Sometimes on the World Race… ok often on the World Race, you just get great stories, and then you have to blog about them. This is one of those blogs.
One of the local guys we met in Ultsinj was named Bessim. He was a nice guy and we talked to him often. One day, we were on the way to the beach to do some worship, so I had my guitar. He stopped us and told us that he was in a band, and that they were pretty good. We later found out that his band is called the Sexy Very Much Band. If you ask me, the story could end here and it would be hilarious, but it gets better. He gave us a dvd of their perfomance on a Montenegro tv show and told us that when they played their next show we should all come, and maybe I could get on stage and play guitar with them. Of course, we consented – how do you say no to the Sexy Very Much Band?!
Well a few days later, Bessim called me and told me that I could come to their show, the only catch was that they were leaving in five minutes. I threw on some more clothes because it gets cold at night in Ultsinj and jumped in their car, which was packed with music equipment. “How long of a drive is it?” I asked. “Not far” answered Bessim. “Maybe two and a half hours”.
So I rode in the back of a car jammed full of drums and keyboard stuff for three hours and listened to Bessim and his keyboard player babble on in Albanian. It was awesome. Finally we got to the concert – which turned out to be a tiny bar in some small town that used to be the capital of the country. I have no idea why they switched the location of the capital…
After waiting for an hour and a half (and I must say, it was worth it, because I was able to sit down with Bessim, his keyboard player, and singer and talk about God and what they believed for a good forty five minutes or so), the band started playing around 10pm. I assumed they would be done around midnight. They played for FOUR HOURS. It was unbelievable and SO loud. I played guitar just a little bit during the warm up stuff, and the rest of the time I just stood by the bar. At around 1:00am, the singer introduced the whole band, and then said “and we have an American friend by the bar, ADAM!!!” The bar was TOTALLY packed with people and as soon as the singer said it, everyone turned and yelled “HEY!!!” to me. I waived, and then the nighmare began. About five different people bought me beers. It was difficult and I had to be very sneaky, but I managed to avoid all of them. I just had to laugh to myself at one point. I was in a bar in a city of which I was unaware of the name in Montenegro turning down beers that were bought for me because I was “with the Sexy Very Much Band”. The set was finally over around 2am and I got back at about 4:30. It was quite a night, but it really did bring Bessim and I closer and it was worth it for the conversations that we were able to have. So there you go, one of my ridiculous World Race stories. I hope there are many more to come…
Bessim and Me
