Oh, and here's a strange one that just happened to me...

Night before last, in the wee hours of the morning, I'm poring over all of these old photos. I ran across a photo from three or four years ago - of a friend and her girlfriend at a Thanksgiving dinner party. So for three or four seconds, I looked at the two or three photos and reminisced.

At about 10:00 that morning, she called me out of the blue just to check in. I hadn't spoken to her in over a year. I told her that I was just thinking of her a few hours earlier, and that she must have gotten my message.

Woo...oooh....wooo...or however the Twilight Zone music goes...

This happens to me all the time.

Once I was walking along and the thought of a woman I hadn't seen in two years popped into my head. It was a "I almost forgot about her and I wonder what she's doing" thought. I kept walking, went around a corner, and there she was sitting at an outdoor cafe/bistro table.

Another time I was in a store, and the clerk working the cash register was once a laborer for me. He and the Australian woman I considered marrying (green card thing) worked as my "labor crew". He asked about her, I told him she was back in Australia, I walked out of the store and received an email (on my cell phone) from her.

Strange, but true.

A turkey on Turkey Peak

Photo by Alex.Tango.Fuego [it's a bad scan, so my apologies for the poor quality...lots of speckles]

I'm in the process of going through five and a half years of images, selecting "the best of the best" for my photography website, which I hope to have live in two weeks or so.

This is a unique photo that I ran across. When my daughter was six or seven years old, we took a "dadder-daughter" trip to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area two hours west of Austin. She called our weekends together "dadder-daughter" time.

Anyway, this turkey, which I assume was wild, was hanging around the parking lot when we arrived for our hike. We hiked around the park for about four hours I suppose, and ultimately ascended to the top of Turkey Peak. It's a craggy pink granite promontory that is a Class 3 walkup [requiring the use of your hands to climb, but no ropes].

This immature turkey accompanied us on the entire hike, staying a few feet behind, or venturing out in front a bit. Sometimes it would take wing and fly, but it always stayed close by as we hiked along the trails. It climbed, hopped and flew to the summit of Turkey Peak right along with us, where this photograph was taken. We ate lunch on the summit, and then the turkey followed us all the way back to the parking lot.

Strange, but true.

Albuquerque aka Denver Tango Festival :: This weekend!

That's right, they are dancing tonight (and last night) in ABQ! Tomorrow night, Sunday night. Lots of dancing - all milonguero. All my friends are there and I am working through the weekend. Even on Monday. Suckage.

Here's a tentative schedule...for those of you Googling for it online...

http://www.laeternamilonga.com/lab08_sched.html

Chicken Shortage in Addis Ababa

"Chickens" by Peter B. Tzannes on Flickr...


My sister sends news that due to regular power outages in Addis in the spring, the incubators did not keep all the eggs warm, so there is a severe chicken shortage right now. The nearest chicken farm without said shortage is 100km away, but they are bringing in chickens to sell at the market this weekend. She hopes to get there early enough before they are all sold.

I'm hungry. I think I'm going to open the ziploc bag thingy of pre-grilled chicken strips and heat it up on the stove. With some salad out of a bag, too. With Product 19 Cereal for dessert. Or maybe Eggo waffles. Yeah, that's the ticket. Grilled chicken strips, salad, and Eggos.

I think I may be sinking too deep, and too comfortably, into confirmed bachelorhood.

Hey, what can I say? I have to find some way to amuse myself at 1:00 in the morning...

You heard it here first, on Alex.Tango.Fuego!

Tango En Vivo

My buddy Rigoberto [so named for anonymity] sent me the video below of La Cumparsita/D'Arienzo last night. I've seen it before, and thought that I had actually posted it in the past. I also remember posting the one of Adrian Guida. I was not able to sift through and find them, though. There was a period several months ago that I was posting stuff without tagging it. I'll have to go back and fix that. Orphans.

Anyway, there is something about live tango that stirs the soul. Something about transporting yourself back to the day when it was all live - or at least there might have been special events, like there are now, where a live orquestra was on stage.

Many people don't like to dance to a live orquestra, as the individual musicians sometimes don't mesh into one contiguous rhythym. I have had the pleasure of dancing to Extasis in Denver, and also Orquestra Color Tango at the Buenos Aires Social Club, where I developed a crush on their pianista. I'll lead off with them in the video line-up.

Thanks to Rigoberto for the subject of this post. Do a little searching on YouTube - there is an amazing amount of stuff out there. I've included some links at the bottom.

Oh, my point is that if you ever get the chance to see a live event/orquestra/duo/trio/quartet/quintet/whatever performance, or dance at one, definitely, most definitely, go for it.




Orquestra Color Tango :: Malena







Orquestra del Rey del Company y Juan D'Aienzo :: La Cumparsita
A live (TV) version of la orquestra del Rey del Compas, led by Juan D'Arienzo.
Note that this YouTube user/channel, has 837 videos of live performances of the Singers, Golden Age Tango Orquestras, Bandoneonistas, and modern day Orquestras as well. There are also interviews, film clips and TV show clips. Hugo, in NYC, has done a remarkable job collecting and cataloging a wealth of historical footage. We owe guys like this a huge debt of gratitude.

This is the one Rigoberto sent me...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUiH_HpWYSc [Embedding disabled by user.]





Osvaldo Pugliese :: Alberto Moran :: El Abrojito







The following is one of my favorites for the passion of the singer...sheesh man, the hair is standing on end all the way up and down my neck and back just listening to this now...

Osvaldo Pugliese :: Adrian Guida :: Y No Puedo Olvidarte







Extasis Tango :: Denver Tango Festival :: Mercury Cafe
Thanks go to miles/tangobliss for the video...







Javier Ponce :: Malena







Ashes in Order :: August Hoerr :: Shane Perlowin :: Asheville, NC :: Anaphora Tango
Ashes in Order is Shane Perlowin on guitar and August Hoerr on accordion. They are based in Asheville, North Carolina. This piece, entitled Anaphora Tango, was composed by August. August is the son of tango friends here.







And no post on this subject would be complete without mention of the esteemed and exalted Mr. Glover Gill and Glover Tango (and sometimes the Tosca String Quartet). Glover is a composer, pianist and accordionist.

This first one is "Mi Otra Mitad de Naranja", composed by Glover and performed by the Tosca String Quartet. More of a nuevo piece. The video is by tangohous/Mikas.



Glover Gill :: Mi Otra Mitad de Naranja [partial]



The second one I wanted to post I couldn't find. It's Glover's piano solo of the song "Malena". He is an amazing pianist, tattoos and all. His solo of Malena is even better than Lucio Demare's. Look for Glover's CD titled "Solo Tango". It's a good one. Get it!


Happy Wednesday to all. Oh, I almost forgot about the links...here ya go...

My Favorites on my YouTube Channel "ZGman" [Disregard the non-tango stuff, especially the rooftop rough sex/porno]

HAranguiz [Hugo in NYC] - Most extensive collection...

The fuckers at YouTube are cracking down. One link I was going to leave you is "Elvio07". It appears they have suspended his channel.

ElCachafaz08 It appears this might be Elvio07's new channel.

Here's a good playlist embed from Oleh/OneTangoSpring...no live orchestra footage, but a good catalog of 23 different tango orquestras...



Keep searching on your own...there's tons of stuff out there...

Aack! Sorry, I forgot about the Las Vegas Tango Weekend.

In posting about upcoming U.S. Tango festivals, I totally forgot about a small, but intense one. I haven't actually been, but I've heard good things about it from friends who have.

Los Hermanos Macana [Enrique y Guillermo di Fazio] will be there!

It's September 18-21 - just a few weeks away, but that's one of the nice things about Vegas, you can pretty much just drop what you're doing and show up. Show up in the city that is, not the festival - you still would be wise to pre-register, although you have missed any early bird registration deadlines.

Here's the website :: http://www.lasvegastangoweekend.com/presentacion.html

It's being billed as a combination of Tango instruction simultaneously with Master Musicians - strongly focusing on musicality.

Here's the lineup ::

Hermanos Macana
Graciela Gonzales
Fernanda Ghi y Guillermo Merlo (Teachers and Organizers)

Special Guest Musicians::
Pepe y Pablo Motta (Pablo Motta Trio)
Anibal Berraute Quartet
Melanie Hutton (Singer)
Hugo Latorre

I've taken workshops before with Fernanda y Guillermo - they're great - I'm sure the entire event will be a good one. You could expect the majority of folks from Arizona, California, Vegas, Reno and other western states.

Plus, I imagine the airfares to Vegas are some of the lowest in the country right now.

When dancing a milonga can be intimate...so very intimate...

One couple, sharing a dance in an incredible open air venue [Denver's Cheesman Pavilion] built of marble in classic Greek architectural style... a lone, classically trained guitarist in one corner, with no other accompaniment...one man, one woman, [one guitarist] dancing a beautiful tango [milonga]...

And 300 people watching!!!

I've posted this before, way back in early October of last year, just after I started the blog. I really like it so I am re-posting it. Someone in Tel Aviv, Israel was looking at it tonight, last night that is, so that's what refreshed my memory. That's right, my one year anniversary is just around the corner - September 9 a year ago was my first post.

Oh, and that's Gregory "Grisha" Nisnevich, on the guitar. He's based in Denver and is a great dancer in his own right. The song is "Milonga del Ayer".

Here it is...
La Tanguera found and posted this YouTube video from the May 2007 Denver Milonguero Festival...it's the video version of my photos of their performance...



Here is the photo...click it to see more from my Flickr stream...

Down the road in a cloud of smoke...

Jerry Jeff Walker singing "L.A. Freeway"...I saw Jerry Jeff in concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, when I was 16 or so...he was so drunk he couldn't even play one song...I think that was the last live (large venue) concert I ever went to...I decided then and there that my money was better spent on LP's...

I wanna go home with the armadillo...

Gary P. Nunn...singing "London Homesick Blues"...he's singing about the long defunct Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas...which I have the unique privilege of having been to...once...vague and distant memories...

"~the friendliest people and the purtiest women you'll ever see~"

On Sunday :: Graphic Starvation

You may have noticed that I keep rolling the prior post forward each Sunday. The thought came to me that I should use Sunday, and my "On Sunday" thread, to post something spiritual or humanitarian. I was raised in the Episcopal church/ideology - which is also known as Anglican Catholic, versus Roman Catholic. I drifted away from going to church in my high school years - drifted away from organized religion in general. I was married in the church (the first time), but insisted the priest strike the language that "we were sinners, and not worthy to kneel at the altar of the Lord..." - something to that effect - from the ceremony.

So, this On Sunday theme is not intended to be "preachy". It is something I am doing more for myself - to bring my spiritual and humanitarian sides to a higher level in my life - and sharing it on my blog in the process.

Back to this post, the prior post that is, "On Sunday :: A Matter of Perspectives". I think I originally posted it three weeks ago. The concept came to me to show photos, with no words, photos of space and this delicate blue marble that we live on. Just to get us to think about our place in the universe. Then it came to me to also have a photo that represented poverty and starvation. The grandeur and beauty of the universe, the magnificence and opulence of human endeavor, countered with the terrible ugliness of some life experience on this earth. I naturally went straight to flickr to do a search.

The last photo is the one that I chose, because it represented for me, in the most graphic way, the visual image of starvation. Only one person, Kendalee, commented and verbally made the connection I was trying to achieve graphically - literally, and literally. A graphic depiction of a graphic situation for one innocent child on this earth. Kendalee said that we, as humans, as a global society, "are capable of such magnificence and yet such indifference" at the same time.

Before seeing this photo, I used to believe that starvation was a necessary evil. Mother nature in her worst incarnation - controlling the human population. High birth rate - drought - not enough food - then people will starve. Now I believe that with so much money flowing around the third world, so much of it being diverted to corrupt government officials, so much food being produced, that no single individual on the planet should ever go hungry. I often wonder if foreign aid (for food or other uses) from the world powers, from the world bank, from the IMF, ever ends up back in the U.S. - buying a swimming pool or a Beemer or putting a kid through college - for someone in America with the "right" connections. Now that would be a true travesty. There is always talk of "protecting American interests". If there were a way to profit from ending starvation, perhaps things would be different. Profit. Cash. Spoils. Does it always have to be about money?

I ask that you take a closer look at the photo - the last one. Apparently, the photographer who took it was so effected by the image, the image in real life, that he took his own life. The image shows an emaciated child dying in a field, with a bird of carrion looking on. The child appears to be between the ages of 2 and 6, but it's hard to tell with starvation and malnourishment. The photo is tagged on flickr with "Sudan".

Look at the photo and ponder how this child came to be in the field. Did she (could be a little boy, but who knows...) crawl off to die on her own? Did a parent or relative place her there to die? Perhaps an aid worker, with no other option, carried her and laid her there to die. She's just laying there, too weak to even support herself upright, or roll over on her back. Perhaps she is trying shield herself from the inevitable when the bird may begin to peck at her while she is still alive and breathing. Perhaps she has seen her friends die this way, and knows what is coming. At this point, is she hours away from death? Or days?

I know it's all pretty overwhelming and graphic and painful to ponder this scene. It is for me, as I sit here with tears streaming down my face. It's too much for me to bear. It's too much for all of us to bear. I think that's why we avoid thinking about it. That's why our media shows us the latest news on Britney Spears and not starvation in Africa or elsewhere in the world.

All I know is this - no human being should ever have to endure what this child did - and thousands like her. It's morally reprehensible for this to be occurring, right now, on our planet.

I have written to my sister, who lives in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia with her family to find out a good aid program/charity to donate to. I'm going to find one or two to start donating regularly to. Right now that's all I can do for my part. I'll let you know what I find out about a charity/cause.

This is my new mantra: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem..."

On Sunday :: A matter of perspectives

Upcoming Tango Festivals! :: Make your plans now!

It's not too early to book airline tickets and make hotel reservations for two upcoming tango festivals in Texas.

The first is the 10th Annual Fandango de Tango in Austin over Thanksgiving. It's billed as "An Immersion in the Art of Argentine Tango". I know this is a conflict for most people - family and Thanksgiving celebrations surely over-ride a tango festival. But, if you can make it, it's a good one!

Here is the info:

Nov 26-30
Omni Austin Hotel at Southpark
6 milongas :: 90 hours of classes
Early registration deadline is October 1. [$200 deposit by Oct 1, balance by Nov 1]

"Headliners" ::
Fabian Salas
Nito y Elba Garcia
Guillermo Merlo & Fernanda Ghi
Diego di Falco y Carolina Zokalski
Pablo Pugliese y Noel Strazza
Alex Krebs y Luciana Valle

Here is the flyer.
Here is the website.
Here is the registration form.



The other one is the Houston Tango Festival January 22-25, 2009.

Here is the line-up ::

Teachers
Brigitta Winkler Berlin
Tomas Howlin BsAs/Montreal
Cecilia Gonzalez BsAs
Donato Juarez BsAs
Javier Rochwarger BsAs
w/ Monica Caivano Austin
Tova & Carlos Moreno Boston

Special Master Classes
Horacio Godoy & Cecilia Garcia BsAs

Immersion Tango Workshop for Beginners
Ector Gutierrez Baton Rouge/New Orleans

DJs
Avik Basu Ann Arbor
Jason Laughlin North Carolina
Ramu Pyreddy Philadelphia/DC
Shorey Meyers San Francisco
Vijay Namasivayam San Francisco
Yulia Kriskovets DC

Orquestra
Glovertango Austin

Yoga
Andrew Dugas Houston/Eugene, OR

I hope to see some of you there. I'll be attending both!

Harley Vista

Harley Vista
Originally uploaded by dagpeak

I want one.