Dyckman st. station in NYC. Photo by my father.
This is my neighborhood train station in NYC where I take the A train downtown and come back home. I've always preferred this to the 1 train a couple of blocks to the east because it's quicker.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Train's Coming
Friday, October 27, 2006
Amsterdam Journal 2
Oct. 19, 2006
Spent the day taking pictures. Amsterdam is a bounty of photo ops. I usually want to take a picture of everything. I look one way, point to the other; so many options.
Walked Michele to the ballet at around 9:45 am and took off from there. Visited Dam which I had done yesterday, but without my camera. This time around walked along Rokin. Had Miche's Ipod with me playing Sabina and then (gasp!), James Blunt. He's alright. It's a live show and it sounds just fine. Some of his songs are actually very good although he gets kind of repetitive and cliche.
Picked Michele up at the ballet at around 1pm and we went to eat something. Wound up going to the supermarket where a dominican girl from San Pedro was the cashier. We bought wine, steaks and a couple of other things.
Went to a pub right before, and I had a draft Heineken which was good.
Then in the house saw a couple of episodes of Grey's Anatomy ( Miche and Laura have 2 seasons on DVD) while Miche napped. Can't believe how little gravitas some of the actor's voices carry. I mention this because I've only seen the show recently in Spain, dubbed in spanish, and found the actress that plays Meredith Gray absolutely stunning, but I didn't know how much that had to do with the voice of the actress who dubs her. When I finally heard the "mimi" voice that she has... uffff. It was a bit of a letdown. I guess it would take getting used to. So definetely, voice and timbre have a lot to do with how we relate to characters on a screen.
Michele cooked a steak for me, and put chili on it. Jejeje, The entire house all of a sudden got a bit acrid, and we all started to cough or sneeze. Had to open all the windows. It was good. Ate it with a nice Bordeaux. ( There are only two types of wines, Red and bad. El tinto y el malo.)
Afterwards, walked Miche to the ballet where she was gonna catch the show,to see some of her friends performing. So I went to take night pictures.
There was a copter hovering over the city. Apparently there had been an incident near Dam involving a police officer. Don't know exactly what happened, but it made me think that Amsterdam is, after all, a city, like any other.
Had a good time taking night pics and made some mental notes for places I have to visit at night, cause my battery was running really low.
Met up with Miche again at 10:45 and we went home.
I fell asleep at around 12, I was so tired. Slept almost straight through until 8am. Construction noises in the back of the house awakened me.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Amsterdam Journal
On wednesday, oct 18 I took the 9:30 AVE (high speed train) from ZGZ to Madrid, where I took the 1:20 KLM flight to AMS. It was very cloudy throughout the flight and when I was awake, caught glimpses of some very beautiful cloud formations. As we descended into SCHIPHOL and broke through the clouds, flew over the IJ River where the plane made a U-turn to make the landing. The sights were amazing,and it's incredible how much water there is around AMS. The airport is actually around 8m below sea level, and lower at some points.
Made my way to the Muziktheater via Conexxion, a service that connects hotels to the airport. Met up with Michele at the entrance. It was great to see her after so many months. We went around the corner to do some catching up while we ate this great lentil soup ( with prunes, beef and some other stuff). Afterwards she went back inside to prepare for her debut as Carmen in the ballet of the same name. I walked around a little, revisiting some of the places I had been to in late february, early march. Outside the theater there is a great ecological Photo Exhibition. The photographs are taken from a helipcopter, all over the world ( there are 3 from the DR), and show things related to the environment and global warming. Some of the pictures are breathtaking, others are shocking.
Went in to the ballet. There I met Michele's flatmate and her mom.
There were 3 ballets performed that night. Two 20 mins pieces and then Carmen.
I knew I was in trouble when I began to doze off the minute the first ballet started. Well, I don't actually remember much of the first one. People in grey tights jumping around to this sequenced, syncopated, very percussive music. When it ended, during the intermission, I hurried to the men's room to wash my face, had some water and hoped I wouldn't doze off during the next dance.
This one was a little interisting. Titled Crossing Paths, the music was a blend of Bach and arabic music. I kinda of got the story, and enjoyed the dancing, though for a few moments I felt it was dragging. The contrast between west and middle east was stark musically, but the wailing in arabic put me in a kind of trance, and alas, I briefly dozed off a few times.
So in the next intermission I did what any brave soul who's going to see a relative perform would do: Had me a good old cup of java.
I hadn't seen Michele dance since she performed in Santo Domingo, Oct. 2005 with the Washington Ballet. So it had been a while since I had gone through the worrying, and the stress and the heart attacks I get any time she is going to perfom. It has been that way since she was little, and I would get nervous and anxious, rooting for her to land some difficult turn, or a particular lift, or fouetees, or whatever. It was difficult in DR when she was a teen, and I would videotape he shows, so I basically knew the choreography by heart.
The show went well. The crowd warmed up to her, and the production as a whole was very impressive. I liked this take on Carmen, and any time a full orchestra accompanies a ballet, it's something beautiful to witness.
There were a few moments that I got teary eyed because of the passion she and her partner put into some of the parts. I've always enjoyed how expressive Michele is on stage. She dances with feeling, she bears her emotions. Her mom would have been really proud.
After the show, we went to this place called Wok and Walk. Great, quick chinese food cooked right in front of you. Then we took the Tram home. She told me, "Get ready for the stairs". Jejeje. Steep as hell and very small steps, but worth it. A beautiful flat with wooden floors and ceiling, warm lightning, comfortable furniture, big rooms and huge windows ( standard AMS windows). I find it cozy.
There we all talked for a while about the show. Then I logged on to the web to let the people back in ZGZ know I'd made it ok.
It's incredible how much can get done in one day. After a coupl of glasses of Argentinean red wine, and some conversation, finally went to sleep with some music in my headphones. The pace I had been living in ZGZ had kept me up til almost 2am.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Hey Joe
Interesting website about all the versions of "Hey Joe", the most popular being by Jimi Hendrix.
heyjoe.org
heyjoe.org
Henry Hudson Bridge
This photo by my Pops reminds me of some of the crazy shit I used to do when I was young. This bridge in the north tip of my Manhattan was one of my favorite hangouts. The bases on both sides used to be fenceless, unlike now. So you could easily start to walk under the span, on the arch. We used to climb all the way to the middle and the crawl onto the lower span, and walk either back to Manhattan or to the Bronx. Sometimes I would go alone. I remember once I stood in the middle of the arch thinking about jumping into the water just out of curiosity, wondering if I would survive the fall.
From this perspective I can see the bit of water, around 6 to 8 ft deep in which I fell one winter in the early 80's cause I broke through the ice, in Inwood Park.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
On visiting La Misericordia
This morning, at 8am I entered La Misericordia, the Plaza de Toros of Zaragoza. They had vaquillas. What an atmosphere. During the Fiestas del Pilar, they have vaquillas every morning at 8am and then a "corrida" ( bull fights) at 6pm.
I saw the vaquillas from all angles. We even went down to the Ruedo ( the skirt around the ring) and as luck would have it, the vaquilla ( which is not small like the name suggests) jumped into it around 5 times. One time it came charging through where we were standing and I wound up jumping into the arena. Jajaja! I was scared shitless. Stampeding steer, drunken crowds... and me so heavy footed.
One thing I can say, the adrenaline rush I got made me forget I had only slept 3 hours, and that my back has been hurting like crazy for the past 2 days. What a rush. Pablo and me wanted out of there fast!
After Pablo left, I went up to the highest point in the Plaza for a different view. The vaquillas caught this one guy and smashed him into the ground where he lay motionless. He had to be carried out. I later asked at the infirmary, and they said he was concious when they took him away to the hospital.
I've seen bullfights on tv, the running of the bulls, vaquillas, and I've seen steers in DR behind pens. BUT! It was so different in here. First, the vaquilla, which is very young and crazy, is small compared to the bull, but it's still a very big animal. The ruedo is lower than I thought from watching on TV, and the ring is also smaller ( at least here in ZGZ. Don't know yet if there's a standard ring size).
The view from everywhere in the Plaza is basically great. The noise level in this event is incredible with all the Peñas music bands playing. Basically the crowd is a mix of people who have been up all night drinking, families, tourists and aficionados. There are some actual idiots in the arena, who are so drunk that they attempt foolish stunts, but there are also those who seem to be waiting all year for this, and who run each vaquilla at least 5 or 6 times. I saw at least 3 guys who were very adept at what they were doing, and these were usually the ones who got the most applause.
It was funny to see a kid taunt the vaquilla with his jacket and when the animal started to paw at the ground in preparation for a charge, the kid blinked and got out of the way before it started it's charge. When I went down to the ruedo, even before the vaquilla was released, I was asking myself "what the heck am I doing in here?" I told Pablo jokingly "Imagine I get killed today." Tourists or "guiris" as they are known here( I qualify) are usually the ones who get hurt in these types of things. When the Vaquila jumped into the ruedo, Pablo and I almost ran into the corral through where they leave. I actually told the porter that let us into the Ruedo, "Let me out, please" and he said "sorry, can't open until the vaquilla is out of the Plaza".
I was "acojonado", as they say here. My instincts to run work!
I can understand why most of these kids, the vast majority late- teens, early 20's and curiosly, no girls, jump in there. If my brief minute of running around and feeling the fear of having the vaquilla jump straight into the ruedo, gave me such an adrenaline rush that lasted almost 10 minutes, then they must get a crazy rush from jumping in there so much or just being around the boards of the ruedo.
Can't wait to actually see a bullfight. I know it will be a strange moment to witness the killing of the animals.
When the guy got smashed into the ground today, I put away my camara and felt akward for a few minutes. The craziness did not stop, though people reacted really fast. A lot of people get bruised, but it's part of it. The risk, the excitement. The crowd would applaud the most daring, the one's that got the vaquilla to actually charge and got away from them with the most grace.
Didn't see any of the abuse I had been told I would see. Yes, some kids smack the rear end of the vaquilla in an attempt to get it's attention, or try to grab it's horns, but this can hardly hurt an animal who jumps into el Ruedo full speed and then runs all around it, and comes out charging.
Amazing when the Ox (Buey) comes out, strolling with it's herder behind, and the young vaquilla stops the craziness and leaves with it.
A lot of thoughts ran through my head this morning about traditions, about animal rights, about all these things that people say, about drunkeness, about chaos.
I literally felt the release of tension in this hectic outpouring of semi-controlled rowdiness. The smiles on people's faces as they left the arena, the worry when someone apparentely got trampled too severely, the cheers... It's a spectacle, yes.
It's also, in my opinion, a necessary release. I understand why all over Spain, these festivies ( in general, not just animal related things ) are necessary for the religious, for the fans of bulls, for the youth that organizes the Peñas and strolls the streets with their music bands, singing and drinking.
I saw the vaquillas from all angles. We even went down to the Ruedo ( the skirt around the ring) and as luck would have it, the vaquilla ( which is not small like the name suggests) jumped into it around 5 times. One time it came charging through where we were standing and I wound up jumping into the arena. Jajaja! I was scared shitless. Stampeding steer, drunken crowds... and me so heavy footed.
One thing I can say, the adrenaline rush I got made me forget I had only slept 3 hours, and that my back has been hurting like crazy for the past 2 days. What a rush. Pablo and me wanted out of there fast!
After Pablo left, I went up to the highest point in the Plaza for a different view. The vaquillas caught this one guy and smashed him into the ground where he lay motionless. He had to be carried out. I later asked at the infirmary, and they said he was concious when they took him away to the hospital.
I've seen bullfights on tv, the running of the bulls, vaquillas, and I've seen steers in DR behind pens. BUT! It was so different in here. First, the vaquilla, which is very young and crazy, is small compared to the bull, but it's still a very big animal. The ruedo is lower than I thought from watching on TV, and the ring is also smaller ( at least here in ZGZ. Don't know yet if there's a standard ring size).
The view from everywhere in the Plaza is basically great. The noise level in this event is incredible with all the Peñas music bands playing. Basically the crowd is a mix of people who have been up all night drinking, families, tourists and aficionados. There are some actual idiots in the arena, who are so drunk that they attempt foolish stunts, but there are also those who seem to be waiting all year for this, and who run each vaquilla at least 5 or 6 times. I saw at least 3 guys who were very adept at what they were doing, and these were usually the ones who got the most applause.
It was funny to see a kid taunt the vaquilla with his jacket and when the animal started to paw at the ground in preparation for a charge, the kid blinked and got out of the way before it started it's charge. When I went down to the ruedo, even before the vaquilla was released, I was asking myself "what the heck am I doing in here?" I told Pablo jokingly "Imagine I get killed today." Tourists or "guiris" as they are known here( I qualify) are usually the ones who get hurt in these types of things. When the Vaquila jumped into the ruedo, Pablo and I almost ran into the corral through where they leave. I actually told the porter that let us into the Ruedo, "Let me out, please" and he said "sorry, can't open until the vaquilla is out of the Plaza".
I was "acojonado", as they say here. My instincts to run work!
I can understand why most of these kids, the vast majority late- teens, early 20's and curiosly, no girls, jump in there. If my brief minute of running around and feeling the fear of having the vaquilla jump straight into the ruedo, gave me such an adrenaline rush that lasted almost 10 minutes, then they must get a crazy rush from jumping in there so much or just being around the boards of the ruedo.
Can't wait to actually see a bullfight. I know it will be a strange moment to witness the killing of the animals.
When the guy got smashed into the ground today, I put away my camara and felt akward for a few minutes. The craziness did not stop, though people reacted really fast. A lot of people get bruised, but it's part of it. The risk, the excitement. The crowd would applaud the most daring, the one's that got the vaquilla to actually charge and got away from them with the most grace.
Didn't see any of the abuse I had been told I would see. Yes, some kids smack the rear end of the vaquilla in an attempt to get it's attention, or try to grab it's horns, but this can hardly hurt an animal who jumps into el Ruedo full speed and then runs all around it, and comes out charging.
Amazing when the Ox (Buey) comes out, strolling with it's herder behind, and the young vaquilla stops the craziness and leaves with it.
A lot of thoughts ran through my head this morning about traditions, about animal rights, about all these things that people say, about drunkeness, about chaos.
I literally felt the release of tension in this hectic outpouring of semi-controlled rowdiness. The smiles on people's faces as they left the arena, the worry when someone apparentely got trampled too severely, the cheers... It's a spectacle, yes.
It's also, in my opinion, a necessary release. I understand why all over Spain, these festivies ( in general, not just animal related things ) are necessary for the religious, for the fans of bulls, for the youth that organizes the Peñas and strolls the streets with their music bands, singing and drinking.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Non stop
It's been non stop since the week of sept. 8th. Lots of drinking, lots of late nights, lots of playing.
Sept. 8th had a show at the Daluxe here in Zaragoza, and on the 9th flew to Bergamo to meet up with Tony and spend a week hanging out there. We had a great time, played a few times including an excellent show organized by our friend Giorgio at Keller. Went to Lake Isio with Antonio, our longtime friend from Cabarete, who is originally from Bergamo. Hung out with Tess, the international frenchman. Got lots of pics of all this up on my flickr site flickr.com/photos/leoelfeo
Then Tony and I made our way back to Zaragoza on sept. 16, and the craziness began. Dominican party was insane at the Prior. Friends from Madrid and Barcelona made there way to ZGZ to hang out for a night.
Tony came to spend four days and wound up staying for two weeks. We did a few more gigs together, some interviews for TV and press. Hung out with our friends, the BAA ( Brigada Anti Alcohol - Javi, Toño, Pablo, Alberto, Edu, etc) and had a great last show at the Z on sept 29 before he left for DR on the 30th and I flew back to Bergamo with Dr. Sed and Tza for Giorgio's birthday. We had 3 great nights there. Saw Los Pirates play at Keller's and jammed with Giorgio and some friends afterwards.
Italy was great. We ate, we drank we had fun with ALe, Giorgio, Criss and their family and friends. Very genereous, very warm people.
We got back to ZGZ on tuesday. Enrique and I got together with Maria, a girl I met on the bus to Madrid when Tony, Pablo and I went there on monday the 25th for our show with Equilibrio Perfecto at Sala Juglar. Enrique is the guitar player from ZGZ who played with us at the Z on the 29th, and will be playing with me from now on. He's an excellent guitarist, and plays great spanish guitar in many styles. We met up with Maria at the Conservatory to talk about music and guitar in general. She comes from Madrid every monday and wednesday to take classes here in ZGZ cause she says it's better.
Thursday afternoon Enrique and I got together at Javilandia (Javi and Edu's house, where I'm currently staying) and jammed for about 9 hours, non stop. Friends came over, beers, music, it was a good night.
Pablo, Nina and I then went to El Zorro, where we basically closed it. ( as we did on wednesday night also. Zaragoza is a city of many bars, and now this week start the Fiestas del Pilar, which I'm told is some insane shit that last for 2 weeks.
Yesterday Paula came over in the afternoon to have a brewski with us. Enrique got here at around 4:30, we played some songs, and then went to a jam session with a friend of his named "Coyote", a local drummer who has this very nice studio built inside one of the rooms of his apartment in San Pablo.
Came back to the house at around 10:45pm. People started coming over. Pablo, Blanca, Julia, Javi, Alberto, Nacho... we watched some TV and drank warm AMBAR ( YUCK). Even saw some old JLS footage, jjejej.
Then it was on to El Coyote, the bar where Paula works. We stayed there til it closed and then made our way, drunk and kinda stupid, to Daluxe.
When we left that place, we were all walking Paula home, this was almost 7am. This procession was walking towards El Pilar, so I broke off from the group and went into the church and sat there for a while, around 20 mins, to hear the mass and see the people. It's an odd spectacle, specially in this church, which is huge and has impressive frescos, various altars and important works from spanish artists like Goya and Velazquez. Oddly, what I remember from those 20 mins, is the smell of the seniors who were there, that cream, or talc or whatever it is that these ladies use. The mean age was around 60 I'd say.
All along I thought about my mom, who is ultra catholic and has spent a lifetime either at Good Shepherd or Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in NY.
Kept thinking about what mass means to these people. Church is just another show, another distraction... maybe. We go out at night to drink, get wasted, act stupid, and these people get up early to come pray and listen to a bored priest tell them how to live the life he's never led. Still, I respect that. We all make choices. None of them are necessarily the "right" one.
I choose to abuse my cells... abuse the self. Some choose to save their souls!
Sept. 8th had a show at the Daluxe here in Zaragoza, and on the 9th flew to Bergamo to meet up with Tony and spend a week hanging out there. We had a great time, played a few times including an excellent show organized by our friend Giorgio at Keller. Went to Lake Isio with Antonio, our longtime friend from Cabarete, who is originally from Bergamo. Hung out with Tess, the international frenchman. Got lots of pics of all this up on my flickr site flickr.com/photos/leoelfeo
Then Tony and I made our way back to Zaragoza on sept. 16, and the craziness began. Dominican party was insane at the Prior. Friends from Madrid and Barcelona made there way to ZGZ to hang out for a night.
Tony came to spend four days and wound up staying for two weeks. We did a few more gigs together, some interviews for TV and press. Hung out with our friends, the BAA ( Brigada Anti Alcohol - Javi, Toño, Pablo, Alberto, Edu, etc) and had a great last show at the Z on sept 29 before he left for DR on the 30th and I flew back to Bergamo with Dr. Sed and Tza for Giorgio's birthday. We had 3 great nights there. Saw Los Pirates play at Keller's and jammed with Giorgio and some friends afterwards.
Italy was great. We ate, we drank we had fun with ALe, Giorgio, Criss and their family and friends. Very genereous, very warm people.
We got back to ZGZ on tuesday. Enrique and I got together with Maria, a girl I met on the bus to Madrid when Tony, Pablo and I went there on monday the 25th for our show with Equilibrio Perfecto at Sala Juglar. Enrique is the guitar player from ZGZ who played with us at the Z on the 29th, and will be playing with me from now on. He's an excellent guitarist, and plays great spanish guitar in many styles. We met up with Maria at the Conservatory to talk about music and guitar in general. She comes from Madrid every monday and wednesday to take classes here in ZGZ cause she says it's better.
Thursday afternoon Enrique and I got together at Javilandia (Javi and Edu's house, where I'm currently staying) and jammed for about 9 hours, non stop. Friends came over, beers, music, it was a good night.
Pablo, Nina and I then went to El Zorro, where we basically closed it. ( as we did on wednesday night also. Zaragoza is a city of many bars, and now this week start the Fiestas del Pilar, which I'm told is some insane shit that last for 2 weeks.
Yesterday Paula came over in the afternoon to have a brewski with us. Enrique got here at around 4:30, we played some songs, and then went to a jam session with a friend of his named "Coyote", a local drummer who has this very nice studio built inside one of the rooms of his apartment in San Pablo.
Came back to the house at around 10:45pm. People started coming over. Pablo, Blanca, Julia, Javi, Alberto, Nacho... we watched some TV and drank warm AMBAR ( YUCK). Even saw some old JLS footage, jjejej.
Then it was on to El Coyote, the bar where Paula works. We stayed there til it closed and then made our way, drunk and kinda stupid, to Daluxe.
When we left that place, we were all walking Paula home, this was almost 7am. This procession was walking towards El Pilar, so I broke off from the group and went into the church and sat there for a while, around 20 mins, to hear the mass and see the people. It's an odd spectacle, specially in this church, which is huge and has impressive frescos, various altars and important works from spanish artists like Goya and Velazquez. Oddly, what I remember from those 20 mins, is the smell of the seniors who were there, that cream, or talc or whatever it is that these ladies use. The mean age was around 60 I'd say.
All along I thought about my mom, who is ultra catholic and has spent a lifetime either at Good Shepherd or Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in NY.
Kept thinking about what mass means to these people. Church is just another show, another distraction... maybe. We go out at night to drink, get wasted, act stupid, and these people get up early to come pray and listen to a bored priest tell them how to live the life he's never led. Still, I respect that. We all make choices. None of them are necessarily the "right" one.
I choose to abuse my cells... abuse the self. Some choose to save their souls!
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