No sooner had I stepped out of the shared taxi into the blazing Santiago sun, than the crotchety old woman who had been stuck in the middle seat began to furiously tap me on the shoulder. I turned around and found her inches from my face, a wild look in her eye as she said to me (in Spanish): “I have a message for your wife. NOT FOR YOU! For your wife. You tell her that God loves her and is looking for her!”, and before I could even muster a response, she took off running across the busy street and disappeared into the crowd of morning commuters. Under any other circumstances, and in any other place, I probably would have found this woman’s behavior abrasive and intrusive, to say the least, but in Santiago, I have come to learn that anything is possible.
I had traveled to the capital from the coast the morning before, a day earlier than I had originally planned, in order to meet up with author and friend Jim Ruland. He had accompanied his wife on her business trip, and scheduled a talk and signing of his Bad Religion biography “Do What You Want” at the Santiago bookstore Esqueleto Libros. The memory of the band’s sold out shows two weeks prior was still fresh in the collective memory, and the excitement surrounding the event was palpable. When I learned that Mexican cumbia/punkers Son Rompe Pera would be doing a run of 6 shows opening for Macha y el Bloque Depresivo, I jumped on the opportunity to once again party at the Teatro Caupolicán.
A couple of years ago when I was first cutting my teeth in the world of concert photography, I was lucky enough for one of my first shows to be Son Rompe Pera at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver. I had been listening to their debut album “Batuco” while cramming to finish my first semester back in school, but my familiarity with the music did nothing to prepare me for the electricity of their live show. With the three Gama brothers at the core of the group (two on marimba, one on percussion), and a full drum kit and electric bass rounding out the sound, these guys brought a Punk Rock attitude and swagger to their interpretation of Cumbia laced with the folkloric traditions of their native Mexico. Their seemingly nonstop touring schedule has gained them legions of followers around the globe, but Chile in particular has provided the band with a ready-made audience thanks to their friendship and close ties to the many musical groups of “Macha” (Aldo Asenjo), a veritable legend of the Chilean music scene.
Macha is the frontman of at least three hugely popular bands in Chile: his original punk and ska/reggae outfit La Floripondio, the cumbia-centric Chico Trujillo whose songs are veritable party anthems here, and the more subdued and traditional bolero-infused Bloque Depresivo. In the early years of Son Rompe Pera’s career, Macha brought the band to Chile to tour and record, and they have remained frequent collaborators ever since.
The other important human link in this intercontinental chain is über-manager “Timo”, a character in every sense of the word, and a dude I have felt so lucky to have gotten to know casually in my dealings with Son Rompe Pera. When I shot a Colorado show of theirs back in May of this year, I told him I would be moving to Chile, and he let me know that he would be bringing SRP down sometime in December. “We’ll have to link up”, I told him, and 7 months later here I was once again bending Timo’s ear for a favor. If the last few months have taught me anything, it’s the importance of shooting your shot when the opportunity arises.
A few WhatsApp messages back and forth later, I once again found myself at the back door of Santiago’s Teatro Caupolicán, with the exact same security guard from the Bad Religion show eyeballing me suspiciously. This was a much more laid back affair, however, and the freedom that Jim and I had to roam around the venue, backstage, onstage, etc, was every concert photographer’s dream. Son Rompe Pera was amazing, and featured a guest vocal spot from Anarkia Tropikal’s “Rata”, who I had actually met in the crowd at the Bad Religion shows, not knowing he was a goddamned rock star in his own right. While their 30 minute opener set was way too short for me personally, the simple fact was that the bulk of the five thousand people there that night were eagerly awaiting Bloque Depresivo. And rightfully so! I don’t think in all my years of going to shows I have ever witnessed a 36-song setlist (maybe Circle Jerks?). At times it felt like Jim and I were the only two people in the entire theater NOT chanting along to every song, security guards included.
The next morning, after my run-in with the religious zealot en route to the subway station, I met up with Jim in downtown Santiago, and we resolved to kill the day wandering around until the book signing that evening. Timo had reached out to ask if there was an extra copy of “Do What You Want” available to gift to Macha, and since at the time there was not, we went into every bookstore we came across until we tracked down a copy in the wild. Santiago at this time of year is a freaking oven, and to make matters worse it was the final days of the holiday shopping frenzy. We two gringos bit off a bit more than we could chew trying to go up the touristy funicular in 90+ heat, so we resolved to head to Esqueleto Libros sooner than later to relax and charge both our cellular and brain batteries.
The bookstore was located in the back corner of an old labyrinthine building of Santiago, in the artsy neighborhood of Bellavista, sharing a space with several other businesses that all seemed to have a bit of a countercultural bent. Artist’s studios abutted hair salons that themselves were next to dive-y eateries hosting drag shows. Bellavista in a nutshell, really, and a testament to why this particular area of Santiago has always been my favorite, despite people’s warnings about being there “after dark” (spoiler: this is EVERYwhere in Santiago, it turns out…). The owners had gone to great lengths to secure more copies of the book prior to the signing, as the ones they had available for pre-sale were quickly snatched up, and my and Jim’s own searching had turned up only the one destined for Macha.
A few minutes after we sat down in the shaded courtyard to drink a (non-alcoholic) beer, people started to file in, eager to collect their signatures from Jim, as I tried to act as translator. Chile is a country that holds the creative class in very high esteem, and it is no surprise that the majority of their most revered citizens of the last 100 years have been authors, musicians, actors, and other such types. In addition to this, many people living here at the end of the Earth tend to be extra appreciative of any gringo willing to make the journey South to visit their corner of the world. Joke’s on them, I guess, because this country is absolutely amazing.
Being that Jim was specifically here to talk about his Bad Religion book, and as you know if you read last week’s post, Bad Religion fans here in Chile are PARTICULARLY devout, the author was treated as a celebrity in his own right. This praise is not unwarranted, I can confirm that Jim is a totally rad dude in addition to being a phenomenal and accomplished writer, and the fans of Bad Religion saw him as a tangible link between themselves and the band itself. I watched one young man fumble over his words, on the verge of tears with gratitude, another confessing that “Do What You Want” was the first book he had ever made it through in its entirety. As the scheduled hour drew nearer, the place had the atmosphere of a concert venue, with fans milling about and anxiously checking their watches in anticipation of the big show.
Suffice it to say, it was an eventful couple of days in Santiago, as it always seems to be. The frenetic pace of everything, mixed with the insufferable heat, always makes the time there seem somehow too long and too short all at once. We capped off the week by welcoming Jim and wife Nuvia out here to the coast for some fresh air and relaxation, and sharing a nice meal around the table with family and friends alike. As I write this, I am working on some future adventures in the city, and I have to say that I have never lived in a place where SO many amazing things were constantly going on.
What to expect from “Later Than You Think”
This week’s post is a bit of a trial-run, as I am both new to the platform and new to publishing any kind of writing whatsoever. My plan for the time being is to provide a sort of photojournalistic record of my time living on the coast of Chile, and in addition to this I will be writing about the books I am reading and music I am listening to, in the hopes of sharing the love. I seem to be going through about a book per week out here, so this may line up nicely (or not). Any feedback welcome. More photos with less context are available on my Instagram: eggman333
Loved this, Andrés! You really capture a lot of what makes Santiago so special. Even though I was literally wilting in the hear that day I don't remember it as being all that hot. Selective memory, I guess!