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T H E H A B I TAT G E I S S U E
CULPABLES AS CHARGED ARE WE TO BLAME FOR THE HOUSING CRISIS?
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MOBBING IS THE NEW MO IN TOWN. WELCOME TO ‘CRANE CITY’, BABY.
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PH O T O S BY
Alfredo Lahoz
E D IT O R’ S L E T T E R A friend of mine, who lives on c/ Hospital in El Raval, woke up at 5AM the other morning with a start, realizing that something was amiss. It wasn’t someone scaling his building to come in and plunder his piso, nor was it a leaky faucet: it was the perfect echoing quiet that had woken him at dawn, a very unusual dead stillness in the heart of the city. Living with your window facing an always busy and usually drunk c/ Hospital, silence is one thing you will not find in your bedroom, no matter what hour it is. This could only happen in August, when the whole city resembles the opening scene of Vanilla Sky/Abre los Ojos. Staying in Barcelona in August is generally seen as something only people who cannot afford to leave would do, but I think it’s fantastic. There is little pressure to do anything— because nothing is open to do it in. The city cools down to a temperature in which unstrained respiration is possible, and you can actually walk through the streets (Ramblas excluded) and be completely alone, most notably in the Eixample. August was the month I decided to move here four years ago, and for this I vote August the best month in Barcelona. Here we are in September. This week we take a little look at the housing reality here and how it affects los guiris. We wanted to know if we are in any way to blame for the whole housing hoopla. If anyone has any good housing stories they would like to share, please, do tell. Benvinguts!
Jennifer Cross J E N N @ B C N W E E K .CO M
staff Marcus Villaça foundeR / creative director Jennifer Cross co-founder / editor / publisher Lena Wiget managing / listings editor David Tressel copy editor Alfredo Lahoz photo editor Tiffany Carter proofreader / pie baker Laurent Bompard distribution director Kade Agan editorial ntern Natalie Feary editorial ntern editorial contributors Mark Borland, Laurent Bompard, Tiffany Carter, Isolda Dosrius Déulafeu, Núria Ferrer, Claire Gunter, Erin Van de Hey, Irene Hwang, Michael Jones, Lee Lancaster, Joe Littenberg, Lady Ondina Osborne, David Tressel
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Guiri Trivia! The price of one apartment in Barcelona can increase as much as 40% in less than six months. la Associació de Promotors i Constructors d’edificis de la Provincia de Barcelona
trumpa? T H E H A B I TAT G E I S S U E
The housing market has been enjoying years of continued orgasm,but now it seems barcelonins are left in the sticky aftermath with none of the glow. are guiris to blame for allthis mess? Mark Borland It’s a conversation that is never too far away and one that isn’t going to fade away anytime soon: the vivienda. It’s a reoccurring subject on the nightly news, in the daily papers, and part of most conversation, be it your own with friends or at the dinner table next to you. Those who have lived here for a few years know that it’s not getting any better, definitely not any cheaper. An easy assumption to make is that we did this, we guiris. The housing market has been enjoying years of continued orgasm and you and I, fellow guiri, we are left in the sticky aftermath with none of the glow; in fact, often times we only get the blame.
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PH O T O S BY A L F RE D O L A H O Z
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bureaucracy, prove too much and the person in question chooses peace of mind over their home and will take the money offered and run, which is of course what Sr. Speculator wants. Turning things a bit darker is the quite creditable idea that it is actually in the local government’s best interest to allow such activity. It can be argued that official city planning is the cause of this activity, that the illegal infringement of personal housing rights and official city planning are two sides of the same dirty coin: BCN city government wants to clean up a specific area, applying a ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy (ref: ten story luminous five star hotel in the Rambla del Raval) and the developers and property buyers swoop in after plans are approved: the cycle of buying and bullying begins. While dedication to the betterment of citizens’ lives goes on at a government level through lumberous urban improvement plans, speculators thrive, in a very symbiotic manner, by following behind the city planners’ official proposals. Property values skyrocket, a building that was worthless ten years ago is now worth a fortune.
*** While soiled by a similar greed, the abuses in the rental market are significantly less sophisticated but much more real for many of us. Social advocate Marion Lopez says that “it’s hard to say which has more of a measurable impact on the BCN rental market, racism or the transient nature of the city. If someone calls to inquire about a flat speaking with a thick Catalan accent, nine times out of ten this person will get a much cheaper rate, be it for a room or to contract an entire flat, than someone who calls with a foreign accent.” This makes sense of course, and if you’ve lived here longer than six months you’ve already experienced the dog-eat-dog nature of the rental market. There
Article 47. [Housing] All Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing.The public authorities shall promote the conditions necessary and establish the pertinent norms to make this right effective, regulating the use of land in accordance with the general interest to prevent speculation.
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It’s an easy knee-jerk reaction though, isn’t it? A once quiet and hardworking port city repressed by the stubby thumb of a not-so-long-dead dictator is redefined by the European Union’s open trade borders and its standardized currency. Enter floods of people from other countries, well advanced and practiced in their consumerist abilities, swooping down upon what was, for the foreign investor, a windfall. It’s our fault: we, or those who look like us, sent the market spiraling out of control, the demand was insatiable, and the prices quickly became unreachable. A very basic breakdown of what is happening on the housing front is provided by the National Institute of Statistics: prices are up 150% since the boom started in 1998, they’re up across Spain 12% over last year, where they were up 10.7% from the previous year. In BCN this year’s prices are up 9% at 4,034¤ per m2, on average. Translate numbers and percentages into a bottom line and you get ‘really freakin expensive,’ but you knew that already, didn’t you? Maybe you don’t know this, and this is the really scary part: the Bank of Spain estimates that property is overvalued by 35%. These are the facts and they’re outright alarming. Everyone is asking who is to blame for all of this, and while you’ll hear lots of contradictory opinions, only one thing is evident and true: prices continue to rise and people continue to buy. Steady increases in buying habits follow steady increases in the Euribor, the rate used to calculate interest payments for most mortgages in Spain. People are financing larger amounts at higher rates that will probably continue to increase. “Household debt has shot up to 110 percent of gross disposable income,” according to El País. Just a slight scratch on the surface of this precarious situation reveals a sketchy world of corruption, government misuse, and just plain greed. Speculation is the word, and the game is the massive purchase of flats and blocks of flats by corporations
a piso of your own THINKING ABOUT MOVING UP FROM YOUR CAIXA DE CARTÓ? B Y Tiffany Carter So you’re tired of living in a small, dusty interior room and paying some weird sum whimsically unrelated to a reasonable proportion of the month’s rent. Or you’re suffering a painful breakup and you have to get out before it moves from simple handwringing and sulking to livid scenes and little apparel-laden bonfires. If you’re lucky it’s the other way around. Maybe it’s gotten really hard to live in your caixa de cartó in the side streets off Plaça Reial with the Mossos enforcing those new incivisme laws. Well, whatever. Here you are, renting an apartment in Barcelona.
Finding the apartment First you’ll be finding this apartment, and you’ve got the usual options. Unless you are a complete and utter moronic fool you’ll know it’s your god given right to give any and all apartments a good once-over before renting. (Beware agencies that want you to pay nonrefundable fees for a list of flats that aren’t actually for rent and which you will never be privileged to enter. You shouldn’t be paying anything before you sign a contract.) You may also have thought to check out what the average piso in Barcelona proper or your chosen barrio is going for in terms of square meterage so as to know just how hard you’re going to be taking it up the culo (in the first part of 2006, for instance, the average apartment in Ciutat Vella went for 14.45¤ per usable square meter). But you might not have thought about making sure that it actually belongs to the person renting it to you. You can do this easily by directing yourself to the Registre de la Propietat. Or, in the case that someone is acting on the owner’s behalf, you should make sure that they have the notary authority to do so.
deposit that will sit on them, waiting until the value increases. This is a practice most available to real estate corporations or construction firms who will simply sell/renovate/demolish the property as they see fit, protecting their personal interests and, above all else, making even more money at the time to sell. In Spain’s democratic monarchy, the personal pursuit of wealth is a welcome endeavor, but the line that’s being crossed in the vivienda sand is a very important one defining personal rights. There is a supposedly English word used in Spanish and Catalan colloquial speech called ‘mobbing,’ which refers to pressure imposed upon a person in a subordinate position by someone in a superior position to accomplish an illegal objective. It’s like being bullied, and this is what’s happening to many people who are of a lower income bracket with limited resources, by rich corporations who have endless resources. Let’s say that a five-star hotel chain wants to open a luxurious addition to their family in the Born. They find a building and begin to buy flats. Tenants are bought out to empty the building. But what about Granny on the third floor who has a lifetime contract and doesn’t want to go, or has no place to go, or owns her flat and simply doesn’t want to sell? Maybe she’s lived in the same building her entire life, and the thought of moving is unfathomable. She’s quite literally bullied out: maybe her water’s cut for hours or days, or the same with her electricity; maybe they begin making unbearable construction related noises in the flats surrounding her, for days on end. Her life is made impossibly uncomfortable until she leaves, and it’s that simple. An old woman is bullied out of her home. You can insert whomever you’d like in Granny’s role, but the reality is the same and is happening all over Barcelona. Government assistance is theoretically available to people in the bullied position, but often times the daily stresses, combined with a notoriously slow
are deals to be found, and the situation is far from hopeless, but if you’re renting a room in a flat you are, more than likely, paying far too much and you already know this. It is so very easy to do. We’ve all done it. Coming from the UK, Melissa says, “I was paying over 1,000¤ a month for my flat in London. Renting a room here for 400¤ was a great deal, or so I thought.” What is much more disturbing than the predictable price demands are the unacceptable living conditions which many BCN flat hunters continue to accept, or are forced to accept. Marta Velázquez, director of the Catalonia Renter’s Association says, “Here in Spain we have a very unique trait compared to the rest of Europe, and that is that 80% of the population own their homes. This is the highest percentage in all of Europe. Here we don’t have a culture of renting; we don’t have a national conscience aware of renters and their needs.” She points out that in the past renting a flat was seen as a kind of favor the property owner extended towards someone unable to buy, or that the renter has, in the past, simply been happy with being able to find a place to rent. There has never been the need or organized push to develop a list of rights for the rental market, and that means, in today’s reality, that the landlord feels as if he can do or not do what he wants, and charge what he wants, often asking for unreasonable and illegal amounts for deposits and later refusing to maintain the flat. This is what Alida, a student from the Dominican Republic, is having to deal with at present: “We were required to make a 7,000¤ deposit for a flat in the Barri Gótic which cost 700¤ a month, and for the past six months we’ve been trying to get the management company to fix the leaky pipes in the bathroom above ours.” After several letters and emails the administrator finally sent someone over—to paint over the stain that had developed. A few weeks ago the stain returned just before the entire bathroom ceiling collapsed: “If anyone had been in there they would
I have seen ads for apartments where they are asking 2-4 times the monthly rent as a deposit, but according to the Ajuntament the deposit should only be equal to 1 month’s rent if the apartment is considered a primary residence. The owner has to deposit it into the appropriate official entity responsible, which in Catalonia is INCASOL (Institut Català del Sòl), until the rental contract is terminated.
the rental contract Rental contracts of various durations are possible, but if it’s for less than 5 years, the landlord is obligated to continue renewing your lease year after year until a full 5 years is up, according to the Llei d’arrendaments urbans. This doesn’t hold for secondary residences, furnished apartments or vacation rentals which instead fall under the jurisdiction of the codi civil I. After the first 5 years, if neither you nor your slumlord expresses the desire to terminate the contract a month before it’s up they are obligated to continue renewing your lease for another 3 years. Sounds good. But hold onto your panties: as a valued tenant you should also know that you’re only allowed to end the lease when it’s up. The landlord can require you to either finish the contract or continue paying the rent.
subletting It’s illegal for you to sublet your entire piso. And technically to have roommates you’ll require the permission of your landlord. If you don’t it’s technically grounds for him to terminate your contract.
fixin’and complainin’ You are allowed to make improvements that don’t modify the structure or configuration of the apartment with the landlord’s permission. The landlord is responsible for keeping the place in liveable if not enjoyable condition. If something goes wrong that wasn’t due to your incontinent negligence and misuse you should tell him and he should fix it. If something goes urgently wrong you can have it fixed yourself and present him with the factura. That might also work if he’s dragging his heels on something less urgent.
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Guiri Trivia! 75% of Catalan senior citizens live in buildings that pose accessibility problems for them, with stairs or doors that will not fit a wheelchair,and 60% live in buildings of more than 5 stories without elevators. ‘Envelliment i Habitatge’ by Architect Jordi Bosch The cost of living has increased 80.25% since 1999,while salaries have decreased 3.8%. Instituto Nacional de Estadística
are we unwilling players in this game? have been killed; it was thick and heavy plaster.” Alida and her boyfriend filed a police report and have since learned that they can pay their rent to the Juzgado de la Primera Instancia (Via Lietana, 8) instead of to the landlord, which will allow them to uphold their contractual obligation without paying money to the landlord. Once the problem is resolved and both parties are satisfied, the court will release the money back to the landlord. Alida, however, says that they’ll probably just move. “It’s ridiculous, and now of course we’re worried that they’ll think of some way to keep some of our deposit...and we’ve been having to live here with no ceiling.” Neighborhoods like the Born and especially the Raval were places that no one would have lived fifteen years ago if they could have helped it. Petty crime and overall dingy living conditions dominated, and if someone lived in these neighborhoods it was because they had no other choice. Fast forward to the current day and things are still dingy, but because of BCN’s new popularity and modern position as a sexy and cosmopolitan European city, there is a huge demand for housing by people who just want to live here, no matter what, “and this is a national shame,” says Marion Lopez, “the guiris who do come to study, or even to stay, get the impression that we are a country bordering on a third world classification, so therefore living in a dark flat with dripping sinks and a decrepit stairwell is part of the charm! We have a rich and dignified culture, we are a dignified people…I am ashamed that one of my countrymen would rent out a flat that was in a derelict state, and ashamed that the government allows it.” Ms. Velázquez highlights the point that there are property owners who purchased ten or fifteen flats at 6,000¤ apiece in these neighborhoods in the mid1990’s and are today renting each one for at least 600¤ a month, and are speculators in their own right. “These people are renting flats with the least possible amount of renovation. Sometimes the only renovation undertaken was to divide one flat into two.” Slumlords. It’s not a new concept. So where does this all leave us? Ms. Lopez advises activism: “Renters could have a tremendous voice and power, both on an economic and social level, and especially in BCN. They just need to organize.” While she acknowledges that it will be a slow and frustrating process, and no change will be immediate, she insists that the Spanish/Catalan governments will eventually outline and enforce renters’ rights if they’re demanded to do so. But there is another option—find one of the 100,000 flats that are boarded-up here in BCN’s center and occupy it. That’s right, go okupa. There are a reported 300,000 empty flats in the Barcelona metropolitan area, with 100,000 of those being in Barcelona itself. This surplus of empty spaces infuriates social leaders because if these flats were required to be rented or sold the market would stabilize, prices might even drop, and housing could become affordable again for both the renter and the buyer. While the majority of these 100,000 flats are owned by companies involved in speculation or are
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simply uninhabitable due to years of neglect, many are owned by private families who, according to some more accusatory voices, receive tax breaks from the government to keep their apartments off the market. The suspected intention is to keep the market at its frantic climb. This is a practice that Antonio, an employee of the Direcció General de l’Habitatge, flatly denies: “The Catalan government does not reward homeowners with incentives of any kind for keeping flats closed. In fact, we have programs in place encouraging them to open their flats.” This program is one where a property owner can receive up to ¤6,000 to renovate their flat, as long as they agree to rent it via a government agency at a reduced rate for five years. (Go to bcn.es/habitatge for information on renting or buying a reduced rate flat.) He goes on further to tell me about new laws being scripted that would punish individuals for keeping flats closed. I asked him if he didn’t think it more appropriate to punish the speculators themselves, the corporations, as is promised in article 47 of the Spanish constitution which states:
*** All Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing. The public authorities shall promote the conditions necessary and establish the pertinent norms to make this right effective, regulating the use of land in accordance with the general interest to prevent speculation.
que diCES?
The community shall share in the increased values generated by urban activities of public bodies.
*** He was unwilling to respond to that question. Joan Martínez, economics and history professor at UAB, doesn’t know what all the fuss is about. “It’s not going to change, not going to get any better; this is the way things go. Spain was trapped in a time capsule for nearly forty years: economically, socially, politically…on all fronts. What is happening in Spain is a massive effort to catch to catch up with the rest of the western world after such a long time in seclusion. Of course the real estate market is going crazy, and of course there are abuses, and of course this is all good news for the Spanish government because they’re making lots of money. [The government is] not going to do much about stopping or slowing this money making machine, they’re selling out at the cost of the well being of their own citizens. This is what it means to be a modern democracy: the insatiable acquisition of money.” While his point of view is a bit pessimistic, it does have the resounding ring of truth. Social organizations are fighting frantically to stop the speculation bulldozer, but it seems to have too much momentum behind it, with faintly disguised political support at the wheel. One of the most well formed and visual organizations working against the ‘man’ can be found at viviendadigna.org, and they will be happy to talk to you. I think it safe to say that we don’t really shoulder any of the scandalous blame; we are nothing more than an oh-so-boring and predictable victim, an unwilling player. You and me, no matter how distasteful and common we find it, we are just a forecast cog necessary to spin the speculative wheel that has become our contemporary BCN.
Is that short for Ricardo? Have some ‘Que Dices’ you would like to share with the rest of us? Send it to quedices@bcnweek.com
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PIZZA & SALADS / TERRACE SUN & SHADE / “TAKE AWAY” MON–FRI 19:30-1:30 / SAT 12:30-1:30 KITCHEN OPEN NON STOP
OV E RH E A R D BY
Erin Van de Hey
festa major! *** Guy playing the bagpipes, observing another man inexplicably walking through Gràcia at 5 am: - Oh yesss, now we can DANCE!! *** Irish Altruist: I think I’d like to work for Estrella Damm. Fellow partygoer: Really? Irish Altruist:Yeah, I think it would make me feel like I was doing something for the community. Fellow partygoer: Like what? The alcoholic community? *** Harmony: Ugh,the pigeons here are so nasty. They’re so diseased and I bet a lot of them are missing a leg.
*** Belgian, drinking rum on the rocks: I refuse to drink Coca-Cola; it’s made by a shitty American company. Romanian friend, smoking cigarette: Yes,and besides that,the shit is full of chemicals. *** Man: …so at SuperSol I asked for a kilo of polla, and they… Woman: Honey,you can’t say “polla,” that’s a penis. You have to say “pollo” if you want chicken. Man:Yeah,whatever. I didn’t even get any chicken…but they did give me free ham! *** Tall chick scoping out
I know what I saw and the pigeon had one leg that was in the middle. You have to trust me on this. Incongruity: I’ve seen a pigeon with one leg. It was hopping around just fine. Harmony: It had to be a little wobbly, it’s not like its leg was in the middle. Incongruity: No,the leg was in the middle. Harmony: That’s impossible. Incongruity: I know what I saw and the pigeon had one leg that was in the middle. You have to trust me on this. *** Stoned Girl: The clouds look really cool tonight. What kind of clouds are those? Drunk Girl: Ambidextrous? Stoned Girl: Yeah…ambidextrous! I learned that in geography.
guys in Plaça del Sol: Oh my god, so I met Cristina’s roommate… Short chick: Oh really, is he cute? Tall chick: He’s pretty hot, but he’s really metrosexual. Short chick:What do you mean? Tall chick: Well, he wears this face cream,and when you go to give him the Spanish kisses,your face slides right off his. Short chick: Are you kidding? Tall chick: No, seriously, he’s slippery. *** A group of Kiwi tourists is observing the Carrefoc in Plaça Rius i Taulet. Guy 1:What’s this for? Girlfriend: It’s like pagan fire-worship or something.
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LA FATXA BY
Isolda Dosrius Déulafeu
2rent a flat in bcn The flavour of that tea was really good. And those trees... the grass. I couldn’t believe we were in Barcelona... The “Bellengany” Family is fortunate. They invited me to have a cup of tea. And you, my selected guiris, asked: why does La Fatxa tell us this story? Why? Because the third Bellengany’s son loves you... Listen to me, please. We’re in the garden. The tea is perfect, also the temperature under the “tilos”, also the service employees. Unreal world? No, in Barcelona there are people that live like this. One employee announce that “el senyoret Daniel” is arriving. His parents smile and they tell me: ‘“Ai, Isolda. El nostre preferit” We’re teaching him the art to make money, easy money...’. ‘But you
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important if the flat haven’t any toilet or the electricity doesn’t work. The important thing is: with us they can fulfil their dream’. And his proud mother: ‘“Has vist, Isolda, que pietós?” And I: ‘Yeees! Of course! This is the result of even years in a catholic school, is it? But... what does happen if the ‘inquilinu’ ask you to solve these “little” problems?’. “Oh! Calla, calla, Isolda... hahaha...”. Daniel and Carrie explained that one time one guiri phoned them because in “their nice flat” it was raining. The poor guiri looked up and the ceiling was a whitebrown cloud, he went to the roof and discovered an old-insanitary-emeticantich system of water reservoirs! And Carrie said him: ‘Ooh! My little sweet, sorry but ... if you don’t like the flat, go
‘Ooh! My little sweet, sorry but...if you don’t like the flat,go out,please, there are a lot of guiris who we want to help...’ know the easy money is illicit money’. They look at me with surprising faces, opening their eyes like oranges, understanding anything and said: ‘“Nooo, Isolda, on vas a parar?” All is absolutely legal, well, except for some little irregularities. But don’t think about this and let me introduce my son and his USA girlfriend: Daniel and Carolina. They’re good learners’... It was nice to meet their son and his girlfriend, and I said all “xorradetes de rigor” in these situations. The two young souls were convinced they give their heart to the guiris who want to live in BCN. They are helping you when they rent a flat for 280¤, “posem pel cas” in the Barceloneta, and they sublet this to you for 550¤. Acting like this, Dani has to be clever to find an ideal flat for this transaction. It’s his coaching. Dani said: ‘The guiris are happy when they can live in BCN, it isn’t
out, please, there are a lot of guiris who we want to help...’ Then, this guiri wanted to recuperate his 1100¤ deposit, but he couldn’t demonstrate the facts, he didn’t have any papers... hahaha. I was “escandalitzada”, my family has more elegance earning money... You lose and we lose. This kind of people earn money and money. The solution, don’t accept these conditions, but you want and want to be here! I can’t understand it. Ai! my loved guiris, if you would have enough money, my family would rent to you their high standing flats... But I think this is an impossible dream for you... Then, please, forget BCN to live in. BCN is only for vacation.
Bellengany Is a surname,and its exact translation is beautiful fraud or shame.
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‘ENTREPAREDES’ After a tough week of vacationing, I fell into a daze as the Aerobus ejected my relaxed self into the steaming throngs of people milling along Las Ramblas. Standing at the top of the boulevard like a pack animal covered in bags and sweat, my anxiety escalated as I imagined myself entering the human stew and having to fight through the urban obstacle course that lay ahead of me. Neither building, monument, nor museum, Las Ramblas is really just one large sidewalk connecting Plaça Catalunya with the waterfront. However, this pedestrian fantasyland is so jammed with people and stuff that you find yourself at a standstill every two meters, a frustrating fact for those of us who actually live nearby. More protracted public plaza than thoroughfare, the reality of Las Ramblas begs us to consider that maybe the sidewalk is much more than just a space for a quick stroll. With no car or bike, I spend the majority of my time walking through the city. At 4 km/hr, the city reveals details and intricacies that are invisible at higher velocities. At this pedestrian pace, the sidewalk becomes a place of incredible richness and urban delight. Ranging wildly in size, character, and function, the impressive BCN sidewalk has many expressions: the grand, wildly overpopulated Ramblas sharply contrasts with the severe and utilitarian lanes of a very no-nonsense Barceloneta. This same sidewalk goes bi-polar in the Born, opening unexpectedly to form hidden plazas and then shriveling rapidly as it dives
‘FIGURAS’
BY
Irene Hwang
back into the medieval streets of the Ciutat Vella. Leaving the old city, the sidewalk’s corner cutting in Cerdà’s Eixample (designed around the turning radius of the old trolley cars) creates more space between taller buildings, introduces more natural light into the dark interiors of the 19th century flat. This chamfer allows the city’s drivers to literally “see around the corner” to this day. Distinct and seemingly unrelated, these pedestrian lanes form a multitextured circuit that runs throughout the city, changing and flexing to accommodate all types of urban activity. The sidewalk is everything at once: stage, bathroom, living room, bedroom, restaurant, workshop, playground; it is the space of performance and art (dramatic and political), the depository for all types of refuse (animal and human), an open air forum for chatting seniors sitting on its public benches; it shelters couples making out below its trees, turns to sand for playing children, and sits still while diners feast and drink cañas in outdoor cafes and restaurants. Consciously or not, Barcelona treasures its sidewalks. Where else could the modest concrete panot find itself designed by famous architects (including Gaudí, whose tiles line the walks of the Passeig de Gràcia) and lovingly reproduced in gourmet chocolate? These edible pavers (available in milk, dark, white, and diabetic) are a symbol of the importance that Barcelona’s often overlooked but quintessential sidewalks occupy in the space, life, and emotions of the city.
L THE
BLACK HORSE
OUR VERY OWN ‘A-LIST’ OF BARCELONA PERSONAJES BY
Joe Littenberg
ikea blues Which Figuras is this? Number six,I think.It seems like ages since I met that charming young Pakistani man selling beer,followed him around,slightly annoyed him,and so birthed the first column.Forever ago and yesterday…but what is a figura? To this guiri,a figura is a unique soul. An original character.A distinct presence.But those three definitions cover quite a broad range. And here we reach our predicament. Paris Hilton is a distinct presence,like a splitting headache behind your eyes,but I’ve yet to see her walking down Las Ramblas with a oneeuro Estrella between her bone-thin fingers.Aside from bitchy and selfish supasocialites,however,where do we draw the line? I ask you,dear reader.Read the rest of this.Is this week’s Figura legitimate? Let me know if you,like some of our editors,think what follows is a hack job.And if you do,I look forward to angry emails and wellarticulated insults.Don’t leave me hanging. With that out of the way,I ask you to look around your apartment,if you’re in it,or the coffee shop you’re sippin’in.Wherever.This is the figura on your bed. The figura in your private bathroom,lavatory,loo.Your kitchen.It might very well be the figura under your café con leche right now! Can you guess it? Its real home is a country far, far away; full of many blond people downing snus and bilar. Soon,its massive blue and yellow buildings will be counted among the man-made objects visible from space.Se llama IKEA,mis amigos.Interviewing this monster is a touch difficult,but it was nothing compared to trying to find the way
L
ARCHITECTURAL PONDERINGS
out once in the damn building. There are 12 in Spain,two in Catalunya.In 2005 there were 221 stores worldwide. 453,791,000 people shopped at IKEA that same year.It’s impossible to know exactly how many shopped at which store,but if you divide the number of shoppers by the number of stores,you can estimate that 2,053,353 people shopped at each store.Since there are two IKEAs in the Barcelona area alone,that means that 4,106,706 people shopped there while in BCN.With Barcelona’s estimated population at 1,582,738 and including the smaller but significant populations of L’Hospitalet and Badalona,it seems that every motherf $er up in this b&%ch has shopped there. Now try and tellme it doesn’t figura into your life. It’s the figura you love to hate.Or is it the figura you hate to love? Sure,it obviously sucks that everybody,everywhere has the same stuff.But hey,with 12,405 products available this year,you might be able to find something that only 331 other people have! Yes,going there is an exercise in patience and self-control.You may reach ecstatic highs and homicidallows. One customer held up a kitchen knife encased in plastic packaging with a gleam in his eye.“They shouldn’t sell knives here.They really shouldn’t. Don’t let me hold this knife.”Put it down,buddy.But whatever your experience has been at the end,when you finally find one of the eight people working in a warehouse the size of Outer Mongolia and have allyour things paid for,including your 6 varieties of egg beaters,there’llalways be that sweet,sweet bilar waiting for you in the food section.
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paraíso lost
to the almighty hand of speculation BY
Laurent Bompard
Shit! History repeats itself, and I am now left in limbo without my very own paradise. Let me tell you the story of how Paraíso was, and how we lost it, again, to the almighty hand of speculation. At the corner of Carrer Ginebra and Sant Miquel (the corner in Barceloneta with the wall of bathroom sinks and toilets) was a little hole in the wall called the Paraíso. Off limits for the shy tourist who expected to hear good flamenco on the Ramblas, this place was one of the last havens for the canalla. A place where you could have a drink and a spliff at the bar while owner Paca (a gypsy mother figure, both flamboyant and intimidating) would improvise lyrics to improvised flamenco that was courtesy of the local gypsy guitarists just hanging around in search of a good bulería. If you have never had a flamenco singer look deep into your eyes while singing about jealousy, broken hearts and murder, you ain’t seen nothing. Imagine a voodoo spell from a bluesman and you’ll get the idea. In my search for uncommon drinks I often had to get behind the bar and grab a bottle, as the owner couldn’t reach the upper shelf where the dusty bottles awaited, and then negotiate the price. No one had touched any of those bottles in years. Besides the legendary owner there
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Aries
A pilot in the Swedish air force crashed not just one, but two new hunter planes, costing the Swedish taxpayers 19 million euros.The pilot didn’t get fired but instead was congratulated on his apt use of the catapult chairs.You will definitely get fired in Barcelona, but don’t worry,just use the catapult well.
taurus
Meat from bulls killed in bullfights is a lot cheaper than normal beef.The meat gets ruined by the great amount of adrenaline pumping through the bull’s body before it gets slaughtered. Think about your poor Taurus friends in the arena de toros before you choose the cheap meat; it’s sure to be bitter and taste like pain and suffering.Which reminds me:what’s eating you up these days,and why are you being such a pain?
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were the clients: a motley crew of Andalusian women with slick black hair and fiery eyes, a happy few guiris who called it their second home, and the gypsies with their wisecat cool until drunken—God knows how we’ve all been blind one night or two in that little place. The restroom was never working, and it looked as if the whole building would come down if the chain was pulled. The interior design was lo que hay, but the place had that perfect bandit charm. I have seen birthday piss-ups there where a lot of strangers would dance, sing, clap and then go for a botellón on the beach. Many nights I felt myself falling in lust while watching a gypsy woman caught in a trance-like dance, and many nights we just drank ourselves under the table. Then a few weeks ago I found that the door had been shut with bricks. A little investigation led me to Ari, who informed me that the speculators had decided to tear down the building (to replace it with some soulless concrete box, I guess), and Paca had gone back to her native Andalucía with a bunch of cash. I am glad for her, but here I stand among the faux Buddha bars, in search of my hellish Paraíso that is gone for good. There must be something similar along the road to hell. One gate is shut, the other six await me. I just know it.
gemini
BY
Lady Ondina Osborne
Here’s to your personal extinction.
libra You’ve been thinking about getting a pet, or maybe a partner:a fluffy little kitten,a busty blonde… maybe a dreadlocked pacifist with a lizard? Taking on a toaster or a hairdryer might be more advisable.Flesh and blood is a big investment and you’re quite superficialthese days.
scorpio You find yourself in a state of panic-relaxing. Summer is coming to an end,and you are pale and stressed out after wild party nights and long working hours.You’ll spend the next week on the beach grilling your white skin, desperately relaxing.
sagittarius After talking to the old woman next door you get invit-
Insubordination has always been your thing.Your mum realized this early and started giving you contrary orders, like “whatever you do, don’t take off your wet swimsuit!” Unfortunately, society is not organized in this ingenious way. On the train to Sitges next weekend, please obey that sign that says “Don’t lean out the window.” It’s necessary for you to follow the rules, even if it’s just on the train to Sitges.
ed to a secret club of old ladies.You’ll spend a lot of time in their company, knitting and throwing water balloons at tourists, and when autumn comes you and your new friends will form your own terrorist group. But what are you thinking? Stop hanging out where you don’t belong.
cancer Weeks of repeated bad hair days will, during the coming week,
a huge,and outrageously boring, collection of family photos and slides from your early childhood. But time has now come for you to embrace love and stop scaring people off with your boring life story. Let down your guard and skip the slides!
result in your first bad head day.Your hair is literally driving you mad. My advice is to shave it all off to calm your head down so that you’ll be able to see something very important coming your way this week.
leo This coming Tuesday is one of the evil days. Evil days are the days where you stand in the subway wondering if you’re in an Aphex Twin video. People are wicked, naughty and extremely annoying. Some say it’s weather-related, others blame the moon. I say you should seek shelter in the wardrobe, lock the door and stay there the whole day!
capricorn In fear of love and affection you’ve buried yourself under
aquarius You knew they were gonna come and visit,and yet you didn’t bother to learn enough Spanish to be able to show off.The coming week you will be busy making crema catalana and slurping spring onions, hoping that your cultural knowledge might compensate for your poor Castellano.Why are you here? Who are you trying to fool?
pisces The time preceding your virgo You’re a true idealist, but yet birth was a bit chaotic.Jupiter and Mars sometimes you stop and think:what do I get were pissed off with Venus,who was spending TALK TO CANELA PUBLIC RELATIONS WE KNOW HOW TO MAKE NOISE WWW.CANELAPR.COM / INFO@CANELAPR.COM
10
BCN
Week
+34 93 269 09 93
out of it? Where’s my reward? The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement believes in human extinction,and the only thing you have to do in order to join is stop breeding. After making such a great sacrifice you can justify the outrageously hedonistic lifestyle that you are currently living.
way too much time with her boy toy Pluto. (At one moment they actually considered pushing Pluto into a black hole!).The damages that these early events have caused you will be clearly visible during the next week,and with such supernatural influences the effect is going to be massive.
F O R ‘ T H E B E L LY O F A N A R C H I T E C T ’
the short list
PH O T O S BY
Alfredo Lahoz
bars, restaurants and hangouts que molan big time M E T I C U L O U S LY S E L E C T E D ( B U R P ! ) /// R E P E AT E D LY J U E R G A -T E S T E D /// N E V E R E V E R PA I D F O R
BAR
BAR AURORA AU R O R A , 7
If you’re sticking with the Raval tonight, Bar Aurora is also off of La Rambla del Raval. Chances are you have never been there, because there is nothing spectacular about the hidden façade. Inside, however, is a different story. Two floors, drippy wax candles, a questionable ceiling mural and a bubbling desktop fountain make Bar Aurora both quirky and comfortable. Drinks are normally priced (a mediana is 2¤) but the thing that should make you stick around for more than one is the music. It’s one of the few places that spins (as in turntables) new wave 80’s music and Gwen Stefani in the same set and somehow makes it work. Another good thing is that Bar Aurora is open late, and with all the neighbouring kebab houses you don’t have to walk far to get some schawarma, thus avoiding una resaca.
CAFÉ
SPIRITUAL CAFE DRASSANES, S/N TEL. 93 317 52 56
FOOD/BEST MO JITOS IN TOWN
MAMITALINDA R I E R A A LTA , 3 3
TEL. 93 442 60 58
If you are a sucker for good Cuban food and a high possibility of seeing the cook dance salsa with patrons, we have a spot for you. First let’s start with the most important part of any Cuban restaurant: the mojito. At 5¤ a pop they better be good, and they are. Neither too much sugar nor too skimpy on the mint and never watered down with tap water ice. Dinner menú is 20¤ which comes with whatever plate you chose off the carta: white rice, beans, or arroz
congri (a mixture of rice and beans); vianda with mojo, salad, dessert and a drink. If that is going to break your bank you could chose a few things off the tapas menu. We recommend the yucca with mojo, big fat frijoles negros dormidos, or the apporreado de bacalao if cod be your thang. Tapas sway between 3-6¤ and you have to bring cash. Mamitalinda is closed on Sunday and fills up fast on Saturday, so plan accordingly.
Spiritual is not a word we generally use to describe BCN WEEK or the establishments we frequent, however at times some chakra alignment is in order, and what would be a better place to do that then the Spiritual Cafe located right behind the Museu Marítim, Barcelona’s former royal shipyard, is now a likely spot for an outdoor orgy or at least some geta-room PDA. Don’t bother going inside the Spiritual Cafe: outside is where it’s at. The tree-lined garden has circular tables with centers of fire, surrounded by throw pillows and rugs to allow comfortable seating on the ground, thus bringing you that much closer to the center of the earth. But what’s a didgeridoo concert and some heavy myrrh incense without a fancy expensive drink? Cocktails are 8¤, the fruitiest of which is the San Francisco: a combo of OJ, peach, pineapple and vodka. If that’s too frilly for you, chupitos are only 4¤. The English version menu adds some extra enjoyment to the whole thing: “green tea with mint Moroccan” and “extra coal supplement” being the best. The coal isn’t to walk on, it’s to put in your water pipe. This addition to the Garden of Eden will cost you 15¤ and you can choose from tobacco ranging in flavours from grape to roses. There is a 12¤ minimum if you want to use your credit card, which will be easy to do, and your aura will love you for it.
BAR
SIFÓ
BAR/SHRINE
LA CONCHA GUA R D I A , 1 4
E S PA L T E R , 4 T E L . 9 3 3 2 9 6 8 3 2
TEL. 93 302 41 18
La Concha has a lot of things going for it. First of all, it is in the very underrated Barri Xino; secondly, it’s probably the only place in Barcelona where Moroccans and Catalans mix socially and, lastly, it is the most un-gay gay bar in the city. Not to mention that it’s a shrine to Sara Montiel, who you will never tire of looking at because she was so damn hot. Open since 1982, it is one of Barcelona’s standards. Nights vary depending on the owner’s mood:
sometimes traditional Spanish music, maybe the Greased Lightning soundtrack, sometimes Arabic music; the Montiel cave is always full of surprises. You cannot request songs so don’t even try. La Concha is yet another place where you can get a hookah, sit back against Arabic tiles and watch drunky McDrunk sway around to whatever is spilling from the speakers. La Concha is open till 3:00h and is a great place to perfect all of your bad habits.
Sifó is the best bar to exist in Barcelona on an unpaved road. Sandwiched between La Rambla del Raval and Sant Pau, Sifó sports a colorful array of sifónes, which you may know as spritzer bottles. It is generally full, but service is quick and friendly and turntable selections range from hiphop to funk and back again. They have all your standard cocktails conveniently written on the wall for selection with ease, but the best is the Bloody Mary for 6¤. Unfortunately a Bloody Mary tastes best for breakfast and Sifó doesn´t open until 21:00h. Well, depending on what you did the previous night... that could be breakfast time.
BCN
Week
11
the week BY
Lena Wiget
thursday /// aug 31 The Gandules 06 New Waves/New Trends series is finishing off with Dziga Vertov’s Russian avant-garde film The Man With The Movie Camera from 1929. Every film student will know it by heart since it thematizes the cinematic medium itself: a film made before your very eyes. The show starts at 22:00h and entrance is free. At the Versus Teatre the company Tacto presents the dark-humored comedy Un día hábil en Santiago de Chile (in Castellano), the story of insurance salesman Luís Hernán Guerrero Delgado’s struggle to keep afloat in this ever-crazier job market. If you can’t get a laugh out of it—perhaps because and especially if you work in sales—you may want to consider a radical change of direction. The play runs from Wednesday to Saturday at 22:15h and on Sundays at 18:00h until September 24. Tickets cost 12¤. At [2], the Belgian Rage Against the Machine tribute band Bulls On Parade starts raging at 20:00h. Come wit’ it now!
August’s descanso is over and the pace is speeding up again—slowly but surely. Something is commencing, something more than just another month. The air above those sipping their cafés con leche is full of resolutions and good intentions. Greenhorns roam the streets hunting jobs, flats, and indeed, new lives. While Pearl Jam and The Pet Shop Boys provide for this week’s big bangs, Razz and Apolo have organized some smaller live acts that promise good times. And those who don’t shy away from traveling to BCN’s outskirts will be rewarded with the Pinker Tones, Femme Fatal or Lori Meyers for free at the F.I.S.C festival this weekend.
friends for 2.50¤, including a CD. Frägil is presenting his new album “Jeux D’Enfants” at Sala Castelló at 20:00h. Maybe his singer-songwriter-with-guitar sadness will be beautiful, or maybe it’ll be too melancholy for a Friday night. Gratuito: F.M. Sintonizza F.I.S.C for free. The festival takes place at Parc Europa at Sta. Coloma de Gramenet and starts up at 23:00h with The Pinker Tones, Femme Fatal, Standard and the Crashcats accompanied by DJs Cuartilla and Jordi at Baremoto. RAZZ, POP BAR @ ALMOGÀVERS 122 // SALA CASTELLÓ @ FRANCESC CAMBÓ 36 // F.I.S.C @ PARC EUROPA, STA COLOMA DE GRAMENET, BCN
saturday /// sept 2
At the Filmoteca, an Otto Preminger special is currently running (September 1-7). A contemporary of Hitchcock, his films are known for their ability to present the beauty, arrogance and mystique of classical CCCB @ MONTALEGRE 5 // VERSUS TEATRE @ American cinema. Today at 17:30h they’re CASTILLEJOS 179 // JAMBOREE @ PLAÇA showing Anatomy of a Murder (1959), one REIAL 17 // APOLO [2] @ NOU DE LA of Preminger’s best-known films and RAMBLA 111 arguably one of the best court-room dramas ever. 20:00h at Nui, an event called “Dadajam Live Composition 020906”. Faithful to the maxims of Dadaism, the Moderate: The Presents for 12¤. These four Dadajammers will produce spontaneous guys from Minneapolis will be playing sultry sounds—direct expressions of the moment lullabies and upbeat rock anthems at Razz’s and their surroundings. Entrance is free. In Pop Bar, mixing Rock and R&B into a fine Sta. Coloma de Gramenet the F.M. non-humdrum modern Pop. If they play Sintonizza F.I.S.C festival continues at “Julietta” it may well turn out a perfect cou- 23:00h with Lori Meyers, El Columpio ple’s concert. Doors open at 1:00h. The Asesino, Lula and Catpeople while the DJs concert starts at 2:30h. Cheap: Frägil & Pin&Pon and later DJ Batidora play at the danzarama1.qxd 8/25/06 3:16 PM Page 1
friday /// sept 1
Baremoto scene. Entrance is free. In the early evening Discos Revolver presents Top Models (Barcelona rock’n’roll; inspired by The Violent Femmes, Jonathan Richman, The Go Betweens), El Perro Verde and Ruha at Apolo [2]. Cost: 10¤ at the door. And later at the same venue, starting at 00:30h, the Pop trio from Madrid GrandeMarlaska plays, followed by La Presidente and finally DJ Coco. Entrance: 12 ¤. FILMOTECA @ PORTAL DE SANTA MADRONA 68 // NUI @ ALMOGÀVERS 208 // APOLO [2] @ NOU DE LA RAMBLA 111
sunday /// sept 3 Cinemes Méliès lures the cinema savvy this week with a Chaplin (Gold Rush, City Lights), Hitchcock (Strangers on a Train) and Mankiewicz (All About Eve) combo in Sala 1 and a George Lucas (American Graffiti) and Billy Wilder combo in Sala [2]. Starts at 16:00h. And at Sala Mephisto Leave’s Eyes will be playing some tragicsounding metal sounds. MELIES CINES @ VILLARROEL 102 // SALA MEPHISTO @ ROC BORONAT 33
monday /// sept 4 At the Cine Verdi you can catch C.R.A.Z.Y., directed and co-written by the Canadian Jean-Marc Vallée, for the second-to-last time at 22:30h. Keywords: father and son, family, suburbia, happiness, growing up. Music composed by David Bowie. To combat your leftover, hungover feeling, try the International Parties night at City
Hall. A bit of Dance, Disco, Funk and R&B can only do you good on a Monday. The party starts at 23:30h and entrance is free before 1:00h. CINE VERDI @ VERDI 32 // CITY HALL @ RAMBLA CATALUNYA 4
tuesday /// sept 5 Who wants to go and see the Pet Shop Boys in the Forum when you can rock with Chest + Argies (Argentina) at 23:00h in the small and sucio Big Bang Bar...in a street with the beautiful name Botella...in the heart of the Raval…? BIG BANG BAR @ BOTELLA 7
wednesday /// sept 6 Bread & Butter is forgotten, but still and until September 15 the TransFashionLab exhibition is showing artistic photography that scornfully subverts contemporary society’s fashion obsession. The different galleries are open until 19:00h (Indissoluble, Estudiodecine), 20:00h (Off Ample), 20:30h (Loft, Dart) and 21:00h (La Gauche Divine) respectively. If the show has awakened your appetite for a little image-game, dress to impress and call up one of the Tecnocasa agents of the city to let them show you their most beautiful lofts on sale. INDISSOLUBLE @ PG DE LA PAU 11 // ESTUDIODECINE @ PG DE LA PAU 7 // OFF AMPLE @ PG DE LA PAU 10 // LOFT @ AMPLE 3 // DART @ AMPLE 5 // LA GAUCHE DIVINE @ PG DE LA PAU 7 //
DANZARAMA_ RESTAURANT + CLUB Gran Via 604, Esquina Balmes / Open every day of the year from 7AM to 3AM We do group reservations, private parties, private room rentals, and all types of events Cutting edge design / Exquisite mediterranean gastronomy / Excellent quality and price / Amazing selection of music
12
BCN
Week
How to get to Danzarama_ Metro_ Universidad (Line 1/red + Line 2/purple)
Bus_ Pl. Universidad (N1, N2, N3, N8, N12, N13, N14, N15) tel (+34) 93 301 97 43 info (+34) 93 342 52 70 fax (+34) 93 301 22 91 www.danzarama.com danzarama@gruporepris.com
reviews cuz we don’t do pre-views M OV I E
c.r.a.z.y. BY
DIRECTED BY JEAN-MARC VALLÉE
Núria Ferrer
Think of your earliest memory. Think about the quality of the light, and how the image lies somewhere between a photograph and a film. Think of how that one seemingly insignificant moment coincided with your allsignificant moment: the first time you became conscious of yourself. It’s a memory you can’t erase, it’s the one whose weight is impossible to explain. This moment defines the parameters of your nostalgia. Imagine being able to perfectly replicate this moment so that someone else can feel it as you did. And now imagine linking it to every similar subsequent moment in your childhood, so that someone else can feel what it was to be you. This nigh-impossible task has been achieved by few but Fellini, but with C.R.A.Z.Y., Québécois director Jean-Marc Vallée succeeds in
the imitation of life. Cutting and gorgeous, whimsical and heavily real, this film is the world through a child’s eyes. Its foundation is the family, that seat of love and brutality, and its fire is a sensitive soul’s struggle to survive both. Rolling up religion and personality, fate and sexuality, Vallée reminds us that conventional definitions can never fully delineate one individual’s spirit, and we can only come to know someone by understanding where he’s been. Marc-André Grondin is magnetic as the protagonist, Zac Beaulieu. He could wallpaper and I’d be fascinated. He’s supported by an outstanding cast, the work of a brilliant crew, and the selfsustainingly rad aesthetic of the ‘60s and ‘70s. If you can bear to remind yourself of what growing up really feels like, this film is well worth the trip back in time.
CD
‘alright,still’ BY
BY LILY ALLEN
Lee Lancaster
Maybe it’s because summer is the most superficial season—think of all those transient friendships and long hours spent in beach bars that disappear come autumn—but unashamed, chart-friendly pop music always seems like the perfect companion to hot weather. Scott Walker and Radiohead may make those cold winter nights a little more bearable, but as the days lengthen the hunt is on for that shiny, uncomplicated, play-it-for-three-months-and-then-forget-about-it summer disk. Well, it’s time to call off the search, because Lily Allen has just gate-crashed the roof-top party carrying a copy of her debut album ‘Alright, Still’ and it’s a beauty. In true pop style, she sets out her stall within the first thirty seconds of opener ‘Smile’ and rarely strays too far from it. Over a sultry, skankable melody, she dispassionately berates an unfaithful ex-boyfriend, sounding not unlike Althea & Donna (remember ‘Uptown Top Ranking’?) flirting with The Streets. This reggae-pop-with-a-twist continues over the next ten tracks, though she’s musically playful enough to add splashes of everything from bossa-nova sweetness (‘Everything’s Just Wonderful’) to oompah band strangeness (‘Alfie’). Lyrically, it’s the very definition of sassy. The track ‘Not Big’ details some guy’s numerous shortcomings while ‘Friday Night’ describes a drunken evening spent in a nightmarish club. In fact, if the words are anything to go by, our heroine clearly drinks, smokes, fights, shags and obsesses over ex-lovers a little more than is probably sensible, but then don’t we all at one time or another? The genius of ‘Alright, Still’ is to mix all the noise, crime and hassle of the city with the various disappointments and insecurities of modern life, and make something uplifting out of them. And if it sounds good in the Dante-esque inferno of the metro, just imagine how wonderful it’ll sound at your local chiringuito as that sea breeze cools your fevered brow. BCN
Week
13
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rock on! VINYL: ALBUMS AND COVERS BY ARTISTS /// MACBA TIL SEPT 3 BY
Claire Gunter
Walking into the first gallery of the MACBA’s “Vinyl. Albums and Covers by Artists” exhibition is much like walking into a really nice alternative record Page 2 shop, but instead of pierced and tattooed shopkeepers, your source of information is a convenient pamphlet entitled “Spanish Context.” As curator Victor Nubla explains, “the result of research into vinyl record covers published in Spain from the 1960s to the 1980s provides a vision of history that reveals how little, with certain exceptions, music evolved in our country, and how little reached us from abroad. This state of affairs was caused by the cultural isolation we suffered from, precisely during the decades when half the world was going crazy about a series of completely new developments.” The show, then, focuses first on Spain’s isolation and then its eventual reconnection with the rest of the artistic and musical world in the 1980s. The works on display have been chosen from private collections and their aesthetic (from trippy-dippy to
violent to playfully surreal) is second in importance to the artist(s) who produced them. After taking in these images, take a seat at one of the three computers and listen to what musicians were doing at the time. As Logotipo says in their Teoría del Contacto, “el hombre soñaba con empezar de nuevo…” Continuing the visit, you arrive at a small, dark gallery with two eerily illuminated loudspeakers emitting messages of the utmost avant-garde. Enjoy this visual repose because the ensuing galleries are nothing but stimulating, offering visitors a look at covers for bands such as Black Sabbath and the Velvet Underground (the latter being the work of Andy Warhol) while the speakers emit what sounds like an electronic nun practicing scales and drills on a church organ. From there, you can sit and listen to a Spaniard count the revolutions of an album with tonguetwisting skill, or continue on to the small red gallery dedicated to the work of Jack Goldstein.
R E S TAU R A N T
las fernandez thevitaltouch WE ARE SEEKING
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Enjoy a relaxing, revitalising acupressure massage in your workplace Nunu + (34) 659 995 657 nunu@thevitaltouch.com www.thevitaltouch.com
Kitch-groovy-cool is what you’llwalk into, deep in the dirty heart of the Raval, in a place called Las Fernandez which is owned and operated by two fly sisters. It’s a welcoming and nicely warm red entrance off the smelly and somehow always wet C/Carretas. Service is quick and most of the time friendly,and one of the Fernandez sisters will definitely speak to you at some point during the evening, not as a welcoming owner, but as a hustling waitress…try to guess which one she is, it won’t be difficult to figure out,as the disco-esque logo includes their telling portraits. The menu is Mediterranean with some interesting fish/fruit combinations along with traditional Catalan style hearty stews and meats,as wellas some vegetarian dishes.Nightly specials are numerous,often there are six or seven items not listed on the menu,and the person attending your table will sit with you to tellyou about them all,in Spanish, so be practiced on your foods vocabulary
Carretas, 11 B Y
David Tressel
because there is no English version.In fact,there is very little English at all; the clientele is mainly Catalan/Spanish 25-35ish,tipping the scales just a bit on the gay side of things.Wine selection is nothing spectacular. Bathrooms are in the back through the open kitchen,which I personally like as it’s clear to see that your food is coming from a clean kitchen.While the staff is friendly,the food tasty,ambience funky, and the clientele Catalan Cool,one thing you won’t get at Las Fernandez is intimacy; if you’re there with four or more in your party it’ll be difficult to follow the conversation at your table due to the noise.You also won’t occupy your table for too long after you’ve finished if you were sat in the first half of the night, because you will be asked to pay. Reservations (necessary at the weekend) are made at 21h or 23h,if you come for the first seating you’ll be asked,politely,to pay when finished so that those waiting who made a 23h reservation can be sat.
BOOK
HAPPY HOUR ALL DRINKS ALL DRINKS
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CHECK OUT OUR GREAT NEW FOOD MENU KITCHEN OPEN UNTIL 1.30H ENJOY ONE FREE DRINK WITH ANY FOOD ORDER FROM 17H-19.30H
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death of a PERRO THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME /// MARK HADDON BY
Michael Jones
This is a murder mystery like no other. The detective and narrator is Christopher Boone, a fifteen year old with Asperger’s Syndrome who investigates the death of a dog. The narrator, as a consequence of his condition, has an aversion to all things brown or yellow, always tells the truth, doesn’t like to be touched, and is excellent at math. The book contains a few artistic oddities illustrating the quirks of the syndrome: the chapters are only prime numbers, some chapters side track breaking down why night is dark even though there’s so many stars and how this relates to the big bang theory, as well as an odd photo or graph thrown in the mix. Still there’s an undeniable sweet wit and
ever driving story line that keeps going even after the “mystery” is essentially solved. I started reading in the afternoon and after few breaks for food stuffs and a reflective moment in the late summer Spanish twilight, I found myself reading this book cover to cover in one go. You quickly accept the hero’s oddities as normal, and as you keep turning pages there are emotional twists and tugs that are kind and very human which left me feeling a loving sensitive person as opposed to a drunken lout. Published in 2003, this curious novel was the recipient of the Whitbread Novel of the Year award. TMark Haddon has written 15 children’s books and is also a screenwriter and illustrator.
Classifieds
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Personal classified ads are free. They may be 25 words max in length. Business classified ads are 5 cents a word. DEADLINE Friday at 12:00 noon, the week before publication. HOW TO SUBMIT Send it via email to classifieds@bcnweek.com, fax to +34 93 443 6659, or snail-mail to San Gil 2, bajos 2, 08001 Barcelona
Top 5 CDs of the Month BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE BLACK HORSE
1_ iLIKETRAins — progress reform 2_ Madrugada — nightly disease
and subway. Tons of light. 700 ¤. Rafa 616 560 299.
sunny room Room for rent (Urquinaona) Nice bright, fully furnished room, exterior in a comfortable flat, situated in the center. Only 2 minutes from the Metro L1 y L4. 280¤/month all bills included. simon-sparks@excite.com
3_ motor —klunk
Hostal Santa Anna
4_ hot chip — the warning
The friendly family-owned Hostal Santa Anna is practically on Las Ramblas. The quiet, clean and well maintained hostel has 18 simple rooms with views of the street or interior. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
5_ black cab — altamont diary
BOAT LIVING Can’t afford an apartment? Buy my boat and live on it in Torredembarra marina or move to Barcelona. Includes full domestic equipment. 49,000¤.contact: sywhitesaurel@hotmail.com
POPPY NEEDS A HOME Old bike with a lot of character seeks new owner, gets you from A to B if not with a few rattles and squeeks. 30¤ only. contact: francesca.hanson@yahoo.co.uk
FOR RENT quiet apartment Private Apartment — studio, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom — up to 3 persons. Raval — quiet, air conditioning. ZSR-BA@yahoo.de
APARTMENT TO RENT IN IBIZA. 5 km to the city, in the countryside, apartment capacity 4 people. Private garden and swmingpool. Car necesary. rainbowinspain.com or info@rainbowinspain.com
GAY AND GAYFRIENDLY ACCOMMODATION IN MAIN GAY DESTINATIONS IN SPAIN. Hotels and hostels in Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza, Sitges, Gran Canaria, Tenerife. rainbowinspain.com or info@rainbowinspain.com.
BARCELONETA Very nice IKEA renovated 1 bedroom apartment next to the market
Hotel Travessera The Hotel Travessera 2 star hotel located right next to Gaudí’s lovely Parc Guell. Hotel Travessera has been recently refurbished and has 23 well-equipped rooms with en suite bathrooms, air conditioning, heating and TV. A good value, for reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Las Flores
Poble Nou Beach Rooms is a cosy place with lots of natural light in (where else) Poble Nou. A Barcelona classic, the apartment has original ceramic tiled floors. There are 3 bedrooms, each sleeping 2-3 perons. For short-term rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
The Hostal Las Flores is a cosy family-run hostel located right on Las Ramblas. This quaint 1 star hostel is an economical choice, with 22 rooms on 4 floors. Almost all have access to a shared bathroom, except one double room which includes a private en suite bathroom and has a view of Las Ramblas. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Crayon Box Apartment 3.1
Apartamento de la Paz
The Crayon Box Apartment 3.1 is the beach lovers dream, a 40m2 recently renovated apartment right on the beach, sleeping up to 6 persons. For short-term rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
The spacious 100m2 Apartamento La Paz has a 30m balcony stretching around the building and looks out over Las Ramblas and Port Vell. The apartamento can sleep up to 6 people, and is located on the first floor (no lift access) with lots of natural light. There are 3 double rooms, 1 with 2 single beds, 2 rooms with 1 double bed each. For holiday rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Poble Nou Beach Rooms
FOR SALE
hostel offers common areas, such as a bar serving drinks and breakfasts with plasma television, and a lounge with sofas and a quieter atmosphere inviting to read and relax. In addition, here is an Internet service for the clients. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Els Angels Small, cosy, 1-star, 10-rooms hostel with a familiar atmosphere located in L’Eixample district, 10 minutes on foot from Rambla Catalunya. The rooms are basic, well-lit and sunny, with kitchen access; some have a balcony overlooking the street, and others overlook the large courtyard. 24 hr reception and laundry service for 5¤. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Fina A basic 2 star hostel located in the very heart of the historical centre of Barcelona, at Portaferrissa, the most commercial street in the city. The hostel offers basic, clean, well conditioned rooms, where you will be able to relax and rest, as most of them are interior and very quiet. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Plaza This picturesque, 2-star, 20-room hostel is located between Passeig de Gràcia, Pl. Urquinaona and Pl. Catalunya, in the 1st floor of a modernist building. In the 1st floor, the
Hostal Ballestero A modest, well-maintained, 2-stars hostel of 26 rooms located near Meridiana Avenue, on the corner of Fabra i Puig Avenue, close to the commercial centre of Heron City. The hostel is situated in a 5-floor building with lift. Not especially charming, but it does offer clean, well-maintained rooms. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
BARCO Paula I Have an original experience on the Paula I sailboat (not a houseboat), or as we like to call it the “floating apartment,” located in the Port Vell. The boat can sleep up to 6 people, with 3 cabins with double beds. Watch the curious smiles of your friends when you tell them you’ve stayed on a 40 foot sailboat (not for sailing). Not many people will be able to say they spent their Barcelona vacation on a luxury
boat! For short-term rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Crayon Box Apartment 2.1 The Crayon Box Apartment 2.1 is a 40m2 private apartment located on the beachfront of Barceloneta. This newly renovated apartment can sleep up to 4 people in 2 double rooms, one with a large double bed and another with bunk beds. A sofa bed sleeps one more, which is located in the living/dining room which also has a TV and balcony. The kitchen has all the amenities and there is also a full bathroom. The apartment is equipped with heating and air conditioning. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Boquería The Hostal Boqueria is a newly renovated hostel right on Las Ramblas, opposite the lively atmosphere of the Boquería. 15 neat and tidy rooms with TV, air conditioning, heating and private bathrooms, this is a fairly standard hostel: 2 single beds and a sink in the room. Good value accommodation right in the centre of Barcelona. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Hostal Lesseps
trendy district of Born. It has two bedrooms, one with a single bed and the other with two singles. The living/dining room has a TV and 2 sofas, one a sofa bed which sleeps two. The kitchen is fully-equipped, as is the bathroom. A small balcony gives a good photo-op of the gargoyles from the building in front, not something you wake up to every day. AC. For holiday rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
VAN AND DRIVER FOR REMOVALS AND CARGO TRANSPORTATION
Levante Apartament M1
MASSAGE EXCHANGE
A recently renovated, 95m2 apartment with an excellent location, which can accommodate 4-8 persons. Located in the heart of the historic Barri Gòtic, it is a basic, cosy apartment, decorated with classical style wood furniture. It offers 3 bedrooms: one with 3 individual beds, one with a double bed, and the third with 2 individual beds. For short-term rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Travessera Apartments A private, welcoming apartment with daily cleaning service and towel/linen change located inside a 1-star hotel, next to Hospital Sant Pau. Sleeps up to 3 persons. For short-term rentals, visit www.barcelona30.com.
A modest hostel placed in an old building with a beautiful entrance door, in the popular Gràcia district, an area full of live with a special charm, which still keeps its village atmosphere. It is located a 15 minutes walk to the famous Parc Güell and Passeig de Gràcia. The hostel offers simple, clean rooms; but do not expect a design decoration. However, all of them are equipped with a complete bathroom, and TV. There are double rooms with 1 double bed or 2 individual beds, and triple rooms, which are more spacious. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Short-term rental in a double room for 1 or 2 persons with en suite private bathroom and TV in gorgeous shared apartment. apartment is right by Arc de Triomf metro station (line 1) and Renfe regional train station. Visit www.barcelona30.com.
BARCO Déjà vu Oceanis 36cc
Hotel Climent
The Déjà vu is a gorgeous 36 foot (11 metres) cruising yacht moored in the marina Port Vell. A Jeanneau Oceanis 36cc, it was built in 2003 and waves the French flag. Outfitted in cherry wood, the boat is equipped with modern comforts, such as satellite TV, kitchen, full bathroom, towels and bed linens, and even slippers in case your feet get cold. Sleeps up to 4. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
The 1 star Hotel Climent is located on the Gran Via in a 7 storey building with 5 rooms on each floor. The rooms are neat and clean, with minimal decor. They have an en suite bathroom, heating, TV and telephone. All rooms are exterior, with natural light, and are sufficiently soundproofed with windows with double paned glass to guarantee a good night’s sleep. The hotel is well-maintained and is wheelchair accessible. Breakfast included. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
Apartamento Picasso 32 Up to 5 of you can stay in the 50 m2 Picasso 32 Apartment smack in the middle of the historic and yet
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P R O D U C TO S
Hostal Rembrandt Hostal Rembrandt is a clean, wellrun 28 room hostel in an unbeatable location on Portaferrisa. Can you ask for a more central location? visit www.barcelona30.com for reservations.
Arc de Triomf Room
Pension Cortes Pension Cortes is a basic, clean hostel located in beautiful old building on Gran Via. Rooms are clean and cosy with single beds. Although the rooms overlook the street, it is relatively insulated from street noise. Metro station Urgell. For reservations, visit www.barcelona30.com.
WANTED bike needed Any type can be interesting. If it’s old and not damaged — perfect. If it’s a bit more modern, ok! But don’t want to pay more than 100¤. schwester_polyester@yahoo.com
TV DONATION
the coolest stuff from around the world! get your guiri fix at
www.bcnweek.com
I would like to get a — colour or black and white — TV donated for my room for the coming Winter to keep updated with the domestic and world news. Has someone got a spare one? I feel like in a shell when I learn the daily news. I would be very thankful. mineral_moon@yahoo.ca
english classes American English teacher looking for private students starting in July. 12¤/hour. Adaptable, responsible, creative. Serious inquiries only. hleben@gmail.com
children playground Looking for, or to start a playgroup for children in Diagonal Mar/Villa Olimpica area. English, Russian, and Spanish speaking. Interested email: keyian@hotmail.co.uk.
SERVICES
Inexpensive, safe and flexible. Any day, any time. Barcelona / Catalunya. 647533344 / 933291363 www.vanbcn.com
Seeking to start a small group of people doing bodywork at any level and willing to exchange sessions for the joy of it. I do Hawaian Lomi Lomi, Ayurvedic Yoga, Reiki and Metamorphic massage. galileanin@gmail.com
tarot reader TAROT ,international clairvoyant... DAVID. clairvoyant, tarot cards, psychic, crystal ball, palm readings,david has the true gift of reading your future, and is renowned world wide, 35 years experiance, private sittings 1 to 1, love, health, work, money, life’s decisions etc phone David at 678378802
FOOTBALL LEAGUE New 11-a-side football team starting in the Barcelona International League. Interested in playing each Saturday? All nationalities welcome. Email uws@dial.pipex.com
I SAW YOU Did u see someone you like? Need to get a message across? Too shy to say it to their face? Then BCN WEEK’s ‘I SAW YOU’ is for you! Be sure to tell us who you are (man/woman) who/ what you saw (man/woman/badly parked car... etc) when? where? why? email or contact detail required. Metro L4 You got off at Girona. You were reading The Persuit of Lonliness. You looked so sad...want to go out for a coffee sometime when you´re not feeling so lonely? lucid_dreams_586@hotmail.com
ba ba ba I met you at the Black Sheep on Sat night. You were my translater for a few drunken conversations. Thank you for helping me communicate...I´m not easy to handle when drunk! itsjustaride@gmail.com
ping pong You were at Segrada Familia. We had a brief conversation about ping pong and tequila. I know you´re only here for a week on holiday, but do you want to catch up for a drink anyway? Perhaps some tequila? haplo_groove@hotmail.com
Citadella park Last monday. You were twirling with glow poi. I watched you in awe...I´d love to poi with you sometime. Same time next week? synthetic_tack@hotmail.com
CLOSURE I saw you from across the room at Arc Cafe. We were stealing glances at each other... or maybe I was just stealing glances at you. I can’t help but feel there was something there. I’m going to be there Saturday afternoon. I hope to see you there. myfinalhavan@gmail.com
I ROBBER To the f&%k that stole my ipod. I have no music without my ipod, and I have no will to live without my music. Can you handle my death on your conscience? Give it back! I work at Fnac. Drop it in a anytime. Arsehole. mel_m_84@hotmail.com
summer snow You were on the computer next to me at the internet cafe on Verdi last friday. I was checking my email and you were looking up snowboarding. Why, in summer, I wonder? Perhaps we can talk about it over a drink? lady_death15@hotmail.com
AND BCN
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Micro Mesh
www.americanapparel.net
Erica is wearing our new Micro-Mesh Bodysuit, now available online and at our stores. We promise to come to Barcelona soon and open a store there. In the meantime we’re offering BCN Week readers free shipping when you shop online until September 30th. Just enter the following promo code when you get to checkout: BCN2006. To learn more about our company, to shop online, and to find all store locations, visit our web site.
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