samba kat's Rio Stories

My last day in Rio and for the very first time I'm on a fast reliable internet connection, so I'm posting a couple more quick storie...

So, in the midst of the Libya crisis and the Tokyo nuclear reactors overheating and the ghastly tsunami videos and everything, somehow the f...

Have finally clawed my way to an internet access point and am actually typing on a normal keyboard for the first time this trip. Good lord, ...

Well, it's 4pm and I just woke up - spent all night at Grupo Especial. Dawn was breaking as the Mangueira bateria came thundering past u...

Right! So! I think it posted! For technical reasons I cannot back up and proofreader, nor view the actual blog, so damn the autocorrect gli...

Well, I've been in Rio since Wed but have been unable to post anything because I'm staying with a friend who has no Internet (oh, th...

Three of O Globo's news stories from today & yesterday about the Cidade do Samba fire: *** BUSINESSES DONATE 1.5 MILLION REAIS TO ES...

It just occurred to me that something very rare might occur in the Grupo Especial parades this year. Three groups will parade, but (accordin...

News release from Liesa, 7 Feb 2011: The three escolas-de-samba affected by the fire that hit the Cidade do Samba on Monday morning - Grande...

More news regarding the Cidade do Samba fire. Translated from O Globo by me. PORTELA, GRANDE RIO AND UNIAO DA ILHA'S CARNAVALS ALMOST TO...

I'm kicking this blog back into gear today, two weeks before my next Carnaval trip to Rio, to report a devastating fire at the Cidade do...

Let´s back up now... to Carnaval weekend. The Grupo A parade night was overwhelming. Because of the scandal last year, in which the lowest t...

I've been away from email again - just switched apartments and now I am crashing with a friend in Botafogo who does not have internet in...

The Monobloco parade is over... my very last parade... and Carnaval is truly over, and I've gone into nearly completely hibernation. I...

Just got back from a stunning Monobloco show last night, and am trying to prepare mentally for what is bound to be a boiling hot, can-I-surv...

The results for the lower Carnaval escola levels were just announced, and it has become clear that this is a big year for the Zona Sul escol...

Here's interestingly little news item in the paper today about Grupo A. The background: Last year (2009), organization of Grupo was turn...

Immediately after the great Unidos da Tijuca victory on Ash Wednesday, the great heat wave broke. The scalding sunny sky disappeared, the cl...

Complete list of Grupo Especial results. The most shocking thing is: Viradouro has fallen to grupo A! Equally shocking, Viradouro's fall...

I went to the Sambodromo for the apuracao, the formal reading of the Sambodromo results. The scores are read out one at a time by a deep-voi...