My latest BIG news is that I am 1/3 partner in opening a fine dining/live music club in the unbelievably picturesque town of Antigua, Guatemala.  It is to be called:  Restaurant Angeline and we are looking at a soft opening around May 1st, 2014. The address is:  2 (segunda) calle poniente #3, Antigua, Guatemala, Centro America.  We are 1/2 a block from the Arch (el arco) which is a known landmark there, and alongside the San Rafael 5 star hotel. My partners are Alberto Blanco (who also happens to be my best friend...) and the wonderful Chi Ngo.  Our illustrious chef is Ali Gorbani--- he is an artiste!  We will feature European wines.  We will utilize fresh, local ingredients.  Food will be amazing! My part in this equation is to run the music program.  I will be building a Tango band (lots of Argentines there!), a Flamenco cuadro (they love flamenco in Antigua), and a Latin Jazz combo.  I'll be doing solo performances, as well.  Exciting stuff! Friends!  This will be a club you'll want to hang-out at so start making plans to visit us soon!

Spending this entire winter in Minnesota (USA) has been very difficult.  Extreme cold, lots of snow and ice.  Well, its beautiful today (and yesterday!)----surely spring is in the air.  And, to celebrate, I'm heading to Antigua, Guatemala this evening, right after I finish my solo guitar gig.  I'm just going for a week.  Still---Antigua is an enchanted place.  And, my dear friend, Alberto, is there now and expecting me.  He missed the winter-madness, leaving for Guate at November's end. Our show:  Pasion' Flamenca was a big success.  I am very pleased with it.  The show was of very high quality;  all the players did exceptional playing/dancing/singing.  We had a big crowd, very enthusiastic.  It's both a relief that it's all over, and, a let-down.  Everyone seems to go through this, at show's end, I guess. Lastly, my website has been given a new look and an update.  Big thank yous to Nick Lethert, the web-master.  I'm excited about this and I think it'll be more user-friendly for all, more music, more video, more readable.

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I'm excited about this one.  Rachel "la Mala" (flamenco singer) and I have been awarded a grant by the MN Arts Board and the Legacy Fund to present our own flamenco show at Hamline University (1536 Hewitt Ave, St Paul, MN).  It'll be on Saturday evening, March 1st, starting with pre-concert remarks at 7pm and the show begins at 7:30.  The venue is the acoustically amazing Sundin Hall. It's an ambitious program that tracks the roots of flamenco, including Sefardic, Arabic and Romany song, music, and dance---this is the first half.  We've assembled a great group of violinists, percussionists, dancers, a qanun player, keyboardist as well as Greg Sagar, another fine flamenco singer. The second half deals with present day trends in flamenco, including Jazz-flamenco, World Beat, Electronica---ending with the powerful urge to return to the traditional,  what I call flamenco puro y duro. We're all involved in rehearsals now and it is an imspiring (inspired?) project, to say the least. The following Friday, March 7th, we'll be hosting a FREE dance party and flamenco jam session at the Bush Center Ballroom, next door to Sundin Hall on the Hamline campus.  This will be from 7 till 10pm. I'll also be giving a FREE guitar workshop at Sundin on Monday, Feb 24th from 1 till 3pm. Don't miss this concert!

"The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble" Levon Eskenian, director, playing "Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff." Guess what?  Hypnotic, delightful, moving, spiritual. arcane, emotive---what else?  I'm not sure.  I'm playing this CD everyday and trying to with hold judgement....but---so far---I'm totally loving it.

I'm happy.  I recently started a couple of new gigs that are very inspiring.  Both are here in the frozen tundra we know as Minneapolis Minnesota.  Home of Flamenco Fantasies,  General Mills, Cargill, and Michelle Bachman. Wednesday evenings I play at the Riverview Wine Bar (address is the corner of 38th street and 42nd Ave).  It is a totally acoustic evening and I play 100% flamenco.  Singers and guitarists stop in and the atmosphere is a little reminiscent of the peña at ArteBar in Madrid, that I so love.  There is nice wine, craft beer, and  tasty snacks. Rincon 38 is a fairly recently opened tapas bar (38th and Grand Ave) that is cozy, warm, and delicious.  I'm doing some Tuesdays and Thursdays---again, almost 100% flamenco.  I'm grateful for the opportunities:  flamenco's mantle provides such a delightful alternative to the hum-drum.

Gurdjieff (born Jan 13, 1866, died Oct. 29, 1949) has been a very big influence on me throughout much of my life.  After reading P D Ouspensky's "In Search of the Miraculous" when I was 17, I found my way to "All and Everything" while living in India, a few years later.  I read the first two books:  "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" and "Meetings With Remarkable Men" the requisite 3 times, as told to do by the author.  As a budding musician, I tried to compose within the numerical framework he had laid out---or something of the kind. Fast forward many years.  His ideas have remained foremost in my thinking.  I've met only a handful of people in my life who ever read these works.  Then a few years ago, the books came out in paperback, including the arcane 3rd work:  "Life is Real Only Then, When 'I Am'". I read it----didn't do much for me.  Considered that maybe my fascination had ended. Now appears Gurdjieff's "Harmonic Development"---the Complete Harmonium Recordings 1948-1949.  Plenty of text to accompany the 100 plus hours of musical----what?  Meanderings?  Put-on?  Master works?  I don't know.  Help!

...was a too sensitive, lovely human being.  The world is a lonelier place with his loss..  He was a fine flamenco guitarist.  Even more, he had a real deep aficion'.  He was 100% real, for better or for worse.  He loved motorcycles.  He was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident on August 15th, this year.  His memorial service was an outpouring of love from so many, many people.  I hope he knows how much he is missed.  I miss you, too,  Aaron.

I just returned from the Madrid Rastro (Sunday flea market)---or the Corte Ingles Gitano, as it´s facetiously known.  I try to go every chance I get;  it is such an integral part of the life here, and amazing people watching, too.  Today, I heard a Romanian Gypsy band (accordian, sax, guitar, derbuka) busking, also a violin trio that was excellent, and a jazz quintet.  Assorted rumberos.  A Tibetan guy perched,  about 10 feet up, on a 6 inch diameter pole that was held by another Tibetan in the palm of his hand.  Unchanging, placid expressions on both faces. Went to the mountains, outside of Madrid, yesterday---an exquisitely beautiful day it was---and returned in time to see Amir John Haddad´s show at Club Clamores.  Mostly flamenco, and virtuosic.  Several of the players are in ZooBazar, a group I really like.  His percussionist, and great player, Pablo Martin Jones is the son of my good friend David Serva.  I´ve gotten to hear David play several times on this trip.  He has been a HUGE influence on my flamenco, in pretty much every way imaginable. I also heard the Armenian violin virtuso, Ara Malikian, at Club Clamores last week.  Playing with a tango quartet---doing original Tango Nuevo---sort of like Piazzolla with the intensity, rhythm changes, and development but lacking the Piazzolla genious.  It was difficult to watch the frenetic Malikian jumping up and down insanely and running across the stage.  A bit disappointing overall. Heard another great show at Candelas, Thursday last, featuring the fine singer, Miguel el Rubio.  Of greater interest to me, in this case, was the guitarist, el Bola, whom I knew some years ago.  I forget his actual name---he´s a Carbonell, I know that much---and an absolutely beautiful player.  His ideas were a little jumbled at times, a little less than tranquil, but always well executed. These are some of the highlights, apart from just being here, walking a lot, drinking nice wine, enjoying tapas (pinchos, actually, its the Madrid thing), hanging out with friends.  And:  remodelling my apartment, which is going to be lovely!

Friday May 17 Its great to be here in Madrid once again.  Talk about threads connecting one´s life:  I´ve been staying at this piso (the one I now own) for nearly 30 years.  I have friends here I´ve know for 32 years.  Restaurants, bars, clubs I´ve been going to for 30 plus years. In the US things change very fast:  everything, including careers, friends, relationships.  Spain´s pace is certainly not sedate.  But there does seem to be a greater permanence, more respect for things of the past. Thursday evening I saw a wonderful flamenco show at Candela´s.  I hadn´t been there in 10 years but it was SO the same.  In the best ways.  The show featured an excellent Mexican dancer, Karen Lugo, who was creative, highly skilled, compelling.  Her percussionist, Pamuki, gave a beautiful groove to each number, and the singer,  blonde dread-locked Naike Ponce, sang emotively and true.  Guitarist Gaizka Baena stayed within his technical limits with tasteful understatement, and the violinist,  Victor Guadiana, was virtuosic.  The group used a lot of PA effect (reverb, echo) but in a way that actually enhanced their show.  I loved it!

Play finished (Lorca in a Green Dress)---a very good experience for me, all things considered.  Fun, nicely compensated, something a little different, a time of learning.  All that PC ****.  And now, Springtime in Minnesota!  My magnolia bush in full bloom and birds singing mightily, longer days, baseball, and the gradual awakening from a long winter's sleep.... So, I'm going to Madrid for the rest of the month.  Get some work done on my piso there, hang out with friends, and, no surprise, play some guitar.  Maybe I'll even catch Vicente Amigo's CD Release show.  His new CD:  "Tierra" is surely very interesting, a little complacent, perhaps, but filled with his exhuberant virtuosity.  A Celtic foray featuring his unique sound---is it in part his Reyes guitar?  He seems to be playing some other guitar, too, to judge from the video footage.  I love his sound.  His music sometimes is not to my liking, but his sound is something else.  Vivas tu!