Earth, Wind & Fire stole my pen

Yesterday Ana wanted to take Ben and I out to the downtown area by the beach, walk around, find a place to eat, etc. We were going to take a cab but her parents wanted to go too, so they drove. There was a pre-Carnaval thing going on however, which made the place a madhouse; streets were closed, parking was futile, etc. So we eventually gave up and decided to find a restaurant more inland, away from the chaos; we ended up getting lost. We then happened upon a bar/restaurant that Ana and I had been to before. The place is like a Disney attraction. Think about when you walk into the Pirates of the Carribean ride, or one of the locales at the Epcot Showcase of Countries - all the different rooms celebrating culture of that particular theme. This place is similar. Inside the restaurant is a Church, saloons, houses, etc. It's quite impressive really.

As we walked toward the restaurant however, I could have sworn I heard what sounded like inner-city afro-american english. That just didn't make any sense though. What would american inner-city dudes be doing in Fortaleza? I dismissed it as we walked toward the restaurant. However when we entered, the place was completely empty aside from one table of black dudes speaking English. I froze in my tracks and just stared at them in bewilderment. It would be one thing if we were in a super-international city like Rio, but an interior restaurant in Fortaleza? I had to know.

"Where are ya'll from?" I asked.

"California. Where are you from?!"

(I always have trouble answering this question these days, but) "Er, Oregon, kinda. What are you guys doing here? Just visiting?" I asked.

"Oh we're performing here tonight. In fact we were just working up tonight's setlist."

One guy looked at me and said "You heard of Earth, Wind, and Fire?"

"Are you kidding? Of course!"

"Well this guy here wrote Let's Groove Tonight."

As it turns out, Earth, Wind & Fire have had like a hundred different members in their history, but these guys were some of them.

Incidentally they were a riot. Even Ana's parents - who couldn't understand a word of what they said - afterwards noted how funny they thought they were. They are, after all, performers, so it would stand to reason they'd be entertaining (in any language). We hung out with them for about half an hour while they had me in stitches, and while Bube watched on in wonder, and while Ana and her parents watched on in hunger. Turns out the restaurant was actually closed, so it was just us and Earth, Wind and Fire together at a table in there.

As it passed Bube's bedtime and none of us had eaten still, Ana and family grew a little restless. However Earth, Wind and Fire didn't want us to leave and did their best to convince us to stay and hang out with them. They fit in really well with Brazil - horribly fun, and are just as warm as family. During conversation each of them must have hugged me 2 or 3 times just because they liked something I said. Leaving took forever, because after you hug one person, another will feel left out and needs one. Then the previous will feel left out and needs another, etc. I think those of you that are Brazilian or know Brazilian culture will empathize.

Each of them gave me their personal business card, one wrote his cel phone number on it, one wrote his local phone number here in Brazil. They gave me a little poster of the night's show and I grabbed Ana's pen in her bag and asked them to autograph it, for evidence that this really happened (the photo above). We finally left, as I had demanded too much of Bube and family.

I walked out wondering what just happened. We came to Brazil and hung out with Earth, Wind and Fire, and they didn't give me my pen back after they autographed my little poster. Earth, Wind and Fire stole my pen in Brazil. But I suppose I can get another one.