Tio Scott
March 20, 2004

Last night I got called to play a little gig at a restaurant in Ipanema. The place was a bit strange and the music was so-so, but I had a blast. Why? Two kids, a brother and sister, Juliana and Leonardo (ages 8 and 5) approached the "roda" before the second set. They were just adorable, sweet, smiling kids who wanted to sample the percussion instruments. Usually this would be just a drag, but they really wanted to try to play correctly and they were just so damn cute.

I gave them tons of attention and encouraged them to play during the set. Juliana took to the "reco-reco" really well and little Leonardo liked the tamborim. They were those kinds of kids (that you find more in Brasil) that look right into your eyes and smile without any sense of embarrassment. Man, we had a blast. They were calling me "Tio", which means uncle (that's pretty common here) and when it was time to leave they didn't want me to go and started climbing all over me. One older guy in the restaurant came over to me and said I should start a children's school! Another woman asked me if the kids were mine. Very funny.

I left the gig buzzing, but before I did I went over to their mother and congratulated her on her two wonderful kids.

Posted by Scott at 05:09 PM