Kathy en España. May 2006
Kathy at a bull ring in Sevilla. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
I amazed at how I'm able to keep up with the many people I meet at my gigs.
For example, I met this one colombiana named Kathy at Cafe Citron in January 2004 (here's the pic--blue top.) and a month or so later I had an extra free ticket to a flamenco concert based on a play by Federico García Lorca and so I was thinking about who amongst my friends would want to go and immediately Kathy came to mind despite having met and chatted with her briefly only once or twice. On the night I first met her, I remembered her telling me how much she loves poetry especially by Lorca. Bear in mind that I meet a LOT of people at my gigs especially at Cafe Citron. Of course it helps my memory if you're pretty. hehe
But there's no gimmick here. I do have a genuine interest in most of the people I meet. My secret to remembering all of the many names and faces is that as soon as I get home, I edit the photos (which helps to jog my visual memory and in the process remember the faces), then I upload the pics to my blog and add commentary making sure to identify all the people (helps to reinforce in my mind all the names) and if possible mentioning something special about them that I personally found interesting. That's all there is and it works!
I ran into Kathy at Lisner Auditorium last February just before the Gala de Andalucía concert after not seeing her for more than a year. We caught up with each other briefly and said goodbye before going into the theater cuz I assumed I wouldn't run into her later. She was going back to Florida in a few days.
Anyway, this evening (Monday) she sent me a random selection of cool pics from her recent trip to Spain. Thanks Kathy!
Flamenco show in Sevilla. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
This is a pretty cool action shot, below. I don't know of any flamenco dances that are typically danced with a cape so I'm guessing that this was performed with classical music or perhaps pasodoble.
Dance with bullfighter capes. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
What I love about Spain, and many European cities for that matter, is the preservation of the Old World. I'm sure these views of Granada haven't changed much over the past few centuries. Very cool!
Kathy and friend in Granada. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
This is probably the same Granada that inspired composer Isaac Albéniz to compose his famous Suite Iberia, originally written for piano but transcribed for and made even more famous in performances on the classical guitar. You may recognize one of his more famous pieces, Asturias (or Leyenda), which believe it or not was originally composed for the piano!
Granada. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
Montserrat. May 2006 (photo courtesy of Katherine Vargas)
This last one has some signficance for me cuz it happens to be the place where a very famous classical guitar composer named Fernando Sor (1778-1839) lived in a monastery. When I was majoring in classical guitar performance at California State University, Fullerton, I performed Sor's Variations on a Theme of Mozart in my junior recital. My guitar professor at the time, David Grimes, encouraged me to learn as much as I could about the composers and time period of the pieces I was learning. Of course, back then I knew Sor's biographical details by heart. Most of that has been forgotten, 'cept I have a good visual memory. When I saw Kathy's last pic, I immediately recognized it as Montserrat.
I hope these pics sent in by Kathy and other DC flamencos inspire you to plan a trip to Spain soon. I know I will!
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