucky that I could find a taxi. The bus terminal was minuscule and was only hosting one bus company. I’ve made it to the rented room OK and was able to self-check-in.
I was exhausted. I decided to prolong the fast and not eat or drink until the next day. The next day happened to be December 31st. I called all-vegetarian restaurants I could find online to see if they were open. They were all doing take-outs on this particular day, but no dine-ins. I decided to walk the streets of the La Huerta neighborhood to see what was around.
First Impressions
Culiacan already wasn’t the most pedestrian-friendly place. Well, Hermosillo was even less. As I would be walking the streets, I’d only run into some homeless people. What got my attention was that the homeless looked like post-apocalyptic warriors. They often had backpacks with a sleeping mat on; they were lean with a well-built musculature. They looked like tough survivors. To me, that says a lot about a city. Probably the weaker homeless people could not survive in a town like this. There was nothing touristy about Hermosillo so far, and that was appealing to me. Although it seemed to be a bit of a dangerous place, it felt real; it felt good to be here.
Looking For Food
I was able to capture some inspiring shots with my second hand iPhone SE. It was going to be a challenge to find food. I had been dry-fasting for 66 hours already. I usually like to break my fast with green juice. It was not going to happen on this day in La Huerta.
Nonetheless, I ran into a pretty nice looking seafood restaurant named Mariscos Galaviz. It was not the best type of food to break a dry-fast, but it seemed to be the only option for a person without a car on a December 31st afternoon living in La Huerta. I had two choices, break my fast eating at this restaurant or keep fasting one more day. The only problem with option two was that on January 1st, it would probably be even more challenging to find a place to eat.
Breaking The Fast
I ended up breaking my fast at the seafood place. I had a light-speed crush on the waitress lady serving my table even though she was wearing a face mask. My fascination was not so much based on looks, but more because she was the best waitress ever I’ve seen in Mexico. I was not in Mexico’s most touristy region, not in the most touristy city, and definitely not in the most touristy neighborhood. But here she was, doing her job to perfection. She was aware of her surroundings and everything that was going on in the dining room.
I was able to break my fast with some sugar-free lemonade. Although the restaurant did not have salads on the menu, the waitress lady made the kitchen prepare me a salad. At one point, a customer lit up a cigarette. Smoke, in general, is something I despise, even more so in restaurants. It totally destroys the pleasure I get from eating and life in general. Within 20 seconds after the customer started to smoke, the waitress asked me if I wanted to be seated elsewhere. I did not complain; she sensed that I was bothered by cigarette smoke solely by observing me.
I had a great time at this place. It’s always a joyful moment to break prolonged fasts. The waitress lady asked me what I was doing in Hermosillo, which became an opportunity to self-promote. I gave her a Black Sea Storm business card. She promised me that she’d stream my songs on Spotify. After having a friendly chat with her, It was time for me to leave the restaurant. On the parking lot, the manager approached me and asked me how I felt about the restaurant. I gave unbiased feedback on the food and told him that the waitress had exceptional service skills. Thank the waitress lady and the restaurant manager, my first customer service experience in Hermosillo was just out of this world.
31st
I just wanted to spend the 31st playing music and working on Black Sea Storm side projects. For a couple of decades now, I have taken the habit to be playing music at midnight on January 1st. That night was pretty chill until one of the people renting the room next to mine decided to put some cumbia and banda music at a super high volume. For an hour or so, I went to play my guitar in the bathroom because it was just not possible for me to play my guitar with the conflict between different melodic sound sources inside the main room. The guitar sounded great in the bathroom with the natural reverberation.
Inside the main room, the bass frequencies would just hurt my ears. It was almost a physical molestation. I contacted the host, saying that the renting platform had clearly stated that parties were not allowed when I rented the room. He did not respond to me right away, but around 1:30 AM, he kicked out the apartment complex the party people. The next morning I could still feel my left ear, the one ear facing the shared wall with the cumbia enthusiast neighbor. He must of put the woofer against a wall or something. Since my room was tinny, I think the bass frequencies did not have enough space to develop. It was a sort of a mild torture session I had to go through. It wasn’t the best way to end the year, but as many of us, I was glad that I had made it to 2021 and 2020 was behind me.
2020 was not bad for Black Sea Storm
Time will tell, but so far, I have the feeling that 2020 is the year I’ve made the most progress with Black Sea Storm. I think 2020 made me become a better guitar player on the acoustic. I have completed 26 chapters of the Black Sea Storm book. On Spotify and Instagram, I quadrupled the number of Black Sea Storm followers. I have produced over 110 published Arpeggios of the day and about a total of 300 new song ideas and released 5 new single albums. Since my remote job was not affected by the pandemic and I was already on the road with my life in a suitcase, I was, without knowing it, prepared to a certain extent to take the heat. For the past three decades or so, I have always wished to make a living with my music. The fact that I failed to become a full-time professional musician but still kept producing music made me more resilient for such circumstances. For people who were only relying on music to make ends meet, 2020 was a horrible year.
Playing The Arpeggios of The Day in Different Locations
As in Puerto Vallarta, in Mazatlan, I wasn’t very successful at booking shows either. While I was riding the bus from Culiacan to Hermosillo, an idea came to me. What if I’d perform The Arpeggios of The Day from businesses that I feel aligned with. I would only need the music to be turned off for five or ten minutes, come up with an arpeggio, and record it. That way, I could give some exposure to that particular business. In return, if the café or restaurant shares my Instagram story, I would get exposure to their Instagram followers. What excited me the most with this idea was that I could keep the tour spirit alive even without playing legit shows. The Arpeggios of The Day already had a good following; publishing them once in a while from different places could only add some value.
Madre Tierra
The first vegetarian restaurant I discovered in Hermosillo was Madre Tierra. When I first went to eat there, I got the impression that they did not like me too much. I did not feel much love from the person attending my table. Until my food arrived, I thought that I would probably never be back. They had plant-based Posole on that day. The food was so good that I decided to put up with the staff’s moodiness and soon returned to eat there again. I started to order the menu of the day at each visit. The food was getting better and better. What amazed me the most about this place was that they were doing simple home cooking, but they were doing it at very a high level. The person attending the tables started to be more agreeable to me over time. I then realized that this wasn’t just a typical vegetarian restaurant. People working there were intensely focused and involved in preparing every single dish. The person serving tables was working in the kitchen as well. It is always difficult to cover the kitchen and the front of the house at the same time. I very quickly became a fan of Madre Tierra. At each of my visits, they would blow my mind away with the menu of the day. On top of the food being outstanding, the portions were fulfilling and the prices fair and accessible.
I thought it would be a good idea to have the first Arpeggio of The Day outside of a rented apartment at Madre Tierra. One day near closing time, when the owner Bili wasn’t too busy, I told him that I was a touring musician. I told him about the Arpeggios of The Day and my desire to take them outside of the house. Bili seemed to dig the idea. I told him about Black Sea Storm and that I was initially a bass player, but to keep it going and be 100% autonomous, I had developed new skills and learn other instruments.
My Imaginary Hermosillo Bass Player Pyrimid
At that very moment, Kacho, the man doing the deliveries for Madre Tierra, walked in. Bili told him, referring to me. “-He is a musician, he is a bass player too” I soon found out that Bili and Kacho were both musicians and both were bass players. The restaurant was empty of customers, and here we were, Billy Kacho and I as if we were forming a triangle of bass players. I had chosen Hermosillo as a destination because the city name was the same as Tristeza’s bass player’s last name. The moment turned itself into sweet candy for my imagination. The triangle of bass players we were forming Kacho, Bili, and I turned into a pyramid of bass players, with Luis Hermosillo representing the top of the geometrical shape.
Bili told me that there was no problem that I could come in the next day to shoot the Arpeggio of the Day at Madre Tierra. I was thrilled. Not only because Bili allowed me to shoot at his restaurant, but he validated that it was good to collaborate with businesses for the Arpeggios of The Day.
Kacho
Later on, Kacho sat at my table and started to ask me questions about Black Sea Storm. He told me that he was doing some music production, and if I wanted to record some songs, we could do it in his studio. I asked him if he could listen to his work. Via Bluetooth connected his phone to the restaurant’s stereo system and shared a song he had recorded with me. He told me that he wasn’t charging hourly. His business model was project-based. He was ready to spend the time it takes to complete a song. Suddenly, the whole recording with Kacho started to sound like a good opportunity for Black Sea Storm.
I left Buenos Aires in March. I have my bass and electric guitars waiting for me at a storage place in La Ciudad de la Furia. With the current situation, it doesn’t look like I can smoothly go back there to record. It had been a while that I was looking for an opportunity to record while I am touring. Kacho’s offer was the type of opportunity I was looking for. The only problem was that after Hermosillo, I wanted to make my way to Tijuana to have a romantic moment contemplating through the wall, the very south of San Diego. The city where Black Sea Storm has debuted and where I spent 11 and half years of my life.
I had booked a place to stay in Mexicali that same morning. Kacho’s proposition was a great one, but the timing was awful. If we had talked a day earlier, it would have been perfect; I would have just extended my stay in Hermosillo to record with him. I told Kacho to let me think about his offer. I told him that I was willing to make it happen, but I needed to go to Mexicali first.
About Black Sea Storm
Black Sea Storm started as a recording side project in 2002. During that period, I was still actively playing bass in rock bands in San Diego, California. In 2011 Black Sea Storm became my sole musical outlet. In 2017 I moved to Latin America from Europe, and in 2018 I decided to live my life as a nomad and integrate touring as a significant component to my lifestyle.
With this blog, I am trying to capture some of the adventures of being an independent full-time traveling rocker. I am hoping that my writing will bring people to listen to my music. There is so much music available online that it becomes challenging at times to take the time and discover a new artist.
Through my stories, perhaps some people will have an opportunity to connect with my music. I have no pretensions of becoming a writer. I see writing as one of the rock n roll weapons in an independent DIY artist’s arsenal.
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