The weather here continued to be both strange and unpredictable.   Tuesday started out rainy, followed by several hour of sun and then several hours of rain.  It has been rainy and cool for most of the week and although the sun is shining now, rain is supposed to return at the beginning of the week.  Normally May is very warm and it is a time when the beaches begin to get crowded.  That is not to be the case this year.

            We returned from Madrid on Saturday on the AVE and as soon as we set Judy and Gerry up in the guest room we paid a visit to the Central Market.  Around 3:30 we made our way to La Comisaria where we had a very lovely lunch.  For the first time ever, we sat upstairs and discovered that the TV camera that we always see downstairs is used to televise the chef’s activity to a TV monitor upstairs.  The rest of the afternoon was very low key and we had a light dinner at home and we headed to bed kind of early.

            Sunday was my birthday and we celebrated the event at Carosel.  The gathering was small since many of my magic friends were busy performing at First Communion parties.  November and May are the months of greatest activity and so magicians try and take maximum advantage of that fact.  It is not uncommon to book two or three performances on the same day.  Pepe and Brian joined us for the event and the six of us enjoyed a spectacular meal. Jordi had prepared an arroz con bogavante for us and the lobster was perfectly cooked.  Gerry had a prime steak since he is not a big fan of shellfish.  The good news is that we were all feeling happy when the meal ended with a celebratory bottle of champagne.

            Monday was a time to do some sightseeing and we made our way to the City of Arts and Sciences to take a look at the stunning architecture that is on display there on a daily basis.  From there we walked to Gulliver’s Park that is always filled with children climbing up and sliding down the giant Gulliver that just about fills the interior of the park.  At lunchtime we headed on over to Mercat Bar where we sampled seven our eight different tapas.  We took a cab back home and in the late afternoon Judy and Gerry packed their bags in readiness for their trip to Avignon on Tuesday morning.

            We were all up early on Tuesday and at 7:30 AM Judy, Gerry and I made our way to the bakery so that they could pick up some sustenance for their rather long train trip.  At 7:45 they hailed a cab and they were off to the railroad station.  Susan and I took it rather slowly on Tuesday and we did the same on Wednesday.

            Thursday we decided that we would try out a new restaurant and for that reason we walked to a restaurant that is called Asador La Vid whose specialty is beef.  It is owned by the father of one of the young magicians of the CIVAC and since our friend, Leandro, is no longer in business we were on the lookout for a place to have steak.  Our walk lasted no more than fifteen minutes and the restaurant was nearly empty when we entered.  That would change very quickly.

            When you enter the restaurant you first pass by the bar and then a rather extensive bodega with some two hundred bottles of wine.  There are two sections to the dining room and the kitchen, which is rather large by Spanish standards, is visible from both parts of the dining room.  The table is set with cloth napkins and tablecloths.

            We ordered the menu of the day, which consisted of four different appetizers, steak, dessert, a beverage and coffee.  They started us off with a plate of tender Iberian ham, followed by a tomato and tuna salad.  Next came a pair of croquetas and our final appetizer was grilled squid.  When our steak came we were rather taken aback because it was enormous.  It had been cut off the bone and sliced and it filled the entire plate.  The waiter disappeared and returned with a plate of fries and pimientos de Padrón.  We tried our best, but we were unable to finish the steak.  However, we did have room for dessert, which was a plate of fresh fruit and other goodies.  We finished our meal with a cup of coffee and deemed our bill for 66 Euros as rather reasonable for our experience.

            Thursday evening the veteranos met at Jerito’s house and we chatted about this and that.  The discussion was lively and lasted until 9:45.  When we left we headed to Carosel where we would celebrate Paquito’s birthday.  His actual birthday is at the beginning of the month, but this was the first time when we were all available to help him celebrate.  After several appetizers out came a plate of grilled vegetables and, you guessed it, sliced steak.  I picked at the appetizers and the main dish because, to be honest, I was still stuffed from lunch.

            Friday was uneventful.  We did some shopping at the Central Market and Susan made a killer mussel dish for lunch.  Since it rained off and on the day way most conducive for curling up with a good book and along with several episodes of Bones that was the our activity for the rest of the day.

            This morning we got a phone call from Jordi asking if Susan could come by the MuVIM to take some pictures.  Today is Museum Day in Valencia when every museum offers free admission and Jordi has scheduled a number of activities at the restaurant both today and tomorrow.  Tomorrow there is a food drive to benefit an organization called Caridad De Valencia and there will be music and entertainment for both old and young.  I have volunteered to do balloons for the kids.  They are heart shaped smiley balloons that I attach to a plastic holder so that the little ones can hold on to them.  I have no idea how many kids there will be tomorrow, but I think I have enough for those who show up.

            We ran a few errands and then returned to the MuVIM for lunch.  We had a corn soup, a tomato salad, a little fried fish and some ribs.  Fresh apricots with a chocolate foam were our dessert.  We got back home at 3:30 and I woke up from my nap about thirty minutes ago to write this blog entry.

            Happy Birthday and Happy Mothers’ Day, too!  We are back in Valencia after spending a few days in Madrid with my brother and his wife.  We arrived in Madrid early Tuesday afternoon so that we could be at the hotel when Judy and Gerry arrived early on Wednesday morning.

            We had made reservations at a recently opened hotel that is currently in first place on Trip Advisor, the Artrip.  It is a very small hotel with only seventeen rooms and the owner, as well as all personnel, is very welcoming and hospitable.  Our room was on the fifth floor with a view of the street and a very small balcony.  They have made maximum use of the space dedicated to the room.  You walk into an area that contains a desk and the elements that make up a bathroom and a closet.  To the right of the desk there is an enclosed shower with a wooden floor that has the best water pressure that I have ever experienced in Spain.  To the left of the door is the sink and to the left of the bathroom is the commode.  To the right of the sink is an open armoire where you can hang your clothes and a shelf where you can lay out those items that one would not hang.  Below that is another shelf that houses a safe and a mini refrigerator.  The bedroom consisted of two single beds and two small nightstands.  There was an air conditioner for the bedroom and a separate room for the desk/bathroom area.  There are wooden shutters that close off the windows and effectively dampen the street noise.  The hotel is located on Calle Valencia and is a short walk away from the Atocha railway station.  The rate is reasonable for Madrid and the cost/value ratio is just right.

            Judy and Gerry checked in around 10:00 AM on Wednesday and we were having our breakfast when they arrived.  Their room was not quite ready so they left their luggage in our room and we headed for the railroad station so that they could validate their Eurail Pass and get their tickets for the train ride to Valencia and then from Valencia to Avignon.  When we got to the station the line for advanced purchases was loooooong.  You had to take a number and we were 219 and they were calling numbers in the 160’s.  We waited a while and then I suggested that we find a travel agency and have them do all the work. We left the station and finally located one, only to learn that they could not validate a Eurail Pass.  So, we headed back to the station where they were calling numbers in the high 190’s.  We waited another twenty minutes and we were finally able to accomplish what we had come to do.

            We decided to have lunch at O’Grelo, a Galician style restaurant that is located in the Barrio de Salamanca.  Since we were right by a Metro station we decided to go there on the Metro and little did I suspect the adventure that awaited me there.  Since there was no direct train to the Goya station we needed to change lines at the Sol station.  When the train arrived I was closest to the door and I activated the door opener.  As I was about to enter, a young woman brushed past me and entered the car first.  The car was very crowded and she was hanging incredibly close to me, bumping into me frequently.  I was in a state of alert realizing that one of the two possible scenarios was that she was an extremely rude young lady or that she was getting ready to lift my wallet.  Our stop comes, we all push forward to exit and she is following right behind me. I feel her hand go into my pocket, I turn around and confront her and she quickly drops my wallet to the ground playing the innocent.  We need to get off the train and I look at her and at all the people around her and I say in a very loud voice, “She was trying to rob me.  Be careful with her!” As the doors of the train closed she had been detained inside the car and I do no know how that drama ended, but the good news is that I did not lose my wallet.  I have been riding the Madrid Metro since 1974 and this was the first untoward incident that I had ever experienced.  As it turns out, there are a number of Rumanian gangs that ply the Metro looking to relieve riders of their possessions.

            With that incident behind us, we made our way to the restaurant and had a very lovely meal. I had not eaten there in years, but the Maître D seemed to recognize me and the waiter assumed that we were a friend of the house so he was very generous in his treatment of us.  When we finished we headed back to the hotel and rested up a bit.  We ventured forth at 9:00 PM and had a pizza at a nearby Italian restaurant.

            We slept in on Thursday morning.  Our plan was to visit Toledo and our train was to leave at 12:20 so there was no need to rush around in the morning. The trip to Toledo lasted all of thirty minutes and from the station we took a cab to the cathedral.  We toured it for an hour and then made our way to a restaurant called El Brocal that is just around the corner from the cathedral.  We had a lovely lunch and from the restaurant we made our way to The Museo del Tránsito and from there to a church called Santa María La Blanca, which started out life as a mosque, was transformed into a synagogue and later became a church.  Since it was rather warm sunny day we made a couple of stops to rehydrate ourselves and we later took a cab back to the station and waited for our 7:20 train.  We were back in our rooms by 8:30 and when Judy and Gerry decided to call it a day, Susan and I headed out to a nearby bar for a tapa or two.

            Friday morning we headed to the Reina Sofía Museum where there was a Dalí exhibition.  There was a long line waiting to purchase tickets and when we finally purchased ours at 12:30 we discovered that our entrance time to the exhibit was at 1:30. We took advantage of the delay to tour the other rooms of the museum and that afforded us the opportunity to see Picasso’s Guernica, a most powerful canvas. 

            The Dalí exhibit was quite extensive and we saw examples of all the media in which he worked.  We spent a good hour touring the various rooms and around 2:30 we left the museum for a 3:00 o’clock lunch date with our friends, Ramón and Juan Diego.  We met each other at Casa Parrondo where we had yet another outstanding meal and when we left they were closing the place down.  We headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit and around 9:30 we went to a couple of places to sample their tapas.

            We returned to Valencia on the 11:40 AVE and after getting settled we made a quick tour of the Central Market where we picked up some fruits and vegetables and after dropping them off at the house we made our way to La Comisaría for a delightful lunch.  In the evening we decided to give our legs a rest and so Susan prepared a delightful salad and we sat around the kitchen table and chatted until it was close to midnight.  Lunch is called for 3:00 at Carosel where we will celebrate my birthday along with Pepe and Brian.  This is the month of First Communions and since it is a Sunday most of my magician friends will be working the parties that follow the church service and we will gather at a later date to celebrate my birthday.

            Rain, rain go away.  Suddenly April became January here in Valencia and the temperatures have plummeted and it has been raining for the past three days.  The inland cities of the province have awakened to snow covered roads and fields.  Things are supposed to improve as the week goes on and next week things are predicted to return to normal with temperatures in the mid-80’s. That would be nice sine we will be catching up with Judy and Gerry next week in Madrid before they spend a few days with us in Valencia.

            Planning for Rachel’s birthday celebration is now complete.  On June 19^th we will take the AVE to Madrid and have lunch in Madrid’s only kosher restaurant.  In the evening we will go and see The Lion King.  We will spend the night at the Palace Hotel and return to Valencia on the 20^th.

            We have been taking life rather easy the past few days.  The weather is not very lending itself to long walks through the city.  We have eaten out several times and thoroughly enjoyed our meals at QTOMAS and CAROSEL.  On Wednesday Susan and I had lunch at Carosel and on Thursday I paid a repeat visit with Paquito, Pepe, Juan Luis and Gurrea to celebrate Giocodimani’s birthday.  Our Friday visit to Qtomas was also very enjoyable and you will find several photos of our visits and the end of this post.

            I received a Facebook message from Molly Mosher, an ex-student of mine at Foxcroft School, telling me that Bryan York was in town with her husband.  They are visiting various countries in Europe and are in Spain for about ten days. Unfortunately Bryan had her purse stolen in Barcelona and lost some cash and her passport.  Today they have taken the AVE to Madrid to solve the problem at The US Embassy.  Last night we caught up by phone and we met up at 8:00 and went in search of some dinner.  We ended up at El Molinón and we had a great time sampling five or six different dishes.

            Bryan and Davis are currently living in Vancouver where both of them are gainfully employed.  Truth be told, I have not seen Bryan since she graduated in 1978, but boarding school ties are very strong and it was great to catch up with her.  We talked about the boarding school experience and the bond that it creates among the various class members.  We wondered aloud whether the advent of the Internet and all its social media have had an effect of the relationships that students establish at a boarding school.  That would be an interesting topic to explore.

            I have been very busy translating magic.  I finished Dani Da Ortiz’s 3500 word column for Genii on Friday and I have also finished the six articles that were mine to translate for the third issue of El Manuscrito.  There is a meeting of the CIVAC tonight and although I am not sure of what the topic is for tonight’s meeting, I know we will have a good time.

            Spaniards are an interesting lot.  There are those who see the glass half full and there are those who see the glass half empty.  Then there are those who don’t even see the glass.  Monday night at the CIVAC we did a post-mortem on LAS 24 HORAS.  Instead of starting with the positive elements of the past weekend – 90 diners Friday night at the MuVIM, a sold-out evening show on Saturday, a sold-out Sunday morning show and 80 local registrants for the magicians-only events – the focus turned to what could be improved for next year.  As is the wont in Spanish get-togethers, everyone seems to talk at once and one begins to wonder who is listening.  The good news is the event was a financial success and we succeeded in raising some much needed funds for the club and the younger members who did the yeoman’s share of work for the event have volunteered to shepherd it next year.

            Thursday night the veteranos met after a brief hiatus.  For the most part we shared with Jerito the pictures that Susan had shot at the event.  They occupy two CD’s and Susan has taken the best of the best and has turned it into a book thanks to Shutterfly.  The newer pictures of me served as motivation for me to make up some new business cards using the services of moo.com.  They should be here next week.

            Yesterday Susan, Klaus, Zahava and I walked over to the Westin Valencia to try out the new Japanese restaurant, Komori, located in the hotel.  We stopped by Zahava and Klaus’ apartment and from there we walked to the hotel.  There were a number of diners enjoying their meal when we walked in.  To be honest, the meal did not have a good beginning.  Klaus and Zahava are vegetarians and there were a couple of items on the fixed menu they could not eat and that began what seemed to be a very strange discussion with the hostess who was to take our order.

            We were told that the everyone at the table had to order the same set menu with the alternative being to order a la carte of the menu.  This made no sense to me and so I said to her, “What you’re saying is if we sit a two separate tables we could order two different menus of the day, but because we are sitting at the same table we cannot do that?” Finally things got straightened out and we all had the same basic menu with Klaus and Zahava getting two vegetarian substitutions. 

            The menu consisted of: fried prawns with a corn flakes coating, finely cut white fish in a ponzu sauce, salmon tartar, nigiri selection of the day, California roll with shrimp, Iberian pork dumpling with ramen soup and fruit sashimi.  The cost of the menu was 33 Euros per couple with wine, beer and coffee being extras.  All dishes were fresh and tasty and it will be worthwhile to return and explore the regular menu to see if there are more complex tastes present in other dishes.

            Since it was a lovely sunny day we made our way to a nearby outdoor terrace and had an after-dinner drink and just chatted.  Around 5:30 we paid our bill and left.  On our way home we stopped at Nespresso to pick up some coffee and once we walked through the door of our apartment we stayed put for the evening.

            It was a little more than a year ago that Paco de Andrés passed away.  Paco was the dean of Valencian magicians and I wrote the following piece the day after his funeral.  I wrote:

“Yesterday’s funeral for Paco D’Andrés was a very sad event on many levels.  As you may already know from previous posts, Paco was one of the fathers of magic here in Valencia.  He was part of a group that came to be known as the veteranos and there Thursday meetings were dedicated to the discussion of magic.  They studied, they read and they traveled far and wide to increase their knowledge and their skill.  Of the original members only two are still with us – Jerito who is in his 90’s and Gurrea who is 70.

            Paco was a quiet and unassuming man.  To look at him you would never know that this gentle man was a walking encyclopedia when it came to the history of magic in both Spain and Europe.  He had seen many of the greats of his day perform.  He took Juan Gurrea under his tutelage and helped him design a prize-winning act at FISM many years ago.  Paco also played an important role in Nacho Diago’s development as a magician and Nacho acknowledged that in a very heartfelt post on his Facebook page.  Paco invited Pepe to join the tertulia of the veteranos some thirty-three years ago.  I know it was Paco who instilled in Pepe the love and passion that he feels for magic.  Without Paco the state of magic in Valencia would be very different.  I think it is safe to say that without Paco there would not be a CIVAC today, the world would have never seen some world class magicians develop and the Magic Agora project never would have seen the light of day.

            I always looked forward to Thursday evenings with Paco whenever I was in Valencia.  I always had some effect to share with the group, as did he.  Paco would usually wait until all the others had performed and then he would make his contribution.  Paco often complimented me on the effects that I presented.  He especially appreciated the patter that created for each of my effects.  At one point he compared me to Padre Ciuró who was one of the fathers of magic in all of Spain and whose publications became the bible of magic for many Spaniards wishing to learn magic.  One moment that stands out in my mind was when I presented an effect that is known as the Driebeck Die.

            The Driebeck Die is, just as its name implies, a die that is oversized and red in color.  It also involves a black box.  Inspired by a presentation in rhyme that Terry Elton created, I came up with a presentation in English that borrowed heavily from Terry’s presentation and then I set about creating a presentation in Spanish that used rhyming patter.  The presentation went over well and several of the members present insisted that I needed to present it in a number of different venues, which I eventually did.  I offered Paco my patter and he turned down my offer.  He looked at me and said, “This is obviously your effect and there is no way that anyone else could do it as well as you.” Thank you Paco for your kind words and your inspiring me to be creative as I try to improve and increase my repertoire in Spanish.”

            The members of the CIVAC had promised to organize a memorial gala in his honor and this past weekend was when that promise was kept.  The memorial gala was part of the 24Horas Mágicas celebration, which like Tops somehow continued to grow and grow into a 48-hour event.  Our committee, which was responsible for both planning and executing the celebration, met on consecutive Thursdays for close to three months.  Each event had a committee head that was responsible for organizing and coordinating that event.  There were other who were in charge of publicity, program design, technology and communication with the theater where the event was to be held.

            The first event, which was an added extra, was a dinner at La Terraza del MuVIM, followed by a presentation of Miguel Gómez’s close-up spectacular called La Antología de Cartomagia Española.  We had planned for sixty people to attend, magicians and lay people alike, but as it turned out there were close to 90 people present.  Jordi put together an outstanding meal that included salad, bunuelos de bacalao, croquetas and a bean stew filled with all kinds of sausages.  The beer and wine flowed freely.  The meal ended with coffee and dessert.  We started the meal at 9:00 and we didn’t enter the museum’s salón de actos until midnight.  Miguel Gómez, one of Spain’s top card magicians, spent the next seventy minutes amazing us with feats of magic done with a deck of cards.  By the time we said our goodbyes, it was close to 2:00 AM.

            We slept in a bit on Saturday and headed to La Rambleta a little before 2:00 PM.  We got our accreditation and headed downstairs to the dealers’ room.  There were five different stands that did moderate business because many of them had been at Almussafes the previous weekend and they were selling to the same audience.  We sat down at a table with a number of friends and ordered a sandwich and a drink and we spent the next hour or so chatting about this and that. It was a lovely sunny day so Susan and I took a little walk and had an after-luncheon drink at an outdoor café.  We made it back in time for the close-up gala.

            The organizer and presenter of this gala, Juanma González, was also the first to perform.  He did a very expert and entertaining routine of dice stacking.  We were then treated to the magic of Miguel Gómez, Pedro Bryce, Lionel Gallardo, Vincent Ginés and Javi Benítez.  Doing comedy magic, which was in direct contrast to the expert and serious routines of the other performers, Javi stole the show.  In truth, this was of the best close-up galas that I have seen at any convention I have attended.

            At the end of the gala we left the theater in sear of a breath of fresh air and a cup of coffee.  The next gala was scheduled to kick off at 8:00 PM.  We took our seats at 7:45 and the curtain rose promptly at 8:00.  This was to be the gala memorial and most of Spain’s top stage performers were on the bill and all were appearing out of gratitude to Paco de Andrés for the help and counsel that he had given them on their personal road to stardom.  With Jorge Blass as both emcee and magician, we spent the next seventy-five minutes being entertained by the likes of Jandro, Yunque, Nuel Galán and Juan Gurrea.  Outstanding!

            Next was a dinner that was to be followed by a midnight cabaret.  The catering service at La Rambleta catered the dinner and it was the only weak point of the weekend.  Service was sloppy and inconsistent.  The food was of variable quality, but we all persevered and made our way through the meal.  While we were finishing our meal, the Seda Jazz Quintet took the stage and entertained us with a variety of musical stylings while we had our coffee.  The midnight cabaret started a bit early and that was when Susan and I took our leave of the day’s activities.  I needed to be at the theater at 9:00 AM for a sound and lighting check and that meant that I needed to be up at 7:00 so that I could be functional at 9:00 AM.

            We arrived at La Rambleta a little before 9:00.  We were the first to arrive and the security guard accompanied us to the backstage area of the theater.  The theater at La Rambleta has close to 700 seats and since seating was not numbered for this gala, there was no way to judge how many seats had been sold by the online ticket seller, entradas.com.  Slowly but surely the other performers began to arrive and we started with lighting cues and sound checks.  To my dismay, I discovered that the wireless microphone that I had purchased on Friday was defective and I went into a mild panic.  Since I was one of the two emcees, it was essential that I have a working microphone.  The tech guys at La Rambleta came to my rescue and provided me with one of theirs.  I then set about preparing the effects that Sofi and I were to do. 

            Sofi and I had performed together in a school auditorium back in December.  Our audience that day was close to 100.  In an LA school, whose name I cannot recall, I performed for an audience of 125.  However, before yesterday I had never performed magic in a formal theater setting where there was the potential for seven hundred spectators.  This was to be an interesting experience.  Everyone is in his or her seats at 11:05 and the show is about to begin. 

            Sofi enters and welcomes everyone.  Our opening shtick is that she thinks that she is there to give an English lesson and has wandered on stage by mistake.  I then start calling out her name and enter on stage to find out what she thinks she is doing there.  I have my cell phone in hand.  It is gimmicked to produce flames.  I pretend to end my call by saying to the party on the other end of this call that I will convey their message.  This is a set up for a gag.  The Spanish verb apagar means to shut off something electronic.  It also means to put out a fire. I press the switch, the fire appears and I say, “Favor de apagar los móviles”.  It gets a big laugh, as well as applause.  The nerves settle and I am at home.

            One by one the magicians take the stage and do their thing.  Mag JJ starts things off, followed by Selú and Nuel Galán.  G Alexander closes the show.  In between acts Sofi and I do our bits with a magic paper bag, rising wands and a card with dots on it.  Sofi gets to do a solo spot with an effect called Hippity Hop Rabbits.  I am supposed to do a solo spot with my dog puppet, but the show is running overly long and I give up my effect.  The show was scheduled to run 75 minutes and we were at 100 minutes with one act to go. G Alexander finishes to great applause, I take the stage and have all the performers come out and take a bow and announce that we will be in the theater lobby to greet our audience.  The theater lights go up and I discover that we were playing to a packed house. 

            On the way out of the performance space I was asked to pose for pictures and in the lobby I posed for pictures and signed autographs.  That was a new experience for me.  When things quiet down, I go backstage and pack up my gear and head for the bar downstairs for a well-deserved beer.  Pepe invites a group of us to go out for lunch and we enjoy a paella, along with several appetizers and he pays the bill.  Susan and I gather up my gear from Manolo’s trunk – Manolo had driven us to the restaurant – we hail a cab and head back home where we stayed for the remainder of the day.  We missed the last show of the 24 HORAS, but by then both Susan, the official photographer of the event, and I were completely done in.

]]> http://martykaplan.com/2013/04/15/24-horas-magicas/feed/ 0 martykaplan IMG_2415 IMG_2418 IMG_2427 IMG_2440 IMG_2441 IMG_2447 IMG_2450 IMG_2452 IMG_2460 IMG_2494 IMG_2501 IMG_2513 IMG_2521 IMG_2525 IMG_2557 IMG_2561 IMG_2579 IMG_2584 IMG_2586 IMG_2593 IMG_2595 IMG_2597 IMG_2624 IMG_2626 IMG_2627 IMG_2630 IMG_2631 IMG_2639 IMG_2641 IMG_2658 IMG_2672 IMG_2688 IMG_2691 IMG_2712 IMG_2714 IMG_2721 IMG_2742 IMG_2750 IMG_2799 IMG_2805 IMG_2810 IMG_2814 IMG_2816 IMG_2822 IMG_2831 IMG_2841 IMG_2842 IMG_2847 IMG_2854 IMG_2856 IMG_2869 IMG_2872 IMG_2876 IMG_2881 IMG_2891 IMG_2900 IMG_2912 IMG_2914 http://martykaplan.com/2013/04/07/almussafes/ http://martykaplan.com/2013/04/07/almussafes/#comments Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:10:51 +0000 martykaplan http://martykaplan.com/?p=4944 Continue reading →]]> Sunday, April 7, 2013

            We are back from a cold and rainy weekend in Almussafes where we attended a magic convention.  Almussafes is about 20 miles away from downtown Valencia and its claim to fame is the Ford plant that is located there.  It is a small town, not particularly attractive and in the rain it is less so.  We decided to go because a number of the members of CIVAC had planned to attend and they did, but a number of our friends including Pepe, Paquito and Gurrea were among the missing. 

            We left on Friday, a little after 2:00.  When we stepped outside our door it began to rain.  In spite of the rain we decided to walk to La Estación del Nord and our timing was perfect because we boarded our train two minutes before it left.  The trip lasted some twenty-five minutes and we exited the station looking for a taxi.  There was none parked outside.  I went back inside and asked the ticket vendor for the number for a taxi and he pointed me to a nearby sign.  I called the number only to be told by the driver who answered that Friday was his day off and his suggestion was to call the hotel and have them send either a car for us or a cab for us.

            I called the hotel and they provided us with the number of a taxi service in a nearby town and some ten minutes later he showed up at the station.  The ride was brief – less than ten minutes – and he dropped us off at the front door of the Hotel Bartos.  We checked in and from the front desk we headed to our room and unpacked.  It was now a bit after 4:00 and we had not eaten lunch.  We went downstairs, exited the hotel and stopped at a bar on the corner.  The grill was closed so the only ting they could offer us was a sandwich.  We were hungry so we accepted the offer.  When we finished we opened our umbrellas and walked the ten blocks to the Centro Cultural to pick up our credentials.

            From the Centro Cultural we made our way to the Pabellón where the dealers’ room was located, as was the room that was to be the site for the lectures and the close-up gala.  We spent a good half hour in the dealers’ room and while there caught up with a number of our friend from the CIVAC, as well as our friends Carmen and Antonio, Miguel Puga and Carlos Hampton.  The one item I had hoped to buy was unavailable and there really was very little else that called out to me.  Antonio invited us to have a paella tomorrow and we gladly accepted the invitation.  We slipped into a nearby bar and had a drink while we waited for the first gala to begin.

            Friday night’s gala featured a number of the young magicians from Valencia and it was my first opportunity to see them.  They were most impressive.  They all had good stage presence, their acts were very magical and they had paid close attention to all the necessary details of lights, sound and staging.  In addition to the young magicians there was a professional female magician on the bill, Alana, and I was not very impressed with her act, which featured continuous productions of earrings that did not show up well from our vantage point of the thirteen row and multiple hands protruding from her leather jacket.  The presenter was a comedian named El Gran Barragán and he was an unmitigated disaster.  His humor (?) was entirely inappropriate for a family magic show and none of his so-called humor was original.  So in the end we got to see a gala with classy magicians and a comedian with no class.

            Saturday we slept in and had a late breakfast.  Afterwards we headed to the dealers’ room where we caught up with a number of people and I ended up making a couple of purchases.  We skipped the magic contest and explored what little of the town there was to see.  At 2:30 we met up with Antonio, Carmen and two of the friends and we enjoyed a paella valenciana.  From the restaurant we made our way to a 4:00 PM lecture by Dani DaOrtiz where he proceeded to explain the foundation on which a number of his effects were based.  The bad news is that, for the most part, you have to be Dani to do Dani’s effects.

            Saturday’s gala was a mixed bag.  The first three acts were quite forgettable, but the final two performers, Miguel Puga and Norbert Ferré, saved the show and demonstrated why they are two of the finest performers in the world of magic.

            This morning we slept in a bit and went down to breakfast.  We asked the front desk to call for a cab to take us to the train station.  Fortunately or unfortunately there was a miscommunication and the cab driver was taking us to the AVE station in Valencia and we wanted the train station that was ten minutes away from the hotel.  In the end, we struck a bargain and he took us to our front door at a very reasonable price.  Tomorrow is another dia festivo here in Valencia and we will use to rest and recover from what was a cold and rainy weekend.

            How do you describe an experience that is indescribable?  In this case, the text needs to be brief and the pictures abundant.  Last night Salva, Raquel, Pepe, Jaime, Susan and I had dinner at Quique Dacosta Restaurante in Denia.  It is a restaurant that has earned 3 Michelin stars and when one dines there it is more of an experience than a meal.

            Quique Dacosta owns three restaurants here in the city of Valencia – Mercat Bar, Vuelve Carolina and El Poblet with El Poblet being the most formal dining space of the three.  I would guess that all three restaurants are revenue producing, given the fact that they are almost always full and reservations are a must.  Restaurante Quique Dacosta is a both a restaurant and food lab and is not open year-round.  When it is closed that is when new ideas, new concepts and new dishes are perfected.  The staff is enormous and the restaurant is not.  There are two dining spaces, one that accommodates fifty diners and the other that seats forty.  The wine cellar is enormous and holds some five thousand bottles and its monetary worth is close to incalculable.  The sommelier, Antonio, was recently voted Spain’s best sommelier.

            Pepe came by the house a little after 6:30 and the three of us headed to La Estación del Nord to catch a train for Algemesí where we would meet up with Salva and Raquel.  We drove in Salva’s furgoneta to Pedreguer where we picked up Jaime and then it was on to Denia.  We arrived a little after 8:30 and we finished our meal a little after 2:00 AM.  In the course of the evening we sampled 45 dishes and I honestly cannot remember the number of different wines we sampled.  I am attaching a copy of the menu and as you will no doubt surmise, this is probably the most expensive meal that we have ever had.  That being said, this was the best food experience that we have ever had.  Every dish was pleasing to the eye, as well as the taste buds.  There indeed were a number of conceits that deceived the eye.  For example, what appeared to be a black stone amidst a pile of black stones was in fact a gel filled with a Parmesan cream.  The rose with which we began the meal had an edible center that one extracted with tongs. Many objects of nature accompanied the food on the plate and so it is fair to say that each dish had its own setting.  It was like taking a trip through an enchanted forest of culinary delights.

            In the course of our meal we had the opportunity to chat with Quique for a while and we discovered that his services are much in demand and that there are not enough hours in the day for him to do what he has to do.  Pepe was the driver for our return journey.  We dropped Jaime off in Pedreguer and Raquel in Algemesí.  We were the third stop and when we walked through the door it was a little after 3:30.  Today will be a day when we take life easy and I am sure we will be eating light all day.

            Here is the menu and Susan’s pictures follow the text.

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We are back in Valencia.  We arrived a bit before 4:00 PM yesterday on an AVE that was mostly empty.  That makes sense since the Puente extends until Easter Monday.  Everything should be open again on Tuesday.

Friday in Madrid was another ugly day that was mostly overcast and rainy.  It did not lend itself to exploring the city, so we spent the morning either working on the computer or reading.  I am in the process of doing a lengthy translation for the third edition of El Manuscrito and that helped fill the morning hours.  Around 2:00 we decided that we would head out to have some lunch.  Many restaurants were closed, but Susan had noticed a place on Calle Velázquez that was open the other day.  It is called Lateral and it appears that there are several of them in the city.

Lateral occupies a relatively small space, although it does have a fairly large outdoor terrace.  Nobody was sitting outside on Friday.  The menu features pinchos, raciones, ensaladas, postres and a dish of the day.  The choices are the ones you tend to find on any tapas menu.  Susan and I order a pincho of foie and another of solomillo.  We followed that up with a ración of morcilla and patatas bravas.  We finished our meal with dessert and coffee and then headed back to our hotel.

Friday was not to be a day without magic, so a little after 8:00 we hopped a cab to a small performance space called El Teatro Encantado.  It is owned and run by Woody Aragón.  It is my understanding that he has several partners in this venture.  It is a small space with a capacity of fifty spectators.  The focus is close-up magic and so that all can see there is a large screen television that captures the action on the close-up table.  Since the seats are raked, you can easily see what is going on at the table.  The space is open from Thursday to Sunday and features many of Spain’s top close-up artists.  Our performer for the evening was Alberto de Figureido whose 90-minute program was funny, magical and thoroughly enjoyable.  After the show we headed back home and were in bed a half an hour after walking through the door.

A cold, dreary and wet Madrid greeted us on Tuesday as we emerged from the Puerta de Atocha after a 90-minute ride on the AVE from Valencia.  Traffic to Madrid was extremely light and we were surprised that we were two of the five people in our train car.  We were in town to see the highly acclaimed Spanish version of The Lion King and to take in some magic.  We had hoped to catch up with a number of our friends who live in Madrid, but when I made our plans and reservations little did I realize that it was Holy Week.  As a result most of our friends are spending this week somewhere other than Madrid.

At lunchtime we made our way to Casa Paco.  We have made it a point to eat there every time we are in Madrid.  That is a tradition that has endured for some thirty-five years.  The menu has expanded in recent years and it now includes coffee.  I mention that because in the past when you asked for a coffee to finish your meal that invited you to go elsewhere.  We ordered what we always order – a tomato salad topped with tuna, a hearty serving of steak and a plate of French fires.  We ordered a half-bottle of Protos to go along with the steak and it was the perfect addition.  After lunch we returned to our home away from home and rested up for the 8:30 curtain of El Rey León.

We are staying at a new place for us.  It is called Apartamentos Ramón de la Cruz 41, which also happens to be its street address.  Brian and Ofelia have stayed here on several occasions and recommended it to us.  We are in a one-bedroom apartment that includes a small kitchen; a bedroom, a bathroom and a sitting area that has a small dining table close by the triple bay window.  The kitchen has every appliance imaginable including a dishwasher and a washing machine. Breakfast is included and every morning they deliver a basket of fresh pastry.  There is a Nespresso coffee maker in the kitchen and there is a goodly supply of fruit, yoghurt and cereal in the cabinets.  It is steps away from Príncipe de Vergara, a main thoroughfare and it is a short walk to La Calle de Goya.  Given its location and its accommodations it is worth the price they charge.

We arrived at the theater a little after 8:00 and that gave us enough time to have a quick drink at the theater’s bar.  We took our seats in the seventh row and the curtain rose at exactly 8:30.  It was almost 11:30 when the show ended.  It is truly a spectacle and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  The voices were strong, the dancers very limber and the music appropriate, if not memorable.  The costumes are what impress most and Julie Taymor’s concept for the show was and still is revolutionary.  The show has a top ticket price of 129 Euros for VIP seats that include a tour backstage and seats in the first four rows.  Our tickets cost 89 Euros and the cheapest seat was 49 Euros.  The theater was packed.

Wednesday we caught up with Rafael Benatar for lunch.  We went to a restaurant called Public that is located off the Gran Vía.  We had eaten there before with Ramón and Juan Diego and were very impressed by the price/quality ratio.  The service is on the impersonal side and part of that is due to the large number of diners and I am sure part of the restaurant’s philosophy to make do with the number of servers they have by having them take your order and deliver your food. Rafa and I started with a potaje de garbanzos that were both hearty and tasty.  Susan had a crema de puerros as a starter.  Rafa and I chose albóndigas as our main course and Susan opted for merluza.  We all had dessert and coffee and our bill came to 32 Euros.  Over dinner we discovered that Rafa is preparing for his performance at a festival in Toronto called “Luminato”.  He will be doing magic and playing the lute and in a performance that will integrate both of his talents.

After lunch Susan and I walked to the Thyssen Museum to see an exhibition of Hyper-Realism that was a treat to behold.  We are great fans of Richard Estes and it was nice to see two of his works as part of the exhibition.  We took a cab back to our hotel and rested up for the evening’s magic experience – close-up magic with Dani DaOrtiz and Lennart Green.

We arrived at the Circo Price at 8:30 and that was a good thing because there was already a significant line of people waiting to get in.  There were no reserved seats, but we were fortunate enough to get seats in the third row with a perfect view of both the table and the large screen TV.  We were in one of the smaller spaces in the complex that has an enormous theater, also.  It is reminiscent of the Mark Taper in Los Angeles, but with many more seats.  Dani started the show and was kind enough to remark that I was in the audience.  He did about thirty minutes worth of card miracles before introducing Lennart who did another thirty minutes and then Dani performed several other effects.  It was a very satisfying evening of magic.  Afterwards Susan and I had dinner at a nearby pizza joint with Dani, Lennart, Jorge Blass, Woody Aragón, Luis Piedrahita and Joaquín Kotkin.  We were in very good company.

Yesterday the sun finally showed its face in Madrid.  Susan and I took a nice long walk that had us ending up at a restaurant recently mentioned in a NY Times article, Arzábal.  Here is a link to that article http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/travel/where-madrid-chefs-go-for-real-spanish-food.html?pagewanted=all We passed by at 1:30 and made a reservation for 3:00.  We walked around what is essentially an empty city this Holy Week.  When we returned we waited a few minutes for our table to be ready and we were seated in the dining area adjacent to the bar area.  We chose four half plates of the dishes suggested in the article.  We thoroughly enjoyed the anchovies, the croquettes, the meatballs and the potatoes.  For dessert we had the torrija and the helado de queso.  They had no half bottles of wine in their very extensive wine offerings, however they have a policy where they open a bottle of wine for you and charge you for how much of the bottle you consume.  We finished a delightful meal with coffee and a chupito.

Then it was back to the hotel, but not for long.  At 6:30 we were in front of the Teatro Compac waiting to take our seats for Jorge Blass’ one man show El Arte de la Magia.  The theater was filled to capacity and for the next 90 minutes we enjoyed one of the best magic shows that we have seen in recent memory.  Jorge is very personable, identifies quickly with his audience thanks to his frequent appearances on TV and, if that were not enough, his magic is indeed magical.  After the show we headed to the Cerveceria Cervantes where we had a nibble and a drink.  It was a little before 11:00 when we got back to the hotel.

Today we plan to rest up a bit before heading out to another magic show at 9:00 at the Teatro Encantado.  It is a gray and rainy day and we will find a place to have lunch and then we will probably do some packing because we head back home to Valencia tomorrow.

Sunny and windy is the forecast for today with temperatures reaching the high 70’s.  We have been invited to share the first Seder with Zahava and Klaus and Brian and Ofelia will be there also.  We will probably spend a part of the afternoon packing our bags for our four days in Madrid before we head out for our Passover meal.

Yesterday we were at La Rambleta, a little before 11:30 to see Nacho Diago performing for the younger set.  The show took place in the area that is generally used for ­café teatro where patrons can sit at tables and order drinks and such while watching a show.  Most of the tables had been cleared out to accommodate small chairs and other forms of seating that is appropriate for the little ones.  By the time the performance started there were probably 150 of us ready to be entertained.

It is always a pleasure to watch Nacho perform.  He has an engaging and winning personality and when combined with his knowledge garnered from his acting, his studied selection of effects, his talent and his timing, you know that you are always in for a treat.  This time was no exception.  He chose effects that would appeal to a variety of age groups so there was something for everyone.  I always enjoy his performance of the Linking Rings and his handling of the Half-Dyed Hank and I was not disappointed yesterday.

Sofía had joined us at our table and after the performance we chatted briefly with Nacho and Sofía had a chance to chat with the two gentlemen who are our liaisons for the 24 Horas Mágicas.  We finally clarified the fact that the Gala Infantil on April 14^th will take place in the theater and not in the café teatro. With five different magicians, each of whom needs to set up and break down their effects a stage with a curtain is definitely needed.

When we got home we put away our things and then made our way to El Molinón for lunch. It was an enjoyable meal and, as a bonus, we got to chat with Vilma for a bit.  When we arrived home, we got comfortable and spent the rest of the day and evening doing our thing.