Sao Paulo Trip

Sao Paulo, Brazil – May 2007 – I had a great time on my trip to Sao Paulo to oversee the installation of my photos at FAAP. I went to some rock clubs and met people on the scene there. I felt very comfortable in Sao Paulo and many times I was reminded of the feeling of New York in the 1970’s when things were more DIY and people believed in themselves and had fun.

May 3 - Sao Paulo - They were just starting to build the exhibition when I got there on May 3rd.

May 4 - Sao Paulo - Tito has built a new night club called Tirana Club and when I went he played with his band Wash.

It was cool to see that my book 'Rockers', the catalogue of the exhibition, was on display in the local stores.

May 5 - Sao Paulo - My book editor, Alexandre Barbosa De Souza, took me to the Berlin Club where I met Indayara, the promoter of the evening.

May 6 - Sao Paulo - At the Berlin Club I enjoyed the set played by DJ Vanessa Porto, (left in photo) and after the show her friend Olivia Camaigo (on the right) helped translate and Vanessa invited me to be a guest DJ later in the week.

Then Olivia drove me, and Vanessa rode with singer Tiago Moreli. They took me to see the Funhouse club and I agreed to try being a guest DJ there.

May 7 - Sao Paulo - I went to visit my publisher Cosac & Naify and congratulated the book editor Alexandre Barbosa De Souza and art director Flavia Castanheira for creating such a beautiful book. It has a double cover making a portfolio of photos from one side and flipping to a catalog of the exhibition from the other.

Meanwhile the construction of the installation was continuing with the building of three large video screens, the backstage area and the teenage bedroom.

May 8 - Sao Paulo - Fernanda introduced me to Clifford Ming Teh Li who is owner of a nightclub/restaurant called the Na Mata Café that houses the Sao Paulo branch of the Leica camera gallery, and we talked about possible sales of my photos there.

May 9 - Sao Paulo - I visited Antoine and the staff at Labtec where the large prints for the exhibition were being made.

On Wednesday night I went to the Funhouse to meet Vanessa and after a few minutes showing me where the switches were, she set me loose to DJ. I keep the place loud and lively with Rock & Roll for the next hour and had the best time I've had in a long time!

Supla, Vanessa & Indayara had smiles almost as big as mine when we left! Vanessa had described being a DJ by saying: "You get in free, you play all YOUR favorite songs very loud on a great sound system, you drink for free all night and everyone likes you". I figured I could do that.

One day I woke up and saw a rainbow over the Estadio Municipal, next to my hotel (where I saw the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan in 1998).

May 10 - Sao Paulo - That afternoon the Pope came and gave a mass at the same stadium.

When the photo prints started to arrive I was amazed at how good they looked.

Adriana checked the details as the crew worked on building the installation.

The working crew from the Department of Photography Gabriel Vallejo, Adriana Guivo, and Fernando Silveira took a break to pose for a photo with me.

May 11 - Sao Paulo - TV personality Didi came to interview me and Supla and I took a photo of them posing like John and Yoko in the picture on display behind them.

When Supla and I went to the Inferno club to see Bionica we were surprised to see an opening band that we really liked, the Boom Boom Girls.

At the Inferno, Bionica singer Joana C4 looks good with a blindfold, as they played a real rockin' set!

Inferno club owner Joey poses for a photo with Marcos, who told me he's the 'Uruguayan Iggy Pop'!

May 15 - Sao Paulo - Bob and DJ Kid Vinyl at the CB club. He has the largest record collection in Sao Paulo.

May 12 - Sao Paulo - On Saturday night I got to see Supla's new TV job on Viva a Notie. He wore a wig he found in Los Angeles and told everyone it's the latest LA fad.

Supla does a couple of segments on the Viva a Noite show, this one with a soccer superstar and a kid from the same poor background as the superstar who hopes to someday be like him.

May 13 - Sao Paulo - Kris, Linda, Hanna and Elizabeth arrived in Sao Palo. My mom came too but her plane was delayed by rain so she arrived Sunday night.

May 12 - Sao Paulo - Sunday was Mother's day and Supla's dad, Senador Eduardo Suplicy invited us to come to meet his mother. I took this photo of the three generations for them.

May 14 - Sao Paulo - I gave a tour of the exhibition to the students who act a guides.

May 13 - Sao Paulo - Most of the construction was done and we were down to taking care of the details.

May 14 - Sao Paulo - When Rodrigo came to interview me for his TV spot he showed me his John Lennon tattoos, including these lyrics "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

May 15 - Sao Paulo - Workers assembled the glass cases to hold memorabilia and artifacts from my career.

There's a farmer's market in front of the stadium down the block where Elizabeth and I shared a coconut.

May 15 - Sao Paulo - Fernanda, Supla and l look over the last minute details.

May 16 - Sao Paulo - The students who will act as guides wear this shirt, armband and suspenders designed by Tito.

After the opening Vanessa Porto hung out with us at the CB club, and we partied till dawn.

At the after party at CB everyone had a lot to drink and people were congratulating me and trying to get me to dance.

When the power went out for a few minutes, it didn't bother anyone. The bartender just pored some booze on the bar and lit it! and without the records playing, people just started singing.