InMadrid February 2011 Issue by InMadrid

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features arts &culture 7 THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING CORNER

ad index

BARS

Working hard in the interests of elderly expats

8 ROMANCE SPECIAL: INS AND OUTS

15 Month Ahead Art & theatre listings

AMOROUS LIAISONS AND GLORIOUS GOODBYES

music

How to meet, and get rid of, a partner in Madrid

16 Concerts

9 ROMANCE SPECIAL: THE WAY TO GO

CINEMA YELMO CINES IDEAL, inside front

Our pick of this month’s gigs

16 Album reviews

CUPID’S LOW-COST ARROW

PICNIC, p17 TABERNA CHICA, p7 TEMPLO DEL GATO, p9 TUPPERWARE, p17

The best new music releases

A full day out without breaking the bank

GUIDED WALKS/LEARNING ENGLISH WALKIE TALKIE, p12 & 17

17 Nightlife

10 TIERS OF SUCCESS

The most up-to-date clubbing guide HEALTH

The rise of Alcorcón Football Club

books and movies

11 THE OTHERS

AZUARA DENTAL, p9 CLINICA DENTAL CISNE, p14

18 Movie reviews

Anglos working beyond the realms of English teaching

New releases on the big screen

11 MADE IN MADRID

18 Book Buzz

The city behind the film—Dr Zhivago

JOB OFFERS See Service Guide for job offers, p20-22

New titles for your shelf

11 LOOK WHAT YOU’VE SAID LANGUAGE SERVICES

The origin of “Blue Blood”

outandabout

13 ALL PUFFED OUT The smoking ban: can Spain learn from the Emerald Isle?

14 LOL MEANS LOVE OF LESBIAN

Scene WHAT’S NEW IN TOWN

Mad World MADRID

See Service Guide, p20-22

OUTDOOR ADVENTURES MADRID ACTION, back cover

RANDOMNESS!

Interview with the hot indie-pop band

Another Fine Mes THE MONTH’S NEWS DIGESTED

5 Great Places to Buy... PRIVATE, PROVOCATIVE PRESENTS!

PUBS DUBLINERS, p6 FINBAR’S, p7 IRISH ROVER, p5 O’CONNELL ST, p6 O’NEILL’S, inside front SHAMROCKS, p14

12 Food & Drink ¡GOOD GRIFO!, RESTAURANT REVIEW

or some, St Valentine’s Day is about love and romance; for others, it’s about massproduced greetings cards, gifts in hideous shades of pink and poems that could be used as a means of torture by evil dictatorships. Here tel: 91 523 30 91 at InMadrid we’ve tried to cater for every taste, and our email: city Romance Special includes Gabrielle Easter’s guide editor@in-madrid.com to meeting and getting rid of a partner (P8), and Kat Purkiss’ cost-effective romantic day out (P9). We did write a few poems too, but after reading them they were locked in a box and buried to prevent them falling into the wrong hands. We also have the inspiring story of the English-Speaking Corner (P7), whilst Tessa White takes an intriguing look at the smoking ban in Ireland, and wonders if the Spanish reaction will be similar (P13). Our music section has an interview with Santi Balmes, lead singer of Love of Lesbian (P14), plus sport focuses on soccer with Alcorcón (P10). Never mind the 14th, plenty to curl up with for the whole month!

editor’s note

InMadrid

regulars 19 RESTAURANT GUIDE 20 SERVICE GUIDE 23 CLASSIFIEDS

Want to contribute to InMadrid? Or how about being an intern? If you’re interested in collaborating, send your CV, samples of journalistic writing and ideas for articles to editor@in-madrid.com

RESTAURANTS ARTEMISA, p9 EL ESTRAGÓN, p12 MIL Y UNA NOCHES, p14 TERRA NOVA, p13 See Restaurant Guide, p19

WEB SERVICES JAN JAEGER, p13

Want to advertise in InMadrid? Quieres anunciar en InMadrid? Email us! ¡Escribenos! marketing@in-madrid.com Call us! ¡Llamanos! 91 523 30 91

PUBLISHED BY: CITYSCOPE S.L. (UNIPERSONAL) MANAGING DIRECTOR: NICK HAUGHTON • EDITOR: JEFF WISEMAN DESIGN: KNIC • MARKETING AND SALES: marketing@in-madrid.com • ADMIN: ELENA ORTIZ • ART: ELENA RODEMANN • MUSIC (REVIEWS): RUSSELL PARTON • MUSIC (GIGS): OLIVIA WATERS • NEWS: MARTIN DELFIN • NIGHTLIFE: EMMA PARNWELL • SCENE: LAURA EDGECUMBE • THEATRE: RAVEN KELLER • INTERNS: ALEXANDRA LIGHT, ALEJANDRA SARAGOZA, TESSA WHITE, GABRIELLE EASTER, VICKY KNILL, MIKE SWAIN • THANKS TO: LAURA EDGECUMBE-ANDSELL, NICK FUNNELL • WEBMASTER: KNIC • PRINT: IMCODAVILA

STAFF

Views expressed in InMadrid are the opinions of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by the publishers. Although we make every effort to quote the correct prices and opening hours for establishments mentioned in the magazine, it is possible some may have changed since we went to press. All advertisements are published in good faith. InMadrid cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions in individual ads or accept responsibility for work, service or goods. InMadrid is published by CityScope SL (unipersonal), c/Marqués de Valdeiglesias, 6-4ºA — 28004 Madrid. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs and artwork will not be returned unless accompanied by sufficient postage. D.L.: M-11696-96.

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scene

■ By Laura Edgecumbe-Ansdell

Mad about art The contemporary art community will be taking Madrid by storm this month as not one, not two, but three major art fairs come to town. Hit the exhibition stands for the latest artistic delights from Spain and beyond

Pop along to the Gran Via de Horteleza commercial centre (Metro: Mar de Cristal) to catch its “100 years of fashion” exhibition. Until 19 Feb.

Art Madrid 2011 Art Madrid is one of Europe’s premiere art fairs which attracts around 45,000 visitors. Now in its 6th year it features 60 Spanish and international art galleries. The fair will host a total of 89 exhibition spaces from leading contemporary players such as Fernando Latorre, Joan Gaspar and Sicart, and will also include 13 spaces dedicated to young and upcoming artists in its “Young Art” programme. This year it also features the exhibition El Otoño del Arte, a selection of 35 pieces (paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations) from artists in France, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Colombia, Uruguay and Spain. Art Madrid 2011, Pabellón de Cristal, Casa de Campo, Avenida Portugal, s/n (Metro: Alto de Extremadura/Lago). Open to the public 16-19 Feb, 11.30am-9.30pm; 20 Feb, 11.30am-7.30pm. Entrance: 10. See www.art-madrid.com Alonso Vidal

ARCOmadrid This year marks the 30th anniversary of the ARCOmadrid international contemporary art fair. It will feature 12 Russian galleries as part of its “Focus Rusia” programme with pieces selected by Daria Pyrkina, a professor at Moscow State Lomonosov University and curator of the National Centre for Dorothy Valdés Contemporary Arts. Also, a “Solo Projects” programme will focus on Latin America, organised by Luisa Duarte, independent curator from Brazil, Daniela Perez, associate curator of the Museo Tamayo in Mexico and Julieta Gonzalez, associate curator of Latin American art at the Tate in London. A further exhibition, Opening, will feature art from new and innovative European galleries. ARCOmadrid, Feria de Madrid (Metro: Campo de las Naciones). 18-20 Feb, 12-8pm. Entrance: 32. See www.ifema.es/ferias/arco

JUSTMAD2 To coincide with ARCOmadrid, for the second year, the new contemporary art fair JustMad will be showcasing the work of young artists including Fredrikson Stallard, Jaime Hayon and Alvaro Catalán de Ocon. There will be contemporary works from over 48 exhibitors from galleries around the world including both Spain and the US, as well as a “JustMad Design” programme featuring experimental contemporary design, “Metro Sound”, relating to sound art and “Producers’ Desks”, a showcase of emerging new artists. JUSTMAD2, Galeria de Cristal, Palacio de Cibeles, C/de Montalbán, 1 (Metro: Banco de Espana/Retiro). Open to the public 18-20 Feb, 11am-8pm. Entrance: 6. See www.justmad.es

Alicia Martín — Inbreeding

Captured Words Whether it’s a love sonnet you dotingly prepared for your sweetheart, an extract from a dark and mysterious novel, a funny short story or a beautifully constructed poem, the 7th Mad Open Mic: Captured Words is your opportunity to air your work to others. Celebrating its 4th year, this is an open forum where both budding and established writers read their work (or part thereof) aloud, in English, for a maximum of three minutes, in a lively and supportive atmosphere. Participants must pre-register. Guidelines and further information will be found at www.elasunto.com/mkd.htm by clicking on the Open Mic option or by emailing margiekanter@gmail.com. 7th Mad Open Mic, Café Concierto La Fídula, C/Huertas, 57 (Metro: Antón Martín/Sevilla/ Banco de España). 23 Feb, 9pm. Free

Madrid Presenta—Música de Autor Música de Autor is a series of 15 concerts to promote independent music from different languages, communities and nationalities. Artists included in the programme are Albert Pla Bebe, Inma Serrano, Luis Eduardo Aute, Martirio, Marina Rossell and Vanesa Martín. Música de Autor, Teatro de Madrid, Avenida de la Ilustración, s/n, La Vaguada (Metro: Barrio del Pilar/Herrera Oria); Sala Galileo, C/Galileo, 100 (Metro: Islas Filipinas/Canal). 7-20 Feb. Entrance: 9-25. See www.madridpresenta.com

Clazz—Continental Latin Jazz Purporting to be the first Latin Jazz festival in Spain, Clazz, which will take place simultaneously in Madrid and Barcelona, brings together some of the most representative figures of Latin Jazz from around the globe. The festival includes Paquito D’Rivera, considered by some to be the world’s best saxophonist, accompanied by his Big Band of 18 musicians, bassist Alain Pérez and lauded Latin Jazz pianist Pepe Rivero. Clazz—Continental Latin Jazz, Teatro Coliseum, Gran Vía, 78 (Metro: Plaza de España). 21-22 Feb, 7pm. Entrance: 30. See www.clazz.es

Escena Contemporanea, Regina Fiz — First Collection

making this a unique performance. Malikian has forged his own style, and his classical training is enriched by his interests in other fields of music, such as jazz, tango, flamenco and folk. PaGAGnini, Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón de Madrid, C/Atocha, 18 (Metro: Sol/ Tirso de Molina). 3 Feb-27 Mar. Wed-Fri, 8.30pm; Sat, 7pm, 10pm; Sun, 5pm, 7.30pm. See www.aramalikian.com

Escena Contemporanea In this huge cultural festival, there will be artists from almost every form of artistic expression—theatre, dance and cinema to photography, circus acts and art installations. Based in theatres and galleries around Madrid, Spanish and international artists such as Ana Buitrago, Carlos Marquerie, Ana Pasadena, Regina Fiz, Al Filo and Christina Ciupke will be exhibiting, performing and giving lectures. Escena Contemporanea, various venues, 1-20 Feb. See www.escenacontemporanea.com

Classic Auto 2011 If you’re a car buff, you will probably want to attend Madrid’s Classic Auto, a leading international automotive exhibition. Not only will there be

Ara Malikian:PaGAGnini Ara Malikian, the world-renowned Armenian-born violinist, comes to Madrid to perform and co-produce a show with the theatre group Yllana. PaGAGnini is a humorous story that looks at some of the best examples of classical music fused with other musical styles. Throughout the show, Malikian and three other musicians perform these classic compositions and are accompanied by the comedy and insanity of Yllana, a theatre company that focuses on humour without words. They dance, play, jump, laugh, cry and even interact with the audience,

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Escena Contemporanea, Ana Pasadena — El Amor y el Trabajo

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examples of classic cars and motorcycles such as Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin, but about 300 other national and international exhibitors will present their vehicles. Hundreds of valuable and timeless cars and motorcycles will cover the 27,000 square metres of floorspace, and the show will also bring together professionals, technicians, engineers and manufacturers from around the world. Visitors will be able to exchange views with other fans of vintage vehicles, talk with professionals and find everything needed to equip, repair or restore their cars. ClassicAuto 2011, Pabellón de Cristal, Casa de Campo, Avenida Portugal, s/n (Metro: Alto de Extremadura/Lago). 25-27 Feb, 10am-8pm. Entrance: 10. See www.classicautomadrid.com T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

mwoarldd

Ten comments you don’t want to hear on a date With Valentine’s Day looming on the 14th, love is in the air. Some of you may be planning a romantic candle-lit dinner with the one you love, others a night in with a voodoo doll, a bottle of vodka and a picture of your ex. But none of you, hopes Vicky Knill, will find yourself on the receiving end of these top ten passion-killing comments across a restaurant table:

Well, I wouldn’t call it a restraining order exactly.

Eat up—Real Madrid kick off at 10 o’clock.

Well, I can see YOU’RE gonna want dessert.

As a surprise, I got us tickets to a Justin Bieber gig!

That’s a beautiful dress, but I think it would look better on me.

I’m not too good at judging ages, but it’s hard to believe you’re 27. I thought you were 40!

So, I’m a level 4 warlock. What’s your character?

Sorry, I normally put my hand over my mouth when I sneeze. By the way, your face seems to be speckled with tapas.

After this we could go trainspotting at Atocha.

So, what would you like to drink? Red wine? OK, so that’s two glasses of red and what about for you, mum?

Competition winner!

hjanssen Photo (CC) flickr: jos

WIN TICKETS TO THE CINEMA!

Every month InMadrid is giving away FREE PASSES for two people to the Ideal Cinema in Plaza Benavente, Madrid’s premier VO cinema where you can see all the latest flicks in English. To claim yours simply send us a photo of somebody reading InMadrid in an unusual place. Happy snapping! Note: Winners will not be notified. Get in touch if you win to claim your passes! Send entries to competitions@in-madrid.com. Here are this month’s winners:

Mila V sent us this pic taken in Fes, Morocco near the Old Medina, with the Karaouiyine Mosque behind.

InMadrid survives the NYC blizzard of December 2010. Madrileña Joanna de Castro (right) and cousin New Yorker Amanda Schwartz brave a walk out in 28 inches of fluffy white stuff.

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Fairy Tales

By Jerome Apolda

The Nightmare on Lame Street I dare not step out of my house at night; what I might find there scares me to my core. I reluctantly slither out in the morning and hide in the Metro until I reach my place of work. I do what I’m paid to do and when the bell rings, run back home like a scared little child, blotting out the… I can’t bring myself to even name it. Shivering, I look out of my window and tremble. It’s been days, weeks now since that dreadful day; the day when everything changed. It was but a quiet winter morning: sipping my coffee, I planned to welcome 2011 my way. I ruffled my hair, put on my coat and went out. The streets were strangely quiet and the wind particularly icy. I had a bad feeling. A hint, a je-ne-sais-quoi that something was not quite right. It was a Sunday; I used to like Sundays. Sundays were my book/brunch/me-days. I’d choose a café, selfishly take an entire table to myself, switch off my phone, order and spend the afternoon reading a book, oblivious to the rest of the world. It wasn’t to be. I had not yet settled and taken my stuff out when some random bloke sat down next to me. Tall, dark and handsome—I couldn’t have cared less. He smiled; I cringed. Clearly flirtatious, he asked me what I was reading. About to tell him to shove off, I was interrupted by the waiter who put a hand on my shoulder and with a wink asked me what I would like. I ordered and so did the mysterious stranger. He offered me his hand; I lit a cigarette. And that’s when all hell broke loose; what I was about to hear would shatter me: “You can’t smoke here!” he said. “What do you mean I can’t smoke here? I’ve been coming here for months. Of course I can smoke here!” I snapped back. “Not anymore,” he said with a vicious grin. Everything came rushing back—the gibberish my friends had been muttering about for months, the headlines of newspapers I ignored: smoking had been banned. Spain had fallen like every other single nation in Europe. I was doomed. I remembered puffing away in the cold London rain, frozen to the bone because the non-smokers had taken over. I remembered how I had to flee the country just so that I could enjoy a nice cup of coffee and a fag at the same time. I was a leper yet again. But this time, I had nowhere to run. The only place on Earth where smoking is still allowed is Russia and I barely escaped from there alive. (See GULAg— Before Fairy Tales at www.jerome-apolda.com). I put down my book and out of pure frustration snogged the bloke’s face off. Fuelled by desperation, I contemplated using him as a patch but his poor kissing technique and his flabby tongue convinced me otherwise. I went home and lit a cigarette—at least I could still smoke there. I now stare out of my window, a hand on the cold glass, tearful at what will now be remembered as the good old days. For Bonus Fairy Tales go to: www.jerome-apolda.com See also page13 for this month’s smoking ban article

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Another fine mes

Head to the Casa Encendida to see the ten winning projects of Generación 2011, a programme for young Spanish artists. Until 13 Mar.

Marty Delfín dissects the past month’s news headlines

Insubordinate Socialists

Chinese to the rescue

The Socialists in Madrid and members of the national directorate found themselves last month in another bitter battle— this time over the future of the number two official in the capital city’s party. Tomás Gómez, the candidate for regional premier in the 22 May elections refused to budge over removing his right-hand official Trinidad Rollán after she was prohibited by an administrative body from holding office for eight years. Rollán, the former mayor of Torrejón de Ardoz, was found to have gone beyond her official duties when she signed a land permit that was against regulations. She is appealing the ruling. The Socialists at the national party level wanted Gómez to ask for her resignation, but the Madrid party leader had refused, saying she wasn’t convicted of corruption. It was the second time that Gómez had refused to obey national orders. Last year, he refused to give in to Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s call to step aside and allow Trinidad Jiménez, the current Foreign Minister, to become the candidate for regional premier. Much to the dismay of the prime minister, a primary was held and Jiménez lost. Now Gómez has again got his way and worked out a compromise: Rollán won’t have to resign as secretary of organisation for the Madrid Socialist Party (PSM) but will have to step down for now as councillor in Torrejón. It was the best deal to avoid a heated controversy among the Socialists with just four months until the Madrid regional race.

In a surprisingly successful visit in early January, Chinese executive Vice Premier Li Keqiang brought to Madrid a huge trade delegation, which ended up signing some 5.6 billion in agreements. Li said China was confident that Spain would pull out of its doldrums and, if Prime Minister Zapatero sticks to his austerity plan, the country will become the leader in growth in the European Union in two years. It was the same assessment given in an IMF report in October. Li then went on to Britain where he also penned some 2.6 billion pounds in accords, even throwing in two pandas with the deal. The Chinese visit came as conjectures surfaced, fuelled by the global markets, that Spain and Portugal would soon need a European Union bailout. After Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper quoted anonymous sources saying that Berlin and Paris were pressuring Lisbon to take a bailout package now to prevent further disaster to the continental economies, Spain’s Economy Minister Elena Salgado came to Portugal’s aid and dismissed the report on Monday. “The Spanish government is confident that it will recognise the fulfillment of its commitments and Portugal won’t need any outside help,” Salgado said in a radio interview after denying that Spain would also seek a handout. Still, the world’s stock market pundits continued to be merciless, predicting that the two countries would soon cave in.

Massive coke lab found Authorities are calling it the biggest cocaine lab bust in Madrid’s history; in fact, it could be the largest narcotics factory in Europe. On 17 January, police seized some 300 kilograms of cocaine as well as two tons of chemicals used in making the paste at a secret location in Villanueva de Perales. Twenty-five people were arrested in so-called Operation Collapse, which was aimed at busting a vast criminal enterprise with connections to Colombia. Among those arrested were several people who acted as bodyguards, a lawyer and a local businessman. According to police, the organisation used special equipment to keep the lab location concealed and to watch out for the authorities, including directional microphones and special sunglasses that acted as blindfolds when transporting people to and from the secret factory.

Mother of all fires Trinidad Jiménez

Photo: (CC) flickr: official

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On the night of 16 January, many parts of the capital were literally filled with smoke, making visibility almost impossible. The

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Li Keqiang

Photo (CC) flickr: World Economic Forum

culprit was perhaps one of the largest fires in recent times and destroyed a building supply warehouse in Majadahonda, just north of Madrid. Fifteen fire-fighting teams were called to the scene at the Leroy Merlin store located in the “Equinoccio” shopping centre. The fire, said to have begun at 11pm, gutted the entire facility. The store had just closed one hour before and was empty. There were no injuries but the entire structure was destroyed. Investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the blaze.

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The English-Speaking Corner If you stay in Madrid indefinitely, does the city have the facilities you may require when you’re older? Jeff Wiseman talks to Charlotte Bunker about a project to fulfill an important need for elderly native English speakers

6 NATIONS ACTION from 4th Feb

few weeks ago, most of us were talking about “going home” for Christmas. There’s something very warming about the word “home” which at its most romantic will bring to mind snug beds, good food and comfy chairs in front of open fires. In reality, however, its definition extends far beyond the four walls of a house, to encompass family, friends, roots and culture. Even if we stay on home soil throughout our lives, those human ties are often difficult to maintain, ebbing and flowing with our circumstances. For those citizens who choose to move abroad, that difficulty is compounded. If you stayed in Madrid for another ten, twenty, or thirty years, how much would your links with your homeland change, or even disappear?

In the beginning

Win a trip to Dublin for the Ireland-England match (for just a pint of guinness!) Sue Cheyne, Diane Kiddell, Pilar Vadillo (Director), Dana Virumbrales and Charlotte Bunker

Foreign travel didn’t start with the arrival of low-cost airlines. Investigate Madrid’s English-speaking expat community and you’ll discover that even in the 1960s and 70s the same migration was taking place, in lesser numbers but by no less intrepid individuals. Just as now, there was much coming and going; some stayed short term, whilst for others short became long. The result is that there are now many elderly expats in the city, whose requirements vary as time progresses. But one need was recently identified as missing—the need for a care home. “It was hard to believe that in a city such as Madrid, with a sizeable English-speaking community, no care home catering for elderly English speakers exists,” explains Charlotte Bunker, one of the expat volunteers who decided to address the issue. “In many cases people have been living in Madrid for many years and their family and friends are here. They often don’t have sufficient infrastructure to fall back on in their country of origin, so moving back is not a viable choice,” she continues, reflecting on how time and distance often dissolve connections with a home country, no matter how strong they may once have been. Working with four other volunteers—Diane Kiddell, Judy MacInnes, Sue Cheyne and Dana Virumbrales—the outcome of their concern was the foundation of The English-Speaking Corner (ESC), a project with the objective, as their mission statement describes, of finding “A home for senior citizens where their roots and cultural background matter”.

Seeking and speaking A completely independent care home was never going to be feasible, and so the necessity was to find an existing care home in the city that could accommodate English-speaking residents. As the search began, the most important consideration was the language barrier. It was essential that the Home had English-speaking care staff on hand, but not just because some elderly expats speak little or no Spanish, or hold a preference to communicate in English for peace of mind. There was also the thought to provide an option for

Setting the standard Criteria were established by which to evaluate potential homes, which included enthusiasm for the project, attitude, facilities, location and pricing. The volunteers visited twelve residences, eight of which fulfilled the basic requirements in order to undergo the full “weighting” process. The whole evaluation took more than two months, after which the ESC decided the best candidate was the Reina Victoria Residential Home, part of the Nogales Group. The Group has been established for more than 30 years, has nine homes in Madrid, and four new ones under construction. The Reina Victoria itself is only a short distance from Guzman el Bueno metro (C/Juan Montalvo, 20), and it offers a variety of facilities. Not only does it have a substantial number of the much soughtafter Englishspeaking professionals, but offers 24 hour medical coverage, as well as an in-house psychologist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, dietician and chef. Special diets are catered for, and there’s a gymnasium too. What you might call “home from home with bonuses”. “Sr Pascual Berlanga, the owner of the Group, is very enthusiastic about the project,” says Charlotte keenly, “and the Reina Victoria offers us the facilities we need, plus the potential to grow with our demand. Since October, we have been giving presentations there twice a month, which have been followed by a tour of the facilities with the Director, Pilar Vadillo.” Fifty people have attended the presentations so far, several of whom are now interested parties. But the decision to change your home is not an easy one, for any person at any age.

Out and about

younger expats to move their parents or older relatives to Madrid if the need arose. “The ESC is a great solution for uniting family and knowing that the adjustment period will be eased through the support given by care professionals who speak their language, coupled with our volunteers, who are native English speakers,” adds Charlotte. Further research proved that cultural background was also highly important for making the change to living in a care home enjoyable and beneficial. As anyone who has chatted to Madrileños will testify, it’s wonderful to learn about the differences in culture between Spain and your home country, but a chat to a fellow native with a shared culture, whether in music, food, television, literature or any other subject, will invariably stimulate a longer and deeper conversation, if only because of greater pools of knowledge. One can imagine this factor becoming more significant as age progresses. “It is something they [the elderly] will always identify with,” Charlotte confirms, “no matter how far away they are from the place where they were born and raised.” T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

Perhaps the most surprising aspect for those who have attended the presentations and tours has been the flexible approach the Home has towards its residents. When thinking about care homes, one tends to think of closed doors and strict rules. At the Reina Victoria, independent residents can come and go, having a freedom not too dissimilar to a home of their own. At the same time, those residents who require greater care and assistance, whether through physical or mental incapacity, are helped accordingly. The ESC team’s hard work and effort should be applauded, as the long term help for expats that the project will provide will no doubt be invaluable. It’s also reassuring to know that their concerns are shared, and will be shouldered, by others, as they have compiled an extensive list of Englishspeaking volunteers who are willing to visit future residents for conversation, entertainment and social support.

Details in the bar Saturday 12th February

FINBARS 14TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY Freebies, prizes and music Everyone welcome

SUPERBOWL XLV 6th feb Trad Session every Thursday

PLUS: ALL THE PREMIER, ENGLISH AND SPANISH LEAGUES FREE WIRELESS FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

home to the celtic supporters club Irish owned, irish run, irish bi-lingual

staff and irish atmosphere. c/Marqués de Urquijo, 10. Tel: 91 548 37 93. just 50m from M Arguelles

LA TABERNA CHICA VINOS, TAPAS, COCKTAILS & LOUNGE MUSIC FABULOUS CAIPIRINHAS

Two presentations will take place at the Reina Victoria this month: Tuesday, 15 Feb, 11am and Tuesday, 22 Feb, 6pm Should you wish to attend, or require any other information about the English-Speaking Corner, please contact them by email or telephone. Meetings and tours can be made on an individual basis by arrangement. Website: www.englishspeakingcorner.com Email: info@englishspeakingcorner.com Telephone: 630 705 645

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Romance Special – Ins & outs

Amorous Liaisons

. . . and glorious goodbyes

Gabrielle Easter suggests some ordinary places but extraordinary ways to meet the love of your life in Madrid, and adds a few ideas for saying adios too

Photo (CC) flickr: giuseppe bognanni

e know the obvious way to start meeting people in this wonderful city is to go to coordinated events— intercambios, dance classes or even singles nights. However, unless you’ve got Spanish under your belt, can shake your hips like a pro, or relish forced social interaction, these options for hunting down a partner can be daunting. So why not consider some other locations and methods for landing a lover? Whether in your apartment building, on the bus or in Madrid’s museums, finding a partner needn’t leave you blubbering like a fool or pulling a muscle trying to salsa. Put our helpful strategies to the test for a few Valentine victories, then read on to discover some tips about ending the biggest mistake of your life.

Part One Enough is never enough Home sweet home Don’t feel the need to stray too far from home—Madrid’s apartment buildings are filled with potential lovers, and if you’re fortunate enough to have spotted one to your liking there are ways and means of drawing his or her attention. Instead of just a polite hola as you pass on the stairs, take it to the next level by locking yourself out one night and heading over to the cute neighbour’s to use their phone. Or if you prefer a more romantic setting, put nonfunctioning bulbs in all of your lights, then knock on your neighbour’s door for assistance. When they pop round, how convenient that you also have a meal in the oven, emitting an amazing aroma. Before they manage to sort out the electrics, hint at your fear of the dark and suggest they stay for a candle-lit dinner. Patios can also be utilised by “acciden-

tally” dropping underwear from your clothes line onto the line of the hot neighbour below. Just make sure the selected garment is actually clean (boys take note, otherwise this might be a brief encounter in every sense of the words), and not Bridget-Jones-style granny pants (not attractive, ladies). Maybe invest in a sexy number just for the trick, not forgetting your normal size is irrelevant for this experiment. Then knock on their door to discuss retrieval. The only downside is awkwardness on the stairs or in the lift if the relationship doesn’t last too long, or if you hit the wrong clothesline.

Public transport While looking for a seat, anticipate the braking of the bus or metro train, making sure you accidentally-on-purpose fall onto the lap of a suitably good-looking (and carefully pre-selected) passenger. Do take care not to fall flat on your face in front of everyone else. There’s a lot to be gained too by always keeping a book on show that warrants attention. If you can find a volume with a large print cover called “I’m learning Spanish, will someone please practice with me?” you could be on to a real winner— that cutie sitting opposite will surely strike up a conversation.

Acting lost and pulling out a Metro map also works well. Ask the apple of your eye how to get to where you need to go, or just how to get anywhere. Finally, conveniently drop something while next to someone who takes your fancy—a glove, a scarf, a card on which you’ve clearly written your email address— although beware it could always be an unexpected individual who picks it up. But hey, any attention is good attention, right?

Museums

In a country famed for its olive oil and wine, it would be a crime not to use both in a romantic Valentine’s dinner—so cook up a flavourless meal, sin vino, sin aceite, and nowhere near the standards set by your

Parks As the weather gets warmer and you try to lose those extra kilos piled on over the silly season, go for a jog around the Retiro. When a sexy single approaches, feign an injury and suggest a quick massage to relieve your “cramp”. Alternatively, borrow a friend’s roller blades and conveniently run into that good-looking jogger, although avoid all those other embarrassmentloaded obstacles in the way—trees, iron railings, water fountains and pensioners. As summer rolls round, maybe “faint” from the heat after a long and cold winter—right into the arms of the sexy Spaniard conveniently beside you.

Enough is enough Photo (CC) flickr: roberto garcía fadón

Make a horrific meal

With the Prado and Reina Sofía on your doorstep, get cultural and head along to a museum to pick up an artsy type. Take along a sketch pad and pencil (having got a talented friend to complete a few pages with some decent drawings in advance). Casually flash some of the pro-pics at a fellow art enthusiast and if you’re lucky they’ll be intrigued by “your” work.

Part Two Tired of trying?

start, especially for Valentine’s Day, here are a few quick and easy options for breaking up, with the emphasis on adios more than hasta luego.

Long after light bulbs, maps and sketch pads are boxed up under the bed, all too often we become stuck in relationships that just aren’t working out. If you fancy a fresh

Photo (CC) flickr: just like Grand Canyon

partner’s mother. It’s the perfect way to convince your other half that you’re just not right for each other. If your loved one suggests grabbing some tapas to compensate for your lack of cooking skills, tell them it’s just too expensive.

Rent a car for the day Not quite a romantic horse-drawn carriage through Seville, renting a car in Madrid is a sure fire way to strike up road rage, if not half-scare your partner to death. Drive throughout the city centre and aim for roundabouts, although this option is not recommended if your partner loves an adrenaline rush, is Spanish, or has a death wish.

Leave the country Foolproof. Tell your partner you’re nipping to the supermarket. Head to Barajas. Need we say more? ■ CAMINO MARTÍNEZ

Five great places to buy... private, provocative presents It’s pure chance that this theme conveniently coincides with Valentine’s Day, but with the following stores stocking everything from lacy lingerie to titillating toys, what a perfect excuse to spice things up

Ana Millán. Probably the most peculiar lingerie shop in Madrid, and also the most risqué. It sells a striking underwear collection for men and women, usually purchased by those involved in the arts (theatre, cinema, music) but also by those wanting to put on a private viewing for their other halves on a special occasion. Cue Valentine’s Day. Warning: only for the brave (and open-minded). C/Hortaleza, 55 (Metro: Gran Vía). Tel: 91 522 32 83. Mon-Sat, 10am-2.30pm, 5-8.30pm.

La Juguetería. One of the national pioneers in erotic toys. For a thrilling sexual shopping experience, this store offers all kinds of sensual items to enjoy with your partner: aromatic candles, massage oil, a large range of sophisticated and fun toys for adults, cosmetics, natural aphrodisiacs, daring lingerie for men and women, fancy dress items, books, films and music to create a unique atmosphere. Do you want to play? Travesía de San Mateo, 12 (Metro: Tribunal/ Chueca/Alonso Martínez). Tel: 91 308 72 69. www.lajugueteria.com. Mon-Sat, 11am-3pm, 5pm-9pm.

Lenita & XTG. This Spanish underwear brand for men and women, which was created in the Canary Islands, opened its first shop in Madrid several months ago and is famous for its colourful and original designs. For the most romantic day of the year, it has created a fun undergarment collection. For him: Adán y Eva, shorts with cartoons depicting the first famous couple; for her: One love, one live,

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an outfit adorned with hearts—symbols of eternal love. C/Hortaleza, 38 (Metro: Gran Vía). Tel: 91 523 58 58. www.lenita.es and www.xtg.es. Mon-Sat, 10am-9pm.

Lily Blossom. “Erotic luxury” is the slogan of this sophisticated and stylish shop. They sell the best brands of sensual cosmetics, toys for adults, lingerie (for example, the new and exclusive Jean Paul Gaultier collection for La Perla), and luxurious corsets made by Maya Hansen and Kunza. It specializes in women’s erotic items, so it’s the perfect place for her to find something to share with him or for him to purchase a very indulgent gift for her. C/Claudio Coello, 76 bajo (Metro: Rubén Darío). Tel: 91 575 10 21. www.lilyblossom.es. Mon-Sat, 11am8.30pm.

XXXMadrid. And finally, a place just for menswear. This establishment, opened more than 15 years ago in Chueca, is devoted to selling masculine underwear, so they have a huge range of La Juguetería designs and brands (Diesel, D&G, Calvin Klein, etc.) In addition to this diverse range of pants—fun, basics, or really sexy—they also stock t-shirts, trousers and many other articles to W W W. I N M A D R I D . C O M

give the man in your life a hot (yet cool) present. C/San Marcos, 10 (Metro: Chueca). Tel: 91 522 17 70. www.xxxmadrid.com. MonSat, 11am-9.30pm. T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

Romance Special – The way to go

cupid’s low-cost arrow A little romance in Madrid needn’t break the bank. Kat Purkiss suggests a full Saturday in the city, with food and entertainment, for less than 15 per person

espite hard times, you’ve managed to craft a Valentine’s card by hand and write a poem that rhymes “love you forever” with “whatever the weather”. But you still have an inkling that they might not be enough to keep your sweetheart happy. Don’t worry; all is not lost. Madrid has some great options for a full Saturday of low-cost fun and romance, which will make sure the “crisis” remains firmly in the economy rather than your relationship.

elegance of the period, and one famous attraction is a portrait of writer Mariano José de Larra, who killed himself in 1837 because of a broken romance. Reflect with curiosity on times past, and how Sr Larra’s action would have firmly knocked getting back together on the head.

Lunch By now you’ll no doubt be a little peckish, and Madrid has a number of options for a cheap light lunch. The Museo de Jamón chain

features the glorious Palacio de Cristal, a waterfall, thousands of patches of soft grass and a wonderful lake at its heart. Being lakeside on a Saturday means you’re likely to catch the best street performers showing off their talents. There’s usually a wealth of odd and interesting entertainers to put a warm smile on your face, from live bands and fire dancers to a handsome young guy who balances Barbies on his nose and dazzles audiences with his Diablo. It’s free entertainment, and if you toss a few coins

Retiro lake sunset

Retiro Park Performer

Photo (CC) flickr: kirokko91

Of course, we know that “low-cost” may not be the best term to impress a partner. However, with our plan you can promise your loved one the chance to drift across dark blue waters, encounter the romance of past ages, enjoy big screen entertainment and even see the world—with just a little imagination substituting for purses of pasta.

Morning Set the mood for the day by suggesting a quick photo of you and your partner holding hands in front of the Taj Mahal, or smiling together in the shadow of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. As your beloved laughs in disbelief, head to your first port of call—the Museo Tifológico (Museum for the Blind, C/La Coruña, Metro: Estrecho), which offers both of the aforementioned opportunities and more. Open from 10am to 2pm, entry is free, and you can show your darling the world by virtue of the museum’s large, elaborate models of famous buildings from all over the globe. A grand tour of Spain is equally viable, as most of the country’s major attractions are also housed there in model form. After your round-the-world trip, a short hop on the metro will let romance continue at the suitably named Museo del Romanticismo (C/San Mateo, Metro: Alonso Martinez), also free from 10am to 2pm on Saturday. The museum was reopened in December 2009 following refurbishment, and is located in a former palace. It reflects life in the 19th century, recreating the

Cine Dore

Photo (CC) flickr: jafsegal

(www.museodeljamon.es) provides a menu of cold beer and croissants filled with paper-thin slices of Spain’s favourite cured-pork product. A couple of those will bring you to around 6 euros—now you’re really letting loose! For a few more possibilities—actually, 100 or more—the Montaditos chain (www.100montaditos.com) also offers quick service and low prices. Half-litre jarras flow for 2 and small yet satisfying rolls, served with a pile of crisps, start from 1 each. The branch at Plaza de Santa Ana is one of the best because it has terrace seating and a beautiful view of the outstanding ME Madrid Hotel, which if you happen to visit at night is lit up in shades of purple. Four sandwiches and two mugs of beer total 6-7.

Afternoon After those jarras it’s time to burn a little energy. Amble down to the Retiro, which

Photo (CC) flickr: los mininos Retiro, El Palacio de Cristal

into their hats you’ll surely score a few brownie points with your sweetheart. After the free variety show, head to the north side of the lake and rent a rowing boat. For just 4.55 you’ll have forty-five romantic minutes on the water. Close your eyes and imagine drifting towards the golden beach of a deserted island, or impress your Valentine by proving you can row faster than a duck can paddle. If the duck happens to win, explain that you didn’t want to damage its pride amongst the Retiro mallard community. Empathy for feathered friends will show your caring and considerate side. When you dock, get your land legs back by heading south towards the Palacio de Cristal, a greenhouse-like structure of iron and glass that dates from 1887. The building hosts modern art installations and admission is invariably free. Outside you’ll find a small pond where turtles, fish, and birds feed together on the bread crumbs from passersby, and a waterfall under which you can stroll—it’s not Niagara, but it’s the most romantic one Madrid has to offer, if only because we don’t know of another.

Photo (CC) flickr: jurikothe

Walk to Chueca to check out the Pizzeria Vesuvio (Calle de Horteleza), with pizzas and pastas averaging 5-6, or Al-Jaima Cocina del Desierto (Calle de Barbieri), a relaxed experience where you can enjoy North African cuisine at low tables while lounging on floor cushions. Dishes are priced at a low 5-7. Alternatively, staying in the Cine Doré area, Il Picolino Della Farfalla (Calle Huertas) serves a variety of interesting pizza combinations, including vegetarian options, for just 7-8. Add drinks and you’ll be sitting pretty at around 11. Or perhaps try Las Bravas (Calle Espoz y Mina or Pasaje Matheu), where potato and tortilla dishes start at only 3.30, and come topped with their unique hot and tangy sauce. Of course, should your partner, unaware, let one spec of the sauce sit tantalisingly on his or her lips, the best way to resolve the matter could result in the rest of the night being hotter than the salsa itself. ■ RESEARCHED BY RAVEN KELLER

Evening Head out of the Atocha end of the park, up Calle de Atocha, and towards the city centre. On Calle de Santa Isabel settle in for a film screening at the Cine Doré, which offers tickets for original version movies in a gorgeous 1920s art-deco cinema for just 2.50. No booking ahead here, so check listings beforehand and make sure you arrive in good time to beat the queues. In fact, let’s face it, on this occasion the film itself may not be a vital ingredient. It’s a small price to pay to spend at least 90 minutes together in the dark. Then it’s about time for dinner, no? Not every evening meal has to be a three course extravaganza, and there are plenty of options for lighter, less expensive dishes without stretching your purse strings.

VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT WHOLE FOOD Tue-Thu 21:00-3:00 Fri-Sat 21:00-3:30

Pool Tables

Ventura de la Vega, 4 (In front of “las Cortes”) Tel: 91 429 50 92 Tres Cruces, 4 (Metro: Sol) Tel: 91 521 87 21 T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

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sport FIXTURE FIX ■ Compiled by Keith Miles

Football International friendlies 9 Feb Spain v Colombia (Bernabeu, Madrid) 9 Feb 8.15pm—Denmark v England Carling Nations Cup 8 Feb 8.45pm—Rep of Ireland v Wales 9 Feb 8.45pm—N Ireland v Scotland Champions League 15 Feb 8.45pm—AC Milan v Tottenham 15 Feb 8.45pm—Valencia v Schalke 04 16 Feb 8.45pm—Arsenal v Barcelona 16 Feb 8.45pm—Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk 22 Feb 8.45pm—FC Copenhagen v Chelsea 22 Feb 8.45pm—Lyon v Real Madrid 23 Feb 8.45pm—Inter Milan v Bayern Munich 23 Feb 8.45pm—Marseille v Man Utd Europa League 15 Feb 6pm—Aris Salonika v Man City 17 Feb 7pm—Napoli v Villarreal 17 Feb 9.05pm—Rangers v Sporting Lisbon 17 Feb 9.05pm—Sevilla v FC Porto 17 Feb 9.05pm—Sparta Prague v Liverpool 23 Feb 6pm—FC Porto v Sevilla 24 Feb 7pm—Liverpool v Sparta Prague 24 Feb 7pm—Sporting Lisbon v Rangers 24 Feb 9.05pm—Man City v Aris Salonika 24 Feb 9.05pm—Villarreal v Napoli La Liga 6 Feb Real Madrid v Real Sociedad 6 Feb Barcelona v Atlético Madrid 6 Feb Getafe v Deportivo La Coruña 13 Feb Espanyol v Real Madrid 13 Feb Atlético Madrid v Valencia 13 Feb Sporting Gijon v Barcelona 13 Feb Malaga v Getafe 20 Feb Real Madrid v Levante 20 Feb Real Zaragoza v Atlético Madrid 20 Feb Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao 20 Feb Getafe v Racing Santander 27 Feb Deportivo La Coruña v Real Madrid 27 Feb Atletico Madrid v Sevilla 27 Feb Mallorca v Barcelona 27 Feb Hercules v Getafe Premier League 1 Feb 8.45pm—Arsenal v Everton 6 Feb 5pm—Chelsea v Liverpool 12 Feb 1.45pm—Man Utd v Man City 26 Feb 1.45pm—Tottenham v Arsenal Scottish Premier 20 Feb 1.30pm—Celtic v Rangers Copa Del Rey 2 Feb Semifinals, 2nd leg FA Cup 19 Feb Fifth round League Cup 27 Feb Final

Rugby Union Six Nations 4 Feb 8.45pm—Wales v England 5 Feb 6pm—France v Scotland 5 Feb 3.30pm—Italy v Ireland 12 Feb 3.30pm—England v Italy 12 Feb 6pm—Scotland v Wales 13 Feb 4pm—Ireland v France 26 Feb 6pm—England v France 26 Feb 3.30pm—Italy v Wales 27 Feb 4pm—Scotland v Ireland European Nations Cup 5 Feb Spain v Russia 26 Feb Spain v Ukraine

American Football 7 Feb 12.25am—Superbowl XLV

Tiers of success Football in Madrid usually means Real, Atlético, Getafe and Rayo. But Richard Martin takes a trip south of the city to see AD Alcorcón, a club celebrating their fortieth anniversary and one step from top-tier action

une 1998. Alcorcón have just finished bottom of their league in La Tercera, the fourth tier of Spanish football, and are therefore heading back to the local Madrid leagues. To make matters worse, they’ve got a debt of seven million pesetas (around €50,000 today). The prospects of re-paying such a debt are not good. In short, the club are on the verge of ceasing to exist. June 2010. Alcorcón are celebrating promotion to the Segunda División, only a few months after thrashing Real Madrid 4-0 to knock the Galacticos out of the Copa del Rey. It’s an amazing turnaround in fortunes, and a remarkable story, all in the space of twelve years.

One for all The club owes a lot of its current high status to one man, Esteban Marquez Ponce. The owner of Madrid-based construction firm Soncar, Ponce became President of the club in 1998 and undertook the crucial task of balancing the club’s books. This he did, and in his first two seasons as President, the club achieved back to back promotions, earning themselves a place in Segunda B, the third level of national Spanish soccer. Several years of mid-table finishes followed until Juan Antonio Albacete Anquela became manager in 2008. In his first season in charge, the club finished third in Segunda B and narrowly missed out on promotion via the play-offs. The following season, buoyed on by that win over Real Madrid, they won the league emphatically and entered the play-offs again. Despite losing to Granada in the first round, they finally achieved the promotion they had been craving so much, beating Valencian side Ontiyent 3-2 in the second leg at home, despite being two-nil down at half time. Striker Iñigo Lopez scored the winning goal in stoppage time and celebrated by taking off his shirt and shorts amid a pitch invasion by hundreds of rapturous fans.

Spirits never dampened On a rain-soaked Saturday last month I visited Alcorcón to see how they were faring in La Segunda. They have proved a tough cookie to beat at home, but their disastrous away form leaves them in the relegation zone, one point behind today’s opponents Recreativo de Huelva.

Liga Tercera de Aficionados, Grupo 7 Table Teams

20 Feb NBA All-Star Game

✄ 10

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In comparison with the other four teams in the capital, Alcorcón could attract new fans in search of “real football” away from the glitz and glamour of La Liga. Unfortunately, there’s a large obstacle preventing new supporters from trying out the club—ticket prices. For a one-off game, tickets cost between €30 and €40. The same amount of money can buy you a ticket for Real or Atlético, and faced with a choice of watching the finest players in the top league, or a second division relegation battle at the same price, not many fans are going to opt for the latter. Nevertheless, Alcorcón are a club that values loyalty, and half-season tickets are available for €75, working out at around €8 per game if you go to the remaining games of the season. You might not get to see Ronaldo or Messi, but you would be part of a unique brand of supporters, trying to cheer their small team to greater heights. With no further goals in the game, the final whistle signals a crucial 2-1 victory for Alcorcón, much to the joy of over a thousand soaked fans. They have earned a vital three points in their struggle to stay up, and they move out of the relegation zone. If they can consolidate and survive this season in La Segunda, the future could be even brighter; from their humble origins, they have only one more tier to shed.

EFL League Table

Matches Points

Ticket barrier

Goals

Played

Pts

Atlético Cero

CLUB RIVER VALLECAS

Santana

SPORTING VALDEBERNARDO-EL BRILLANTE

O’Neills United

A.D. COSMOS HURACAN

FC Copenbadly

SPARTAK MADRID C.F.

Finbars Celtic

9 Jan

C.D. NUEVAS PALOMERAS

Atlético Retiro

F C BRITANICO DE MADRID

Finbars 67

A.D. VILLAVERDE BAJO

Spartak Madrid CF 3 FC Británico 1

Triskels Tavern

CLUB JUVENTUD ELIPA

27 Madrid Villains

Los Lobos

FC Británico

C.D. RACING DE MORATALAZ C.D. AUTOLAVADO DELUXE

21 19

16 16

6 5

3 4

1st division

E.M.F. AGUILAS MORATALAZ "B"

FC Británico Recent Results:

Basketball

Their Santo Domingo stadium isn’t so much a football ground as just one part of an immense sports complex, with smaller pitches, an athletics track and a swimming pool. The stadium only seats 5,000 supporters, and consists of four stands—one covered and three open to the elements. The soaking wet pitch makes for a scrappy game played mostly in the air, prompting the radio commentator sitting behind me to remark that it resembles “futbol inglés”. Alcorcón open the scoring with a fantastic diving header, which lifts the drenched crowd. However, the excitement doesn’t last long as Recreativo soon equalise from outside the area with a shot that settles low in the bottom corner of the net. The ground falls silent but for the cheers of a handful of fans scattered round the stadium, for away support is a rare thing in Spain, even at the biggest clubs. At half time I go to survey the refreshments on offer and I am amazed to find an equivalent of British terrace favourite Bovril, called caldito, to which I help myself in an attempt to warm up. Alcorcón restore their lead shortly after the break, but the rest of the second half is poor, so my attention turns to the fans. The most vocal section of the crowd are standing behind the far goal, below a large banner reading “Alkor Hooligans”. Numbering barely a hundred fans, most of them clutching umbrellas, they don’t look very threatening, but their enthusiasm never ceases. Alcorcón may be a small team, short on history and superstars, but the passion showed by their supporters is very endearing.

7 7

34 33

35 28

C.D. PALESTRA ATENEA

ESC. FUT. A.V. LA CHIMENEA "B"

Madrid Reds

A.J.D.C. LA MANCHA "B"

Studio Banana

AA.VV. LOS ROSALES

Dirty Sanchez

ABSOLUT SPORT "A"

Barones de la Birra

A.D. ESC. BALONMANO VILLAVERDE

Moores Tribunal

C.D. SAN CRISTOBAL ANGELES "B"

(to 17 Jan)

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19 Dec FC Británico 0 Club River Vallecas 1

16 Jan FC Británico 0 Aguilas Mortalaz B 0

Note re EFL League: EFL Madrid is always recruiting new players to join existing teams. Send an email with the subject “EFL Bosman Board” to lewis.carroll@honeywell.com

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Why did you decide to move to Madrid? After eight years previously living in London, I was tired of the life there and was looking to move on somewhere new but wasn’t quite ready to return to Australia. I’d been to Spain before and liked it here and so decided on moving to the capital city. What do you do here? As a Freelance Digital Media Producer, I basically work on coordinating and managing development projects for digital media products, websites, etc.

Paul Fede, Australia Freelance Digital Media Producer

How did you get the job? I’ve actually just finished a two and a half year project based in London, so I’ve been commuting between Madrid and London every week for the last two and a half years! When I moved to Madrid I was working on a local project for six months which I got from directly approaching companies that I thought did interesting and quality digital work. Sadly I found that my Spanish wasn’t quite up to scratch, so decided to use my contacts from previous work in London and subsequently got the job there. Also, LinkedIn has been a great platform for me to get contacts and project leads both here and in London.

What’s been difficult about moving to/living in Madrid? It was the initial set-up that I struggled with—for a digital media producer excellent communication is vital but getting a phone line and the internet was extremely painful. Waiting for weeks to get fully connected and having a major telephone company hang up on me on numerous occasions were personal highlights! Has it worked out as you planned? Not exactly. I’d overestimated my personal level of Spanish and so found it a bit of a shock on arriving here. Having to then return to London to work so soon was a little disappointing. But now I realise I actually had the best of both worlds in a way, living here but having a good job there. The hardest thing was leaving my partner and my dog each week. What are the major differences in work environment/culture compared to home? I was really surprised at how the Spanish take their breaks. In the UK and Australia there’s an unhealthy culture of working long hours with no breaks and eating at their desks. I also love how there seem to be more hours in the day to enjoy your social life, and there’s always someone around for a caña! What are your long term plans? It’s been over 11 years since I left Australia and I think I’m almost ready to head back, probably in the next few years. But after all these years in Europe, I’m a little worried about how I’ll adjust back to Aussie life. In the meantime though, I plan to work based in Madrid and fully enjoy the madrileño life here. ■ INTERVIEW BY TOM BURGESS

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In conjunction with www.silver-screenspain.com, each month we focus on an English language movie made in the comunidad. Whether you want to follow in the footsteps of the stars or play scene-spotting with a DVD, the clues start here. And...action!

Doctor Zhivago Release date: 1965 Stars: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin Director: David Lean David Lean’s famous adaptation of the novel by Boris Pasternak tells a love story set in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution, in which a married Russian doctor and poet (Zhivago, played by Omar Sharif) falls in love with Lara (Julie Christie), the wife of a political activist. The film won five Oscars, and was shot in several locations in Spain including Salamanca, Soria and Madrid. The majority of the screenplay, by Robert Bolt, was written in Madrid’s Hotel Richmond in the Plaza de la República Argentina. The Hotel was later redeveloped as an apartment block. For the movie, Madrid provided several backdrops—the scene where Zhivago and his childhood sweetheart Tonya (Geraldine Chaplin) are first seen together was shot at Delicias train station, now the railway museum in Plaza Delicias, and the final scene of a long-awaited reunion between Zhivago and Lara was filmed around Plaza de España using an old tram that ran from Pinar de Chamartín. The Palacio del Capricho, situated in the wonderful Parque de El Capricho, was also used. Finely-crafted replicas of two Moscow streets were built in Canillas on the outskirts of the city in such minute detail that when filming ended several madrileños wanted to rent rooms there. The area around Soria, about 145 miles north-east of Madrid, was chosen because of its reliability for snowfall, as it was to represent the frozen wastes of Siberia. Unfortunately, filming wasn’t made any easier when the area had one of its mildest winters on record. One story tells of a Spanish peasant Palacio El Capricho Photo: (wikicommons) Hakan Svensson who fell asleep on a train to Soria and awoke to find himself in the middle of Soviet Russia, (unaware that the film was being shot, that scenes had been constructed, and that no revolution had actually occurred). Whether out of happiness or horror he had a heart attack and died. Another incident involving a Spanish train occurred when, in one scene, a woman had to hand over a baby to a passenger in order to save it from the ensuing violence. The woman fell under the train, but survived with a few scrapes and bruises. Lean kept the original shot in the film, although the woman’s plans to get married the following day were somewhat disrupted. Despite being made in 1965, the film was banned in the Soviet Union and wasn’t released there until 1994, endorsing a lyric from Maurice Jarre’s classic song for the movie, Lara’s Theme: “You’ll come to me out of the long-ago”.

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food&drink

¡good grifo !

Winning Game

Tapping into Madrid’s finest watering holes

Dylan Rice visits Madrid’s Balzac restaurant, where seasonal treats await

When? Every day, 1pm-1am.

Las Mil y Una Noches Where? C/Martin de los Herros, 28 (Metro: Plaza de Espana) Tel: 91 559 57 85. www.rclasmilyunanoches.com

ing courses of carpaccio de boletus con perdiz en escabeche suave (carpaccio of mushrooms with marinated partridge), pato azulón en dos cocciones con su asadillo y setas de temporada (roasted blue duck, twice cooked, with seasonal mushrooms) and royal liebre con salsa civet y pasta fresca (royal hare with civet sauce and fresh pasta). I choose the duck, which proves to be succulent and rich in flavour, whilst my partner decides on steak tartare con bastoncitos de patata frita (literally, steak tartare with little walking-stick french fries), an equally melt-in-the-mouth selection from the a la carte menu. Aside from the excellent quality, the creative presentation of the dishes merits high consideration too. Having mentioned that discretion is not part of our itinerary, there is no need to have any reservations about dessert, and I immediately plump for a delicious soufflé pancake filled with fruits of the forest, a delight in hitting just the right note of sweetness, whilst my partner’s eye is drawn to a fig cake in chocolate sauce—smooth, moist and delectable. In view of its location and quality of food and service, Balzac is competitively priced, and an excellent choice for business and special occasions. The Game menu is a fixed price 40 plus IVA, which includes four courses and dessert. From the a la carte options, starters range from 10, and main courses from 18. Luxurious, but not entirely out of reach.

aving completed your tour of the Prado, the exit is often reached with aching feet and an empty stomach. Most people cross straight over Castellano, and head towards the bars and restaurants of the barrio de las letras, leaving the zone to the west, between the famous art gallery and the Retiro, overlooked. It’s certainly a more exclusive area, but if you’re looking for something a little special, there are establishments to be found, and the Balzac restaurant is a prime example. The key here is discretion, and it’s not often that you stumble upon a restaurant that has doors that serve different purposes. For Balzac’s, a first door leads into the salon proper, where guests may be subject to casual glances from fellow diners; a second leads to private dining rooms, where your entrance will be observed by no one other than the staff themselves. Needless to say, for my partner and I, discretion isn’t a necessity, and we are more than happy to enter through door one. Even in the salon however there’s an air of relaxed elegance and tranquility. Balzac has an excellent bodega, with a fine selection of DO wines of Madrid. Several are available from three wine-producing zones—Navalcarnero, Arganda del Rey and San Martin de Valdeiglesias. From the last of that list we opt for Tejoneras Alta Selección 2006 (Bodegas Nueva Valverde), which accompanies wonderfully our starter of homemade Asturian blue cheese and potato croquettes. Chef Gonzalo Omiste Ruiz specialises in seasonal cuisine, and a current fixed option at the Balzac is a Game menu, includ-

Restaurante Balzac, Calle Moreto, 7 Tel: 91 420 06 13. Mon-Fri, 24.30pm, 9-12pm; Sat, 9pm-12pm. See www.restaurantebalzac.net

¡Pour favor! What to drink this month In Zamora, close to the Portugese border in Castilla y Leon, one of Spain’s new leading DO’s specialises in crafting big-bodied, juicy reds. Most Toro producers operate almost exclusively with tinta de toro, a local name for tempranillo. The region has been producing wine since the ancient Greeks taught local Celtic tribes to vinify, and some of the vineyards there predate phylloxera, so it’s best to respect the regional nomenclature. The large company Telmo Rodriguez produces three Toro wines which are all from handpicked grapes fermented by native yeasts. We chose the mid-range label, “Gago”, which spends 14 months maturing in oak barrels before it fills around 70 thousand bottles. Appearance An ultradark ruby red that’s barely translucent, indicating a dense wine with lots of fruit. Black cherry, with some violet at the edges, and none of the rusty, brickish red of older wine. Aroma As per the appearance, the aromas are intense—a delicious, jam-like blend of plum and cherry, quality leather, spices like clove, nutmeg, and vanilla. The sweet freshness of licorice as well as an earthy

What? A charming bar and restaurant that also acts as a sort of cultural centre, not least with belly dancing performances on Friday and Saturday nights at 10.30 and 11.30pm. In addition to the warm Middle Eastern hospitality and ambience, the biggest surprise is the size of the place. Despite a relatively small entrance on the street, the bar and restaurant stretch back considerably, and there’s enough room to accommodate big parties. With a large selection of food and drinks (see below), you could easily spend 1,001 nights here and still not experience all they have to offer.

Bodegas Telmo Rodriguez “Gago” 2007 Crianza DO: Toro. 100% Tinta de Toro. 14 months oak. 14.5% ABV. Available from Bodega Santa Cecilia: €15.55

smell like forest floor. The layers of this massive bouquet are impressive, full of fruits and spices and scents of wood; you might find raisins and blueberries. Taste This is a big wine. Full-bodied, with robust tannins and ample acidity (think dry, puckered tongue, in a good way). Fruits like plums, black cherry, and blueberries mingle with familiar winter spices like cinnamon and nutmeg that creep up after the initial taste. By the way, this is a wine you should sip twice to taste, because the first sip will almost surely shock your tongue. It’s the second one you should swish round and explore. Like the bouquet this is an intense and fairly complex taste. Beware of sipping too quickly, as it is powerful enough to abrade

your taste buds. A glass should last a while, giving you a chance to notice the change as the wine breathes and some of the heat from the high ABV evaporates. Try it with Something equally strong. One way to enjoy a bottle without blasting your mouth is to temper it with a strong cheese or lastingly flavourful food like any of the cured meats and sausages for which the Spanish are so famed.Or something with spices to match and a meatiness to stand up to the bold fruit. But it would go best with a serious steak. Final thoughts This wine will impress. Those feint of taste will fear, while extremists and seekers of boldness and intensity will revel. Far from easy drinking, like Beaujolais nouveau or a delicate Pinot Noir, this Toro is Spanish style for the 21st century: big, dark and intense, but the oak has been sidelined to showcase the mammoth fruit blend. And though many red drinkers will enjoy a glass alone, this really is a food wine, and it’s on the table that it will show its prowess. So the next winter roast you head to, bring a bottle of “Gago” and enjoy ■ THOMAS SPAETH the show.

People? The clientele is varied, as you might expect for a bar situated near Plaza de España and the Princesa cinema complex. The young hit the place for the food and exoticism, lunchtimes and evenings can find businessmen, and it’s also popular for group nights out and family get-togethers, with a five-year-old keenly trying out belly dancing to the thrill of her parents on our last visit. Food & Drinks? Starters average around 6, and include the popular Falaffel and Hummus, but there’s also Fattush, a somewhat unfortunately named healthy and delicious salad of fresh vegetables and herbs, or Chanclís, breadcoated cheese balls with thyme. For the main courses, think couscous and kefta, as well as lesser known Arabic delights, all around 13. Not only will you find the usual beers, wines and soft drinks, but there are more than 60 types of tea on offer. These range from your basic green or black, to rum, whisky, banana and mango. Wines start at 7.50 a bottle, and if you’re tempted for something a little unusual, there’s Egyptian or Lebanese beer priced at 3. Anything Else? Beautiful shisha pipes are available, and don’t forget to ask about the Hookah Club and Poetry Circle.

■ TIM INKLING

Photo (CC) flickr: zumalakarregi

(Yes, this ad is upside down on purpose!M)

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Photo (CC) flickr: danieljordahl

All Puffed Out Last month, Spain became the latest European country to introduce a blanket ban on smoking. Ireland was the first. Tessa White asks if the Spanish reaction will reflect the Emerald Isle’s

rompted by concerns at an impending smoking ban, last year Spanish publicans extended an invitation to the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland to visit Madrid. Ireland was the first European country to introduce a ban and is well known throughout the world for its “pub” culture. With a strong cohort of “Irish bars” in Spain, the Irish Vintners were well placed to offer guidance to their Spanish counterparts. When the ban was introduced in Ireland in 2004, publicans were acutely aware that the prohibition of smoking indoors coupled with a cold, wet climate had the potential to destroy their trade. In light of fines of up to 3,000 and/or six months in prison for breaking the new law, compliance was strong. Bar owners set their sights on rescuing sales by creative means, just as Spanish hostelry businesses will need to do.

Inside out Many Irish publicans adapted their premises in order to make smoking outdoors as comfortable as possible. Retractable roofs were fitted over designated smoking areas in many bars and restaurants. They were supposed to remain open when the area was in use. However, it was not unknown for these roofs to be rolled out on a damp night to keep Waste not, want not Photo (CC) flickr: tylerdurden1 the occupants below dry and happy. Outdoor heaters, seating and umbrellas flooded every nearby alley and pub garden. Very soon having a “good smoking area” at your bar became as important as pouring a great pint of Guinness. In Madrid, with hefty penalties of up to 600,000 for flouting the ban and temperatures falling as low as zero degrees in winter, bar owners are going to be forced to think outside the box (or the bar) to preserve trade in what are traditionally the hardest months of the year for the hospitality industry. Some bars have already set up their outdoor terrazas in order to accommodate smokers, while others have found inspiration in the “blanket” from “blanket ban” and made several available to their customers to wrap themselves in as they enjoy a cigarette en la calle. But will Madrileños be seduced by these measures? Montse Perez, an ex-smoker of eight years, laughs as she says “there are rumours that those mushroomed-shaped heaters are practically sold out throughout the country.” She depicts, with amusement, the sight of smokers outside cafeterias cradling coffees and puffing on cigarettes on her morning walk to work. She believes that the ban is a positive step for Spain but she says “it will not stop people from enjoying their morning coffee and cigarette.” Businessman Enrique Fernandez takes a different perspective, feeling the biggest victim of the ban will be the business lunch. In his experience the post-meal whisky and smoke is a crucial time in sealing business deals, a custom which the ban has already severely disrupted.

Ta ta to tapas? Sales of “pub grub” in Ireland were not significantly affected by the ban. A bar meal there typically involves sitting down to one large dish with friends or family, after which the smokers of the group enjoy a post-dinner ciggy. In Spain, the unique tradition of tapas is recognized the world over as being at the very heart of socialising. Like pub grub, tapas are usually enjoyed in company and often accompanied by a cigarette. Before the ban you need only have crossed the threshold of T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

any tapas bar to be met with intimidating stares from burly natives surrounded by thick plumes of grey smoke. It was not unusual to observe a patron grazing on tortilla and pulling hungrily on countless Fortunas. Can tapas stand up to tobacco-free dining? It is difficult to imagine that smokers will now frequent their local tapas joint with quite the same gusto given the necessary yo-yoing between the bar and exit. Scenes at El Tigre, a famous tapas bar on Calle Infantas in the days after the ban was introduced didn’t bode well for the future, with dejected-looking smokers huddled outside the door. A recent visit to the iconic RioFrio restaurant in Colón suggested that customers who smoked weren’t hanging around for their usual second drink. Perhaps the situation will be aided by a recent announcement by the Comunidad de Madrid that 600,000 is being made available to bars and restaurants to develop or improve their smoking areas.

Kicking the habit? When the ash has settled will these new restrictions actually encourage people to kick the habit? A survey carried out by Irish organisation Slán (Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition) showed an increase in the number of people smoking in Ireland from 27 to 29 per cent since the ban’s introduction. Spain’s smoking population currently stands at just under 30 per cent. So why did the rise occur in Ireland and could the same happen here? Picture two friends living in Dublin post-ban: a smoker (20-a-day and 40-a-night type) and a non-smoker. They hit the city centre on a Saturday night in search of fun and frolics. After a short while in a bar, the smoker announces that it’s high time for a fag and disappears outside. The non-smoker waits, but twenty minutes later there is no sign of their smoking friend. They locate the smoker outside surrounded by lively new acquaintances, puffing away, only surfacing momentarily to extend a lighter to a companion. Clearly they have found more interesting people, with a shared interest, with whom to burn the midnight oil. The non-smoker is faced with two choices: to retreat back inside and spend the evening eyeballing the other non-smokers from afar or ask for the loan of a cigarette and join in the fiesta afuera. A social smoker is born. It didn’t take long for InMadrid to find a similar occurrence here. Antonio Rossi, an Italian native visiting the city for the weekend, smokes a cigarette outside popular live music venue Picnic on Calle Minas and says “I don’t smoke but all my friends are out here so that’s why I’m smoking.” However, Luis Torres, an office worker on Calle Serrano and also an ex-smoker, Photo (CC) flickr: daviddennisphotos begs to differ. He thinks that “people will quit rather than run the risk of being spotted smoking on the street by family or colleagues.”

No smoke without fire While non-smokers sing the praises of the new law and publicans arm themselves with heaters, it remains to be seen what the long-term effects on bar trade and smoking habits will be. With unemployment figures at 20 per cent, the Spanish Federation of Hostelry estimates that up to 350,000 jobs in the hospitality industry could be lost as a result of the new law. Did the President of the Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, Gerald Mellett, offer any comfort for the future during his trip to Madrid? One of his comments about the ban is sure to have worried his Spanish hosts. “There’s not an awful lot you can do about it,” he said. W W W. I N M A D R I D . C O M

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music

LOL means Love of Lesbian Gabrielle Easter chats to Santi Balmes, lead singer of indie-pop outfit Love of Lesbian, about fun, fans and the future

s publicity stunts go, Love of Lesbian have sure as hell managed to get the attention that any band would crave. From three kilometre Nike fun runs ending at one of their gigs, or enlisting the help of 1,999 guitar-playing fans to play at one of their concerts, to a not-too-well-received spoof of Radiohead’s classic song “Creep” (called “Tinc la gripe”—I’ve got the flu), Love of Lesbian, or LOL, have skyrocketed onto the Spanish music scene. The Barcelona-born group is comprised of five talented men (and not a single lady, let alone lesbian) with lead singer Santi Balmes playing synthesizer and guitar, Julián Saldarriaga on guitar, banjo and sequencer, Joan Ramon Planell on bass, drummer Oriol Bonet and guitarist Jordi Roig. Their music is self-described as “melancholy pop mixed with various deliriums and a dose of a sense of humour”. Their last album 1999 (o como generar incendios de nieve con una lupa enfocando la luna)—roughly translated as “how to generate fires from snow using a magnifying glass focusing on the moon”—doesn’t fall short of that.

A tale of two cities Throughout this month, the band are touring the country, playing four concerts at Joy Esclava in Madrid, all of which sold out back in January. “We feel surprised and delighted,” says lead singer Santi Balmes on the overwhelming success of the tour. “We think we’ve arrived at something more than a simple pop concert, and now it’s become more of an experience that takes you through every emotion.” The differences between Spain’s two major cities? “The public in Madrid are very affectionate. And in Barcelona, we have the impression

Oriental tea house Arabic cuisine and cakes –Delicious Couscous– Tues-Sat, evenings: belly dancing Classes: belly dancing Arabic percussion Poetry circle– –P

Guincho, few Spanish musicians manage to penetrate the international music market. Love of Lesbian have achieved sold-out concerts and numerous awards, but have not yet received much attention outside Spain. Originally the group wrote their lyrics in English and went as far as recording their first three albums in English too, but they had little success in both the Spanish and the English-speaking world. The switch to their mother tongue proved an instant success with the release of Maniobras de Escapismo (Manoeuvres of Escapism) in 2005, their first album entirely in Spanish. This kick-started their national domination and received critical appraise. In 2007 the release of Cuentos Chinos Para Niños del Japón (Chinese Stories for Japanese Children) won music magazine Mondo Sonoro’s Best Album of the Year and the band set off for a small tour in the US. In light of their national success, are there any plans to go multilingual in the future? “We don’t think we’ll ever go back to singing in English again,” says Santi. “We’ve found ourselves in a pretty comfortable place right now, working in one of the two languages—Castellano— that have dominated our lives since we were little. The other is Catalan, and we’d also love to work with this in the future.” So definitely no chance of a return to English for all those extranjeros struggling to learn Spanish out there? “English would be a language we’d use if suddenly we were going to go on tour to non-Spanish speaking countries, but I don’t see it as likely to happen.”

c/Martín de los Heros, 28. Tel: 91 559 57 85

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that concerts are more personal in a way, and also more analytical.” But their fan base seems to relish Love of Lesbian wherever they go. “Regardless of where we are, or the distances we’ve travelled, our audiences seem to have a marked personality which doesn’t change in respect to how we experience a live concert.”

¿Hablas inglés? The boys of LOL are extending their talent beyond the borders of Spain, with an upcoming gig in March at the Scala in London. But Santi is hesitant about how far a Spanish-speaking group can make it internationally. “We’re aware that in the rest of Europe the music that comes out of Spain that usually gets attention has, over all, a more peculiar or more ancestral component to it.” His comment seems quite astute—despite last year’s huge success of Barcelona-based electro-pop act El W W W. I N M A D R I D . C O M

The group initially got together in Barcelona in 1998, but the members that comprise Love of Lesbian weren’t complete until 2007, with guitarist and singer Julián Salarriaga joining the crew. The band reached record success last year, receiving Rolling Stones’ Best Group and Best Tour prizes of 2010. Now working with Music Bus, in collaboration with Warner Music Spain, their sixth album 1999, released in 2009, proved that the switch to Spanish has been a definite win. More heavily produced, danceable and including more electro-pop elements, 1999 is a clean, fun and fresh album that’s easy to listen to and just as easy to enjoy. It’s not just a compilation of songs, but an album that traces the story of a young couple and their relationship over a year—something not lost in the video clips of the first released singles “Club de Fans de John Boy” (John Boy’s Fan Club) and “Allí Donde Solíamos Gritar” (There where we used to scream).

Get lesbianised If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on a ticket for one of their Madrid shows, you should be in for a great time—these concerts are some of the last for their national tour of 1999. If not, don’t worry, this band isn’t going to sit 2011 out. “Our plans for now are to try and establish ourselves,” says Santi, “to test ourselves and, above all, to continue enjoying the creative process like it’s been until now.” And there’s no stopping this group from throttling forward. They’ve just set up a new blog-based website, intriguingly named “Lesbianity Fair”, where they invite you to lesbianízate (be lesbianised). And there are even talks of putting together another album this year. So brace yourself to fall in love with LOL. T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

Month Ahead art

o’ the month

Museo del Prado Po del Prado, s/n (Metro: Atocha). Tel: 91 330 28 00. Tue-Sun, 9am-8pm. General admission €8, students under 25 €4, permanent exhibition free Tue-Sat, 6pm-8pm; Sun, 5pm-8pm. Pasión por Renoir. This is your last chance to catch this exhibition which, although housing a relatively small number of works, clearly shows the artistic evolution of this impressionist painter, known for his use of colour, brushstrokes and the intimate depiction of his subjects. Until 13 Feb.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza Po Prado, 8 (Metro: Banco de España). Tel: 91 369 01 51. TueSun, 10am-7pm. General admission €8, students €5,50. Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904). Organised by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Musée d’Orsay and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, this is the first exhibition dedicated to Gérôme for more than 30 years. The paintings and sculptures have been brought together to illustrate the fundamental aspects of the French artist’s work. From 15 Feb until 22 May. La fin de la Séance

Pi CK

■ BY ELENA RODEMANN

Jean-León Gérôme

José Caballero: Caminos de papel 1951-1991 Círculo de Bellas Artes C/Alcalá, 42 (Metro: Sevilla/Banco de España). Tel: 91 360 54 00. Tue-Sat, 11am-2pm, 5-9pm; Sun, 11am-2pm. €1. Paper is the most basic component for any painter—blank, empty and open at first, granting an endless amount of possibilities for artists to develop their work. Known for his contributions to Spanish abstract art, this exhibition includes more than one hundred of José Caballero’s paper-based pieces. During the 1930s, Caballero moved to Madrid and established relationships with other great artists such as García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Rafael Alberti, Miguel Hernández, Maruja Mallo and Luis Buñuel. In 1934, Lorca personally asked him to help in the set design for different plays at the Teatro Universitario La Barraca. The Spanish Civil War stunted his artistic activity, but fortunately he later began to create again and dedicated most of his time to theatrical set design and poetry. His works are displayed in museums such as the Reina Sofía, Bilbao’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin, Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute and The National Gallery of International Art in Sofia. This exhibition shows his artistic trajectory and how he managed to cover so many different types of visual expression. Until 3 April.

Centro de Arte Reina Sofía C/Santa Isabel, 52 (Metro: Atocha). Tel: 91 774 10 00. Mon-Sat, 10am-9pm; Tue, closed; Sun, 10am-2.30pm. General admission €6, temporary exhibition €3. Free Mon; Wed-Fri, 7-9pm; Sat, 2.309pm; Sun, 10am-2.30pm. Dorit Margreiter: Descripción. Margreiter examines the relationship between architecture and film and how the former specifically shapes people’s identities and their daily lives. For example, her video Zentrum portrays the relationship between architecture and socialist ideology. She also uses an extensive array of mixed media including film, drawings and photographs. This is her first exhibition in Spain. Until 25 Apr.

Other galleries El Efecto del Cine: Ilusión, Realidad e Imagen en Movimiento. Emphasising the impact film has had on people’s understanding of reality, this exhibition includes works by Isaac Julien,

Omer Fast, Ian Charlesworth, Kerry Tribe and Mungo Thompson. It was originally organised by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. CaixaForum, Pº del Prado, 36 (Metro: Atocha). Tel: 91 330 73 00. Mon-Sun, 1-8pm. Free. Until 24 Apr.

Interior/Exterior. Artists Lisa Carletta and Ulrika Andersson explore how the dichotomous nature between public and private spheres affects artistic creation, ultimately highlighting the importance of intimacy within the private arena. Through the use of light and meticulous detail, Carletta’s photographs, such as the ones found in her work “Hotel Room”, create different narrative stories that emphasise the role private spaces play in a person’s life. Whereas she fabricates the space in her photographs, Andersson uses a more cinematographic approach and documents reality as she sees it. The foundation and inspiration of her work lies in her experiences living in New York and Stockholm. Galería Aranapoveda, C/Lope de Vega, 22 (Metro: Antón Martin, Atocha, Banco de España). Tel: 91 389 60 73. Mon-Fri, 112pm, 5-8.30pm; Sat, 11-2pm. Until 23 Feb. Daniel Canogar: Enredos. In these stunning photographs, Canogar uses electronic cables and garbage found throughout Madrid’s dumpsters to imitate intricate and elaborate spiderwebs. He uses the webs as the quintessential

Tokyo — Kamakura

Cesar Ordoñez

Tokyo — Emi Chan

Cesar Ordonez

example of interconnectedness and comments on how society is tangled up in its own knots. Galería Max Estrella, C/Santo Tomé, 6 (Metro: Chueca/Colón). Tel: 91 319 55 17. Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm, 4.30-8.30pm; Sat, 11am-2pm, 58.30pm. Until 26 Mar.

Tokyo. César Ordoñez is fascinated with Tokyo and the daily life of its inhabitants, but not as an example of exotic and technological orientalism. In this exhibition of photographs and short videos, he instead aims to capture the city’s simplicity and his thoughts, doubts and feelings during journeys within it. Galería Rita Castellote, C/San Lucas, 9 (Metro: Chueca). Tel: 91 308 23 25. Mon, 5-8.30pm; Tue-Fri, 11am-2pm, 5-8.30pm; Sat, 11am-2pm. Until 26 Feb. Interior Exterior — Projection Fault

theatre

Ulrika Andersson

Spin

■ BY RAVEN KELLER

El Libro de la Selva, El Musical Young Mowgli and his close friend, Baloo the bear, will be in the capital every weekend this month performing Rudyard Kipling’s wildly successful tale of friendship and the love of nature. The anthropomorphic characters in El Libro de la Selva (The Jungle Book) fable were created in the mid-1890s while their British-Indian author was living in Vermont, USA. The story is one of a series of books in which a young “man cub,” who’s been abandoned by his parents in the midst of the fierce jungle, is saved by a number of kind (and on stage musically-inclined) animals. In the late 1960s Disney turned the story into an animated film that has transmitted its message of care and survival throughout the world. The stage version defies the constraints of the written page, bringing song, dance, colour and acrobatics to the story of a boy living among a bubbly bear, marching elephants and a dozen other fantastic creatures. Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón, C/Atocha, 18 (Metro: Tirso de Molina, Sol). Tel: 91 420 37 97. Tickets (entradas.com) 15-18. Sat, 4pm; Sun, 12.30pm. Until 27 Mar.

Festival Internacional de Magia de Madrid Levitation, bottomless bags, humour, poetry and bodies sawn in half:

Ladies & Gentlemen, it’s Magic Time! This first International Festival brings together the best magicians in the world for a week of events focused around trickery of the eye. In addition to an International Gala, the shows include La Fuerza de la Ilusíon (The Power of Illusion), and Historia de la

La Vuelta al Mundo en 80 Días When Victorian-era Phileas Fogg bets the members of his high society club that he can travel “la vuelta al mundo en 80 días” (around the world in 80 days), the feat seems unthinkable. Even when this musical was written in 1972, the trip must have sounded quite daunting. Fogg risks his life and half of his fortune for a journey that ends up changing his world—he gets caught up in a bank robbery, is pursued by the persistent Detective Fix, not to mention facing obstacles in the dry deserts of Africa, communist China, the minarets of Istanbul and the barren US midwest. Teatro Sanpol, C/San Pol de Mar, 1 (Metro: Principe Pío) Tel: 91 541 90 89. Tickets (entradas.com) 13- 16. Sat, 6pm; Sun, 12pm, 6pm. Until 27 Feb..

La Dama Boba Magia (The History of Magic) with world- famous Spanish magician Juan Tamariz, as well as Magia para Ciegos (Magic for the Blind), an innovative and interactive show for the visuallyimpaired. The event seeks not just to impress all of the senses of its audience, but to empower those watching to become magicians themselves. Teatro Circo Price, Ronda Atocha, 35 (Metro: Embajadores). Tel: 91 539 19 54. Tickets (entradas.com) 10- 15. Tue-Fri, 8.30pm; Sat, 6pm, 8.30pm; Sun, 12am, 6pm. 14-20 Feb.

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We work to live, we live to work. Do we compromise our ethics to achieve comfortable lives? Do we dilute love and our personal interests to be normal? In this modern adaptation of Lope de Vega’s classic comedic tale, the cast are adorned in springy and cartoonish costumes designed by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, and look to address these questions. Written in 1613, the themes in La Dama Boba (Lady Nitwit) still resonate today. Teatros Del Canal, C/Cea Bermúdez, 1 (Metro: Canal, Rîos Rosas) Tel: 91 308 99 50/99. Tickets (entradas.com). 16 Feb-6 Mar.

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Daniel Canogar

dance

■ BY RAVEN KELLER

Brodas Bros Hip-hop culture was born in the 1970s among the poor, minority residents of New York City and has since reached international popularity, such that DJing, break dancing and beat-boxing can be seen all over the world. The culture was praised by its early followers as a means of expression that could save a person from the drugs and violence of the ghettos in which they lived. Today, it’s most consumed as a manufactured lifestyle—huge production companies make billions of dollars selling rap albums, and enormous clothing companies manufacture puffy jackets. This month the Spanish dance troupe, Brodas Bros, brings a taste of hip-hop to Theatre Compac, Gran Vía. The performance promises a combination of dance, graffiti, humour and live music, peppered with the image of hip-hop as a marginalised art form. The DJs will scratch, voices will beatbox and eight professional dancers will contort their limbs and pause a beat upside down on one hand. Subtitled “From the street to the theatre”, this spectacular is directed by Lluc Fruitós. Teatro Compac, Gran Vía, 21 (Metro: Plaza de España, Callao) Tel. 91 730 17 50. Tickets (entradas.com) 1625. Wed, Thur, 8.30pm; Fri, 9pm; Sat, 6.30pm, 9.30pm; Sun, 5pm, 7.30pm. 2-13 Feb.

Tango Metrópolis Just as hip-hop was invented by the working class, Tango originated in lower-class

districts of Uruguay and Argentina around the turn of the 20th century. South America’s working-class slums were full of thousands of European immigrants who wove their various forms of music into sensual rhythms, leading to a “Tango Craze” taking hold in European capitals. By 1913 the craze swept to New York. The dance of close bodies, slick hair and the stereotypical rose-between-the-teeth can be enjoyed in town this month as Tango Metropolis pools the various forms of tango that have developed over the last hundred years and combines them with other contemporary forms of dance. There will no doubt be flowing dresses and impressive feats of dipping, spinning and leg-entangling. Teatros Del Canal, C/Cea Bermúdez, 1 (Metro: Canal, Rîos Rosas). Tel: 91 308 99 50/99. Tickets (entradas.com) 30-35. Tue-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 6pm, 9.30pm; Sun, 6pm. 16 Feb-6 Mar.

F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 1

for the record

concerts

Joan as Policewoman The Deep Field

Skunk Anansie

Catch Fran Healy, frontman of Travis, at Ramdall Music Live, C/Ferraz, 38 (Metro: Plaza de España) on 17 Feb. See www.franhealy.com

■ BY OLIVIA WATERS

Russell Parton gets out his olives and tells us what we should, or shouldn’t, be listening to

The Decemberists The King is Dead Capitol The King is Dead marks a welcome return to simplicity for The Decemberists. For many fans of the Portland five-piece, that’s a good thing—the group already has a nineminute sea shanty to their name, and their last record was a conceptual “rock opera”. Singer Colin Meloy seems to have toned down the pomp and abstruse lyrics this time round to deliver instead a bunch of unpretentious, country-driven songs with trappings of traditional Celtic music. Country legend Gillian Welch lends a hand with vocal harmonies, while the group also enlists the help of REM’s Peter Buck. The harmonica blazes and a mandolin tinkles as the album gets off to an arresting start with “Don’t Carry It All”. It’s full, confident and it sounds celebratory—even if lyrically it’s not supposed to. “Rox in the Box”, with its “One, two, three” chorus, may make you believe for a split second that you’re at an actual céilí, though with added menace to the lyrics: “And if you ever make it to ten you won’t make it again”. It’s an undisguised genre exercise—but darn good all the same. “All Arise!” complete with saloon piano and fiddle, does try a bit too hard to replicate an “authentic” country sound, but there’s little else to detract from this enticing rural fling.

Iron & Wine Kiss Each Other Clean 4AD

Love of Lesbian

Sun 13 Feb Sala La Riviera, P° Bajo de La Virgen, s/n (Metro: Puerta del Ángel/Príncipe Pio). Tel: 91 365 24 15. www.salariviera.com. 23 from www.ticketmaster.es Their self-titled 2008 debut became an anthem for broken-hearted listeners everywhere, with tracks like “Breakeven” and the chart-topping “The Man Who Won’t Be Moved” telling of love, loss and heartache. Hailing from Dublin, the soft-rock group were an instant success in the UK, and seem to be continuing their good run with their 2010 offering Science and Faith.

Wed 2 to Sat 5 Feb Joy Eslava, C/Arenal, 8 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 366 54 39. www.joy-eslava.com. Regulars on the Spanish music scene, Barcelona five-piece Love of Lesbian have built up an impressive following since their formation in 1997. Their early career produced three English-language albums, a move that front-man Santi Balmes later dubbed a mistake, and their decision to sing solely in Castellano proved to be a turning point in their fortunes. Their 2009 album 1999 identified them as one of the more exciting things happening in Spanish indie music at the moment, with even Rolling Stone magazine sitting up and taking notice. See also this month’s music interview on page 14.

Photo (CC) flickr: alterna2

Band of Horses Tue 8 Feb Sala Heineken, C/Princesa, 1 (Metro: Plaza de España). Tel: 91 547 57 11. www.salaheineken.com. 23 from www.ticketmaster.es Still relative newcomers to the music scene, South Carolina rockers Band of Horses have already managed to pump out three studio albums since their formation in 2004. Their latest offering Infinite Arms, has been touted as their effort to make their music more accessible to a wider audience, moving beyond the small indie gigs and into the mainstream, money-making music machine. Their new sound is undoubtedly bigger, more spacious, and more stadium-friendly, yet still manages to keep the intimacy of their previous two albums. A great band to watch out for in 2011, and highly recommended.

Photo (CC) flickr: Scott Penner

Sam Beam rips up the Americana rule book on his fourth album, Kiss Each Other Clean. Under the name Iron & Wine, the singer has come far since his banjo-styled, long beard-wearing 2002 debut, developing an extensive palette that steps outside the folk tradition. This is an album that’s pensive yet can also run riot. Beam has a way with imagery—he’s a painter—and his lyrics are enigmatic and visual, like the poetic list of opposites in opener, “Walking far from Home”: “I saw flowers on a hillside and a millionaire pissing on the lawn.” The soft focus sparseness of “Godless Brother in Love” and the ruminative elegy “Tree by the River” show that something of the rustic template remains—but not much. Witness the squelchy sax of “Me and Lazarus” or the snaky funk-infused bass line of “Monkeys Uptown”, which breaks through any folkinduced haze, or the magnificent coda of “Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me”, the last track, which builds in intensity until the album’s final note.

Boat Beam Reincarnation Origami Not so long ago, an all female threepiece called Boat Beam exploded on to the Madrid scene with their debut album, 2009’s Puzzle Shapes. Now no longer an unknown quantity, the group is breathing new life with their latest album, Reincarnation. There’s less that’s as instantly appealing on this follow up, although the song-writing savvy of Josephine Ayling is still in evidence. Instead, these densely packed melodic structures gradually seep into your consciousness, leaving a more lasting impression. “I caress your sleep cocoon”, croons Ayling on sprightly opener “Sabio”, before the chorus soars with a burst of electric guitar. Next is the impressive “Sirens”, combining foreboding lyrics (“Sirens and lullabies, the violence of driftwood”) with majestic strings—a sure high point of the album. Despite the band boasting a full-time drummer now, there’s little to get your shuffle on to, but then that’s not the point. The strong melodies, taut structures and some tart observations by the lyrically arch Ayling, will put a spring in your step and doubtlessly insure Boat Beam remain a staple in Spain’s salas this year.

F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 1

Photo (CC) flickr: hydraulix16aa

The Script

Photo (CC) flickr: Shht!

Fans of Joan Wasser looking forward to another album of heart-rending piano ballads will experience a minor shock from the New Yorker’s third outing as Joan as Policewoman. The singer’s new album, The Deep Field— named after an obscure and distant pocket of space—is a departure from the jazzy, string-drenched sounds of her previous albums Real Life and To Survive—a denser and more muscular affair in which strings, horn and electric guitar augment Wasser’s trademark electric piano and smooth vocal delivery. A squeal of guitars greets us on opening track “Nervous”, an assertive yet uneasy number that finds Wasser wrestling with her own personality. “There’s a wild ride going on behind the signs,” we’re told. Wasser has dubbed the album her “most joyous, open record,” and there is a certain feeling of intimacy created by her hushed vocals and by the languid soul of “The Magic” and “Chemee”. But it’s a vibe that veers towards that most unloved tag of all: easy listening. Still, I can think of a few two-bit soul-pop divas out there who could learn something from these simple arrangements and wonder at the depth of Wasser’s emotional insight.

Sala La Riviera, P° Bajo de La Virgen, s/n (Metro: Puerta del Ángel/Príncipe Pio). Tel: 91 365 24 15. www.salariviera.com. 27 from www.ticketmaster.es Led by enigmatic front-woman Skin, 90s Brit-rockers Skunk Anansie have been away from the music scene (well, collectively at least) for over a decade. Following their 2009 greatest hits album is Wonderlustre—the band’s first new material in over ten years. The album has been met with a slew of great reviews from critics and fans eager to see one of the most charismatic and innovative Brit bands of the nineties return with their raw sound. A little bit older and a little bit wiser than before, Skunk Anansie will be packing out La Riviera on the 9th.

Photo (CC) flickr: Jason Persse

PIAS recordings

booking ahead Christina Rosenvinge Fri 4 Mar, Joy Eslava, C/Arenal, 8 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 366 54 39. www.joy-eslava.com. 15 from www.ticketmaster.es Taylor Swift Sat 19 Mar, Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, C/Jorge Juan, 99 (Metro: Goya/O’Donnell). Tel: 91 401 91 04. www.palaciodeportes.com. 35-60 from www.ticketmaster.es Roger Waters Fri 25 Mar, Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, C/Jorge Juan, 99 (Metro: Goya/O’Donnell). Tel: 91 401 91 04. www.palaciodeportes.com. 50 from www.ticketmaster.es Shout Out Louds Thur 7 Apr, Sala El Sol, C/de los Jardines, 3 (Metro: Gran Vía) Tel: 91 532 64 90. www.elsolmad.com. 18 from www.ticketmaster.es

Sum 41 Wed 16 Feb Palacio Vistalegre, C/de Utebo, 1 (Metro: Vistalegre). Tel: 91 563 94 93. www.palaciovistalegre.com. 23 from www.ticketmaster.es Veering from pop-punk to alternative rock via a bit of metal, Canadian group Sum 41 are now entering their fifteenth year in the music industry. Touring with their soon-to-bereleased fifth studio album Screaming Bloody Murder, the four-piece are well known throughout the industry for their incredible stamina for concerts, and have spent as many as 300 days of the year on the road in the past. The Palacio Vistalegre will be offering them a suitable home for their big gig in Madrid.

W W W. I N M A D R I D . C O M

Deerhunter Thur 14 Apr, La Riviera, P° Bajo de La Virgen, s/n (Metro: Puerta del Ángel/Príncipe Pio). Tel: 91 365 24 15. www.salariviera.com. 25 from www.ticketmaster.es McFly Sat 7 May, Palacio Vistalegre, C/de Utebo 1, (Metro: Vistaleagre). Tel. 91 563 94 93. www.palaciovistalegre.com. 26.50 from www.ticketmaster.es The Wombats Sun 22 May, Joy Eslava, C/Arenal, 8 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 366 54 39. www.joy-eslava.com. 20 from www.ticketmaster.es

T H E E N G L I S H - L A N G U A G E M O N T H LY

nightlife

live listings COMPILED BY OLIVIA WATERS Rock/pop BOITE c/Tetuán, 27 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 522 96 20. www.boitemadrid.com 4 Feb: Mr Criminal 10 Feb: La Broma Negra 11 Feb: Schwarz 17 Feb: Superficie 18 Feb: Death Before Dishonor 24 Feb: Paul Ansell´s Number Nine 25 Feb: Luter

CARACOL c/Bernardino Obregón, 18 (Metro: Embajadores). Tel: 91 527 35 94. 3 Feb: Brujo 13 Feb: The New Mastersounds 19 Feb: HARCORE Division FEST en Caracol 27 Feb: Saurom

COSTELLO CLUB c/Caballero de Gracia, 10 (Metro: Gran Vía) Tel: 91 522 18 15. www.costelloclub.com 4 Feb: Los Alimentos + The Drug Dealers 5 Feb: Jere 10 Feb: The Welcome Dinasty + Local Qua4tro 11 Feb: Horthy + Modulok Trio 12 Feb: Doctor Persona 17 Feb: S Indiegnas con Hazte Lapon + Alborotador Gomasio 18 Feb: Raul Querido + Ok La Ho ma 19 Feb: Adan Ross 24 Feb: Izal 25 Feb: Chivochivato + Nando Caballero 26 Feb: Insanity Wave

TEATRO LARA c/Corredera Baja de San Pablo, 15 (Metro: Callao) Tel: 91 523 90 27. 1 Feb: Alex Ferreira 10 Feb: Junip 15 Feb: Mark Kozelek 17 Feb: Jay-Jay Johanson 24 Feb: Dean Wareham

EL SOL c/de los Jardines, 3 (Metro: Gran Vía). Tel: 91 532 64 90. 3 Feb: Heavy Trash 18 Feb: Mittens + Mañana en El Sol 26 Feb: Atom Rhumba

GRUTA 77 c/Cuclillo, 6 (Metro: Oporto). Tel: 91 471 23 70. www.gruta77.com

■ COMPILED BY EMMA PARNWELL

20 Feb: Kensi + Mi Animal + Marzella 23 Feb: 28 Selection + Mad Division + Ups 24 Feb: Rhino Bucket + Angeles + Pinchadiscos: Rana AC/DJ 25 Feb: Mr T-Bone & Friends (Italia) + Ben Gunn Metro Band 26 Feb: Charlie Hightone & the Rock-It’s + The Vibrants 27 Feb: Edith Alonso & Antony Mauberd + Mother Mayhem

JOY ESLAVA c/Arenal, 8 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 366 37 33. www.joy-eslava.com 2 Feb: Love of Lesbian 3 Feb: Love of Lesbian 4 Feb: Love of Lesbian 5 Feb: Love of Lesbian 13 Feb: Hurts 17 Feb: Hercules and Love Affair

dance & mixed CLUB COLORS, Laydown, Plaza de los Mostenses, 9 (Plaza de España). First & third Fri of the month, 12.30am-3am. www.myspace.com/clubcolors Dance, sit, or even lie down while listening to the beats inspired by different electronic and dance genres at this “sexy groove session”. COPOLACLUB, c/San Hermenegildo, 7 (San Bernardo/Noviciado). Wed-Sun 11pm-3.30am. www.copolaclub.com Funky disco-bar with jazz, soul, pop and chilled house upstairs and electronica and techno downstairs. Test out your DJ skills on weeknights. € FOROCIO.COM FIESTA DE INTERCAMBIO, Sala Torero, c/Cruz, 26 (Sevilla). Wed. www.forocio.com. Meet people from all over the world at this awesome international party. € JOY ESLAVA, c/Arenal, 11 (Sol). Daily 11.30pm-6am. www.joyeslava.com. Hosting lots of guest bands and DJs, Joy attracts a mixed crowd who get all dolled up to dance to an eclectic mix of music. €€ KAPITAL, c/Atocha, 125 (Atocha). Thur-Sat midnight-6am. Over-

: Cheap, popular, danceable indie-pop and rock at this excellent indie club. Email info@independanceclub.com with your full name, number of people and day attending for free entry! € SALA TABOO, c/San Vicente Ferrer, 23 (Tribunal). Thur-Sat 11pm5.30am. www.taboo-madrid.com. Hosting both concerts and DJs, this Malasaña venue has it all, from funky electronica to punk-rock to trip-hop by upcoming artists. Watch out for its indie night, Dots Club, on Thursdays. €€ TRANSMISSION CLUB, Sala Star Studio 54, Plaza del Carmen, 3, lower floor (Sol). Fri 11pm-3am. myspace.com/transmission_club. Here’s a bar with a heavy musical focus, even mixing up the styles—post-punk, gothic, 80s and more—depending on the night. € TUPPERWARE, c/Corredera Alto de San Pablo, 26 (Tribunal). Wed-Sun 10pm-3am. myspace.com/tupperwarebar. Super-kitsch design and an indie-pop vibe that gets everyone dancing. € WILD THING BAR, c/Martín Machio, 2 (corner Padre Claret) (Alfonso XIII). Sun-Thur 9pm-close, Fri-Sat 10pm-close. www.wildthing.es. DJs rock this artsy bar with 90s and indie greats

Busy P and DJ Mehdi @ Low Club Nightlife Plaza Mostenses, 11 (Metro: Plaza de España), Thur 3 Feb, Spotlight from midnight. www.lowclub.es

LA RIVIERA P° Bajo de La Virgen, s/n (Metro: Puerta del Ángel/Príncipe Pio). Tel: 91 365 24 15. www.salariviera.com

SALA HEINEKEN c/Princesa 1, (Metro: Plaza de España). Tel: 91 547 57 11. 4 Feb: Covenant 8 Feb: Band of Horses 17 Feb: Fiesta Demoscópica Mondo Sonoro 19 Feb: Kase O & Jazz Magnetism 22 Feb: Mike Posner 25 Feb: El Puchero de Hortelano

These two French DJs are showcasing their as yet unreleased collaboration Let the Children Techno at everyone’s favourite club staple. DJ Medhi, one of France’s finest Hip Hop producers, comes together with former Daft Punk manager, Busy P. Now managing another French electro duo Justice, Busy P is certainly living up to his name as he crams this joint tour around Europe into his hectic schedule. Together they have compiled and mixed a wide range of artists such as Flying Lotus and Zombie Nation to produce a record that spans the genres from dubstep to indie electro, giving a little something for everyone. Hitting Madrid before the pair even launch the album in London, this night definitely promises to be more interesting than the usual run of the mill club nights. Free with guestlist/flyer before 1.30am.

SALA SIROCO c/San Dimas, 3 (Metro: Noviciado). Tel: 91 532 13 57. www.siroco.es

Flamenco LAS TABLAS Plaza de España, 9 (Metro: Plaza de España). Tel: 91 542 05 20. www.lastablasmadrid.com CARDAMOMO C/Echegaray, 15 (Metro: Sol). Tel: 91 369 07 57. www.cardamomo.es CASA PATAS C/ Cañizares, 10 (Metro: Antón Martín). Tel: 91 369 04 96. www.casapatas.com

the-top seven-floor macro-club playing everything from house to hip hop to Spanish pop. €€€ NEU!CLUB, Sala Galileo Galilei, c/Galileo, 100 (Islas Filipinas). Sat 9.30pm-5.30am. myspace.com/neuclub. Electronica, bluegrass, Motown, 60s, rock and pop during the musical, cultural and audiovisual nights, plus live music and DJ sessions. €€ OCHO Y MEDIO, c/Mesonero Romanos, 13, corner of Gran Vía, 34 (Callao). Fri 1-6am. myspace.com/ochoymedio. Popular night featuring electro-disco, bastard-pop, punk-rock, new wave and postpunk. €€ OUI MADRID, c/Jorge Juan, 99 (Goya). Thur-Sat midnight-3am. www.ouimad.com. Start the night off right at this chic restaurant which turns into a nightclub around midnight. Take the elevator to the top floor and dive into the crush of people. Don’t forget to dress to the nines! €€€ PACHA, c/Barcelo, 11 (Tribunal). Thur-Sat midnight-6am. www.pacha-madrid.com. Ultra-classy Pacha, a major force in Madrid since the 80s, now plays house, hip hop and commercial music on three floors. Worth a try, but leave those Converse at home! €€€ REINA BRUJA, c/Jacometrezo, 6 (Callao/Santo Domingo). Fri-Sat 11pm-5.30am. www.reinabruja.com. Well-mixed, popular hip hop and R&B for the fashionable youth of Madrid. €€ YA’STA, c/Valverde, 10 (Gran Vía). Thur-Sat midnight-6am. www.yastaclub.net. Thursdays are jazz, funk and soul, Fridays are dirty rock and electro, and Saturdays are techno and psychedelic trance. Talk about a complete weekend! €€

Celtic/folk Finbars. Tel: 91 548 37 93 The Irish Rover. Tel: 91 597 48 11 Taberna Elisa. Tel: 91 369 74 263

: Damn! That’s expensive!

midnight-6am. www.moma56.com. Dance to resident DJ Koke’s tunes at this disco bar. €€ MONDO, Sala Stella, c/Arlabán, 7 (Sevilla). Thur-Sat 0.30-6am. www.web-mondo.com. Funk and electronica feature in this fantastic venue located smack dab in the centre of town. Fridays lean more towards house, techno and electro under the night’s pseudonym, The Room. This is a place you night-owls won’t want to miss! €€ OHM, Plaza Callao, 4 (Callao). Fri-Sat midnight-6am. myspace.com/ohmclub. Great house DJs, great people and a great vibe. And don’t miss Weekend on Sundays, which features funky house. €€ 69 PÉTALOS, Avda Alberto de Alcocer, 32 (Cuzco/Colombia). Fri 11pm-6am. www.grupo69petalos.com With a shake-up of funk, RnB and popular house, plus cabaret, ludicrous outfits and general debauchery, the totally fabulous 69 Pétalos will leave you begging for more. €€ SUPERKLUB, Sala COOL, Isabel la Católica, 6 (Santo Domingo). Sun midnight-6am. Sunday evenings just got better than ever, with Superklub spilling non-stop house music into your Monday morning as if the weekend was never going to end. €€€ TWIST CLUB, @ Sala Pirandello, c/ Martin de los Heros 14 (Plaza de España) With the new year, a new chapter unfolds for Twist Club, Madrid´s N*1 weekly drum&bass night: the club moves to a new venue, still in the centre of Madrid though with more capacity and a bigger sound-system! The music policy stays true to its roots, with a selection of (inter) national dj’s playing across the full dnb spectrum. €€

reggae, funk, jazz & world music

9 Feb: Skunk Anansie 12 Feb: Rhapsody 13 Feb: The Script 26 Feb: Ojos de Brujo

3 Feb: Goymamba 4 Feb: Ultima Experiencia + Luz Verde 5 Feb: Cómo Vivir en el Campo + BETACAM 10 Feb: Ska Bottom Boat 11 Feb: Sindicato del Crimen 12 Feb: Volt Face + Surfin Kaos + Lobo Eléctrico 17 Feb: The Banditsroots 18 Feb: Impala + 60Y1 19 Feb: Tania Head 24 Feb: Popes of Chillitown 25 Feb: Los Ingenieros Alemanes + Lecciones de Vuelo + Los Autócratas 26 Feb: Wild Honey + Yani Martinelli

: A bit more pricey,

indie pop & rock ESPIRAL POP, c/San Andrés, 23 (Tribunal/Bilbao). Wed-Sun 11pm-3am. myspace.com/espiralpop. Pop and electro pop at this funky café with featured DJs. € INDEPENDANCE CLUB, c/Santa Engracia, 26 (Alonso Martínez). Thur-Fri-Sat midnight-6am. www.independanceclub.com. Enjoy

every night of the week. Make sure you take advantage of its happy hour on Thursdays from 9pm to 1am, when beers are only €2! €

BERLÍN CABARET, c/Costanilla de San Pedro, 11. Mon, Tue, Wed: shows 1.30am; Thur: shows 1.30am & 3.30am; Fri, Sat: shows 1.30am, 2.30am & 3.30am. www.berlincabaret.com Located in La Latina, Berlín Cabaret attracts a diverse audience spilling out from the many bars in the area. It offers a lively, funky atmosphere with eclectic music ranging from the Jackson 5 to “La Lambada” and live cabaret shows, such as Psicosis Gonsales and In Drag. €€ LA BOCA DEL LOBO, c/Echegaray, 11 (Sevilla). Wed-Sat 10.30pm-3.30am. www.labocadellobo.com Rock, funk, electronic jazz and rare groove served up four nights a week, plus live music. €€ COSTELLO, c/Caballero de Gracia, 10 (Gran Vía). Daily 6pm-3am. www.costelloclub.com. Everything from funk and electronic jazz to pop, rare groove and rock music. €€ EL JUGLAR, c/Lavapiés, 37 (Lavapiés). Daily midnight-3am. www.salajuglar.com. Get your daily dose of funk, house, reggae and breaks at this neighbourhood hotspot. € EL JUNCO, Plaza Santa Bárbara, 10 (Alonso Martínez). Daily 11pm-6am. www.eljunco.com. Late-night funk and electronic jazz. €€ MARULA CAFÉ, c/Caños Viejos, 3 (La Latina). Daily 10.30pm-6am. www.marulacafe.com. Come and get your funk on at the palace of funk, also known as Marula Café. € SWEET FUNK CLUB, c/Doctor Cortezo, 1 (Sol/Tirso de Molina). Thur-Sat midnight-6am. sweetfunkclub.com. Feel free to get a little dirty at this hip-hop club near Sol. €

special nights Cycle and Digital 21 @ Sala Rock Kitchen, C/Funadores, 7 (Metro: Manuel Becerra),Thur 3 Feb, from 9pm. www.myspace.com/cyclemad, www.myspace.com/digital21 For a taste of what’s happening on the Spanish electro scene, head down to Sala Rock Kitchen for a double dose of Madrid’s finest. Cycle are a glamorous four piece electro-rock group who take influence from the gothic 80s (think Sisters of Mercy) for a surreal and energy charged performance, fronted by the delectable songstress La China. After them, Digital 21 hits the stage with his electric guitar and drums for a live set, playing his unique brand of techno that has made him a regular on the summer festival scene. €18.

electro, house, techno & drum’n’bass CAPOTE, c/Santa Teresa, 3 (Alonso Martínez). Tues-Sat 10pm5am. This little gem of a bar puts on a good show with resident DJs Timo and Roberto Jean. Enjoy some tasty house music to whet your appetite. €€ CASSETTE CLUB, Sala Boite, c/Tetuan, 27 (Sol). Sun midnight6am. myspace.com/clubcassette. Electro to help ease you into the working week with a smile on your face. A cool night for a cool crowd. €€ DARK HOLE, Sala Flamingo, c/Mesonero Romanos, 13 (Callao/Gran Vía). Sat 1-6am. myspace.com/darkholegothicclub. Madrid’s unofficial gothic headquarters. Listen to dark ambient, electro and goth music until dawn. €€ DOMINION CLUB, Sala Jala Jala, c/la Puebla, 6 (Callao/Gran Vía). Fri 10.30pm-3am. www.myspace.com/dominionclubmadrid DJs Fran Raven and guests spin a dark mix of EBM, dark electro, synth pop, industrial electro and future pop. FREE DU:OM, Sala Heineken, c/Princesa, 1 (Plaza de España). Fri-Sat midnight-6am. www.duomclub.com. Dress to impress and dance the night away to house and progressive house provided by some truly talented DJs: Hugo Serra, Iván Pica and Pombo. €€€ ELIXIR, Changó, c/Luchana (corner of Covarrubias) (Iglesia/Bilbao). Sat midnight-6am. A classy venue with good-looking people, hot go-gos, decadent design and dance music till dawn. €€€ LOW CLUB, Sala Pirandello 1, c/Princesa, 3 (Plaza de España). FriSat midnight-6am. www.intromusica.com. Spend your weekends dancing away to resident and international DJs spinning the latest electro and techno beats. €€€ MOMA 56, c/José Abascal, 56 (Gregorio Marañon). Wed-Sat

32-20 Blues @ La Escalera de Jacob, C/Lavipies, 7 (Metro: Tirso de Molina), Wed 23 Feb, from 10.30pm. www.laescaleradejacob.es This night of Blues is more of a live music event than clubbing but well worth checking out if you’re craving some mid-week nightlife. Part of a month long run of concerts celebrating world music, this night presents three great Spanish musicians performing the golden age of American Blues from the 20s, 30s and 40s. Focusing specifically on rural and Delta Blues, it’s perfect for those who want to hear the original folk music that inspired and influenced so much of the last fifty years of music from Bob Dylan to Duffy. If that isn’t enough to persuade you then the venue itself should be the clincher. La Escalera de Jacob is a beautiful cave-like setting tucked away in the heart of Lavapiés with a small stage and a cosy and intimate ambience. €8 advance/ €10 on the door (includes one drink). Infadels DJ set @ Pop and Dance, C/Valverde, 10 (Metro: Gran Vía), Fri 11 Feb, from 11pm. www.popandance.com This quintet of Londoners have spent the last five years refining their own brand of electro rock’n’roll that has garnered them attention from all over the globe, leading them to tour with The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers. The Infadels were born at the beginning of the new wave of electro in Britain which in turn inspired the likes of the Klaxons and La Roux. With their latest album firmly rooted in the electro genre, the band claim that their desire is to “create an atmosphere of humans at war with the flashing, beeping machines around them”. With legendary riotous live gigs that have been known to end in a few of the crowd needing some kind of medical attention, this probably won’t be the most chilled Friday night you’ve ever had, but it could well be one of the most fun. Free before 11pm.

Photo (CC) flickr: zumalakarregi

2 Feb: Laguna + June Mack + Too Fast to be an Airplane 3 Feb: O’Clock + Monquimod 4 Feb: The Malditos + 5 Cobras + No Brain 5 Feb: Strawberry HC + Victimas del Jaüs + Bitter Mambo 6 Feb: The Meteors + Long Tall Texans + Coffin Kats + Silver Shine 9 Feb: Government + Market Garden + Dawn to Dusk 10 Feb: Legendary Shack Shakers + Donald Reagans 11 Feb: Banda del Destierro + Star Mafia Boy 12 Feb: Los Ministers + The Bandit Roots 13 Feb: Pigmalion + Pepper & the Stringalings 16 Feb: Los Empollones + Los Penúltimos + Boss & Ove 17 Feb: The Cubical 18 Feb: Nunca Digas Nunca + Astrobahn 19 Feb: Sonotones + Hat Trick

We do our best to keep these listings up to date but clubs come and go so if you see anything incorrect in here, please let us know by sending an email to editor@inmadrid.com. You’ll automatically be entered in a draw to win a free pair of cinema tickets

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moviereviews

Jessica Cogan previews the big-screen releases heading to Madrid this month

Secretariat (Campeón) Disney is really good at a handful of things: cartoons about dwarves, expensive theme parks and underdog stories. Secretariat is Disney’s latest effort at this third category and, gosh, if they didn’t just about do it again. The film is about a horse— the real 1973 Triple Crown winner—named Secretariat. But thankfully, filmmakers decided against making him talk. Instead, his story is told through the tales of those around him. Principally, this is Penny (Diane Lane), Secretariat’s owner, and Lucien (John Malkovich), the horse’s trainer. Penny is a typical mid-century American housewife whose husband disapproves of her focus anywhere outside The Kids are All Right of the home and who is underestimated at every turn. Lucien is a wacky trainer who’s looking for a what having a family, in fact this very family, might chance to prove he’s a winner. Together with their be like. Paul’s entrance into their lives exacerbates jockey Ron (Otto Thorwath) and financial backer issues that clearly already existed: Nic’s occasional Ogden Phipps (James Cromwell), Secretariat manover-drinking and rigidity, Jules’ need for attention, ages to pull off the biggest feat in racing: winning and their over-protectiveness of the kids. After Paul the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the and Jules cross an ethical line, decisions need to be Belmont Stakes to secure the Triple Crown. Disney made about who and what constitutes a family. Lisa does well with beautiful shots and a swelling soundtrack. Lane is capable as Penny and Malkovich is, as Cholodenko has crafted a very, very good film here. The characters are real, tender, funny and worth caralways, fun to watch. But there are a few too many ing about. That’s all right by me. Out 25 Feb side stories, too much business, not enough of a calm centre to the film. It’s hard not to compare Secretariat to the much superior Sea Biscuit in this Winter’s Bone way. Still, I defy you to keep dry eyes during the cliThis may just be the “feel bad” movie of the year. mactic scene. Secretariat will lukewarm your heart. Set in the grim, bleak backwoods of Missouri, Out 18 Feb Winter’s Bone is the story of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a 17-year-old with the world on her shoulThe Kids are All Right ders. She is the primary caretaker of her family (Los chicos están bien) which includes two siblings under ten and a near I think we may have turned a corner on society’s catatonic mother. She does the cooking (when view of lesbians. Remember the steamy hookups in there’s any food to eat), the cleaning and all of the Vicky Cristina Barcelona or Mulholland Drive? Well, responsibility-taking for the family. One day the sherget ready for a film focused on a middle-aged lesbian iff rolls up to let her know that her father Jessup has couple with kids who act like normal people. We real- an important court date the following week. If her ly have evolved. We meet the couple, Nic (Annette drug-dealing dad doesn’t show, he tells her, she’ll Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore), just as their lose the house because he’s put it up to post bond. first child is turning 18. Well-adjusted, happy and Ree sets out to find her father—a tough quest when smart, Joni (Mia Wasilkowska) is getting ready to no one wants to talk to her about his disappearance. head off to college. Before she does, her half brothThe film is stark and dark and sinister all at once. er Laser (John Hutcherson) asks if she, being legal Ree meets with violence at every turn, but she’s no and all, will seek out their father. You see, they have shrinking violet herself. When she is eventually aided the same father—a sperm donor—but Joni was by her Uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes) it’s tough to borne by Nic, Laser by Jules. Joni and Laser meet tell if he’s more harm or help. Hawkes and Lawrence with donor dad Paul (Mark Ruffalo), who is at first contribute terrific performances to a film that is truly surprised by this interruption to his free-wheeling unique and powerful. This one stays with you days lifestyle. Soon enough, though, Paul is imagining after you see it. Out 18 Feb

bookbuzz The True Story of Titanic Thompson Kevin Cook Picador You may not have heard of Titanic Thompson, but you’ll certainly know the names of some of the people with whom he crossed paths. Al Capone, Howard Hughes, Harry Houdini, and even golfer Jack Nicklaus all had the pleasure, if that’s the right word, of meeting Thompson and losing their money to him. It’s a remarkable life story about a man who was married five times, invariably to very young women, with the first four marriages ending in tragedy or divorce. Whilst Thompson also killed five men but never served more than a few months in jail, most of the tale follows his incredible scams and tricks, worked for enormous sums of cash, on the road from the 1920s to the early 60s. He won and lost millions of dollars, betting on golf, cards, pool, dice and countless spontaneous challenges, including whether he could throw a peanut over a five storey building. As a hustler, the odds were always stacked in his favour, and part of the joy of the book is the revelation of quite how far that stacking went. If there’s a flaw in the text, it’s the extent to which a knowledge of associated vocabulary, particularly in relation to golf shots and poker plays, becomes a necessity to obtain a full understanding of some of the tales. Nevertheless, the book progresses with a boundless energy, similar to Titanic himself. “Cardsharking, gun-slinging, golf-hustling American legend” is the biography’s subtitle, and no doubt “The True Story” was added to the title because, for just one man, it’s so outrageous that it’s hard to believe it all happened. Jeff Wiseman

The Things I’ve Seen Lara Marlowe Liberties Press The Things I’ve Seen: nine lives of a foreign correspondent is a collection of new and previously published work from international journalist Lara Marlowe, who has worked as a foreign correspondent across the globe for over three decades.

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Also out

■ BY NICK FUNNELL Red Veteran thesps Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren play a bunch of machine-gun-toting ex-CIA black-ops agents in this action comedy based on a graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. Richard Dreyfuss and Mary Louise Parker co-star, as does 93-year-old Hollywood legend Ernest Borgnine. Out now How Do You Know (¿Cómo Sabes Si...?) Terms of Endearment director James L Brooks’s romcom features Reece Witherspoon as a softball player who’s dropped from her team and left deciding between businessman Paul Rudd, indicted for a financial crime of which he’s innocent, and vain baseball pitcher Owen Wilson. Jack Nicholson plays Rudd’s difficult father. Out now 127 Hours (127 Horas) Director Danny Boyle’s follow-up to Slumdog Millionnaire tells the grim true story of Aron Ralston (James Franco), the adrenaline junkie who got trapped under a boulder in remote Utah and had to hack off his own arm to escape. The question is: will you be able to keep your eyes open? 4 Feb Primos One of Spain’s most talented young directors, Daniel Sánchez Arévalo reunites Quim Gutiérrez, Raul Arévalo, and Antonio de la Torre from debut movie Azuloscurocasinegro for this comedy about a guy freaking out after he’s dumped five days before his wedding. 4 Feb I’m Still Here Casey Affleck’s much-talkedabout doc follows buddy Joaquin Phoenix as he (as we know now) pretends to commit career suicide by giving up acting and trying to become a rapper. A radical dispatch from the front lines of 21st-century stardom or general waste of everyone’s time? Meh. 4 Feb Sanctum (El Santuario) After last year’s trapped-in-a-coffin drama Buried, producer James Cameron and director Alister Grierson concoct another surefire method for torturing

Now the Washington Correspondent for The Irish Times, Marlowe spent thirteen years working as a foreign correspondent based in Paris, where a fair proportion of the articles in this book were written, including a section on France under President Nicholas Sarkozy and a vivid portrayal of France’s first lady Carla Bruni and her private residence in Paris. The writing spans front-line war coverage in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as encompassing stories from the first year of the Obama administration. This veteran reporter offers insights into the major conflicts of the 21st century, as well as personal reflections on some of the major disasters in recent years, including last year’s earthquake in Haiti and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This selection of Marlowe’s finest writing is intriguing and illuminating, not only revealing the extensive career she’s served but also the array of stories she has covered. She was formerly married to journalist Robert Fisk, whom she describes as “the best journalism teacher”. More dense and hard-hitting than a casual flick through a newspaper, this book is well worth reading for a glimpse into the life of a foreign correspondent, and for a well-captured collection of reporting on foreign affairs in the last few decades. Gabrielle Easter

The Picador Book of Love Poems John Stammers Picador Award-winning poet John Stammers has compiled The Picador Book of Love Poems, and he’s made sure it isn’t just another typical collection. In this dazzling anthology, Stammers pairs classic love poems with contemporary masterpieces, demonstrating English poetry’s legacy and connectedness. He includes poems about love, sex, marriage and divorce, and the sentiments that they drag along: attraction, longing, betrayal, disappointment, loss and regret. They also range from humorous to melancholy, and romantic to crude, so that every reader will find a verse to enjoy. One of the works, “You Hated Spain” by Ted Hughes, is a reflection of Hughes’ relationship with his wife, fellow poet Sylvia Plath. Written about their 1956 honeymoon in Benidorm, it is quite disturbing in the way it talks about Goya and “bewildered” bulls that are killed “awkwardly”. Preceding

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Buck the trend and send a Valentine’s card to someone you don’t like.

claustrophobics. Shot in 3-D with techniques used on Avatar, it’s inspired by the true story of a group of divers investigating the least accessible cave system on earth. When their exit is cut off by flash floods, their only hope of escape is heading farther down. Suddenly, hacking off an arm doesn’t sound so bad. 11 Feb True Grit (Valor de Ley) Less a remake of John Wayne’s 1969 Oscar-winner than a readaptation of Charles Portis’s source novel, the Coen brothers’ western sees Jeff Bridges take over as Rooster Cogburn, the deputy marshal hired by teenager Hailee Steinfeld to track down the varmint (Josh Brolin) who murdered her father. Matt Damon is the Texas Ranger who also joins the hunt. 11 Feb Sin Retorno A youngster dies in a hit-and-run accident. His father, supported by the media, demands the killer be found, but all the hollering puts the wrong man in the dock. Leonardo Sbaraglia, Martín Slipak, Bárbara Goenaga and Federico Luppi star in this Argentinian drama from debuting director Miguel Cohan. 18 Feb 23-F Exactly 20 years after it happened comes this first film telling of the failed military coup that rocked Spain’s fledging democracy on 23 February, 1981. Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero (Paco Tous) and his men enter Congress and hold the government hostage; King Juan Carlos (Fernando Cayo) manoeuvres to contain the army and organise civil forces while Captain General Jaime Milans del Bosch and General Alfonso Armada (Juan Diego) pull the strings, as the country stays glued to its TVs and radios. 23 Feb Chico & Rita After being released in the UK in November, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s animated romance set against the backdrop of the Cuban and New York jazz worlds finally makes it to Spanish screens. The settings and characters are beautifully designed, but it’s the music by 92-year-old Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés that makes this tale of star-crossed lovers soar. Sublime. 25 Feb

Hughes’ work is that of William Barnes, “The Wife a-Lost”. Barnes’ love poem was also written following the death of his wife, and amid its Dorset dialect, he acknowledges his desolation and desire to see her again. Although originating in different centuries and in vastly different styles, both poems address love lost and the grief and longing that accompanies it. Stammers does an admirable job of including a myriad of poems that capture many of the themes associated with mankind’s most complex emotion. The excellent juxtaposition of older poems with newer ones, and the unexpected pairings—Lord Byron with Hillaire Belloc, or John Keats with Pablo Neruda—are illuminating. A perfect book for those who like the sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter, and occasionally comic taste of amor. Alejandra Saragoza

The Empty Family Colm Tóibín Scribner Colm Tóibín’s The Empty Family is more than just a series of short stories. In this captivating collection, Tóibín depicts lives of isolated individuals who ran away from their past. After reading these nine tales, one realises being alone can lead to a sense of alienation from your loved ones, but it can also give you the freedom to be exactly who you want to be. The self as both part of family, and separate from it, is the theme around which the book revolves. All the stories are permeated with loneliness and regret, and the protagonists, whether gay, straight, Muslim, Catholic, male or female, have all travelled away from their home country or town. While most of the stories take place in Ireland, three of them are set in Spain. “Barcelona, 1975” recounts the sexual exploits of young gay men, whilst in “The New Spain,” a young woman, following a period of exile in London, returns to the country after the death of Franco, only to find her family, and the country itself, notably changed. The book is a sad, poignant and at times challenging collection. Some may be frustrated by the lack of dialogue or dramatic events, but Tóibín takes the reader into the mind of every character, and that in itself is captivating. All the characters face similar challenges—from a young man returning home to bury his mother, to an Irish woman reluctantly returning to Dublin and discovering a city that refuses to acknowledge her long absence. It is not difficult to relate to the secrets, hopes, failures and triumphs of the protagonists so, in a sense, their journeys become our own. Alejandra Saragoza

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VEGAVIANA Vegetarian restaurant in the heart of Madrid Daily Menu 9,70

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accommodation accommodation-offered COZY AND CENTRAL STUDIO FLAT IN SOL FOR 670€, 32m2 studio flat, comfortable, refurbished and furnishe, separated kitchen, all appliances, real oven, microwave, dinig area. Bathroom with a bath. In front of San Miguel Market, 2 minutes walk from Plaza Mayor. 622737470 or 670681435, rental@innovate.es. TWO BEDROOM FLAT SHORT/LONG TERM NEXT TO RETIRO PK 700 €. Two bedroom 43m2 furnished flat available for short or long term lets, 5 minutes walk from the spectacular Retiro park and 10 minutes from the excellent hub of Atocha metro and train station. Double room and small single room. Ideal for one couple. Living room and separate dining area. Tel: 670681435 Email: rentals@innovate.es. BIG ROOMS FOR RENT IN A HOUSE, CENTRO MADRID easy walking distance to 2 metro stations cercanias,bus,free parking,rooms are bright and airy as there are lots of windows,All mod cons in huge kitchen and an outside patio,internet,musical thread,Soils radiant .350€ .680653202 carlosgasanz@yahoo.es. BRIGHT AND SPACIOUS STUDIO FLAT IN CHAMBERI 680 Euros, super bright studio with a balcony in Chamberi area, furnished or unfurnished, all appliances available, close to the metro, ideal for IE students, or internships. Email: marketing@innovate.es. TWO BEDROOMS VERY SPECIAL AND MODERN FLAT Two bedrooms flat in La Latina Metro Station, all furnishedand refurbished, very modern and artistic decoration. Big and cozy living room, two full bathrooms, ideal to share. Close to all ammenities of central madrid. Call 670681435 or 622507836. Email: rentals@innovate.es. ROOM IN A FOUR ROOMS FLAT IN ALONSO MARTINEZ 465 Euros, nice room in an international share flat, comfortable living room wit TV, internet, two bathrooms, all the rooms have a balcony, ideal for international students who are outgoing but responsible and organized. Call 670681435 or 622737470. Email: rentals@innovate.es. LUXURY MINI-STUDIO FOR SHORT TERM RENTAL Small studio accommodation with dbl. bed, beautifully furnished, available for short term let, minimum 5 days,maximum 1 month. 1 week 280, 2 weeks 500, 1 month 950 Euros. Top floor, balcony, very sunny, very quiet.Internet, TV , cooking facilities, ind. heating and airconditioning. Contact wengerbarbara@gmail.com.

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business GIGGLING GUIRI FOR SALE One of the most established international brands in the entertainment industry in Spain. Due to increasing committments in a rapidly developing comedy industry in Spain we are seeking to sell the existing Giggling Guiri comedy nights business in Barcelona and Madrid to focus on other projects including Barcelona comedy festival. A rare opportunity to partner up with a formidale alliance with full support in transition.The chance to start a new career or develop a complimentary business. All enquiries phone Stephen Garland 0034 610317656 or mail@comedyinspain.com.

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health-and-fitness

INGLÉS CON LIBROS, ARTE... / PREP ENTREVISTAS ** Looking for interesting English classes? Read and talk about books, art, philosophy, etc... ** Improve your fluency with experienced, professional teachers. ** Intensive courses available ** Prepare for job interviews Group - 10€, individual - 25€ per hour www.illuminateEnglish.com Email info@illuminateEnglish.com Tel - 627 619 563. PROFESORA BRITÁNICA TITULADA DA CLASES DE INGLÉS Profesora nativa de inglés titulada (TEFL CELTA). Inglés general; inglés de negocio; inglés jurídico; inglés técnico (seguros, construcción, publicidad, marketing, inmobiliaria, energía, medicina, etc.); Business English Certificates; International Certificate in Financial English; International Legal English Certificate (ILEC); preparación a los exámenes de Cambridge (First Certificate, Advanced, Proficiency). 13 años de experiencia en empresas del IBEX35. Particulares 20€; dos personas 30€; grupos 40€. Llamar al 91 459 12 60/626 065 482 o escribir a profesoresnativosdeingles@yahoo.es. other-languages

other-classes E.S.O. Y BACHILLERATO Si necesitas una mano amiga y experta ( más de 20 años de experiencia) En tus estudios de : -Inglés Francés - Lengua y Literatura españolas .( Análisis morfosintáctico y comentario de textos literarios ). Además quieres: -Pasarlo bien Que cueste poco -Adaptarlo a tu bolsillo !LLAMA¡ 915-73-64-71 profesor licenciado y colegiado. Aprobado todos los años. COMPUTER CLASSES IN ENGLISH AT ITENGLISH Computer classes in English. ITEnglish is offering user-level classes in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint), Windows, and Internet navigation from January 2011. Already know Office but unfamiliar with the new format (2007, 2010)? Take a Fast-track seminar in “The Ribbon”. Native professor with 15+ years experience teaching IT at university level. Update your computer skills in a fun and friendly environment. Small classes, individual attention. Handicapped accesible. 7,50€ per hour. PHONE 91 506 0764 or EMAIL info@itenglish.es WEB: www.it-english.es.

sailing BOATING LICENSES NOW A LEGAL REQUIREMENT IN SPAIN Serenity Sailing RYA Training Centre, Competent Crew to Yachtmaster,Powerboat Level Two, VHF & ICC. Own-boat tuition on sail and power. If you have a yacht or powerboat get qualified and certified. Contact Richard 0034 638056224 / enquiries@serenitysailing.com / www.serenitysailing.com.

clubs clubs-general-social PARENT AND CHILD GROUP Parent and Child Group in Madrid. If you are new in town or a single parent looking to meet other parents with kids or simply want to expand your child’s network of friends then join us for walks and outings with the kids. All nationalities welcome. Write to roseantrobus@yahoo.es or call 626 065 482. Thanks!.

clubs-sports FIELD HOCKEY - MIXED SOCIAL TEAM Los Naranjas is a mixed social club with all level of players on the team, from complete beginners to seasoned veterans. We play every weekend between September and June. If interested please contact los.naranjas.hockey@gmail.com. MADRID CRICKET CLUB Madrid Cricket Club is always looking for new players of all levels and nationalities. We hold regular training sessions and friendly matches in Madrid from March to November and we have two teams in the Spanish Cricket League. For more info contact Joss (663 395 058) or Jon (655 069 9 11), send an E-mail to cricketinmadrid@yahoo.co.uk or visit www.cricketinmadrid.com.

counselling COUNSELLING MADRID Counselling Madrid is devoted to the international community in Madrid. We provide confidential counselling services to students, expats and spouses. Visit our website for more details: www.counsellingmadrid.org. PSYCHOLOGY/PSYCHIATRY/SPEECH& OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY Counselling, Psychology, Psychiatry, Speech and

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ASHTANGA YOGA AND THAI MASSAGE My name is Amorn from Thailand. I live in Madrid almost two years now. I am Ashtanga Yoga teacher and also offer Thai Massage (certified from Wat Pho Traditional Medical School in Bangkok Thailand) and Thai cooking classes at home and outside. My place is located in the center of Madrid, metro Goya and Principe de Vergara. For more information about me and price for Yoga, Thai massage and cooking class, please kindly check at my website: www.BAAN-AMORN.COM or write me at: BRIESELANG70@YAHOO.DE. ESCUELA DHARMA DE YOGA INTEGRAL Hatha Yoga Dinámico, método orgánico. Respiración, fortalecimiento, flexibilidad y relajación. Atención personalizada. Precios asequibles y descuentos. Clases colectivas e individuales. Horarios de mañana, mediodía y tarde. Todos los niveles. Grupo de Meditación. Seminarios de fin de semana. Pregunta por nuestros masajes. Website: www.yogaorganico.es Adress: Asociación Shiva-Shakti de Yoga Integral. c/Pelayo 80 1ºdcha (subway stations: Alonso martinez, Chueca). More information: 91 310 51 81 and info@yogaorganico.es.

heart-to-heart hetero LOOKING FOR INTELLIGENT, NICE, EDUCATED, quiet girl, for friendship and perhaps more. French teacher, 41, loving my job, reading, thinking, conversation, swimming, night cycling, philosophy, handiworking, designing, graphic warfare, drawing, cooking, surprising, exploring, tenderness. I Will answer you. Gustavo. dcufacuc@gmail.com. CHICO INGLES BUSCA CHICA chico soltero y sin compromiso, ingles, radicado en madrid hace años busca chica de buena corazon. sebcp5@hotmail.com 652473494.

intercambios groups MADRIDBABEL: INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN MADRID!!! Meet people from all over the world, practise languages absolutely FREE & make new friends through our wide range of international activities: EVERY WEDNESDAY > International Evening from 20:30 at The Quiet Man (Valverde 44 metro Tribunal or Gran Vía). EVERY SUNDAY > International Afternoon from 19:00 at The Quiet Man (Valverde 44 - metro Tribunal or Gran Vía). EVERY WEEK-END > Films in o.v., international dinners, tapas evenings, excursions, sports, wine tastings, cultural visits, parties & many other activities!! For more info contact Fran (madridbabel@yahoo.es) or visit www.madridbabel.es.

jobs jobs-offered INCOME AND FINANCIAL SERVICES ANALYST Funciones área de control de ingresos y servicios financieros: -Extraer y analizar información de bases de datos y preparar informes económicos y estadísticos. Crear archivos y documentación y análisis de información económica. Requisitos: Formación: económicas, empresariales, ingeniería, matemáticas, etc. -Experiencia en control de ingresos, idealmente en empresa multinacional. -Experiencia en manejo de Microsoft AX Dynamics, Microsoft Dynamics CRM y Analysis Services SQL Server. -Inglés bilingüe. -Experto Excel y powerpoint. Interesados enviar cv a: agus1000@hotmail.com. JOB OFFERED ADVERTISING SALES person for English language magazine, speaking Spanish. Call Violetta at: 91 548 01 07. EXPERIENCED, TEFL-QUALIFIED NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHER ESTUDIO SOTOMAYOR IDIOMAS is seeking personable, dynamic and experienced native English teachers with TEFL certification and/or relevant university qualification, good references and permission to work in Spain. Lunchtime classes, early evenings and morning block hours available. Apply to empleo@soto-mayor.com tel. 91 353 1406. SPONSORED TEFL COURSE WITH WORK OPPORTUNITIES Oxbridge has two centres in Barcelona and one in Madrid and we teach English to more than 800 students and 150 clients such as corporations, small and large firms, and private students. We provide high

Hundreds more ads online in many different categories at inmadrid.com quality English classes to all kinds of business people, young learners and adults. We offer one month intensive TEFL courses in English teaching in Madrid. The course is subsidised and costs 400€. There is a short interview for the course. We are also always looking for new, dedicated employees. For further info please send us your CV and a covering letter to tefl@oxbridge.es. DIGITAL EDITOR/PROJECT MANAGER Major ELT publisher seeks a Digital Editor/Project Manager Working with Technical Project Managers and developers candidate will be proactive in the production of digital materials. Candidate will have good interpersonal/organisational skills and demonstrate: - ELT & publishing experience Good knowledge of Spanish - Keen interest in digital technology - Initiative ability to work autonomously to deadlines - Project Management experience - Sound IT skills Familiarity with image/audio editing software Knowledge of the Spanish ELT market InDesign, Flash, HTML and CSS/JS advantageous Email: r.shepherd@macmillan.es Tel: 91 524 94 20.

services ENGLISH HAIRDRESSER Top London stylist worked whith Trevor Sorbie and Vidal Sassoon trained. Available for HOME visits in and around Madrid. for more info, and prices check out: http://englishhairdressermadrid.squarespace.c om or call Sally at: 651481916. JES MADRID ENGLISH SERVICES Need help? Bemused by burocracy? JES Madrid can help you establish life in Madrid. We offer help with Spanish authorities, home search, schooling, vehicle adquisitions, help with rental negotiations etc. Don´t get frustrated - call JES Madrid on 653484749 or email to info@jesmadrid.com. www.jesmadrid.com. LIVELY CELTIC MUSIC Talented Irish musicians available for concerts, functions, weddings and parties. Tel: 654 225 305. LIVE MUSIC Duet of classical guitar + flute / jazz guitar + saxophone will give a touch of class to receptions, parties, weddings, etc. We’re serious musicians with an ample repertoire and lots of professional experience in the jazz and classical fields. There is the option of solo guitar (jazz + classical), duet, trio with double-bass, quartet with double-bass and drums, and formations with singers, trumpet players, etc. Please email: cywilliams@telefonica.net. COMPUTERS / NETWORKS / WEBSITES System administrator offers professional service. Computer / laptop repair, data recovery, password recovery, IT infrastructure planning, software installation and maintenance, network administration, resolving email problems, IT security, backup solutions, web pages. Windows, Linux/UNIX supported. I speak English and German. email: info@jjaeger.fastmail.fm or Tel.: +34 91 559 31 58 Mobile: +34 65 335 11 36. MAN WITH VAN FOR HIRE Large van with driver available for hire for house & office moves, deliveries and collections (IKEA etc) free help with lifting and carrying included in charges. Hourly and daily rates in Madrid and the rest of Spain. Monthly trips back to the UK and other European destinations. Very good service. English. Call Ian 663 548 418 or guywithvan@hotmail.com. COMPUTER SOLUTIONS (ENGLISH/ESPANOL) Speed up your system and fix old software problems. Fast, quality service. Just call or email me for an estimate! Fernando 644 02 79 68 ferttag@gmail.com Best value in town. DO YOU NEED N.I.E. (EU PASSPORT HOLDERS) URGENTLY? N.I.E. Do you require an N.I.E. URGENTLY? Please contact RICHARD HARRISON (EES Consulting, Madrid) on 91-531-4783 or 91-532-9734 for the very best advice. Or send an e-mail to: richardinmadrid@gmail.com.

travel-adventure TRAVEL WRITERS WANTED Looking for travel writers who would like to have their articles posted on our website regarding travel in Spain. Please contact for more info at travelwriter@letango.com.

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