Going North — Part I. Root Canal in Paradise
By: Black Sea Storm
Tags: Mazatlan, Musicians, Travel, Mexico, Rock

Root Canal in Paradise

I ended up staying three weeks in Puerto Vallarta. I was having an issue with a tooth falling apart for the last two years or so. I would get temporary crowns to manage it with the most affordable solution, but the temporary crowns kept breaking on me. I decided to invest in a root canal to save the tooth. It is one of the reasons why I ended up staying that long in Vallarta. I was lucky to find an excellent dentist named Israel working at a dental office named Big Sonrisa. He knew a few words of Turkish since he had visited my home country not long ago. Although I don’t know much about dentistry, I think being able to recognize mastery. It was the last upper tooth on my right side that needed the treatment. It is probably the most challenging spot to operate a root canal. Isreal did a fantastic job without me feeling any pain during the entire process.

Not Much Luck Booking Shows in 2020

Although the relaxation and taking care of dental problems was a success, I wasn’t as successful at booking any shows in Puerto Vallarta. Most of the clubs having live performances were hiring cover bands. It also looked like the club owners I was trying to contact were all from the US or Canada. It just made it a bit challenging to choose with what strategy to approach them. I did not know if I should write to them in English or Spanish. I mostly contacted the owners by digital means. I went in person to only one club named Kelly’s Pour Favor. I gave a business card to the person working there, but she did not seem to care too much. The most love I got from the staff was from a bass player playing in one of the cover bands. He gave me some tips on approaching the owner lady and told me that he would land me his PA and mic stand in I happened to get a show there.

The circumstances did not favor me booking shows, but I am the most to blame for being unsuccessful. I did not push it hard enough. Although I felt great in Vallarta socializing with people and enjoying what nature had to offer. Artistically I did not feel in a comfortable environment for the type of music I play. For those familiar with the San Diego scene, trying to get a show in Puerto Vallarta felt a lot like trying to book a show for a math/post-rock band in Pacific Beach.

There was some live rock action in Puerto Vallarta, a great blessing with the current situation, but all the bands I’ve heard were doing covers in English. How sad is that? I have nothing against cover bands, but if that’s the only way to play live, it kind of kills creativity and represents an obstacle for a local scene to flourish with original music. It always breaks my heart when rock n’ roll is just seen as entertainment. If a well-versed musician has a hard time writing original material, I can understand the whole cover band thing as a solution. That said, for me being a musician is to create original music.

Mazatlan, Sinaloa

On December 8th, 2020, I left Puerto Vallarta for Tepic and took a bus to Mazatlan. I arrived early evening. I just went out to walk around the block. I was staying in a neighborhood called Casa Blanca. Since I had been fasting, I decided to go to bed without eating and recharge my batteries faster that way. The apartment I was renting was huge. I had an entire floor all to myself. The furniture was old school but looked kind of cool on Instagram with the New York filter.

The next morning after waking up, I took my guitar and started to play and record some new ideas. I was feeling energized. Mid-afternoon, I decided to go out. I walked for about 20 minutes from the apartment to hit the Malecon. It was a beautiful sunny day. When I saw the scenery, I was thrilled to be in Mazatlan. I broke my fast with some green juice I bought on the street and later on I had some ceviche. Oh my goodness! I am someone who’s been to Peru twice before, but the ceviche in Mazatlan was above anything I had experienced before. The raw shrimp tasted like candy.

Since I needed to walk 20 minutes to hit the Malecon, and the Malecon itself was forming a pretty long strip along the coastline, I ended up walking a lot every day. In general, people in Mazatlan seemed to be very direct, but not in a bad way. With the combination of all elements. The ocean, good food, and people’s outgoingness, something extremely positive and unexpected happened to my creativity with music. Different ideas keep effortlessly pouring onto my strings.

I feel lucky as a musician that I always have new ideas coming my way, but something extraordinary happened in Mazatlan, and a part of my creativity got unchained. I felt amazing in this town. Yes, there was beautiful scenery and the beach, but there weren’t many international tourists, and the people had this rural positive energy to them. So it did not feel like being in a posh little cute resort town. I was finally in Sinaloa. I could not believe it. So many people advised me not to travel there. And while I was having the most fantastic time in Sinaloa, the negativity would only come from outside of Sinaloa via digital means. Some people seeing that I was there, would tell me to be careful. My reality in Sinaloa was a positive one in all aspects.

Comiendo Sano

Since I wasn’t planning on eating ceviche every day, I started to look for a place that served plant-based food. I came across a restaurant called Comiendo Sano ran by an Italian Mexican couple named Luigi and Isabel. I started to go there regularly. The food was excellent, slow food made to order with lots of love and attention to detail. I began to have great conversations with Luigi, Isabel, and the other customers. At Comiendo Sano, I would see the same customers over and over again. It felt more like a healthy vegetarian food-club than a typical restaurant.

Arpeggios of the Day

While I was still in Uruguay on April 5th, 2020, I started an Instagram story series called The Arpeggio of the Day. The idea was to publish new arpeggios of 15 seconds every day. Some of the arpeggios I posted in the first batch of 10 helped me write the song “Kesilme Topraktan.” I took a little break from publishing the arpeggios, and in November, when I was in Puerto Vallarta, I increased the production rate. But it is genuinely in Mazatlan that the production went through the roof. During the three weeks I stayed in Mazatlan, I produced 47 arpeggios. A total of 47 new song ideas. Some musicians don’t even have that many songs during their entire career. It’s a real blessing. What frustrates me is that I don’t have the time to convert all my ideas into songs. I’d need to hire assistants or share my arpeggios publicly so other musicians can get inspired. I have no problem with others borrowing my ideas or using them as a starting point to eventually create something of their own. The only thing I ask is to be credited if someone uses an arpeggio of mine and officially releases a song.

Unexpected Added Value

My initial goal with The Arpeggio of The Day series was to give an insight into Black Sea Storm’s creative process and hopefully create more interest in the project. As I’ve been publishing those stories, my number of followers increased significantly on Instagram. I thought that the arpeggios would promote my recorded material. To a small degree, they did, but there were a significant number of guitar players asking me for tabs and asking me if I would release an educational video of those arpeggios. I was surprised by the demand. First of all, deep inside, I still don’t consider myself to be a guitar player. For me, I am doing the same thing I was doing on the bass, which is to put song backbones together. And secondly, I would have never thought that people would like to learn how to play my parts. As I am writing this, I am approaching the 110th published Arpeggio of the Day. I am thinking of creating a course module to help people learn those arpeggios. I believe such a side project would be beneficial in many aspects. I need to find the time and develop new skills to make it happen.

Christmas and New Year

I’ve been living in temporary rentals for the past four years. This time of the year has usually been quite of a challenge to manage for me. I have a routine and a specific budget for housing, and I take advantage of rental platforms. Around this time of the year, all of a sudden, the market gets flooded by tourists, and the prices can go up pretty drastically, and finding a place that meets my needs at an affordable price can get a bit tricky. I was able to book a place in Mazatlan until the 29th of December, which was a success since, at the very least, I had Christmas covered, but I wasn’t able to find anything for the 31st to the first days of 2021. On Christmas night, Luigi and Isabel were working at Comiendo Sano only on take out orders. They made an exception for me and let me eat at the restaurant although it was closed to the public. They had prepared this fantastic vegetarian lasagna. I am usually not a big fan of this Italian dish, but on this occasion, Luigi and Isabel just nailed it to perfection. It was delicious and fit my taste! The dish was not heavy at all and gave me a new perspective on lasagna. Food is a lot like music; it’s not what you cook or prepare, but how you put it together and present it that makes the difference.

My strategy to find a destination for the 31st of December consisted of finding a less touristy city. I decided to go to Hermosillo. Why Hermosillo? Well, I wanted to explore the north of the country, and I am a big fan of Tristeza, the San Diego based post-rock instrumental band. Luis plays the bass for Tristeza, and his last name happens to be Hermosillo. This is how we make top-level executive decisions at Black Sea Storm Inc. I booked a place for the 30th. I first thought that I could save up some money not booking a room for the 29th and sleep during the bus ride. I then realized that the ride wasn’t long enough, and the person renting me the space in Hermosillo couldn’t let me check-in early. So I decided to spend a night in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

About Black Sea Storm

Black Sea Storm started as a recording side project in 2002. During that period, I was still actively playing bass in rock bands in San Diego, California. In 2011 Black Sea Storm became my sole musical outlet. In 2017 I moved to Latin America from Europe, and in 2018 I decided to live my life as a nomad and integrate touring as a significant component to my lifestyle.

With this blog, I am trying to capture some of the adventures of being an independent full-time traveling rocker. I am hoping that my writing will bring people to listen to my music. There is so much music available online that it becomes challenging at times to take the time and discover a new artist.

Through my stories, perhaps some people will have an opportunity to connect with my music. I have no pretensions of becoming a writer. I see writing as one of the rock n roll weapons in an independent DIY artist’s arsenal.

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