Ok so I ended up passing out and not making it to Premier even though i was down plus three on the guest list - gutted. But then I guess I needed the sleep. Woke up (relatively) fresh for Saturdays workshop which was great - the busiest it's been so far with a real energy in the studio. We got some of the students writing scripts for their first live shows - programming music, formulating links for example, and others recording or editing vinhetas. The four hour session ended up with them using the desk and practicing talking on air.
Managed to take Sunday off, bar a meeting, and wave goodbye to Marky boy who's now flown back to Bristol. Ritchie's also left to return to the beach life in Bahia. On Monday we quietly LAUNCHED THE STATION!!!!!! The day was spent in the studio with the students, preparing for their shows in the morning, and actually doing them in the afternoon. They will be available to listen to online shortly at www.afroreggaedigital.com. Also up there will be audio from the two Favela Feva events. In the evening I had a meeting at Marcelinho Da Lua's house about getting local artists involved in training the kids. You gotta check out this guy - a real talent http://www2.marcelinhodalua.net/. Unfortunately Marcelinho can't help with the party because there's not going to be one. We had a meeting with Damain from AfroReggae on Tuesday (another bank holiday - May Day this time as I guess everyone knows!) and they think it best we hold off on a big event until the station has had time to integrate fully into the AfroReggae family first, which is fair dues. To be honest, it certainly saves me the headstress of organising it and I can concentrate more on finishing the workshops, finalising the station schedule and most importantly working more closely with the kids.
Was up in Lucas today (Wednesday) although the workshops didn't go so smoothly as there was a power cut in the centre, a shame as we were due to do more live shows today. There's plenty more opportunity to do them though so all is not lost. I'm sure we'll be able to fit in a few tomorrow in between the workshops. We're just getting the kids used to being on air at this stage and there's no formal show structure in place yet. That's part of the next stage.
After a day of workshops tomorrow, I'm off to Sao Paulo (horay i'm so excited) straight from Fevre - Mario's drum n bass night. We're sleeping on the bus and then spending a few days in SP for Skol beats and my birthday. Will only be on my phone during that time, if i don't hear from you, see you on the other side... She's getting older.