The Aztec God of Dance

With Jesse graduating high school this year, we planned a vacation to Philadelphia where we would attend a concert by U2. This would be his graduation present, as well as a family vacation before he leaves for college. Then, a couple months before graduation, we learned that one of our favorite bands would be playing with the St. Louis Symphony the night of his last day of school. Jesse badly wanted to see Ozomatli, and they rarely come to the Midwest.

Ozomatli (the band is named after the Aztec God of Dance) has been one of our favorites for a long time. We first heard them when Jesse got his first iPod. While searching for songs to download from iTunes, we found the song Who Discovered America. I loved the lyrics, the Latin beat, and the mixture of instruments--definitely an original sound.

We bought tickets for the symphony concert and looked forward to the show. About 10 days before the performance, we received notice that the concert was canceled and the band would be performing at St. Louis' Blueberry Hill instead. Blueberry Hill is a great place, but it doesn't admit minors.

Knowing that Jesse was disappointed, Barb found a way to contact Ozomatli's publicist. To our surprise, we got a prompt response, stating that the publicist would see if there was any way to get us into the Blueberry Hill show--no promises other than a good faith effort to get us in.

The next day, we received an email from Ozomatli's manager, stating that she was "mortified" to hear about this, and promising to make this up to Jesse in some manner.

A few days later, we received another email from the manager, inviting us to some other events with the band--a performance at the St. Louis Language Immersion School (for kindergartners and 1st graders) and at Vintage Vinyl later in the day. She also offered us tickets to the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June, where Ozo would be performing (more on this to come in a few days).

We arrived at the school early that morning and saw a white van pull up. We recognized a couple Ozo members and followed them into the school. A school administrator briefly stopped us, but let us enter when we said, "We're with the band." (Never thought I'd have an opportunity to say that in my lifetime.)

When we entered the large common room at the school, several of the band members approached us and introduced themselves. The bass player said hello and told us his name was "Wil-Dog." I wasn't sure how to respond--"Nice to meet you, Mr. Dog?" He was very pleasant and down-to-earth. He then introduced us to Tre, also known as "Slimkid," who was filling in for another band member that day. Then, Mario, the band's drummer came up and apologized for the last minute change in concert plans that led to this meeting. I was impressed that someone had filled in the band members on why we were there. It was just Jesse and I with the band for about 30 minutes while they set up and warmed up.

Then, the schoolkids started filing in. The kids were adorable, all dressed up in their uniforms, some of them in jackets and ties. They were perfectly behaved, sitting down quietly, almost eerily so.

The principal introduced Ozomatli. In an instant the band launched into its first song, sounding better live than on any recording. Less than 30 seconds into the song, a single girl got up and starting dancing--IT WAS ON. All the kids jumped up with sheer joy and kept dancing for the 30 minute performance. Black kids, white kids, Asian kids, Hispanic kids--the perfect audience for Ozomatli, a band that calls itself a "culture masher." After the final song, I heard one exhausted kid say: "I'm glad they're done because that was my last dance move."

Ozomatli clearly enjoyed the kids. The performance had every bit the energy as if they were playing the Hollywood Bowl. Wil-Dog later tweeted a link to the video we posted on Youtube and he commented: "Best show of the tour!"

Afterwards, the instruments were quickly packed up while the band took questions from the kids--the first question being: "How many teeth have you lost?" Asdru, the trumpet player/singer, deftly responded with: "All of them, but they grew back." As the band prepared to leave, the kids spontaneously broke into a chant of "one more song." Raul, Asdru, and Uli exchanged glances and the entire band broke into perfect a capella harmony. Ozomatli could not risk having a single dissatisfied fan.

Ozomatli went on to perform at two more schools while Jesse and rested a bit in our hotel room. They also performed and did interviews with two radio stations.

Late that afternoon, we met them at Vintage Vinyl, a classic record store in the Loop in University City. At first, we watched them browse the store. It was fun watching what records/CD's caught their attention. Jesse had told me that Tre, AKA Slimkid, used to be in a hip-hop group called "Pharcyde." I approached Tre and asked him about this. His face lit up and he asked me how I knew about this. I pointed to Jesse and told Tre that my son told me about this. Tre had me call Jesse over. Tre pulled out his Flip video camera and began interviewing us--he said he liked taking the videos home and showing his family what happens on tour.

Tre asked Jesse what kind of music he liked. He was so genuinely nice. He talked some of his own philosophy of music and told Jesse: "Remember, you don't write songs--angels give them to you." Tre then called Asdru, one of Ozo's lead singers over and introduced us.

The band put on another great performance in the store. Afterwards, I told Wil-Dog that I can't believe how hard they work--three school performances, two radio stations, a record store, and the full performance yet to come later that evening--Wil-Dog replied: "I can't either."

Since 2007, Ozomatli has been an official "goodwill ambassador" of the U.S. State Department, having played in the Middle East, China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Mongolia, and many other places.

May 14 was an overwhelmingly enjoyable day, way more memorable than a single concert at Powell Hall could have possibly been. All because of Barb and the thoughtful and kind response from Ozomatli's management.

A few days later, we learned that U2's tour was postponed due to Bono's emergency back surgery. We were disappointed, but then I had a thought--maybe Barb could send Bono an email...