This post brought to you by Heineken

It seems to me that bars here in Spain are much more inclined to give out free stuff when you order a drink than the bars I know in the US. On evenings with a specific sponsor, if you order a mixed drink with Brugal or Ballentine or Beefeater or whichever other brand has a representative in a bar that night, you are given a scratch off card that you bring to a little table to claim your Brugal or Ballentine or Beefeater or whichever other brand promotional item. Sunglasses, bracelets, and bottle openers are three of the most consistent prizes.

Sometimes though these sponsorships get a bit out of control.

For example, several months ago, I went to Sileno (a bar in Estepa) for 2 Heinekens and walked away with a pair of binoculars, a keychain bottle opener, and a book called Discos historicos y discos que haran historia -- Historical disks and disks that will make history. Walking out of a bar with more drink-sponsored trinkets than the total number of drinks you've consumed that evening is both over the top and awesome.

After leaving it in my desk drawer for two and a half months, I rediscovered this wonder of a book. Which brings me to the current post. A list, courtesy of Heineken, of some of the most influential music disks of the past half a century or so.



1950s and 1960s

Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (1956)
Louis Prima: The Wildest! (1956)
Miles Davis: Birth Of Cool (1957)
Little Richard: Here's Little Richard (1957)
Billie Holiday: Lady In Satin (1958)
Tito Puente And His Orchestra: Dance Mania, Vol. 1 (1958)
Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Gershwin Song Book (1959)
Ray Charles: The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)
The Everly Brothers: A Date With The Everly Brothers (1960)
James Brown: Live At The Apollo (1963)
The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones (1964)
The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Otis Redding: Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965)
The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys Today! (1965)
B.B.King: Live At The Regal (1965)
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
The Who: My Generation (1965)
Jerry Lee Lewis: Live At The Star Club, Hamburg (1965)

The Kinks: Face To Face (1966)
The Mamas And The Papas: If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears (1966)
Simon And Garfunkel: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme (1966)
John Mayall's Blues Breakers: John Mayall's Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (1966)
Nina Simone: Wild Is The Wind (1966)
The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground And Nico (1967)
The Doors: The Doors (1967)
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison (1968)
Aretha Franklin: Aretha: Lady Soul (1968)
Sly And The Family Stone: Stand! (1969)
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River (1969)
The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (1969)
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin (1969)

1970s

Black Sabbath: Paranoid (1970)
Deep Purple: In Rock (1970)
Santana: Abraxas (1970)
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (1971)
Carole King: Tapestry (1971)
John Lennon: Imagine (1971)
Janis Joplin: Pearl (1971)
David Bowie: Hunky Dory (1971)
Neil Young: Harvest (1972)
Lou Reed: Transformer (1972)
Stevie Wonder: Talking Book (1972)
ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (1973)
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells (1973)
Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies (1973)
Iggy And The Stooges: Raw Power (1973)
Supertramp: Crime Of The Century (1974)
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (1975)
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (1975)
Eagles: Hotel California (1976)
Abba: Arrival (1976)
Ramones: Ramones (1976)
The Clash: The Clash (1977)
David Bowie: "Heroes" (1977)

1980s

AC/DC: Back In Black (1980)
Pretenders: Pretenders (1980)
Madness: The Rise And Fall (1982)
The Cure: Pornography (1982)
Michael Jackson: Thriller (1982)
Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (1983)
Prince And The Revolution: Purple Rain (1984)
Tina Turner: Private Dancer (1984)
Bruce Springsteen: Born In The USA (1984)
A-ha: Hunting High And Low (1985)
Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms (1985)
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy (1985)
Kate Bush: Hounds Of Love (1985)
Metallica: Master Of Puppets (1986)
Dinosaur Jr.: You're Living All Over Me (1987)
George Michael: Faith (1987)
Guns N' Roses: Appetite For Destruction (1987)
US: The Joshua Tree (1987)
Pet Shop Boys: Actually (1987)
Tacy Chapman: Tracy Chapman (1988)
Madonna: Like A Prayer (1989)
The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses (1989)

1990s

Depache Mode: Violator (1990)
Pixies: Bossanova (1990)
Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet (1990)
Sinead O'Connor: I DO Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990)
Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory (1990)
Nirvana: Nevermind (1991)
Crowded House: Woodface (1991)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
Pearl Jam: Ten (1991)
Massive Attack: Blue Lines (1991)
Metallica: Metallica (1991)
Morrissey: "Your Arsenal" (1992)
Lemonheads: It's A Shame About Ray (1992)
Rage Against The Machine: Rage Against The Machine (1992)
R.E.M.: Automatic For The People (1992)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds: Henry's Dream (1992)
Suede: Suede (1993)
The Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream (1993)
Blur: Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)
Jamiroquai: Emergency On Planet Earth (1993)
Bjork: Debut (1993)
Portishead: Dummy (1994)
Soundgarden: Superunknown (1994)
The Offspring: Smash (1994)
Blur: Parklife (1994)
Suede: Dog Man Star (1994)
Nirvana: MTV NUnplugged in NYC (1994)
Green Day: Dookie (1994)

Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters (1995)
Garbage: Garbage (1995)
Elastica: Elastica (1995)
Supergrass: I Should Coco (1995)
Radiohead: The Bends (1995)
Pulp: Different Class (1995)
Alanis Morissette: Jagged LIttle Pill (1995)
Oasis: (What's The Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
The Charlatans: Tellin' Stories (1996)
Manic Street Preachers: Everything Must Go (1996)
Marilyn Manson: Antichrist Superstar (1996)
Fiona Apple: Tidal (1996)
Radiohead: OK Computer (1997)
Blur: Blur (1997)
Robbie Williams: Life Thru A Lens (1997)
David Gray: White Ladder (1998)
Hole: Celebrity Skin (1998)
Travis: The Man Who (1999)
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication (1999)
Skunk Anansie: Post Orgasmic Chill (1999)
Nitin Sawhney: Beyond Skin (1999)

2000s
Radiohead: Kid A (2000)
U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
P.J. Harvey: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea (2000)
Coldplay: Parachutes (2000)
The Avalanches: Since I Left You (2000)
Bjork: Vespertine (2001)
Ryan Adams: Gold (2001)
The White Stripes: White Blood Cells (2001)
The Strokes: Is This It (2001)
The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)
Doves: The Last Broadcast (2002)
The Hives: Your New Favorite Band (2002)
Radiohead: Hail To The Thief (2003)
The Darkness: Permission To Land (2003)
The White Stripes: Elephant (2003)
Amy Winehouse: Frank (2003)
Scissor Sisters: Scissor Sisters (2004)
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Rufus Wainwright: Want Two (2004)
The Killers: Hot Fuss (2004)
Kings Of Leon: Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004)
Arcade Fire: Funeral (2004)
Beck: Guero (2005)
Muse: Black Holes & Revelations (2006)
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)

Police - Monkey Relations in Gibraltar

Yesterday I went on a day trip to Gibraltar with my Belgian roommate Emilie and 13 people from Estepa's Escuela de Idiomas. For those who don't know, it's a funny little region on the tip of Southern Spain that's owned by the UK. It used to be strategic for the British military, but now I'm not really sure what's there other than tourism and tax free cigarettes, chocolate, and cigarettes sunglasses, and an interesting group of proud half-English-speaking, half-Spanish-speaking Gibralarians.


And, of course, monkeys. The monkeys were at least 50% of my reason for going, and they did not disappoint.

Here's a police officer. They have a funny relationship with the monkeys because technically they're supposed to be telling the tourists not to touch the monkeys, but then the monkeys climb all over the place-- all over the tour buses and trees and benches and police officers. Here's one example of a weird police/monkey relationship in Gibraltar.

Walking

The human body is neat. I like to walk.

I read this description of walking the other day. Now I want to go hiking.

"Backpacking with my family in Teton wilderness, I am recurrently struck by the question of footing. With each step, the food has to come down somewhere. Climbing or descending over boulder fields, steep inclines, on and off trails, our feet make split-second decisions for us about where and how to come down, what angle, how much pressure, heel or toe, rotated or straight. The kids don't ever ask: 'Daddy, where do I put my feet? Should I step on this rock or that one?' They just do it, and I've noticed that they find a way --they choose where to put their feet at each step, and it's not simply where I put mine.

What this says to me is that our feet find their own way. Watching my own, I am amazed at how many different places and ways I might put my foot down with each step, and how out of this unfolding momentary potential, the foot ultimately commits to one way, executes with full weight on it (or less if it's a hazardous situation), and then lets go as the next foot makes its choice and I move forward. All this occurs virtually without thinking, except at the occasional tricky spots where thought and experience do come into play and I might have to give my youngest child, Serena, a hand. But that is the exception, not the rule. Ordinarily we are not looking at our feet and thinking about each step. We are looking out, ahead on the trail, and our brain, taking it all in, makes split-second decisions for us that put the food down in a way that conforms to the needs of the terrain underfoot in that moment.

This doesn't mean that there is no wrong way to step. You do have to be careful and sense your footing. It's just that the eyes and the brain are very good at rapid assessment of terrain and giving detailed directions to torso, limbs, and feet, so that the whole process of taking a step on rough ground is one of exquisite balance in motion, even with the complication of boots and heavy packs. There is built-in mindfulness here. Rough terrain brings it out in us. And if we do a trail ten times, we'll each solve the problem of each footstep differently each time. Covering ground on foot always unfolds out of the uniqueness of the present moment."

-from Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go There You Are (127-128)

Photo of the view from El Chorro, an area near Antequera where Viola (my co-auxiliar in Casariche) and I went for a hike about 3 days after I typed up this post

For more info about El Chorro:
http://www.andalucia.com/antequera/chorro/home.htm