Production Blog Begins

Dear friends.... it has begun! Over the last 2 weeks we have been making connections, seeing Rio culture, interviewing artists and musicians, shooting, editing, discussing... and walking down the beach to sugar loaf as you can see from my mobile photo uploads. Here is a collection of stills, a mixture of production stills, and screen shots from our first 2 shoots. We will continue to update these posts as we move along, in an effort to quickly update the blog. But our experience has been too rich to just post quickly. We have been working with an unbelievable collection of musicians, videographers, photographers, producers, managers, and as we update we will explain who they are. For now peep these images.

Contributors:
Daniel Lôbo
Leandro Neves
Dani Botelho
Cast of- Na Rotina dos Bares

... and more pics.

Photo at the Journal do Brazil, of the founders of Bossa.

Chega De Saudade- Trailer

Letters from my journal.

Random thoughts and entries:

12/9/11- Apartment, on computer.
Our first week in Rio was incredible. We connected with the Journal do Brazil, a major newspaper here in Brazil since 1891. We are spending this next week working with them and searching through their archives of articles, pictures and stories creating the landscape for the Bossa Nova movement and the culture at the time. Friday we took a cab to see a friends show  in Tijuca at the Sao Clemente samba school. They were performing their 10 songs to pick for Carnival. They started the night playing last years song, the Queen of the school came out with their flag, and as she spun around the room, building the energy of the crowd. The colors of the school, black and yellow, littered the place like confetti. 30+ people were on stage banging away each with an individual drum and piece to play, not skipping a beat. 500+ people in the audience, women dancing like a dream, men showing up dancers from the lord of the dance as if they were born to dance.... they were. As the queen danced and pulled energy from the band into the crown the building we were in ignited, (figuratively). I began to cry as the beat of the bateria, and the force of the energy took over my body. It was a life changing experience.  It was wonderful.  We later found out not only were we in the wrong place, our friend never played there that night, but Sao Clemente was the Samba school that threw a party for Nara Leao as a backlash to Bossa Nova, when she turned her back on the movement. Had we known Sao Clemente had celebrated the death of Bossa Nova, and the rejection of the movement by Nara, I may have not been touched as deeply. It is amazing how things happen as they are meant to be.

Quick collection of images. Words and blogs to follow.

Day 1

    We arrived in Rio Tuesday around noon, and were picked up at the airport by Jim´s friend Bernardo. A fellow musician and percussionist. His step father Felle met us at baggage claim and waited with us until Bernardo arrived. We smoked cigarettes that we had longed for after 24 hours of traveling. I slept on the flight from DC to Rio, Rob was not so fortunate. Quickly my plans to work on the plane evaporated. I joked with a new friend before leaving that when you depart on a long plane trip you get ready with days worth of reading and work, thinking time will stand still once the plane takes off. However, most passengers land without even turning a page.
     As I sat outside the airport taking in the new air touching my skin, Rob talked to Felle in Portuguese about our project, soccer, and Rio News. I just soaked in the air, people, and taxis. In one way it felt totally new and foreign, in another it just felt like smoking outside any airport in the states. Bernardo arrived in a small white hatchback, fitting Jim´s description of Harry Potter to a T. The sights and sounds of familiarity sitting outside the airport were quickly whisked away as we jumped on the highway heading into Rio and Copacabana.

Samba do aviao

Rob here just saying what's up. I am sitting in the airport in DC waiting for steve. I'm bored but very excited. Flying to rio is making me think of the jobim song samba do aviao which translated means samba of the airplane. Jobim was known to have a fear of flying in what he called "steel birds" referring to airplanes. After he left brazil jobim felt so much saudade towards rio de janeiro and on his flight Back from the united states he was inspired to write the song mentioned above. Consequently, years later rio de janeiro named the airport after Antonio Carlos jobim. Wish I could add a link to that song but I'm typing on my phone so go google that!!!

Chega de Saudade,
Roberto Bettega

Cooking with gas.-Momma Tucker

Yesterday while talking to a new friend about Bossa Nova he reflected on the fact that the form exists because of women. Furthermore the culture of Brazil is built around women. At this point in the documentary we have not been able to interview any women on the project, which is an enormous missing piece.  Most of the music is written by men reflecting on the women in their lives who give them inspiration and keep them alive. The heart of this post goes out to the women, my mom, my sister, my best friend/blatina sister, friends and lovers. Thank you I love you!

Now to the post- Cooking with Gas.