Sevilla, Jardines de Murillo

10 April, 2022

Started the day by walking a couple blocks to a sidewalk bar/cafe I saw when walking from the bus stop to my hostal. My go-to breakfast in Spain is coffee and toast with fresh tomato puree, olive oil, and a bit of salt. I splurged for the orange juice, because Seville is in the orange growing region. (That said, fresh squeezed orange juice is always available everywhere in Spain.)

Orange trees are everywhere, even lining the streets. Below is the cafe I had breakfast at, complete with orange trees.

The scent of the blossoms is so luxurious.

After breakfast, I went across the street to the Jardines de Murillo (Murillo Gardens) for a wander.

I really like this monument with the lion. Lion statues are quite a thing here in Spain, probably because one of the old Spanish kingdoms was the kingdom of León.

I later discovered that it is a monument to Christopher Columbus, who is still considered quite the hero here in Spain.

Random unknown chapel thingy in the park. It was just this facade, no building behind it.

There were some very old trees in Seville, which demonstrate that they haven't torn down and rebuilt in a very long time. This is the largest eucalyptus tree I have ever seen, note the size of the bench for perspective.

There were some very impressive ficus trees here and there as well, although none so large as the "Moreton Bay Fig Tree" in my hometown of Santa Barbara, California (which may not be the same species).

Some street Flamenco dancing going on in the park, I love the vibe! See below for video!

Here's a video of the street dancer and musician.

There are smaller gardens within the larger gardens...

This church was a block or so from my hostel, and the bells were ringing. Sadly my video capture failed, so you will just have to imagine it. I love to watch the bells moving when they are being rung.

More enchanting and mysterious alleyways...

Morning was chilly in the shade, but by lunchtime it will be very welcome to sit and eat in the shade.

Three pillars with crosses in a very tiny plaza where two alleys meet. No explanation or church nearby.

A shop dedicated to all orange and orange themed products, from candles to wines. I wished that I had an extra suitcase.

Just a building that had a beautiful facade...

This was a great example of street flamenco. The woman on the right spontaneously joined the costumed dancer, untied sneakers and all. And she knew what she was doing, too!

Many more pics to come!

My New Lanikai Ukulele

07 July, 2020

As my graduation present to myself, I bought a new ukulele! I'm so excited! It's a Lanikai tenor size ukulele, solid mahogany with maple inlay, walnut bridge and fingerboard, and mother of pearl dots.

The grain of the wood is so beautiful, it just glows, I don't know how to capture this in a photo but if you zoom in you may see more of the depth. The decorative details are lovely; I particularly like the chevron shape at the base of the finger board.

And for those of you who are unfamiliar with ukuleles, a concert size ukulele is significantly larger than the most common soprano sized ukulele and has a deeper, richer sound.

Here is a picture of it with my hand holding it so you can see the size, approximately 66 cm / 26 inches long. (I have no idea why my forearm looks like a deep sea animal, clearly my photography skills need a bit of work.)

I have missed playing the ukulele since I left my little red Makala Dolphin in California with a friend. The ukulele is an instrument which is hard not to be happy when you are playing because the sound is just so bright and cheerful.

Since it looks like I won't be doing much traveling this summer due to COVID-19, I can enjoy the long summer days sitting at home reading Spanish novels and playing music (although the neighbors might not call it that...).

(If anyone has been out of touch, yes, I am still in Spain.)

Leaving on a jet plane

Saying goodbye to Brazil. My heart is breaking.

"Leaving On A Jet Plane"

John Denver

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go, 

I'm standing here outside your door,
I hate to wake you up to say good-bye.
But the dawn is breaking, it's early morn, 

the taxi's waiting He's blowing his horn.
Already I'm so lonesome I could die.
So kiss me and smile for me, 

tell me that you'll wait for me, 

hold me like you'll never let me go.
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, 

don't know when I'll be back again. 

Oh, babe, I hate to go.

There's so many times I've let you down, 

so many times I've played around,
I tell you now they don't mean a thing.
Every place I go I'll think of you, 

every song I sing I'll sing for you,
when I come back, I'll bring your wedding ring.
So kiss me and smile for me, 

tell me that you'll wait for me, h

old me like you'll never let me go.
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, 

don't know when I'll be back again. 

Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Now the time has come to leave you, 

one more time let me kiss you,
then close your eyes, I'll be on my way.
Dream about the days to come when I won't have to leave alone,
about the times I won't have to say:
kiss me and smile for me, 

tell me that you'll wait for me, 

hold me like you'll never let me go.
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, 

don't know when I'll be back again. 

Oh, babe, I hate to go.

Capital Inicial

29 June 2012

On this particular Friday night I went to a rock concert with my Brazilian friends. We paid an amazingly low price for tickets for a really great show, just R$35 - and I bought mine late, earlier on they were R$30. That is less than USD$20. I think back home a similar show would have cost at least twice that. The music was good, the special effects and videos were good, and the lead singer played the audience well.

Along with their own songs, they also performed covers by the Clash and the Ramones which were a lot of fun and well done.

The lead singer was wearing a T-shirt and floppy ganster-style stocking cap, and the lead guitarist in cowboy gear. Funny combo, but it works here.

Here's the video footage I took at the show - you might want to reduce the volume before clicking "play" because my camera's microphone isn't too great and there's plenty of distortion. Anyway, you can get an idea of the visual part of the show. Sadly, the part where fire shot up out of the stage was too out of focus to include it, it was cool.

Post-show group photos are mandatory in Brazil!  Hmmmm, I didn't think our group was that large and I don't recognize everyone, so maybe some "extras" got into the photo...

After the show it was 2:00 AM, still early by Brazilian standards, so we went to a nearby bar/lancheria to hang out.

Old fuddy duddy that I am, I called it a night at 3:00 and went home, hitting the pillow at 4:00 AM. I think I'm getting too old for this, but it was fun anyway!

Roger Waters "The Wall Live" Tour, Brazil 2012

25 March 2012

Whou would have thought that I would have the opportunity to go to a world famous rock concert in Brazil?  Thanks to the generosity of one of my Brazilian friends, I was able to do just that and see the Roger Waters "The Wall Live" tour in Porto Alegre.  Since the first concert I ever attended was Pink Floyd after Roger Waters had left the band, this was like completing something unfinished.  As far as putting on an amazing show, these were without a doubt the best I've attended, especially in terms of visuals and special effects.

It was held in a soccer stadium called "Beira Rio" in Porto Alegre, far and away the largest venue I've ever attended.  The fuzzy object in the background was supposed to be the airplane in the next picture.

The airplane was part of the special effects of the show and runs down on a wire to explode behind the wall.

The "line" to get into the stadium was not organized in any way - it seemed to be done by word of mouth, everyone asking everyone else which line was which, resulting in chaos and frustration.

When the "line" finally got moving, the lines merged again into a sort of mob and reformed, with may people jumping the line, which was quite frustrating.  Here we are within sight of the sign indicating the start of the three types of lines, which was the only organization outside the stadium.

We had to wait in line again to get through a security checkpoint - finally here we are walking up the ramp to the stadium.  Above is the flag of the soccer team, and in the back is a smaller covered arena used for other sports.

Looking down, you can see the people taking up one lane of the street in the mob/line.  It doesn't look like many people, but they must have arrived gradually because in the end it took five hours to get everyone inside the stadium and the concert started about an hour late because of it.

Finally inside!  The white thing in front of the stage is The Wall, made of styrofoam bricks about a meter wide.  It was used as a projection screen throughout the concert to amazing effect, and as the concert went on they added bricks one by one until it was completely obscuring the band behind it.

The plane was almost directly above where we sat.

There are sellers of candy, snacks, water, soda and beer circulating throughout the show, which surprised me.  I guess in a stadium this size it is best not to have everyone going up and down to the snack bar, although this was also an option.

Popcorn, both salty and caramelized.  Yum.

Sunset, and still you can see that the stadium isn't full yet.

Now it's nearly time for the show and the floor of the stadium is quite packed.  There were no floor seats, it was standing only.

We were asked not to use flash photography once the lights went down, so the rest is on video.  Sadly, you can see just how many people cannot follow instructions, as camera flashes were going off constantly throughout the show.

Having massive problems with my video editing software, so I'm going to go ahead and publish this post and hope I can get it sorted out later.

[VIDEO HERE]

*

27ª Festa Heróis do Tempo (Heroes of Time Party)

17 March 2011

So, instead of celebrating St. Patrick's Day, which is really not the thing here in Brazil, I was invited to go with a group of my students to a club event called Heróis do Tempo (Heroes of Time).  What a fun evening with a fabuloous group of people!

The party featured an "oldies" theme, which apparently these days means 80's music.  I guess I'm now an "oldie" too, because I knew just about every song they played (most were in English).  The first couple of hours was DJ'd but after that they had a live band that did some extremely good covers of 80's and 90's songs.  

Why go to all the trouble of spiking and coloring your hair when you can just wear a wig?  I think they have somehow missed the meaning of "punk".

 The decor was really cool, this is the view from the upper level, which is a balcony running around the outer perimeter of the dance floor. 

They were giving out various types of candy as party favors, one of which was an ice cream cone topped with some sort of coconut marshmallow candy to look like an ice cream.  Cute idea. 

And they were fun to play with, too!  They made good silly props for goofing around. 

 Sing it girlfriend!

Nothing sexier than a guy carrying ICE CREAM!

Ahhhh, free smoothies!  

Now we can really start getting silly.

Dancin', YEAH!

It looks like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"...

 The guys dancing (yes, guys actually dance in Brazil, awesome isn't it?), BEFORE...

 ... and AFTER realising they are dancing to the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".  Look at those red faces!

Another view of the dance floor, now that it's filled with people.

 A shot of the live band.

After two or three hours, we finally reached the point where we wanted to sit down. 

Doesn't she have the face of an angel?  Unlike me, she looks beautiful in every picture. 

 What does this mean, anyway?  Peace on my eye? 

Well anyway, whatever it is, we've all got it!

Saying goodbye to the Time Heroes.  Notice the vintage TV which is considerably older than the 80's.

Us early birds headed home around 3:00 - the others stayed until morning!  People just don't sleep here.