Barcelona Celebration 20 and 21-09-2009

[jorcx]

Dear friends:
Here on the Spanish / Catalonian front, we are pleased to announce one of the activities we plan before the concert on Leonard's 75th birthday. It will be a tribute concert and celebration in a pub in the centre of Barcelona where I will be playing guitar and sing some tunes, and also we may be having some poetry reading and wishful drinking for the sake of the Great Event. We will be very happy to welcome all the Cohenites traveling to Barcelona for this occasion (Jarkko included), more details to follow...
Cheers, Jordi


SCHEDULE OF THE BARCELONA CELEBRATIONS: Here is the programme of all the activities with the timetable...

Sunday, September 20

16:30 Opening doors
17:00 Screening DVD "Isle of Wight" - WORLD PREMIERE !!!
18:30-22:30 Free time

22:30 Tribute-Concert “Jorcx Celebrates Cohen"


Monday, September 21

13:00 Opening doors and accreditation
13:30 Lunch "Leonard Cohen 75th birthday"
15:30 Birthday cake and Toast
16:00 Coffees Etc.

(Bar Service not included in the Menu price from now on)

16:30 Book presentation by Alberto Manzano
17:00 Poetry reading and other initiatives
19:00 Go Marching to Palau Sant Jordi

21:30 Leonard Cohen Live in Barcelona !!!

LOCATION: Sala Vivaldi (Llançà St. - next to Plaza Espanya)


IMPORTANT NOTE #1 (about the LOCATION): We are pleased to announce that the lunch will be held at the "Sala Vivaldi" (Llançà Street - next to Plaza Espanya), so you guess, it's the same place as the tribute-concert the night before. We chose this venue because of the facilities we have there (there's the stage, microphone, and a DVD projector to do some screening as well...) and also its strategic location (we can go walking to the Palau Sant Jordi, where Leonard Cohen is playing)... The "Sala Vivaldi" is a music-bar and concert-hall but also they are able to transform the configuration of the space with tables for the meal and they have their own kitchen, and besides they have experience in this kind of celebrations. So it will be our "base-camp", all for the Cohenites meet-up, from Sunday night to Monday afternoon. (Here is their website: http://www.salavivaldi.com). The lunch is scheduled on Monday at 13.30PM.

IMPORTANT NOTE #2: Dear friends, we are really happy and overwhelmed to see this list growing up and up but as Organizers we are forced to limit the number of people to attend the lunch on Monday (13.30-16.30PM) because it is very difficult to find an appropiate place for so many. It is not a problem of space, but a problem of kitchen-capacity and table-service for the meal. However, there is no problem if more people want to join us AFTER LUNCH (from 16.30PM on) as there will be a bar-service and more activities (apart from drinking and hugging, poetry reading, possibly DVD screening...) until we go together to the Leonard Cohen concert. So, the situation right now is:

NO-LIMIT FOR THE TRIBUTE-CONCERT ON SUNDAY EVENING
NO-LIMIT FOR THE MEET-UP ON MONDAY AFTERNOON
NO-LIMIT FOR THE NAME-TAGS LIST
LIMITED NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS FOR LUNCH ON MONDAY (120 people)


PRICE OF THE LUNCH: 30 euros - including the Menu, Birthday Cake, Glass of Cava (Catalan Champagne), and also the Name Tag. You can guess that the real price for the lunch should be 28 euros, but we include the 2 euros for the Name Tag for all those people attending the lunch because it will make things easier at the time of paying not having to give change in coins.

Thanks for your encouragement and comprehension!!


The Local Team (Jorcx, Toni, Chema, Luisa, Meritxell, et al...)

[Chema]

We want to make a conclusion as 5 years ago, in Cohen's 70th birthday in Barcelona. As Jorcx said, everyone is invited.

[ForYourSmile]

I am very glad for this announcement (really waited). It will be very agreeable time, to know personally people of this forum and, at the same time, to drink for the good health of Leonard together and to enjoy with a concert-tribute for him, just the day before to his 75 anniversary and his gig. We can say that we (the Barcelona people) are very lucky.

Chema has remembered the 70-anniversary party in Barcelona. Everything was born in this forum, that of LC Files, here we met and these are our memories:

Barcelona Party on 21st Sept 2004

Reviews from Barcelona

This time it will be more international, Jorcx has said to us that he is working in new English adaptations.

[margaret]

Looking forward to meeting everyone in Barcelona

Unfortunately my plane only arrives about 10.00 that night but as soon as I can reach my hotel and drop my bag I will try to get to the party.

Margaret

[jorcx]

Great Margaret, we also have to see if FC BARCELONA happens to play on that day and depending on the timetable and in consideration to the football fans (me included) maybe we can start a little bit later...
Jordi

[Henning]

Hi Jorcx - I am looking forward to all this. I will do a Camp Nou tour for sure. You are the champions. But we, Borussia Dortmund Champions 1997, are slowly getting back to the top. See you soon.

[Chema]

Ok Henning, you'll love the Nou Camp and museum

[Paula]

I was considering Barcelona because it is Leonard 75th. Does anyone have any links for cheap hotels or anything like that they could share

[Chema]

You can look at booking.com. It is a good web.

[ForYourSmile]

Oh the Barça! Well if thanks the Barça we delay the concert and Margaret can come in time. These days I would like to tell you the Barcelona that I love, and I think that I will forget the Camp Nou. Do you know that the Barça "Museum" is the most visited museum of Barcelona, more than the Picasso? I am glad for these three cups and the way of win, but now they are too much present.

Well, a local group of fans we have thought of having lunch together The Day (September 21).

It will be in:

Sala Vivaldi

Carrer Llançà, 5,
Sants - Montjuic, Barcelona

http://www.salavivaldi.com/






Edited: *** Warning ***
L'Antic Forn restaurant has become small, it has been canceled.

Our first idea was in:

L'Antic Forn. "The Former Oven."
C/ Pintor Fortuny 28
08001 Barcelona
+34 933 017 938

In this restaurant already we have lunch together with significant Cohenites, and we have good memories.



All who want to join with us will be welcome. We have a lot of time to think about the menu and to prepare hunger. To fulfil a pre-booked we need to know the number of people, if we go beyond 30 people (what success!), maybe we will have to look for another restaurant.

[liverpoolken]

ForYourSmile
I have a Dutch friend and his wife who live in Barcelona and who are both coming to the concert so please could you put both myself and my two friends on the list. Thanks for organising this meet-up

As I had to spend the two nights following the Barcelona/Manchester game in Manchester attending two Christy Moore concerts as a Liverpudlian I was glad that Barca beat Manchester.
The last thing I wanted was to have to endure two nights of battling through hordes of United fans in Manchester city centre celebrating winning the Uefa champions league final.

Christy Moore tried to console the audience on the Thursday night by telling the Mancs in the audience that they never really had a chance of winning because most of the Barcelona players have Irish grandmothers:-)

The good news is that I believe it didn't cost very much to weld the roof back onto the bus that United were going to use for the victory parade through Manchester

See ya all in Hydra, Liverpool,Venice, Barmouth and Barcelona...and maybe even Belgrade.

Ta Ken

[andrea]

Ola spanish cohenites and cohenites going to Spain,

I just discovered this Barcelona celebration thread
We (me and my husband Marco) would certainly like to partecipate at you fiesta on 20.9.09 and look forward to it. It will be my first time in Barcelona, everyone talks a lot about the beauty of Barcelona and we all are lucky that the concert takes in this town place at Leonard's birthday .
See you all there, some of you I/we see also before, , now I am going to prepare the suitcase for Hydra

ciao ciao
Andrea

[ForYourSmile]

Hi liverpoolken, thankfully the Leonard's fans have a style lightly different from the football hordes fans.

Andrea ~ Benvenuti alla festa e buona fortuna per il viaggio (thanks to the translator).

Monday is a working day, some friends will not be able to be present at the lunch, for example my wife, though they will attend to the Cohen concert and the Jorcx concert on Sunday (they ask for a early end of the concert, excuse me Margaret). This one is not my case, I have free all the weekend and Monday. "Three Days of Peace and Music" devoted to Leonard Cohen. Now I add myself to the list with two friends too.

The L'Antic Forn restaurant is the first option, this is opened for better offers.

I'm going to edit the list, with the updates.

September 21, 2009 Lunch - Leonard Cohen 75th Anniversary

1-2-3 Liverpoolken () and friends (Holland).
4-5 Andrea, Marco (Verona / Berlin)
6-7-8 Mari Paz (Madrid), Josep (Barcelona), FYS Toni (Barcelona)
9 Chema (Barcelona)
10-11 Joe and friend (Ireland)
12 Dave (Liverpool)
13-14 Joe and Anne (Wisconsin)

[ForYourSmile]

El Raval.

The Pintor Fortuny street (L'Antic Forn restaurant), begins to the left of Les Rambles (facing away from the sea) and ends in the MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona) interesting for those who can understand the contemporary art.

The MACBA is in the rationalist building of Richard Meier near l'Antiga església del Convent dels Àngels (16th century, gothic style) now it's a part of the MACBA (La Capella) and la Casa de la Caritat (House of Mercy - 18th century) today house of CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona).



El Raval is one part of the Ciutat Vella (Old City). Raval means the territory that opens out of the walls. It was between the second wall (built for Jaume I in 1268 - Les Rambles) and third and last wall (Pere el Cerimoniós, 1348 - Pelai street, Ronda Sant Antoni, Ronda Sant Pau, Paralel). The Rondes were the guard patrols track along the wall. The first wall was the Roman.

Near Les Rambles, in the beginning of the street Pintor Fortuny, we find the sculpture of the Fortuny painter - 19th century - who almost reaches the impressionism. In my opinion he has a genial work, we can admire some of his works in the MNAC of Barcelona, as La Vicaría.

Turning down, in the street Xucla is La Granja Viader, since 1870, one chocolate shop where they invented the Cacaulat, a popular chocolate shake. There are famous sites in the other side of Les Rambles, but Viader have the best suïssos (Swiss: chocolate fused with whipped cream), no discussion.

Just in the corner of Carme street we meet the baroque Esglèsia de Betlem. There they gave me some sacraments until confirming me to the atheistic faith.

Walking down for Les Rambles, we come to La Boquería, an old market a bit contaminated by the tourism but still preserves its popular taste. Very recommended.



Coming on the market we reach to the former Hospital de la Santa Creu (15th century) now it's the place of La Biblioteca de Catalunay (Catalan Library), a beautiful and peaceful space.



To Les Rambles again and walking down the sea, we will pass front el Gran Teatre del Liceu (1847 - The Opera House). It's the place of pleasure for music lovers and the place of exhibition for the bourgeois Catalans too. In 1994 an ambitious project of reconstruction crashed against the opposition of the well-organized neighbors, the conflict was solved by a "accidental" fire that devastated it totally and justified the reconstruction.

The inside of El Raval was populated historically by the most marginal classes. Near the seaport it turned into a place of prostitution. In times of the Republic they were tried to dignify until the Civil War started. Someone called it el Barri Xinès (Chinatown), no Chinese was living at the time there, but by ignorance they was thought that it could be like that, this name is an obsolete expression. Now it has filled for infinity of peoples of the most different races, cultures, languages and religions. The Town Hall is trying to improve the life and decrease the density creating new open spaces as La Rambla del Raval.

In the street Nou de la Rambla the Palau Güell gets up. It was the first great order that Gaudí received (1890). It is a modernist exceptional and worrying work, seems to be inspired by mixtures of oriental architecture. For me it has some gothic look, it scared me a bit... when I was a child.

Front the port there is Les Reials Drassenes de Barcelona (royal shipyards) a civil Gothic building, its construction began in the 13th century. Galleys were builds for the Corona d'Aragó fleet that managed to dominate the Mediterranean. With the occupation of the Bourbon army in the 18th century, the shipyards were moved out of Catalonia. Today it shelters the Maritime Museum.

Les Rambles is a walk from Plaça Catalunya to the monument to Colon (Exposition Universal 1888) in the harbour. Christopher Colon indicates with the finger the exit to the sea, it would be a bit confused if he is pointing to America. Les Rambles is a sequence of segments with different names, the nearest to the Plaça Catalunya is La Rambla de Canaletes, with the Canaletes fountain (1860). It is said that the one who drinks this water will return to Barcelona. In the middle there are kiosks, florist and animals shops (observed closely by the animals protectors). The last section is La Rambla de Santa Monica, now it's built a bridge that they are called La Rambla del Mar (of the Sea).

In another time there were walking picturesque, alternative (counterculture) people and transgressors. Now it looks as a place of obliged visit of the tourists to see the human sculptures. I don't feel proud at all for it.


Take care

"Please do not leave your baggage unattended" We listen in the airports, this warning is valid also in our city. I do not believe that in Barcelona exists an especially worrying delinquency, but it is true that there are some lovers in catching what is not theirs. The first targets are the tourists. The tourists are easily recognisable, show cameras and short, coloured clothes that they would not dare to dress in their village. (I do not complain). They move unconcernedly looking at everything with curiosity and leave their bag in the chair of a terrace... The loss of the personal documentation, the credit cards and the money bothers a trip. (Without thinking about the disappearance of the ticket of Leonard Cohen concert). Please... take care.

[Travelingladiesman]

Hello ForYourSmile, please add Joe and friend(Ireland)to the list for this great weekend.
I understand the problem of bags and stuff going missing from right in front of your eyes as
I have often been to Liverpool.