Gary

  • Bad Habits

    If you are looking for a new bad habit, let me introduce you to Solear Manzanilla Pasada en Rama. The bottle is the perfect size for sharing between two (or not), and they release it every season with a gorgeous new label. I found it in El Corte Inglés and you can get it’s younger…

  • El País sent an offer around to subscribers with free accounts this weekend. 6 months digital subscription for €6. This is a great offer but, given the state of their website and app, not quite good enough. Even with a premium subscription, the ads they serve make the reading experience intolerable. Luckily, we don’t have…

  • Head over to El País to listen to Vicente Amigo’s new album, Memoria de los Sentidos. To get you excited about Amigo (or more excited, rather) read this ‘hyperventilated consecration’ of him by Alberto García Reyes as translated by Brook Zern.

  • Paco at 69

    Paco de Lucía would be 69 years old today. Instituto Andaluz del Flamenco has an ‘exhibit’ at the Google Cultural Institute entitled Memories of Paco. Well worth a look. Apparently the maestro was, in his own words, a frustrated singer. Below, towards the end of the track, you can hear his voice. In 2015, the guitarist received…

  • Vicente Amigo is set to release a new album. Having enjoyed a recent concert of his, I’m looking forward to hearing it. In anticipation, and as a means of contextualizing, I thought I’d go over his back catalog and pick out some favorites. Remarkably, most of Amigo’s work is on YouTube, neatly organised into albums, allowing…

  • La Macanita was grouped together with Esperanza Fernández and Marina Heredia in an episode of Nuestro Flamenco this week. The format was somewhat like a corrida de toros as José María rotated through the artists and it made for great listening. Nonetheless, grouping singers like this just because they’re women makes little sense. Any one…

  • Vicente Amigo

    Spaniards use a lot of hyperbole. This can be funny when they speak English. In a recent press conference Fernando Torres said that he and his team mates at Atlético Madrid would die for each other. This conjured up images in my mind of pristine footballers rushing out onto no man’s land to aid their injured…

  • Found while googling “David Bowie Flamenco.”  

  • … that Flamenco guitar has become too baroque. I have no such complaints. Here is one of many reasons why: