Punk Bookstore

A punk record store conjures up a storm in downtown Florianopolis-- with much good humor

by Michelle Zenarosa

When two friends, Gustavo Gewdner and Thiago Abreu, decided they wanted to bring punk culture into a city that was lacking a real scene, they thought their dream would never happen.

´´We didn´t want a normal job,´´ Abreu said. ´´We wanted to have fun and work with things we liked.´´

´´But it was so hard to get the store open,´´ Gewdner said. ´´Here in Brazil, there is too much beauracracy—too much paperwork to fill out and too many taxes. It took two months just to fill out the papers.´´

Although Cérebro has only been opened since January of this year, the residence-turned-record store located in the central area of the island has done much more than just sell punk records.

Look to your left and you can see skateboarding gear and t-shirts screenprinted with band names like Operation Ivy, Circle Jerks and The Smiths. Look to your right and you can read books by Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson. Climb up the stairs and you can even get a tattoo.

Browsing Cérebro's well-stocked shelves

´´We wanted to get books that other libraries and stores didn´t have,´´ Abreu said.

But Gewdner and Abreu, who are both history students at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, seem more like class clowns than serious business partners.

In fact, both are also bandmates for an electronic band, sarcastically called, ´´Súditos do Amor´´ (Disciples of Love.).

´´We call it monarchic dance,´´ Abrel said. ´´We sing about kings, horses, castles and Robin Hood. You know, the Middle Ages.´´

But don´t think that´s where their resume ends.

Thiago Abreu and Gustavo Gewdner, Cérebro's owners

In addition to painting all the artwork on the walls of the store, the two also make experimental and gore films. Gewdner, 23, has six films under his belt as a director and Abreu, 26, is a film editor. Abreu has even played roles in some of Gewdner´s films.

´´We can´t get girls to get naked so we use Abreu,´´ Gewdner said.

´´Yes, I love to get naked,´´ Abreu said.

Unlike Abreu, long-time friend and philosophy student at UFSC, Vinicios Flores, who rents the room upstairs for tattooing purposes, has yet to help Gewdner with his films.

´´I love him, but I don´t like his movies,´´ Flores said.

Flores, 21, who has been a tattoo artist for four years now, won first place for ´´old-school tattoos´´ at a tattoo convention last year. He also has an area in the store that showcases his stencil artwork—the bathroom.

Cérebro's HQ in downtown Florianópolis

Overall, all three are happy about the way things are going at Cérebro and are looking to expand.

´´We want to get rich, open a Cérebro shopping mall and have a limosine,´´ Abreu said laughing.

In the meantime, they just can´t stop joking-- the three friends don´t seem to have a serious bone in their bodies.

And what exactly does the store do for the people in Floripa besides making customers and passersby laugh?

´´Cérebro forces the people to have good taste,´´ Flores said.

And it sure does.

Cerebro is located at Av. Mauro Ramos, 473 in Centro, Florianopolis. For more information, call (048) 32286159. For more information about Gewdner´s films visit, www.bulhorgia.com.br.