Erkan had an "encultured" Saturday

Started the day with brunch at La Mekan (I will definitely post about this place) with Can. It is just in walking distance to our apartment. To start the day there always makes me happy. It satisfies my quest for a good diner like I used to have in Houston. Then I moved to santralistanbul to my office and spent the day until evening there. Youth Studies Unit was having a hip hop workshop with high school kids, otherwise I haven’t seen any colleagues and I did hang out in my office alone. No one would complain of loud music. How nice. I got tired of longer hair and had an haircut in our campus hairdresser, now I am as if I have just come from the Service, then I had more coffee and did some more work and when it was around 8 pm as no body was left in the building, I began to feel self-pity and it was time to leave.

Then the second and more colorful part of my day began: Thanks to Çiğdem Buğdaycı, I first stopped by a small art galery in Cihangir: Çukurcumart. Not always but on some Saturdays there are Jam sessions there. We attended one yesterday. We were offered super quality wine, warm, cinnamon, juicy..

Here a few drawings exhibited in the gallery (more can be found in the Facebook page:

Artist Can Tatlıparmak is behind the idea of Çukurcumart.
Contact info:

Email:
Office:Bostanbaşı Caddesi 23-A ÇukurcumaLocation:

firuzağa mahallesi-galatasaray lisesi arkası-cezayir sokağı’nın yanı

Beyoglu, Turkey, 0212 2439803 0538 5229719

Then we moved to a bar/club called: Haymatlos. (Facebook page here) Oh my, a place I should have discovered before. Right in the middle of İstiklal Street, Taksim a place for alternative cultures and anarchists.

Contact Info
Email:
Office:05326453515 05326763943Location:
İstiklal Caddesi Rumeli Han No:48 C Blok Kat:2 Beyoğlu. (Ağa Camii’nin yanındaki handa)Istanbul, Turkey

I was strongly recommended to watch Bandista, a local band, concert here. Last night they were not playing, but I will come again to watch them. Here is a video of them:

Last night they were not playing but another local band rocked too: Fairuz Derin Bulut. A group that blends rock and arabesk sounds. Here is a video of them:

Then I left friends and while I was on my way home, I saw DoRock, probably the best rock/metal bar in town, it was crowded as usual and I said why not to stop by. It was 3 am. a Local band playing sort of melodic death metal was playing and when I entered, it was a break and Rammstein was on the music set. A veteran barmaid, the coolost rocker Üzeyir offered me beer and some coctails I have no idea what they were.

Our archrival, Fenerbahçe had lost last evening and it was nice to watch football commentaries about it at home but of course I soon dozed off…