Benalauría, a charming village near Málaga

Last week, I attended a professional meeting in a small village of the province of Málaga, called Benalauría. Besides a most interesting and enjoyable meeting, I found that this village is truly amazing, and in one of the few free times we had, I spent one hour shooting like crazy around its streets. Herafter I post some samples; all of them taken with my Pentax K10D and the standard 18-55 zoom.

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

De Cateto blog

Prince stay in Paris at the end of july/begining of August?

I have been digging a bit this evening at the French Prince forum Schkopi and found this post (translation at the end):

This guy first speaks about Prince asking an engineer to be available in the end of July in Paris.

Well, this is the text of the post in French:

"Alors..un peu plus de précisions sur cette affaire:

Il se trouve que l'ingé son en question n'est pas n'importe qui..
Ce mec là est le responsable du plus gros groupe européen de sonorisation Potar Hurlant.
Donc ce mec à été appelé par Prince pour s'occuper de la sonorisation d'un prochain(s) concert(s) à Paris, mais aussi pour ramener tout son materiel de sonorisation le plus performant et le plus haut de gamme.

L'info vraiment intéressante c'est que tout ce matériel, ce sonorisateur-patron du plus gros groupe de sono d'europe à été loué et mobilisé par prince pour au moins 20 jours à partir de fin juillet

Je vous certifie ici que cette info est béton. On connait le Prince qui peut annuler des choses au dernier moment mais là, ça m'étonnerai énormément puisque le sonorisateur-patron en question à annulé une résidence d'un mois en Tunisie avec Faudel en juillet (pour les gens qui ne sont pas du metier, ceci se refuse rarement car c'est très très bien payé comme boulot et on est en plus accueilli comme des rois..) pour être disponible pour Prince...

j'aurai de plus amples nouvelles durant le mois de juillet. "

Translation:

"Ok, a bit more of details on this story:

It happens that the engineer in question is not a nobody...
He is the responsible of the biggest European group in professional audio, "Potar Hurlant".
Thus this guy has been called by Prince to be in charge of the audio of the next show(s) in Paris, but also to bring all of his most performing and more high-end audio equipment.

The really interesting information is that all of this material from this top-notch audio group in Europe has been rented and moved by Prince for at least 10 days after the end of July.

I can ensure you this information is reliable. We know Prince can cancel things at the last minute but this would be very surprising, given that this guy mentioned above has cancelled a stay in Tunisia with Faudel in July (for people out of this business, this is very rare to reject because it is very very well payed as a work, and you are received as if you were kings) in order to be available for Prince.

I will have more news during July"

I personally think this information looks reliable, so maybe the much hyped/rumoured Paris stay will eventually happen this summer. But hey, remember: this is Princeland, so take all the required grains of salt.

Again, you Parisians are very lucky people! :)

Joseph Stiglitz and another model to solve the economical crisis

These days we are smashed by countless articles and statemetns from experts, who insist over and over that to solve the crisis, the deficit of the different countries has to be quickly decreased, as if there was an unanymous opinion on this topic.

Well, it is far from being the cases. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize in Economy, strongly disagrees. And it is well worth to read the interview he did for The Independent.

Let me show only one quote, but there are many of interest:

The old story is still true: you cut expenditures and the economy goes down. We have lots of experiments which show this, thanks to Herbert Hoover and the IMF," he adds. The IMF imposed that mistaken policy in Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Argentina and hosts of other developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s. "So we know what will happen: economies will get weaker, investment will get stymied and it's a downward vicious spiral. How far down we don't know – it could be a Japanese malaise. Japan did an experiment just like this in 1997; just as it was recovering, it raised VAT and went into another recession.

Video entirely made with an iPhone 4

This video was made entirely with an iPhone 4 (and I mean recording AND edition) in 48 h; it is truly unbelievable:


"Apple of My Eye" - an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

The A playlist

Last week, I did a strong summer cleaning in the music library of my iPod touch: I deleted all songs, and started putting albums back. Given that, previously, more than half of the library consisted of Prince music, I decided to do the opposite this time: I started with all the non-Prince music, choosing different albums from different artists. By now I have around 3 Gb left and still no Prince music has been included.

After doing this, I did a long trip last Saturday, and at some point I started playing music; by chance it happened that I started playing songs in alphabetical order, by the A letter, obviously:

A coral room, Kate Bush
A country mile, Everything but the girl
A dream's a dream, Soul II Soul
A little knowledge, Scritti Politti
A man needs a maid, Neil Young
A night like this, The cure
A pedir su mano, Juan Luis Guerra
A prayer for England, Massive Attack
A slow soul, Scritti Politti
A tiels leis, Wim Mertens
A veces un cielo, Luz Casal
A.D. 2000, Erykah Badu
Absolute, Scritti Politti
Accept yourself, The Smiths
Acrobat, U2

What an enlightening experience: there were loads of stunning songs from different artists, of all styles, either slow or fast pop, men & women... and it made me wonder this simple question:

is it worth to spend loads and loads of time listening only one artist (and related), even if he is the most talented musician on Earth??

Tracey Thorn "Hormones" lyrics

This is somehow a prelude to a little article that is turning in my head during the last weeks, on Prince & maturity.

Anyway: these are the lyrics of a current favourite song of mine, called "Hormones", by my beloved Tracey Thorn. In it, Tracey speaks about hormones to her daughter, in a way that... well, says it all:

Yours are just kickin' in, mine are just checkin' out; 

You're at the beginning of this tunnel, and I'm just comin' out; 

And either way these days we're not as in control as we think. 

You're stampin' up the stairs; I'm cryin' at the kitchen sink; 

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. 

You worry 'bout growin' up; I worry 'bout lettin' go, oh ho ho. 

'Cause I know what's comin' up, 

Don't let me be the last one to know. 

And either way some of these days we're gonna have to tough it out. 

You turn the music up ... I ... I try to think before I shout; 

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. 

And I have to own up: that dress looks better on you now; 

Only half grown up, you should really twirl, take a bow. 

You ask me what goin' on, why do we feel this way? 

I can only shake my head, 

"Hormones, babe," I say. 

Yours are just kickin' in, mine are just checkin' out; 

Aw, you're just kickin' in....

My audio-video system

I have been crazy about hi-fi sound for a longtime (in fact, since 1990), although my budget has never been too high to get a top-notch sound system. Yet I managed to build, slowly, a good set of equipment from different brands, following often the advice of my favourite dealer in Córdoba. And finally, last summer, I managed to put together a complete audio-video system which fits most of my expectations, within my current limits.

The most recent purchase was a 42" LCD tv from LG (model 6100). The rest had been made along the years, starting with the main backbone (CD player , preamplifier & amplifier, loudspeakers) which are old but I don't intend to change, as they sound as good as in their first days.

So this is my gear now:

With closed doors:

The audio pre/tuner + power amplifier (NAD, models 1600 pre + 2100 power amp), CD recorder (Philips), CD player (Denon 980) and DVD recorder (Philips), all in the centre:

On the left: VCR recorder (JVC), DVD player (Harman Kardon DVD1), DTTV tuner and subwoofer (KEF SW200):

Finally, on the right side of the picture, turntable (NAD 5120) and the other subwoofer:

Each subwoofer has its corresponding monitor for mid and high frequencies, located at both sides of the TV (KEF C1).

This is no substitute for a proper cinema, of course, but still allows the enjoyment of videos with full quality sound and a large screen. Besides, and most of all, it has an excellent audio quality, either using the CD player or my iPod Touch as the audio source.

And all of it, in spite of the fact that the oldest equipment (CD player and pre/power amplifier) was purchased back in 1991, when I got my first salaries. This is, to me, evidence enough that you don't need the purchase-the-very-last-gear in order to get amazing audio/video quality.

Why I don't participate in MoQuake

This is not a secret for people who know me longtime ago and are in contact with me often, but I have received a couple of questions from some friends asking why I was not participating in Moquake.com; the reason for the question is that I was member of the team of moderators who was involved in Housequake.com before its closing. And this is the plain answer:

I was neither informed about the plans for, nor invited to be part of the team behind Moquake.com; besides, even in the case I had been invited, I would have refused as there are some personal incompatibilities.

And consequently I decided not to participate in that site, since I am well educated and know where I am not welcome. It's as simple as that.

Some old things are changing: Jesús Vázquez appears nude in the last issue of Spanish magazine (for men) Interviú

Interviú is an old Spanish magazine which always holds a picture of a beautiful woman with very few clothes on in the cover; which is a way to explain to foreign readers that it is like a humble, Spanish version of Playboy, which besides of fancy women imagery, contains interesting articles, reports, etc.

Well, this week they had a big change: the cover pictures does not depict a beautiful, hot woman, but rather a picture of famous Spanish tv showman Jesús Vázquez; this guy was a famous figure in Spain in his young years, when he was most popular between teenager females who adored him. Yet, a few years laters, he plainly admitted he was gay, in a controversial movement which only made his career stronger. This prompted many women to say that "it was a big wasting".

And this week, he's appearing nude in Interviú, in a series of pictures published at the same time of the gay pride journey; according to reports, the price he was paid for the pictures will be fully donated to a charity organization.

Regardless of everybody's opinion on this story, some old things are changing when you see a popula, hot man displayed as the main attraction in the cover of a magazine for men like Interviú.

Bad reception in iPhone 4?

Just came back home after some further professional commitments, and found out about all the noise made around the iPhone 4 reception problems.

Let me say it clearly: from what I read, it all seems much more a campaign pushed to counteract the hype which came with the iPhone launch. It seems to me that Apple has such a strong winner with it that the competition has to react somehow, even if you need to stress problems that are not so strong.

But maybe I'm wrong, who knows; in the time being, though, the general public reaction to the iPhone 4 seems to be excellent, with sales going well over expectations, and with excellent initial reports from users.

As for my personal opinion: when the iPhone is sold without links to mobile companies at reasonable prices, I will be first in line to get one; until that time comes, I will stick to my iPod touch, which works perfect after upgrading to iOS 4.

BET lifetime award to Prince

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After watching the video of the BET lifetime award to Prince ceremony, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is well deserved and it is always a pleasure to see the world of music paying homage to my favourite musician. On the other hand, the performances were of diverse qualities, from the heartfelt version done by Alicia keys to the somehow disappointing take of Patti Labelle of Purple Rain.

And by the way: why no men performed in this tribute? If it is true that Prince selected the participants, what is the reason why no men is -in his view- entitled to be included in the list? D'Angelo, among others, comes quickly to mind as someone who would perfectly fit for this job.

Anyway, let's hope this ceremony was appreciated by Prince and helped some new fans to appreciate the huge value of the astonishing Prince legacy.

Beautiful day

Today is a beautiful day out there. We are having a warm begining of summer in Córdoba, still you can close the windows at night (as otherwise it would be too cold in the early morning), the flowers remain in full shape, and all in all, this end of June we are enjoying temperatures much lower than usual.

A few clouds were turning around my mind lately, while thinking on what to do in a few domains. But maybe the warm temperatures helped me to get focused and I have very clear ideas by now. Of course I don't know what flavour will be the next chocolate from the box, but I am ready for any flavour, and unless it is in bad condition, I can tell you for sure that I am going to be delighted, no matter the kind.

So if someone likes the good ol' Cateto and his ways of posting, here and at other places, I have good news for you: I will keep on posting, and possibly trying to put even more meat to cook.

(And conversely, if someone was waiting, or even hoping/wishing, that I closed my mouth for good: sorry, I have bad news: that won't happen anytime soon.)

Twenty years ago or so, when I was still a purple believer (rather than a purple music lover), I could have ended this post with the infamous sentence:

"May U live 2 see the dawn"

Today, that sentence only brings me fond memories of the past, but means very little to me.

Hence I will end this post with my meaningful mantra:

Carpe diem.

Turning the page

The very nick of Cateto started, back in 2004, when I started participating in some online communities. Since that time, I have been pretty active in those communities; at some point, I thought my participation was generally appreciated and valued, and possibly derived from that fact, and also out of my own interest in some of those communities, I have felt very attached (and I mean personal and sentimentally attached), to the point of feeling a kind of commitment. Man, was I wrong!

A number of recent (and not so recent, in some cases) events have been useful to wake me up and make me come back to reality. This kind of events belong to a category which serve to show you how things are actually, without disguises or contaminations or confusions. And therefore, they have the value of putting everything, and everybody, in its/his right place, for good or bad. They illuminate your mind and expose how you might have been wasting your time.

They help you understand who are real friends: those with whom you have a personal relationship which goes beyond specific situations, who can understand you even from the disagreement, and for whom your titles mean nothing at all. Conversely, they help you also to outline who were not even casual friends: those who were playing a game tightly linked to power trips; those who will blindly follow the powers that be, no matter whom, how or what for. Those who happily shared hugs and kisses until the main pathway changed direction.

Another positive outcome of this kind of events I mention here, is that they help you clearly define your ethics: things you accept and you don't accept, ways of behaving which you respect or you don't respect, and overall, simple rules that you feel you must follow, in order to be coherent with yourself.

A couple of weeks ago, I remember an interesting conversation with a woman, where we discussed about couple relationships, and about problems in them; at some point, I stated that, in some relationships, if some kind of problems have to arise (reflecting a deep flaw in the relationship, preventing it from going really forward), they rather appear soon, as it is pointless to continue under such conditions. Online relationships are relationships after all, and the same reasoning applies. So, looking back with some perspective, it is good to see things clearly, under the light provided by some conflicts.

Everything is clear by now. It's time to turn the page.

And, for good or bad, there we go. The Cateto who started, all innoncently, appearing in internet in 2004, is today turning the page.

Al pan, pan, y al vino, vino.

José Saramago died yesterday

These are bad news to restart posting in this blog, but the death of someone like José Saramago has to be noticed.

I confess I have a few books from him, but I've not managed thus far to read them. I started one, Ensaio sobre a lucidez, but found it too hard and abandoned it after a while. Yet I have seen him in tv or press interviews and his personality looked fascinating to me; it was one of the living examples showcasing that you can have a progressist attitude in life while not being hooked in the past. This is why I considered Saramago one of the most significant ethical references, one of those personalities who truly show a way that deserves full respect.

Saramago was living during his last years in Tenerife, after a number of strong negative reactions in Portugal, his own country, made him feel uncomfortable to live over there. Among them, possibly the boldest one was criticism because his famous O evangelio segundo Jesus Cristo was annoying for Catholics. This alone made me feel full sympathy for Saramago.

May he rest in peace, he who did not believe in gods.

A few days off

Maybe somebody is wondering why there is little content added lately to this blog.
Well, I am now in the US to participate in a workshop, and the schedule is quite tight, so I have little time to spend here. But I am coming back home on Thursday, so once the jet lag is over, I will resume posting on a regular basis.

See you then!

Bad hints regarding the forthcoming Prince album

A few months ago, I posted an article entitled "Next Prince album will be for hardcores", which has received some interest from readers of this blog, according to google analytics.

Well, we are presumably close to the actual release dates of the new album, and the few hints that popped up during the last days suggest I was completely wrong.

First, we had the july Ebony issue with the famous cover story. After having a look at the interview (I admit I was embarrassed enough to prevent me from finishing it), it seems that Prince remains in kookoland, with a language full of princebonics and with a content which I can... ahem... barely describe: JW brainwashing in full effect, to the point that the average public must conclude "well, the guy seemed to be sane around the Musicology times, but it does not seem to be case anymore". In short, a big missed opportunity to appear like a good musician in the real world, rather than a weird/crazy music genius living in his ivory tower.

Then we got the music recently released, again at The Current radio show: the new song Hot summer. Although I don't know yet if it is the new single of the new album, or just a one-off promotional item, I'm sorry to report that it is a forgettable poppish tune devoid of any originality and far as far can be from the priceless pop jewels that Prince has released in the past. Even Guitar, being rather unremarkable, draws big circles around Hot summer. But beyond the qualities (subjected to opinion of course) of the new song, an indisputable fact is that Prince is targetting the charts for teenagers, with a pop-by-the-numbers sound which will probably get him no new fans (teenagers are too worried with Lady Gaga to care about old musicians -in their words- such as Prince), while will help him to put his longtime followers even further away.

In short: the first hints suggest we are not going to find an exciting new Prince album; on the contrary, it seems the guy remains stuck in the same approach he's been trying for a few years. In other words, the adult and interesting musician digging new ground and exploring maturity in lyrics is nowhere to be found (yet?); in his place, we find a 52 years old musician who struggles with Madonna to get attention in media, while rumours about his appearance on X Factor are surfacing everywhere.

What a disappointment.

Before ending this comment, let me openly admit that I was fully, completely & absolutely wrong in the predictions mentioned above.

Now, let's hope someone changes his mind and I am proven (again) fully wrong in this comment.

Free advice to solve a few problems

To Prince: fire the yes-sir team. Hire a few guys with criterion enough to give you credible feedback, so that stuff like "Purple & gold" or "Hot summer" never escapes the drafts section of the vault. Stop writing music for one year. Spend all your time playing live for low budgets. Focus on small venues and give the best tickets to longtime fans. Try to live on the current budget divided by four.

To Zapatero: resign as soon as possible. Put Rubalcaba as prime minister until the end of this period. Get Solbes back onboard as Economy minister, and show it as often as possible in international institutions. Let your party choose a good inheritor after Rubalcaba.

To the European Union: use this opportunity to stablish, once and for all, a truly authoritative, common European government. Put Felipe González as the first president and let him manage stuff for a couple of years. Then make elections and start acting like truly a common union rather than scattered, ungovernable little countries.

To Angela Merkel: never predicate for others the same medicine you avoided when you confronted the same problems the others have by now.

"Pelotas" disappears from Spanish tv

This might mean little to non Spanish readers, but I have been following a tv series called "Pelotas", focused on the little community of people around a small football club. It was a little oasis of good humor, good writing, and good acting. I was waiting every week to watch the new episode, not because it was full of bullshit mysteries (like, say, Lost), but rather because it was a nice time, allowing yourself to reconcile to the concept of good, modest tv series.

"Pelotas" was running along the second season in 2010, and in spite of a rather average audience, it seemed that the Spanish public tv decided to let it grow due to its quality.

Until today; I just read in El País that today's episode will be the last one, as "Pelotas" has been cancelled. Sad news for lovers of good tv.

The take home message to me is quite bitter: this is the third or four small series I have started to watch and enjoyed, then suddenly cancelled. Unfortunately, it happened in several cases for series that were aired by public tvs, from the group Televisión Española. We were used to similar happenings in private tvs, depending strictly on their profit, which used to remove any kind of show or series upong bad audience dates, regardless of their growing potential.

I thought that public tv was different, and that had been the case for a few years; but this proves that, sadly, one can not expect that behaviour for a long time, and once more, a good series disappears as a consequence of the fucking audience.

Obviously Big Brother will not be cancelled for that reason.

And obviously, TVE will have a hard time to convince me to get hooked again on any new series, no matter how they promote it. From now on, I think I will focus on series which have been aired in full elsewhere, and forget about futile attempts from miserable business heads for whom credibility, fidelity and quality mean nothing at all.

Steve Jobs interview at All Things Digital (full video)

Well worth to watch in my opinion. You can disagree or agree with Mr. Jobs, but you can't say he's got unclear ideas.

Ebony July issue with cover story on Prince

Well, the very expected July issue of Ebony magazine is just around the corner, and it contains, as reported,  a cover story dealing with Prince, presumably related to the new album launch and his forthcoming gigs. I have not read it yet, although some hints posted at the Ebony website don't look too promising to my eyes; hopefully I will be wrong.

Regardless, it's nice to see Prince looking mighty fine in the cover of a big magazine. When I have read this article in full detail, will post further comments.

Housequake.com interview with Alan Leeds, posted in Purpleinterviews

Well, in a very humble format (no time yet for fancy stuff), I just posted the first interview in Purpleinterviews: the one we did at Housequake.com with Alan Leeds.

It is in my opinion a must read, if you are interested in Prince music. You can read it here.

Self-deffense or terrorism carried out by the army?

Please read at any website the description of the recent attack from Israel's army to the ships going to Gaza with humanitarian aid. Then try to read it again, by removing the names/origin from each of the parties involved in the conflict.

Then, how would you qualify it: an event where Israel was deffending itself from attacks, or rather as terrorism carried out by the army of Israel?