Coolness

I don't know about you... but I find this to be awesome. Juanes and Ale... they both rock

Some of the biggest stars in Hispanic music plan to give a free concert Sunday atop a bridge linking Colombia and Venezuela in a show of unity between the South American neighbours still recovering from a diplomatic crisis.

Juanes, a Grammy-winning Colombian rocker, said the "Peace Without Borders" is an effort to ease tensions caused by Colombian raid into Ecuador to kill a top rebel leader March 1. In response to the attack, Ecuador and its ally Venezuela briefly sent troops to their Colombian borders.

"We want to consolidate the union between our peoples," he told reporters Tuesday by telephone from the Dominican Republic. "We are brothers and sisters, we are equals. We just have to raise one flag together, the flag of peace."

Juanes said others scheduled to perform are Miguel Bose, Carlos Vives and Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, who has seen two recent concerts cancelled in Venezuela because he criticized President Hugo Chavez.

Juan Luis Guerra's publicist confirmed his appearance at the event in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The artists will perform on the Simon Bolivar Bridge linking Cucuta, Colombia, and San Antonio, Venezuela, while fans from both countries line the banks of the narrow Tachira River that marks the border, local officials said.

More on Ale

Well turns out that Ale has support!

More than 80 performers and other celebrities have signed a statement supporting Grammy-winning Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz after two Venezuelan concerts were canceled because of his criticism of Hugo Chavez.

The letter, released Wednesday, was signed by performers including Shakira, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Penelope Cruz and even soccer star David Beckham. It said the signers "believe in a Latin America where we are all free to express our views."

Venezuelan organizers last week announced that Sanz's sold-out Feb. 14 concert in Caracas was canceled because it lacked "the appropriate conditions." A November concert also was scrapped when officials withdrew permission to use a government auditorium.

Sanz's criticism of President Hugo Chavez led Venezuelan officials to declare he is not welcome in the country -- though ticket sales to fans might indicate otherwise.

Sanz closed a Sunday concert in the Dominican Republic by dedicating a song to his Venezuelan fans: "a bunch of people in a country where I cannot go."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sns-ap-people-sanz-venezuela,0,2791839.story

I love that man to death. I really do.

Countries are run by morons

Spanish singer ALEJANDRO SANZ faces a second Venezuelan ban after government officials confirmed they're trying to cancel a rescheduled concert there later this month (Feb08). Sanz was slated to perform in Caracas in November (07) but that show was scrapped over comments he made against Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. The Spaniard has regularly expressed his dislike of the President, and once stated he'd only perform in Venezuela when Chavez's term in office had ended. But the singer reconsidered his stance when fans begged him to perform. However that concert was scrapped due to government opposition and now it looks as if the rescheduled show could be cancelled too. Members of the Caracas Mayor's office want to prohibit the 14 February (08) concert. Mayor's spokesperson Evelio Arrieta tells PeopleenEspanol.com, "I think Sanz should be brave and recognise what he said about not giving a concert until Hugo Chavez is out of power."

Really?! This again? Would you let it go already and let the man do what he is so good at doing?!

On a lighter note, here's a great review of one of his shows.

Though fellow Latin pop superstars Juanes and Shakira have cracked the American mainstream, Spain's Alejandro Sanz remains a somewhat unknown quantity.

But creatively, he's every bit their equal. And Sanz is maybe even better a musician, as his concert Sunday night at the Rosemont Theatre attested. While leading his 10-piece band in a standout show, Sanz soloed on guitar (flamenco-acoustic and electric), percussion and keyboards, and most important, kept the emphasis on conducting the concert as a performance of collaborators. While some superstars put on shows that are all about themselves, Sanz steps back and lets his bandmates share the spotlight.

Whether building to a salsified clave bridge on "Corazon Partio" or creating a Cuban-style descarga on "Labana," the spirit of collaboration defined the evening. The arrangements took their cues from "El Tren de Los Momentos" (2006), Sanz's latest studio disc, on which his trademark flamenco pop veers in the direction of jazz.

Throughout his craggy yet soulful voice anchored the rhythmic diversity. Reaching back to his early hits for a medley of "La Fuerza del Corazon," "Amiga Mia" and "Y Si Fuera Ella," Sanz segued seamlessly into a one-two-three punch of the soaring ballad "El Alma al Aire," the vocally demanding "A La Primera Persona" and the hip-hop-infused "Try to Save Your Song."

Sunday's show served as a makeup date because Sanz, suffering from exhaustion, had to cancel the U.S. leg of his "El Tren" tour last summer. With those recent trials and tribulations behind him, Sanz looked refreshed and sounded upbeat, even though he was competing against the distractions of the Super Bowl and a raging snowstorm outside.

For the encores, Sanz took a rare solo turn on grand piano and sang a medley including the ethereal "Lo Ves?" Then the band came back out and powered through the sultry "Te Lo Agradezco Pero No" and his signature hit, "No Es Lo Mismo." It all capped off a triumphant night for a true champion.

R&R

Ok so I'm finally on vacation and I thought I'd spend a little time here. Well first of all I need you to click on the banner above for me so you can help me out with a contest I'm participating. Ok I needed to get that out the way, the thing is I've never been good with contests and I'd really like to at least give myself a chance.

Anyway, moving right along... I saw this movie the other day called Annapolis. It's this movie about the Navy and stuff but it was actually done without their support. It's not my favorite movie of all time but I actually enjoyed it. Sure, it has the typical "underdog" story-line that almost every movie has these days, but it kept me entertained. I always judge a movie by the number of times I feel an impulse to change the channel or get up and walk away and there were only a couple of those here. The worst one ever? Sin City... God I wanted to walk out that movie so many times and then when it was over I felt I'd never get those hours of my life back, I mean seriously, who does that to Elijah Wood? And Rosario Dawson? I mean she's so pretty and I hated her so much in that movie... whatever I'm off the subject. Annapolis is a good movie, I'm really into action movies so seeing guys beat the crap out of each other boxing was entertaining, even more when one of them is James Franco, and to be honest the movie is more about that than the academy. If you're ever bored and it's on tv, I recommend you watch it.

Now obviously with the writer's strike there's not much going on with tv shows, but I spent yesterday checking out this blog from one of the producers of Heroes. It's really cool, there's a lot of behind-the-scenes- stuff and pictures. I like that there's a lot of technical stuff about how they do different things because I really enjoy all that, I find the whole thing really interesting. I would have really liked to read more about the final episode, I dunno. I was really looking forward to Scrubs, but none of that either. I guess the last season is not going as smooth as we were all hoping. I'm going to be really upset if we don't get a good final episode. But I understand the reasons for the strike, it's really them just fighting for what they deserve. It's still pretty funny how much people are complaining about this, but really weeks of sucky reality tv and re-runs? No one wants that. I must admit though, I've been watching a lot of Without Trace re-runs which is good because I've always liked that show but I stopped watching a long time ago and I don't know why. I also caught CSI last night which I haven't done in ages 'cause I'm usually changing between Scrubs and sometimes Grey's Anatomy, although that show has bored me to death lately. I find the story lines repetitive and uninteresting. I mean it all went down-hill when Izzie and George slept together. And well I'm sick of Meredith, she's the most unrelatable character ever. So, I haven't payer much attention lately. Private Practice is a little better, but they have some pretty stupid plots too. To be honest, the only reason I started watching that show was Tim Daly, I've always liked him. But now I'm in love with Cooper, he's by far the best character on that show.

I'm sick of Facebook. It used to be really cool and now it's full with spam. I mean I get like 20 invitations a day to add some completely useless application, and then 15 messages on my wall telling me to pass the bloody chain. Yeah we all thought Myspace was bad with spammers and now Facebook is even worse. No, I don't want to add 'The school bus' or 'become a vampire'. And they try to lie to you too, it's like you don't have to do anything just click here and then you have to download the whole thing anyway. Really people, don't send me that stuff 'cause you know I won't do it.

By the way, have I talked about being an aunt again? My sister-in-law is pregnant. It's cool after all those years without babies in the family, and thinking that there were none in the foreseeable future and then we got Isabella, and now another baby. I don't know why but ever since I found out she was pregnant I've had the feeling it's a boy. I can't really explain it but that's what I think. My brother apparently wants another girl, but my sister says she wants a nephew (she has been really into this aunt thing). My grandmother would love another boy in the family. Like I said I have a feeling it's a boy but I don't really mind as long as it's as cute and healthy as Isabella.

Ok, now this just made my day:
Spanish singer, Alejandro Sanz, who recently had problems over a concert venue in Venezuela, has made clear his opinion of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez.During his latest gig in Miami, Sanz was happy to accept a black t-shirt from the audience which contained the words ‘Chávez Sucks’. He placed the t-shirt round his neck, to great applause, and continued with his performance which was the last date on his ‘El Tren de los Momentos’ tour this year.
Check out the pics here.
I knew there was a reason I loved that man. Yeah you could say it was the mesmerizing and beautiful lyrics he writes, or the amazingness of his music, or his incredible looks and yet approachable personality... but really a 'Chavez Sucks' t-shirt? Now that's a reason to love him forever. And by the way I want one of those shirts. No, I must have one of those shirts.
If you're interested here is a review of one of his concerts and here is a recent interview.

The whole story with the venue problem in Venezuela was that he was supposed to do a show in Caracas in November and the Gov closed the venue and requested that he used a private place. This all because he had made some remarks the last time he visited when I still lived there. The thing is that we just had a campaign to recollect signatures to have a referendum to take Chavez out, and the number of signatures reached 3 million but the gov refused to acknowledge them. During an interview Ale said two things that pissed off the gov first he said 'If I wrote a song about Venezuela it'd be called 3 million signatures' and he also said 'If I received 3 million signatures of people telling me to stop singing, I would'. He also compared Chavez to Fidel Castro. After that they started a website to try to get 3 million signatures to get him to stop singing, and they didn't even get close. Now that he was returning they tried everything to stop him for performing including denying him the venue. Anyway, that didn't work either and he's just re-scheduled the concert. And that just makes me happy to see him with that shirt. Seriously, get me one.

Well that's it for today. Since I have some free time I'll probably post more frecuently that usual. Have a nice day.