Showing posts with label España. Show all posts
Showing posts with label España. Show all posts

June 13, 2018

Angelo Cellini ~ black snake skin loafers

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photos by
Styrous®







I have always wanted a snake skin jacket. My first awareness of this bizzare item of clothing was in the 1960 film, The Fugitive Kind, which starred Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani.    


The Fugitive Kind movie poster

Brando also turned me on to motorcycle jackets seven years earlier, for that matter, in the film, The Wild One (link below). Movies have introduced me to many things.     

But I digress. I never got a snake skin jacket but in the late 80's, when I was in the town of Alayor on Menorca, a small island off the coast of Barcelona, Spain, I came across these black snake skin loafers manufactured by Angelo Cellini. The Cellini name was trademarked in 1984 and the company still manufactures animal skin shoes that range from $500 on up.      

I actually have another pair (link below) I bought at the same time that are brown. Both are size 8D and have been in storage, like my record collection (link below), for several decades and will be for sale on eBay (link below).    






















































Angelo Cellini ~ black, snake skin loafers, 8D, on eBay.     

       
   
 
    
Viewfinder links:        
          
Marlon Brando articles/mentions         
   
Net links:        
          
Angelo Cellini         
The Fugitive Kind ~          
     Plot 
     Cast   
             
       
      
           
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, Jun 13, 2018    
          
























Midtown ~ grey snake skin men's loafers

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photos by 











I bought these snake skin loafers because I was inspired by the 1960 film, The Fugitive Kind, which starred Marlon Brando wearing a snake skin jacket (link below). There are articles here on the Viewfinder about two other pair of snake skin loafers made by Angelo Cellini that I purchased in Spain (link below). All are size 8D and for sale on eBay (link below).   









The loafers have rubber heels and leather soles.
























Midtown ~ grey, snake skin men's loafers, size 8D, on eBay.        
            
    


       
         
Viewfinder links:          
          
Net links:        
          
Angelo Cellini         
The fugitive Kind ~          
     Plot 
     Cast   
 
       
         
           
            
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, June 13, 2018           
            












October 12, 2015

Thoth in Barcelona ~ Déjà vu all over again

CD cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®

I have written several times of how many cycles of my life have come full circle in the last few years. Today, marks the fifth anniversary of one of those cycles not completing nor resolving anything but coming back to me with a fact I just discovered a few days ago. Life is strange, indeed.    

In the late '90's, I would go downtown from one of the Mission Street BART stations. In the cavernous, usually not-quite-dim underground entrance, street musicians would perform. This is where I first encountered Thoth. Each encounter was an amazing experience; he would sing, play the violin and with bells around his ankles, dance; all at the same time. Not only that, in his "Soloperas", a one-man opera, he sang in a language he created, the language of the Festad, a mythical people and land. As if that wasn't enough, he sang all the parts of the opera: young, old, male and female. His magnificent voice ranges from a sonorous baritone to a rich countertenor. It was a mind blower to watch him perform, to be sure. 

I saw his performances many times; the first time I bought one of his CD albums, The Herma. I got it home and discovered it is just as amazing to listen to it as it is to watch it performed. I subsequently bought several of his other albums each time I saw him but The Herma (see link below) is my love; perhaps that is because it was the first of his CDs I bought. Your first love is always the one you remember.  

Flash forward 15 or so years later, five years ago today, on October 12th, 2010, I was in Barcelona rushing down Carrer de Bonsucces when I passed the entrance to Plaça de Vicenç Martorell . . .


. . . and to my complete astonishment, there was Thoth singing, playing his violin and dancing with all his heart!  

October 12, 2010
photo by Styrous®










This time an exotically beautiful woman was performing with him. What a superb team they made! Visually she was the total opposite of Thoth. I was delighted and excited to see he had found a fellow performer that matched his flair! 

October 12, 2010
photo by Styrous®


I was in a hurry and got these quick shots as I passed them but nothing more. It was in the middle of their performance; I didn't have time to wait for them to finish and I figured, as in San Francisco, he would make another appearance there or somewhere in Barcelona and I could get some better shots. Unfortunately, I never ran into them again so that didn't happened.  
 


October 12, 2010
photo by Styrous®

I found out just a few days ago (the cycle completing) who the woman with him was. She is Lila'Angelique, a coloratura soprano and an exceptional violinist. Lila'Angelique became Thoth's protege in 2009. They began traveling the world on November 17th 2009 and have been performing throughout the world ever since. They got married last year on May 17th, 2014.

I wish them a lifetime of love and happiness.





Thoth and Lila'Angelique on the Net: 

Thoth ~ The Herma: Act One    
Thoth ~ Tone Poems of the Festad                  

Thoth website         
Lila’Angelique website    
Thoth blog              
Lila'Angelique blog
   
Thoth performing on YouTube      
Thoth & Lila’Angelique on YouTube          
Thoth documentary on YouTube      
  
Thoth Wandrly Magazine interview    
Thoth & Lila’Angelique wesufm interview     
    
LA Times article   
Metroactive article     
Newsreview article





Styrous® ~ Columbus (or Indigenous) Day, Monday, October 12, 2015 







September 20, 2015

La Mercé 2010 ~ Plaça Sant Jaume

On September 20, 2010, five years ago today, I witnessed a marvelous light performance that was held during La Mercé; a festival celebrating light and fire held every year in Barcelona around this time. The celebration is a week-long affair with many marvelous events and every possible type of performance imaginable. I shot the video below during one of these events held at the Plaça Sant Jaume where the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the City Hall are located. I almost ran into Pope Benedict there a couple of months later when he consecrated Antoni Gaudí's La Sagrada Familia on November 7 (see link below).  

Back to the event, I had never seen this type of projection before and was totally blown away. Link to more articles about La Mercé below.   











I have seen this type of projection since that day in Plaça Sant Jaume but, as usual, the first time is the one you always remember.   



The Pope in Barcelona         




I wonder what they're doing in Barcelona this year?


Styrous® ~ Sunday, September, 20 2015 

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October 14, 2014

La Sagrada Família, Barcelona, España

La Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, Barcelona, España




From Wikipedia 

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Catalan pronunciation: [səˈɣɾaðə fəˈmiɫiə]; English: Basílica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family), is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral which must be the seat of a bishop. I was in Barcelona at the time of the consecration (see link below).





                                                                                                     La Sagrada Família detail
                                                                                                                                   photo by Styrous®

Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.

The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the recent proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability.


Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art and Paul Goldberger called it, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."

Much more information about La Sagrada Família on Wikipedia 



Viewfinder: The Pope in Barcelona
Viewfinder: La Sagrada Família images (underconstruction)




Styrous® ~ Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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August 27, 2014

Antoni Gaudí de Barcelona, España



 

    






 


Gaudí                             .
  Architect                           
Antoni Gaudí, 1878                   
photo by Pau Audouard               .


Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect from Reus and the best known practitioner of Catalan Modernisme

Born: June 25, 1852, Reus, Catalonia, Spain