Fiesta de Paloma

Devon Alter — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:10:54 +0000

So I have been thinking up interesting post ideas and losing them by the time I get to my computer. But this I remember, so you are about to get a view into my first Friday night in Madrid.

This week/weekend is La Fiesta de la Virgen de Paloma and it is a HUGE street festival with music and drinks all over one area of town. I started my night meeting some of my friends from IH Madrid (where I take my Spanish class) and went to see a Zaqzuela, which is a show between an Opera and a regular show. To me it was not much because the singing was all pre-recorded and the men and women danced. But they were all in costume and very passionate so that made it cool. We then met up with some others and went and relaxed on a small area of grass.

Then was the best part! I went with 3 of my friends to meet the host mom of 2 of them, named Pilar. We went to a plaza and there was live music that was a LOT of fun. We danced with some fun Spanish women in costume and they taught us the dances to the songs. All of the sudden, the band starts playing the Spanish version of AchyBreaky Heart (Mi Pobre Corazon)!! I LOVED it, and yes, I got it on video!

When we went and found Pilar, we started dancing with her and her “slightly” inebriated friends! At one point she started dancing Sevillanas, which I learned while I was in Seville a year and a half ago. So we danced a paso together! We also learned some dances with them. Then one of my friends who is from Madrid and I started to dance a Paso Doble! I won’t lie, I was not bad! Then we went to a bar with them and heard some of their stories and talked with them a bit. Some of the stories were STRAIGHT from a movie. I could not BELIEVE that they were real life stories. I also got some suggestions for some books!

We left and found some other friends. And while trying to get all the groups together, my phone stopped working! I could not get a hold of anyone I was trying to find! Luckily I was with my roommates. They wanted to leave so we left early. At 3:30 AM. It was a great night and I can’t wait for more!

The fanny pack comeback.

Devon Alter — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:23:40 +0000

There is so much that I can say about my experience at Bonnaroo 2009. But one thing I realized is that music festivals such as this are a fashion trend birth place. Or, in the case of the fanny pack, a place of re-birth. I know that it tends to be a fashion faux pas that lost trend status somewhere between their late 80′s peak and the mid 90′s. But as far as function goes, they are quite useful.

By the end of the festival, I managed to fit more into my colorful fanny pack (revived from childhood use) than I ever thought possible. I started with the basics on day one: camera, money and phone in the large pocket and hand sanitizer in the other. On the last day, the big pocket held my camera, phone, money, sunglasses, a granola bar and toilet paper while the small pocket had hand sanitizer, lip balm and more toilet paper. I had at some point had my hat and my rain poncho involved AND used the strap to hold on to my water bottle.

Now I was not exactly the epitome of cool. At best I was one small step above a stereotypical tourist. But, even if my old-school fanny pack does not meet today’s daily fashion standard, it is definitely a useful tool in the music festival world. And who knows, with a few updates, the fanny pack could be sneaking its way back into the fashion world.

Gucci makes a “Canvas Belt Bag” that is nothing more than an updated fanny pack. Coach makes a “hip bag.” And its not unlikely that others will follow. Plus, festival go-ers, or Bonnarubians as Ani DiFranco called us, were not the only ones to don a pack. Erin McCarley wore one mildly more modern than my own. (Photo from LuckyMag.com)

So make way for the fanny pack. The comeback has begun!

Devon Alter » festivals

Fiesta de Paloma

The fanny pack comeback.