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Hey all:

I've always wanted to do this. I'm writing on a laptop, rocking back and forth in a
hammock in the middle of my room. It would be absolutely serene if it weren't for the
constant traffic and movement in front of the Globo building (right across the
street). Two days ago I put the hammock up and it was not an easy task due to the
concrete walls. While drilling into one of the external walls I accidentally went
through to the outside of the building ... you could actually see the Christ statue
on Corcovado through the hole!

Things are going well down here, in the midst of my 14th month in Rio. I figured it
was time for another edition of Tales of a Gringo, as the last couple of weeks have
been fairly eventful for me.

On May 3rd I played pandeiro in my first "official" concert. A friend of mine, and
one of the best guitarists in Rio, named Zé Paulo Becker invited me to play as a
guest in a concert of his at a place called Arte Sumaria in the Santa Teressa section
of Rio. We played an original composition of his - 2 nylon string guitars and
pandeiro. It was a very tricky instrumental piece with a lot of breaks and surprises.
The whole thing came about very organically and I was very surprised and flattered by
the invitation to participate. Zé and I had been hanging out a bunch and one day he
invited me over to his place to play, along with a talented young guitarist named
Daniel. Zé showed us this new tune of his and we immediately started working on an
arrangement. He was so happy with it that the next day he asked us if we wanted to
play in the concert (10 days later).

As I said in my last email, I've done plenty of sitting in and even got paid to play
a little gig in Paraty. But playing with Zé here in Rio was a whole other step for
me. Zé is known for writing some of the best arrangements of Brazilian music for
guitar in Brazil at the moment and has played with ALL of the most noted pandeiro
players - both young and old. Just a couple of weeks before we played the concert I
saw him with one of his groups (Trio Madeira Brasil) playing with Marcos Suzano (the
most famous pandeiro player in Brasil). So, while I was very excited about the
opportunity, part of me was wondering why the hell he wanted to play with me!

The concert went very well. The place was packed and it's a place where people really
go to listen. The percussionist on the rest of the show was Beto Cazes, one of the
top percussionists in Rio and I guy I once took a lesson with. I actually filmed the
same show last year for my film ... how wild to be on stage with them instead of
behind the camera. After I played my tune Beto insisted I stay on stage and play the
last piece with them - a homage to Baden Powell ... which I'd never played before! It
was a very special night for me.

A few days later, Daniel had his graduation recital at one of the universities here
and a few hours before the recital he decided he wanted Zé and I to play that same
tune with him as part of the concert. He played several solo pieces and then 3 duos
with Sergio (an amazing 22 year old pandeiro player and not the guy I would choose to
follow!). Daniel gave me a really nice introduction, telling a bit of my story, and
the audience really seemed to dig it. The tune went very well and the feedback was
great. An American pandeiro player generally baffles people here. After we played,
Daniel played Villa Lobos' concerto for guitar and orchestra!

The day after the concert in Santa Teressa I took a minute to think about the
experience and all of the ups and downs I've been through to get to this point. I
don't think I ever really expected to be asked to play in a situation like that here
in Rio - perhaps a random gig, but not in a concert setting. I still have plenty to
learn and improve on, but what a great opportunity to grow. It's funny when I think
back to when I first met Zé in Lapa over a year ago. We wound up playing duo at a bar
in the street. I had no idea at the time that he was one of the top guys in Rio. I've
actually used his duo CD with Beto to practice quite a bit over the last year and
have always hoped to get a chance to play his arrangements with him. I guess
sometimes the key is just patience.

The concert was recorded and filmed, so I'm going to try to put a clip up on the web
one of these days.

It's still kind of an adjustment to accept a more humble kind of attitude after years
of playing guitar at a professional level. But when you change your instrument,
genre, culture, etc. it's inevitable. During a rehearsal Zé was giving me shit about
rushing the tempo in one spot and I couldn't help but think back to the days when I
used to bark at drummers for doing the same thing! Funny.

Other than playing things are cool. I've got 7 English students now - 4 privates and
a group of 3. I'm continuing to do the recordings in English for CCAA, but it's been
a bit slow. Hopefully that will pick up. One of my roomates moved out with one week’s
notice. With him went almost all of the furniture, not to mention his computer which
I was using for email. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We now have a new
roomate, an American guy named Ben who's been in Brasil for a few months and the vibe
in the apt. has improved quite a bit (not to mention he has a Mac laptop!). The only
drag is that I'm now speaking a lot more English than I'd like to. I had finally
gotten to the point where I was only speaking English when I was getting paid to. So
now it's me, Ben and Vinicius (guy from Minas Gerias). I've made my room a bit more
cozy - hammock, queen size mattress, but the rest of the place is pretty empty right
now.

Socially things continue to improve. My circle of friends continues to grow and some
of those friendships are becoming more meaningful. That stuff really takes time and
I'm glad I've stuck it out here to be able to see this change. There's almost always
something to do and someone to hang out with and drink a beer.

Ah, what would an edition of Tales of a Gringo be without some drama .... how's this?
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of spending almost 8 hours in a 3rd world public
hospital ... fun! I had almost a 104 degree fever and with the Dengue epidemic here
thought it would be a good idea to get checked out ... I'm going to spare you all the
details. Good news is it wasn't Dengue and I'm fine.

I know you all will want to know what my plans are .... sorry! Nothing to tell at
this point. With these recent playing experiences I'm in no hurry to leave Rio
anytime soon. I hope to have more of them. Hopefully I'll gather up enough work to
keep a float and I'll take it from there. Of course I miss a bunch of things from
back in NYC and I would love to visit sometime soon. We'll see where my head's at in
a few months.

Well, after writing my first ever email in a hammock I must highly recommend it to
all. I MUST get my own laptop one of these days ... this is great!

I hope you're all well and I'd love to hear from you when you have a chance to write.

Abraços,
Scott