Searching for Sugar Man ... the book

First it was the 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary film and now it is a book!

On Monday night we went to the book launch of Sugar Man. The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez by Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen "Sugar" Segerman, the two fans whose search for Sugar Man after apartheid led to Rodriguez's performing live on stage in South Africa for the very first time in 1998.

The book launch was held at one of Vince's and my favorite tapas restaurants in Cape Town, La Parada (Order the croquetas de jamon!) There, the authors were interviewed by Marianne Thamm, herself an author as well as a columnist, satirist, and the assistant editor of Daily Maverick. After a conversational interview with Marianne, Craig and Sugar entertained questions from the audience and then signed copies of their book.

The authors (seated) with Thamm in the middle at La Parada

We absolutely loved the movie and we are big fans ourselves of Rodriguez's music as a result of watching it. But while director Malik Benjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man chronicled the book authors' odyssey to find out what had happened to their musical hero from the 1970s and 80s, their book presents a much bigger picture of the Rodriguez saga.

The book is broken up into four parts - The Mystery, The Man, The Music and The Movie and it outlines three separate journeys and the obstacles and triumphs that each presented: Rodriguez's struggle to make a life from his music, the search by two fans to find him, and Benjelloul's pursuit to bring the story to life on the screen.

And apparently there is talk of bringing the movie-turned-book to the stage in the form of a Broadway musical! Produced by Hal Prince no less! What?

Rodriguez is scheduled to perform live on stage again in South Africa next year but unfortunately we won't be here to see him. So the book is going to have to suffice. Until the Broadway musical, that is.

Dave Matthews comes home to Jozi

Well, it was epic. Dave Matthews performing in Johannesburg for the very first time. He admitted to being quite nervous at the prospect of appearing on stage for this homecoming concert. It was sweet!

Opening for Dave was Vusi Mahlasela. Vince was at least excited by that! Then Vusi joined Dave on stage for Everyday. And I was excited by that. Here is Dave and Vusi playing together: Dave Matthews and Vusi Mahlasela

Then a real surprise. Dave introduced legendary trumpeter and fellow South African native Hugh Masekela on stage. They performed a couple of songs including Hugh's Grazing in the Grass. Now Vince was (almost) really excited I had invited him to insisted he come with me.

We had some American expat friends who were there too but they were sitting in a different section (the good seats) and security kept us apart. But we ran into other American expat friends in the cheap seats / late purchase section! (I notice I've started running into people that I actually know here in Joburg as I am out and about town. It's cool. I guess it means that I may have finally arrived.)






I had to buy a tee shirt. I had to. It had a rhino on it. My hands were tied.

















And, oh yeah, the first encore song was: Sugar Man! The crowd went wild.

Welcome home Dave!

Waiting for Sugar Man

If you have not seen the 2012 Academy Award winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man, rent it today!

Vince and I have become superfans of Rodriguez, the subject of the documentary, since moving to South Africa.

Rodriguez is a poet and musician who wrote, performed and recorded in the United States in the late 70's and 80's. He came very close to breaking through to stardom several times, but was never quite in the right place at the right time.

Little did he know the right place was South Africa! His music became a sensation among the youth in South Africa. But South Africa espoused apartheid and the world's governments imposed sanctions against South Africa. Which meant the country was completely cut off from communication with the outside world. Rodriguez did not know he was a hit in South Africa. Neither did his record company nor his producer nor his agent.

So he dropped out of the music business, moved to Detroit and worked when he could in construction and doing odd jobs. He also raised a couple of incredibly articulate and well-spoken daughters.

At the same time, South Africa did not know what had become of Rodriguez. There were all kinds of rumors circulating that he was dead and that he had even committed suicide on stage.

After the political landscape changed in South Africa and the country rejoined the world in the late 90's, two real Rodriguez superfans from Cape Town got an idea. They decided they would try to find out if their hero Rodriguez was still alive and performing.  He had become legendary, almost  mythical, in South Africa during the apartheid years. It became a holy quest.

The fans did find him (the story of which is documented in the film) and they managed to bring him to Cape Town in 1998 where he performed to a sold-out stadium. The audience was filled with Rodriguez's original fans from the 80's as well as their children.

I met two of them in Joburg yesterday. Mother and daughter, they had both gone to the concert together. I hope Rodriguez comes back to tour South Africa again. His new superfans want to see him live too. We are still Waiting for Sugar Man!