First of all, apologies for the unannounced raincheck. These are hectic times for me and I'm not being able to "feed the beast" (i. e., add more junk to the internet) as regularly as I would like to. Readers of this blog can always visit the ones I recommend on the right hand-side. They're certainly more regular than mine. In any case, the main news I've had on jazz have been deaths (especially sorry to hear about Neal Hefti's - I'm a big fan of his work for Woody Herman's First Herd) and similar catastrophes.
So... the bad milk. In Spanish, "la mala leche", literally. That means something somewhat alien to non-Spaniards. It's a deep-rooted will to make someone suffer. You can do someone wrong, but "a mala leche" has that extra bit of cruelty and sadism that Goya captured so well in his darker works.
And Bogui? "El Bogui" (official name, BoguiJazz) is a jazz club in Madrid. Ask the local jazz fans and they will almost certainly recommend it. "The only 100% jazz establishment in Madrid", jam sessions included. The blurb in their website states that they try to be a bit of NY (the lofts, Smalls...) in Spain. Not sure about whether they achieve that, but it doesn't seem such a bad approach.
On Tuesday at noon the police shut down the club, following an order issued by a Higher Court ("Tribunal Superior"). According to the report in the daily newspaper "El Mundo", there'd be little base for this, and the dispute between Dick Angstadt, the 67-year old club owner, and his neighbours looks more like a long-winding row about having a jazz club downstairs from home, rather than any noise-levels or disturbances that may have been actually caused.
I don't know who's in the wrong here, and it's likely not a simple matter. But to have a club shut down by the city Council, the same Council providing funds to this and other clubs for the Madrid Jazz Festival beginning next week (hence the "mala leche"), strikes me as a bit surreal; it actually reminds me of a ruling in the early 1990s by which a dispute between the DelTonos, an excellent Spanish blues-rock band, and their label, was resolved with the group banned to play live and, after they ignored that ruling, a second one labelled them "intellectualy dangerous". The affair was a waste of time and money - eventually the label disappeared (not without having released two unauthorised albums) and the band is still playing.
In any case, this is a sad story and it does look bad. Let's hope for the best and for some good will that allows Bogui to open its doors in November.
En primer lugar, disculpas por la larga ausencia. Lo cierto es que no estoy pudiendo "alimentar a la bestia" tan regularmente como quisiera. En todo caso, a la derecha están los enlaces recomendados para quien se aburra. Además, las noticias que he tenido han sido generalmente de fallecimientos (especialmente el de Neal Hefti, de quien admiro su trabajo para el primer rebaño de Woody Herman).
A lo nuestro: en vísperas del festival de jazz de Madrid, el Ayuntamiento de Madrid ha cerrado el Bogui. Por orden judicial. Precisamente estos días se habla de los problemas de la administración de justicia, de los retrasos, de la falta de medios... ya es casualidad que hayan tenido que cerrar el club en vísperas del festival de jazz de Madrid. Casualidad, o la proverbial mala leche española.
Están el jazz y la cultura en general en España como para permitirse el lujo de perder un buen club de jazz, de música improvisada, de una forma de expresión artística. Todavía habrá algún ignorante que crea que todos los gatos son pardos, y que quien sale de noche o bebe es un delincuente en potencia. O que el jazz no es música. Pero quizás sólo se trate de eso, de mala leche.
De momento sólo se conoce públicamente una versión de la historia, la del dueño del club, pero esto tiene todo el aspecto de ser una pugna por cerrar un club, independientemente de los niveles de ruido o de las molestias reales que esté causando.
Esperemos que se llegue a un acuerdo y el Bogui pueda abrir sus puertas para el festival de Madrid.
La noticia publicada por El Mundo, aquí.
So... the bad milk. In Spanish, "la mala leche", literally. That means something somewhat alien to non-Spaniards. It's a deep-rooted will to make someone suffer. You can do someone wrong, but "a mala leche" has that extra bit of cruelty and sadism that Goya captured so well in his darker works.
And Bogui? "El Bogui" (official name, BoguiJazz) is a jazz club in Madrid. Ask the local jazz fans and they will almost certainly recommend it. "The only 100% jazz establishment in Madrid", jam sessions included. The blurb in their website states that they try to be a bit of NY (the lofts, Smalls...) in Spain. Not sure about whether they achieve that, but it doesn't seem such a bad approach.
On Tuesday at noon the police shut down the club, following an order issued by a Higher Court ("Tribunal Superior"). According to the report in the daily newspaper "El Mundo", there'd be little base for this, and the dispute between Dick Angstadt, the 67-year old club owner, and his neighbours looks more like a long-winding row about having a jazz club downstairs from home, rather than any noise-levels or disturbances that may have been actually caused.
I don't know who's in the wrong here, and it's likely not a simple matter. But to have a club shut down by the city Council, the same Council providing funds to this and other clubs for the Madrid Jazz Festival beginning next week (hence the "mala leche"), strikes me as a bit surreal; it actually reminds me of a ruling in the early 1990s by which a dispute between the DelTonos, an excellent Spanish blues-rock band, and their label, was resolved with the group banned to play live and, after they ignored that ruling, a second one labelled them "intellectualy dangerous". The affair was a waste of time and money - eventually the label disappeared (not without having released two unauthorised albums) and the band is still playing.
In any case, this is a sad story and it does look bad. Let's hope for the best and for some good will that allows Bogui to open its doors in November.
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En primer lugar, disculpas por la larga ausencia. Lo cierto es que no estoy pudiendo "alimentar a la bestia" tan regularmente como quisiera. En todo caso, a la derecha están los enlaces recomendados para quien se aburra. Además, las noticias que he tenido han sido generalmente de fallecimientos (especialmente el de Neal Hefti, de quien admiro su trabajo para el primer rebaño de Woody Herman).
A lo nuestro: en vísperas del festival de jazz de Madrid, el Ayuntamiento de Madrid ha cerrado el Bogui. Por orden judicial. Precisamente estos días se habla de los problemas de la administración de justicia, de los retrasos, de la falta de medios... ya es casualidad que hayan tenido que cerrar el club en vísperas del festival de jazz de Madrid. Casualidad, o la proverbial mala leche española.
Están el jazz y la cultura en general en España como para permitirse el lujo de perder un buen club de jazz, de música improvisada, de una forma de expresión artística. Todavía habrá algún ignorante que crea que todos los gatos son pardos, y que quien sale de noche o bebe es un delincuente en potencia. O que el jazz no es música. Pero quizás sólo se trate de eso, de mala leche.
De momento sólo se conoce públicamente una versión de la historia, la del dueño del club, pero esto tiene todo el aspecto de ser una pugna por cerrar un club, independientemente de los niveles de ruido o de las molestias reales que esté causando.
Esperemos que se llegue a un acuerdo y el Bogui pueda abrir sus puertas para el festival de Madrid.
La noticia publicada por El Mundo, aquí.
