From Flamenco to AC/DC

A couple weeks ago my mom and I went to see a flamenco show, "Seis Cuerdas para Dos Tacones" (Six Strings for Two Heels), which was part of the annual Flamenco Festival here in Albuquerque. As a little girl, I wished to learned to dance flamenco, or at the very least, sevillanas. The guitarist, Juan Antonio Suarez ("Cano"), and flamenco dancer, Concha Jareño, performed such a powerful show with a modern twist on the traditional dance. In Concha's first dance number she wore a beautiful red dress and was laying on the ground so that all the audience saw were ruffles...and then she waved her arms and made beautiful forms that looked like birds sweeping the air. The way she used her costumes and her body with both fury and gentleness was incredible.

Here is a video on YouTube of Concha dancing:

In flamenco dance there is usually an ensemble with a guitar player or two, both a male and female dancer, a singer, and back-up clappers to add rhythm. However, Concha Jareño danced solo with the guitarist/composer Juan Antonio Suárez. Here is a video I found of both of them collaborating with an ensemble group, and actually it's quite jazzy. I hope Gaby shows an interest in Spanish guitar someday. But neither of these videos do their performance any justice!

What is fascinating to me is how Spanish guitar can sound like two or three strummers playing at once. This anglo must have gypsy blood! I wish I could find a better video with Juan Antonio Suarez's music, but this will give you an idea.

Maybe someday the boys will appreciate this type of art.

Last night I had my fill of 80's hair and AC/DC, Anthrax, and Metallica when we took the boys to the monster truck show. Gaby, especially, was excited about watching the motorcycles, smash up cars, and the monster trucks and also seemed the enjoy the music. The star of the evening was a local who drives the Pit Bull monster truck and was quite a character hyped up on testerone, loud engines, and screeching tires in front of the crowd....see their web page and you'll get an idea. It was actually a good time and something different for us to do. We went to an outdoor arena so it wasn't as loud. We wore ear plugs, except Jojo. Jojo learned to cover his ears when it got too loud. The best part for Christian was the blow up jumpy trampoline slide thing that was set up for the kids.

It hardly rains in Albuquerque, but last night we got rained on at the show. I used one of Jojo's diapers not only to soak up the rain water, but for extra cushioning for my delicate derrier on the backless bleachers. That was Mike's excellent idea.

Another smashing good time.