Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Listen To The Music


There is something there is too little of – that is live music. For the tourist in summer, there is all too often a barrenness, save for acts at the fiestas or the more formal (and usually classical) settings of the Pollensa Festival or Alcúdia’s Auditorium. This tourist, and many local people, are not well served by live music where they really want it, which is in cramped bars with the feel of music as it should be – in the raw and with the sweat, booze and vibrating acoustics reminiscent of a Marquee or Fiddler. What passes for live music is all too frequently sanitised and third-rate cabaret served in synthetic dollops by hotels and some larger restaurants.

Out of season, there is some live music. It is a way for bars to attract business that might not otherwise be there. There are bands who do the rounds here. One is “The Hustlers” who have been appearing at the Shamrock in Puerto Alcúdia, but they are a familiar name. More innovative in the selection of bands are Puerto Alcúdia’s Vamps (in summer as it happens) and Pollensa’s La Birreria, the latter having had a regular number of gigs this winter. Most of the live-music scene is otherwise confined to Palma, leaving the north a musical wasteland.

On Saturday, La Birreria is presenting Jose Domingo (of the group Psychoine), one of a string of Spanish or Mallorcan acts that the bar has taken to specialise in as opposed to the rather tired Brit rock and blues formula. Don’t know him? Here are some links: www.myspace.com/josedomingo and
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPT4r0FiWyk


Coming back to Santa Margalida. I was saying that this is not a particularly wealthy authority, so there is something of a stink about the fact that the mayor has been taking a salary nearly 10,000 euros higher than his predecessor. This works out at 45,000 a year. I don’t know what other mayors earn. Indeed I had never given it a thought until now, but 45 grand does not sound like a massive amount to be running a municipality, despite protests to the contrary. There again, maybe that ten thousand makes the difference between policing Son Serra de Marina or not. I couldn’t possibly say.


QUIZ
Yesterday – Madness. Today’s title – pretty easy, I would guess.


(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)

No comments: