All of this, plus his funny, long and sincere-sounding interactions with the crowd and a very elaborate, impressive stage makes this so far THE best concert of the year for me.

BEST MOMENT: El Taxista, not only was the stage set up specifically for this song he added a tropical soundtrack and a few tweaks to the lyrics. Very impressive and the highlight of the concert.

SETLIST: 5to piso, Acompaname a estar solo, El taxista, Realmente no estoy tan solo, El Problema, Sin danos a terceros, Si el Norte fuera el Sur, Mujeres (closing song), (more…)

In Teatro, Draco Rosa (also known as Robi Rosa, Cornelius Draco Rosa) again shows us he has been fooling the uneducated ears of latin american pop fans by performing in its purest, original and undoubtedly “as intended” form the song “Living la vida loca”- which previously turned Ricky Martin into and unprecedented mega star in the english speaking markets.

He also elaborates on his Baudelaire- inspired poetic themes with songs like “Todo es Vino”, “Bosque de los Numeros” and his encore acts of “Penelope”, “Cruzando Puertas” and the song considered by many the most iconic latin rock sound of our generation: “Vagabundo”.

Draco is one of the most brilliant musical minds of all time, a true musical genius responsible for some of the most successful latin songs ever (he wrote latin chart toppers for Ricky Martin, Ednita Nazario and Julio Iglesias including “La Copa de la Vida”, “She Bangs” and “Living la vida Loca”), and who has dedicated his solo career to explore a range of musical genres that go from rock, jazz, pychedelic and gothic all the way to pop rock with electronic and even bohemian undertones.

This latest album goes a little bit deeper and darker than his previous live album (“Al Natural”, which loosely translates to “All Natural”), and connects deeper with the crowd- one of the staples of his performances, which was evidenced during “Penelope” where 90% of the time it was the crowd who “sang” while he demonstrated his skills playing the guitar. The first 6 tracks have a very hard rock and almost metal sound, while the second half  becomes a little more vintage Draco, with the always present mix of old songs with revised sounds and styles.

Technically impresive by live album standards, this is both en epic, vintage Draco for old fans, a great live album for any rock (or latin rock) fan or the best moment to join and become a fan of one of the legendary rock icons of our time.

Highly recommend for anyone who can find one of the 5,000 numbered, unique copies. Draco -as always- won’t disappoint.

-Omar

Link to buy: http://www.phantomvox.com/draco/

Also you can look it up in Amazon.com while supplies last.

So… I was checking my daily Times newspaper and came across a very interesting article:

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/manga-porn/

In a nutshell, it’s about a man who will be going to jail after a plea deal for importing Manga (pretty much the comic book equivalent in Asia, mostly Japan) that a customs officer who opened the package thought was the equivalent of child pornography. The prosecutors agreed…

Now think about it for a second folks… regardless of your distaste for lolicon or hentai manga in general, don’t you think that going to jail on such horrendous charges (even if he doesn’t go to jail on the charges because of the plea deal, the damage is done) for looking at drawings, regardless of how “horrible” they are present a serious threat to our freedom of speech and expression?

An expert on the subject, Mr. Matt Thorn summed up his thoughts on this subject and I agree with him wholeheartedly :

“I have never met Mr. Handley, and know nothing about him as a person, other than the image painted for me by his loving mother. But whether I would like him or not, or think he is a “nice guy” or not, is irrelevant. It’s also irrelevant that I personally find lolicon manga, and a lot of other hentai manga, to be offensive and disturbing. As others have pointed out, to support free expression is not just to defend expression you like, but rather to defend expression you despise.

The chilling bottom line is that an American may very well go to prison for acquiring and looking at drawings of characters who do not actually exist.”

You can visit his blog HERE

Links: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-05-28/1-week-update-on-handley-case-over-obscene-manga

(source for image: http://www.ridetudo.com/index.php?start_from=575&ucat=&archive=&subaction=&id=&)

And let it be understood that I think that child pornography, and the exploitation of actual children for porn or for sex is utterly wrong and bad, because actual children are being directly harmed. In fact, again I find hentai (which I have seen in conventions, comic shops) grotesque and “lolicon” (which I have read about after reading the Wired article) even more despicable… I don’t own and would never consider to purchase any of these… However, as acclaimed artist, writer Neil Gaiman said: “Freedom to write, freedom to read, freedom to own material that you believe is worth defending means you’re going to have to stand up for stuff you don’t believe is worth defending, even stuff you find actively distasteful, because laws are big blunt instruments that do not differentiate between what you like and what you don’t, because prosecutors are humans and bear grudges and fight for re-election, because one person’s obscenity is another person’s art.”

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/28/rollins.sotomayor/index.html

Back?

Here was my response to his column (it actually got moderated in the comments section):

I personally read your column because it brings me hope… to think that I can agree sometimes with a person with whom I have some fundamental differences reminds me that there is room for smart, intelligent debate in this country… I think it is unfortunate not many folks in your party, or at least not the “vocal” ones, share the same intelligence and common sense… On the specific subject of Sotomayor- I couldn’t agree more. 

Thanks for being the only republican who understands that the President has all the right to nominate a “liberal”…. I’m sure the GOP would stand a better chance to regain some of the votes they lost if they spent more time bringing concise arguments to the table rather than demonizing the word “liberal”.

I have been following the News on Sotomayor and posted the following on my Facebook page:

So today “Joe Biden” (an e-mail from his campaign) e-mailed me regarding Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to be the first Hispanic (and third female) to ever serve in the U.S. Supreme Court (the highest legal body in the Country). I did some google searches (they call that “research” these days), read some of the latest news regarding Sotomayor and decided to fill out the “support form”. Here’s what I added to my submission:

“As an aspiring law student, who also happens to be Puerto Rican this nomination has moved me unlike any other nomination by a President- ever. I understand her gender and race do not sum up her amazing qualifications- that goes without saying. However my emotion is personal, it echoes from my soul and is deeply rooted in the fact that I never thought I would see this happen. To the Republicans who will undoubtedly attack her she is nothing more than a “liberal”… to me she represents hope and the idea that maybe after all, just maybe… as Puerto Ricans we are not that different. Maybe we are not “second class citizens”- or maybe we were… until Obama.”

I’ll keep posting my thoughts on the subject…