THE MAX FACTOR
In which our eternally youthful maestro, finally gets to Venice – and establishes his Brazilian street cred among some bona fide bossa novans
SEPTEMBER WAS A memorable month for me. Not only did I complete my fourth decade, but I finally had an opportunity to travel to the exquisite city of Venice, whose canals I had long dreamed of visiting.
For my birthday celebration, my girlfriend rounded up all my nearest and dearest and held an intimate but fun-filled soirée in the charming upstairs lounge at Crustacean restaurant in Beverly Hills.
Of course, 40 is a landmark birthday, and I awoke that morning greeted by an assortment of some of the most wonderful and imaginative gifts I could have dreamed of, the most striking of which was a Zimmer frame which had been ingeniously “pimped out” and aptly named The Wheels of Steel, as it came complete with DJ decks, disco lights and all manner of other accoutrements.
My girlfriend, Normandie, who has a wicked sense of humour, explained that in the current global economy a Ferrari would be vulgar and was passé anyway, so she kindly decided to skip that chapter in my life, fast-forward to my retirement and furnish me with the funkiest geriatric chariot that any rickety and infirm old DJ could hope for. Of course, I can’t predict exactly how long it will be before I need it, but at least I know that when the time comes, I’ll be rockin’ it in the rest home!
The DJ theme continued during the party, when I was presented with a cake painstakingly created to resemble one of my DJ decks. Of course, it was only appropriate that I keep my guests entertained during the party, so I took to the decks and kept my friends jamming all night with a collection of some of my all-time favourite tunes. All in all it was a memorable evening, and one that left me feeling decidedly shaky when I arose the following morning. As it turned out, the Zimmer frame was put to use sooner than expected.
Having dusted myself off and fully recharged, I set off to Venice, where I was booked to play at a wedding. The event, taking place at the world-renowned Hotel Cipriani, was an intimate affair with a little over 100 guests who had flown in from all over the world, including a large contingent from Brazil, the groom’s home.
As a surprise for his bride and guests, the groom had arranged to have Brazilian samba legend Jorge Ben come to perform. As a gift, Jorge had written a song entitled “Victoria” (the bride’s name), which he had recorded in Venice on the day of their wedding and which he performed at the event.
Venice is a stunning city. Walking its narrow pathways and traversing the canals in riverboats and gondolas, one is constantly in awe of its magnificent architecture and unique charm. Naturally I visited as many places as my two days afforded me. I spent a morning at Murano, admiring the glass works and acquiring countless keepsakes at various stores. I also visited the Piazza San Marco, where I felt awestruck to be surrounded by so many breathtakingly beautiful buildings. And tourists. And pigeons.
On the day of the wedding, I went for my soundcheck and had some time to hang out with Jorge and his band, who are a fascinating bunch, each one full of life and boundless energy. As it turned out, they are almost all noted musicians in their own right, several of them having produced albums that I had in my collection. We spent some time going through our respective libraries and exchanging music. Being a huge fan of samba and bossa nova, I have an enormous collection of Brazilian music, which they were pleasantly surprised to see.
The music sounded great during the soundcheck, and I knew that with such a large number of Brazilians in the audience, this party was bound to go off. And so it did. The setting could not have been more romantic, and the rooms were decorated beautifully. As the dinner ended, I cued up the bride and groom with their opening dance, then got everyone going with a mix of Brazilian gems blended with some contemporary fare. I then handed over to Jorge and his band, who took things to the next level.
The groom, who along with his friends is a huge football fan, had arranged for the shirts of his team, Flamengo, to be handed out to guests during the concert, and by half-time the scene resembled a wild football crowd cheering, singing and dancing to Jorge Ben’s mesmerising performance. By the time he’d finished, the audience was going crazy. Then it was back over to me to keep them dancing into the early hours.
Venice was a wonderful experience…but leaving the place entailed an endless series of mishaps: on the morning of my departure, a stolen phone and wallet, with all my credit cards and my driving licence; being stranded at sea on a river boat that had run out of gas on the way to the airport, resulting in a lost flight to Los Angeles via Zurich; being rerouted through London and ending up stuck in a taxi from Gatwick airport behind a Europe-wide demonstration of some 10,000 bikers travelling down the M4 at 20 mph.
But that’s another story.
