A Hen Party... And another night ending up at Trauma!

Keila invited me to this hen party that at first was supposed to be held at the bride to be house... but somehow turned into a party at Trauma! What the hell!

I was there, of course! We were already half way to the party, when someone called and told us about the change of plans. We had to turn around and change direction!

It wasn't good, but neither was bad. We ended up leaving the place around 5:30 in the morning. I could barely move my feet without having the feeling that a thousand knives were been drawn toward them, stabbing my soles on each step... but, somehow, I managed to get to the station and took the train home.
Keila told me to stay with her at her house, and then leave the next day, but I needed to go to the comfort of my own place... and where the muscles relaxant pills were!

Marc, Roberto and David... They made the evening fun!

The conversation piece of the night! A flyer from match.com!
And it reads as follows:
If only store clerks call you DARLING... match.com. The number 1 and more successful portal to find your match!
That was pretty funny... distributing that kind of propaganda in a place like Trauma, where, if you want, you might find many one night stands... but hardly your match!

This is a weird photo! I guess it came out that way cause of the light changing in the disco. But it looks cool, nevertheless.

The Brazilian girls at the Hen Party

Flavio (another Brazilian) and a bartender at Trauma, posing here with Keila

Zeze di Camargo & Luciano 2008 European Tour

An improvised, sort of lobby with a bar and sitting fit for a kindergarten, was set at the entrance of the arena.


Friday night... and I had completely forgot I was invited to a concert at the Palau Sant Jordi! What can I tell you, it is my nature! I am so much into living the moment that I find it hard to plan ahead... I was invited 2 whole weeks ago!

Anyway, as I was told, it was gonna be Brazilian romantic music. A duet of two very well known artists, and I guess they must have been, or are... at least among their own! Cause, and I know I've told you this before, Brazilians are everywhere around here! It's incredible, but every corner you turn you can hear them talking in Portuguese, but with that peculiar musicality they impart to the language!

Zeze di Camargo and Luciano. That was the main attraction for the night but, the other duet that opened the show... they were really good! They certainly brought to the atmosphere and stirred things among the present singing songs about 'saudade' and 'sentimento'. Women... and man alike, they all were crying like babies, with a feeling of nostalgic longing for the country that they are so fond of and which is somehow lost in the distance. While some were sobbing with the repressed knowledge that they might never return.

And so it was that among 'saudade' and excited cries, Zeze and Luciano came to the stage. The group I was with, we all were in the general entrance part of the Palau... That is, without right to a seat! But then... something happened.

I have always seen it in movies, heard of it in the news, or read about it in papers... What I had never done was actually witness the moment it happens! I am talking about bribes!

I guess Manolo got tired of all the pushing and shoving, I know I did, and without saying a word he went to the bouncer that was guarding the entrance to the VIPs and placed 50 Euros in his hand! We all went in... and that was more like it!

The VIP area had its own bar, but not only seats, it also had tables and a small dance floor! All that plus we were just a few feet away from the stage. There was no more pushing and shoving, and the ones that had someone to dance with, had plenty of space to manifest themselves!

In the end, I got to enjoy the concert. Even though I probably was the only one in that place that didn't know the songs... But that do not prevented Luciano from throwing a kiss at me while singing some verses... of a song I couldn't understand!

The other half of the arena had a bar also... NO SEATS!!!!! and a stage at the far end of it, where the basket backboard is supposed to be. That was the general entrance, and the tickets cost almost 40 Euros per person!

The opening act... the one that made everybody (but me) sob like babies!



Ju

Vera

Georgie

Manolo

La Negra and a friend I can't remember the name!

Greedy, greedy boy! Two beers at a time!!!!

Part of the group

A view at some of those present

Me with the guitarist from the opening duet


And the show took off

Luciano, at the moment he was singing to me! lol

Zeze


One of their most known romantic songs

Zeze and Luciano

A view at the VIP area


Laura, who the next morning woke up to an spectacular hangover! lol

The present in the VIP area cheering and singing to the tunes

Another view at the VIPs dance floor area... not that they were dancing!
Anyway, they did dance whenever they felt like it, and wherever they wanted, transforming the whole place into a big dancing floor!

Really feeling the music!

Definitely! lol


A more upbeat song towards the finale

I am a Renaissance Man!

Sueño de Enero by Silvia P. (Moi!)


Yes, I know it sounds weird... Specially, cause all of you already know how I look like... and there are pretty obvious reasons for why I can't be a 'man'...
The thing is, during the Renaissance, there were no women sharing that concept.

Being a Renaissance Man has nothing to do with gender. It's a concept, a way of living, and a way of seeing the world around, a synergistic point of view ... and in that sense, well, I am 100% Da Vinci stuff!

When people ask me what is it that I do for a living, you have no idea how hard it is for me to answer what it'd be, an otherwise very simple question! But NO. Not with me!

I am an artist, a writer, a poet, a journalist, a photographer, a designer, a screenplay writer, a producer, an adventurer, a thinker, a philosopher, an actor, a singer, a traveller, and I still want more!

I am a polymath and a humanist! I don't believe in restricting yourself to just one area of knowledge... Unfortunately, that is the modern way of thinking. Therefore, I am not of this time and age, and for that matter, no one should be! Knowledge is the only thing that can save us, save this world from its irresponsible adolescence. I wanna save the world! Why not?

Why not aim for the stars, because they seem so unreachable? Or is it because we are so used to see them, and in our minds have become just a pretty decor for a honeymooner's sky? I think the answer is a much simpler one! We've just stopped trying!

We have become so obsessed labeling everything around us! It makes us feel in control, of what? I will never know! Nor does anyone else! The powers that be have been really busy maintaining and justifying the status quo, trying to make us believe that an obtuse view of the world is the way to go!

Concentration. The word says it all! And that is what you get after four years in College. Do they care about broadening your horizons? You already know the answer. They give you a tittle to be a glorified automaton!!!! It is pathetic! Nauseating! If I had lived at the beginning of the age of reason, I would have been burned at the stake, accused of sorcery!

When I look at the sky, I see unexplored worlds of infinite possibilities. When I paint a canvas, I see a path to convey a message. When I sing and dance, I can feel the passion of a fire starter growing from within my entrails. A virus so contagious, I hope it infects everybody coming in contact with me!

I am a Renaissance Man with a 360° spherical perception of my world... But, as a woman, in this time and age, I am just as tolerated as they tolerate gays, environmentalists, idealists, bums and polymaths like me... and sadly, still be condemned by the witchcraft police.

A rollercoaster ride between boredom, a great time, the gloomy weather and a concert for 110,000 people... minus one!

I think I've just survived the dullest, most boring weekend ever!

Used to, as I am, to all kinds of excitement, been in the middle of Barcelona's gloomiest days to the date, hasn't exactly been of any appeal to me. Besides, there is the 'tropical factor' associated with it all! Having lived for the past year or so in Puerto Rico and arriving to Barcelona in the middle of its humid summer, doesn't really prepares you for the change of season!

The sun ceased to shine on me at some point during last week. But, it really wasn't until Saturday that I realized how much I missed it. Going out on the street it's so much harder when it is a cold, dark and bleak wintry day, as it was the case last Saturday! And I think I've told you before, the moment I think I am gonna get depressed, that's the moment it happens! Although, I kinda refused to get there... so, I called my beloved brother and I didn't even had to explain. Thirty minutes later he was picking me up. I spent the rest of the day at his place watching movies with him and his wife. A neighbor joined us later in the afternoon, and even brought some pastries! My brother and I made dinner together... Actually, he made dinner, I watched... But we had a great time together! He brought me home later that night, with 4 movies he copied for me.

On Sunday I woke up late, there was no point in getting up early. It was yet another drab of a day. The only plan I had, was to attend El Canto del Loco's concert... but, that wasn't until 10pm, and I still had a handful of hours to kill! I sure was happy to have those 4 movies my brother gave me, only this time I had to watch them alone. So, I tried to cheer myself up thinking about the concert, and building up some expectations upon an event that turned out been just another dreary social event to suffer through!

Nevertheless, I did take some video of their music. Maybe some of you will find to fancy any of it... I know I didn't!


Here a view of the back of the amphitheater.
There was people even beyond the pine trees that frame the open roman style anphitheater.

A couple of views of the amphitheater where the concert took place. There were over 110,000 people present for that event!!!
I didn't like it, but I guess 110,000 would disagree with me! lol

Dani, David and Txema doing their thing





They had a big screen in the back of the stage displaying the lyrics of their songs... many times, the people's singing overpowered their performance. Some times it was the group who encouraged the public to sing, other times the public just took over... But they were more than happy when that happened, cause it showed how well accepted their songs are!

Here is Dani pointing the microphone towards the public, letting their fans take over in a pacific, musical way!



Since they were singing in Catalonia, they paid a small homage to artists like Peret, and my personal favorite: Estopa the brothers from Cornella... which I absolutely love and would have preferred it was them on stage!
I guess, sonner or later, I will have my chance to see them live in concert!



"Y eso es lo que quiero, besos..."
And that's what I want... kisses! Was singing Dani, and one thing I have to give to them... They really had the public right where they wanted them!
And not only the very young and female... No, no, no. Complete families were there singing to their tunes, cheering and putting their hands together for El Canto del Loco!

When sorry seems to be the hardest word... Thoughts, Depressions, Euphorias of the Crazy Genie That Lives Inside

The world seemed to have been energized by people's return from vacation. The streets were now swarming with a new busyness that injected and infected everything around, a vaccine against the lethargic summer days. Echoing from what, more and more now, seemed a distant, long gone past.

Walking the streets had lost the laxity of steps that for the past few weeks turned plantigrades' business into a series of promenading mantras. Brisk movements were now required. They were been orchestrated by hundreds of passersby going about their business, but making it yours with their haste. And anywhere I turned, there it was, a conductor ready to make me stop abruptly, or continue at a higher pitch. One thing tough, no Chopin anymore... This was more of a Wagner, or Beethoven overture. And definitely Miller, it was Glen Miller when it rained! All the quicksteps were then needed to avoid fall in an open manhole!

For some inexplicable reason the more people I crossed, the more wormholes I tried, to avoid stepping into their toes... the lonelier and isolated I felt. It was as though, crowds and places rubbed in my face the futility of my existence.

I had always been alone, but experiencing loneliness was a first for me, and I didn't know how to manage that suffocating feeling!

I started thinking of all the relations I had taken for granted. Dismissed with a gesture that revealed absolutely nothing, as if of nothing had been dismissed. Yawning at the absence of anything invigorating, challenging. Treating clear and present beings like annoying summer flies around my table. Standing pretty in the middle of a crowd, noticing I was been noticed, letting all lesser bodies orbit around in a magnanimous condescension... So full of myself!

Oh, and what a fate awaited for those poor mortals who dared cross me, by a simple mere degree of separation! I would charge on them like a Khan, crush them like insects, publicly and without remorse!... And for what!

How foolish and purposeless sounds all of it to me now! What wouldn't I give in exchange for a glance, just a stray glance from any of the ransacked and plundered souls of my dismissals!

But they are not around anymore. Some had to amass scattered pieces and scrape them together before leaving filled with confusion... Others, simply vanished from my radar, as if they had never been... a total de-materialization right before my eyes... Eyes that had never been put to see!

Thus I am left with a totally self provoked loneliness. A vagrant, floating away through the various planes of existence. A self proclaimed Queen of the Dead in a city of muted cries, where each stone is an homage to an even greater regret. Continuously roaming the empty air around... regardless of how crowded it gets.

And for it I am... oh, so sorry!

Transvestites, Alien's Shoes, Good Company and a Better Cup of Tea

I know the night was planned somewhat different, but in the end it worked out just fine!

Manel and I set out to some place I didn't quite grasp at the beginning. But then, he called a friend of his and asked him to tag along... His friend was just a few buildings down the street, so we headed toward Amberes.

Manel had a beer there, introduced me to the rest, and sat for a very short while, as they were tiding up the place before closing. Manel finally convinced Robert to join us... not that he needed too much convincing. I think he is an easy one that Robert! lol .... Just like me! I don't either need too much... to get ready and marching toward the night!

We took the bus downtown, and after a quick bite at a Basque eatery, we made our entrance in Strass.

Strass is a nightclub owned by Noa, a rather good transvestite. We made it there just as the show started, and, luckily enough, we were given seats right in front of the stage!

Noa and Coral were the only resident transvestites that night. As I was told, they are usually more than two of them doing their thing. The show was full of music, jokes and improv... even an 'almost melee' between Noa and an obnoxious patron! But bouncers were all over the place, just in case, really... cause it never got to anything! Noa managed the drunk asshole with a lot of panache and savoir faire!

After the show was over, Robert took a pic of Manel, Coral et moi... Noa was in a hurry and could not waste a minute. Too bad, I liked her a lot!

The night was young... too young! I was at their mercy, still don't know all the nightlife joints in downtown Barcelona, so they decided to go to Arena, a disco!

It was supposed to be a mixed ambiance, although in the end it was mostly gay... But the music... Well, as it is always true for gay discos... Simply divine! Some characters we encountered in that place!... One of them, defying gravity in those impossible shoes! And as always, whenever you're having a great time, time does seems to disagree to it by running even faster! One minute was midnight, the next 4 am!

We left the place like Cinderellas suffering from tardiness! Grabbed a cab in Paseo de Gracia and headed uptown. I was supposed to go back to Sabadell that same night, or morning, but instead Robert put me up for the night.

I have to say it, he is the most gracious host... Of course! He is not a Catalan! He is from my favorite place on Earth... England, where else! In the morning, when I woke up, he even made me a cup of hot tea! The way a cup of tea is supposed to be! We then joined Cun, and the three of us went for lunch at Everest, my niece's restaurant. Manel was already there... in the flesh that is! Cause the rest of him, I believe was left somewhere down the road the night before! lol

Around 4pm we said our goodbyes, Robert headed to a much deserved and highly anticipated siesta... Me, back to Immigrantland and the harsh reality of a place with nothing to do, except dream about the next escapade!

Noa and Coral doing their thing on stage

Manel, Coral et moi in Strass

Manel and Robert... first round at Arena

Arena's patrons

Dancing on top of Arena's bleachers

No comments!

A general view of Arena... not that you can see much, but the colors are nice! In the back there was a group performing rather good music. Manel and Robert know them, they live in the same neighborhood.

Here are the impossible shoes I was telling you about!
It looks like those aliens' feet from the movie The Arrival!

The whole outfit didn't fit the whole frame!

Second round!


I tried to get a better look of her from the front... She just couldn't stay put! And with those shoes!!!! lol
Besides, she didn't have a very friendly demeanor!

Hard to make out. But basically, one dancing on the floor, the other dancing on top of the first!


Go-go dancers on a podium stand at Arena


Out off the crowd from the Arena

The view from Robert's apartment... Can you make out what kind of plants are those down there????

At Robert's... Sipping tea and watching Porridge, a comedy series from the UK

OK, OK! Here you go! A better view of the Rastafarian's plants downstairs!