46 SEPTEMBER 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The crowd burst with excitement when the sound of the first strident notes of the bass floated across San José’s serene night sky. They screamed and clapped when the lights dimmed, and the band began to play their opener, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. The band continued with a set list that took the crowd through rock classics of the 1990s and 2000s, with songs from the Black Keys, the White Stripes, Weezer, and the Strokes. The DCM, boosted by the crowd, joined the group and delivered an electrifying performance of “Song 2” by Blur, bringing everyone to their feet. After almost two hours of show, the lead singer wrapped up the performance by reminding the crowd that the show was the result of a group of colleagues and friends coming together to decompress and have fun, and at the end of the day we should all take the time to “pursue your passions, don’t ever forget who you really are.” Though the band played their closer, “Gigantic” by the Pixies, the euphoric fans were not ready to go home and demanded an encore. With one more surprise for the crowd, Mid-Life Crisis returned to the stage and told the audience: “Tengo una buena canción para ustedes [I have a great song for you].” As the guitar player hit the first power chords, the crowd went wild for the song, “De Música Ligera,” one of the all-time rock classics in Spanish by an Argentinian band called Soda Stereo. Everyone was dancing and singing at the top of their lungs in the crisp night air. Putting Professional Identities Aside Mid-Life Crisis had formed just a few months prior to the show as a jam session between two friends, a consular officer with vast musical experience and me, the ESO logistician who had just bought an electric guitar as an attempt to revive my high school years of rock ’n’ roll glory. As we talked about how much fun it was to play together, the word spread rapidly in the embassy; more colleagues came out of the woodwork, dusted off their musical instruments, and joined us. Soon we had a full rock band: the two original amigos; (my wife) the visa chief as our lead singer; the office management specialist as our lead guitarist; the public affairs officer on backup vocals; and a Canadian neighbor on drums. Even the DCM jammed with us occasionally. We practiced once a week, during the weekends, or whenever our parenting and professional responsibilities allowed. Sometimes we even had to bring our kids to practice with their noise-canceling headphones. That’s also why our 8-year-old daughter ended up singing backup vocals in the concert too. We were probably not Rolling Stone magazine material, but we sure had a blast every time we practiced. When we played together, we put our professional identities aside; we reconnected with our true selves and left the practice feeling like we had been to the spa. Music allowed us to forget for a moment about our next assignments, employee evaluation review (EER) deadlines, visa wait times, public affairs crises. During practice, we were only concerned about hitting the right note, about not messing up lyrics, and about pressing that foot pedal on time for the solo. We were just some friends from very different backgrounds rocking our hearts out. (We did bring the duty phone with us to practice though.) When the song sounded right, it was all worth it. Embassy San José’s own rock band, Mid-Life Crisis, performing at the deputy chief of mission’s residence in April 2023. From left: Alvaro Amador, Molly Amador, Amir Kazim, Scott Latham, Kristin Haworth, and Sean Scott. COURTESY OF ALVARO AMADOR MUNIZ
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