> H O M E

I’ve been with El Gringo* for a year now, and it’s been serving me well during those frantic travels. Two weeks ago though, I was in a quandary of sorts: what to load up for a trip to the Caribbean? Mix mofo mix.

First leg is MTL to NYC. A no-brainer.

Chromeo are Pee-thug and Dave One, Montrealers who now call NYC their part-time home, and self-described as “the only successful Arab/Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time.” Add to that the obvious reference to Cameo — both in the sounds and in the name — what’s not to like?

Quick stop in Brooklyn for a night. No need to load up on tunes, I won’t impose my dubious tastes on my two fine hosts. But I’ll be damned if that taxi ride won’t have a soundtrack.

Driving into the city just after sundown, the majestic silhouettes of the ESB, Chrysler building and, a few seconds later 70 Pine St (a personal favourite) piercing the skyline. Mmmmh, yeah.

Now for the Caribbean-bound segment, I also need a good bass line, something funky. Not too hard to find in my collection anyway. I figured a song protesting the US hostages in Iran back in ‘81 would do, especially on flight taking off from NYC at 9:30, since the message is essentially “funk them terrorists”.

This is House before House, mellower than S’mores puree. I take off.

Probably best to get some sleep on the way, but we can’t possibly do without a grand finale. Let’s just say my Merengue collection is not exactly up to the challenge here, so instead I went with a vibrant homage to the many Caribbean people of African descent. Childhood memories are always a great comfort when landing in an unknown country — and you have to admit those goggles look awesome.

* that’s my green iPod. I recently learned that the term ‘gringo’ derives from “green go”, a popular phrase for “Greens, go home” in Latin America (’Greens’ referring to the US Army personnel during the Mexican-American war). Yeah, that was a stretch.