The Holidays from Hell
I grew up in a small town near Buenos Aires. Me and my teenage friends were very fond of hard-rock music,and even had a rock band called Conmotion. The greatest opportunity we had to see a live show was the fantastic “Rock in Rio II”.
Living in a 3rd world country, that is also so far away from everything, can be very frustrating for a rock music fan. We couldn't miss this event. It was summer of 1991, and I was 21 years old.
The first thing we put into our luggage was… CONDOMS… yes… tons of them… The news was that the new terrible virus was spreading fast through the entire population, and Brazil was very well known for its beautiful but dangerous women. Also, the myth was that Freddie Mercury had catched the AIDS virus in one of his never-ending parties during “Rock in Rio I” back in 1984.
We were waiting for the bus, having coffee in a bus station bar, when one of my friends said: “Did you know that G has AIDS?” Everyone in my town knew G. He was a racing car pilot very popular among the girls… I said “What? AIDS? I just saw him yesterday near the club and he looked all right!”… My friend said “Yes… G's sister told me… She said that their family is devastated by the news, and much more because he has said that he was not going to take any medications, and that nobody could force him...” And added “Sorry folks for bringing this out, but we have to keep this in mind, since we are heading to one of the most “infectious” country…”
After a 30 hour trip, we arrived. As I stepped out of the bus, I saw a big billboard with a painting of a dying man laying in bed surrounded by his relatives. It was a “Benetton” advertisement. I said, “What kind of people can think of such a nasty way to advertise his products?...” One of my friends answered: “I think it´s OK, because it reminds us to beware of AIDS”
Río seemed to me “The Aids city”… Everywhere I looked I saw something related to it… And at the same time, the whole city wanted you to get laid! It was like a paranoid message: Sex Sex Sex! Don't do it! Sex Sex Sex! Don't do it!. The nice lady who rented us the house said: “rule #1: I'd prefer that you didn´t have sex in my house, but if you do, never without “camisinha!”. I got so tired of the same message that I only expected to go to the shows and get back home as soon as possible.
So, the 3rd night of the festival was going to be the best. We expected to see Robert Plant, Billy Idol, Judas Priest, Megadeth, and finally Gun's and Roses...
As soon as we arrived to the huge “Maracaná”, we heard the sad news that Robert Plant had decided not to come to Brazil, because of some cases of cholera that had been reported in Peru… So now we had AIDS and cholera around! I thought: “I'd better enjoy this show while I'm still alive!”
In the middle of GnR's show, Axl Rose stopped his version of Bob Dylan's “Knocking on Heaven's Door” and asked the 120,000 fans to listen carefully to what he had to say… “Not again!” I thought… But yes… This time the speech about death was accompanied with a convenient video wall explaining how the HIV did it's terrible job when it enters the human body, and how we should prevent this from happening, and showing an explicit slide show about “condoming” the penis… Needless to say none of us had any sex during our “holidays from hell"…
We came back to Argentina.
My town is a very hot place during summer time… When I was 24 I opened my own club, “Blues Café”, and spent time there drinking beer and playing music with my friends…
I think it was in the summer of 1995 that I saw a girl entering the bar with some of her friends, one of whom I knew… I remember asking her what was wrong with her friend that looked very thin and was wrapped in spite of the heat… She told me that she had had a boyfriend who had died of AIDS, and that she had tested positive months ago… So her father, a wealthy man, had taken her to the most important doctors and she had begun to take AZT… That was the last time I saw this girl. Months later someone told me she had died… of AIDS…
As years went by, I saw this guy G almost once a week in the “Blues Café”…
But suddenly he stopped showing up…
Recently, I heard that he got married and has two kids.
Last week I read in the newspapers that he just won another race.
Marcos el Abogado (aka) "Funes el Memorioso" lives and works in Buenos Aires
Hank changes his blog by adding a number of interesting, knowledgeable authorities as guest commentators and suddenly there are virtually no comments. Previously nearly every article had several comments and many had dozens. I wonder what the explanation is. Even my little comment here has nothing to do with the point of the post. Mesmerizing.
Posted by: Johnny B. | October 12, 2006 at 03:24 PM
johnny B,
You are not correct. There are still many comments and as previously they are almost totally restricted to Hank posts, and there they are extended only when someone like DT enters to make silly argument. Otherwise the comments are mostly on the order of right on, which are not so interesting I think you will agree.
Many of the new contributor columns do not allow comments. You can imagine several reasons for this, I trust.
Are you less mesmerized now?
Do you have anything to write that has to do with the totally freaky way this damn virus has infected poor Marcos for so many years that he has vivid memories of the insanities?
Posted by: Otis | October 12, 2006 at 03:34 PM
Hank changes his blog by adding a number of interesting, knowledgeable authorities as guest commentators and suddenly there are virtually no comments.
I think I have an explanation: Aids dissidents have nothing to add and Aids apologist simply back out silently, tail between the legs.
Posted by: henrysillian | October 13, 2006 at 11:48 AM