malva nights

thanks to all the fans of beat buffet who came down for a fantastic night of music on saturday at the malva club in the heart of the roma. let's hope that the designer market continues at this great location. enjoy the video!

kong is dead...long live kong!

for me, kong was the shop that defined calle colima and the move to develop this roma road into a centre of design and fashion. kong's great strength was that it was owned and run by designers and collected together some of the funkiest design from the around the world. toys, t-shirts and books shared space with the incredible designs of dr.alderete and some of the world's leading artists. i'll never forget the show devoted to the brilliant american artist and musician gary panter and the exhibition of federico jordan's work. another fave was the launch party for dr.alderete's yo soy don nadie book. the friendliness of the team and the way jorge alderete would tirelessly dedicate works, adding hand-drawn illustrations to purchases, won't be forgotten. respect.

chat(ting) with the terror sisters

nadia and renata are the terror sisters, the minds behind jewellery brand fou fou chat. they work out of their studio/apartment in escandon, an interesting neighbourhood housing artists, a couple of fine cantinas and numerous workshops. their building- one of the most distinctive in the area- faces its gemelo across the road. however- as these photographs show- the studio of the terror sisters is absolutely unique, as are the creations that they fashion here. renata's a psychologist, nadia a fine artist, with a considerable history on the contemporary mexican scene. together, inspired by the surrealism of remedios varo; living in mexico city; visits to the catwalks of buenos aires and myriad other influences that they write about on their blog -www.foufouchatbytheterrorsisters.blogspot.com- a must for any fashionista- they craft bespoke jewellery for a rapidly expanding clientele, who have come to expect the unexpected. at the recent come mexican art and design show at the historic metropolitan casino in the centro, the sisters' unique creations- and hand-stencilled stand design- wowed visitors. to find out more, contact foufouchat@hotmail.com. 

tasty

i'm walking the roma with pablo borchi and santiago carranza, who along with raul sotomayor, are beat buffet, one of the hottest new acts to come out of the d.f. in some considerable time. the mixture of dazzling salsa keyboards and rapping reminds me of kinky sharing the stage with the streets. the celebratory feel of jorge ben is in there too, as is a measure of the quirkily magnificent instituto mexicano del sonido. live, with the addition of smoking brass and a drummer who wouldn't be out of place keeping time for the meters, it is a revelation. we wander into the condesa, discussing irakere, nsm psm, afrodita and, most importantly, beat buffet's desire to get out on the streets and perform. we walk down calle nuevo leon, a road haunted by the spirits of jazz musicians. it was at the jazz bar, nuevo leon 16, where cuban visionary chico o'farrill first encountered chilo moran, tommy rodriguez and the cream of the d.f. scene. if santiago had been around fifty years ago, he would have been playing alongside these heavyweights, but this is 2009 and santiago, pablo and raul get their kicks as djs and producers as well. winners of the prestigious ibero mixtape competition, they've supported crystal castles, yelle and cut copy to great acclaim and worked with nylon magazine and those hippest of chilango hipsters, sicario. their mix cd will be on sale in condesa's indie mecca discoteca this saturday, so get your dancing shoes on and shimmy down there at your earliest possible convenience in order to sate your musical appetite. the mix can also be heard in a number of the finer independent stores in the roma and will be available in barcelona, come june. those with a discerning palette are recommended to pay a visit to http://djsoundsys.com/blog/beat-buffet/

beat buffet en vivo

art for art's sake (money for god's sake)

my 10cc's worth. zona maco, 22-26th april, 2009. to see what else is happening in the world this week, check out my world tuesday.

  

between science and fiction

many fled the city, abandoning the metropolis for the beaches, or travelling abroad. millions of chilangos, however, didn't have a choice, having no option but to remain in the d.f. and its environs and wait it out. the streets eerily quiet, waiters loitered outside their establishments, waiting for something to happen. nothing happened. food was still available to takeaway in most establishments, but few were buying. for the meseros, whose livelihoods depend upon their propinas, this is a time of immense hardship, dar en la torre probably best describing their predicament. at the taxi sitios, drivers waited and waited, wearing masks and surgical gloves. few partook of their services. solitary joggers circled the parks and the condechi dog walkers- the condesa is home to all manner of pedigree pugs- were out and about, although i was somewhat disappointed not to encounter any chihuahuas or salukis sporting bespoke canine masks. pollution was down, with public works projects- of which there are many in various stages of completion- at a standstill. i had read reports of people stockpiling provisions, but back in the roma at my local sumesa- reputedly the smallest sumesa supermarket in the city- little had changed. one wag noted that the tiny roma sumesa never had anything in stock, anyway, so what was there to worry about? around the corner from my department, puestos were still operating, dishing out delicious huitlacoche-filled concoctions. the chiveros were clearly keeping their knives sharpened as well. masks- and rumours- were abundant wednesday and thursday, but far fewer folks were sporting masks today, tired of the irritation, realizing they were next to useless. last night i took up an invitation from french friends to attend a home film screening here in the roma. following an impromptu wine tasting conducted by a sommelier-in-training, accompanied by ripe brie from san juan market, a true gourmet's paradise, we started planet terror. it was the perfect choice of film given the circumstances. there were knowing smiles all-round when the survivors, having escaped the zombies, arrived in mexico, far from the toxic threat. we finished the night, glasses of malbec raised- or was it cabernet?- swaying to beirut's take on chanson. still swaying, i suspect, i wandered home through the deserted roma. the bars and restaurants would- hopefully- be back to life on the 6th, but there would be long-term effects for mexico and the- already struggling- economy. 





     

warm leatherette

my masked altern 8 rave reverie was shattered. a beast straight out of the detroit history books had run the lights, an unfortunate chevy pushed violently into the sitio i regularly use. a crowd was already gathered- fortunately the owners of both beast and chevy were unhurt and already calling their respective insurance companies- and so i strolled on, thinking once again of mr ballard's work- this time crash- and feeling an urgent need to listen to warm leatherette. the normal's original, perhaps a little harsh on this sunny afternoon? grace jones would do just fine then, i guessed. if i was going to listen to a song about a car crashing- and i clearly was- then today i'd take it with a dash of sly and robbie. as i was making my next musical move, i- quite literally- almost bumped into miranda, an old friend of mine. she's working for o.m.r, a cutting-edge contemporary art gallery, situated on the corner of plaza rio de janeiro, in a splendid mansion that somehow reminds me of a sinking galleon. o.m.r had just stolen the show at maco and she asked me if i cared for a tour of the gallery- or rather galleries- as o.m.r have just opened the house next door as a space- this one a mexican modernist jewel. away from the masked masses, passing eero saarinen's tulip pedestal chairs, i encountered works by rafael lozano-hemmer, melanie smith and pablo vargas lugo. returning home, paradise island awaited and the sound of taxi, crashing.

full on... mask hysteria

well, at least if you follow the international media, you'd think that. in fact, it's strangely calm here in the d.f. at the moment. the bars are cerrado, the traffic's light, the weather glorious. those out walking the roma are masked like extras from an altern 8 shoot, old skool '90. strange days indeed and as i wander in the sunshine- listening to activ-8 over and over, 808s kicking, opening, rather than closing my eyes and being there, i wish that j.g.ballard- who died april 19th- was still with us. i'll never forget taking off for barca, just after cocaine nights was published, all of us reading it, racing to finish, not wanting it to end. tuesday, strange sensation as a light shake gently sways me in my department here in the roma. high-rise hospital is evacuated and everyone's out on the street, masked. those sartorially-elegant waiters at the condesa d.f. are playing it cool as ever, colour-coordinating their masks with the interior decor over breakfast. masked, fedora-wearing fashionistas brave it for the maco art show, as others customise their masks with smiling faces. a group touring maco, ponder an exhibit of a mutant creature supporting a painted glass panel, poised like surgeons. i'm staying in tonight, re-reading super-cannes, wondering if altern 8 are available to play to those of us who remain in the d.f.