photos ORGULLO MADRID
Orgullo en Madrid
Despite having attended gay pride parades in other cities, I could not have ever been prepared for the breadth, scope and energy surrounding the festivities for Gay Pride in Madrid.
While gay pride festivals and parades are never exclusively attended by any one segment of society, Madrid's event was far and away the most diverse and heavily attended I've had the opportunity to witness.
Gay couples in costume, straight men brandishing rainbow flags, children atop their parents' shoulders squirting transvestites and cross-dressers with water guns, and people fanning themselves with rainbow flags featuring everything from club advertisements to McDonald's logos made up a colorful and blurry pastiche of revelers throughout the parade.
To take a step back, I began to witness the beginnings of preparations on Tuesday night. Throughout Chueca, the traditionally gay center of Madrid, bars began building outdoor service areas, public employees began stringing rainbow flags across the streets, and stages were slowly erected in every plaza.
By Wednesday night, the party had begun. The streets were teeming with people drinking and building the anticipation for Saturday's parade for three nights in a row. Dancing, drinking, singing in the streets was prevalant for a full five days straight.
On the day of the parade, a friend and I went to my office to watch the beginning from the terrace. We then ran made our way to the street to join the party on Gran Via...where we found a good corner to be spectators for a bit.
Not long afterwards, the LOVE BALL bus came along. Led by a diva in a black thong, they were far and away playing the best music, so we hopped into the parade and danced all the way down Gran Via to techno for three hours.
After a quick shower and change, we hit the plazas. The streets were absolutely packed and almost impossible to maneuver, but after watching a tranny stageshow from my friend's balcony, we managed squeeze ourselves into a space in Chueca's main plaza and dance the night away in the heat of one of Madrid's most energetic summer nights...
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While gay pride festivals and parades are never exclusively attended by any one segment of society, Madrid's event was far and away the most diverse and heavily attended I've had the opportunity to witness.
Gay couples in costume, straight men brandishing rainbow flags, children atop their parents' shoulders squirting transvestites and cross-dressers with water guns, and people fanning themselves with rainbow flags featuring everything from club advertisements to McDonald's logos made up a colorful and blurry pastiche of revelers throughout the parade.
To take a step back, I began to witness the beginnings of preparations on Tuesday night. Throughout Chueca, the traditionally gay center of Madrid, bars began building outdoor service areas, public employees began stringing rainbow flags across the streets, and stages were slowly erected in every plaza.
By Wednesday night, the party had begun. The streets were teeming with people drinking and building the anticipation for Saturday's parade for three nights in a row. Dancing, drinking, singing in the streets was prevalant for a full five days straight.
On the day of the parade, a friend and I went to my office to watch the beginning from the terrace. We then ran made our way to the street to join the party on Gran Via...where we found a good corner to be spectators for a bit.
Not long afterwards, the LOVE BALL bus came along. Led by a diva in a black thong, they were far and away playing the best music, so we hopped into the parade and danced all the way down Gran Via to techno for three hours.
After a quick shower and change, we hit the plazas. The streets were absolutely packed and almost impossible to maneuver, but after watching a tranny stageshow from my friend's balcony, we managed squeeze ourselves into a space in Chueca's main plaza and dance the night away in the heat of one of Madrid's most energetic summer nights...
48 Hours in London
One last minute decision and a few Euros later, and I found myself boarding an EasyJet flight to London to reunite with friends from across the globe for a quick and intense weekend of art, architecture, and music.
Blessed with stunning weather, my partner in crime and I traversed several neighborhoods in London over the course of ten hours on Saturday.
For the first stop, I made my first ever visit to the Tate Modern, where I delighted in the massive scale of outdoor murals, enjoyed an exhibit dedicated to the history of urban street photography, determined that Cy Twombly drastically improved his art over the course of his career, and dramatically restrained myself from buying anything in the expansive and overstimulating design shop.
Afterwards we headed to the Hayward Gallery to see the Psycho Architecture exhibit. The installations all had a fresh, very personal and sometimes complicated take on architecture and what buildings and spaces represent. Many of the pieces played with the way that architecture shapes and is shaped by what we see, and, in the end, frames the way we think and experience space. Destruction and dismantling of the order normally associated with buildings was a current throughout, bringing a sense of chaos and provoking a new sensibility of structure.
My favorite was far and away Fallen Star 1/5, by Do ho Suh. It featured two meticulously detailed dollhouse structures, one representing his Korean home and the other his US home, crashing into one another, and the ensuing destruction and uncomfortable intermingling of the two cultures. Pictures will obviously not do it any justice, so I highly recommend a visit.
The roof of The Hayward featured several playful experiences. With a little patience (there were long lines) one could hop into a rowboat for a rooftop drift with impeccable views of London's skyline, lounge in an inflated geodesic dome, or relax in a beautifully crafted temporary rooftop theater and watch short films.
After a walk across the Thames and a quick spin around Covent Garden, we met up with a friend from Paris to rest our feet and enjoy an afternoon drink, sped through Soho, and headed home to rest our feet for a night of dancing at Fabric.
The highlight was Ricardo Villalobos' set - a DJ who I have not had the pleasure of experiencing live as he has a self-imposed boycott on playing in the United States.
A true master in the art of surprise, arcs, and builds, to merely say he has a sense of timing is a gross oversimplification. His long, drawn out and tantalizing builds toy with you and can sometimes be maddening until finally culminating - and always delivering.
His exactitude in working in his mids, kicks and bass keeps you thinking and alert for the duration of his set...waiting to see where he'll take it next, keeping you moving, and leaving you in a state where you constantly feel at the precipice of what's to come.
When you add the skillful layering of acoustical arrangements, sparse and sneaky vocal samples, guitar riffs, and jazz melodies, one can say that he has developed a fully rounded brand of techno that largely dismisses any and all criticisms of the genre with unarguable finesse.
A successful reunion with several friends from New York, a photo shoot with an inflatable picture frame, and six hours of dancing later, we hopped a car for a well-deserved night of sleep.
A million and one thanks goes out to Colleen for coordinating our sleeping arrangements and Emily Chang for graciously offering her flat to us and letting us enjoy life on a quaint residential street in Kensington Gardens for a very memorable weekend.
Read more »
Blessed with stunning weather, my partner in crime and I traversed several neighborhoods in London over the course of ten hours on Saturday.
For the first stop, I made my first ever visit to the Tate Modern, where I delighted in the massive scale of outdoor murals, enjoyed an exhibit dedicated to the history of urban street photography, determined that Cy Twombly drastically improved his art over the course of his career, and dramatically restrained myself from buying anything in the expansive and overstimulating design shop.
Afterwards we headed to the Hayward Gallery to see the Psycho Architecture exhibit. The installations all had a fresh, very personal and sometimes complicated take on architecture and what buildings and spaces represent. Many of the pieces played with the way that architecture shapes and is shaped by what we see, and, in the end, frames the way we think and experience space. Destruction and dismantling of the order normally associated with buildings was a current throughout, bringing a sense of chaos and provoking a new sensibility of structure.
My favorite was far and away Fallen Star 1/5, by Do ho Suh. It featured two meticulously detailed dollhouse structures, one representing his Korean home and the other his US home, crashing into one another, and the ensuing destruction and uncomfortable intermingling of the two cultures. Pictures will obviously not do it any justice, so I highly recommend a visit.
The roof of The Hayward featured several playful experiences. With a little patience (there were long lines) one could hop into a rowboat for a rooftop drift with impeccable views of London's skyline, lounge in an inflated geodesic dome, or relax in a beautifully crafted temporary rooftop theater and watch short films.
After a walk across the Thames and a quick spin around Covent Garden, we met up with a friend from Paris to rest our feet and enjoy an afternoon drink, sped through Soho, and headed home to rest our feet for a night of dancing at Fabric.
The highlight was Ricardo Villalobos' set - a DJ who I have not had the pleasure of experiencing live as he has a self-imposed boycott on playing in the United States.
A true master in the art of surprise, arcs, and builds, to merely say he has a sense of timing is a gross oversimplification. His long, drawn out and tantalizing builds toy with you and can sometimes be maddening until finally culminating - and always delivering.
His exactitude in working in his mids, kicks and bass keeps you thinking and alert for the duration of his set...waiting to see where he'll take it next, keeping you moving, and leaving you in a state where you constantly feel at the precipice of what's to come.
When you add the skillful layering of acoustical arrangements, sparse and sneaky vocal samples, guitar riffs, and jazz melodies, one can say that he has developed a fully rounded brand of techno that largely dismisses any and all criticisms of the genre with unarguable finesse.
A successful reunion with several friends from New York, a photo shoot with an inflatable picture frame, and six hours of dancing later, we hopped a car for a well-deserved night of sleep.
A million and one thanks goes out to Colleen for coordinating our sleeping arrangements and Emily Chang for graciously offering her flat to us and letting us enjoy life on a quaint residential street in Kensington Gardens for a very memorable weekend.
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