MtyMx: We had fun
» In which we make the most out of our trip in Monterrey, and have a set of wheels to get us there.
Outside Monterrey. Photo by Joe Perez.
Monterrey, Mx. Photo by Joe Perez.
Overlooking Sierra del Fraile. All remaining photos by by Joe Perez.
The ride up to Grutas de Garcia.
Grutas de Garcia. Photo by Joe Perez.
Inside Grutas de Garcia. Photo by Joe Perez.
Grutas de Garcia. Photo by Joe Perez.
Looking out into the caves. Photo by Joe Perez.
Photo by Joe Perez.
Rob from Eyebodega. Photo by Joe Perez.
Photo by Joe Perez.
Photo by Joe Perez.
Outside Monterrey. Photo by Joe Perez.
Soccer game in Cañón de la Huasteca. Photo by Karen Aragon.
Cañón de la Huasteca. Photo by Karen Aragon.
Cañón de la Huasteca. Photo by nice lady.
Cola de Caballo. Photo by Karen Aragon.
Photo by Karen Aragon.
Photo by Karen Aragon.
Monterrey. Photo by Joe Perez.
Pablo shared his watered down vodka and told us not to buy drugs off the street. Photo by Karen Aragon.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
MtyMx. Photo by Joe Perez.
Hotel Fundador in el Barrio Antiguo. Photo by Joe Perez.
In which we make the most out of our trip in Monterrey, and have a set of wheels to get us there.
Friday
We breezed our way from Austin (did you come to our SXSW Imposition?) through the Mexican checkpoints, waved along without showing our passports by heavily armed men in tanker trucks and fancy red flags with which to do their waving along, and began the long stretch of open landscape dotted with Joshua trees and what I imagine the world looked like before it got fucked up by our existence.
We watched the sun set gracefully over mountains before entering the border into Monterrey on streets that a night before were blockaded with burning cars and overturned trucks--witnessed first hand by Eyebodega's Rob Chabebe on his way to a one night stand. Cops were reportedly killed in the resulting standoff, but there were no signs of violence upon our entrance, just a traffic jam. We winded through the dizzying roadways and finally reached our hotel an hour later, where we were greeted by the friendly owner of a small hotel.
He gave us a quick ride in the back of his pick up truck in search of food. We dined on campechanas and toronjas off a street vendor with the dudes from Eyebodega and hilarious Joshua Heller of Current. Then we headed to Barrio Antigua where Garage and Hotel Fundador are located and wandered the streets, downed 20 peso tequilla shots along the way, watched some band in Star Trek outfits perform, and ran into Jon Caramanica and Zach Baron, who did not partake in our drunken festivities. We met a fellow Brooklynite at Yo Garage who gave us a mini-tour and likened the area to the Lower East Side. We crashed.
Saturday
Early morning, we drove west outside of Monterrey to Grutas de Garcia (caves of Garcia) where we ascended to the top of a mountain in the Sierra el Fraile and entered a 16 chamber labyrinth-like cave system filled with 60 million year old stalactites and stalagmites. I hate to sound New Age-y but exploring the inside of a prehistoric cave inside a mountain top once submerged under seawater was spiritual, to say the least. Also, leave it to Catholics to discover eerie images of Jesus Christ's face calcified into the wall and stalactites convincingly formed into crucifixes suspended from the ceiling.
Then a 30 peso burritos and a drive through Villa de Garcia - one of the oldest towns in the Northeast. One man stopped me to ask where I was from (or literally, "what are you?" - "usted, que es?"). I said I was Filipina - he gave an approving head nod then shook my hand and said "Manny Pacquiao."
We arrived on the first day of MtyMx around 4pm to realize the show was retardedly postponed due to electrical problems. Rumors trickled in that certain bands weren't coming, buses were a no show or disgustingly behind schedule, people were turned away, and Todd P was stopped at the border, which later turned out to be true. We pretty much had the "fuck it, We're in Mexico - let's have a good time" approach to the situation. Others, mainly those fishing for a story, harped on the mishaps.
Though sparsely attended the first day, the people we encountered were incredibly genuine and friendly, especially one kid named Pablo who spit on us when he talked and offered watered down vodka out of a huge water jug. After asking him how he felt about the drug cartels, he told us we were in the safest place we could be in Monterrey, but not to buy pot off the streets, unless they were in suits because apparently they're the ones who grow it themselves, as opposed to the more dangerous "hippie looking" dudes. This is when we started to wonder if he was full of shit.
The night filled out a bit more. We drank our 16 peso 40 ounces, made friends, watched bands. This was a party after all, even if we waited until 2am to see Acid Mother's Temple, only to lock our keys in our car and to have one of the grinning security guys help us jimmy-rig the door open.
We headed to Garage around 3am to find a very exhausted Madison of Coasting lounging with Alex of Alexico/White Ninja. She said the afterparty bands were in a bus from Austin circling around Monterrey trying to find the venue, then she went to bed. Jeremy ended up escorting the bands from the bus a couple blocks away because the driver could not (or would not) drive through the narrow streets of Barrio Antiguo. We watched Aa play at around 4am bundled up in our jackets then called it a night.
Sunday
Next morning we drove out to Cañón de la Huasteca. If there is a god out there, I truly believe he lives here. Completely surrounded by vertical ascending mountains arching towards the sky. The sun baked down and we lay against the cliff-side watching a soccer game on the open desert field. A nice lady took our first group photo and an old man hammering metal echoed across the canyon.
Day two of MtyMx went a bit more smoothly. We arrived around 2pm to be greeted by a jovial Todd P who talked candidly about bus mistakes. We walked to a packed 7-Eleven at the entrance and saw Das Racist drinking mezcal on the sidewalk then loaded up on cheap beer. This is the day Todd P infamously called out some bands for being pussies.
I had high hopes that during his set, Dan Deacon would persuade the locals to spread out across the field for some hardcore jazzercize'd calisthenics. Instead he played the reassuring camp counselor and warmed up the crowd in a tight dance circle while reminding us how lucky we all were to be sharing this experience together. Los Fancy Free put on one of the best performance I've seen from them, though I could have done with out the lead singer. The performance cascaded into an on-stage dance party, handing off instruments to people in the crowd - I doubt they were actually playing.
Monday
Next morning we drove out to Cola de Caballo, south of Monterrey. We read that you ride horses to a waterfall. The drive south past densely packed suburbs into vast expanses of lush mountain was only 50 kilometers or so from the rocky deserts where we saw god the day before, but we realized that our cascada was a tourist trap and we weren't about to take a five minute horse ride on a cobbled street. The waterfall was splendid, but. Lame. There was a narrow trail ascending the side of the mountain, but it was completely littered with trash, which was a huge bummer.
Driving back, we stopped at a lake seated between green valleys, where a Mexican tried to sell us another ride on his horse. We attempted to pet a donkey but he was not cool with it. Instead, we sat and drank a 15 peso beer and shared a cóctel de camarones that surprisingly did not give us the runs.
Last day of MtyMx was the most solid and successful. We got to see a bunch more friends who finally made it after hours and hours on the bus. I woke up from a nap to catch Best Fwends, and the rest of the day was spent floating thanks to some locals. We ran into Benjamin from HEALTH and shared a walk up to the show after loading up on coffee and Red Bull. Attendance at the festival never really matched up to expectations, but who cares when you're already surrounded by fun people and friends.
Tuesday
We left at 4am for the Northern Mexican highway on our way back to Texas for a flight back to New York. There were no road blockades, no sketchy drug cartel looking dudes, no problems crossing the border, just a car full of content MtyMx partyers waiting anxiously to get to the closest Taco Cabana and the welcoming sun rising over Mexico.
Hey Todd P crew and Yo Garage: Let's do this again soon, ok?
Posted on March 29, 2010. More on: mtymx, todd p, monterrey, austin, sxsw, eyebodega, current, coasting
The "Haters Gonna Hate" animation used here is the work of Omar Noory: http://thisisallido.com/
— sarahana on April 14, 2010
the headliners you are referring to weren't even booked on our bus service, they had tickets on private bus lines. some had plane tickets, all of which the festival paid for. also, several bands cancelled before the fest began and before any buses got delayed. it's pretty obvious those bands did not cancel because our bus system issues. the number of bands who couldn't make it because of our buses wasn't insubstantial, but it also didn't include the majority of the bands you guys give a crap about. the bands taking our buses were mostly the little guys. the bus sytem had issues for many reasons, but the major ones were that I foolishly scheduled their times thinking they could travel 50 miles per hour average, which caused the entire system to be off schedule; and that none of usrealised Mexico changed the date of the onset of daylight savings time this year, further screwing up the schedule (my cell phone provider also was unaware of the change, my phone was on one-hour-off time, fed to it by Movistar, in Mexico as well); and worst of all that many drivers were convinced that the drug cartel violence was a threat in Laredo, TX and cancelled with no notice, leaving us scrambling for licensed replacements. it was hell. I said what I said on the mike because the attendees were angry for the cancellations and I felt cancelling for safety paranoia was offensive to our local hosts. I do not think it's a big deal, just some talking shit and kidding around, and it's bizarre that that's become any issue at all. I did not come anywhere close to saying every band cancelled out of fear, but some clearly did and they should not be hiding that fact and, in effect, letting the festival take the fall for their unpopular decision. there's a lot more to say, but I'll explain more in depth in a public statement next week.
— Todd Patrick on April 13, 2010
Nice recap...thanks for sharing!
— Matt on April 08, 2010
PS. i don't think i have to be in mexico to be annoyed about those retweets. i'm not in iran and we're all pretty annoyed about iran. but the most important thing is i'm really looking forward to making it next year!
— sarahana on March 30, 2010
i think you guys are missing the point about being there or not. It's not the context in which he said it, it's the fact he publicized it. Saying it to the crowd of people who were there and in the moment is one thing, tweeting it without context and calling out bands is what I have an issue with. Like I said, aside from the impose story, it all reads like todd saying "bands were too scared to come down, it's their fault it sucked!" And for the record, we drove to San Antonio and our car represented 3 paid tickets and 2 hotel rooms. If only someone had gone through the exact same procedure two days before and could've let us know what we needed.
— Always Right on March 30, 2010
it doesn't matter who in particular todd p was talking about, and it's not like he said "oh and i don't mean talk normal who is waiting in the dark as i speak right now". we were in a hotel room reading todd p's retweets about bands being pussies, and i haven't even seen the you tube video. i totally don't think it's a big deal at all, but at the same time there is absolutely no need to DEFEND todd p calling band pussies. i'm behind everything else he did.
— sarahana on March 30, 2010
Awesome piece! Great meeting you!
— josh heller on March 29, 2010
that fat guy is so cute! i like his bouncing cleavage.
— hatnim lee on March 29, 2010
Always right, I'm 100% sure that if you had the paperwork to get across the border to be at the festival you wouldn't have such a bone to pick. Basically, you're wrong because you weren't there, you're building your opinion about the "pussy" name calling thing off of tweets that ultimately twisted the truth. He was talking about bands who canceled because of security concerns who ultimately really were pussies about it. He wasn't talking about Talk Normal who waited ages or Thee Oh Sees who tried twice to cross the border. Stop being Glen Beck.
— karen on March 29, 2010
not dipping in this comments well more than once, but... i have no qualms defending todd in this instance. once it entered youtube, what todd said could be spun any way you wanted and was no longer a communal bitch-out, and that's where always right comes in. but if you were there, it was pretty clear that there was a dichotomy between those who were afraid and those who came out for the festival, fans and bands alike, and frankly, i think we who went have a right to be annoyed at bands who cited fear for not coming. that said, in interview, todd mused that 'the bands wanted to come, it was their moms who didn't let them.' ha ha ha. and: i'm doubly appreciative of bands who made it down or tried and failed to because of the crappy bus situation. and we understand why some others had to give up thanks to a demanding tour schedule. we're not standing behind todd unquestioningly, but when we were down there watching the show, what he said had a time and place, and i dont see why he should be sorry. that's his problem to sort out between the bands who sent him texts citing narco-fears, because those are the same bands who gave him tons of bad press by bailing. besides, i dont really see it as a manipulative pr stunt so much as vibing off the local crowd. also, "got turned back at the border" and "paid" for your pass translates to "drove north from austin" and got a press pass, right, always right? booooooya.
— jeremy on March 29, 2010
Last thing... Karen, until the Impose account, the only thing you saw from todd on this side of the border was tweets about bands being pussies. And from the Impose story it sounds like there were way more people who couldn't come because of buses, not violence. And Dookmeister, damn right I'm bitter! I paid for a ticket and a rental car and got turned around at the border! That said, it's just bad taste to call out bands. Call out Bus Companies. Call out media who bailed. Call out fans who bailed. But don't call out the bands that helped get him tons of press. I'm still waiting to hear why you guys think I'm wrong? I think this is the first time in indie history where people who didn't get what they paid for at a concert defend the promoter over bands.
— Always Right on March 29, 2010
i can say with all honesty that if you werent there than you have no idea what you're talking about. offering to drive the headliners? someone sounds bittter..!
— dookmeister on March 29, 2010
woah woah, this whole pussy business has been blown waay out of proportion. also, calling todd p the main hater is not fair, he admitted to failing with the bus system. what would you have him do, bend over?
— karen on March 29, 2010
first of all, it's todd p's job to assure the bands of their safety, and second of all, it's not the organizer's job to call bands names, even if he is referring to bands that bailed out of safety concern. i understand it's playful and all, but still not appropriate.
— sarahana on March 29, 2010
dude (mark) it doesn't matter. The reason MtyMx got the shine it did (NY Times, Rolling Stone) is because of the bands he had listed. Therefore, as someone who payed $30 (in advance) for the show, I say it is his responsibility (in advance) to make sure they get there. And in my opinion, expecting a band to wait with their gear in one of the worst border towns in Mexico for a bus that might never come is not a reliable way to get the bands there. At the very least he should've offered to personally drive the headlining bands. But let's remember one thing, I'm only saying this because he called out the bands. No matter how many cool things he may have done or will do in his lifetime, he wouldn't have done any of it without the bands. Incidentally he said it standing next to Dan Deacon -- the guy who didn't have to drive there from Austin. And side note, I love all these people.
— Always Right on March 29, 2010
dude (always right) if you were there you would know he was directing it to bands too weary to come b/c of the warnings - not bands who stuck it out on the busses. shut up already.
— mark on March 29, 2010
you definitely had the right state of mind. I wasn't even bummed about missing the show, but I was bummed I missed Mexico!! But to be fair, the main hater seems to be Todd P himself. Bus problems or not, it's the promoters responsibility to at least make sure the headline bands make it. To call bands pussies because they don't want to wait 20 hours for a sketchy bus service is lame. Take some responsibility man!
— Always Right on March 29, 2010