Yesterday the guys from 30 seconds to Mars came back to Madrid, as they already did in the MTV EMAs last month. They performed live in Vistalegre in front of 11.000 people. It's been weeks they have bought this tickets, the same as in Barcelona, where they have been sold out. So if you want to see the american group, headed by the also actor Jared Leto, you must resign yourself with the videolink I wrote above of the post, where the band appears in Puerta de Alcala performing their hit 'Hurricane' with the hip-hop artist Kanye West. Enjoy it!
Source: abc.es/mtv.es/me myself and I picture: usonica.com
sábado, 18 de diciembre de 2010
The London socialite Tara Browne, heir to the Guinness empire and son of a member of the House of Lords, died on 18th December 1966. On this day, forty four years ago, Browne had a traffic accident at the age of 21. As they say, Browne drove his Lotus Elan car through London's South Kensington at high speed and he ignored a red traffic light, colliding with a stationary van when he tried to evade a car coming towards him.
He was good friend of the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. One of the members of this last band, John Lennon, was inspired by this sad event to write the song 'A Day in the life', which lots considers Beatles' best. The song is specifically written after Lennon read the story about the accident published in the Daily Mail on January 1967, that included the forensic report. Paul Mccartney finished the composition, adding the central part and the orchestrial details. The last part, on the piano, is played by five people in three different pianos.
John Lennon said about inspiration arrived to him to write the song:
"I was writing A Day In The Life with the Daily Mail propped in front of me on the piano. I had it open at their News in Brief, or Far and Near, whatever they call it. I noticed two stories. One was about the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car. That was the main headline story. He died in London in a car crash".
Here you have the lyrics of 'A day in the Life', closing theme of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band":
I read the news today oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grave
And though the news was rather sad
Well I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph
He blew his mind out in a car
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure
If he was from the House of Lords.
I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look
Having read the book
I'd love to turn you on
Woke up, fell out of bed,
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup,
And looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in second splat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke,
and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream
I read the news today oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall.
Yesterday, the outrageous Lady Gaga performed live in Madrid, in the city's Sports Palace. Thousands of fans brought together to be present at this special appointment, attired like their idol with psychedelic costumes and glasess or Pepsi tins on their wigs.
They were very excited with the concert they were about to attend to -and for which they paid from 90 to 130 euros per ticket-. What they didn't expect was that some of those ticket where null. When they figure out the swindle, people asked for explanations to the security staff, provoking some avalanches at the queue, so the Police brigade had to establish order.
It seems that some of the tickets sold by the non-official online stores where just copies of eight of the original tickets, printed in a very similar paper and with the same serial number. Apparently, the pages that sold this illegal tickets were viagogo, gesticket or seatwave, among others.
Some of the affected fans, by D.Sinova. - elmundo.es
Even though yesterday 4000 people were estimated to be affected by this fraud, we know that about 400 or 500 people were really inconvenienced. Now they want to know where can they claim for compensation. CECU Madrid has provided an e-mail for all of them (info@cecumadrid.org), but it is not completely clear to whom can they ask for responsability. The webpages seem to wash their hands of it.
At least this incidents teach us something: we must check more than once what we buy, specially online, even if Lady Gaga's face appears on it.
In the end, I leave a video of Stefani Germanotta, Or, in other words, a very young Lady Gaga -not yet gaga maybe- very different from the one we know now. Hope you like it!
Sources: youtube
http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/
http://www.abc.es/
http://www.elmundo.es/
Picture: el mundo
Now that there is a long weekend getting close, some of you might have some plans in mind. But if you don't, this post could give you some original ideas for next week's short holiday, if you are one of those lucky people who can travel. Television, cinema, music and art are the inspiration source for these routes we suggest, so if you are fan of something, pay attention.
United Kingdom is home of most of these tours we are presenting. The first of them, probably the most famous, has as main characters a music band well-known all over the World. You'd probably guessed we are talking about The Beatles.
The Fab Four's tour starts in Liverpool, the city where the band was created and the four members were raised. There, there are lots of agencies that take you around the most representative places of the Beatles' life, but you can look for them yourself if you are travelling low cost. There in Liverpool you should not miss mythical places as the Cavern, the Beatles Museum or Penny Lane.
You can also visit Albert Dock, from which you can see Chavasse Park, that many people compares with a 'yellow submarine'. Ten minutes from there, you can visit the Beatles Museum. In Allerton (20 Forthlin Road) lived McCartney family and that was the house where the Fab Four started training and compousing. 20 minutes from there, in Mendips, we can find John Lennon's house.
But to enjoy the real beatles' atmosphere you have to go to the best pubs in town, yo have to go to The Cavern, where they were discovered and performed live for the first time. And you should take a look to the Casbah Coffee Club, in West Derby, 'where everything started', as McCartney himself says. And if you are looking for accommodation, you can also sleep inside that atmosphere, because in Liverpool there is a hotel dedicated to the band. It is called Hard Days Night Hotel and it is totally recommendable, except if, as we said, you are travelling low cost ;)
And obviously, you should take a train or bus to London, where the band became phenomenon. It is very well known that every Beatle fan in London reproduce in their own way the legendary picture of the band in Abbey Road. So the first and unmissable visit is, precisely, this zebra crossing, probably the most famous of the world. If you go with another three friends, ask someone to take the photo. And remember, Paul appears barefoot! So act in consequence.
You can also leave your signature near this crossing and visit Paul's house and EMI labels studios, because there is all nearby. You should take the Saint Jons Woods Station exit in the tube. If you are still not full, you can go to the Madame Tussauds Museum and enjoy the reproductions in wax of the Beatles.
But if you need a change, London offers lot of thematic tours. If you ar a fan of Harry Potter's for example, you can take advantage of what the English capital is preparing. Even though the saga is finishing, the admiration for the books and films is rising, so lots of routes are being created for the little wizard's fans. The studios where the films were recorded, in Leavesden, Heartfordshire, will become a thematic park by 2012. But, for the moment, you can visit some of the outdoors that appear in the films.
Fans all over the world go to London to visit the sets where their idols were. They try to pass to Hogwarts at the platform 9 and 3/4, ubicated at King Cross tube station; they visit the zoo, where Harry spoke to a snake on the first film; they look for Berkshire and Privet Drive, the place where harry's aunt and ancle live...
But to know where Hogwarts exactly is they have to travel a bit further. That way they would discover such beautiful places like Oxford, the Anlwick Castle or the Gloucester Cathedral.
If you are not really into magic, don't bother, there is so much to do next week. If you like music you can visit the recently opened British Rock Museum, also in London. If you like reading, you have tours about your favourite books. As we have seen it happened in England with Harry Potter, Stieg Larsson's Millenium has its own tour in Stockholm. And the teen saga Twilight has made a small america town become popular just because the love story between Bella and Edward takes place in it. Forks, the rainy little town in Washington, unknown before the Stephanie Meyer's novels is not the only one to handle new visitants. Also Volterra, in Italy, is receiving new tourists thanks to this new fashion of visiting what we see and read in films and books.
But don't you ever think it is a new trend. TV series and shows have always have fans following them even to where they are filmed. One of the biggest phenomenons ever was the tv show Friends. Everybody in New York had to visit the outdoors that appeared in it. And, like the legendary Central Perk didn't exist, chinese made a reproduction in Beijing. There are some other tours about series noways, for example, one about Gossip Girl and a even virtual route of Lost.
But maybe the most weird of all, is this tour that takes us around the graves of the most popular music idols of History. Jim Morrison in Paris, John Lennon in New York, Michael Jackson in Los Angeles, Elvis presley in Memphis, Brian Jones in London...
Source: youtube / turismito.com / google (pictures) / londonforidiots /
Famous guitar player Paco de Lucía sold out all the tickets available for his concert in Bilbao. It will take place the next Wednesday, 24th of November, at the Auditorium of the Euskalduna Jauregia.
The great guitarist will be accompanied by Antonio Sánchez, at the second guitar; the flamenco dancer (bailaor) Farruco; the flamenco singers (cantaores) David Maldonado and Duquende, this last one discovered and sponsored by Camarón himself when he was just 9 years old; Antonio Serrano, playing keyboard and harmonica; Piraña, in charge of the percussion and Alaín Pérez, at the bass.
De Lucía might be used to having this kind of success because along the tour he has got sold out nearly in all the concerts. Sevilla, Valencia, Avilés... And now Bilbao sums up to the list of cities that appreciate the art of this athentic Guitar Hero.
Franz Ferdinand performed live last Saturday in San Sebastian, courtesy of San Miguel. It was not a usual concert, it had a private and exclusive nature.
Everything started last year with Keane. The famous beer brand figured out a way of attracting people to its label and ¿what better than music? After the success of the first edition, the expectation was unimaginable. The mistery added to the concerts contributes to that too. People didn't know wether they had won or not until a few days before the concert, and they didn't know where the concert was celebrated either.
With this outlook, you can imagine how the participation was. San Miguel's facebook page was overloaded. But just 600 people for each concert (Barcelona, Donostia and Malaga) could win a double ticket. So, guess who was one of those fortunates? Me!! I won a ticket to the San Sebastian concert!
I knew it was going to be good, but it was better! The place was awesome, like an abandoned factory separated in different lounges and bars with free beer and food! What else can you ask for? Of course, good music. But that is something you can undoubtely expect when you are seeing Franz Ferdinand. I had already seen them in Bilbao and the repertoire was very similar: they played all the hits from their three longplays, starting with Do you wanna and they even had to repeat No you girls twice, because the first time they broke the drum! By the way, they did a great performance with the drums, I think it is something they usually do in the tour, because I also saw it when they came to Bilbao. Anyway, it was a moving and exciting concert, full of good songs and performances.
I'm really looking forward to know which group will take part in the next Unique's because, after this year's, San Miguel has the standard really high.
MTV has finally confirmed the line-up of the different events it has planned because of the MTV EMAs that this year take place in Madrid.
Apart from some private concerts and parties sponsored by brands, the international channel has arranged two big appointments for all the music fans, totally free. The first of them is the MTV Day, moved from its usual summer date into November 6, to make it coincide with this special celebration. Spanish artists like David Bisbal, Fangoria, Efecto Mariposa or 84 will make their own such an awesome place like Puerta de Alcalá.
The next day, 7th November, while the awards are being given in the Caja Magica auditorium, some international artists will be doing their best in the same stage. Katy Perry, Shakira, Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars will be performing live and, as we said, completely free. And now, for the first time, MTV will broadcast all the events free through the DTT.
Suddenly, don't you feel like going to Madrid?
Katy Perry's new single Firework
Video filmed in Budapest
Enjoy it!
Are you bored? You don't know what to do? And what about going to a concert? If you live in Basque Country the variety is bigger every day. From today to the end of the year you could be going to concerts non-stop. So you just have to decide which one you prefer to go to!
What? You have no idea about the concerts taken place in your city? Visit this web page and you will see all the dates and concerts of the year: http://www.bilbaorockcity.com/index.php?selectmes=05
If you are lazy and don't wanna click, I'll give you some summary: Quique Gonzalez, M-Clan, Standstill with Najwa and Ivan Ferreiro, Kerobia, We Are Standard, Kristy McGee, Crystal Castles, Zea Mays...
'Today Is where your Book begins the rest's still UNWRITTEN'
That's what I said to my friend Mary when I left her alone. As a matter of fact, I didn't tell her, Natasha Bedingfield did, but it's the same in the end, isn't it? I gave her a CD with songs I think will cheer her up (maybe someday I will publish the tracklist) and this was the perfect quote for her adventure, undoubtely.
So I gave her the CD and I left her in Oxford, waving my hand from the bus, throught the glass (ignoring it was a dark glass and she could not see me) but hoping her the best.
Anyway, the week before wasn't so sad. My cousin and I travelled to England with Mary, to help her on her first steps, specially in her houseliving search (succesful, by the way :D). I also had time to visit London, my future hometown, pick some telephone numbers, and make some sightseeing, of course.
I had never seen London so deeply, but truly I had never had such an enthusiastic guide, even with Ruben disturbing you made a great work! Lol
Not going to mention the obvious and well known wonders of London, but I have to thank you Mary for taking me to the O'Neills. Such a perfect place! Live music, nice atmosphere, NO SMOKE... Haha. There should be more bars like that around here! What am I saying?!? There should be A bar like that here. I will open it. Someday.
As I said, I won't talk each by each about the monuments and famous places of the English capital, so I just let you see some pictures we took. Hope you like them! By me and Ruben :)
