Baku: Where Drums Meet Caspian Blues
so yeah, landed in baku at 4am with a headache and a snare drum case that's seen better days. this city's got this weird energy-like it's trying way too hard to be modern but keeps tripping over its own ancient roots. first thing i noticed? the weather. i just checked and it's... that damp cold that seeps into your bones even with three sweaters on, hope you packed thermal underwear. feels like being hugged by a wet ghost.
spent yesterday wandering the old city-*Icherisheher is basically a maze of crooked alleys where you'll find guys selling cheap carpets and grandmas glaring at you for breathing too loud. someone told me the best plov is at this spot called Sehrli Qazan, but the owner's a total nightmare who'll kick you out if you ask for extra bread. true story. met this drunk dude outside a bar who swore the real baku is in the hills, not the fancy downtown.
if you run out of things to stare at (which you won't), towns like Gobustan and Qobustan are practically next door-rock art and mud volcanoes, perfect for when you're tired of pretending to understand Azerbaijani politics. i heard that the Yanar Dag mountain's been burning for centuries, which is either cool or the worst case of heartburn ever.
gotta say, the session work here is... interesting. got hired to play for some wedding where the bride's uncle kept trying to teach me Azerbaijani drum patterns. tried to duck out early but the drummer refused to let me leave without eating dolma that tasted like regret. also spotted this street artist painting Heydar Aliyev Center-looked like it was having a panic attack.
"mate, if you're looking for decent coffee, avoid anywhere that doesn't smell like burning plastic. this one place, Coffee Lab, serves stuff that tastes like regret in a cup. but they have wifi."
"heard the Flame Towers are haunted by the ghosts of Soviet architects. probably not, but wouldn't bet against it."
need to find a cheap guitar shop before my fingers freeze off. checked Yelp and found this place called Music House-looks sketchy but they might have a used cajon for emergency busking. also found this forum where some guy argued for 20 pages about whether fakes are better than real gopurams.
anyway, gonna try not to lose my sticks in this wind. the locals keep muttering about Caspian breezes*-sounds like fancy words for 'it's gonna snow sideways.'
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