6098: rambling (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: oloffsonram <oloffsonram@globelsud.net>


The pre-election stress is waning a bit. Cars, traffic and pedestrians 
in Port-au-Prince are starting to get back to normal levels. Very few 
shots if any(there are always one or two) can be heard at night. The 
bombs stopped two or three days before the elections. The 92% victory 
by Aristide sounds impressive until you look at the last election 
(referendum) by Jean-Claude Duvalier in July of 1985 when only ONE 
person voted against him. I wonder what Jean Dominique meant 
by "Electoral Coup d'Etat". A guy I assume to be from Lavalas asked me 
to play the song "Fey" on Thursday night and told me to play it if "You 
know whats good for you". I asked him "How do I know you're not just an 
old 'Fraph' guy" and he shut up and sat down. We didn't honor his 
request. Aubelin Jolicoeur once said that ALL Haitians are Ton Ton 
Macoutes on the inside. Most of the foreign press corps has left. New 
York Times, Miami Herald, BBC, Le Monde, no sightings of CNN. I spoke 
to a reporter from the Washington Post for the first time in two years. 
I guess either they're back or I'm back. There was a bomb scare at the 
Montana Hotel but it turned out to be a reporter's boom microphone 
wrapped in duct tape. The owner of the microphone realized his mike had 
been found while interviewing a witness who had seen "The bomb". A few 
folks from the slum district of Belair came over to see me just before 
the election and said they've had it up to here and Aristide better 
deliver on his promise of peace in the stomach. Aristide's support, 
which used to be unconditional, now has a few conditions. A 
photographer friend of mine was shocked when she discovered people 
downtown making small little pancakes out of dirt(argyll), margarine 
and salt, boiled in water and then dried in the sun. Twenty pancakes 
for two gourdes. "Peace in the stomach."  The U.N. says they're pulling 
out on Feb. 6. I didn't know they were still here (Just kidding 
Michael!). Consumption of Prestige Beer is up. I don't know if its 
because they won a Gold Medal. I find that each bottle tastes 
different. Our next RAM record has been mastered. We're getting closer 
to a release date. The band's tenth anniversary is this December 31st. 
If you're in town, come on over. I hope everyone has a wonderful 
holiday season. By the way, a fellow came up to me during half time of 
the Thursday RAM show at the Oloffson and said "Hi, I'm Guy Antoine" 
and I looked at him trying to figure out where I had heard the name 
before....

Richard Morse