Feliz Cumpleaños to Andi.....

March 24, 2009
I pulled off a series of surprises today which provided our princess with a birthday to remember. Normally, we don't make that much of a fuss over birthdays and so she was expecting the usual. It started off pretty much as usual with a birthday card along with coffee in bed.

Then I took her shopping in Jerez. I am pretty hopeless when it comes to shopping for her, and with little available space, everything needs to be special. However, I do seem to have some kind of magic in that she finds the things she has been looking for as soon as I walk into the store. But if she goes alone, she comes back empty-handed. So the magic worked and she found a few things that she really liked. Then I took her to lunch at the best restaurant in Jerez and when we walked in, surprise - there were Estela Zatania and Brook and Kristin Zern - with presents, no less!
So she figured that was it for surprises. We went home around dark and went to the library to read all her email greetings and the ones on Facebook. (Thanks to all of you for your good wishes)

Then I suggested that we go up to the Peña to rehearse some dancing. She agreed. Surprise!!!! When we got there, all our Spanish friends were there, about 20 people including our old friend, Pepe Haro, a guitarist that we got to know when he was touring through California several years ago. We hadn't seen him since, but we contacted via Facebook and I invited him for the party.

Here we are getting started. She took the picture, so isn't in it.

Here is Pepe, playing for her (and the rest of us)

Manolo and Ana brought cake. Here she is wearing her new top from this morning.

We proceeded to have hours of flamenco, food, drink, and birthday cake. She was pretty happy. She even stood up on a chair and made a speech in Spanish!!!! Happy wives are much fun.

Here is the boat, flying the "bandera gitana" (gypsy flag - also known as laundry).

Tomorrow we are leaving for Zamora where the local Peña is hosting a lunch with some toreros and us. Then we go to a bullfight and finally in the evening, I sing and play. With the money we are raising thereby we are going to take ourselves for some tourism, maybe to the Rioja country to try the wines and young spring lamb - or maybe to Galicia and Santiago. Who knows? Stay tuned - video at 11.

Deep Jondo, no exit......

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hello friends and family,
Sorry we've been away for a while. We are now in recovery from intense flamenco and social events. Whew!
Our friend Gopal, flamenco guitarist from music camp (Sweets Mill) came to see Rota. Unfortunately it was a Carnaval weekend and we couldn't show him all the fun we have at our local peña. The best we could show him was a rehearsal with Negro Agujetas and all the local Rota sights.
We ran into him again at the show in Jerez with Pilar Ogalla dancing. This time he was joined by another Sweets Mill friend, Wendy (the sparkle bunny), who came back to the boat to spend a day with us and gave Andi a chance to catch up on girl talk.
Then Negro sang at the Peña with me accompanying him. Negro's uncle, Manuel Agujetas, came down to see him perform. I hadn't seen Manuel for quite a few years, so that was a high point. And of course, Miguel and all the rest of Negro's family were there. Steve Kahn managed to get down for that show and we spent a day with him.
After the performance, there was a bit of a fiesta around a table. (Steve's photo). Next to me is Miguel - across the table is Negro's mom - next to him is his brother Manolo.

Then we went back to Jerez for another big show with Mercedes Ruiz dancing. All of these trips to Jerez involved a lot of collateral socializing, of course, with folks like Sir Brook (knighted by the king) and Kristin Zern.
Before we even recovered from that, we went off to Morón de la Frontera with our friends Manolo and Ana from Chipiona. We visited a retired guitarist, Manolo Morilla, and then went to the peña in Morón for some fiesta with Steve Kahn and one of the guys from the group, Son de la Frontera, and other Morón singers. Steve came back to Rota with us for another day.
Here we are having a copa in Morón.

During all of this time, whenever not otherwise occupied, we were rehearsing with Negro since we were both going to a singing contest (concurso) in the mountain town of Ubrique. Finally it was time to go to the contest. On the way we stopped in Arcos, a spectacular spot with a moorish castle on top of a steep hill. Right around the corner from the castle was a little flamenco bar. We went in and there were only a few people in there so we decided to rehearse a bit more. But in no time, the bar was packed and all of a sudden there was a French video crew there shooting video of us all. The bar gave us free drinks and we continued on to the beautiful city of Ubrique.
There we hung around until it was time for the concurso to start.

Again we were joined by Manuel Agujetas and Miguel. The people at the peña were blown away that Manuel was there because he is probably reckoned to be the number one singer alive today (although he is what is described as "raro" - peculiar). The regular guitarist for the peña failed to show up and so I was asked to accompany another singer, a young man from Malaga. That meant I played for 3 of the 4 singers that night. But it went well, even though I had never heard him sing before. He seemed happy.

Then Negro and I were last. I have his performance on video, but none of my own. It seemed like I did pretty well, but have no evidence to confirm it. Negro sang the best I have ever seen him sing in public.

After we got back to Rota, our old friends from Santa Cruz, Charles and Roberta Sutton, came to join us for a few days and we were able to show them a fabulous session at the regular Saturday "tertulia" at the peña - followed by a few mini-fiestas in Rota bars.
And yesterday we went for dinner with Negro at the house of Manolo and Ana from Chipiona. So of course we did more flamenco. My guitar needs new strings and it looks like, for a few days at least we are going to be able to rest. And so I get to blog a bit and write on Facebook. We still have no regular internet, but can get through by using the library. I have more photos and videos to upload, but the system at the library is too slow.
Feel free to write....

Videos of Carnaval de Cadiz

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The following post has the lead story for Carnaval and we just added this one to be able to put up some additional videos.
We got back to Rota and I squeezed some video so that I could upload it and then - no internet. The business that sends a free wifi signal out to the harbor for some reason turned it off. So we are back to hiking up to a restaurant or the library. This will cramp our Facebook activities quite a bit. Expect a little more time lag in our response to emails. Here is a video of the crowd in Plaza Mina. By this time it was early morning and we had gotten some exposure by playing flamenco for some of the groups. Then they all wanted to sing!!! We found that different groups were competing to have us in their group by feeding us drinks. Oh well, maybe one more..... Here they are:
Here is an earlier video of the Plaza before we had "introduced ourselves". Some of the costumes are store-bought and others are hand made. There is a big tendency for groups to dress all alike rather than to a theme with each creating their own costume....reflecting Spain's bigger emphasis on groups.

Notice that lots of fun is being had. Lots of drinking going on, but no problems. Here are some mug shots:






See the next post for more detail....

Carnaval en Cadiz

Sunday, February 22, 2009
If you've been to Mardi Gras or Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, then you know what this is all about. Many Spanish cities have Carnaval, but few would dispute that Cadiz is the biggest and best. Carnaval activities go on for about a month, but it all comes to a head this weekend. So we reserved a slip for 4 days in Puerto America, the yacht harbor in Cadiz. We sailed over, giving the boat a chance to be a boat for a change and not just a floating apartment. Happy to say, everything worked just fine. It isn't much of a sail - about 6 miles across the bay! But the winds were good and here we are.
We went out Friday night with absolutely no idea what we were going to find. Surprising, the streets were not too crowded and we walked around town until we found ourselves in Plaza Mina. We had been before. Some young people were in costumes and we felt a little self-conscious without one. Since we were hungry, we went to a restaurant, el Madrileño that is highly regarded. While eating, we got to talking with the young owner and he found out about our flamenco connection. So we had to sing and dance a bit and then the party kept getting more exciting as they stopped treating us like tourists and started treating us like honored guests. Our song and dance number really does open doors. We spent hours there and only escaped by promising to return the remaining days of carnaval.
On the way home we passed by the Peña Flamenco Enrique el Mellizo, which we had visited years before. Since there were people inside, we stopped in for a last drink. Well, the last drink lasted several hours more since they had a guitar there and about 8 young people who wanted to sing. We got home at 3:30.

Saturday night we went out again, expecting it to be a little bigger than Friday night. Wrong, it was 10-20 times bigger and EVERYONE was in costume - fancy, creative ones in many cases. Some were purchased, but many were originals. Spaniards are different in that whole groups dress up in the same theme, often with exactly the same outfits. It was hard to get up and down the streets with all the crowds. We wandered around and eventually found our way back to Plaza Mina again. We stopped in the restaurant and the owner telephoned a little old man who used to be a singer. He soon showed up and although he didn't have a big voice, he was still a capable singer. We did a few things with him and then left to see what was going on in the square because things were jumping. The restaurant was so busy that it was better to leave them to fend with the crowds.
Once out in the Plaza, we two were the only folks without costumes, but I had the guitar case slung over my shoulder and a bunch of Hari Krishnas shouted out that I should play something. Oh well, why not? So I played some buleria and Andi danced. The crowd went wild and at the end were screaming and then started chanting "Torero, torero" which is done at the end of a good bullfight. So once we got comfortable, we hung out in the plaza for hours with people feeding us drinks to keep us in their little circle. Photos and videos will follow when we get back to the internet.
I have to comment on the drinking part. Everyone was drinking. It seems the young folks don't much care for beer or wine. They like mixed drinks - generally anything strong mixed with Coke. Everyone had a plastic glass with a drink. As the evening progressed, they were all in high spirits - in various stages of drunkenness. But here is the amazing part. All night long, we never heard one "discouraging word", no fights, no police presence whatsoever. There were 250 police on duty that night, but with 300,000 revelers on the streets, you couldn't find any police. The crowds, while very animated, never departed from friendly fun. When they got good and drunk, they wanted to sing. There were little groups all over the plaza singing in chorus at the top of their lungs. I was thinking, wow, try to get Americans to sing in public! And it seems like in the States, public drinking brings out hooliganism which soon erupts into fights. What a refreshing change.
We eventually made it back to the boat at 3:30 after passing through large drunk but happy crowds and stopping to play guitar for several groups. They love to sing and the guitar just gets them going. So we are feeling very included in Carnaval. Now it's time to go out again.
OK, we're back again. We went out to see public performances of the winners of the big singing competition. A feature of carnaval is the competition for best singing group. These are choruses, usually of men but sometimes mixed, who sing the most fabulous harmonies. The songs are specially written for this event and are topical and witty - sometimes wet your pants funny. All the group members wear the same elaborate costume. Here is one group of maybe 40 or so:

This is an example of store-bought costumes - note built in udders! This is the way we got acquainted. Although we had little costume material on board, we went as Guiri Flamencos and were enthusiastically accepted. This was about the nicest costume we saw anywhere.

The peña just keeps getting better...

Monday, February 16, 2009
As you probably know, we've been going to the local flamenco club (peña) every Saturday afternoon for a gathering of the local aficionados. They sing and I play guitar for them. It is much fun and just keeps getting better. We have now created enough of a scene that outsiders are starting to show up to participate. We had several families of gypsies come by this week. One of them from Puerto de Santa Maria had seen me on TV when I played for the flamenco "Oscars". This group had a dad, who played guitar and sang; a mom who sang; and a daughter who danced like you could hardly believe - except that I am going to show you a video.....



We don't even know their names and Negro Agujetas doesn't either. But they joined in on the fun and for the first time, I didn't have to play the guitar the whole time. Last week I played 7 hours out of 12, with the afternoon in the peña and a fiesta later in Chipiona. This flamenco stuff gets pretty tiring, but who's complaining. We all sang and carried on. Andi sang and then got up and danced. Unfortunately, as the guitarist, I can't run the camera too, so you will have to imagine that part. You're probably getting tired about reading about flamenco which I why I'm not writing about near as much as is happening.

We keep hearing about how devastating the economy is back in the States and are kinda glad we're here - at least from an economic standpoint. Of course we miss you all and will be there this summer. But still, don't be afraid to write.

I guess this must be my year....

February 6, 2009
I was asked to perform at the flamenco "academy awards". Now flamenco being sort of a cult artform, these awards were not like something major in the mainstream like movies are. But, this was important enough to bring out a crowd of bigname artists - from far away came the ones who were receiving prizes, but also were present all the most famous artists from Jerez (which was where the awards were given out).

There were three acts selected to break up the speeches and presentation of awards. The first was a progressive dance number with a very talented Danish/Spanish dancer, singer, and guitarist doing a most modern dansish thing with smoke generators, etc. But it was very well done. Then came some Jaleos from Extremadura with 4 guys beating out the rhythm with canes while one of them sang. They were good, but nowhere as good as what they did backstage just fooling around. I had to wait until last and had a chance to get good and nervous. I won't even talk about the soundcheck because I know that at soundcheck I always am a disaster and the experience kills my confidence. So finally I came out and started playing a buleria. I started out with the verse I wrote - mas presumido no se ve, un guiri cantando flamenco, por la gente de Jerez - which got them in the mood. Although I had all kinds of technical problems - the 6th string slipped out of the cejilla and the guitar microphone drooped towards the floor - nevertheless the audience was very generous. In fact, Farruquito (a BIG star) was sitting up front and his cheering my on kept me going.

Here is a photo from the Diaro de Jerez, the local newspaper. I was also on Onda Jerez, the local TV station and am promised that I'll get a DVD. I'm not holding my breath.

This shows the room with it's many video screens. Andrea told me that the audience seemed relieved to get something that was just plain pure flamenco which explained their enthusiasm.

Here are the famous artists cheering me on. From left to right, Chicuelo, Farruquito, Farru, Diego Amador, and at the far right, Pele. At the end, the applause was generous and I'm told that some of the people were on their feet. I thought that I hadn't done very well and wasn't looking.

Afterwards there was a big reception with wine and tapas in which we got to smooze with the stars. Here is Andrea with Farruquito.

And here is me with Moraito, a famous Jerez guitarist.

At the end, I was congratulated by all kinds of artists that I had never even met formally, but knew of course very well including: Moraito, Paco Cepero, Fernando Moreno, Fernando el de la Morena, Manuel Morao, Pele, Farruquito, Jesus Mendez, Diego Amador plus a generous assortment of aficionados and journalists. Some were so complimentary that I was actually embarrassed. But a nice kind of embarrassed. Every artist lives for a moment like this, especially one from another country who has no right to be doing this music.

I was also honored that Miguel, his wife, and friends Manolo and Ana came over from Rota to share this with me.

I could put up a video, but I suspect that you've seen enough video of me doing my little thing. OK, due to a large public clamor (of one) - here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKnc26xvF4

Recovering flamencos

Tuesday, January 27, 2009
We are getting over the flu and are back into flamenco action again. Our first venture out was last Saturday when I got a call that the local aficionados were going to gather at the peña for some cante. Having a guitarist around seems to have generated some new energy and we carried on for around 4 hours. Great! Miguel and Negro were there to provide gypsy cante and the rest of the aficionados provided the payo side of things. Some of them are quite good.

Then we got a call that filmmaker Tao Ruspoli was around and was organizing a filming. He had Manuel Molina with him (if you've heard of Loli and Manuel - recording stars from the 80's, it was that Manuel) and they wanted to come by for a visit. So of course we said "yes". They came by and we played and sang for while.

Then we went over to visit with Miguel for a while since he and Manuel have known each other for years.



The next night we went up to a bar in Triana for the actual filming. We expected something on the modest side, but no. The artist list included Manuel Molina, Juan del Gastor, Juana la del Revuelo, her husband Martin, and her son Martin (an awesome guitarist), Angelita Vargas the dancer, Luis Peña, Javier, and several other young gypsies who I don't know.

Here is Manuel Molina accompanying himself as he often does. He is quite the bohemian and sings lots of original verses.


Then this morning I got a call and an invitation to sing at the "Flamenco Oscars", a gala event in which they present awards for best guitar solo, best accompaniment, best singer, etc. Naturally, I'm not in the running for any of these things, but as an Object of Curiosity, I am Number One at the moment and am enjoying every minute of it. That will be in a week - report to follow.... don't be afraid to write.

Christmas with family in Madrid & Sevilla

Friday, January 9, 2009
We are back in Rota again after 2.5 weeks away. We went up to Madrid to see my daughter, Nancy; son-in-law Isaac; and grandchildren Diego and Quique. And of course, we saw Isaac's parents Enrique and Maru and all the related siblings and cousins. In short, a massive gathering of young and old. We mostly gathered at the family's country house outside Madrid since there was more space out there. After a few days, Andi's daughter, Elinore and boyfriend Robin flew in and we got an english-speaking group going. We managed to work in a day trip visit to Segovia.

Here is a small group of us. When everyone was there, it was three times this size.

Then we were invited to a contest of Christmas Carols held in a nearby community, Guadalajara. Now these are not the carols we all know from english - they are regional carols from the Province of Castilla. They are accompanied by a variety of instruments, the most wierd of which is called a Zambomba. This is a sort of crude drum with a smooth stick coming out of the middle of the head. You slide a wet hand up and down the stick and it makes a crude noise that would warm the cockles of a junior high school boy's heart. There was one band that had about 20 zambombas in it and the racket cannot be imagined. But they sing carols to it. You had to be there!
Here is one of the group playing a zambomba.


Then we went with Elinore and Robin down to the house in Sevilla so that we could show them a bunch of our favorite places.

While in Sevilla, we visited the Alcazar, the old moorish palace that has been converted into a home for the Spanish kings when they are in Sevilla. The moorish part of the palace has, IMO, the best preserved examples of moorish architecture and interior decoration. This room is a marvel from any angle.

Unfortunately, there is some kind of death-flu going around Spain and I got it. I spent a few days in bed with a fever of 39.5C (103.1 F) which is just short of delirious. This eventually abated enough for me to join the group for some simple activities, but the flu then turned into a nasty cold that has gone on right up to now. Andi got it, but not with the fever and it seemed like one virus after another just jumped aboard us. With the two of us coughing, it sounds like feeding time at the seal house. Anyway, we came back to Madrid for the big Christmas banquet. Elinore and Robin flew out on the 2nd and we came back to Rota a few days later, just before Madrid got snowed in. Glad to have missed that.

Beginning of Christmas Festivities

December 16, 2008

The Christmas season is starting. Much of Northern Spain is covered with snow and the shops are all in Christmas mode. The streets are decorated and everywhere there are these parties called Zambombas which are a mixture of flamenco and Xmas carols. In addition to all of this, my old friend Steve Kahn showed up to do a flamenco photo exhibit in Jerez and so we got to hang out together for a while.

Here is a link to Steve's show for those of you interested in great flamenco pix.
http://www.flamencophotoproject.com

And here is Steve. We have been doing flamenco together for 40 some years - whew!
The local peña invited us to a big Christmas luncheon and seated us in a place of honor with Miguel and the gypsy family related to the guy the peña is named after. It was a great feed.
Here we all are singing Xmas carols.

After lunch, we were called up on stage where Steve played while I sang and then I played while Negro and Miguel sang. Here is Miguel.

And then after that, all the singers gathered at a table in the bar and I accompanied them for the next 5 hours. They sang just about everything including things that I'd never played before. But I just faked it and it came out fine. Just about as much fun as a person can have with their clothes on!

Next week we drive up to Madrid where we will get to visit with the family and will be joined by Elinore and Robin (Andi's daughter and boyfriend) and my daughter Nancy, her husband Isaac and sons Diego and Quique. They are all flying in for the holidays.

The cante festival in Puertollano - winter snows

December 1, 2008
Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving at a huge feast hosted by Sir Brook Zern (knighted for his contribution to Spanish culture for his work on behalf of flamenco) and his wife Kirsten. Most of the crowd were english-speakers, so it was a most pleasant event.

The next day we drove up to Puertollano, a mining town North of Cordoba and not a place I would have thought about as a center of flamenco enthusiasm. But I was wrong about that. The folks from the Peña Fosforito put on an absolutely first-class flamenco festival and we were treated like royalty. We drove up there through a light rain that by Saturday had turned to snow although it didn't stick to the ground. It was seriously cold and long-johns were necessary the whole time. The coast is much warmer.

We checked into our hotel and went to the theater to see the finalists in the singing contests make their last offering to the judges. The judges did a good job and selected terrific talent. After that, we had a show by celebrity singer Carmen Linares. It's funny, she was at the same hotel as us and was in the lobby with us at check-in, but I didn't recognise her. As she went up the elevator, it suddenly dawned on me who she was. Andrea said, "You didn't know?" Duhhhh!

The next day, the peña organized a lunch with gastronomic delights from the La Mancha region. And Spanish television was all over us. We were videoed and interviewed until we were thoroughly tired of television people. It came out the next day on the biggest TV channel here TVE that is nationwide. They got most of the facts wrong and cut out most of the good stuff we recorded, but we got about three minutes of our obligatory 15 minutes of fame. The real high point of the lunch was that all the professional artists were there as well as the winners of the concurso. While we were waiting for food (but not waiting for drink), we started to do some flamenco. I ended up accompanying the winner of the concurso, el Rubio de Pruna and then played for Antonio Carrion. Antonio is arguably the best guitarist for accompaniment around, having played as the regular guitarist for Chocolate when he was alive as well as all the other famous singers. But I didn't know that Antonio is also a good singer. So when I was playing for him I was realizing that the best accompanist in Spain was counting on me to provide the right chord changes in the right places. I think that I did and Antonio gave us a copy of his new album of cante. Also there were Antonio Moya the guitarist from Utrera and Jose de la Tomasa, who was one of the judges (just to drop a few more names). I sat next to a famous flamencologo, Felix Grande, never realizing who he was until afterwards. That probably kept me from being inhibited.

I was very nervous and uncomfortable at the sound check. The guitar wouldn't stay in tune and I just felt off. But the show went much better. After surviving that, we got to relax and enjoy the rest of the show. For me, the highlight was fellow American dancer Lakshmi "La Chimi" who in my opinion is one of the best dancers working today, no matter what her nationality. I predict that within three years, she will be one of the top dancers here. You can't take your eyes off her and she is really moving. At one point my mind was saying "that is a crass commercial attempt to play on our emotions" while the rest of me was sobbing! That doesn't happen everyday. After the show, the peña put on yet another banquet with catered tapas, champagne, etc. A delightful event, beautifully done. Here is the video of my little contribution (cut off at 10 minutes):

Fiesta en el campo

November 27, 2008 Thursday
It has gotten cold here. Winter has arrived with a bang. Sweaters and coats have been unpacked for the first time in a long time. It has been snowing in Northern Spain, but here on the South Coast, it is still just like California.

Last weekend, we were invited to a fiesta outside Jerez with 12, count'em, 12 singers! Unlike our gypsy fiestas, this one was all payos (non-gypsies). There is a difference between the way gypsies and payos do flamenco, but what is the very same is the level of enthusiasm that both groups have. They made a rabbit stew and we started in the afternoon. While we were singing and playing, a cook kept creating new items, so food breaks happened every little while.

In this fiesta, there were some well-known professional singers like Pepe Alconchel, who has a peña in Jerez named after him. Others were just good aficionados, but still great. There is an English guitarist here named Simon who plays really well and can accompany well. That meant that we shared the guitar duties and neither of us got burnt out. At one point, they had me playing Verdiales for half an hour and 4 or 5 singers were taking turns - as fast as one finished a verse, another jumped in.

Here we are in the afternoon with Pepe Alconchel singing and el Ruiseñor sitting next to me.


Here is a video of a singer called el Ruiseñor de Lebrija (mockingbird of Lebrija - a town near Jerez) singing a fandango of Gordito de Triana, a very simple, unadorned style - one of the first ones that I ever learned. He sings a lot of different styles, in fact his last verse is done in a different style. Fandango is his strong suite and he was a total delight.


We had a fabulous time with all of them and continued well on into the evening. Here we are around the campfire.

Tomorrow we drive up to Puertollano where I will be singing along with Carmen Linares (a very famous professional singer).

Another example of Miguel's cante

November 21, 2008
I don't think that this program wants me to upload more than one video per entry, so I'm starting another new one to upload Miguel's siguiriya from the fiesta on the boat. It is interesting that, even his friends and relatives don't have any interest in listening to his siguiriya and they all went outside to smoke cigarettes and talk. Even his wife talked! In the good old days, a singer was measured by the quality of his siguiriya and now.....



But as you can see, Miguel is a fabulous singer. He was not at his best here - I think bothered by everybody talking outside. But he rallied and finished up with a beautiful siguiriya of Manuel Molino. You non-flamencos won't know what that is, but the way he sings is classic gypsy flamenco, rough, primitive, but with a certain something that us non-gypsies never master. He was recovering from a cold, so his voice was not as clear as it would be otherwise.

Nervous, no not me!!!!

November 20, 2008
Last night, we went to a class we've been attending at the Peña Tio Jose de la Paula in the old gypsy barrio Santiago in Jerez. This is a relatively high-level class about the history of flamenco song. They provide a famous artist and guitarist to demonstrate the songs and then at the end, the members of the class are invited to get up and take a try at it. Well, last night they were talking about the Buleria. Jerez considers itself the home of the buleria, so they take it VERY seriously there and so, when I was called up to sing - well, I didn't wet my pants, but close.

Not only were the participants there, a bunch of gypsies had come over from the bar next door including Diego Carrasco (who was the lead singer/guitarist in that show that we showed your previously in Sanlucar a few months ago). So there was a wonderful opportunity to make a complete fool of myself.

But I had been thinking about it all day and had written a verse especially for the occasion:
Mas presumido no se ve
que un guiri cantando flamenco
por la gente de Jerez

More presumtuous there couldn't be
than a foreigner singing flamenco
for the people of Jerez

They loved it. I did that verse first to get it out of the way since I was afraid I'd forget part of it.



In short, it went very well and the audience was very good with me.

Who is Miguel, el gitanillo de bronce.....?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I've been mentioning Miguel for a number of blog entries, but until now never had anything that I could show you of his art. For the moment, if you go back about three entries to the one called "Fiesta en Chipiona", you will find a sample of his singing por bulerias. He and others from his family have been several times to fiestas on our boat and finally we have some video footage from our own camera. In the meanwhile, you can see the other video.

But who is this Miguel? (This will be of interest to only the hard-core flamencos). Well, he is from one of the most famous gypsy families. There are a group of famous singers all decended from Agujetas el Viego (for whom the local peña is named) - they are Manuel, Gordo (father of Negro Agujetas who is featured in a previous blog), Diego, Luis, Juana and Anglica - the last two girls married US sailors from the base at Rota and now live in the States. All the family of Agujetas el Viejo have are named like Manuel de los Santos Pastor. Well, Miguel's mother was the sister of Agujetas el Viejo and she married into the Pastor family, so Miguel is Miguel Pastor de los Santos. The same two families, but married the other way. So Miguel is from famous bloodlines and has the same family background - gypsy singers learn most of what they know in the beginning from their families.

But not only is Miguel a fabulous singer, but a really fine person. He has lots of afición and is always learning new things. At this minute, he is in Japan where he will sing for 4 days and then come back. He is mostly retired from singing, but given the current economic conditions, is thinking of going back out onto the peña circuit. He has asked me to be his guitarist. Talk about died and gone to heaven!!! So check out the previous video and here are some new ones.

Concurso de Cante en Alcala (singing contest)

November 7, 2008 Friday
Two nights ago, I had one of the best nights of my life and am still floating 2 inches above the ground. I went to sing in a flamenco contest in the town of Alcala de Guadaira. Now in that town, they sing a song called Solea that is famous in all the world of flamenco. When I first started singing some 40-something years ago, that was one of the first things I started to learn and over the years has become my best thing. I could sing that for more than 2 hours without repeating a verse. So when I read that the contest was awarding the biggest prize for the best singer of Solea de Alcala I knew that I had to go and give it a try.
I will digress for a second to note that, for almost 50 years I have been chasing this exotic art form pretty much on my own. Naturally, there was nobody around who could tell me whether or not I was doing it well or badly (other than to say they liked it or didn't). Because Americans naturally don't know the many intricate distinctions that comprise flamenco singing. So when I performed in public, there was applause, but when I executed a particularly difficult part of the song, nobody ever said "ole" because nobody ever knew what I had accomplished. With the exception of a few flamenco hard-core crazies, I never had anyone to even discuss flamenco with. But I had the disease and went on studying and learning for my own satisfaction. I mention all this to provide a context for the way I am feeling now.
So we arrived in Alcala. There were 10 other contestants and each could choose to sing songs in 3 categories. The first was the Solea de Alcala, which had the biggest prize. The second was a group of songs considered "cante jondo" - the serious and deep emotional songs; and the third was a group of everything else in flamenco. I elected to do one song from each group (to maximize my chances of winning something). I was scheduled to compete in the second half of the contest, so we got drinks and a good table and started to watch the show.
Well, some of the other singers were pretty impressive. None of them were gypsies (which means it was sort of like white people singing the blues), but they sang with lots of style, lots of little details and flourishes. It was obvious that they were very advanced singers. In fact, someone said that a lot of these folks follow the singing contest circuit as a way of making money.
Well some were very good, but in spite of all the apparent emotion on the stage, the audience was dead. One guy sang with an intensity that was amazing. He had complete control and amazing technique, but you would have thought that he was in the electric chair, they were turning up the voltage, he was about to die any minute and this was his last message to everyone. And the audience just sat there. Shakespeare's phrase went through my mind "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".
When I saw all that I thought, "well if this is what wins concursos (contests), I don't have a chance because my singing is really primitive in comparison". My singing is primitive because I sing like the primitive singers I learned from. So I wasn't at all sure how the audience would respond to me. I was more nervous than usual. On top of it all, I was playing my own guitar. Some singers brought their favorite guitarist with them and others used the guitarist that was provided (who was excellent), but I am so used to playing for myself that I figured I might as well go with something predictable.
Finally, it was my turn. I climbed onto the stage and started the Solea. I was pleased because the guitar was working well and the first few verses came off perfectly. The second verse I had learned only that morning, so I was afraid that I could forget the words under pressure. So once I had finished that verse, I could coast to the finish line. So I started paying attention to the room. People were shouting jaleo (words of encouragement)! A lot! That hadn't happened all night. I finished the Solea to a big applause. I then sang a siguiriya and then a buleria (you flamenco folks will know what those are, but it doesn't matter). When I did the buleria, Andi, Estela Zatania, and Juan from Jerez got up to do palmas (handclapping). We got it cranked up and the audience started shouting. Andi said, "You rocked the room!" We finished to a huge applause with some people on their feet.
Afterwards, all kinds of folks came over to offer congratulations and praise. The most important praise that I got was from two gypsies who were from the family of Manolito el de la Maria, one of my heroes and someone who I most want to sing like. (My poor children had to grow up listening to Manolito when all the rest of their friends were listening to the Beatles). The gypsies were very happy and enthusiastic. One said that it had been years since he had heard the "eco" (sound) of Manolito sung like that. Both said that the amazing thing about my cante was that I was actually able to transmit the emotion and the audience really felt it. It went on until I was glowing pink to the bottoms of my feet. I don't know if I won anything - there are 4 more days of contest (71 competitors) before we know who the finalists are. But, as an expert on cante, I know that on that night, nobody sang a more pure Solea of Alcala than I did. And if quantity and warmth of applause - and the number of "oles" - is a measure of success, then I won.
This was to die and go to heaven for an artist - to have finally been heard by an audience that is qualified to judge good cante and to have been approved, even celebrated by that audience. If nothing else ever happens for me, this was enough!
I've rambled on and fear that telling all this is to be guilty of hubris, but to whom would I want to share this joy but my family and friends. Forgive me if I went on too long, but I am so happy! I've waited 50 years for this, never really daring to think that it could happen. For the younger folks, the moral of the story is - follow your dream and dare to dream big.

When artists reach some kind of summit, it is customary to give thanks to those who helped along the way. In my case, I owe absolutely everything to my lovely wife who give up a home in the redwoods, a garden, her cats, and her own career in dance, so that we could follow this dream of coming to Spain and sailing. Then she insisted that it was time for me to put my art in front of a real audience and has been a support every inch of the way. To her, the biggest of thanks. And the most moving thing about the contest was how happy and proud of me she was after it was over.

Here is the video of the soleá on YouTube:



And here is the Siguiriya - the singing is something that I have sung for years, but I was very proud of the guitar work since I made it all up in the moment except for the introduction":

Rain, colds, and lots of flamenco...

November 4, 2008 Tuesday
And we are watching election results like the rest of you and all of Spain. The US elections are HUGE here and every channel is giving it major coverage. The final results won't be in until daybreak tomorrow here - 10PM in California. It being morning, we may not open a bottle of champagne on getting the results even though it seems like some kind of celebration would be appropriate.
It has rained in Spain and not just on the plain. This has been the wettest October ever and it has extended all the way through Europe. Even Yemen has had serious flooding. In the mountains there has already been snow. So October was a month of transition where I learned to put on clothing upon arising in the morning. And the sweaters got found and we even used the heater a few times. It hasn't really been cold. We are on the same latitude as Santa Maria, CA or North Carolina, and it has been in the 70's most days. The nights fell into the 60's. The shorts have been replaced by Levis.
We've been sharing a cold with our local flamenco community. It laid me low for about a week and now Andi has it. These are some germs that are new to our systems, so we have to build up some resistance. In the meanwhile, buy stock in Kleenex.
Flamenco gets busier and busier. That's good because we don't know any Americans here. We are in total Spanish immersion. A day ago, we had a recording session here on the boat with Negro (pronounced nay-gro, not nee-gro) Agujetas. He is the son of Gordo Agujetas and the grandson of Agujetas el Viejo, for whom the local peña is named. This is a very famous gypsy family and we have been hanging out with several of them. The other one is Miguel, el Gitanillo de Bronce. You will hear more about him later. But Negro has been getting serious about singing for the last year. Before that, he was like a lot of kids who want to grow up and be different from their parents. He liked pop music, but then something changed and now he is crazy for flamenco - maybe worse than me. We had a long video session and recorded quite a few things. I'll give you a sample at the end of a video that I edited.
Not only that, but last Friday we went to a peña in Jerez to see Mercedes Ruiz dance. She is one of Andrea's favorites. This Thursday, I have to accompany Miguel for a program on local TV. Friday, we drive up to Alcalá for a singing contest. I don't expect to win anything, but it's nice that I get to be there. Next week, Rota TV is going to do an hour-long program on us - part of which will be dancing and singing - the other part will be an interview about our adventures. The second part is way more intimidating because talking well is harder than singing well. Whew! So we are staying out of trouble - but still love it when we get emails from you.
Here is the video: use the controls to make it play - it may take a minute...

Fiesta en Chipiona

Sunday, October 19, 2008
We just got back to Rota from our adventure in Sevilla. We came back because we had been invited to play at a fiesta in Chipiona, a seaside town just up the coast. We went with Miguel, el gitanillo de bronce, and Angél, his nephew. Here are Miguel and his wife, Pilar. After seeing him, I wished that I'd have dressed a little nicer. But what a great fiesta. There were just a few of us, which kept the distractions down to a minimum. With the exception for a little food break, they sang and kept me playing for about 5 hours. And what cante!! Angél would be great if he weren't in the company of Miguel. Miguel is just so great that everything else pales in comparison with him. They got pretty excited and for a while were singing mano a mano - as fast as one finished a verse, the other would jump in. I never even got to play a falseta (riff) - just one cante after another. But with that kind of cante, who cares if there is a falseta? There can't be 20 singers left on Planet Earth who can sing like Miguel. And last night, he didn't hold anything back. What fun! For me, this is the culmination of a dream - actually I never thought that I would actually ever get to participate at this level of fiesta - playing 5 hours straight.

Here we all are in Manolo's kitchen. My cante will never be a level with these guys, but getting to accompany them all night is plenty for me. They like the fact that I know cante so well that I always know the chord that is needed. And, they are more and more asking Andi to dance now that they know that she can fit into fiesta dancing so well. In the fiesta, you don't get to dance very long, but if you raise the energy level, then you have contributed to the fiesta and will be welcome. At one point, even Miguel danced - and, having spent plenty of time in tablaos, he dances very well. A few years ago, he decided to hang up professional singing and came home to Rota from Madrid. Now, he hardly works at all. But apparently he is content with the choice. But, he has a lot of pent-up flamenco that comes out in the fiesta. He is very knowledgeable about cante and it is evident that he continues to learn new things. He has tons of great stories about his adventures on tour.

On the way home from the fiesta, we were stopped by the Guardia Civíl at a roadblock where, as the driver, they made me blow into a drunk tester. That was very scary!!!! Because I had been drinking all night, although fortunately had been eating too. And, because I was playing the guitar, I didn't get to drink as much as the others. It saved my butt because I blew a test that didn't get me arrested. They let us go. Whew!!! Knowing that this can happen, I'm going to be more careful in the future. You should have seen 3 gypsies, the two of us, and a guitar in the little car! Packed is an understatement - but it worked.

I recently saw an announcement on the bulletin board at the peña, telling about a concurso de cante (singing contest)in Alcalá. They had a special interest in the soleá of Alcalá, which just happens to be my best cante and one which I could probably sing for 2 hours without repeating a verse. So I wrote them and they have invited me to participate. I'll be up there on November 7. And under the heading of "Cheap Thrills", here is a poster that went out to every Peña in Spain with the name of your author on it. Well, I was thrilled anyway.

Thanks to those of you who have written. We enjoy hearing from you. Keep using Sailmail if you know the address because we still don't have internet on the boat.

Here is a video from the fiesta. It's funny; in the old days the Americans did all the recording of the gypsies. Now the gypsies are doing the recording. They gave me this video. The sound goes out of sync at the end and starts looping - don't ask me why, but the video gives the feeling of the fiesta better than any words....no matter what its technical limitations.

Visit to Sevilla I

October 17, 2008
We went up to Sevilla to visit friends and see some flamenco. We were fortunate enough to be able so stay at the house of our consuegros. English doesn't have a word for consuegros, but it is the parents in law of our daughter. Enrique and Maria, our consuegros normally live in Madrid, but have restored this beautiful 11th century home from a virtual ruin. The walls in places are almost 2 feet thick. It is an incredible luxury to be able to stay here. The guitar echoes up through the 3 story central patio with a sound that is delightful.

Here is the central patio on the ground floor.

And here it is looking the other way. You are looking at at a Roman column made by hand by some Roman 2000 years ago! These columns were left over when the dark ages fell and the Romans were evicted, but became a basic building material for the moors and later were used for all kinds of trivial purposes - like they would build them into the corner of a wall so that carriages wouldn't gouge up the plaster.

Up on the roof is the azotea, another patio with a view. In this case, you can see the Giralda peeking over the roof of the 11th century convent across the steet. We'll talk more about that in the next post.

Here is the first person I met when I first came to Spain a long time ago. His name is Antonio and he is with his wife, Mercedes. When I first met him, he was 16 years old and working in his father's bar. Now he is 41 and has his own bar. We've watched his children grow up.

And here are some more friends. On either side are Marianna and Federico, old friends from Santa Cruz. I have known Freddie for more than 40 years. In the middle is Lakshmi, a fabulous young dancer who will be appearing with me in the performance in Puertollano next month.

Visit to Sevilla II

We went to Sevilla to see friends that we hadn't seen in a very long time, but couldn't resist walking around to see the sights.

Here is the cathedral as seen from the back side. We were fascinated by the ornate stonework. The cathedral itself is way to big to fit into a single picture - it is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world. It is spectacular. Columbus is buried there.

This tower is one of Sevilla's landmarks. It is called the Giralda and was built in the 11th century by the moors, who at that time occupied most of Spain and had the most literate society in Europe. The tower originally had a flat top on it. After the Christians retook the land in the 14th century, they built the cupola on top of the tower and added Christian details. The tower has ramps leading up inside it so that the lords and ladies could ride their horses to the top. As you climb it, you can't help thinking of all the people who have walked where you are placing your feet - from Columbus all the way up to John Kennedy.

Here is Andi at an archway leading into the Patio de las Banderas with the Giralda in the background. We can also see the Giralda from the roof of the Sevilla house.

Here is another view of the top of the cathedral with the Giralda right next to it.

And here is a building at the Plaza de España, showing a lot of "recycled" Roman columns and replicas thereof. They are white, so they are easy to see. This building was built in the early 1900's. We went out for a walk to see some touristic things and took this picture.

Visit to Jerez I

October 9, 2008 Thursday
You can't imagine how much grief I've had to go through to upload these following pix. The internet access at the library is very touchy about uploads. I can only do one picture at a time and never a video. But I know that all text is boring so here they are!!!

A few weeks ago we went to Jerez for some flamenco and while we were waiting went and did some touristic stuff - we visited the cathedral and the Alcazar (old Moorish fortress). Here are the pix:

Here is the front of the cathedral. The stonework and carving is exceptional.

Here is the cathedral as seen from the Alcazar. Jerez is a smaller town, so this is a big cathedral for a small town, but nothing like the one in Sevilla.

Here is a closer view of the fascade.