So in the last week I've gotten food poisoning and a car accident, been to a farming village in the nile delta and hung out with a grammy-winning record producer. I was in the village all day monday, and when I came back I called him up and he was at a concert featuring various African groups, so I went and met him up. I had been up since 6 that morning, and I went to sleep maybe 6 or 7 the next morning. niiiiice. We got into the car wreck on the way up to the village, but no one was hurt in the slightest alhamdullilah. Today I'm going to Sharm el Sheikh, which is a resort town on the red sea, to play a gig with a little reggae band here. We're going for 3 days and it'll be great to get to the beach after two months in cairo. this village, which I went to two years ago, was nice and quiet, and I will go back sometime. apparently the people in the village, who are all farmers, had been asking about me for the past two years too. Egyptians do not forget.

I've finished my first week of gigs with Juliet Annerino here in cairo. Last night our last show was at a place called After 8, a bar in downtown Cairo. If only every week I could play four nights. Maybe that will happen at some point, but for right now I'm just gonna have to keep making my connections and getting people together and seeing where I can find a gig. I think sub work will be a good way to break in, and I can talk to my friends and let them know that they can call me if their regular drummer can't make it. It's already rediculously hot here. yesterday I left the house at 4 in the afternoon and I almost couldn't stand it. but it's nothing compared to what it will be like in june, July and August. good lord. I'm thinking about Ramadan now, and how many cranky people there will be out during the day. So May is half over, and I can't belive it. April didn't go by too quickly, as I was still figuring things out, but now that I'm familiar with the scene and things are going on, time is just flying. It's totally crazy. Tonight I'm getting together with Wa'el to have one my prized lessons, and I say prized because they're few and far between, as he's very busy. We will work on some music and maybe set a date to get some studio time too. I've got my recording gear, so we can do some of that at home. I'm gonna check out some friends playing at a studio today too. And maybe head to Wa'el's house from there. Wa'el lives on the other side of the world from me, and I live in the center of Cairo. It might take him two hours to get to my house depending on when he comes. I'll probably go by cab today, which will take forever also. But I'm just happy to get together with him.

crazy thangs

Haven't been too good about keeping up with this blog lately. I'm on a crazy schedule, in bed at 5 every morning and getting up at 2 in the afternoon. But it's great to be surrounded by musicians again; I had been out of the game for so long that I'm finally starting to get back in the groove, and getting inspired, and working hard to get rehearsals together with Wa'el and other guys. This week I have four gigs, my first gigs in Cairo, with an American singer named Juliet, who has booked her own tour through the middle east, first here, then Beirut, and finally Dubai. Apparently she put the whole thing together on Facebook, which is pretty amazing. The band made of guys from a working band here in Cairo called Cucun, which plays Latin jazz, and we're playing all her songs. Four different venues this week: a Cultural Center called Sakia El-Sawy, the Cairo Jazz Club, a big park in Cairo called Al-Azhar, and finally another bar called After 8. So this is great, because through the guys in the band I've gotten to meet all kinds of other dudes that will be great connections to have. I'm really hoping I'm going to get to play more, but at the same time my arms are a problem, because I don't think they're really ready to handle a ton of playing. I've been meeting some great musicians too, there are good players in Cairo. And everybody loves all kinds of music which is great. I've caught Wa'el at a bad time, cause he's about to have a kid and is trying to deal with all kinds of other things in his life, but I'm working to get together with him whenever possible. He's still the man! I'm planning a trip to Morocco for two weeks at the end of June, to go see a festival of Gnawa music, the traditional music of Morocco, which I've been listening to for a long time. That will be amazing.

one month down

It's kind of funny how things come around. I played in Jahfe in miami for two years, and now here in Egypt I'm playing with another reggae band of all Sudanese guys called United Nile Reggae. This band is just starting out to, and it makes me remember how it is at the beginning, trying to get a band together, learning the songs, getting your first gigs, etc. I'm not really in the band, as they have a drummer already, but I went with them to their gig last night and sat in on a couple tunes. Wednesday night I went to what I thought was a language exchange program, that these I met told me about, and it turned out it was the last night of their course, and they were having a party. The course is called Face to Face, and it's for Nubians to interact with Americans and for each to practice the other's language. Arabic, not Nubian. So they had the party and there was drumming and dancing and everybody had a good time. They are starting the new course today, and I will attend as this should be a good way to get serious about learning the language. I know a lot of phrases but I can't really speak freely yet. The people from the program are all cool and the other Americans there were cool too. I'll probably see most of them again today, as all the Nubians at least were really into it. It's crazy, I've already been here for a month. Still looking for a job, and hoping the gigs come through.

I've gotten my microphone working, so I've been recording at home and at the Sudanese guys' house. they just got all their gear stolen, so I brought over my equipment and we did some tracks with traditional instruments. Last night I jammed with two other guys in a rehearsal studio (which is only place you can get access to drums), and then went to check my friend Shams' gig at a nightclub. He was playing percussion with a DJ, congas and timbales, and so I sat in for pretty much the whole gig. It was my first gig in Cairo actually. My arms didn't hurt too bad last night, and today they feel ok. I think I'm ready to practice on a regular basis. Of course, getting home at 5 and waking up at 1 every day doesn't really lend itself to a productive day, but I'm going to try and make it work. The whole schedule for musicians is like that: up all night, sleep all or most of the day. If I get a real job like teaching in a school or something like that it's going to be rough waking  up at 8 or 9 everyday to work.

I am racing all over Cairo trying to maintain meetings with all kinds of people. It's really crazy, I keep making appointments with a ton of different people and end up double booking myself all over town, so I have to cancel. Wanting to play with Wa'el is actually causing problems, because I'm getting asked to play with other people and I have to turn them down. One part of me feels like, well, I'm here to play with Wa'el, so it's ok to turn them down, but the other part knows that it's a bad idea to limit your contacts right off the bat when you move to a new city. Losing the phone was bad too, cause I already had a ton of numbers in it. And to find some people again I have to go trekking through the city to their neighborhood, and since I lost the phone I haven't had time to do that, so some people might think I'm dead or something. I'm going crazy! Things have gotten out of hand so fast and I'm not good at handling it. I wanted things to be simple, to play with Wa'el, but since I took so long in nailing him down, in the meantime I met a bunch of other people that now want a piece of me, and as usual I'm out trying to make everyone else happy before myself. I don't like problems man. I want things simple. I notice that I really have trouble feeling at home, even with the ultra hospitable Egyptians, I can't let myself settle, even when I'm invited into their homes as their friend. The Sudanese guys that I hang out with are always so excited to see me, and I know they love me, and they're great people, but when I'm at their place I still feel like an outsider, like I'm just there to observe. We jam and tell jokes and have a good time, so I guess I participate, but I can't help feeling like I'm not part of the family. That's just me tho, it's not that they're showing me in any way that I'm not part of the family. Thats just me ragging on myself and not allowing myself to get comfortable. I'm in their home, I should feel at home, right? I brought over another friend of mine named Shams to their house, and I could see how immediately at home he felt. Of course, he knows some of them well from before and has played gigs with others. I think I'll feel more settled with time and things will become clearer. I had a great lesson with Wa'el the other night. he is just such a pleasure to watch, as he has the most refined technique and amazing sound ever. It just makes me happy to watch him play.  I really want this band to happen, I know it would be amazing. Little by little, shwaya shwaya, I know things will fall into place

Things are starting to come together. I've definitely found my crew here in Cairo, a bunch of Sudanese guys that jam all the time and have a reggae band that they would like me to play in. They live on the roof of an old building in downtown Cairo, and I love going over there to jam late. I've got some good videos that I'll be putting up too. This last week has been a lot of fun between music and chillin in random places and hanging out with new people. I still want to see more of Cairo, check out some of the big mosques. I also lost my phone with all my numbers, so there  are some people I will have to roam around Cairo to track down again. thinking about trips outside the city, to Alexandria or Sinai, which would be good to do soon before it gets rediculously hot.