I know this is the first update in a while, and I do apologize. I’ve been busy burning in the African sun, and generally being a waste of life. Here’s a list of the things I’ve been up to recently.
1) Surfing
I hadn’t been since 7th grade, and I forgot how fun/hard it is! My housemates and I took a Saturday about two weeks ago to spend all day at the beach and give surfing a shot. We got up early – 8am is early to those of us under 25 – made some breakfast and some strong coffee, and headed off. We took the metro rail – wait, that requires some explanation, timeout.
The Metro Rail is Cape Town’s rail system – it’s all above ground and runs through the center of the city all the way out to the suburbs. It comes in two flavors, Metro and Metro Plus. Metro Plus is kind of like business class, except the tickets only cost about $0.80 anyway. Safety is too much to ask from public transit in South Africa at the moment – I wouldn’t ride it alone, and certainly not at night. Security is tighter for the World Cup (which yes, everyone is crazy about), but no sense in being reckless. The trains can also get pretty packed – I think I may have posted this before, but youtube Cape Town’s “metro surfing” for an idea of how some people get around here.
Anywayyyy, we took the metro out to Muizenberg, a great beach about 30 or 40 min outside of Cape Town. It’s the Indian Ocean. That’s right, I’ve now been in 3 oceans. Big stuff. The water is much colder in the Atlantic, so everyone tends to just go to Muizenberg for the warmer water. We rented a few surfboards to split between us, and got cracking. It is hard, and exhausting. Maneuvering on a surfboard is cumbersome if you’re not used to it, and I wiped pretty often. After a few hours in the water, I was exhausted and I had ingested way too much salt water for my own good. I managed to get up a few times, hopefully I’ll give it another shot before I head back to the US. I might just stick to bodyboarding, though, such an easier/more entertaining activity.
2) Pride Cape Town
Cape Town just had Gay Pride week, and this past Saturday was the Pride Parade. It’s the biggest pride event in Africa. When we saw the small size of the parade, my housemate reminded me – we’re in Africa. “Biggest parade on the continent” is all relative when you remember that gays may face the death penalty in Uganda and gay marriage (or just being gay) is off the table in most countries.
Regardless, a fun time was had by all. The parade was pretty solid, and we just hung out at a gay bar all day – my housemates were dismayed to learn that gay bar bartenders are almost universally straight. Apparently to keep their minds on their jobs and not other things. I actually had to dip out early in the afternoon, because…
3) DJing on UCT Radio
I met a guy at a party a few weeks back, and he happened to DJ. He had a friend, who DJ’d on the radio. Call sign? 104.5 UCT Radio Maximum Respect. Apparently people listen to college radio here. Anyway, he’s got this Saturday 6pm to 9pm slot and has been doing the show for quite a few years. It’s mostly really really groovy deep/soulful/jackin house. The sound of South African electronic music is unreal.
Well, anyway, I was invited to show up last week and hang out in the studio. Short story even shorter, I got invited back for this past Saturday to do a set. Played a little american pop, but quickly worked into some heavy bass and indie/disco/filter house. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, minus the fact that it was 80 DEGREES IN THE STUDIO. SO SWELTERING. No fans, vents, etc.
4) Goldfish Live @ Kirstenbosch
Kirstenbosch is a botanical garden at the foot of Table Mountain. It is so surreally beautiful. They throw concerts in the summer, kind of like Tanglewood but cooler. Today was the sold-out Goldfish show. Goldfish? Ah, yes. Two guys who play house music live with a 909, a few synths, an upright bass, a few saxophones, and a flute. It is exactly as good as it sounds. I first saw them at beach-club La Med a month ago, and both shows have been a lot of fun. They’re so well respected and liked by South Africa, the entire crowd was cheering non-stop for 2 hours. Including the guy who climbed one of the speaker towers and danced on top of it.
I turned around to see what everyone was staring at, and there he was, 50 yards away, dancing on top of a 20ft speaker tower. It was both hilarious and frightening – I kept waiting for him to fall. Finally Goldfish stopped the music, had him climb on down, and they started up again.
I highly suggest youtubing their song Fort Knox. It made for a great evening, just relaxing to great music surrounded by the Kirstenbosch gardens.
I’ve got some pictures to throw up, and some more updates to throw out (I’ll be Pony Trekking in Lesotho in a week and I want to hike Table Mountain for sunset). I’ve also got a few more DJing gigs in the works at some of the really great venues around town. Should make for a good few months.