Musical Legends Landing in Sofia

Probably the single biggest part of my American life that I miss is the plethora of opportunities, nightly in LA, to see amazing concerts. I spent a good deal of my paycheck and nights at various concerts in and around LA.

During my three years in Roma I was fortunate to have seen a few great concerts - the Beastie Boys (a pre MTV Europe award show concert for 5 euro), Simon and Garfunkel + Elton John (in front of the Colosseo), and a random show here or there (Sting and Alicia Keys at a benefit; Thievery Corporation). However, these were few and far betweeen.

One thing that was notoriously absent during my two years in Paraguay were good concert events. Not too many groups tour South America and I didn't have the funds to take me to Buenos Aires, the lone city to attract the big international acts, every other weekend. I did have the chance to see Bryan Adams, but didn't take advantage of the Canadian's presence in Asuncion. The one show that I was able to watch a part of was Mana, but due to poor organization and an overselling of the venue by about 10,000 people, we didn't stay long.

And now I'm in Sofia and we are blessed to be visited by a few legendary music acts. We have already rocked Studentskigrad with our friend Snoop Doggy Dogg, and it only will get better from here on out.

Now we get a wonderful cornucopia of musical styles and legends:

First up is Ice Cube: Although Cube is a pretty big movie star now, and a stand-up kind of fellow, he got his start with NWA and is one of the artists to usher in the gangster rap movement. He left NWA and had a solid solo career. My one wish is for him to play "Jackin' For Beats" - an amazing track off one of his first solo records.




Then come Depeche Mode:

I have heard from others that their live show is amazing. I have always been a fan, although I have never owned a Depeche Mode record. They are another in a long line of groups I feel that I should see before they are done.




And, last but certainly the biggest, is the one and only Madonna.

Rumor has it that she is gettting 5 million a show for this European tour. Paul Oakenfold is opening with a DJ set, but the crowd will be fantastic for what will no doubt be a rockin' show from start to finish. Also of note, if you are 1 1/2 meters or less in height you get in for free. Damn, does that mean I'll be surrounded by 4th grade Madonna fans? Isn't her show rated R?

¡Que Hermosa!

Emerging from the incredibly efficient world of the Madrid underground, we gazed upon snowflakes, the size of a one euro coin, drifting lazily down from the sky, melting quickly on the pavement. Our walk from the subway station to the Prado museum felt more like one of the Dali paintings found in Madrid's other great museo - the Reina Sofia. Tracing the fence line that encloses the Botanical Gardens that lead to the entrance of the Prado, these snowflakes captured our attention, and transformed a cold, wet morning into our most memorable minutes from our weekend trip to Spain. Snow in Madrid - que loco, pero que hermosa! Kate and I both took several minutes, protected by the entrance's massive white columns, to marvel at the thousand falling stars of snow.

Raindrops Keep Falling...

on all of my travels.

Thus far we have traveled to:

Varna - came back a day early because of the rain
Roma - the umbrellas were out every day
Vienna - really wet, bitterly cold
Barcelona/Madrid - It just dumped water on us for three days; how often does it snow in Madrid?

This is why I am called "Bad Luck" Branch.

Don't travel with me if you're hoping for sun.

Veliko Tarnavo

A Coach's World

And our season keeps chuggin' along...

Coach Jones and I had our third real game (4th if you include the teachers vs. student game) of the season tonight and it went quite well. With lots of guys missing recent practices, we went with a different starting five, but that didn't stop us from getting out to a quick start and building up an early lead. Using all 15 guys, we were able to really take it to Sofia Classical School. It wasn't always pretty, and I'm pretty sure 90% of our team has really no idea how to run our press, but they worked hard, played some defense, and every single player scored, with two guys lighting it up from the outside. That leaves us with an official record of 2-1, 3-1 if you want to count our mopping up the floor against the teachers. Our JV squad is undefeated at 1-0. The lone loss was to 35th school, and we played close to 25 guys, which is an anomaly if ever there was one in bball. So, I'd like to think that things are coming along quite nicely.

With each game I keep learning about our kids and about coaching and thus far it's been a great experience. Sometimes it's frustrating, as the athletic culture is much different from the one I am familiar with in the US, but the guys are coming together and hopefully we can get some good practice time in and continue to improve.

We've got a big trip to Bucharest for a few games against the American School of Bucharest and the American School of London. We are taking 10 guys, jumping on a bus, and heading north to Romania. I'm looking forward to this trip and hopefully the team will do well.

A Wintry Tale...

On Sunday a group of us took a trip to Lakatnik, about 60 km north of Sofia, for a winter's hike. We caught an early morning train north, heading out of the dull grey that has defined Sofia these past two weeks, and after about an hour emerged from a tunnel into glorious sunshine and blue sky. Armed to the teeth with enough winter essentials to climb Everest, and having just sucked down some rocket-fuel that Bulgarians call coffee, we embarked on a 2 1/2 journey up the hill, exploring massive
caves and old war monuments, stumbling on and through a hidden/lost/imaginary village, and after all that, given the altitude and cold, we were unable to avoid an onslaught of barking (and one Cujo-like) dogs. It was a great little get-a-way and another reminder of Bulgaria's untapped (tourist wise) beauty.

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Still freezing...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/world/europe/12bulgaria.html?ref=europe

I walked outside and the local bank clock/thermometer read 7:10 am (blink...pause) -10 degrees C'. Ouch.

School was back on today after two days of cancellations. It was my first time ever delivering a lecture where each word was tangible - you could see my breath with each line from Othello read; my first time where students were frozen to their seats, literally, and not because they absolutely love Of Mice and Men.

Supposedly Russia will turn the lever to ON tomorrow, but it will be another few days until the heat arrives. In the meantime the students freeze, the teachers freeze, and we eat Bulgarian soup in popsicle form for lunch.