Recently in Entertainment Category
Last night I had the honor of attending the Ballet Nacional de España: Elegía-Homenaje a A. Ruiz Soler, El Café de Chinitas. This was an homage or dedication to Antonio Ruiz Soler - a flamenco dancer, choreographer, and director born in Sevilla in 1921 and died in Madrid in 1996. He was more familiarly known as "Antonio el bailarín". So last night's ballet was ballet with a touch of flamenco.First, the place... It took place in the famed Royal Theater or El Teatro Real in Madrid, between the Plaza Isabel II and the Plaza de Oriente. (metro: OPERA) Wow. What a place. The place is grand. GRAND! And very nice. It was built in 1850 and closed in 1925 due to damages caused by the construction of the metro station, ÓPERA, just below the theater. It reopened in 1966 totally remodeled. It closed again in the mid-1990s for remodeling once again.
I've been inside twice or three times before, attending classical concerts but always sitting in the uppermost seats near the ceiling. The views are not the best from up there but thankfully they have big screen monitors, surprisingly, for these "cheap seats".
Last night's show was something special and my seat was on the ground floor, in the "Butaca de Platea" - definitely NOT the cheap seats last night. If you look in the photo above, I was seated on the lowest "covered" level at at the left. No screens were necessary here! What great views. What great sound. The orchestra was ethereal during the first half of the performance.
The first half of the performance of this production, called "Elegía-Homenaje", of the Ballet Nacional de España was classical ballet but with just a touch of flamenco. The female ballet dancers wore solid color dresses. The men wore flamenco-style costumes. I must admit that I was just a tad bored in this first half but it was also somewhat entertaining.At the 20-minute break, after just 35 minutes of performance, I got up to go have a glass of champagne at the bar which is the custom when attending the opera, ballet, or theater. Went upstairs a couple levels and turned left to what appeared to be the entrance to the bar. There were two uniform-wearing women standing at the door checking tickets - which I found odd. So I showed my ticket and she waved me through. What I thought was the entrance to the bar was actually a small room filled with VERY well-dressed people. All men were wearing suits and ties and the women in fashionable dresses - and then there was me, wearing my best jeans, shoes, and my best shirt, along with my shoulder back wrapped around my body. Yikes. I feel terrible UNDER dressed to be here. But fine. I'm here so I go to the back of the room where I find a small bar and two bartenders which are handing out glasses of champagne, errr... CAVA. With Cava in hand, I turn around to see a large, round table in the middle of the room. The table is covered with hundreds of little foods-on-melba-toasts, foods like tortilla de patata, cheeses, hams, paté, a tomato spread, a greenish spread, and a number of other things. I help myself the best I can with glass in one hand and food in another, trying not to break the melba toast all over my shirt - or the very spongy, expensive-looking carpet on the floor. Starting to leave for my seat before the beginning of the second half of the performance, I stop at the door to ask the woman there if this room is for everyone carrying tickets. She said something like, "No. This is only for those whom carry these particular seats." I didn't really understand it but gathered it was only for those carrying the more expensive "covered", side/private seats. Oooookay! And here I just happened upon this room by chance! I know that in the public bar area - for common folk (ha!) - they charge 3 Euros per glass of champ...err... CAVA.
Back to the seat for the second half, called "El Café de Chinitas". And WOW, what a second half. It lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes. This was true FLAMENCO DANCING - and also Sevillanas - but being ballet it had obvious ballet movements in the flamenco dance. Very very entertaining from beginning to end. The women were dressed in more flamenco-style dresses and the men also in flamenco or bull fighter-style costumes. The music, this time, was mainly performed by flamenco groups on chairs but a few numbers were performed by a rock or jazz band behind the curtain. On the full-size screen just behind the performance, separating the dancers from the band, was constant slow-motion video of images "inspired by" Salvador Dalí. And many of the songs sung were poems by Federico Garcia Lorca. There was a reoccurring character of Salvador Dalí as a child throughout the ballet performance. A few of the songs sung and performances actually gave me chills - which is always a good thing.
One very entertaining and funny set - which did not give me chills - featured a paunch man dressed in drag as a female flamenco dancer, complete with full plumage, makeup, wig, stockings, female flamenco shoes, and large fan. He had very manly movements, very comical at times, and very very entertaining. I wondered whether this was art or comedy - or a fusion of both, I presumed.
The end of the show, as with most works of theater, dance, or opera, included about 10 minutes of applause as the many groups were invited to the front of the stage for their share of the applause, then everyone, then the main characters, then the bands, then the main characters again, then the choreographer, then the director, then the entire group again, and on and on. Wow. My hands hurt by the end. But it did come to an end at about 10:20pm and I walked out the backside doors facing the Plaza Oriente and nicely illuminated Palacio Real.
What a nice evening. Hope I'm fortunate enough to visit the Teatro Real once again. I understand getting tickets to the OPERA in Madrid is nearly impossible, being sold out for months in advance by season ticket holders.
Photo: Exterior of Princípe Pío in Madrid at night. See in the lower righthand corner the purple neon lights and Colonial Norte sign. The Colonial Norte "space" includes the entrance at the lower level, a restaurant on the second floor, and the discotheque, concert hall, and cocktail bar on the top floor just under the iron ceiling beams. Inside the Princípe Pío building is a mall with cinemas, restaurants, retail stores, and a supermarket. Below ground is the intercambiador for metro and local trains.
Colonial Norte occupies part of the Principe Pio train station in Madrid, located at the bottom of "La Cuesta de San Vicente" and next to the big gate of the "Glorieta de San Vicente", very near the Rio Manzares river.
The train station, which served northern Spain, was once called "La Estación del Norte" and was built in 1861 and designed by Gustave Eiffel. It was converted to a kind of multi-purpose mall a few years ago and has become a true commercial success. Underground, one can still find Cercanía trains and metro but the long-distance trains are now gone.
Princípe Pío had been an eyesore for as long as I can remember. The nice old building was falling down for years, all broken windows, totally empty. Warner Studios, I believe, bought (?) part of the building to put in a state-of-the-art cinema complex and the rest was rented out to restaurants, retail stores, and.... Colonial Norte. The renovation of the old Madrid train station is nearly complete. Only one end is still empty and renovations there have already begun.
Colonial Norte, part of the Grupo Otero Restaurantes, is a fancy restaurant on the 3rd floor (you go up via a glass elevator) and a super-modern discotheque/cocktail bar on the top floor with the original ceiling V-beams directly overhead. This space is vast, lots of purple neon, and everything sparkling new.
It's in this discotheque space which becomes a concert hall, called Sala Colonial, on Thursdays and Saturday nights for live music. The concerts are listed as starting at 10:30pm but the two times I've attended the bands didn't come out until 11pm. I'm now a fan of this place.
Thursday nights they tend to have either flamenco singers performing or pop groups. Saturday nights are usually the World Music bands, organized by Mapamundi, which has world music radio programs on Radio Círculo (of Circulo de Bellas Artes) and Radio Elo.
On Saturday, February 9th I went to see JEREZ-TEXAS, a 3-piece flamenco-jazz-classical band. It was so entertaining that I bought their CD after the concert which is something I almost NEVER do. The group is composed of "Ricardo Esteve with the flamenco guitar, Matthieu Saglio (from France, I think, but his Spanish is perfect) with the cello, and Jesús Gimeno with the drums." Tomorrow night, Saturday night, I'm going to see the Lidia Pujol concert. She sings Folk Ibérico.
Last night I went with my London buddy Steve to the Angel Pastor concert - Flamenco Cante. Wow. What a show. What life. What passion. It was just young Mister Pastor (in his 30s, I'm guessing) and energetic flamenco guitar accompaniment. This coming Thursday I'm going to the Maria Toledo show. That'll no doubt be great too, totally flamenco singing and flamenco guitar. Mmmm... Nice. She's quite well known too.
As I recall, it costs about 12 Euros entry but that includes your first drink - but not sure if you can order ANY old drink or if it has to be either wine or beer. I mention this because otherwise the wine and beer costs 7 Euros each. the cocktails are 10 Euros each. They also give you a free tapa with the drink, usually nuts or raisins or something similar. The arm chairs in the middle seating area are rather hard seated but look nice. Further back you have bar stools. On the sides you have similar chairs but also some deeper, plusher arm chairs which are very comfortable but the view isn't as good from there. Smoking is allowed.
As mentioned above, it's located on the metro (Principe Pio) and bus lines but isn't in Madrid's Old Center so there are rarely any tourists inside. There were a few last night, however. One can walk there from the Old Center but it's a good long walk downhill - which means you'll have to walk UPhill after midnight after the concert. Or, just take a taxi or the metro. The place is very nice. Check out their website at http://www.ColonialNorte.net to see what I mean. There, you'll also see the concert lineup. Enjoy! I know I will!
Cine Ideal, located on the Plaza Jacinto Benavente in Madrid near Puerta del Sol, is part of the Yelmo Cineplex chain. It's also my favorite cinema here for showing Versión Original movies in English - if they're American or English movies - but also for movies in their original version from, say, France, Romania, China, or wherever - but then with Spanish subtitles.It's also the location of nearly all of the MadridMan's Madrid Movie Club gatherings.
I see all my Hollywood movies here. They have approximately 10 screens and generally run about 13 films at a time. Right now, 9 of the 13 movies are Hollywood movies, all show in their original versions with Spanish subtitles.
The cinema is pretty historic too, I believe. The beautiful ceiling crown molding in most of the individual screening rooms is evidence of that. But the rest of the building is totally modern. Most of the "salas" are of decent size. One or two is downright tiny, somewhat bigger than a big-screen television, but only a couple of them are almost as large as your typical cinema screen in an American movie theater. The seats are modern, comfortable, and all have cup holders. The lines are generally long at the ticket booths on a Friday or Saturday night but very short on a weekday afternoon - that's when I try to go. Ticket prices are about 5 Euros for the first showing on Mondays but otherwise they're around 7 Euros. Not bad. Oddly enough, at least to me, most of the individual screening rooms have their own bathroom in the back - or sometimes at the front. This, to me, is odd. And after the movie, you cannot walk back through the cinema but instead are shuttled out the front-side exit door to the street.
Today I went to see the 4pm showing of "4 Meses, 3 Semanas, y 2 Días" - a Romanian movie. It wasn't my idea to see this movie but I was accompanied by someone who did so... whatchagonnado, right? It was slow, and somewhat boring with difficult fictional subject matter (i.e. an illegal late term abortion in Romania in the late 1980s). While somewhat boring, it was also somewhat interesting - AND in Original Version - in Romanian with SPANISH subtitles. Luckily my Spanish is decent enough that I could follow the story.
Last week I went to see "Ahora o Nunca" - or, in English, "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Wow. That was a movie. Very good and likely to win Oscar Awards. I also recently saw "In the Valley of Elah" there, starring Tommy Lee Jones, also nominated for an Oscar. Next up, is the (Spaniard) Javier Bardem movie, "No Country for Old Men" - a movie creating long lines at any cinema showing it and is likely to offer the Spanish star his first Academy Award from Hollywood. And also there's "There Will be Blood", the Daniel Day-Louis (nominated for an Oscar), which I'm hoping to see soon.
Wow, so many good movies out lately - and thank goodness I can watch them all in their original version - ENGLISH (with Spanish subtitles). Hearing the actors' own voice, for me, no matter the language, is most important. That's what acting is all about.
The following Blog entry includes:
I met my good English buddy Steve at the newsstand kiosk outside the famous and historical Café Comercial (historical: founded 1887) on the Glorieta de Bilbao at roughly 1:30pm. This kiosk is fantastic for finding cheap DVDs of all varieties. They have hundreds arranged by category and cost 4.50€ to about 11€. They also have entire movie sets (like Star Wars, Rocky, or Alien) as well as lots of TV series. The DVDs are brand new, plastic wrapped, and are leftover no-nonsense DVDs usually sold, for example, for 2€ when you buy the Saturday XYZ Newspaper. I bought the following movies: "Halloween", "Scarface", "Hotel Rwanda", and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" All totaled: 22.50€
Done with DVD Shopping so we step into the Café Comercial for a stool at the bar. Coffee for Steve. Non-alcholic beer for me - and a free tapa of a plate of potato chip.
We're talking away in the nearly empty bar. It's nearly lunch hour afterall. Someone enters in the far revolving door and I pay no attention. That person leans over the bar behind me I hear him ask the bartender something. Steve's eyes dart over my shoulder to the person there. I spin my head around just to take a glance, for a moment thinking the person is speaking to me.....And WHO IS IT?????
IT'S FREAKIN' PEDRO ALMODÓVAR NOT 12 INCHES AWAY! I didn't stare. I was nice and respectful, and quickly turned back to Steve, slightly nodding to him without words asking, "Do you see who's over my shoulder?" And he oh-so-casually nodded "Yes. So what?" I say he said "So What?" without words because he had JUST seen Pedro Almodóvar in El Corte Inglés in SOL just the week before!!! So then the bartender answered matter-of-factly to the WORLD FAMOUS DIRECTOR PEDRO ALMODÓVAR and he then disappeared through the doors to the dining area...... and returned not 5 minutes later, out the door again he went to the street. Seems he just stopped in for a quick "Pit Stop". hehehe... In fact, he didn't leave the area immediately. He stopped at the SAME newsstand kiosk where Steve and I were just browsing not 15 minutes before. He lingered there, asked the news guy something, looked around, and then left. I, sitting at the bar, then looked around at the other bartenders at their stations who were chatting when Pedro walked in - but they didn't even stop talking, just as if it was ME who had asked that question. NO BIG DEAL! My goodness! The locals don't seem to bother "the stars" much here in Madrid. Steve as telling a story about something or other and I was totally distracted and had to sheepishly ask him to repeat his last 4 sentences or so, not hearing a word, stunned with my "Brush With Fame" - HISTORICAL for me..
Calming down, we headed out of Café Comercial, heading west about 7 blocks and reach the Casa Ananías (Calle de Galileo, 9 in the Barrio de Chamberi) a little early for our 2:30pm reservations. Good thing we had reservations too because the place was FULL by the time we left. We walked in and took a moment to peruse the bullfight photos, BULL HEAD, and bullfighting memorabilia in the bar area. Passing through to the dining area we were seated immediately at a nice, 4-person table in the near-center of the restaurant. Perfect. We could see everything. No bullfight-theme here in the dining room, just wrought iron chandeliers, stained glass windows, and a very comfortable, traditional Spanish decor. HISTORICAL - Founded in 1930!
"Hey Scott! I think we're the ONLY non-Spaniards in this place!" "I do believe you're right! Including the wait staff!"
We
already knew what we were going to order before arriving but hey, let's
look over the menu anyway. They have all the typical Madrid and Spanish dishes here. Steven and I ordered the same thing for the entire meal. For starters we had the Asturian "Fabes con Almejas"
- large white beans with small clams. OH! Man! OH-MAN! DELICIOUS! The
creamy sauce was so tasty that I sopped it up with the wonderful bread
after finishing. The second course was the "Cochinillo Frito de Avila". At first I thought this was cochinillo - and didn't notice the "frito" part on the menu but it was still good. Cochinillo is roasted suckling pig but cochinillo frito - or more commonly called "cochifrito"
- is actually a slightly older pig, but cut and fried in small,
quarter-sized balls of meat and bone. Tasty but not what I was
expecting. I asked the waiter upon serving us if THIS was cochinillo. He paused and then
kindly explained that this IS cochinillo but made in the Ávila way. That is, cut into sections and then fried. I stand corrected.
All this and we'd ordered a half-bottle of the house red wine which turned out to be a Rioja Crianza. Good, basic Spanish red wine and the perfect wine for the hearty meal we were eating.
While we were digging in, I was having quite a bit of trouble getting the meat off the bone with my knife and fork. Noticing this, the waiter passed by and said, with a smile, that it's perfectly acceptable to pick up the smaller pieces and eat them with my fingers. Thank goodness!
For dessert we both chose the Crema Catalana and coffee afterwards. As a nice details - as they do in most nice restaurants at the end of a meal - the waiter offered us a free chupito - a kind of shot glass full of cold liqueur of several varieties. They always claim when they offer it to you, "....in order to aid digestion." Ha! A very handy excuse to drink more alcohol. Does it REALLY aid in digestion?? I'd like to see the scientific studies on that one! Anyway, we were given the standard chupito, the Orujo de Hierbas, which is a yellow-ish green color and slightly sweet. Oh, and it's quite strong and TOO EASY to drink.
As I said before, the place was FULL. The long table next to us were occupied by older Spanish ladies wearing furs and dressed for a special lunch. They were CERTAINLY enjoying themselves, drinking wine, having lunch, singing songs, and speaking quite loudly by the end. Other customers were business people, several tie-wearing men and couples, and even some families. It was obvious to me this was a place KNOWN to local Spaniards as a good place to eat a good meal with good service.
Total price for 2 persons... 71€. Gulp! THAT'S NOT your average, casual lunch tab!! Wow! They DO have a menú del día bit I don't recall what was included nor how much it cost. But for a special lunch in a VERY SPANISH Madrid restaurant slightly outside but still accessible from the tourist center it's a definite MUST try if your pocket book can take it.
We're finally done eating. And we ate EVERYTHING! The bread was really great too. I love good Spanish bread. There's nothing worse than having a good meal in a good restaurant but the bread sucks. HOW can a restaurant skimp on BAD BREAD when they're charging you a lot of money for the meal??!! And with the price of decent bread being next to nothing there's NO excuse for ANY restaurant to go-cheap on the bread. Spaniards know good bread and if they get bad bread - even if the meal is great - they're less likely to return to that restaurant. HAPPILY, in Casa Ananías, this was not the case. Their bread was really first-rate!!!
Steve and I walk back to the historical Café Comercial on the Glorieta de Bilbao because they have comfortable tables in a large space and we want to relax. We take a table against the far wall under the mirror-covered walls. Upon ordering two cerveza sin alcohol (alcohol-free beer - plus free tapa of nuts and crackers), a small group of old ladies in their 70s and 80s came and sat at the two tables next to us. Oddly, they all put themselves side-by-side with their backs against the wall, looking towards the open space. It wasn't quite the hour for "merienda", 4:45pm or thereabouts, but maybe they were getting together now before the early sunset. One woman ordered milk. One woman ordered coffee. And two of the women ordered water. Likely total tab for the waiter: 3.50€ - and probably no tip. Poor waiter. They were there as long as we and presumably simply gathering to talk and have an excuse to leave the house in the afternoon. The woman sitting closest to us took out a bag and began knitting!! How sweet.
We finished our beers and took to the street, walking downhill towards the center on Calle Fuencarral. We stopped here and there and looked in a few windows but Steve finally broke off near Chueca where he gets the metro. I continued on to Gran Vía and on to Puerta del Sol, down Calle Arenal to Opera where I got my bus home. At this hour, now 5:30pm or so, there weren't SO many people on the streets as there were last weekend in the evening but still a good number.
What a day filled with good company, GREAT food, (nearly) rubbing elbows with famous people, and a good long walk through downtown Madrid - a TRULY HISTORICAL city.
- CHEAP DVD shopping
- my brush-with-fame
- a FANTASTIC restaurant review
- a relaxing non-alcoholic beer at a famous café
Today was a HISTORICAL day.
I met my good English buddy Steve at the newsstand kiosk outside the famous and historical Café Comercial (historical: founded 1887) on the Glorieta de Bilbao at roughly 1:30pm. This kiosk is fantastic for finding cheap DVDs of all varieties. They have hundreds arranged by category and cost 4.50€ to about 11€. They also have entire movie sets (like Star Wars, Rocky, or Alien) as well as lots of TV series. The DVDs are brand new, plastic wrapped, and are leftover no-nonsense DVDs usually sold, for example, for 2€ when you buy the Saturday XYZ Newspaper. I bought the following movies: "Halloween", "Scarface", "Hotel Rwanda", and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" All totaled: 22.50€
Done with DVD Shopping so we step into the Café Comercial for a stool at the bar. Coffee for Steve. Non-alcholic beer for me - and a free tapa of a plate of potato chip.
We're talking away in the nearly empty bar. It's nearly lunch hour afterall. Someone enters in the far revolving door and I pay no attention. That person leans over the bar behind me I hear him ask the bartender something. Steve's eyes dart over my shoulder to the person there. I spin my head around just to take a glance, for a moment thinking the person is speaking to me.....And WHO IS IT?????
IT'S FREAKIN' PEDRO ALMODÓVAR NOT 12 INCHES AWAY! I didn't stare. I was nice and respectful, and quickly turned back to Steve, slightly nodding to him without words asking, "Do you see who's over my shoulder?" And he oh-so-casually nodded "Yes. So what?" I say he said "So What?" without words because he had JUST seen Pedro Almodóvar in El Corte Inglés in SOL just the week before!!! So then the bartender answered matter-of-factly to the WORLD FAMOUS DIRECTOR PEDRO ALMODÓVAR and he then disappeared through the doors to the dining area...... and returned not 5 minutes later, out the door again he went to the street. Seems he just stopped in for a quick "Pit Stop". hehehe... In fact, he didn't leave the area immediately. He stopped at the SAME newsstand kiosk where Steve and I were just browsing not 15 minutes before. He lingered there, asked the news guy something, looked around, and then left. I, sitting at the bar, then looked around at the other bartenders at their stations who were chatting when Pedro walked in - but they didn't even stop talking, just as if it was ME who had asked that question. NO BIG DEAL! My goodness! The locals don't seem to bother "the stars" much here in Madrid. Steve as telling a story about something or other and I was totally distracted and had to sheepishly ask him to repeat his last 4 sentences or so, not hearing a word, stunned with my "Brush With Fame" - HISTORICAL for me..
Calming down, we headed out of Café Comercial, heading west about 7 blocks and reach the Casa Ananías (Calle de Galileo, 9 in the Barrio de Chamberi) a little early for our 2:30pm reservations. Good thing we had reservations too because the place was FULL by the time we left. We walked in and took a moment to peruse the bullfight photos, BULL HEAD, and bullfighting memorabilia in the bar area. Passing through to the dining area we were seated immediately at a nice, 4-person table in the near-center of the restaurant. Perfect. We could see everything. No bullfight-theme here in the dining room, just wrought iron chandeliers, stained glass windows, and a very comfortable, traditional Spanish decor. HISTORICAL - Founded in 1930!"Hey Scott! I think we're the ONLY non-Spaniards in this place!" "I do believe you're right! Including the wait staff!"
We
already knew what we were going to order before arriving but hey, let's
look over the menu anyway. They have all the typical Madrid and Spanish dishes here. Steven and I ordered the same thing for the entire meal. For starters we had the Asturian "Fabes con Almejas"
- large white beans with small clams. OH! Man! OH-MAN! DELICIOUS! The
creamy sauce was so tasty that I sopped it up with the wonderful bread
after finishing. The second course was the "Cochinillo Frito de Avila". At first I thought this was cochinillo - and didn't notice the "frito" part on the menu but it was still good. Cochinillo is roasted suckling pig but cochinillo frito - or more commonly called "cochifrito"
- is actually a slightly older pig, but cut and fried in small,
quarter-sized balls of meat and bone. Tasty but not what I was
expecting. I asked the waiter upon serving us if THIS was cochinillo. He paused and then kindly explained that this IS cochinillo but made in the Ávila way. That is, cut into sections and then fried. I stand corrected.
All this and we'd ordered a half-bottle of the house red wine which turned out to be a Rioja Crianza. Good, basic Spanish red wine and the perfect wine for the hearty meal we were eating.
While we were digging in, I was having quite a bit of trouble getting the meat off the bone with my knife and fork. Noticing this, the waiter passed by and said, with a smile, that it's perfectly acceptable to pick up the smaller pieces and eat them with my fingers. Thank goodness!
For dessert we both chose the Crema Catalana and coffee afterwards. As a nice details - as they do in most nice restaurants at the end of a meal - the waiter offered us a free chupito - a kind of shot glass full of cold liqueur of several varieties. They always claim when they offer it to you, "....in order to aid digestion." Ha! A very handy excuse to drink more alcohol. Does it REALLY aid in digestion?? I'd like to see the scientific studies on that one! Anyway, we were given the standard chupito, the Orujo de Hierbas, which is a yellow-ish green color and slightly sweet. Oh, and it's quite strong and TOO EASY to drink.
As I said before, the place was FULL. The long table next to us were occupied by older Spanish ladies wearing furs and dressed for a special lunch. They were CERTAINLY enjoying themselves, drinking wine, having lunch, singing songs, and speaking quite loudly by the end. Other customers were business people, several tie-wearing men and couples, and even some families. It was obvious to me this was a place KNOWN to local Spaniards as a good place to eat a good meal with good service.
Total price for 2 persons... 71€. Gulp! THAT'S NOT your average, casual lunch tab!! Wow! They DO have a menú del día bit I don't recall what was included nor how much it cost. But for a special lunch in a VERY SPANISH Madrid restaurant slightly outside but still accessible from the tourist center it's a definite MUST try if your pocket book can take it.
We're finally done eating. And we ate EVERYTHING! The bread was really great too. I love good Spanish bread. There's nothing worse than having a good meal in a good restaurant but the bread sucks. HOW can a restaurant skimp on BAD BREAD when they're charging you a lot of money for the meal??!! And with the price of decent bread being next to nothing there's NO excuse for ANY restaurant to go-cheap on the bread. Spaniards know good bread and if they get bad bread - even if the meal is great - they're less likely to return to that restaurant. HAPPILY, in Casa Ananías, this was not the case. Their bread was really first-rate!!!
Steve and I walk back to the historical Café Comercial on the Glorieta de Bilbao because they have comfortable tables in a large space and we want to relax. We take a table against the far wall under the mirror-covered walls. Upon ordering two cerveza sin alcohol (alcohol-free beer - plus free tapa of nuts and crackers), a small group of old ladies in their 70s and 80s came and sat at the two tables next to us. Oddly, they all put themselves side-by-side with their backs against the wall, looking towards the open space. It wasn't quite the hour for "merienda", 4:45pm or thereabouts, but maybe they were getting together now before the early sunset. One woman ordered milk. One woman ordered coffee. And two of the women ordered water. Likely total tab for the waiter: 3.50€ - and probably no tip. Poor waiter. They were there as long as we and presumably simply gathering to talk and have an excuse to leave the house in the afternoon. The woman sitting closest to us took out a bag and began knitting!! How sweet.We finished our beers and took to the street, walking downhill towards the center on Calle Fuencarral. We stopped here and there and looked in a few windows but Steve finally broke off near Chueca where he gets the metro. I continued on to Gran Vía and on to Puerta del Sol, down Calle Arenal to Opera where I got my bus home. At this hour, now 5:30pm or so, there weren't SO many people on the streets as there were last weekend in the evening but still a good number.
What a day filled with good company, GREAT food, (nearly) rubbing elbows with famous people, and a good long walk through downtown Madrid - a TRULY HISTORICAL city.
Funny how we accidentally find things on the internet which interest us or make us laugh. This is what happened just a couple minutes ago and felt it was an appropriate, relative thing about which to make a posting.
I happened upon a specific, Madrid Christmas-related posting on a technology Spanish blog (i.e. "WebLog") called Clipset.net entitled "Árbol de Navidad Comecocos, oseasé Pac-Man Xmas Tree". In English that's "Coconut-Eating Christmas Tree, or Pac-Man Xmas Tree".
It seem that in Spain, "back in the day", the popular Pac-Man video game was instead lovingly called "Comecocos" or "Coconut Eaters". Cute, huh!
In the posting they said the Pac-Man Christmas Tree is apparently located in the Azca business district of Madrid. The tree is a 4-sided pyramid and shows the video game in lights complete with dot-eating ghosts and also a few stars and tiny Christmas trees thrown in to make it more Christmassy. Apparently the dot-eating ghosts are stationary and do not move around the Christmas tree. But wouldn't it be COOL if they did? Harder to make too, I'm sure.
Below I'm including the YouTube video which ClipSet.net posted in that particular blog entry. Enjoy!
I happened upon a specific, Madrid Christmas-related posting on a technology Spanish blog (i.e. "WebLog") called Clipset.net entitled "Árbol de Navidad Comecocos, oseasé Pac-Man Xmas Tree". In English that's "Coconut-Eating Christmas Tree, or Pac-Man Xmas Tree".It seem that in Spain, "back in the day", the popular Pac-Man video game was instead lovingly called "Comecocos" or "Coconut Eaters". Cute, huh!
In the posting they said the Pac-Man Christmas Tree is apparently located in the Azca business district of Madrid. The tree is a 4-sided pyramid and shows the video game in lights complete with dot-eating ghosts and also a few stars and tiny Christmas trees thrown in to make it more Christmassy. Apparently the dot-eating ghosts are stationary and do not move around the Christmas tree. But wouldn't it be COOL if they did? Harder to make too, I'm sure.
Below I'm including the YouTube video which ClipSet.net posted in that particular blog entry. Enjoy!
MadridMan joyfully witnessed yesterday's (Saturday, 6pm) Cirque du Soleil performance of DELIRIUM - created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon - at Madrid's Palacio de Deportes, near the GOYA metro station in the Barrio de Salamanca.
The seats were perfect; 6th row up from the floor in the middle section, allowing perfect perspective of the middle stage and the full-length screens to the left and right.
What an Audio-Visual experience it was!! The strobe lights, the projections upon thin, see-through films behind and (sometimes) in front of the performance was nothing short of spectacular.
The performance lasted roughly one hour and 40 minutes. During that time I looked around the full arena to see many people staring with wide eyes and wider grins. Totally mesmerized. This event is one which overwhelms the senses like no other I've seen. It stimulates the eyes with not only the action on stage but also the lights, the images, the colors taking place on the adjacent floor-to-ceiling panels.
THE MUSIC is largely live (listen to music clips HERE), performed by live bands and professional singers - many times the vocal artists were suspended by wires and floating above the action below. From the African drummers to the Rock Bands and professional singers it is an audio experience worth owning on any CD - or better yet, on DVD!
This Cirque du Soleil performance is not like other Cirque du Soleil performances I've seen in the past. DELIRIUM is much more "Performance Art" than "Circus Acts" - although a good number of acrobatics, body-balancing-and-tossing, hula-hoop spinning, and suspended-rope-spinning spectacles took place, all meshed together with surrounding visuals and adjacent activity.
Unfortunately for us, due to copyright laws and pre-show request that no photos or video be taken by patrons, I am not able to post any photos of Cirque du Soleil's DELIRIUM show here. You may go to their website at www.CirqueduSoleil.com for more Delirium photos and information.
I CAN, however, embed the following brief video (see below) for your enjoyment and to get a small idea of the scale of the DELIRIUM expeience:
If you have an opportunity to see the Europe-only show DELIRIUM in Spain be sure to try - but try soon as tickets sellout fast! More DELIRIUM tour locations and dates HERE. 2007 Spain tours dates are as follows:
From their website the following quote.....:
The seats were perfect; 6th row up from the floor in the middle section, allowing perfect perspective of the middle stage and the full-length screens to the left and right.What an Audio-Visual experience it was!! The strobe lights, the projections upon thin, see-through films behind and (sometimes) in front of the performance was nothing short of spectacular.
The performance lasted roughly one hour and 40 minutes. During that time I looked around the full arena to see many people staring with wide eyes and wider grins. Totally mesmerized. This event is one which overwhelms the senses like no other I've seen. It stimulates the eyes with not only the action on stage but also the lights, the images, the colors taking place on the adjacent floor-to-ceiling panels.
THE MUSIC is largely live (listen to music clips HERE), performed by live bands and professional singers - many times the vocal artists were suspended by wires and floating above the action below. From the African drummers to the Rock Bands and professional singers it is an audio experience worth owning on any CD - or better yet, on DVD!
This Cirque du Soleil performance is not like other Cirque du Soleil performances I've seen in the past. DELIRIUM is much more "Performance Art" than "Circus Acts" - although a good number of acrobatics, body-balancing-and-tossing, hula-hoop spinning, and suspended-rope-spinning spectacles took place, all meshed together with surrounding visuals and adjacent activity.
Unfortunately for us, due to copyright laws and pre-show request that no photos or video be taken by patrons, I am not able to post any photos of Cirque du Soleil's DELIRIUM show here. You may go to their website at www.CirqueduSoleil.com for more Delirium photos and information.
I CAN, however, embed the following brief video (see below) for your enjoyment and to get a small idea of the scale of the DELIRIUM expeience:
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL - DELIRIUM VIDEO
(press PLAY):
(press PLAY):
If you have an opportunity to see the Europe-only show DELIRIUM in Spain be sure to try - but try soon as tickets sellout fast! More DELIRIUM tour locations and dates HERE. 2007 Spain tours dates are as follows:
| Valencia, ES Feria Valencia | 13 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 14 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 15 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 16 Dec. - 9:00 p.m. | |
| Barcelona, ES PALAU SANT JORDI | 19 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 20 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 21 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. 22 Dec. - 6:00 p.m. 22 Dec. - 9:30 p.m. |
From their website the following quote.....:
About DELIRIUM
An urban tale
With visually stunning tableaux in which music and projections meld together seamlessly, DELIRIUM is a contemporary urban tale, a quest for balance in a world increasingly out of sync with reality. Bill - the main character - is an ordinary man living inside a bubble, more and more recluse in a society where even relationships are "virtual," and where television and computers have become ubiquitous devices that isolate us from one another.A delirious sensory folly
Everything in Bill's urban life further draws him into an imaginary, virtual world. On his journey he meets myriad characters that bring him little by little on the cusp of growth and change. He eventually learns to ground his energy into the real world. At the end of his voyage, Bill contaminates the people of his planet and enlists them in his quest for balance.DELIRIUM is a delirious sensory folly where music unites space, individual and society in a world marked by solitude and isolation. The subtext of DELIRIUM is the notion that, in life, we must join together--escape our solitary cocoons--to survive.
Music in motion
The music of DELIRIUM--"urban tribal beats" that combine percussive driven pop and electronic music with melodious ballads and world rhythm sounds--take the audience on an incandescent journey into the musical realm of Cirque du Soleil and the aerial world of Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon.
Injecting new life into the 21 songs chosen among Cirque du Soleil's most memorable musical moments, DELIRIUM is based on a musical rather than an acrobatic structure--a first for Cirque du Soleil. Melodies, musicians and singers are the driving force of this show that features a series of tableaux made up of images ranging from prerecorded visuals to manipulated live feeds that create interactions between the artists and the audience. Featuring new texts in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the 21 remixed melodies mark a significant departure from the music Cirque du Soleil fans have come to expect.
In short, DELIRIUM is an experience not to be missed.
It's GREAT entertainment for the entire family.
It's GREAT entertainment for the entire family.
I've just finished watching the FC Barcelona versus the Glasgow Rangers football/soccer game. It ended in a 2-0 win for Barça. To be clear, I'm not a soccer/football fan - much preferring American Football with pads, field goals, and hard, brain-jarring hits. Afterall, MadridMan was the was a tailback/running back since the 8th grade and was the starting tailback/running back for the Shelby Whippets in Shelby, Ohio USA his senior season and much preferred to GIVE hits than to TAKE hits.
I generally find Football - the kind with a soccer ball - rather boring but am compelled to watch the big games just to consider myself "in the know". So much back and forth, change of possession, low-scoring games don't keep my attention very well. When a Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona game comes around, however, I TUNE IN without exception. Even a Real Madrid versus Atlético de Madrid game is never passed up.
I did know about the game beforehand since I've recently listed the FC Barcelona schedule on the BarcelonaMan.com website. And the games could be listened to live via any number of radio stations found on the Barcelona Multimedia Page - in Spanish and Catalán, of course, but WATCHING the game live on TV is the best form of entertainment. I also noticed a HUGE SURGE in visits to the Barcelona WebCams page from people in the UK seeking Camp Nou live webcams. Maybe they couldn't get the game live either.
My particular interest in watching such football games on TV is to test - or enhance - my Spanish language skills. It's a great way to learn about sports terms, language, and to generally know what so many others around you are talking about "around the water cooler" or in the bars.
It never ceases to make me laugh when one player, from whatever team, falls down in absolute agony, holding his leg after some collision - UNTIL the yellow or red card comes out by the referee. Once that happen, the injured player who's been rolling around on the ground in pain inevitably pops up and runs around without any limp or sign of injury. What a joke and example of good acting.
I was watching TVE earlier, just before the game, and they showed the piles of garbage created by the visiting Scottish Football Team in Barcelona and the riot police trying to control the crowd - TRYING to control the crowd. Seems a lot of Glasgow Ranger fans came go to Barcelona WITHOUT football game tickets and decided to party and cause trouble instead of enjoy the game on some bar's TV. Hooligans? Maybe. Football + Beer = Riot Police. Lots of Scottish fans were passed out on benches or starting fights with Barça fans on Las Ramblas and just generally out of control.
You never hear about riots or fist fights after or during an NFL or College Football game. Are we more civilized or just take the competition more for granted? Not sure. In any case, I'm sure there'll be lots of burning cars and sofas in the alleys in Columbus, Ohio USA before, during, and after the Ohio State - Michigan game on November 17th as we/the OSU Buckeyes fight to keep their Number 1 ranking in American University Football in their quest for the National Championship Game. Can't wait for that. I'm all giddy with anticipation. Give me American Football anyday over soccer.
8 November 2007 Update:
I just read in today's El País English Version (which is printed one day late) the following article "snippet" about the visiting teams' fans:
I generally find Football - the kind with a soccer ball - rather boring but am compelled to watch the big games just to consider myself "in the know". So much back and forth, change of possession, low-scoring games don't keep my attention very well. When a Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona game comes around, however, I TUNE IN without exception. Even a Real Madrid versus Atlético de Madrid game is never passed up.I did know about the game beforehand since I've recently listed the FC Barcelona schedule on the BarcelonaMan.com website. And the games could be listened to live via any number of radio stations found on the Barcelona Multimedia Page - in Spanish and Catalán, of course, but WATCHING the game live on TV is the best form of entertainment. I also noticed a HUGE SURGE in visits to the Barcelona WebCams page from people in the UK seeking Camp Nou live webcams. Maybe they couldn't get the game live either.
My particular interest in watching such football games on TV is to test - or enhance - my Spanish language skills. It's a great way to learn about sports terms, language, and to generally know what so many others around you are talking about "around the water cooler" or in the bars.
It never ceases to make me laugh when one player, from whatever team, falls down in absolute agony, holding his leg after some collision - UNTIL the yellow or red card comes out by the referee. Once that happen, the injured player who's been rolling around on the ground in pain inevitably pops up and runs around without any limp or sign of injury. What a joke and example of good acting.
I was watching TVE earlier, just before the game, and they showed the piles of garbage created by the visiting Scottish Football Team in Barcelona and the riot police trying to control the crowd - TRYING to control the crowd. Seems a lot of Glasgow Ranger fans came go to Barcelona WITHOUT football game tickets and decided to party and cause trouble instead of enjoy the game on some bar's TV. Hooligans? Maybe. Football + Beer = Riot Police. Lots of Scottish fans were passed out on benches or starting fights with Barça fans on Las Ramblas and just generally out of control.
You never hear about riots or fist fights after or during an NFL or College Football game. Are we more civilized or just take the competition more for granted? Not sure. In any case, I'm sure there'll be lots of burning cars and sofas in the alleys in Columbus, Ohio USA before, during, and after the Ohio State - Michigan game on November 17th as we/the OSU Buckeyes fight to keep their Number 1 ranking in American University Football in their quest for the National Championship Game. Can't wait for that. I'm all giddy with anticipation. Give me American Football anyday over soccer.
8 November 2007 Update:
I just read in today's El País English Version (which is printed one day late) the following article "snippet" about the visiting teams' fans:
Hooligans from Glasgow wreak havoc on Barcelona Plaza
In anticipation of their team's Champions League encounter last night against Barcelona, thousands of fans of Scotland's Glasgow Rangers descended on the Catalan capital, leaving a wake of debris strewn about the city's central Plaza Cataluña.
Over 15,000 Rangers fans arrived in Barcelona to cheer on their team, but only 6,200 of them had tickets for the game.
The fans camped in the Plaza, drinking, relieving themselves in the streets, and prompting several adjacent bars to close to avoid incidents. Near game time, 200 fans tried to enter into Camp Nou stadium, requiring the intervention of the authorities.
Do they BOWL in Spain? I've got news for you. They do! But it's certainly not a popular sport NOR a popular form of recreational entertainment in Madrid. Bowling in Spanish is.... "BOWLING"! But the Spanish word for bowling or the place where you go bowling is "Bolera". Spaniards will often say, "¿Quieres ir al bowling?" ("Do you want to go bowling?") - which sounds so strange to my American ears.
Last night a Spanish buddy and I went BOWLING to a nearby bowling alley in Madrid. We go bowling about once a month and go to a couple different places. We're even MEMBERS at one of them! That shows you we're serious about our bowling. hehehe...
So we arrive at the local lanes, about a 15 minute walk from my house, and go inside. The place was recently totally renovated, top to bottom - or so you'd think, given the opportunity to do so. The inside is quite nice, new bar, new billiards area, new table-top-soccer area, new bathrooms, the works. This was our second time to this place since they'd renovated it.
I recall the first/last time we went. I was immediately impressed with its interior. Nice! I was more than a bit amused, however, to find stamped on all the balls, "BRUNSWICK USA" - which is one of the most popular bowling products companies in the United States.
Went to the bowling ball rack to choose our preferred size, weight, finger-hole sizes, and took the pick of the litter - of all runts. All were old balls, full of nicks, gashes, & scrapes. Disappointing.and took our terrible balls to our assigned lane, placed them on the ball return rack, put on our shoes, and and loosened up. First, I have to tell you that not only were the bowling balls horrible but also were the old bowling shoes with frayed laces. The ball return equipment too appeared to be from the mid-1970s and all carried the name BRUNSWICK USA on them. I'm now more and more convinced all this equipment was sent over on a slow-boat from Podunk County, USA after some bowling alley went out of business and sold off their "assets" - HA! Assets. This stuff should've been in the liability column.
Still, having BRUNSWICK USA surrounding me swept me back to when I was 10 years old and on a Saturday morning bowling team. I felt all warm and fuzzy.
Throw the first ball down the lane. Hmmm.. I swear there's a strange, alternating thumping sound from the alley as the ball reaches the pins. Must be the ball. Try another ball. Different ball - same result. Good lawd, the lane's warped close to the end! My goodness. "Could this place BE any worse?" (in my best "Chandler" voice from the popular TV series "Friends") So we change lanes only to get the same result. I look down at the end of the lanes were the pins are and see an odd-looking pair of body-less legs standing in front of my pins. Then one leg disappears. Then the other. Hmmm.. That's strange. What if I throw this ball now and those legs reappear down there? The resulting limb severing would be worse than the Normandy Beach scenes in the movie "Saving Private Ryan".
Finally we find a lane which is semi-flat! Thank goodness! Now we can enjoy ourselves with these ripped up bowling balls. Still, it's fun and I don't do half bad.
Next time we'll have to go to our REGULAR bowling alley at the Bowling Studios (see photo) in the Kinépolis complex in the Ciudad de la Imagen. There, they also have a multi-plex cinema, restaurants, and more. Thing is, you have to drive there and it's not all that close to me but the lanes, balls, and everything is new new new. THERE, we're card-carrying members and I'm looking forward to going back.
Photo at Left:
MadridMan at the "Bowling Studios" at Kinepolis - a GOOD bowling alley! - photo from April 2007 (don't pay attention to the direction of the ball - err.. I was practicing?)
At the Bowling Studios they have monthly tournaments and was even tempted to "Show these Spaniards how a REAL AMERICAN bowls!" Afterall, we invented it, didn't we? Okay, I don't think we invented but we certainly popularized it! But I never signed up for the tournament after seeing a few people practicing on lanes near me. Wow, could they bowl! My Spain-based, season-best score of 190 points would likely only embarrass me when competing with these guys who have it all down to a science with the swinging back of the leg, the right-to-left spinning of the ball as it nearly gutters to the right and then swerves back to the center 10-pin making a strike nearly every time. I'm a straight-down-the-middle kind of bowler. Nothing fancy. But I do have good aim.
But it's very enjoyable to go out bowling even though I tend to take it too seriously, too competitively. My bowling buddies all tell me this. At the Bowling Studios, LOTS of other bowling-for-fun participants in adjacent lanes are slinging the balls down the lanes with no apparent eye-hand-coordination, making lots of gutter balls, tossing the balls too high in the air and coming down with a terrible THUNK!, lots of slipping and falling over the line, and LOTS of laughter. Afterall, THAT'S what it's all about; good, clean, AMERICAN FUN - IN SPAIN!
Who'dathunk I'd ever do more bowling in Spain than in the USA? Now that's culture shock!
Last night a Spanish buddy and I went BOWLING to a nearby bowling alley in Madrid. We go bowling about once a month and go to a couple different places. We're even MEMBERS at one of them! That shows you we're serious about our bowling. hehehe...
So we arrive at the local lanes, about a 15 minute walk from my house, and go inside. The place was recently totally renovated, top to bottom - or so you'd think, given the opportunity to do so. The inside is quite nice, new bar, new billiards area, new table-top-soccer area, new bathrooms, the works. This was our second time to this place since they'd renovated it.
I recall the first/last time we went. I was immediately impressed with its interior. Nice! I was more than a bit amused, however, to find stamped on all the balls, "BRUNSWICK USA" - which is one of the most popular bowling products companies in the United States.
Went to the bowling ball rack to choose our preferred size, weight, finger-hole sizes, and took the pick of the litter - of all runts. All were old balls, full of nicks, gashes, & scrapes. Disappointing.and took our terrible balls to our assigned lane, placed them on the ball return rack, put on our shoes, and and loosened up. First, I have to tell you that not only were the bowling balls horrible but also were the old bowling shoes with frayed laces. The ball return equipment too appeared to be from the mid-1970s and all carried the name BRUNSWICK USA on them. I'm now more and more convinced all this equipment was sent over on a slow-boat from Podunk County, USA after some bowling alley went out of business and sold off their "assets" - HA! Assets. This stuff should've been in the liability column.
Still, having BRUNSWICK USA surrounding me swept me back to when I was 10 years old and on a Saturday morning bowling team. I felt all warm and fuzzy.
Throw the first ball down the lane. Hmmm.. I swear there's a strange, alternating thumping sound from the alley as the ball reaches the pins. Must be the ball. Try another ball. Different ball - same result. Good lawd, the lane's warped close to the end! My goodness. "Could this place BE any worse?" (in my best "Chandler" voice from the popular TV series "Friends") So we change lanes only to get the same result. I look down at the end of the lanes were the pins are and see an odd-looking pair of body-less legs standing in front of my pins. Then one leg disappears. Then the other. Hmmm.. That's strange. What if I throw this ball now and those legs reappear down there? The resulting limb severing would be worse than the Normandy Beach scenes in the movie "Saving Private Ryan".
Finally we find a lane which is semi-flat! Thank goodness! Now we can enjoy ourselves with these ripped up bowling balls. Still, it's fun and I don't do half bad.
Next time we'll have to go to our REGULAR bowling alley at the Bowling Studios (see photo) in the Kinépolis complex in the Ciudad de la Imagen. There, they also have a multi-plex cinema, restaurants, and more. Thing is, you have to drive there and it's not all that close to me but the lanes, balls, and everything is new new new. THERE, we're card-carrying members and I'm looking forward to going back.
Photo at Left:
MadridMan at the "Bowling Studios" at Kinepolis - a GOOD bowling alley! - photo from April 2007 (don't pay attention to the direction of the ball - err.. I was practicing?)
At the Bowling Studios they have monthly tournaments and was even tempted to "Show these Spaniards how a REAL AMERICAN bowls!" Afterall, we invented it, didn't we? Okay, I don't think we invented but we certainly popularized it! But I never signed up for the tournament after seeing a few people practicing on lanes near me. Wow, could they bowl! My Spain-based, season-best score of 190 points would likely only embarrass me when competing with these guys who have it all down to a science with the swinging back of the leg, the right-to-left spinning of the ball as it nearly gutters to the right and then swerves back to the center 10-pin making a strike nearly every time. I'm a straight-down-the-middle kind of bowler. Nothing fancy. But I do have good aim.
But it's very enjoyable to go out bowling even though I tend to take it too seriously, too competitively. My bowling buddies all tell me this. At the Bowling Studios, LOTS of other bowling-for-fun participants in adjacent lanes are slinging the balls down the lanes with no apparent eye-hand-coordination, making lots of gutter balls, tossing the balls too high in the air and coming down with a terrible THUNK!, lots of slipping and falling over the line, and LOTS of laughter. Afterall, THAT'S what it's all about; good, clean, AMERICAN FUN - IN SPAIN!
Who'dathunk I'd ever do more bowling in Spain than in the USA? Now that's culture shock!
Start your Monday off with a smile and goooood feelings! Watch these 3 Spanish music videos (see below) and you'll be humming them throughout your workday.
A very good British friend of mine often mentions enjoying "Flamenco Chill" music in certain Madrid clubs and I really had no idea what he was talking about. What is "Flamenco Chill"?
This morning I'm surfing the internet, doing work and straightening my brain while having breakfast and preparing to go to the gym to start my day.
I come across a page which describes one of my favorite Spanish songs, "Ahí Estás Tú" by the Malaga, Spain originated group Chambao. Huh! I had no idea THIS was considered "Chill Flamenco" but I guess it makes sense. The vocals and music mix flamenco with... umm.. a kind of jazz and has a good, gentle rhythm which causes one's head to sway in, maybe, a Bob Marley fashion. hehehe... When I heard the song for the first time, I LOVED IT, and it made me think of beaches or islands or something of the like.
The Andalusian government uses their song(s) to promote tourism in the region which includes scenes of beaches or coasts or things like this so maybe they felt the same as me when they heard it. A VERY funny anecdote to this song is that for the longest time - until NOW, that is - I thought she was singing "Cállate Tú" which means "Shut Up!" in Spanish. Hahhaa.. Never seemed to go along with the tone of the song. Now THAT'S funny.
Watch the video below and prepare yourself to love it - if you haven't heard it before. The music Video itself is okay but it's the song which really grabs you.
But the first - and even MORE amazing song by them - is the upbeat "Pokito a Poko". See below. I'm pretty sure the Andalusian Government uses this song in their tourist ads too. I'd heard this song before but didn't know it was them:
Another song featuring the lead singer, La Mari de "Chambao", is her accompaniment on the live Ricky Martin song, "Tu Recuerdo". I've always been a fan of the Puerto Riqueño Ricky Martin but La Mari de "Chambao" REALLY steals this song. Watch/Listen below:
Hope the above starts your work week out well, world! Enjoy!
Wow! Another incredible weekend in Madrid. Question: "Am I Spanish Yet?!" When do I get my Merit Badge?
It all started Friday afternoon when I met my good Valencian friend Damián for a paella lunch at La Buganvilla. La Buganvilla is an "Arrocería"
- a restaurant which specializes in rice dishes. AND DO THEY
SPECIALIZE! Wow, what a great meal we had. VERY complete from beginning
to end.
It's located just off the Plaza Alonso Martinez (metro: Alonso Martinez) in a nice, clean, somewhat upscale neighborhood in an elegant building. We had reservations to try this place as it was purported to have "The Best Paella in Madrid". So I just had to try it!
We arrived and were first toured the restaurant and its many small rooms - each with about 5 tables - when we were seated. The restaurant had a mariner's "theme" and was exceptionally clean top to bottom. Many nicely-dressed people eating their rice dishes around us.
I'm so happy Damián went with me to this place because everyone knows that Valenciano's - as Damián is - are connoisseurs of rice dishes, paellas, and the like. Who better to advise me on the ins-and-outs of rice and to judge the quality of such? Damián was the right man for the job. Not only is he great company, intelligent, and a conversationalist (in both English and Spanish) but he also really knows his rice, something his mother makes very well, as he described in mouth-watering detail.
We started with croquetas de marisco (seafood croquets) on a bed of lettuce. Very good, hot, tasty. At the waiters suggestion, we ordered the "Arroz Mixta" served in a paella pan. This has rabbit, chicken, clams, shrimp, squid (I think) and rice cooked to near perfection. Damián said it was the best rice he'd had in Madrid so far. So there you go! If HE says it was good - it's good. The bread was very good as was the bottle of red wine, a Rioja which was suggested by the waiter - something we felt was odd with a paella meal as it's usually more appropriate to choose a white or rosé wine with rice dishes.
After the meal, I chose a berry sorbet and Damián had an elegantly "sculpted" chocolate affair with swirls of this and that across the plate. To top it all off we were offered "chupitos" (selection of liqueurs) to..."help aid digestion". I love this reason/excuse. We tried all 4 of the liquers; crema de orujo, liquer de hierbas, orujo, and another one I can't remember. Wow. That's some hard-yet-tasty alcohol! Sure warmed the digesting contents in my stomach!
After the delicious meal, we spoke at length with our host, Miguel Ángel, who had come to our table several times throughout the meal to see if everything was to our liking - IT WAS! Damián made some comments and observations of the likenesses and differences in this paella and the paellas he's had in Valencia.
What a positive experience. What a good meal. And what good company! Damián and I said our goodbyes, I got on the metro and went home for a few hours of work.
A little later I took the bus BACK downtown and met some friends who were going to a play in the Teatro Albéniz. We had a few beers at the "El Anciano rey de los vinos", a VERY old bar across the street from the theater on Calle de La Paz, 4. This place is small and SPANISH SPANISH. It was in this bar where I saw well-known veteran flamenco dancer "El Guito" just before watching him dance at the same Teatro Albéniz last spring. He was sitting right next to me with his flamenco colleagues.
The friends went to the play and I was on my way back home and decided to stop in the Plaza Mayor to have a "caña" (small glass of beer). I started in the corner bar of the Plaza Mayor nearest the Arco de Cuchilleros and had one beer in each of those three bars while making my way "left", each place giving a free tapa with the drink order. Two places gave a plate of olives and one place gave a kind of salad mixture of onion-octopus for the free tapa.
After the third place, I walked around the gallery of the Plaza Mayor to the far side where I stopped in at the "Bar La Torre del Oro". This place has bullfight memorabilia, framed photos, and STUFFED BULL'S HEADS adorning (??) the walls. This too is a VERY Spanish bar for its bartenders but the clientèle is mostly tourists but there are always a few Spaniards peppering this bar. They too ALWAYS give a free tapa with each drink. (a dish of white beans + small cup of gazpacho for me) The bartenders are always cheerful and friendly too. I had one beer and started talking to the traveling Australians to my left as they commented on the bullfight stuff surrounding them. The conversation was good so I ordered another beer - my last - before heading to my bus stop in the Plaza de Isabel Segundo and got home at about 11:30pm - STRAIGHT TO BED with a heavy head.
Saturday. Slept late. Wow. Whoaaa... Rollll slowly out of bed, have breakfast, and get to work until lunchtime. At about 4pm I leave the house for a bus+metro trip to meet my English buddy Steve at Plaza de Toros Las Ventas for the 5:30pm bullfights. This was a bullfight with younger bullfighters so the price was cheap (13€) for decent seats. After the "event" we made our way to the same nearby bullfight-themed bar we found at which we found ourselves the previous weekend after the bullfights; the Restaurante Los Clarines, just off the Calle de Alcalá as heading into the city.
This time we did not go for the Rabo de Toro but instead went all seafood, ordering a ración of the Gambas al Ajillo (olive-oil-cooked shrimp and garlic) AND, again, the lemon-juice-showered Chopitos (small, lightly breaded, fried squid) along with good bread ("¡para mojar!"). This time they served us 30% more chopitos than the last time! All this great food and we ordered a bottle of cold white Rueda wine. Wow, that goes down easily with seafood. Mmmm... The 50-something Spanish bartender now seemed to remember us from the previous weekend and give us a free tapas to start off, later another free tapa of salchichón (a kind of sliced sausage), AND FINALLY, a free glass of sorbete de cava for dessert. The all-Spanish wait-staff is always very nice with us, we, the ONLY NON SPANIARDS IN THE PLACE. We felt privileged to be there, in their company.
Full, heavy headed, and happy, Steve and I say our goodbyes and I make my way to the nearby metro station. Arrive home. Alka-Seltzer. A big glass of water with a couple aspirins just-in-case. Bed.
Sunday, today, is mostly uneventful, just doing some work by morning, had Chinese food for lunch (I know, NOT very "Spanish" - but give me a break once in awhile, eh?! hehehe...), and reading about yesterday's/Saturday's United States university football games. My Ohio State Buckeyes beat University of Minnesota and going UP in the POLLS!
So today is DEFINITELY "a day of rest" for me. I've been in Spanish-Overdrive for the last two days. Tomorrow begins a new week in Madrid! Autumn's here, it's obvious. Skies are more often cloudy, cooler temperatures, and the sunsets are earlier and further to the southern horizon. I'd rather be nowhere else in the world.
It all started Friday afternoon when I met my good Valencian friend Damián for a paella lunch at La Buganvilla. La Buganvilla is an "Arrocería"
- a restaurant which specializes in rice dishes. AND DO THEY
SPECIALIZE! Wow, what a great meal we had. VERY complete from beginning
to end.It's located just off the Plaza Alonso Martinez (metro: Alonso Martinez) in a nice, clean, somewhat upscale neighborhood in an elegant building. We had reservations to try this place as it was purported to have "The Best Paella in Madrid". So I just had to try it!
We arrived and were first toured the restaurant and its many small rooms - each with about 5 tables - when we were seated. The restaurant had a mariner's "theme" and was exceptionally clean top to bottom. Many nicely-dressed people eating their rice dishes around us.
I'm so happy Damián went with me to this place because everyone knows that Valenciano's - as Damián is - are connoisseurs of rice dishes, paellas, and the like. Who better to advise me on the ins-and-outs of rice and to judge the quality of such? Damián was the right man for the job. Not only is he great company, intelligent, and a conversationalist (in both English and Spanish) but he also really knows his rice, something his mother makes very well, as he described in mouth-watering detail.
We started with croquetas de marisco (seafood croquets) on a bed of lettuce. Very good, hot, tasty. At the waiters suggestion, we ordered the "Arroz Mixta" served in a paella pan. This has rabbit, chicken, clams, shrimp, squid (I think) and rice cooked to near perfection. Damián said it was the best rice he'd had in Madrid so far. So there you go! If HE says it was good - it's good. The bread was very good as was the bottle of red wine, a Rioja which was suggested by the waiter - something we felt was odd with a paella meal as it's usually more appropriate to choose a white or rosé wine with rice dishes.
After the meal, I chose a berry sorbet and Damián had an elegantly "sculpted" chocolate affair with swirls of this and that across the plate. To top it all off we were offered "chupitos" (selection of liqueurs) to..."help aid digestion". I love this reason/excuse. We tried all 4 of the liquers; crema de orujo, liquer de hierbas, orujo, and another one I can't remember. Wow. That's some hard-yet-tasty alcohol! Sure warmed the digesting contents in my stomach!
After the delicious meal, we spoke at length with our host, Miguel Ángel, who had come to our table several times throughout the meal to see if everything was to our liking - IT WAS! Damián made some comments and observations of the likenesses and differences in this paella and the paellas he's had in Valencia.
What a positive experience. What a good meal. And what good company! Damián and I said our goodbyes, I got on the metro and went home for a few hours of work.
A little later I took the bus BACK downtown and met some friends who were going to a play in the Teatro Albéniz. We had a few beers at the "El Anciano rey de los vinos", a VERY old bar across the street from the theater on Calle de La Paz, 4. This place is small and SPANISH SPANISH. It was in this bar where I saw well-known veteran flamenco dancer "El Guito" just before watching him dance at the same Teatro Albéniz last spring. He was sitting right next to me with his flamenco colleagues.
The friends went to the play and I was on my way back home and decided to stop in the Plaza Mayor to have a "caña" (small glass of beer). I started in the corner bar of the Plaza Mayor nearest the Arco de Cuchilleros and had one beer in each of those three bars while making my way "left", each place giving a free tapa with the drink order. Two places gave a plate of olives and one place gave a kind of salad mixture of onion-octopus for the free tapa.
After the third place, I walked around the gallery of the Plaza Mayor to the far side where I stopped in at the "Bar La Torre del Oro". This place has bullfight memorabilia, framed photos, and STUFFED BULL'S HEADS adorning (??) the walls. This too is a VERY Spanish bar for its bartenders but the clientèle is mostly tourists but there are always a few Spaniards peppering this bar. They too ALWAYS give a free tapa with each drink. (a dish of white beans + small cup of gazpacho for me) The bartenders are always cheerful and friendly too. I had one beer and started talking to the traveling Australians to my left as they commented on the bullfight stuff surrounding them. The conversation was good so I ordered another beer - my last - before heading to my bus stop in the Plaza de Isabel Segundo and got home at about 11:30pm - STRAIGHT TO BED with a heavy head.Saturday. Slept late. Wow. Whoaaa... Rollll slowly out of bed, have breakfast, and get to work until lunchtime. At about 4pm I leave the house for a bus+metro trip to meet my English buddy Steve at Plaza de Toros Las Ventas for the 5:30pm bullfights. This was a bullfight with younger bullfighters so the price was cheap (13€) for decent seats. After the "event" we made our way to the same nearby bullfight-themed bar we found at which we found ourselves the previous weekend after the bullfights; the Restaurante Los Clarines, just off the Calle de Alcalá as heading into the city.
This time we did not go for the Rabo de Toro but instead went all seafood, ordering a ración of the Gambas al Ajillo (olive-oil-cooked shrimp and garlic) AND, again, the lemon-juice-showered Chopitos (small, lightly breaded, fried squid) along with good bread ("¡para mojar!"). This time they served us 30% more chopitos than the last time! All this great food and we ordered a bottle of cold white Rueda wine. Wow, that goes down easily with seafood. Mmmm... The 50-something Spanish bartender now seemed to remember us from the previous weekend and give us a free tapas to start off, later another free tapa of salchichón (a kind of sliced sausage), AND FINALLY, a free glass of sorbete de cava for dessert. The all-Spanish wait-staff is always very nice with us, we, the ONLY NON SPANIARDS IN THE PLACE. We felt privileged to be there, in their company.
Full, heavy headed, and happy, Steve and I say our goodbyes and I make my way to the nearby metro station. Arrive home. Alka-Seltzer. A big glass of water with a couple aspirins just-in-case. Bed.
Sunday, today, is mostly uneventful, just doing some work by morning, had Chinese food for lunch (I know, NOT very "Spanish" - but give me a break once in awhile, eh?! hehehe...), and reading about yesterday's/Saturday's United States university football games. My Ohio State Buckeyes beat University of Minnesota and going UP in the POLLS!
So today is DEFINITELY "a day of rest" for me. I've been in Spanish-Overdrive for the last two days. Tomorrow begins a new week in Madrid! Autumn's here, it's obvious. Skies are more often cloudy, cooler temperatures, and the sunsets are earlier and further to the southern horizon. I'd rather be nowhere else in the world.
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