tuesday update (and the past a bit)

things here have continued to be busy. today i got 2
deals signed, so that is awesome. i have lots of new
music to listen to, so look for some on the 'bash and
at our house parties!
i can't really believe how busy i've been, and how
much has happened here in the course of 6 days. i've
taken some photos, taken some video, and lots of
rememberings.
i'll try and take things back to my arrival to give
folks a better sense of what i've been up to.
i arrived wednesday morning, and got my phone and cash
sorted out. i then found a ride with the conference
organizer's brother and a bunch of other folks
attending the global hip hop summit. a journalist, a
couple artists and a youth activist. they got dropped
off at a hotel and i headed out to meet with a label
once we got into downtown jozi.
after my meeting with the label, i headed to melville,
where i'm staying. i found a nice little cafe
(recommended by meetali) and settled in for some food,
drink, relaxation and writing. meetali didn't get off
work until 5.30 and i was staying with her that night.
so i got some food and read and wrote for a while. got
to watch an amazing thundershower that shut down the
sidewalk half of the cafe and cleared the streets
briefly. when meetali and her friends showed up, it
was already a bit late. so we headed to a bar next
door for a drink and then they dropped me off at the
welcome party at this mall called "the zone" in a
suburb called rosebank. swanky swanky place. both the
mall and the suburb. more fancy stores than anywhere
in boston that's for sure.
at this dinner, i realized that the UN in the form of
UN-Habitat was sponsoring the event, and i got to meet
some of the artists and other folks at the summit. DJ
Awadi and Positive Black Soul were there from Senegal,
and besides being legends, they are super nice guys.
Guru (from Gangstarr) and his crew showed up way late.
Kind of funny to see other artists and the staff at
the restaurant fall over him. More on him later.
I finally made it home late, found the (small) couch
and crashed.
The flight over had been 3 hours to ATL, then 8/9
hours to cape verde to refuel and not leave the plane
and then another 8 hours to joburg. and i probably
slept only 4-6 hours total on the plane. looooong
flight.
next post: thursday