The Music Spot: Paco de Lucia

Hi mates!
Here I am, whiling away the long rainy evening and listening to what is possibly my favourite album of all time, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon (I’ll never grow tired, however many times I’ve – literally - flipped with it). So I’ve decided to put pen to paper and contribute something for the music section of our great blog. You know, last Saturday I went to see Paco de Lucia in concert at the Multiusos. I’d listened to many of Paco’s famous records before, but this was going to be the first time to watch him live. You see, my son David, a keen guitarist himself, and my father-in-law, a self-confessed flamenco enthusiast, were accompanying me to the event. They both had been lucky enough to watch him on another ocassion at the same venue a few years prior to his temporary retirement from the music scene. But now he was back into the limelight, and I thought, well, I can’t fail to see him again, can I?

So there we were, the three of us, up in the gods (you know, the upper gallery of seats, or, very appropriately, the peineta, as the best floor stalls were sold out – so much for the crisis!), ready for some flamenco music with a modern feel to it, as the maestro of Algeciras wisely combines the duende of the Andalusian genre with more modern sounds. You see, he’s helped on a very plain stage (barely a few plants at the back) by a proficient band of musicians (among them not only another flamenco guitarist and the inevitable palmeros/cantaores but also a keyboardist and a bassist) who often give Paco’s pieces an almost jazzy touch. But the distinct flamenco essence always lingers in his songs, no matter what.

The long-awaited show ran for a solid two hours and twenty minutes (mind you, there was a 15-minute intermission halfway through it), during which the guitar genius delighted the diehard fans with extended versions of his most recognizable hits (Almoraima, Zyriab, Fuente y Caudal, … you name it). Now and then, some among the audience (gypsies, no doubt) would shout at the top of their voices the enthusiastic oles amidst the indifferent, always stern gesture of the genius (I could get a close-up of his wrinkled face aided by a very handy pair of binoculars). You see, being an Andalusian through and through, he’s never been the funniest man on earth, let alone an otherwise generally fun-loving land like Andalucia. Only a few hardly audible words of appreciation did he utter during the whole show, but not even a much obliged “Thank you, Salamanca”. And I couldn’t help feeling that nowadays, already in his mid 60s, after an illustrious career that has spanned since 1965 no less, Mr Paco de Lucia is sort of bored with gigs and audiences, but his hard-earned, well-deserved reputation as arguably one of the best guitarists in history is more than enough to still fill venues like Multiusos to their capacity.

Now, are you getting the impression that I didn’t enjoy the concert? Well not really, I mean, who can deny Don Francisco's talent, his impeccable technique and precision guitar playing (though my knowledgeable son sometimes whispered to me “Dad, he made a mistake at that note”) but anyway I must admit that now and then I was getting, as it were, cold feet. Personally, some pieces just went on too long amid, I can concede, fine impromptus by his musicians as well as some magnificent dancing – to many in the audience, it seems, the highlight of the night judging by the after-show comments –from a speedy bailaor (can’t remember his name) who tapped his feet like mad on the tablao (wow, too many Spanish words, I guess!)

But who cares about the lengthy songs, the austere, almost aloof performer, even an average sound, though not bad considering the inherently poor acoustics of the venue, when right in front of you is the one and only Paco, el de Lucia, a true guitar wizard, OLE!! And to end the show, no surprises, the inevitable Entre dos Aguas, the song that shot him to international stardom, even if he took some time to go for it despite the insistent “encore, encore” shouts.

Well, this review was pretty long, wasn’t it? Hope you didn’t get too bored. If you did, perhaps I can draw a laugh or two now: the maestro is, not surprisingly, renowned for his scarce TV interviews, at least on home soil. But funnily enough, you can see him here not only performing but above all speaking, yes, another variety of English, what I call Inglés de Cádiz ( ha ha!). I mean, you'll have to do your best to understand the younger Paco, and I'm sure you will, as the captions are in ... Polish. Enjoy!

Hello folks!

Well, I can't think of a better way to "premiere" this music spot than an opera review, written by one of you. Whether you like the genre or not, you have to admit there's some passion and grandeur into it ...

Elena (2NA):

As some of you know, last week was my introduction to opera.

I, like many people I hope, had listened to opera before, but maybe not in a very conscious way, I’m afraid. I mean, I had listened to some radio programmes, while I was doing the chores or chatting on the phone. Not the most "correct" way, is it?

The thing is that last Thursday I attended a pre-recorded exhibition of "Cosí fan tutte" by W.A. Mozart, which was performed at the Salzburg Festival 2009, with Adam Fischer as a conductor. Frankly, I was expecting a more complicated wardrobe, a fat lady, an old-fashioned story about honour and pride, as well as unintelligible songs and arias.

My first shock was the stage production (by Claus Guth): so modern, so elegant, so intelligent.. With very few elements he creates a real atmosphere, very close and captivating.

Then, the characters: they sing (of course), dance and act. Just think how complicated singing an aria can be while you are writhing in fake, deep pain and sadness. And I must say that the singing and the acting were ... incredible! Accurate, moving, heartfelt indeed.

The plot was both old and modern, ageless: the fidelity between the brides and grooms, the suspicion, the practical jokes, the remorse. Fortunately, the play was subtitled, so (since I can’t understand Italian at all) I was able to absorb the pith of the story as well as identify some Italian words and enjoy their musicality.

Last but not least, these are a few reflections of mine:

a) Can you ever imagine that a singing-story that is over 200 years old would be so modern?

b) Who, among our best known singers (¿), will last 200 years, with all their power?

c) Seeing an opera live must be great!!

Well, I think I´m still a bit shocked, ha, ha, but definitely it was worth it!!

If you're interested you can find more details on this link.

Thanks so much Elena, well done! Now this is one of the YouTube clips you can find on the link above. Mind you, the subtitles are in German, unfortunately.

The Screening Room: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Social Network, The Godfather I

26 October:

Maria (C1):

Hi everyone, here is my little review of a film I borrowed from Jose Luis, To kill a mockingbird, which was included in my elementary school’s film programme so I had the chance to see it when I was young (Victorian times!) and, although enjoyed it then, this time, of course, has been much better. As it is usually said, classic films never die so don't miss the opportunity to watch this film which grabs you by the throat.

To begin with, innocence and punishment are the themes of this story set in Alabama in the 1930s, the American depression era. First and foremost, the main plot deals with the situation of Boo Radley, a black man accused with no evidence of having raped a white woman; it also focuses on Atticus Finch, the determined lawyer who accepts the case and goes ahead with the trial in spite of the threats from the town’s racist citizens, who want him to give up. The secondary plot, led by Atticus Finch's children, Jem and Scout, revolves around another character, Tom Robinson (Robert Duvall), a man that children fear with no reason, a kind of bogeyman. And what happens next is something you will have to discover by yourselves.

I enjoyed the film a lot and, though all the black characters are just idealized, it is the perfect story about the “sin of killing a mokingbird”, the old proverb that Atticus explains in the film:

“Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, they don't nest in corn cribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”.

That proverb relates perfectly with the plot because it is a clear metaphor for the danger of hurting innocent people, like Boo Radley, charged without evidence, or Tom Robinson, punished without doing nothing unfair; or vulnerable people, like the kids, Jem and Scout. It is the kind of film that calls for a deep reflexion on human relationships. So, finally, to encourage you to watch it and just to end up on a funny note, according to DC comics To kill a Mockingbird is Clark Kent's (AKA Superman!) favourite movie, and you all know a man like him can't be wrong!

24 October

Hey, you can't possibly imagine how thrilled I am. You know, over the weekend I've been receiving stuff from you guys to post on this blog. And since two of them were film reviews, I've decided to set up a specific spot for them called The Screening Room. OK, I must admit that I've taken the label from the namesake CNN programme. Hope they won't sue me for this! Thank you so much for your enthusiastic response, I'm sure it will only encourage other classmates to do the same ... or will it?

Anyway, we "premiere" this brand new section with two extraordinary films (though I haven't seen the latter, I've read rave reviews) in their own right: a classic 1970s movie and a current box-office hit.

Miguel A. Herrero (C1):

How many of you have Facebook or another social network account? I suppose most of you do. But have you ever wondered how (or when) Facebook sprang up or who created it? If you have, you can find your answers in The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara.

The main character, Mark Zuckerberg, is a smart student of Computing Studies at Harvard. Affected by the break-up with his girlfriend, he creates Facemash, an application in which the students can choose who is the ‘fittest’ girl. It is such a great success that the smartest students in Harvard, the Winklevos brothers, propose that he helps them create a Harvard directory – called the Harvard connection- in which everybody can see other students’ data. He likes this idea and decides to join in, but realizing that he can improve it, he decides to start this project with Eduardo Saverin, his best friend. The project, initially called The Facebook, starts to spread in other universities with huge success. Both friends then become allies with Sean Parker, the creator of Napster. Thanks to this association, Facebook not only reaches other continents and becomes an outstanding enterprise, but also makes the friendship between Mark and Eduardo deteriorate. We witness that in the present day Mark has been sued not only by the brothers Winklevos, but also by his former good –and only- friend, Eduardo.

The film deals with the current theme of social networks. Nowadays people are connected everyday and have lots of “friends” online. The film brilliantly juxtaposes these two realities. On the one hand, Mark’s success due to Facebook’s worldwide spread with millions of people from all continents –even Africa- connected and making new friends. On the other hand, as Facebook spreads and Marks starts making money, his troubles increase given that he lost his only friend and is sued. The more money he makes, the more problems he has, just as the motto of the film states, “you don’t get 500 million friends without also making a few enemies”.

The film makes people reflect on the usefulness of social networks. Hence, it is clear that they have not only advantages, but mainly disadvantages, which are depicted through Mark’s life. Mark spends hours and hours sitting in front of the computer so he has no real life. He’s lost his only friend because of Facebook and all the friends he makes and all the parties he goes to are simply a result of his position. These consequences can also be applied to Facebook users. If you spend many hours logged on to it and making Facebook friends, you will become a Mark Zuckerberg and lose the opportunity of making real friends. Social networks like Facebook might be useful just in the right measure but not if you become addicted, which is not so odd given that there are lots of them, as you can see on this link.

I strongly recommend you to watch this film because it offers an interesting view on how one of the best-known companies was created. As it usually happens, building such a huge company brings money, but associated with it many other problems arise. To end this long review, I would like to praise the figure of Mark Zuckerberg, who, despite the problems that Facebook caused him, is at 20 one of the youngest millionaires and his company, Facebook, is worth $25 million.

P.S. This is the trailer in case I have persuaded you to watch the film. You should give it a try, it is worth watching.

Luis Rodriguez (C1):

I’ve just seen The Godfather again. I think I’ve seen it at least seven times. And, as it happened before, I’m still fascinated by Marlon Brando’s hoarse voice, the beginning of the film (‘America has made me rich’, but actually America hasn’t made me happy'), the light (Gordon Willis’s photography is outstanding), etc.

Scriptwriters say that you can know if a film is good or not in the first ten minutes. Probably The Godfather is one of the best examples of this theory. In just five minutes (the first scene), the title’s character is completely described, and so are the Mafia’s rules. So, at the very beginning, it is clearly stated that the Mafia is a family with its own rules you can’t challenge, that the Mafia is not a firm with bills, invoices and VAT, but it works through its owns mechanisms based on friendship, loyalty and favours.

I know very few people who don’t like The Godfather. Well, the reason is too obvious: it’s a superb film. But, before Jose Luis tells me that ‘to write that stuff, it’s better not to write anything’, I’ll do my best and run myself into the ground. Maybe one of the clues in The Godfather is the key aspect of a masterpiece: the possibility of finding several levels of significance, so that everybody can enjoy the film. I’ll try to explain my arguments. It is easy to take the adventure of several gangs fighting and shooting. But, at the same time, The Godfather is an intelligent visual essay about power fights and strategy games. Besides, it shows a world inside another world: the Sicilian way of life incorporated into the totally different American society (and how it achieves to reproduce itself there). It also reflects the change of the times, the fight against two cultures, etc.

However, beneath that surface, there is a classical scheme of acceptance of your own destiny, of your own fate, which reminds you of Shakespeare’s plays. Michael is Vito Corleone’s only son, a man with an American name who was separated from the Family’s business due to Vito’s decisions. Nonetheless, the circumstances (tragically wrapped with a spiral of death and murders) oblige him to accept Don’s role. All the spectators can watch the change from his initial innocence towards the recognition of his own fate, his own journey to Hell. And the impossibility of running away from it. Well, probably everyone suffers this journey to Hell, but I’m sure that –at the same time– we enjoy seeing how Michael gradually becomes a member of the Mafia.

Coppola’s rhythm is tense in some scenes but always gripping. Gordon Willis’s photography is still analysed in the Academies of Visual Studies. Nino Rota’s soundtrack is probably one of the most recognizable musical scores in cinema history. All the characters are extraordinarily played by one of the best cast of actors in the 70s (James Caan, Robert Duvall…). Al Pacino plays Michael Corleone in a way that can be defined as soft and, at the same time, disturbing. But we must recognize it: The Godfather wouldn’t be the same film without Marlon Brando. His jaw, his cheeks, his hoarse voice, his soft movements, his way of staring at their enemies, of crying in the presence of one of his sons’ dead body ... all of these features lead to one of the best performances ever seen on a screen.

Therefore, I strongly recommend The Godfather if you haven't seen it yet. As Vito Corleone said, ‘It’s an offer you can't refuse. Please don’t take that as something personal. It’s just business’.

October 2010

26 October

Miguel (C1):

Where do English words come from?

The latest entry by Antonio about the history of the English language inspired me to write this bit, in which I will try to show you some of the languages that deeply influenced the English language and I will try to exemplify it with English words.

First of all, one of the main influences English had was French. In the 11th Century, Edward the Conqueror – who was French - became king. As a result, many French words started to appear in English language. We as speakers use these words without realizing they have a French origin. Here is a list for you to see what I mean more clearly.

English words English words derived from French
PIG PORK
DEER VENISON
BUY PURCHASE
DEALER MERCHANT
MOTION MOVEMENT
PRIDE PROUD

There are more examples of these. The usage of these pairs of words is different. For instance, you tend to say ‘pig’ when you refer to the animal, but ‘pork’ when you refer to the meat of the animal to be eaten. The same happens to ‘deer’ and ‘venison’

Moreover, Latin, as Antonio suggested, has also influenced English. This can be seen in words like ‘data’ – the Latin plural form of datum-, ‘bacteria’ – Latin plural form of ‘bacterium’- or the widely known word curriculum. From Latin come other words which are rarely used or more appropriately used in formal contexts. See this list:

English words English words derived from Latin
MARRIAGE MATRIMONY
SELLER VENDOR
ANSWER RESPOND
BUILD CONSTRUCT
WIFE SPOUSE
FAST RAPID
FEATURE CHARACTERISTIC

Latin words are easier for us Spanish speakers to remember but they are less used in natural English so my advise is try to use English words as much as possible, that is, words that are not familiar to us, Spanish speakers. Besides, there are still Latin expressions persisting in English such as “ad hoc” or “ basis”.

Obviously, English evolved from Old English, which helps us explain the patterns of the current language. What is the plural of ‘ox’? It’s not ‘oxes’ but ‘oxen’. This –en ending indicated plural in the past. Another example of that rule is the word ‘brethren’. Can you guess its meaning without looking it up in a dictionary? The lengthening of a vowel was another indicator of a plural form and for that reason we have ‘feet’ and ‘teeth’. Furthermore, have you ever wondered why there is a list of “irregular” verbs? Irregular verbs were in the past called “strong verbs”. If you look closer you may observe that there are irregular verbs that are really alike. See the past tense of sing, swing, and ring; bend and lend, or cut, shut and put. There are patterns to identify and learn irregular verbs, which exist because of Old English. The rest of verbs, the so-called “regular” verbs, were called “weak” verbs and were characterized by the addition of the ending –ed. Does this sound familiar?

Last but not least –as Jose Luis often says- I would like to point out that English is also influenced by Spanish. Yes, it is indeed!

English words English words derived by Spanish
NAP SIESTA
PARTY FIESTA
CANTEEN CAFETERIA, CAFÉ
WATCHER VIGILANTE

I know that there are many other languages that have influenced English, like for instance German (I know the word ‘dog’ comes from German); but this is all I know so if any of you can expand this information, feel free to do it.

To sum up, this is probably boring, but I have demonstrated English is a language that has evolved from loans of many different languages. I assume that you may have used some of the words that I have written down on the lists, but had you ever wondered their origin or why there are two words for saying the same thing? I hope that from now on you start to realize these things so that you can add more words to my list. Please comment!!

OK, thanks Miguel. I guess if you and Antonio continue like this you'll end up making your mates into fully-fledged philologists, ha ha! Anyway, to illustrate the influence of Latin and French this is yet again a clip featuring Melvyn Bragg, where he teaches us how English lost its prestige and became "a poor third, bottom of the pile" and how it took 300 years to emerge and then changed dramatically into the language we more or less know today.

Antonio (C1):

Hi everyone!

I’ve just seen a new entry about English language usage, which you can read down below. What I see is that English is bound to change over the years. Anyway, are we aware of what the origins of English are? I’ve selected and summarized parts of a text in the Wikipedia about the “origins of the English language”:

English is a Germanic language from north-west Germany (currently) and the Netherlands. The peoples who lived at that time in what is nowadays called “The British Isles” were the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and, to a lesser extent, the Frisians. They fought the Roman Empire. Some Latin words entered the vocabulary of these peoples before their arrival in Britain and the subsequent formation of England.

The original Old English language was influenced by both the Scandinavians and the Normans. Due to this cohabitation English resulted in a significant grammatical simplification.

Then, I add an excerpt that I consider remarkable for what I’m going to explain next:

… The Germanic language of these Old English-speaking inhabitants was influenced by the contact with Norse invaders, which might have been responsible for some of the morphological simplification of Old English, including the loss of grammatical gender…

As a kind of analysis, my considerations are:

1) The verb tenses are much simpler than in other languages:

For example, when conjugating the Present Simple of the verb “to eat”, it hardly changes. We are only concerned that the 3^rd person (He, she, it) takes an “s”. It eases things a lot!

2) There is no difference between masculine and feminine (as a general rule). What a simplification!

3) Many words look the same in Spanish or are very similar:

Chocolate, tea, fundamental, aspects, to commence, to elaborate, rapid, grotesque … They just come from Latin or French. (Thanks, Roman Empire!)

Dear classmates, see that we are somewhat fortunate to study this precious language, English.

It has some features which make it easy. Keep practising it!

Thanks Antonio, very enlightening indeed. Now, you asked me to embed a YouTube clip which illustrates this topic you've dealt with of The History of the English Language. I just hope you don't mind I took the liberty of selecting a different one, featuring a renowned English author called Melvyn Bragg (a perfect standard English he has!), which I'm sure both you and your mates will like too:

22 October

Morning folks!
Well, Francis completed his first week with both my groups yesterday (hope you enjoyed his presentation, did you?) so it's time to embed the quick guide to Liverpool we saw in class, featuring the main sights of the Merseyside capital. This was shot prior to the year 2008, when the city was about to show off its "European city of Culture" status, but it's fresh enough to give you a very good idea of what Liverpool is like right now. Hopefully we can go there (or to Edinburgh) next year, sometime in Carnival or Easter!

Then, I should also post the small excerpt from the 1990 film Dancing thru' de dark, which shows some lovely Scouse accent as it is set in the Merseyside area . Not the finest example of British cinema, but a funny film anyway, it portrays a group of "lads and lasses" on their stag/hen night. Linda, the fiancé, has major doubts about the wedding when a band fronted by her ex-boyfriend - of course, the love of her life - arrives in town. You can guess the rest ...
In this particular scene, you can see both the boys and the girls in action, just about to start their frenzy day and well into the night. We barely saw the first minute, when two of the fiance's mates, on their way to the billiards club where the leader of the pack, Eddie, is waiting, are trying to chat up two local girls unsuccessfully (classical music, it seems, is not their main expertise!). Listen, I know the accent may be difficult to understand at times, but keep watching the scene till the end, and I'm sure you'll pick up plenty of it.

Well, this is all for now, but let me tell you something. Apart from Antonio's (C1) John Lennon thing and my own stuff, there's nothing else on this blog. What are you waiting for?

20 October

These days in the 2NA class we're dealing with the subject of English as a "global" language
David Crystal, a renowned British linguist, explains here how the 20th-century lingua franca achieved the status that it has today:

Then, Crystal poses a fascinating question (at least to me as a teacher): Should English be taught, accordingly, as a global language? The main impact, he says, is in the teaching of comprehension. In fact he claims that you students should be exposed to as many "non-standard variations as possible". Wow, that's a big statement. Listen to his considerations:

So would you like to be "exposed" to many varieties of English? Now, you can't possibly imagine the hundreds of videos available on YouTube which reflect this diversity of accents and dialects across the world, not only in English-speaking countries but indeed in places like Italy, France, Russia ... sadly, not Spain it seems, I wonder why! These are just two examples. Maria, one of my C1 students, sent me this one a few days ago. This happy-go-lucky chap from London can apparently produce as many as 24 different varieties! You don't believe me? See for yourselves...

If you find his accents (and telephone conversations) too daunting (let alone the coarse words he uses too often!)this is another "lighter" sample (21 accents this time) churned out by a funny English girl, Amy Walker:

OK, I'll give you a break. See now what David Crystal meant? He wasn't exaggerating the slightest bit, was he?

15 October

Hello everyone, and a warm welcome to the third "edition" of My EOI Blog!

It's taken me a bit to make up my mind and start blogging again, I guess it was because I didn't find the right time to do so. Or probably because, since this year I have another advanced level group as well as the brand new C1, I wondered if I should have two separate branches, so to speak. But I've decided that would be too much work so I'll just make a clear distinction what level each entry is aimed at or where the students publishing whichever thing belong to (C1 / 2NA)

Anyway, I do hope as in the previous two years that this otherwise unambitious, low-key blog will be an excuse for you to collaborate with me, little by little, in extending this tiny thing and indeed to read, listen and watch lots of stuff in English. Will you mates help me do so?

My students from last year will probably have noticed by now some new features: a different template (you have to change with the times!) and a more eccentric, tongue-in-cheek photo for my personal profile: instead of the boring toast at the Cambridge pub you can now see me wearing some tacky glasses with the US flag while holding a Union jack. Very appropriate, don't you think? I guess it suits my often clownish personality better!

Whatever, the main purpose of this blog of OURS is basically to give you the chance to write your own comments, reviews, ideas, you name it, as well as sharing with the rest of your classmates - and the students from my other group - songs, videos, film clips, articles ... in English, of course. If you simply want to post a comment, write your stuff on the box provided at the end of the monthly entry and click on the "publicar un comentario" button. Sometimes you wish to publish a song, Youtube clip, etc. and a more elaborate text so you may want to forward the lot to me by mail and I'll get the job done for you. I'll show you all this procedure in class shortly, OK?

But let me assure it's piece of cake. As an example, one of my enthusiastic students from the C1 group, Antonio, emailed me about 10 days ago with some ideas about John Lennon on the occasion of his 70th birthday (if he were still alive, that is!), which I'm publishing here and now to open this blog. This is what he had to say:

Antonio (C1):

JOHN LENNON’S 70th BIRTHDAY!!

Rather unfortunately, he is no longer among us, because of that fateful day, way back on the 8th December 1980 ... , do you all remember?

I will do my bit by speaking briefly about John Lennon’s life by heart:

John Lennon was born on 9th October 1940, and soon became an orphan who his auntie Mimy took in her care. Quite rebellious by nature, he started playing the guitar and, putting many details aside, eventually joined “The Beatles” with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). They officially released their first album on 12th October 1962, called “Love me do”, a title which grammatically isn’t that correct, but sounded more “catchy” (it would be “Do love me”). They became extremely famous all over the world and in the history of music (together with “The Rolling Stones”). They broke up in 1970 and began their solo careers.

As regards John Lennon, he was married to Yoko Ono and they were involved in some unorthodox situations (like being in bed for 7 days, semi-naked, etc).

On the day of his death, he was staying in a hotel in New York and a fan, whose name was Mark David Chapman, asked for an autograph. Lennon agreed to it and, hours later, he was shot dead at point-blank range. He didn’t die on the spot but hours later, in hospital.

As a piece of curiosity, he uttered a controversial saying which went down in history: “We are more famous than Jesus Christ”

He was really aware that # “9” dominated his life, according to many experts in paranormal events.

I don’t know if I leave out something. Anyway, thanks for giving us the chance of practising our English to the ones who voluntarity do so.

See you!

Next, I reckon I have to embed my first audio-visual stuff, so these are a couple of JL-related clips: The first is a feature by the Associated Press which deals with the controversy around John's figure in the USA and how the CIA stills seems interested in him.

The second is just a clip with dozens of snapshots of John, a heartfelt tribute to the man and his music (the song on the background is one of his most famous, Hold on):

Well, this is all for now. Let me just finish this first entry by sending regards to some of my students last year, who might be reading this. Apparently, they can't live without my blogs, ha ha! FOND GREETINGS TO YOU ALL, FOLKS!

As I always say, KEEP CLICKING!