welcome to rio, and to our carnaval experience. this experience was a dream come true for me: to parade with a big samba school - escola de samba - in the rio carnaval, marching down the main sambodramo avenue, with thousands up on the stands, and millions watching around the country and possibly the world. and the sound. mate, the sound is amazing! when the drum section passes by you it is like being in the biggest loudest rave imaginable. but im getting ahead of myself here.

as a kid i had participated in small carnaval parades in lagoa santa, a small town in minas gerais where i spent every weekend and many holidays. some of my happiest memories are of me and my sisters getting ready to parade with our families samba school 'gulosao'. it was the most fun one can ever imagine, the whole family together, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, grandkids, everyone in a different costume representing their age group, all in the same colours of the school. but lagoa santa is small, intimate, and over the years that atmosphere of family feast gave way as many of us moved away and the town grew with new imports who lacked the same connection. but always, in every year, we would watch with awe and envy the absurd and decadent highlights of the rio carnaval. that was the real thing, the biggest spectacle imaginable, with the prettiest women on earth parading in perfect tans and showing it all! but it was more than that. the week after the event we would consume the magazines with all the photos from the public event, and from the private parties! sex orgies really. it was my first taste of pornography. carnaval in brasil is something else. its really about all the excesses one can ever wish for: flesh, booze, sound, feast, colour, a week of little sleep and virtually nonstop partying. everywhere.

so how did i get here? well, in 2001 i spent almost the entire year in brasil travelling, and around carnaval time a really good mate of mine, markus, propsed that he and other friends, aj and his crew, come out and meet me in rio and that we find a way to participate in the actual rio parade.... what a dream!

and so we did. 7 of us got hooked up with a guy who knew the people who ran one of the big samba schools, salgueiro, and for $200 dollars each, could get us costumes. the costumes are the 'ticket'to participate. if you ever decide to do something completely decadent, bonkers and outrageous, try to participate in the rio carnaval. its not as difficult as you'd imagine. any hotel in rio will put you in touch with someone who knows someone, who knows how to get you a uniform. thats it. once you have that contact, and put up a bit of money, the rest is fun.

these shots are of us hanging out, and of us getting ready in our costumes, and of us being in the parade and of some of the prettier facets of rio.

mangueira, one of the grand rio samba schools, always in pink and green, and always fantastically theatrical. the cement stand is purpose built for carnaval - this portion of the city is called the 'sambadromo', the mecca of samba.

 

markus - left -, me - shirted -, and aj -tattooed arm. i havent been buff since i last went to the gym, sometime around my junior year in college. since then its been a lot of drinking and not a lot of exercising. thus, in all these photos, i keep my shirt on, while my buff mates show off their pecks. however, the universe does have its own balancing sense of justice, so to this day i retain a full head of hair, while.... ;)

the three of us have been frinds for about 7 years now. markus and i worked together in london, and markus knew aj from some wild rave in miami i think. markus is now happily married to wonderful katie, and is about to become a dad. aj remains an elegible bachelor and is now a famous dj - www.blind-pig.com -, a budding property developer in london, and still finds time for a full time day job as a lawyer in a very big financial institution. 

and then there was fritz, part man, part machine, capable of picking up dozens of girls with a simply flick of the biceps... very cool guy. i definitely chose well in keeping my shirt on, i think.

and this was the complete gang: markus, aj, marcus, an american girl fritz picked up, fritz and marcus girlfriend.

and,these were half our costumes. yes, the guys were blue peacocks and the girls pink flamingos. markus, centre, aj, left, and california girl. markus, as you will see from these photos, suffers from a rare form of shirt allegy. 

yes, again, markus without a shirt. but the reason i publish this photo is to call attention to the plastic bird around his waist. one of my fondest memories of this experience was hearing markus blurt out in a wicked cockney accent: i got a bird on me knob! :-))))) for those who know the character i think you can build the picture, for the millions who dont, my dream is to one day place markus on a sitcom, as i know no funnier person on this universe.

and here is the rest of the costume. i have the same on, but again, am hiding behind the camera :). i think markus wore this outfit to a party in ny some holloween. i have mine safely stored in my parents home and considered wearing it to his wedding last year :). 

 

 

ahh, rio :-)