October 21, 2010 Rota
When your world turns upside down and you find that you are no longer doing what you had planned to do with the rest of your life, it is easy to sink into a kind of depression. We humans like goals and looking forward to the future. And so I took a look at my life and discovered that I didn't really have any goals anymore. That will never do!
I looked around in my world to see what I wanted to do next and the only thing that I could find was to expand my career as a flamenco artist. I've been fooling around with this for 50 years and now I'm in Spain. Duhhhhh. So I decided that I would get serious about it. Now every morning, I get up and go to work. I play guitar, sing, work on my recording studio, study and listen to new material I want to learn. All of a sudden I'm so busy that the laundry is starting to pile up. But I'm having fun.
And the funny thing is that, this thing wants to happen whether or not I get better. If I did nothing, it would still happen - but if I'm going to be a celebrity (and I am!), then I should get really good so that I can be proud of myself. I can't rush this because the thing I am most lacking is real fluency with the language. I get better every day, but fluency is a ways off yet. I don't want to be in the public eye making grammatical errors or misunderstanding questions. So part of my job is to practice my Spanish.
Sometimes it is hard to get any work done, because flamenco keeps getting in the way. Manuel Agujetas continues to have me over almost daily to play for the singing lessons he is giving to Miguel's brother, Eduardo and to Negro Agujetas. Eduardo is a great cook of Andalucian country cuisine and I've been eating there more often than not. (Picked up some good receipes, too) I've taken Manuel to medical appointments several times and am getting to hear a lot of stories. Fascinating. They are talking about a fiesta with the neighbors in which a pig will go to meet his maker - and then play a key role in a feast. I'm looking forward to that. I'll take some pictures.
I've been invited to go back to La Unión in Murcia for a flamenco weekend with friends of my consuegro (and now mine). They have an ambitious weekend planned out with a number of other singers. And tomorrow there is a really good show in Jerez. I rarely go to shows because most of them are so disappointing compared to what I experience live. But tomorrow is all artists that I like and respect.
I've put up a recording studio in my living room and am learning how to do multi-track recordings. Part of my new job....
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A little bit about Rota
October 14, 2010 Rota
I thought that it might be nice to share a little of the history of my little town. Well, not that little I guess. There are 30,000 inhabitants. The following two paragraphs are from Wikipedia:
(Begin Quote) Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a Bronze Age settlement on the present site of Rota. The current town was founded by the Phoenicians at approximately the same time as Cádiz. Rota is assumed to be the same city known as Astaroth of the Tartesian empire. It later passed to the Romans, who knew the town as Speculum Rotae.
Following the arrival of the Moors in Spain, the city became known as Rabita Rutta ("watchtower of Rota"), from which it derives its present name. From 1248 onwards, the Moors were gradually expelled from Spain, and the city became Christian. In 1297, Sancho IV awarded the town to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán in honour of his defence of Tarifa. Later, Pérez de Guzmán gave it to his daughter, Isabel, as a wedding present when she married Fermin Ponce de León, Maestre of Alcántara and First Lord of Marchena.
Construction of the Castillo de la Luna (Castle of the Moon - right outside my bedroom window) had begun in 1295, two years prior to the bequest to Pérez de Guzmán, as part of Sancho IV's effort to develop strong coastal defenses, especially near the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. During the Middle Ages, the town was an important port for trading with North Africa. In 1780 the 11th Duke of Arcos died without issue, and the city was rendered to the Duke of Osuna. (end of quote)
Today the town is heavily dependant on tourism and on the military bases of the US and Spain in the harbor. The tourists are almost exclusively Spanish, mostly from inland. They use Rota to escape the summer heat and so the town more than doubles in population during the summer. The rest of the year, it is pretty quiet except for those who know where to look for action.
Below you see the whole town and the air base at the top. My house is out on the point, at the red dot. The "casco antiguo" or the old walled city was actually quite small and that is the part where I live.
The town is remarkably crime-free and is very safe. There are lots of restaurants, generally standard Andalucian cuisine, because that is what the tourists like. Andalucian cooking is not particularly elaborate - lots of fried fish, stews, and aliños (chopped up vegetables in oil and vinegar to preserve them, often with shrimp, tuna, or octopus). I am getting good at cooking in this style.
Since I was playing with Google Earth, here is my neighborhood. Not far from the beach, so few bugs and it stays temperate throughout the seasons. This is one of the Southern-most parts of Spain, about 36 degrees North - about the same latitude as Oriental, NC or San Luis Obispo, CA. The North part of Spain gets real winters with lots of snow. Here, we almost never get that cold.
And here to give you a musical travelogue, here is a little video of Rota with Gordo Agujetas singing. He is the father of Negro Agujetas of whom you have read quite a bit in these pages, Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVL037B2g5o&feature=share
So, like always, I invite you to write and will even provide a link to make it easy for you: saeta@sailingflamenco.com Have a great day!
I thought that it might be nice to share a little of the history of my little town. Well, not that little I guess. There are 30,000 inhabitants. The following two paragraphs are from Wikipedia:
(Begin Quote) Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a Bronze Age settlement on the present site of Rota. The current town was founded by the Phoenicians at approximately the same time as Cádiz. Rota is assumed to be the same city known as Astaroth of the Tartesian empire. It later passed to the Romans, who knew the town as Speculum Rotae.
Following the arrival of the Moors in Spain, the city became known as Rabita Rutta ("watchtower of Rota"), from which it derives its present name. From 1248 onwards, the Moors were gradually expelled from Spain, and the city became Christian. In 1297, Sancho IV awarded the town to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán in honour of his defence of Tarifa. Later, Pérez de Guzmán gave it to his daughter, Isabel, as a wedding present when she married Fermin Ponce de León, Maestre of Alcántara and First Lord of Marchena.
Today the town is heavily dependant on tourism and on the military bases of the US and Spain in the harbor. The tourists are almost exclusively Spanish, mostly from inland. They use Rota to escape the summer heat and so the town more than doubles in population during the summer. The rest of the year, it is pretty quiet except for those who know where to look for action.
Below you see the whole town and the air base at the top. My house is out on the point, at the red dot. The "casco antiguo" or the old walled city was actually quite small and that is the part where I live.
Since I was playing with Google Earth, here is my neighborhood. Not far from the beach, so few bugs and it stays temperate throughout the seasons. This is one of the Southern-most parts of Spain, about 36 degrees North - about the same latitude as Oriental, NC or San Luis Obispo, CA. The North part of Spain gets real winters with lots of snow. Here, we almost never get that cold.
So, like always, I invite you to write and will even provide a link to make it easy for you: saeta@sailingflamenco.com Have a great day!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Los Altibajos
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 Rota
Altibajos is a Spanish word for "highs and lows". We use it as a joke when Negro Agujetas and I do a show together because he is so short and I am so tall that we are sort of ridiculous if we are both standing up on stage. I try to stay seated.
But I am using it here to describe my life. Highs and Lows. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this anymore, so it is becoming more of a personal journal - perhaps of interest to my family some day.
The Lows: When someone suffers a loss, there are some predictable emotional stages that one passes through. I read about this when my wife, Kathy, died at the age of 39. First comes shock, anger, denial, perhaps an attempt to distract oneself to avoid feelings; but finally there comes a phase of acceptance. In that one, you just get it - this is the way it is and the way it is going to be. I have now reached that stage and all there is left to do is to grieve about the loss. There is no changing it, you just have to mourn the loss.
So I am doing that. I miss the life I used to have and I miss You-Know-Who.. And I can see clearly that, as much as I don't like to live alone, that is my future. I can't imagine any woman who would chose to be a part of the odd life I have chosen. So alone it will be - and that is the Low.
The Highs: well, that is pretty much everything else. In many respects, I have a fabulous life. I belong to a community. For the first time in my life, I actually feel like a part of my community. I know so many people here in Rota. And so many recognize me and greet me on the street. I truly can't even go for a short walk without running into someone for a chat. After 4 TV shows and that two-page article in the local paper, I am becoming a junior celebrity of sorts.
The other day, I was having dinner at the bar right next to my house (best tapas in Rota) with some friends when a lady from Rota who I had seen at the peña asked to take a picture of us. She was making such a fuss over us that the other diners got curious and started asking the barmen who I was. I turned out that across the room was a table with the president of the Peña Luis de la Pica from Jerez. They asked if I would play and sing something for them. Well, the guitar was only 50 feet away, so I went and got it. And we had a little mini-fiesta there in the bar. Maybe it will turn into work, who knows?
I feel comparatively wealthy here. I have a deluxe apartment, a great car, and can generally afford to live. I couldn't begin to live this well in Calfornia on my Social Security and a little pension. Not even close. The bill for the dinner I mentioned above for 4 people with many drinks and all that we wanted to eat came to 30 euros.
And the flamenco! I keep having the experience of not believing what is actually happening to me. In addition to all that is happening at the peña and with a growing circle of artist friends (3 of whom speak English), I am now playing the guitar for Manuel Agujetas almost every day. He is giving lessons to Negro and Miguel's brother, Eduardo. He likes me to play for the lessons, so every day he calls and invites me to lunch. Eduardo is a great cook. We eat and then there is a cante lesson. I'm supposed to be playing the guitar, but I'm not deaf. I'm learning a lot - and from the best singer alive today! Last week I ate at Manuel's house 6 times and went to two fiestas with them. He has been showing me off to some of his more obscure relatives in Puerto de Santa Maria. That's what I mean about not believing what is happening. I am getting into things that I never dreamed I would see.
Like the day in the following link where I sang in the Peña Tio José de la Paula in Jerez, surrounded by famous artists and accompanied by the guitar of Antonio Higuera: Here is one of the most exciting days I ever had here. And the audience seemed to eat it up!
A few weeks ago, Bobby and Adam Marcowitz, came to visit from Santa Cruz, CA. They are a father/son team of guitarists that I have known for years. I put them in one of my spare bedrooms and took them to the peña to see one of the best Saturday afternoon sessions we have had this year. Some artists came down from Jerez to join us and brought a mariquita with them. That is an effeminate gay guy who plays on his own gayness as a comedy routine. He had us peeing our pants, he was so funny. And there was excellent singing that day. So Bobby and Adam had a great adventure. What a delight to be able to offer that.
Otherwise, life has it's little satisfactions. Like I got my first ham:
And here it is. Jamón Serrano is a huge delicacy, sort of a richer version of Italian Prosciutto. It comes as a whole leg and you slice little pieces off to serve as a special treat.
Of course when you are alone with a ham, there is nobody to tell on you if you cut a little slice every time you pass the ham. Delicious!
And I am nearly ready to take the written exam to get a Spanish drivers license. Tomorrow I get a medical checkup and take the photos and then the driving school will schedule the test. Yes - driving school. It is much harder to get a license here and the other drivers are generally pretty competent. I did about 60 practice exams (in Spanish) to prepare myself. You can only miss 3 out of 30 questions. Once I have my license, I will feel really permanent. Having my "residencia" means that I can stay here forever. I can't imagine having a life in the US anywhere that could compare to this.
And I have two spare bedrooms for family and friends. And the same bedrooms for others as part of a Flamenco Tour package that I am offering for folks who want to see some real flamenco when they come to Spain - not just the canned tourist stuff or the shows that they could see in the US.
Altibajos is a Spanish word for "highs and lows". We use it as a joke when Negro Agujetas and I do a show together because he is so short and I am so tall that we are sort of ridiculous if we are both standing up on stage. I try to stay seated.
But I am using it here to describe my life. Highs and Lows. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this anymore, so it is becoming more of a personal journal - perhaps of interest to my family some day.
The Lows: When someone suffers a loss, there are some predictable emotional stages that one passes through. I read about this when my wife, Kathy, died at the age of 39. First comes shock, anger, denial, perhaps an attempt to distract oneself to avoid feelings; but finally there comes a phase of acceptance. In that one, you just get it - this is the way it is and the way it is going to be. I have now reached that stage and all there is left to do is to grieve about the loss. There is no changing it, you just have to mourn the loss.
So I am doing that. I miss the life I used to have and I miss You-Know-Who.. And I can see clearly that, as much as I don't like to live alone, that is my future. I can't imagine any woman who would chose to be a part of the odd life I have chosen. So alone it will be - and that is the Low.
The Highs: well, that is pretty much everything else. In many respects, I have a fabulous life. I belong to a community. For the first time in my life, I actually feel like a part of my community. I know so many people here in Rota. And so many recognize me and greet me on the street. I truly can't even go for a short walk without running into someone for a chat. After 4 TV shows and that two-page article in the local paper, I am becoming a junior celebrity of sorts.
The other day, I was having dinner at the bar right next to my house (best tapas in Rota) with some friends when a lady from Rota who I had seen at the peña asked to take a picture of us. She was making such a fuss over us that the other diners got curious and started asking the barmen who I was. I turned out that across the room was a table with the president of the Peña Luis de la Pica from Jerez. They asked if I would play and sing something for them. Well, the guitar was only 50 feet away, so I went and got it. And we had a little mini-fiesta there in the bar. Maybe it will turn into work, who knows?
I feel comparatively wealthy here. I have a deluxe apartment, a great car, and can generally afford to live. I couldn't begin to live this well in Calfornia on my Social Security and a little pension. Not even close. The bill for the dinner I mentioned above for 4 people with many drinks and all that we wanted to eat came to 30 euros.
And the flamenco! I keep having the experience of not believing what is actually happening to me. In addition to all that is happening at the peña and with a growing circle of artist friends (3 of whom speak English), I am now playing the guitar for Manuel Agujetas almost every day. He is giving lessons to Negro and Miguel's brother, Eduardo. He likes me to play for the lessons, so every day he calls and invites me to lunch. Eduardo is a great cook. We eat and then there is a cante lesson. I'm supposed to be playing the guitar, but I'm not deaf. I'm learning a lot - and from the best singer alive today! Last week I ate at Manuel's house 6 times and went to two fiestas with them. He has been showing me off to some of his more obscure relatives in Puerto de Santa Maria. That's what I mean about not believing what is happening. I am getting into things that I never dreamed I would see.
Like the day in the following link where I sang in the Peña Tio José de la Paula in Jerez, surrounded by famous artists and accompanied by the guitar of Antonio Higuera: Here is one of the most exciting days I ever had here. And the audience seemed to eat it up!
A few weeks ago, Bobby and Adam Marcowitz, came to visit from Santa Cruz, CA. They are a father/son team of guitarists that I have known for years. I put them in one of my spare bedrooms and took them to the peña to see one of the best Saturday afternoon sessions we have had this year. Some artists came down from Jerez to join us and brought a mariquita with them. That is an effeminate gay guy who plays on his own gayness as a comedy routine. He had us peeing our pants, he was so funny. And there was excellent singing that day. So Bobby and Adam had a great adventure. What a delight to be able to offer that.
Otherwise, life has it's little satisfactions. Like I got my first ham:
Of course when you are alone with a ham, there is nobody to tell on you if you cut a little slice every time you pass the ham. Delicious!
And I am nearly ready to take the written exam to get a Spanish drivers license. Tomorrow I get a medical checkup and take the photos and then the driving school will schedule the test. Yes - driving school. It is much harder to get a license here and the other drivers are generally pretty competent. I did about 60 practice exams (in Spanish) to prepare myself. You can only miss 3 out of 30 questions. Once I have my license, I will feel really permanent. Having my "residencia" means that I can stay here forever. I can't imagine having a life in the US anywhere that could compare to this.
And I have two spare bedrooms for family and friends. And the same bedrooms for others as part of a Flamenco Tour package that I am offering for folks who want to see some real flamenco when they come to Spain - not just the canned tourist stuff or the shows that they could see in the US.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
NEW GUITAR!!!!!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010 - Rota
I have my new guitar! And what a dream it is.
I actually had no intention of buying a new guitar. I already had a fabulous Faustino Conde 1983 that made other guitarists insanely jealous every time they saw it. But by chance, I took in for repairs my student model Conde that I use for fiestas and situations where the guitar might suffer damage. I wanted to clean up some damage to the finish. I was recommended to a guitar maker in Jerez, Andrew Smith. This guy is half English and half Spanish - equally comfortable in either culture.
So I took my old guitar to Andrew and was immediately impressed by the depth of his knowledge about things guitaristic. He had a few guitars around that he had made and I tried them out. I was very impressed by how easy they were to play; better than anything I had played before. And the sound was very decent. I left my guitar with him and went home. When I came back to pick it up, I played his guitars again - and took with me Steve Kahn, an excellent player and old friend. Both of us played Andrew's guitars again and I was more impressed than ever.
Then as fate would have it, an old guitar that I had owned since the 60's finally found a buyer and I had a chunk of cash. More than it would take to buy one of Andrew's guitars. I wanted to save my good Conde just for concerts, so I wanted a guitar to play everyday and to take out at night. And I figured that a new guitar would improve my outlook on life. So I ordered one to be built to my specifications.
It started from pieces, everything created from scratch by Andrew. But good pieces - cypress back and sides and a top of 1st quality Engleman Spruce.
Here is the top - as you can see, you can see light right through it.
Here is Andrew removing the cord that he uses to hold the bindings together while the glue is drying. He is a traditionalist and uses hide glue and varnishes with French Polish, which is very labor intensive.
So here I am, getting a first look at my baby, mostly assembled. You'll notice that it is nearly white because color is added during the varnishing phase.
And here it is all done, in my patio. The workmanship was beautiful and Andrew wanted me to let it sit for a month or two for the varnish to continue to harden. But there was no way I could do that! The guitar is a total dream. I enjoy playing it so much that I leave it sitting out on a chair and everytime I pass it, I have to play for a half-hour or more. I've never played so much in my life and it has made an amazing difference it the way I play - with more improvement sure to come along.
To actually hear the guitar in action, here is a video recorded at the Saturday tertulia at our Peña - click on the link below and it will take you to YouTube.....
First Fiesta with the New Guitar
So, this has given my spirits a real boost. In it's first 3 weeks of life, I went through a set of strings - even though I turned them end-for-end, a string broke. The video above was shot just before the strings gave up. I have never played so much to wear out strings so fast. Everyone who hears it marvels at the sound. And the guitar invites me play with more sentivity because it wants to sing.
I have my new guitar! And what a dream it is.
I actually had no intention of buying a new guitar. I already had a fabulous Faustino Conde 1983 that made other guitarists insanely jealous every time they saw it. But by chance, I took in for repairs my student model Conde that I use for fiestas and situations where the guitar might suffer damage. I wanted to clean up some damage to the finish. I was recommended to a guitar maker in Jerez, Andrew Smith. This guy is half English and half Spanish - equally comfortable in either culture.
So I took my old guitar to Andrew and was immediately impressed by the depth of his knowledge about things guitaristic. He had a few guitars around that he had made and I tried them out. I was very impressed by how easy they were to play; better than anything I had played before. And the sound was very decent. I left my guitar with him and went home. When I came back to pick it up, I played his guitars again - and took with me Steve Kahn, an excellent player and old friend. Both of us played Andrew's guitars again and I was more impressed than ever.
Then as fate would have it, an old guitar that I had owned since the 60's finally found a buyer and I had a chunk of cash. More than it would take to buy one of Andrew's guitars. I wanted to save my good Conde just for concerts, so I wanted a guitar to play everyday and to take out at night. And I figured that a new guitar would improve my outlook on life. So I ordered one to be built to my specifications.
To actually hear the guitar in action, here is a video recorded at the Saturday tertulia at our Peña - click on the link below and it will take you to YouTube.....
First Fiesta with the New Guitar
So, this has given my spirits a real boost. In it's first 3 weeks of life, I went through a set of strings - even though I turned them end-for-end, a string broke. The video above was shot just before the strings gave up. I have never played so much to wear out strings so fast. Everyone who hears it marvels at the sound. And the guitar invites me play with more sentivity because it wants to sing.
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