Archive for the ‘special events’ Category
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
As I stated a couple of days ago, one of Madrid’s great failings, in my mind, has been its failure to promote itself as an LGBT destination. Many claim that it is because of political and ideological reasons. The City and the Community (province) of Madrid are fairly conservative politically, and the Popular Party holds the strings of power. But Madrid should take advantage of its opportunity. It is perfectly designed to be one of the best destinations in the world. The night life, the Chueca neighborhood, and its general festive atmosphere make it a great place year round, but especially during the Pride Festival.
El Pais reports on the week say that most hotels in the Centro are filled and that many are reporting that up to 80% of the visitors are gay. As the paper says, it may be that the city has finally seen the “vein” of cash. So in next year’s budget will be some 500,000 euros set aside to promote LGBT tourism. Here is part of the story in Spanish:
Muchos se quejan de que la Comunidad y el Ayuntamiento nunca han promovido estas fiestas ni el turismo gay por razones ideológicas. Pero debe ser que los políticos madrileños han visto el filón, porque este año Comunidad y Ayuntamiento ambos han firmado un acuerdo de colaboración para que el año que viene haya medio millón de euros de dinero público con el fin de promocionar este tipo de turismo. El presupuesto con el que contaba este año la Asociación de Empresas y Profesionales para Gays y Lesbianas de Madrid, la encargada de este cometido, era solo de 30.000 euros.
También los organismos han colaborado en hacer un hueco a esta asociación en las ferias de turismo de numerosas capitales mundiales, aunque la promoción todavía debe mejorar. Casi todos los extranjeros con los que ha hablado este diario, como Patrick y Allen, una pareja de tortolitos checos, conocen el evento a través de páginas no oficiales de la Red, o a través de amigos, como en el caso de Luc Van Dam, un holandés cuyo ex novio español le mantenía siempre informado.
Tags: guide, Madrid, neighborhoods, night life, parades, parties, party, special events
Posted in Bars, Copas, Dance Clubs, neighborhoods, night life, special events | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
You may or may not know that Madrid has one of the finest reputations for art in the world, boasting its Golden Triangle of three of the top museums in the world, the Prado, the Reina Sofia, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Of the three, the last one is probably the least well-known but actually boasts an incredible collection made up of one of the largest private collections anywhere in the world.
Through September 20, the Thyssen will be holding a special Matisse exhibition that really is a thrilling opportunity to see some wonderful art. Matisse has always been my favorite artist of his period (maybe better left unsaid around these parts). It has been getting great reviews and you should take the opportunity to get out of the heat and enjoy some beautiful art. Here is the information on the exhibit from the wonderful city site:
The period covered by the exhibition is marked by the shadow of the First World War and the menace of the second one, a phase of great importance as regards the dissemination and consolidation of modern art, in which Matisse played a crucial role.
The exhibition intends to show how the artist expanded the scope of his pictorial investigation during this period, focusing on the relation between drawing, colour, volume and space. After Cubism changed the traditional way in which perspective was represented, Matisse decided to make his own interpretation of space in painting. Although during the previous ten years his work had been characterised by flatness, at this point he started showing interest in the weight, density and depth of the figures.
- Starting: 06/09/2009
- Ending: 09/20/2009
- Where: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
- Resting day: Monday
- Ticket sales: Advance ticket sales at Museum ticket office; www.museothyssen.org/entrada; www.entradas.com; Tel: 902 488 488.
- Schedule: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 7pm; closed on Monday. During July and August, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 11pm.
- Price: General admission to the permanent collection, EUR6; reduced admission, EUR4. Matisse (1917-1942) exhibition, general admission, EUR5; reduced admission, EUR3.50. General admission for both exhibitions, EUR9; reduced admission, EUR5. Reduced admission for students and over 65s. Free admission for under 12s.
Tags: guide, Madrid, museums, special events
Posted in museums, special events, surprises | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Madrid’s Gay Pride weekend is well underway following last night’s grand opening. The opening night festivities were held at 4 different stages in plazas surrounding the general Chueca neighborhood area (the gayest neighborhood in Europe). The craziest and most crowded part of the festival was the main stage in Plaza Chueca. You simply couldn’t move. I was lucky enough to get back stage and have a little breathing room from the crowd, but what a fun time everyone seemed to be having! I’ve been on main stages in different sorts of festivals before, but what was amazing here was that the crowd actually listened to the speakers and participated with the music, dancing, and general craziness. Madrid really knows how to throw a party. One of my ongoing complaints about the city government is what a terrible job they doing letting people know about what a great LGBT destination Madrid is.
Later we went to Plaza del Rey for the cultural festival portion of the festivities (this is where I finally got to practice my Spanish in front of an audience). There was a much smaller crowd and a really pleasant atmosphere. Afterwards, we had dinner with LGBT activists and leaders from around the country at the very nice Jardin restaurant.
Tonight, the party continues. The Madonna-directed documentary will be premiering for the first time in Spain and tomorrow comes Mr Gay Spain. I have back stage passes for both events, so I’ll let you know how it goes.
There is so much going on all week in the Chueca and surrounding area that you really should check out the official site, or the city’s official information page, available in English. Find out about the high heel race, the month-long cultural festival, and the chill out planned in the Parque de Buen Retiro. And if you like diva pop, you should check out Kyle Minogue at Ventas, the bullring not far from the very center of the city.
Gay or straight, this is all stuff you should not miss as a tourist in Madrid. It can be argued that Madrid puts on one of the best of these sorts of celebrations anywhere in the world. Even the National Geographic couldn’t miss the wonder that is Pride Madrid:
It boasts Western Europe’s largest Royal Palace and its most audacious gay pride parade
The amazing this is that it is all done without any money from the city or provincial governments for a relatively small amount of money, around 300,000 euros.
The big day will be Saturday of course, for the parade and festival. I’ve not had a chance to spend much time with my friends, but I do hope to get to be with them to watch the parade. I hope you will be joining us.
Tags: guide, holidays, Madrid, night life, parades, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in Bars, Copas, Dance Clubs, neighborhoods, night life, special events, surprises | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
I returned from San Francisco a couple of days ago. I had a wonderful time with friends (really, they are my family) and loved seeing the city. I also got to do a little bit of work for this fabulous company I work for that is going to change the world. It was looking festive and beautiful for Gay Pride Week. I missed the parade becuase I had to get back here for some work. But I ran smack dab into another Pride Festival. You can read about Gay Pride in Madrid in this New York Times article. The Madrileños do know how to party.
It felt strange being in SF again, like I had never left and like I had been away for years. I´ve only been gone less than a year, so I suppose that is not a strange feeling, but Madrid does feel like home right now. Who knows, if my visa is not renewed, I may be back in a few months anyway!
I came back to Madrid to see my friend Stuart Milk, who, as most of you know, is the nephew of Harvey Milk. Stuart was swinging back to the US after opening gay pride in Istanbul. Apparently the city had brought out the riot police and street tanks to stop the parade, but it was finally allowed to continue. Congrats to Stuart on his courage and leadership. Stuart is being slammed with interview requests from all over Madrid and Europe, so we have done almost no touring, but I am glad I was able to hook him up with the media here. It´s very important that the message that Harvey carried continues today.
If you can read Spanish, here is the link to the El Pais story on Stuart. Tonight he will be receiving the Muestra T award and I will be giving my first gay rights speech in Spanish (very short). I am so used to doing speeches and television, but in another language, it will be interesting to see how it feels. Barcelona and the rest of the country had their parties last weekend, but Madrid is this week. It is one of the biggest in the world, with more than 1,000,000 participants (compared to 60,000 in Barcelona). If you don´t think of Madrid as an LGBT tourist spot, you really should.
Tags: guide, holidays, Madrid, parades, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in Bars, Copas, Dance Clubs, expat, living in Spain, neighborhoods, night life, shopping, special events | No Comments »
Monday, June 8th, 2009
From the wonderful people at the LesGaiCineMad International Film Festival, one of the best in the world (disclosure: I am doing some work for them)
LesGaiCineMad Spanish Film Market (SFM) is an event that will take place for the first time as part of Madrid’s 14th International LGBT Film Festival (LesGaiCineMad)
LESGAICINEMAD IS BECOMING A STRONG PRESENCE WITHIN THE INDUSTRY AND IS CATCHING UP WITH THE LEADERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Organized by Fundación Triángulo, LesGaiCineMad is one of the world’s most important independent film festivals, clearly positioned on the map of international festivals and events related to the 7th Art. With 14 years of professional history, 9 venues, and 120 movies, LesGaiCineMad will for the first time bring together members of the international LGBT film industry in a space of exchange, education, and business that will take place at LesGaiCineMad Spanish Film Market (SFM), coordinated by Spanish director Mariel Macia.
This first edition of Spanish Film Market (SFM) is born with the objective of supporting and promoting the production of independent cinema. “The international industry has been with us,” says Mariel Maciá, head of Industry & Market at LesGaiCineMad, “in each edition for the last 14 years. We believe that acknowledging their presence, haviing independent LGBT cinema professionals mix and network to create new projects and business, and structuring their visit so that they share their experience and knowledge with Spanish directors is the next step that our festival should take.” A logical evolution if we consider that LesGaiCineMad yearly attracts over 20,000 viewers and directors from all over the world; a circumstance that in previous editions made it possible to count on the presence of respected figures such as Pedro Almodóvar, Bruce LaBruce, and Barbara Hammer among others. Following the San Sebastián, Valladolid and Sitges’ film festivals, LesGaiCineMad is one of the cinematographic events with the most media coverage.
Mariel Macia, who has recently joined the festival team to accomplish new objectives, is a movie and theater director, producer, and distributor who has won several awards and international recognition. Since her short film “Flores en el parque” opened at LesGaiCineMad’s 2006 edition obtaining the Best Short Film and Best Spanish Movie Awards, her work has been featured at film festivals around the world, making her one of LGBT cinema’s role models. Later, with the opening of “A domicilio (o incluso también el amor)” and obtaining her second Best Short Film Award at LesGaiCineMad the next year, Mariel has had the opportunity to travel the world through the presentation of her work at LGBT film festivals which has given her the contacts, hope, and ambition to translate her experience into the local market.
For this first edition, LesGaiCineMad Spanish Film Market (SFM) will get important filmmakers, distributors, and programmers together.
1. SFM will provide its participants a selection of Spanish movies produced from 2006 to today, in DVD format with English subtitles. The same movies will also be viewable at SFM Booths – located at the SFM Meeting Point. The films participating in the official selection of the Festival will also be available.
2. SFM will organize debates, seminars and meetings with renowned international professionals dedicated to the production and distribution of LGBT contents.
3. SFM will create a meeting point (SFM Meeting Point) where all participants will meet, organize reunions and see movies at SFM Booths.
All these activities will be presented at Frameline 2009, the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival, to give this project its initial boost.
Independent cinema is growing strongly. Throughout these years it has obtained a privileged place within the national and international scene and also a bigger sector within the actual cinematographic market. The movie industry is transforming and adapting to the new times finding the niches that have been exploited in the international market for a long time. As a response to these challenges, LesGaiCineMad has created this new platform to promote and professionalize the LGBT independent cinema in the framework of its 14th edition.
Tags: guide, Madrid, parties, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in expat, living in Spain, night life, special events | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 8th, 2009
Partido Popular leader Mariano Rajoy
Turn out was low by Spanish standards for the European Parliament elections, seen by some as a test of how well the government would fare in a deep recession. The center right party, Partido Popular (People´s Party) beat the ruling Socialist Party by just under 4%. The PP gained 1 more seat than before and only 1% higher percentage of the vote from the last EU election. The PSOE socialists lost 5% and 4 seats.
Center Right parties won all over Europe in an election marked by low turn-out and fought more on national issues than European issues. For many Europeans the Parliament is distint and misunderstood.
The PP leader Mariano Rajoy needed to do well in this election to continue support for his leadership, and the party is celebrating, though it does not seem to be a particularly impressive win, given the depth of the Spanish recession, whose unemployment is the highest of all the major European economies.
Socialist leader José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero lost nearly 500,000 votes from the last EU election, but does not appear to be fatally wounded by the election results. It is the first victory for Mariano Rajoy in a national election agains Prime Minister Zapatero since 2000.
Tags: Madrid, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in Spain v USA, Uncategorized, expat, living in Spain, neighborhoods, night life, special events | No Comments »
Monday, May 18th, 2009
This is one of my favorite events every year in the city of Madrid. If you love books and reading and exploring through hundreds of stalls and booths for books of every type, this is a blast. And the fact that it is outside during the most beautiful time of the year and located in the fabulous Parque del Buen Retiro makes it even better. After digging through the stacks of books you can sit down in an outdoor cafe and watch the boat paddlers, dogs, and joggers in one of the world´s greatest parks.
This year´s event will be focusing on French literature and celebrating the birthdays of two world greats, Charles Darwin and the Madrid-born writer and journalist Mariano José de Larra.
Here is some information in English about the event at the always handy EsMadrid.es:
El Retiro Park will be hosting the 68th edition of this open air fair in which over three hundred stalls lay out practically all the books available in the country. This year, the fair will also be organizing various parallel activities, the majority devoted to French literature.
Just like in previous year, for over two weeks the Book Fair becomes the place to find everything from the latest award-winning novels to specialized manuals. One of the most important cultural events in the city, every year it welcomes millions of visitors and offers an array of activities including direct selling, book signing with leading authors, talks and discussions.
Organised by the Madrid Association of Book Sellers, the Madrid Publishers Association and the Association of Book Distributors of Madrid, this fair joins other commemorations celebrated this year including the International Year of Astronomy, the bicentenary of the birth of Darwin, 150 years since the naturalist’s Origin of Species was first published and the bicentenary of the birth of Spanish writer Mariano José de Larra.
Many of the events are aimed at secondary school students, who together with the other atendees will have the chance to meet Álvaro Giménez, director of the Astrobiology Institute of Madrid, as well as Francisco Sánchez, Rafael Rebolo and Antonio Mampaso Recio, members of the Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands. They will also be invited to talk to Spanish scientist Juan Pérez Mercader, an expert on astrophysics and cosmology.
Tags: guide, guiri, Madrid, parks, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in expat, living in Spain, neighborhoods, special events | No Comments »
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
So, who knew? There is a Star Trek Club (Club de Cochrane) in Madrid. And they are hard at work getting ready for tomorrow’s premiere of the latest addition to the Star Trek franchise, the 11th movie, simply called “Star Trek.” They will be decorating the Yelmo Cines Ideal, near Plaza Mayor in Madrid in a Star Trek theme, complete with merchandise and fan fun. The reboot of the series is getting rave reviews from around the world. The Yelmo shows movies in their original voices (i.e., English this time) and should be a great time. The special event is taking place all weekend, so check out the schedule and maybe I’ll see you there.
Tags: English Language, guide, Madrid, special events
Posted in living in Spain, night life, special events | No Comments »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
I had the wonderful chance to see the last rehearsal of Una Noche de Zarzuela last night, and recommend you go if you enjoy operetta.
According to Wikipedia
Zarzuela (pronounced [θarˈθwela] in Spain, [sarˈswela] in Latin America), is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance. The name derives from a Royal hunting lodge, the Palacio de la Zarzuela near Madrid, where this type of entertainment was first presented to the court.
There are two main forms of zarzuela: Baroque zarzuela (c.1630–1750), the earliest style, and Romantic zarzuela (c.1850–1950), which can be further divided into two. main sub-genres of género grande and género chico although other sub-divisions exist.
¡Una noche de Zarzuela…! (Operetta night!) (click for ticket sales) is a lyric dream in two acts with songs by the greatest composers in the history of Spanish operetta. Some of them are Asenjo Barbieri, T. Bretón, R. Chapí, F. Chueca, Fernández Caballero, G. Giménez, J. Guerrero, P. Luna, V. Lleó, Moreno Torroba.
With Luis Olmos as scene director and singers like Carlos Bergasa, Susana Cordón, Manuel de Diego, Vicente Díez, and the actress Esperanza Roy, this penultimate production of the season at Teatro de la Zarzuela includes a libretto by Olmos and Bernardo Sánchez.
The plot of ¡Una noche de Zarzuela…! (Operetta night!) takes place in 1941, during the Spanish post-war period, when a company of operetta singers led by Úrsula Caravia struggles to stage an operetta show: an anthology of famous songs by well-known Spanish composers. An adventure in which the protagonists try to survive and please a Maecenas whose decisions will outline their future.
The theater is beautiful and the only theater in the world specially designed for Zarzuela. The dancing is not to be missed. And you will recognize some of the music. It´s a pretty good time.
Tags: Madrid, night life, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in night life, special events, surprises | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
While less known than its southern neighbor, Sevilla, for its processions and events surrounding Holy Week (Santa Semana), it is a terrific time to be in Madrid. Many of the Madrileños will have left as part of Operacíon Salida (Operation Exit) as they head for the beaches for the holiday. Many are taking the entire week of from work. Most offices in Madrid are closed Thursday and Friday.
Here are some of the things to watch for this weekend:
Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday or Maundy Thursday)
Perhaps one of the most spectacular moments of Easter weeks occurs on Holy Thursday. This takes place at Calle Toledo, 37, at around 7.30 to 8pm at the Colegiata de San Isidro. The religious images of the Virgin Maria Santísima de la Esperanza and Jesús del Gran Poder are brought out of the church by the “costaleros” and through the main door. To do this, they have to get down almost on their knees to slowly make their way through, an immense effort which is noisily rewarded with much applause and shouts of encouragement from the watching crowds.
The processions of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, El Pobre, and María Santísima del Dulce Nombre leave Church of San Pedro in Calle Nuncio at around 7pm, and the image “El Divino Cautivo” is paraded from the Colegio Calasancio in Calle General Díaz Porlier, 58.
Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
Good Friday brings perhaps the most emblematic religious procession for Madrid, that of Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, which leaves the Basílica del Cristo de Medinaceli in the Plaza de Jesús at around 7pm and parades central streets including the Puerta de Sol and Plaza Cibeles.
The “Procesión del Silencio” or Procession of Silence starts from the Church of Santísimo Cristo de la Fé in Calle Atocha 87 and the Ayuntamiento or City Hall organises its own procession called the Santo Entierro which leaves the Parish Church of Santa Cruz in Atocha, 6 with the image of Lignum Crucis.
Sábado Santo (Holy Saturday)
The procession of “Nuestra Señora de la Soledad” leaves the Corpus Christi Monastery at around 4:30pm.
Domingo Santo (Easter Sunday)
The main event on Easter Sunday takes place at mid-day in the Plaza Mayor. This is the “Tamborada del Domingo de Resurección“, whereby whichever Brotherhood has been chosen for the year, assembles dozens of drums of all shapes and sizes and beats out a constant rhythm which almost shakes the timbers of the nearby houses. This represents the earth tremors that were supposed to have occurred when Christ died on the cross.
Tags: guide, Madrid, Spanish Culture, special events
Posted in Bars, Copas, living in Spain, neighborhoods, special events, surprises | No Comments »