23.02.21 - Vai dar pano pra manga

Hallooo,

Hope all well 'n that. In between recording and editing sessions we've been frantically getting Gabi's course ready for pre-sale, which kicked off last night with an official start date of March 1st, so it'll be interesting to see how that progresses. 

On Saturday I met up with my old bandmates for our first jam in over two years (albeit with a slightly different line-up, as our old bassist and keyboardist have retired) which was fun and surprisingly coherent - we even played a song from the '90s, which is about as modern as it gets with those guys (and one by Peter f***ing Frampton, but let's never speak of that again). I also forgot to mention that I was offered a role in a Bee Gees cover band earlier in the month, but turned it down as I only know about 3 of their songs.

We also went out for dinner down the road with some friends, which featured a guy wandering around serenading people with a glow-in-the-dark saxophone. Between all that and the weekly football last night, it's been an eerily pandemic-free weekend, not that the vaccine-related news is any grounds for confidence (neither is Brazil's vaccination mascot, for that matter).

Then there's this week's mixtape, and phrase of the day ("vai dar pano pra manga" / "it's going to give cloth for sleeves"), which is spoken of hot topics which look likely to inspire debate for the foreseeable future ("manga", of course, means "mango" as well as "sleeve", which confuses matters somewhat).

Think that's about it.

He Fred She Fred

16.02.21 - 对牛弹琴

Hallloooooo,

Thanks for tuning in yesterday, link to mum's birthday tune to follow. Hope you had a whizzy jolly day! Over here we're hard at work down the content mines, pulling an all-dayer on Saturday to record a fair chunk of Gaby's course which I am now in the process of whittling down and applying bells and whistles to, and which is due to launch on March 1st, weather permitting. We also went out for a stroll around Vila Madalena on Sunday, armed with our 2-for-1 discount book, after I got outrageously sunburnt in the pool.

Elsewhere I've made another mixtape, and my phrase of the day comes from China: "对牛弹琴", which means "playing the lute to a cow", i.e. "talking to a brick wall". Palmeiras' clown-car World Club Cup campaign wrapped up with an ignominious loss in the third-place play-off (bearing in mind that they would have finished in fourth place if they hadn't travelled to Qatar at all). And I've been enjoying http://radio.garden/, which is basically Google Earth that tunes into radio stations from around the world.

Ciao for now!

Fred Ringer for Love

09.02.21 - Tem mais passado do que futuro

Hallooooo,

Hope all well 'n that. We've had an action-packed week shooting and editing Gaby's course, which we're hoping to launch at the end of the month, weather permitting. That's been the main focus but we also got out on Sunday night to see some friends who live down the road for the first time in ages, which was nice and involved lots of dogs.

Otherwise it's another week another playlist, and my phrase of the week ("tem mais passado do que futuro" / "[x] has more past than future") is quite a stark way of describing someone or something as over-the-hill or on its way out. 

And as an update to last week's primer on Palmeiras not having a "mundial" - their wait goes on, as they were eliminated by Mexico's Tigres UANL before they even reached the final against Bayern Munich. Not funny at all, I'm sure you'll agree.

Speak soon!

Fredge of Tomorrow

02.02.21 - Palmeiras não tem mundial

Hallooooo,

Hope all well Med-side. Not much to report here, other than a trip to see Taynah and Rafa's new flat in the centre of town (with lashings of hand-smoked steak, which I was very impressed with), and another to pick up Zila and dip her in our pool for a bit. New compilation too. 

Having said that, Palmeiras won the Copa Libertadores final (the South American equivalent of the Champions League) on Saturday, so now seems as good a time as any to analyse today's phrase of the week: "Palmeiras não tem mundial".  

The "mundial" is the FIFA Club World Cup, which has been running officially since 2000, and pits the champions of each continental footballing body against each other, to determine who will be "world champion" each season. So this year, Palmeiras will represent South America, Bayern Munich will represent Europe having won the Champions League in August, and teams from Africa, Asia, North America and the Middle East will be making up the numbers too. The tournament should have taken place in Qatar in late 2020 but was postponed for obvious reasons. 

Palmeiras' rivals from across town, São Paulo FC and Corinthians, have both won the Cup in recent history (in 2005, and 2000 & 2013 respectively), but Palmeiras haven't - hence "Palmeiras não tem mundial". They have, however, won the Intercontinental Cup which took place in Rio in 1951 along similar lines (and included Nice FC among the participants!). 

So the club does have some sort of claim to the title of World Champions, albeit one that is not officially recognised by FIFA, who only consider the post-2000 champions to be canon (FIFA dismissed the 1951 tournament as "outside their jurisdiction" but didn't shut it down, which some interpret as tacit approval).

This technicality has led to a fierce debate among fans, spawned countless memes, and is the focus of much derision and pedantry judging by my weekly football outings and the corresponding Whatsapp group, which is made up mainly of Corinthians and Palmeiras fans and can get very heated. It is often used as a one-size-fits-all rebuttal whenever any of the many Palmeiras fans get too big for their boots, but this tactic often triggers yet another re-treading of whether or not Palmeiras were ever world champions.

It took me a long time to grasp the extent of this rift, mainly because no one in Europe really cares about the Club World Cup, typically viewing it as a series of glorified friendlies, and a money-spinning exercise which often distracts teams from more important goals back home.  Liverpool are the current world champions, but winning the Champions League and the Premier League either side of the tournament obviously meant a lot more. Whereas for Latin American teams, the Cup is the only opportunity to play the more prestigious teams from Europe in a competitive setting, so victory is considered to be the ultimate achievement.

None of which looks set to change any time soon, as Palmeiras will no doubt get absolutely destroyed by Bayern's second-string team in an empty, air-conditioned stadium later this month. But despite my family ties to Corinthians I am secretly rooting for them, if only to banish the spectre of "Palmeiras não tem mundial" forever, so we can all move on with our lives.

Lesson over. Speak soon!

/WallStreetFreds