More than just another Saturday...

... and not the wildest day ever either, but biographically interesting enough to make an account of it.

Every second Saturday of each month there are meetings at Kick-Off, a Rugby bar in San Isidro, North of Gran Buenos Aires. These meetings are part of the activities that A.T.A. (Argentinian Tolkien Association), organize. I learned about this institution thanks to an online friend, the first one I got to meet for real sometime after we came across virtually: Odalis, aka: Éowyn Dernhelm. Our love for J.R.R. Tolkien´s work made us cross our paths in 2009 when I got a message from her saying her girlfriend in Germany, Elwing, shared my first video related to The Lord of the Rings with her. The craziest thing is that she's Peruvian but has been living in Argentina for twenty-four years and only got to visit my You Tube channel, the one of an Argentinian musician, through Elwing's share. As some people say, “The power of the Internet”.

From then on it was all about sharing things with one another by chatting through instant messages, watching and commenting each other's videos and such. During one of the conversations I told her about my idea of playing live to an audience versed in Tolkien matters and asked her if she knew about anybody involved in organizing events of the sort. Next thing I know there's a link which leads to A.T.A. official website. I eagerly started reading its content but then I saw that, apparently, the association belonged to the southern part of the country, according to an advertisement promoting one of the events. However, instead of hurrying myself to dispose the site given that I'm in Buenos Aires, the eastern part of Argentina, I kept on looking for something else. And that “else” eventually came up: Subsidiaries. With a generous amount of excitement I clicked on that section, begging there was a subsidiary in the Northern Area of GBA. Salta, Santa Fe, La Pampa, all provinces so far. Mar del Plata, Capital Federal, getting close. South, East, West... North. Bingo! After clicking on that one, I read it was in San Isidro, a place I've been visiting by bike since I was fourteen years old. It was comfortable and near, therefore, the excitement grew. But I really couldn´t believe the next part, the one talking about the people in charge of this subsidiary (Formendor, which means “Lands of the North” in the Elvish tongue). The director and secretary turned out to be Nacho Cesio, a guy I met in 2006, my first year as a guitar teacher. He was interested in taking guitar lessons after his youngest sister started learning with me. Their oldest sister is an ex-high school partner of mine, so she was in fact the link to the other two.

My amazement when reading Nacho's name was powered by the first memory I have of him. It was during the first guitar lesson (one out of two only. He realised his true musical love was the piano).

We sat down and took off with some basic chords and arpeggios. So far everything was going on as normal as it can be. It was evident he hadn't difficulties in learning. That's always promising. The usual thing would be to continue with something a bit harder. But I don't know how I found myself talking out loud about my having read The Lord of the Rings trilogy and wanting to learn more about Middle-earth twenty minutes after the beginning of the lesson. Without knowing it, I had triggered what became a three-hour long conversation. Nacho was a Middle-earth atlas. He talked about all things Tolkien with passion and amazing sureness of his knowledge. However, the three hours spent in talking rather than learning guitar stuff not only were about LOTR but also about our lives, our personalities and how we used to view and live in the world that surrounded us back then.

At some point, the phone rang. It was Nacho's mom, Queti, worried because his son was supposed to be back more than two hours earlier (it was twenty past ten when she called and the lesson had been agreed at seven o'clock in the afternoon). That obviously gave a reasonable ending to the lesson, ah, I mean, conversation. I saw him again the following week for what was actually a proper guitar lesson. We dedicated a few minutes to talking though, it wouldn't harm anyone. After that I saw him walking down the streets of Tigre once or twice but we just said “Hi” to each other and didn´t stop for another generous dose of Middle-earth, Elves and Rings.

But in the end I got another dose alright, five years later. I've always looked at this as one of those special things that happen in one's life, kind of an unexpected connection that's meant to be and transcend for some reason.

On October 29th, 2011, I finally had a chance to perform live at a Tolkien event: Formendor Fest (by this time I was already a member of A.T.A.) The original plan was to play at the National Tolkien Day, which took place weeks before. But the logistics were too problematic. It was a hectic schedule and the Univercity of Lanús, the place where the activities were going to be developed, was in the Southern Area, the complete opposite from where I live. There was some considerable equipment to transport too so all of that made it really difficult for me and the other members to pull it off.

By that time I became involved in a collaborative project with Francisco Nogueiras, an Argentine Classical musician I met through the A.T.A. forum on Facebook (Éowyn was in fact the one who, yet again, shared the link to this other A.T.A. page. She was also part of the audience on that October night. Neat, isn't it?) He would conduct an orchestra and I would play the electric guitar on top of it on Tolkien-related songs, even one of mine (“The Battle of the Pelennor Fields.”) Unfortunately, two vague rehearsals proved that it wasn't gonna work. The musicians weren't enthusiastic, at all. They didn't make a commitment either so we decided FFest was the answer. 

In the end Fran got sick and wasn't able to attend the event. We had already agreed on replacing the orchestra with keyboards played by him, but that obviously didn't work either. Luckily, I had a back-up plan (I guess I always do). I eventually presented the music all by myself... well, not ALL by myself. Tom Geisler and Shawn Sasser, two musicians from the USA I met through YouTube, where there even though they never flew down to South America.

Displayed on the back wall while I was at one corner playing on the spot, the presentation of “Pelennor” was the highlight of the night (out of three songs only). While performing, I was focused on my guitar parts. But when the song faded out and I didn't have to play anymore, I turned my gaze to the wall and saw Tom ending the tune with his military drum roll. It felt so... weirdly good.

Fran's music was presented as well. I had made summaries of two chapters from The Silmarilllion, the most magical thing I've ever read. He had a one-hour suite inspired by this amazing piece of literary work and wanted to play two out of the eighteen tracks that give form to his musical achievement: “Mereth Aderthad (The Feast of Reuniting)” and “Beren & Lúthien”, the ultimate classic. Even without Fran's presence that day, I took advantage of the projector and his audio files containing both musical pieces, and presented the summaries accompanied with suitable images for the audience to see, listen and read.

This was the night's set list:

1) Caras Galadhon (electric guitar by C)

2) The Battle of the Pelennor Fields (with an introduction playing “All Shall Fade”, Pippin's song, instrumentally).

3) Rivendell (a Rush song inspired by “The Fellowship of the Ring”, part one of the trilogy).

4) Mereth Aderthad

5) Beren & Lúthien

So another dream come true...

Let's say my task was done, and yet I was still a member of A.T.A. and Formendor. I still am to this day. Thanks to this continuity I can talk about this particular Saturday, the one to which I can finally come back. Ha, ha!

So I grabbed my bicycle, a modified blue Delta Bike to suit my body and posture, and rode all the way to San Isidro (7 kms) on a day treated with “delicious weather”, as I like to describe it: sunny and yet bearable, with mild winds to fresh you up while exercising.

It was the second meeting after FFest so we were now not as active as we've been during the previous months, August, September and October. In fact, summer was drawing near so everything had a feeling of slowing down. We dedicated our time to just talk about life. However, I took the plunge and read a text of mine about Bilbo Baggins, a distinguished character in the history of Middle-earth. This was something I had written down on paper first and printed later, some months before this particular meeting was held. What had been holding me back for all those months was my lack of confidence about reading aloud at a public place. I thought it was high time so, before anyone else started with something new, I asked suddenly if I could do my part. I actually did and felt good about it. My reading was fluent and steady, and finally my thoughts on Bilbo were shared “live” with other like-minded people.

When Formendor meetings come to an end, I usually go back home by taking the same street I ride to reach Kick-Off. The other members walk seven blocks more-or-less in order to reach the train station or bus stops, which both things are close to one of the city´s main avenues. This time I followed them and said goodbye at the railways because I had something else in mind than going straight home.

Some days prior to the December meeting I read a Facebook Status from Nacho Castillo, a contact I added in 2010 while we, Rush fans, were waiting for the band to come to Argentina for their first time ever. He cast his message inviting everyone to a Rock gig in the Florida neighborhood, city of Vicente López (same town in which I played at FFest). His band, Kernel Panic Trio, was meant to open the festival held at a public school.

When I realised that during the same day I was gonna be able to attend both, A.T.A. meeting and Nacho's performance, I designed kind of a travelling plan.

Florida isn't close to San Isidro, to be honest, but it's all part of the Northern Area of Buenos Aires so I took it as a nice opportunity to cover “long” distances (note the inverted commas).

Kick-Off is located within the huge infrastructure built for commercial purposes that's part of a touristic train called “Tren de la Costa” (Coast Train). So San Isidro's station -not the regular one but the touristic- is in fact huge, with several clothes stores, restaurants, an ice cream store, a cinema, a mini-market, a fountain and a stage where bands used to play live on weekends. The point is that, in order to reach Florida town, one must ride South-west if taking off from this railway station. People who live in the Northern Area of GBA are next to Río de la Plata, the widest river on Earth. It lies east of the province, what's next is the Atlantic Ocean, and further away, European countries like Portugal, Spain, the British Isles and the West coast of Africa, so as a bike rider I can only move North, South or West and anything in between.

To start with, I rode around one kilometer until reaching Márquez Avenue, a long piece of road that skirts San Isidro's racecourse. Here I turned right. When this place ends there's a roundabout to turn in any of the other directions or keep on moving West. Instead of reaching Panamericana Highway so early I preferred to turn south again and ride Sir Alexsander Fleming Avenue and skirt a golf course now. This one is located six blocks before the always crowded and noisy highway, a better path to choose. At the next roundabout I usually start zig-zagging, West-South-West-South-West-South, knowing that I won't pass by my destination because of a neat calculation that has come with years of bike rides in this whole area.

After several minutes of riding under this method I finally reached Panamericana. This section of the highway is far away from the stretch I rode with Cristian, Juani and Ciri in January, 2011 (see “The Tale of the Great Journey”). There's no sidewalk, just lanes, either for heavy or fast traffic. So I crossed it through one of the many bridges, being them stretches of streets that lead into Panamericana and continue once the highway is crossed.

I took the parallel street by turning left (South again). Now it was all about being patient as there were several bridges to pass by before reaching the public school. The last of these was Melo Street. I was familiar with it only because I once took my brother to his friend's house when he was younger. This kid, now a young man, used to live nearby and the bus that we had to take always stops there.

Fortunately, during the meeting I had brought up that I was going to attend a live gig in Vicente López after wrapping up. Thanks to this action I saved myself from riding extra kilometers with no need. Ana, the only girl at the meeting, said she had been a student at that same school. The reference point I had was a new mall called DOT. I already knew where that was but Ana said it wasn't actually near the place I had to go to. She told me I must turn right at Melo, and that was like two kilometres before the mall. When I reached the corner created thanks to the combination of Melo Street and Panamericana's parallel road, I stopped and looked yonder South-east and was able to see from afar the big sign which read “DOT.” God, then I understood the reference attached to Nacho´s message as it was surely aimed for people who were from other areas. But I was glad I didn´t have to cover that unnecessary distance after all.

So I turned right again (yes, I know, West-South-West-South-West-South...) and kept on pedalling until I crossed a new railway, too far away from the one my Formendor partners use. Around six blocks were covered and Estanislao del Campo, the last street I had to find, never crossed over Melo. That´s why I asked a guy who was sitting at the entrance of a fruit and vegetables store if he knew where the street was. “You skipped it. It´s the second after Panamericana”. Then I realized my mistake: the road when downhill for all those blocks until reaching the railway crossing so I pleasantly let myself go without paying attention to the names of the first couple of streets. I checked the time and learnt the show wasn´t about to start yet so I went to a gas station and got myself something to eat and drink.

Once I unchained the bike from the street pole I had chosen, I came back the same way. I hadn't any trouble in finding Estanislao del Campo now. The school was right there at the corner and some youngsters were hanging out at its entrance.

Now when this is the scenario I tend to feel uncomfortable, that's if I'm all alone. I'd stand with the bike at my side in silence while others who evidently know each other are there making small talk and laughing together. But after a few minutes had passed, one of them came closer.

“Claudio?”

“Yes”.

“I´m Nacho, how are you?”

“Oh, Nacho. Hi! I´m fine, thanks”.

“Hey, thanks for coming to see us”, he said, quite surprised.

“No problem. So far, it´s been a nice ride”, I said. “When does the event begin?” I asked.

“We´re waiting for the keys keeper to arrive” he said, complaining a bit. Then he came back to his group of friends, mostly members of the bands that were going to play beside Kernel Panic.

Not before long a car pulled up right in front of the group of people. The only thing I got a glimpse of was a hand coming out of the back seat open window with keys to be delivered to one of the musicians. After the car left, the school gate was opened so everyone who had been awaiting entered. I didn´t know what to do with the bike. I figured I could take it with me and leave it at the entrance, chained to the side gate. Eventually I placed it inside the very hall where the music was gonna be performed. No one complained so I went ahead. There was one single chair at the right side of this vast space. I didn´t hesitate in taking advantage of it. I moved it to the back of the hall, the bike placed behind me.

I had nothing to do until the beginning of the show. I just sat on the chair, resting my exercised legs a bit. While waiting, it occured to me that a source of entertainment that has always worked was to take my copy-book out of my bag and check some things that were written in there. Throughout 2011 I made use of this green copy-book with several purposes. I originally bought it to write ideas down for a fictional story I've been working on for years (the end is way too far from sight). But when I took an unconscious break from it, the copy-book kept on being useful but in a much more versatile way. I'd write things down like “Go to the CD store and ask for that album you were planning on buying” or “Send a message to the drummer whom you started working with”. If I felt like expressing a feeling with written words, then I´d rely on those sheets of paper too. If there was a particular melody line that I didn´t want to play any differently later, I'd make a quick transcription in there, just not to improvise something new out of that stated musical composition. Not only works while waiting for a performance of any kind to start, but also (and especially) when travelling by train (I don't mention the bus because I hardly ever get on one, but it could perfectly apply).

Kernel Panic Trio reminded me of... well, me and my former band. It had a lot to do with the approach I used to have with Gogui and Nico a few years ago: a guitar player singing plus the rhythm section of bass and drums. As raw as it can get, full of rocking guts.

They played some classic songs plus a few originals (the set list was pretty short). Even though the sound wasn´t the best because school halls tend to reverberate a lot, I felt great about their performance as I found fulfilling the fact that these classics were being played with such inspiring energy. The sound was being given shape by young people, even younger than me and I´m only twenty-three. I guess that contributed to the positive way in which I reacted towards what they had to offer.

The set list, the way I remember it though:

1) YYZ (Rush)

2) Kind of a psychedelic, bluesy song that rang the bell, but not enough to get the name. Maybe I'd never known it.

3) The Chicken (Jaco Pastorius)

4) One of their originals (the serious one)

Encore:

1) Purple Haze (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)

2) The other original (not the serious one. Nacho explained that “the ones who already know it were going to enjoy it. The rest was going to have a bad time.” Ha, ha!).

Their part was done and background music came out of the speakers. “Pull Me Under” by Dream Theater continued until its ending (it had started before Kernel Panic´s presentation and was paused when the band was already onstage). I waited for Nacho to come into the hall to congratulate him but he wouldn't reappear. It was getting late and the road to Tigre was quite long. I figured I could write on his Facebook Wall from home, but it would´ve been nice to have a chance to chat a bit more before taking off.

As planned, the pending conversation was established in virtual form.

To me, this Saturday symbolises communication and its virtues. Whether it is for real or virtually, or maybe even both working together as in this case, there´s a chance to meet people that´s worth interacting with. The promise of feedback between one and the other and the things that can be achieved because of it makes one realize that, responsibly and respectfully, communication is the key to improve our lives as social beings.