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Wednesday, January 29, 2003 Went to see 24 Hour Party People a short time ago. Exhilarating and depressing, both at the same time. Made me glad I wasn't there and made me wish I'd been there, both at the same time. Don't know what that means. Something I do know: it was real damn funny and had a slew of great tunes. Walking home after: the springlike weather has backed off for now, leaving something more brisk in its place, something with a bit of a bite. I wandered along Gran Vía in the long, slow Madrid dusk, people heading home from the workday, lots of folks going in and out of the high-end clothing stores that dot both sides of the avenue. The sky above -- between ragged, autumn-like clouds scudding along and patches of evening sky disappearing and reappearing -- consisted of grays, blues and the entire spectrum of dark shades in between, with a few faint echoes of sunset colors, fading quickly. A cold breeze blew, a reminder of what month it actually is despite the recent glorious days' mild temperatures, whipping brown leaves and a few dog-eared advert hand-outs around the sidewalk in whirlpools of motion, leaping up into the air now and then to swirl wildly about before jerking back down to the concrete, then back up toward the sky. Like an uncontrollable expression of joy by... whatever. The wind, the leaves and litter, the evening. By life itself. At the corner of Gran Vía and la Calle de Hortaleza, a crowd of 30 or so late teens and 20-somethings swirled excitedly around an individual, everyone chattering and laughing loudly, one or two people taking flash photos. As the small crowd surged about in ripples of elated motion, I saw a smiling young woman at the center of it all, looking to be Ainhoa, one of the three finalists from this year's edition of Operación Triunfo (Operation Triumph), a major deal here. I walked past, she began to move off, some of the crowd started to disperse, the rest eddying after her. Within seconds they were all gone, leaving me walking along Hortaleza. Technopop or latin music poured from some tienda doorways, swelling suddenly as I passed, then quickly fading. Traffic moved by. The evening continued to deepen. By the time I'd reached my building, darkness had fallen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here -- not that you asked -- is what I've been listening to lately: Monsoon Wedding, the soundtrack Who Can You Trust -- Morcheeba Big Calm -- Morcheeba Mi cante y un poema -- Estrella Morente Spain -- Michel Camilo & Tomatito Three cassette tapes of mostly delicious tunes from Back Porch Music, broadcast from WNUC-FM, Chapel Hill, N.C. Vestidos de Domingo -- La Cabra Mechanica Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia -- The Dandy Warhols rws 3:05 PM [+]
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