Monday 30 September 2024

Free live music and stuff in Bilbao, Vitoria and Las Palmas, September 2024

We spent the first week of September in Basque Country. Here are some exhibitions we’ve seen in Azkuna Zentroa / Alhóndiga Bilbao, Plaza Arriquibar, 4, Bilbao:

  • 6 October 2022 — 29 September 2024: «Ur aitzak»
      Six sculptures by Elena Aitzkoa, in collaboration with artists Josu Bilbao and Leo Burge.

  • 20 June 2024 — 6 January 2025: «Allora & Calzadilla: KLIMA»
      Works by a collaborative duo of visual artists Jennifer Allora (1974, USA) and Guillermo Calzadilla (1971, Cuba).

...and in Artium Museoa, Francia Kalea, 24, Vitoria-Gasteiz:

  • 10 May 2024 — 22 September 2024: «Artxiboa/Archivo»
      The documentary collection of Néstor Basterretxea (1924—2014).

  • From 31 March 2023: «Bilduma Hau Colección. Movimientos elementales (1950—2000)»
      Works by Gabriel Aresti, Isabel Baquedano, Néstor Basterretxea, Gabriel Celaya, Eduardo Chillida, María Franciska Dapena, Esther Ferrer, Luis Peña Ganchegui, Agustín Ibarrola, Cristina Iglesias, Itziar Okariz, Merche Olabe, Jorge Oteiza, Blas de Otero, Álvaro Perdices, Juan Antonio Sistiaga, Susana Solano and others. Read more here.

  • 26 April — 29 September: «Unform»
      Works by Patricia Dauder.

Back to Las Palmas — and to live music.

  • 10 September: «Ars Polyphonica» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1

  • 17 September: «Tríos de corno di bassetto en la Viena de Mozart» @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      Mayrhofer Trio featuring Eric Hoeprich, Kayo Nishida and Alejandro Fariña (basset horn). The programme included:
      • Divertimento No. 3, KV439b
          Allegro
          Menuetto
          Adagio
          Menuetto
          Rondo
      • Arrangements for three basset horns
        • Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja (Die Zauberflöte, KV620)
          Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen (Die Zauberflöte)
          Marsch der Priester (Die Zauberflöte)
          Voi che sapete (Le nozze di Figaro, KV492)
          Non più andrai, farfallone amoroso (Le nozze di Figaro)
      • Duets for two basset horns, KV487
          Allegro
          Larghetto
          Menuetto
          Polonaise
          Allegro
      • Divertimento No. 4, KV439b
          Allegro
          Larghetto
          Menuetto
          Adagio
          Rondo
      • Menuetto from Divertimento No. 4 (encore)

  • 19 September: Ángel Ravelo & Dani Cano @ Museo Castillo de Mata, Calle Domingo Guerra del Río, 147
      Another concert from the cycle «12 Noches de autor»; another mixed bag. When I thought it was all over and I was ready to leave, both cantautores performed the very last song. Turned out, Ángel Ravelo plays sax really well.

  • 28 September: Ensemble DifrAcción @ Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, calle Maninidra, 1
      This concert was a part of the IV Festival Contemporáneo del Festival Internacional de Música de Canarias. Featuring Pablo Araya (violin), Verónica Cagigao (percussion), Laura Delgado García (oboe), Pablo Díaz Estrada (flute, pito herreño), Gustavo Díaz-Jerez (piano), Ciro Hernández Perdigón (cello), Ewa Moszczynska (viola) and Francisco Suárez Hernández (clarinet); conducted by José María de Vicente. The programme included:
      • Leandro A. Martín: Tal traje saliva (première)
      • Laura Vega: Like a tiny drop of dew (ensemble version)
      • Gustavo Díaz-Jerez: Yajna (première)
      • Olivier Messiaen: Abîme des oiseaux (clarinete solo)
      • Tristan Murail: Cloches d‘adieu, et un sourire (piano solo)
      • Toshio Hosokawa: Drawing

    I already commented on the state of ventilation in this auditorio a year ago. No, it didn’t improve. On top of that, when the concert was over, we (the audience) discovered that the gates were locked. It took about 10 minutes for the security guard to locate the spare set of keys and let the crowd out, to the roaring applause.

And that was it for September.

Sunday 29 September 2024

Hágase tu voluntad

a film by Adrián Silvestre

Ricardo wants to die. He lost his beloved wife, Carmen, he suffered two strokes and is depressed. Before dying, however, he wants to speak to his two sons — one of them is the film’s director — whom he didn’t see for more than 20 years. The reason for their separation is never adequately explained. Maybe it shouldn’t be.

I do sympathise with the protagonist although at no point did he strike me as a particularly nice person. He clearly needs to be the centre of attention, now that the family unites around him. While he wallows in nostalgia and self-pity, Adrián’s mother, who’s been caring for her ex-husband for years, feels abandoned. (We’ll probably never know how did Ricardo treat Carmen.) When Adrián accompanies him to start a request process for euthanasia (this is the only scene in the film spoken in Valencian), Ricardo seems to be taken aback by apparent simplicity of the whole thing. Is it that easy?

In the beginning I thought, here comes another “let’s make a documentary about my parent” project in the vein of Une vie comme une autre or Muchos hijos, un mono y un castillo. (Indeed, in an interview, Adrián Silvestre quotes the latter film as an inspiration). It turned out to be a completely different affair. No more spoilers, just let me say that Hágase tu voluntad is worth watching for the final scene alone.

Monday 23 September 2024

The Informer

a film by John Ford

Now it’s hard to understand why in 1936 this unthrilling thriller won four Oscars. Probably the weakest of John Ford movies I’ve seen so far but hey, those were the early days of awarding. Victor McLaglen is good enough as a leading man, for a while, and there are some comic moments in this otherwise pathetically predictable feast of over-acting.

The Informer was screened at the Aula de Cine of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria as a part of the John Ford cycle (September—December 2024).

Saturday 21 September 2024

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas

a film by F. W. Murnau

This 1931 classic was shown as a part of the cycle Tiempo de memoria, memoria en el tiempo, organised by Instituto Canario de Desarrollo Cultural (ICDC). The picture quality of this restored version, in almost square aspect ratio, is surprisingly good, given that the original negative was lost.

Tabu was the last film by Murnau: a week before its première, he died as a result of a car accident, at the age of 42.

Sunday 1 September 2024

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas, August 2024

These are a few things that we’ve seen in August. Sketches by Tamara.

  • 10 August: LPA Groove Summer @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
    • Nala Rami, a band led by Alan Imar Rodríguez Mitchell (vocals, sax, flute), accompanied by Carlos Artiles (bass), Kilian Barrera (drums), Marta Herrera “Holly” Hollingsworth (vocals), Luis Sánchez Guerra (keyboards) and Leonardo Segovia (guitar).
    • A new incarnation of D’Local Groove with Miqui Delgado (piano, keys), José Carlos Cejudo (bass), César Martel (trumpet), Luis Merino (guitar), Javier Montero (drums), Miguel Ramírez (sax, rap) and Alba Serrano (vocals).
    • Eddie Roberts & The Lucky Strokes featuring Ashley Galbraith (bass), Taylor Galbraith (drums), Shelby Kemp (guitar, lead vocals), Eddie Roberts (guitar, vocals) and Chris Spies (keyboards).

  • 22 August: «Iberia» @ Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Calle de los Balcones, 9
      Sergio Sánchez presented “electroacoustic concert with experimental sounds from social environments” of Iberian Peninsula. In my book, standing behind his laptop, even if pressing occasionally some keys, does not count as a concert, but well. There was no other visual support, so I was bored beyond belief. This performance was closing the cycle CAAMSonora of which I was blissfully unaware until now.

  • 22 August: Jesús Garriga @ Museo Castillo de Mata, Calle Domingo Guerra del Río, 147
      I couldn’t listen to «Iberia» for longer than 15 minutes and left for another concert (the real one) from the cycle «12 Noches de autor».

  • 23 August: Notas de Verano en Colón: Ana Falcón & Alba Rodríguez @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      A double bill of two young Canarian cantautoras.

And exhibitions, all of them seen in CAAM before «Iberia»:

Looking forward to September already.

Wednesday 28 August 2024

Todo eso que no sé cómo explicarle a mi madre

by Sandra Bravo

I truly wanted to love Todo eso. Starting with the title and the phrase in its very beginning [1, p. 11]:

Si «cisgénero» te suena a chino, «poliamor» a orgías de pervertidos o eres mi madre, consulta el glosario que encontrarás al final de este libro.

I was looking forward to a blast of a book.

“But,” interrupts the perspicacious reader. “I can distinctly hear ‘but’. You wanted to love it but.”

The thing is, during the past few years, I read and enjoyed a number of books on the topic [26], some of them good and some others pretty damn good. Perhaps inevitably, I judge Todo eso against a rather high standard. So let me continue, and you’ll see if there’s a ‘but’.

We read for different reasons. One of them is to increase our knowledge. In this sense, there was little new for me to be learned from this book. (This is not the author’s fault.) For sure, there were new names, new books, a couple of concepts that I never read about in Spanish before, etc. etc. However, talking about genuinely new (for me) ideas, I would name one, coming from Luce Irigaray [1, p. 64 and clarified in the footnote 54]: Amo a te / J’aime à toi / Amo a ti, awkwardly translated to English as “I Love to You”.

Another reason is to see the author’s perspective and check how much (or how little) we have in common. I found myself agreeing with many of Sandra’s opinions — say, on homonormativity or sex work — and was glad to encounter references to familiar works, e.g. Yes, we fuck! [1, p. 115].

Yet one more reason to read is simply to take pleasure in it. Todo eso, in part, fulfilled the promise to be a fun read. Of course, it could be that this promise was imagined by me. I enjoyed the Chapter 2, Confesiones a la Virgen de una desvirgada, the most.

It’s OK to cherrypick. This is not a novel, not a prog-rock album, not a “take it or leave it” menú del día.

Now what could have been done better?*

  • Citations, citations and more citations. Sandra quotes profusely from a variety of (mostly feminist) writers. Sometimes the passages take more than a half of page, sometimes more than two pages [1, pp. 52—54, 102—104, 111—113]. What for? In many cases, they are long-winded and boring bits of text, clearly meant to support the author’s arguments. As it happens, these latter are enunciated much better, in short sentences and a lively language.
  • Solution: I’d say, ditch most of the quotes, shorten the essential ones, leave the references in the footnotes (as they currently are) and let the reader decide if they want to dig deeper. Naturally, the book will be twice as short then, about 100 pages. Good!
  • For a such a short book it’s quite repetitive. Sandra goes on in loops about her privileges, her sexuality, cisheteropatriarchy and her idea of feminism which is also anti-racist, anti-capacist and anti-capitalist. No matter how important these issues are to the author, repeating makes them less so to the reader.
  • Solution: saying once is enough; cut the repeats, maybe we’ll have 80 pages or so in the end.
  • In spite of all “own experience” and “being an exhibitionist” spiel, Sandra shares surprisingly little of that experience. For instance, she writes [1, p. 79]:
    He tenido sexo con centenares de hombres cis, y no muchos me han sorprendido. En cambio, mujeres sexualmente desinhibidas, aunque inferiores in cifra, eran mucho más abiertas, creativas y libres de complejos.
    Hundreds of men, what a perseverance! I guess most would give up after the first half dozen of them. Still, at least some of those cis men must have surprised the author, why not to tell us? And what about those “lower in quantity”, higher quality women? Alas, she doesn’t go much beyond generalisations like above.
  • Solution: a few real-life anecdotes to illustrate the author’s points will do wonders as well as pad the book up. Spare us the graphic details; these examples don’t even have to be about sex. Check out Más peligroso es no amar [3] and Mujeres que follan [6] for inspiration.
  • Now we are coming to the most cringeworthy part: Chapter 7, Y lo más importante de todo, ¿cómo le explico yo esto a mi madre?, in particular Carta a mi madre. This last chapter confirms my worst fears: Ms Bravo indeed has no clue how to explain the titular “all this” to her mum. Why on earth did she choose the open letter form then? It’s painfully embarrassing to read. How about just talk to her mum or, failing that, write a normal (closed, personal) letter?
  • Solution: do us a favour, lose Carta a mi madre.
  • Finally, the bit that was in fact promised: the Glossary. What a disappointment! Typically, authors include glossaries to provide the reader with definitions in order to avoid terminological confusion. Here it seems to exacerbate the confusion. The terms patriarchy and queer, Sandra says, are difficult to define. Instead of explaining attachment in her own words, she “clarifies” it with yet another abstruse quote which actually describes attachment theory (without defining what attachment is). In the entry for LGTBIQ+, she writes that if you don’t know what a “lesbian” or “gay” is, you’ll have difficulties understanding her book. Family is what a heterosexual couple achieves after practicing intercourse without a condom for a period of time. And so on.
  • Solution: make the definitions clear and concise. (Like the author’s definition of feminism: a fight for the elimination of any kind of oppression. It’s not required that everybody agrees with them.) Define basic concepts such as sex and gender before moving on more complex ones. Avoid emotional comments and finishing sentences with “vamos” — there’s whole book for that kind of thing. Make sure that the use of the terms in the main text is consistent with their definitions.
  • By the way, (ab)using the term “person” and avoiding “woman”, as is done in the Glossary, does a great disservice to feminism. Not that Sandra is unaware of it: elsewhere, she describes how replacing “gender violence” with “domestic violence” is employed by the far right to invisibilise the problem [1, pp. 47—50]. She also emphasises the need of safe places specifically and exclusively for women, not persons [1, pp. 114—115].
  • Solution: the obvious one. Say “man” or “woman” when needed.

See? There are problems; I suggest solutions. And did I use the word “but” (apart from right now, that is)?

I doubt that the author, in the unlikely event of reading this post, would heed my free and disinterested advice. Which is a bloomin’ shame really.


* Everybody has their own criteria of what is “good” (and, by extension, “better”). Some readers might have liked the bits that bothered me the most. As this is my blog, I express here my opinions what is better for the reader.
I wonder if the author is conscious that the sheer length of these citations is stretching the right to quote a tad too far.
Clara Serra explains this brilliantly in her Manual ultravioleta [5, chapter 16].

References

  1. Bravo, S. Todo eso que no sé cómo explicarle a mi madre: (Poli)amor, sexo y feminismo. Ediciones Plan B, 2021.
  2. Casquet, N. and Andyn. Mala mujer: La revolución que te hará libre. Lunwerg, 2020.
  3. Etxebarria, L. Más peligroso es no amar: Poliamor y otras muchas formas de relación sexual y amorosa en el siglo XXI. Aguilar, 2016.
  4. Requena Aguilar, A. Feminismo vibrante: Si no hay placer no es nuestra revolución. Roca Editorial, 2020.
  5. Serra, S. Manual ultravioleta: Feminismo para mirar el mundo. Ediciones B, 2019.
  6. Teruel, A. Mujeres que follan: Historias de sexo real contadas por ellas. Libros del K.O., 2023.

Saturday 17 August 2024

Record of a Spaceborn Few

by Becky Chambers

I enjoyed The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit. With this sidequel of sorts, though, I was up to disappointment.

Like CCO, the novel is written as a series of short unnumbered chapters named after their (recurring) protagonists. So all of them are called either Eyas or Isabel or Kip or Sawyer or Tessa. Great for navigating. In the first half of the book, there is practically no connection between the five plotlines; also, no plotlines to speak about. It doesn’t help that all five characters are dull as ditchwater.

The language irritates me no end. The use of politically correct “xe/xyr” pronouns started grating on my sensory organs in the first two books already. Here, the abuse of monosyllabic vocabulary (cred, hex, hud, kick, mek, scrib, sim, vid, vox, etc.) makes the text ridiculously reminiscent of Joey’s “sup with the whack” classic — except it is meant to be serious. Every time a character says “stars” (Exodan equivalent of “heavens to Murgatroyd”), which happens roughly every other page, you’ll want to roll your eyes. As if this wasn’t enough, RSF will drain the life out of you with its endless moralising.

Let’s be fair: it is not all bad. The best bit is a chapter called Eyas where — guess who? — a woman called Eyas goes to one of the tryst clubs, which apparently are part of Exodan welfare system. I liked it. I think everybody would be better off if the author wrote a whole book just about that.

Wednesday 14 August 2024

Palas cántabras

I bought this pair of vintage wooden rackets (palas cántabras) last year on a flea market in Santander for €3. It took me a good while but I’ve finally decorated them with acrylic paints.


Starfish


Seashell


Brittle star


Sea urchins

Wood, acrylic paint. More photos of rackets @ Shutterstock.

Tuesday 6 August 2024

Sci-Fi Shorts II

by Mark Roman and Corben Duke

A follow-up to the 2018 Sci-Fi Shorts. This time I actually paid for a Kindle book so, I thought, it better be good. And it indeed was. As I was reading it during the Euro 2024, I found the footie references (Magi-water, Intuition, Spy Human) especially timely, while Quick Sale provides a simple yet efficient solution to all problems of humankind. I leave it up to you to discover why it’s a bad idea — always was — to keep Harry Potter books in the house. Nuff said: you can read the first story, Tunnel Vision, on a preview in its entirety, and decide if you really want more of this stuff. I bet you do.

While I was at it, I also downloaded Sci-Fi Shorts and, upon finishing the sequel, I decided to re-read the first book. My I was for a surprise: there was a number of stories I didn’t recall at all. Most likely because they were not in at the time. Here they are: Kerr Blompty; The Last Man of Earth; The Mind Field; The Knowledge Drain; Flies, Damned Flies, and Stacked Biscuits; Tree Hugger; The Jinx. Now I am in two minds about the extras. I liked most of them*. However, they made the formerly short collection of shorts, well, not-so-short. Hmmm. Hmmm.

Mark Roman’s Sci-Fi Shorts II

  1. Tunnel Vision
  2. Magi-water
  3. Well Read
  4. Space Tourists
  5. Intuition
  6. Rock 100
  7. Libel
  8. Quick Sale
  9. Righter of Wrongs
  10. Spy Human

* In fact, all of them bar the hideously revolting The Knowledge Drain, what with its ugly characters and generally disgusterous content, set in the Foul Universe, etc. etc. It would make me sick forever if I didn’t read it before as a repugnant appendix to The Ultimate Inferior Beings and survived, probably thanks to the mnemic neglect effect. I don’t remember. Read it at your own risk.

Thursday 1 August 2024

Live music and stuff in Las Palmas, July 2024

This is what we’ve seen in July. Sketches and photos by Tamara.

  • 3 July: «Ecos de Canarias y Piazzolla» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      Trío Gabriel Rodó featuring Ana Marrero (piano), Liliana Mesa Montané (violin) and Berenice Musa (soprano).

  • 5 July: Sofar concert @ Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Calle de los Balcones, 9
      This is the very first time I went to a Sofar event and loved it, even at the cost of missing the last part of Spain—Germany football game. Featuring Kimera, Shango Dely and Nala Rami; each band played for about 30 minutes.
  • 6 July: «Iron Modvm» @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas
      A show by the Barcelona-based company Iron Skulls, plus some guest breakdance battles.

  • 7 July: «De la ópera al jazz» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
      The concert by La Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Conductor: Pedro Vicente Alama Soloist: Aitor Llimerá Galduf (oboe). Called “from opera to jazz”, it’s probably better described by “from Bach to Gershwin”.

  • 10 July: «Orpheus» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
      A live cinema event where Insectotròpics (Barcelona) reinterpret the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice by reviewing the concepts of love, life and death via the virual reality glasses. With guest (on-screen) appearance of Mr. B., Mr. G., Mr. M. and Mr. Z.

  • 11 July: «Los Pfeiffer» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
      A show by La Troupe Malabó (Castellón) featuring Laura Agustí (violin, soprano), Quique Montoya (clown), Mae Puchalt (violin), Sonia Tabares (viola) and Alberto Zente (cello).

  • 12 July: «R.E.M.» @ Sala Gabriel Rodó
      A show by La Trócola Circ (Alicante).

  • 13 July: «Invitación a la danza» @ Terminal de Contenedores del Muelle de La Luz (Grupo Boluda)

  • 19 July: «Ovvio» @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos
      I saw this show by Kolektiv Lapso Cirk some five years ago in Santander and thoroughly enjoyed it. But I can’t be in two places at the same time. So Tamara and Timur went to see Ovvio and I went to see Rubén Rodríguez.
  • 19 July: Notas de Verano en Colón: Rubén Rodríguez @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      A concert of the Canarian singer-songwriter Rubén Rodríguez (guitar, vocals) accompanied by Abraham Ramos (timple).

  • 19 July: «Echassiers du Togo» @ Parque Doramas
      A fantastic performance by the Togolese stilt-walkers collective Afuma.

  • 19 July: Sylphes @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      An incredibly beautiful aerial ballet from Italy provided a fitting closure of this year’a TEMUDAS Fest.

Three double bills from 33rd Canary Islands Jazz Festival:

  • 25 July: Perinké Big Band & Adédèji @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      Perinké Big Band led by Ximo Martínez presented their show Fiebre de Mambo feauring vocals of Marieme Herrera and Sofiel del Pino.

      Adédèji is an Afro-beat band from Nigeria featuring Adédèjì Adetayo (guitars, lead vocals), Ebun Arowosegbe (vocals), Mary Sobowale (vocals, violin), Abiodun ‘Wura’ Oke (percussion), Oluwasegun Adebuyi (bass), Ralph Lasisi (tenor sax), Victor Ademofe (trumpet), Samuel Obinna (drums) and Samuel Olawale (keyboards). I should have stayed longer for that one!
  • 26 July: Theo Croker & Ana Popovic @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      Theo Croker (trumpet) accompanied by Idris Frederik (piano, keyboards), Miguel Marcel Russell (drums) and Eric Wheeler (double bass); Ana Popovic (guitar, vocals) with Claudio Giovagnoli (sax), Davide Ghidoni (trumpet), Corey LaDell Burns (bass), Michele Papadia (keyboards) and Jeremy Thomas (drums, vocals).
  • 27 July: Jonathan Kreisberg Quartet & Polo Ortí New Project @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      Jonathan Kreisberg (electric guitar), Marko Churnchetz (piano), Luca Alemanno (double bass) and Colin Stranahan (drums); Polo Ortí (piano, keyboards), Chipi Chacón (trumpet), Samuel Kèri (electric bass) and Naíma Acuña (drums).

And an exhibition:

All the events listed here were free of charge apart from «Invitación a la danza» which cost €15 a ticket.

Saturday 27 July 2024

Dear Life

by Alice Munro

In my previous post on Alice Munro’s book (7 February 2024), I called her “arguably the greatest living short story master”.

Munro died on 13 May.

Dear Life, published in 2012, was her last book. Most of the stories there were published before. Yet I’ve noticed that the author changed them for this collection. For example, In Sight of the Lake differs significantly from the Granta version.

There are common threads: loss (Gravel, Leaving Maverley, Train), betrayal — real or imagined — by a lover (Amundsen, Corrie, Dolly), aging (Dolly, In Sight of the Lake, Pride), echoes of the WW2 (many). Several stories feature trains: Amundsen, To Reach Japan and, as could have been expected, Train. Too Much Happiness had them too. I like that. Trains are cool.

I love the way Munro’s humour shines through even in the saddest and darkest of the stories here. Such as In Sight of the Lake, a frightening premonition of the author’s own slippage into dementia.

The final four stories, according to Munro, “are not quite stories”:

I believe they are the first and the last — and the closest — things I have to say about my own life.

Autobiographical or not, they still are stories. Beautiful stories. Thank you, Alice, for telling them.

There was a burst of shouting from across the street and the doors of a dark-shingled flat roofed building opened, letting loose several men who were jamming caps on their heads and banging lunch buckets against their thighs. By the noise they were making you would think the car was going to run away from them at any minute. But when they settled on board nothing happened. The car sat while they counted each other and said who was missing and told the driver he couldn’t go yet. Then somebody remembered that it was the missing man’s day off. The car started, though you couldn’t tell if the driver had been listening to any of this, or cared.
🍁 🍁 🍁
I’m not sure about the order in which they were mentioned except that her husband was the final one and he was dead.
“Last year. Except he wasn’t my husband officially. You know.”
“Mine wasn’t either,” I said. “Isn’t, I mean.”
“Is that right? There’s so many doing that now, isn’t there? It used to be, oh my, isn’t it awful, and now it’s just, what the hell? And then there’s the ones that live together year after year and finally it’s, oh, we’re getting married. You think then, whatever for? For the presents, is it, or just the thought of getting dolled up in the white dress. Makes you laugh, I could die.”
She said she had a daughter who went through the whole fancy-dancy that way and much good it did her because she was now in jail for trafficking. Stupid.
Dolly
🍁 🍁 🍁
Then one day, on the street in Toronto, he ran into a friend who was on his way to try out for a summer job with a new small-town theater company. He went along, having nothing better to do, and ended up getting the job, while the other fellow didn’t. He would play Banquo. Sometimes they make Banquo’s Ghost visible, sometimes not. This time they wanted a visible version and Neal was the right size.
🍁 🍁 🍁
My uncle started off by teasing me about grace. About not saying grace. I was thirteen years old, living with him and my aunt for the year that my parents were in Africa. I had never bowed my head over a plate of food in my life.
“Lord bless this food to our use and us to thy service,” Uncle Jasper said, while I held my fork in midair and refrained from chewing the meat and potatoes that were already in my mouth.
“Surprised?” he said, after “for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” He wanted to know if my parents said a different prayer, perhaps at the end of the meal.
“They don’t say anything,” I told him.
🍁 🍁 🍁
Another idea. Isn’t it quite possible that this person — the crazy-doctor, as she has chosen to call him in her head — isn’t it quite possible that he (or she — like most people of her age she does not automatically allow for that possibility) that he or she does operate out of a house? It would make sense and be cheaper. You don’t need a lot of apparatus for the crazy doctoring.
🍁 🍁 🍁
Ray had joined up for the war as soon as he was eighteen. He chose the Air Force, which promised, as was said, the most adventure and the quickest death. He had been a mid-upper gunner — a position that Isabel could never get straight in her head — and he had survived. Close to the end of the war, he’d been transferred to a new crew, and within a couple of weeks his old crew, the men he’d flown with so many times, were shot down and lost. He came home with a vague idea that he had to do something meaningful with the life that had so inexplicably been left to him, but he didn’t know what.
🍁 🍁 🍁
So I lay, minus my appendix, for some days, looking out a hospital window at the snow sifting in a somber way through some evergreens.
🍁 🍁 🍁
When I was five years old my parents all of a sudden produced a baby boy, which my mother said was what I had always wanted. Where she got this idea I did not know. She did quite a bit of elaborating on it, all fictitious but hard to counter.
The Eye
🍁 🍁 🍁
She looked for the more important man to help her, but he wasn’t there. Now she remembered what he’d written. A play about Doukhobors that had caused a big row because the Doukhobors were going to have to be naked. Of course they weren’t real Doukhobors, they were actors. And they were not allowed to be naked after all.
To Reach Japan
🍁 🍁 🍁
An exception was the young couple named Candace and Quincy, who never settled their rent and skipped out in the middle of the night. The owner happened to have been in charge when they came looking for a room, and he excused himself for his bad choice by saying that a fresh face was needed around the place. Candace’s face, not the boyfriend’s. The boyfriend was a jerk.

Wednesday 24 July 2024

路上の霊魂

a film by Minoru Murata

A curious 1921 silent film said to be in part based on Gorky’s На дне (The Lower Depths) although I failed to see that part. At 91 minutes, Rojō no Reikon is way too long for the message but it has its lovely and even comic moments.

Souls on the Road was an opening feature of this year’s Week of Japanese Cinema in Casa de Colón and the only one I’ve seen this time.

Sunday 21 July 2024

Cuaderno de agua & Las Hijas

Two Latin American films screened in Casa de Colón last week.

Cuaderno de agua

a film by Felipe Rodríguez Cerda

The notebook of a political prisoner during the Pinochet dictatorship is found 35 years later by his niece.

Las Hijas

a film by Kattia G. Zúñiga

In this not particularly deep but warm and touching coming-of-age film, two teenage sisters travel from Costa Rica to Panama in search of their absentee father. While the meeting with him proves to be anticlimactic, the girls encounter new friends and love(r)s and discover skating. What more do you want?

Tuesday 9 July 2024

39 very short films

Thirty-nine? You must be kidding me. Not ten, not fifteen, but 39 short films selected from, wait for it, 58 submitted to the competition. The competition in question is called Visionaria, but I’m afraid this year’s jury had a very vague idea what “selection” is. Judging from what I’ve seen yesterday, the remaining 19 films (33%) must have been pretty unimpressive. The screening was held in Teatro Guiniguada which was packed — with Rabbit’s friends and relations, I suppose. Short films are not that popular otherwise.

The complete programme is available here — I can’t be bothered to list all films in this post. I liked Femme by Javier González and Still Live by María Sanz Esteve. My favourite, however, and the one I voted for, was Agatha Christie estuvo aquí by Cayetana H. Cuyás which, to my delight, has won the first prize.

All the films are available at YouTube.

Wednesday 3 July 2024

Monday 1 July 2024

La vida anterior de los delfines

by Kirmen Uribe
translated by Kirmen Uribe and José María Isasi Urdangarín

This is the case of a book where I liked the opening paragraphs a hundred times more than the rest of it.

Según las creencias de los primeros vascos, quienes se enamoraban de las lamias, seres mitológicos de aspecto similar al de las sirenas, se convertían en delfines. Ese era el precio que debían pagar los amantes de las lamias por su atrevimiento: su transformación en una criatura marina de una apariencia opuesta a la humana, tan diferente como cabe imaginar e inmersa en un hábitat desconocido y alejado de la superficie terrestre. Un cambio radical que acontecía de la noche a la mañana, como el inicio de un viaje, quizá una odisea adversa, quizá una aventura favorable, en todo caso un viaje ajeno a cualquier rutina, como una expedición a un destino incierto. Lo que aguardaba a las personas reencarnadas en delfines nadie lo sabía, pero, fuera felicidad o melancolía, lo importante es que no había marcha atrás. El cambio era definitivo e irremediable.
Según me contó Nora, las lamias sabían comunicarse en su propio idioma. Naturalmente conocían el euskera, pero les gustaba inventarse palabras, convertir la lengua en un juego, como hacen los niños y niñas demasiado inteligentes cuando no encuentran en los diccionarios las palabras que reflejan lo que imaginan o lo que les sucede y crean su propio vocabulario. Así, llamaban izurdau («adelfinar») a enamorar a alguien; la definición de una metamorfosis — castigo o bendición — que convertía a hombres y mujeres en sus amantes marinos.

I read them and instantly got hooked. (Izurdau = adelfinar = “to dolphinise”, meaning “to fall in love with somebody”, how cool is that?) Upon reaching the end though, I felt disappointed, even deceived.

If the author confined himself to writing a novel about Rosika Schwimmer — that’s what he’s got a grant for! — that would be fine. If he wrote a book of short stories about his youth in the Basque Country, that would be fine too. Even describing his not-that-exciting but sometimes amusing adventures in New York would do. Making a mishmash of these things, however, or perhaps just commiting to paper a mishmash in his head, is not fine at all. Drawing parallels between Schwimmer and certain Kirmen Uribe... well... a bit ridiculous really. And nothing more was said about dolphins.

Sunday 30 June 2024

Free live music and stuff in Las Palmas and around, June 2024

This is what we’ve seen in June. Sketches by Tamara.

  • 1 June: Paco Perera @ Auditorio José Antonio Ramos, Parque Doramas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
      A folk-jazz-rock fusion collective featuring Paco Perera (vocals, electric bass, whistle), Jacqueline García Álamo (laúd, timple, vocals), Kimberly Hernández (bandurria, vocals), Chago Miranda (electric uitar), Luis Sánchez Guerra (keys), Rayco Gil (percussion, samplers) and Carlos Pérez Peñalver (drums). The last Musicando concert this season.

  • 5 June: «Tránsito» @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles, Calle Benito Pérez Galdós, 4
      A percussion recital by Paco Navarro and David Hernández (bongos, congas, drums, marimba, vibraphone).

  • 12 June: Encuentros con grabadores: Gabriel Ávalos @ Casa de Colón, Calle Colón, 1
      A presentation by the Mexican engraver Gabriel Ávalos.

  • 14 June: Pregón de las Fiestas Fundacionales de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 2024 @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      The official opening of Fiestas fundacionales 2024, with a short introduction by the mayor, Carolina Darias, and not-so-short talk (30+ minutes!) by Flora Pescador. Naturally, I came there for something else: a concert of the Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria & Banda Juvenil de Música de Firgas, conducted by Pilar Rodríguez.

  • 15 June: XVI Noche de Boleros @ Plaza de Santa Ana
      Featuring Margot García, Manuel Estupiñán, Los que no escarmientan and Luis Villa with Trío Estelar.

  • 18 June: Luis Alejandro García «Ensueño» @ Casa de Colón

  • 19 June: Cuarteto Vivaldianas @ Palacete Rodríguez Quegles
      With Anabel Estévez Acosta (violin), Gema Barragán Pulido (violin), Óscar Guerra Suárez (violin) and Marisa Roda Pujol (cello).

  • 19 June: «Tinder» @ Teatro Guiniguada, Plaza F. Mesa de León
      Based on the play by Xavi Morató and interpreted by Comi-K Teatro (Lanzarote). Actors: Begoña Cedrés, Aytami Mesa, Yurena Martín, Matías Di Candia, Sara Fernández. Directed by Alby Robayna. This was the first of the three amateur theatre performances hosted by Teatro Guiniguada.

  • 21 June: «Música en el corazón de Vegueta» @ Vegueta, various locations
      We went to see Leçons de tenebres feat. Magdalena Padilla (soprano), David Batista (countertenor), Yurena Darias (viola da gamba) and Vicent Bru (harpsichord) in Patio de los Naranjos; Mónica Santana band in Casa de Colón; and Puertas al Sur feat. Beatriz Alonso and Miguel Manescau in Patio de Colegio de abogados, Plaza de San Agustín.

  • 22 June: Nabucco @ Plaza del Tenor Stagno
      I have to confess that I was not even aware of this opera until now. Featuring Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar (Nabucco), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Abigaille), Fleuranne Brockway (Fenena), Fabián Lara (Ismaele), Abramo Rosalen (Zaccaria), Eduvigis Sánchez (Anna), Jeroboám Tejera (High priest of Bel) and Gabriel Álvarez (Abdallo).
      This was first time ever we went to see the live screening of the opera at the back of the Teatro Pérez Galdós, although they do it every year, about this time. It’s a nice initiative called «Ópera para todos». There’s no pleasing some people: one guy complained on Facebook that this freebie is unfair towards those who paid loads of dough to get inside the theatre. Maybe he was right: we saw on the screen the close-ups, the orchestra pit and Spanish subtitles; I’m not sure you can see that in the theatre. The opera lasts some 3 hours, so when we got tired, we just went home. Again, I doubt that people who paid €100 for a ticket would do that. So unfair.

  • 26 June: «Van der Does y Cairasco de Figueroa: entre holandeses y grancanarios, 425 años» @ Plaza Santa Ana
      A night walk commemorating the 1599 attack by the Dutch fleet led by Pieter van der Does. With participation of La Asociación para la Divulgación de la Historia de Canarias (ADHICA).
  • 29—30 June: «Recreación histórica de la Batalla del Batán» @ Finca El Galeón, Santa Brígida
      Continuing with history of the 1599 Dutch attack: a reenactment of the Battle of Batán (3 July 1599) in Santa Brígida, organised by ADHICA.

And exhibitions:

  • 16 May — 1 September: «Creando Colección» @ Casa de Colón
      Acquisitions for the Museums of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria.

  • 6 June — 19 July: «Arraigos» @ Centro Cultural CICCA, Alameda de Colon, 1
      Paintings by Mercedes Mariño (Mirazo).

  • 7 June — 27 July: La exposición de acuarelas @ Casa Gourié. Museo Municipal de Arucas, Arucas
      Watercolours by la Asociación Canaria de Acuarelistas, with two works by Tamara.