BrainMunchie.com

I’m so happy to have the internet!! I didn’t realize exactly how much it mattered to me until I got here and realized that I wouldn’t have access to it on a regular basis. At any rate I’m here and anytime you see a title “Catch Up Time” then I’m going back to days that I missed.

We did a workshop for about 15 college students at the University of Johannesburg. They really enjoyed everything we covered in the workshop and even stayed through our entire rehearsal. We asked them about some of the difficulties they have as musicians here in South Africa and the number one issue they seem to have is not being able to access instruments. Most people simply can’t afford them. You also find that here, most people play more than one instrument because they work with whatever they find available.

This particular group of musicians wasn’t studying music at the University, but they organized themselves a year ago and meet once a week to rehearse. For everyone that’s in Atlanta, imagine the Apache Café with a 12+ piece band (because there is no limit to the number of musicians that can join them) playing behind vocalists that don’t really sing, but they read poetry. Instruments in the band range from drums and percussion, to guitars made from Castrol cans, Cellos, violins, pianos and harmonicas. Their spirits are really great and they have enormous music potential.

Other than the rehearsal, we had food from a place called “Steers”, and Che (the drummer) tried to make me believe that it was horse meat. Now, when we asked I was only told that it was “red meat”. What that means over here, I have absolutely no idea!! It tasted okay, not at all unbearable, and it came with fries. Potatoes here taste a lot different than in the states. Their not necessarily bad, but there is indeed a noticeable difference.