Brief report from the back end of the Sambodromo

Ah, it's 1:30 in the morning, late Sunday morning, and I have to get up ridiculously early to meet a Brazilian friend for a Pilates class (how did I agree to that? It seemed like a good idea five days ago....). But I just have to report briefly that I had the most amazing encounter with the Grande Rio bateria at midnight tonight, with my friend JP from London, as the wrapup for a phenomenal Sambodromo evening. (Sao Clemente, Viradouro, Grande Rio). I'd had quite the Sao Clemente adventure on my own, then JP found me shortly before Viradouro (stunning - this bateria really bowled us over), and then, with Grande Rio, we saw the warmup, then ran around to the Setor 11 recuo and saw them there, then ran around to the end of the Sambodromo and met the entire bateria coming off the parade runway.

Thousands and thousands of people there, at the back end of the runway, and we were THE ONLY gringos there. The massive crowd of Grande Rio revelers had all gathered there to greet the bateria. Sometimes the last bateria of the evening puts on a whole nother show back there, at the end of the parade, at the back end of the runway, as sort of a wild last-call celebration at the very end of the night before everybody piles onto all their buses to head back home. And we were in luck, Grande Rio was pulling out all the stops for us. The bateria put on a whole huge show for us, all their breaks, everything. JP and I were pressed up RIGHT next to the bateria, right smack in their faces, scrambling to get out of their way actually. Unbelievable. (will post vids and mp3s later.)

We were so thrilled we stayed and stayed and stayed... to beyond the bitter end... we watched the bateria pack up... talked to the beer vendors... chatted... chatted some more... waved goodbye to the each and every bus of Grande Rio paraders heading back on their long, long journey back to Duque to Caxias... then just as I was thinking "Is it too drum-geeky to suggest that we go look at the drums close up?", JP suggested that we go look at the drums close up. We looked at the drums close up (an entire brand-new set of drums, all King brand! Interesting, King is definitely stealing some market share from Artcelsior.) (Plus timbals! I even took a photo to document it. Grande Rio not only has a timbal section but even has a break that features the timbals).

Eventually, even we had to concede that the night was over. JP and I were the very, very, very last people out the back gate of the Sambodromo. The security guys were actually swinging the giant gate shut as we sprinted up to it - swinging shut with quite a lot of momentum, so that the 6 security guys had to all fling themselves against it in a full-body throw to slow it down enough (with much yelling and cheering) for us to dash through. We squeaked through, and got out, and they slammed the gate shut (another huge cheer). And we headed back to our respective homes.

Such a fine night. And I haven't even written yet about Xuxa's party that afternoon, and the amazing experience of watching Sao Clemente prep for their Sambodromo rehearsal (I'm just glad I wasn't one of the guys who had to carry the giant ten-foot tall papier-mache sea lions on their shoulders all the way from the quadra!).... and oh, the Viradouro bateria, that's a whole nother story.

I'll wrap up with just this one vignette from Sao Clemente. I'd played there several times, three years ago, and didn't think anybody would remember me. But the mestre (Vivi) spotted me and zoomed over to give me a huuuuuuuge long bear hug! Like, a HUGE hug. Apparently he remembers me.

But all he said to me was: "Sumiu!"("You disappeared!"). Meaning, why hadn't I come and played during the last two and a half years?

I was stunned he would even remember me, let alone that he would have noticed that I'd vanished.

I said (in Portuguese) "I had to return to the United States to work for a while," but it sounded like a flimsy excuse even as I was saying it. I could see what he was thinking, and I was thinking the same thing: what on earth had made me think it was a good idea to return to the United States, when I could have been playing samba with Sao Clemente?