Newark N.J. 1970s: Friends who shared the same dream... 1972-1973

Celebrating Christmas 1971 (Melanie's 'Brand new key' was # 1 at Billboard) - from left to right: Damazio Nazaré, who had just arrived in the US a few weeks back; Neilson, a resident who had migrated with his family from Pará and was a friend of Pardal's (Wilson); and Eduardo, Pardal's cousin, who arrived a few days before Damazio. They shared an apartment at the Prudential Apartments popular known as 'Sing-Sing' on the block surrounded by Fleming Ave, Oxford St., Lexington St. and Raymond Boulevard along the Passaic River.

It is really funny how guys become patriotic once they are living far from their birth places. Suddenly, they start waving-the-flag as if nothing else mattered whereas a few months earlier they wouldn't give a damn about any national symbol.

I met a lot of Brazilian young men when I went to live in 'America' as of October 1971. One might ask why one should associate with people from their own country when they move to a different environment.

First and foremost is the language barrier. When one moves to a new country where an utterly different tongue is spoken one is forced to stick with his own kind until he can master enough knowledge of it to understand basic commands like ordering food or filling out employment applications. Some immigrants actually never leave the 'cocoon' entirely which I hope was not my case.

In my first days in the USA it was next to impossible to understand what people talked on the streets or shops. I could not understand what was spoken on radio or TV. I dreaded talking on the telephone for I could not rely on facial expressions or gestures to get the meaning through. When I went to the movies at the 42nd Street theatres I found it hard to follow the stories missing whole dialogues or most of the plot. Woody Allen movies were popular then. I watched most of them but was disheartened to realize I was mostly 'out of it'.

I realized I would have to live and inter-act with the Brazilian community in Newark's Ironbound and I actually derived some pleasure out of it for we were all young and hopeful. I found it peculiar having met so many young fellows from the northern state of Pará. Much later I realized people from Pará were the first Brazilians to migrate out to the US back in the 40s and 50s due mainly to Belém being much closer to North America than Rio, S.Paulo or Belo Horizonte. Besides, up to the mid-60s all Brazilian flights bound to the US would have to stop-over in Belém-PA to reload. I guess Paraenses worked in bigger numbers for international airlines and had easier access to getting into the US.

NEWARK, N.J. 1972

Most of the Brazilian diaspora were by far from Minas Gerais. I'd say about 65% of Brazilian young males were Mineiros (those born in the state of Minas Gerais). Paulistas (guys hailing from São Paulo) would make up roughly 15% of the 'desperados' and maybe 10% of Paraenses. People from the northeast states, a few Gauchos (from the South) and one or two Cariocas (from Rio de Janeiro) would make up the rest.

Among Paulistas which were a select group I found it odd to meet a lot of young-men from Guarulhos (an industrial city in Sao Paulo's Northern metropolitan area) and from Franco da Rocha, a much smaller city in the Northwestern metropolitan area with no industry. I have never solved these two mysteries. Why so many young men from Guarulhos and Franco da Rocha?

I met Damazio Nazare at the record factory on Francis Street. I had been working there for a few months when I switched from the night shift (11:45 pm to 7:45 am) to the morning. The morning shift was so much better. People smiled and had a life. People who worked in the night shift were mostly gloomy and dreary.

Damazio's job was to allocate hot vynil paste to the many hot metal benches set next to the machine operators who would then cut it into small pieces and press them into 45 rpm discs. Damazio was always cheerful, usually singing a song or two. I remember he would hum 'No matter what' a Badfinger #10 hit on 19 December 1970. Damazio had a good taste in music and liked Black music which was at its peak in the 1971-1972 period. We were lucky to have lived in the USA exactly when things were really humming.

What really made me aware of Damazio, apart from his good disposition and excellent musical taste was his good grammar as well. Damazio was the first Brazilian young man I'd met who knew more than 'Good morning', 'God damn it!' or 'Fuck you!'. We hit it off almost immediately and decided to take an English course at the New York University in the Washington Square campus in Greenwhich Village on Saturdays.

Unfortunately, my private life was coming apart at the seams and I found it very difficult to concentrate on grammar points so I ended up dropping out after a few weeks. Damazio went on by himself. I ended up leaving the record factory, became unemployed until I spent my last dime on a plane ticket to California where I tried to 'start all over again'. Well, this is looking like 'the story of my life' already.

When I came back from San Francisco in late May 1972, Damazio lent me a hand to start all over again (for the third time) and we went on as friends for the rest of the time I lived in Newark.

Around late September 1972, Damazio invited me to visit Lafayette School on Lafayette Street between Prospect St and Congress St. He had enrolled in a night school English course for immigrants and wanted to show me how it worked. That was probably the first week of a new school year for students were restless, walked around in groups and talked loud. I felt the fun atmosphere of a typical high school bustling with energy but it never occurred to me I could also join him in that enterprise. Damazio told me a lady teacher of his had explained the meaning of Helen Reddy's 'I am woman' which was shooting up the charts eventually becoming Number One in the country on 9 December 1972. Most of his fellow immigrant students had never heard of Women's Lib which had begun recently in the USA.

I remember we had already entered Damazio's class-room when he was told that particular night would be set aside for a fire drill given by Prospect Street fire station's firemen. We went out into the hall and one could see firemen walking about. Soon they started teaching how to behave in case of an emergency. There were Fallout Shelter signs on some of the walls and I hoped the firemen would show them to us - but that never happened. I guess there would be a special day for this particular frightening kind of emergency drilling.

Damazio Nazare walking down Lexington Street towards Raymond Boulevard in the Ironbound, singing do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do! The apartment-building block on the left is the infamous Prudential Apartments aka Sing-Sing or Ballantine by the populace.

Damazio at Central Park, NYC.

Damazio cooking as Wilson (Pardal) watches. 1972 in Newark, N.J. - Damazio says they were ready to go out to a party at the Jersey-Brazilian Club on Ferry Street. The photographer must have been Edson who shared the apartment with them.

Damazio under the arch in Washington Square on a very cold Saturday morning - 5th February 1972, Look at the Empire State building on the left-hand side of 5th Avenue & 34th Street.

Luiz Amorim on the same day - Saturday, 5th February 1972, same place: Washington Square.

Luiz Alberto, Guto & Damazio on a trip to Rhode Island in the summer of 1972.

Guto on a very cold morning in December 1972.

After crossing the USA - from San Francisco, California to Newark, N.J. - in a VW beetle with 2 American fellows I was back at square one again. I arrived back on Ferry Street on a Monday afternoon, 29 May 1972. As I didn't have a proper place to stay I depended on acquaintances' charity not to sleep out with the elements. Friends like Damazio and Kuwenderson took me under their wings in a sort of way until I got some money sent over by my Father in Sao Paulo.

That's when I finally started hanging out at the Prudential Apartments aka Sing-Sing or Ballentine's, a huge