Halloween with Maracatu New York

I'm at the end of an exhausting but really good last couple days in New York. Have bought all my last things that I need for Brazil (the last essentials being three bags of chocolate chips, brown sugar, baking powder, and a big jar of peanut butter).

Tonight was the Halloween Parade. Oh my god.... this is a HELL of a Halloween parade that New York City has. I didn't realize it was such a big deal! A mile and a half straight up Sixth Avenue, all the cross streets closed off, a completely massive crowd lining both sides, TV coverage, great floats, big beautiful puppets. But the best part was the crowd itself, all dressed in the most insanely magnificent costumes, and everybody in a great mood, festive and cheerful and friendly. Cheerful bouncing ogres, sumo wrestlers, Vincent Van Goghs and Barbie dolls, kings and queens (drag and otherwise). New York City at its best.

My mom had come down from Boston just to see the parade; it was so great to have her here.

Maracatu New York was intense. They are the real deal. They had at least forty drummers today (beefed up, apparently, by music students from a class that Scott teaches at the New School). Probably half were alfaias, plus four shekeres, a hefty phalanx of bells and a line of solid, skilled caixas who played with that effortless smoothness and power that looked like either drumset or marching-band experience. All together... it was something else. Thunderous and powerful, and genuine, with that wild heart of maracatu. It felt like Rio Maracatu's Santa Teresa Carnaval parades in Rio. It was the real thing. And the whole crowd dancing and leaping, and sweeping along with us like kids after the Pied Piper.

We played full-on for about four hours solid - two hours warming up and two parading. It's kind of all a blur now - Jorge jumping up and down like a crazed bear, Scott literally racing through the band was his gongue, bright-eyed and laughing.... groover after groove and break after break - glancing back at the amazing line of alfaias behind me - horsing around with the shekeres on either side. Totally worn out and my arms sore at the end.... thank god Annette was passing around the brown-bagged cognac (and good stuff too). But in spite of the exhaustion it was a FANTASTIC shekere night for me. The Sunday parade two days ago was the perfect warmup and suddenly, tonight the stamina was there, the efficiency and lightness I'd been searching for, the bright CRACK with minimum effort, and the dancing grace in the shekere began to come out.

We were all so excited at the end that we all wanted to keep playing, even after we'd turned off the end of the parade route into the darkened side street where we were supposed to shut up. Scott was very persistently trying to get us to shut up, with that intensity that usually means the cops were cracking down on him about it - but Jorge kept restarting the band with new maracatu calls. Jorge started jokingly yellng "Tu mara-ca!" as if he were about to call in the band again, with alfaias raggedly entering and Scott going "Shhh! No! Really, we have to stop!" Finally Scott started laughing about it and flinging drumsticks at Jorge. So my last image of Maracatu New York is of Jorge Martins racing around in the dark empty street, zig-zagging back and forth and yelling "Tu mara-ca! Tu mara-ca!", dodging the drumsticks that Scott was whipping at him from thirty feet away, both of them darting around like puppies. Everybody laughing.

It's time to leave. Rio is calling now. But I wish I could stay and get to know NY better.... I was just beginning to learn people's names, in Maracatu New York and in the other groups too, and already I have to say goodbye. Didn't get near enough time with my friend Fernanda. Managed to re-connect with another friend Robyn, though, which has lifted a burden off of me; I have missed her a lot, and now I feel like I can breathe easier. And I got to see my mom and dad and brother. And I made a lot of new friends, and strengthened some old friendships. I'll get to see Michele, Scott, Jorge and Annette in Brazil in just a few months! Seems like everybody is coming down this year - a lot of Lions are coming down too, and it seems like everybody's headed for Recife.

Annette met my mom briefly, and she said to my mom unexpectedly "Your daugher's a really good player. And she's got lots of friends. She's got friends all over, so don't worry about her." Such a sweet thing to say. I like to think it might be true.