By The Culture Vulture

Graduates of an English Drama College met for the first time today in a Serrania de Ronda village.

Emma Cherry, 61, is an English professional actress from London who now lives in Benaoján near Ronda, after a long spell as a resident of Mallorca. Tom Whitelock and Susannah Austin, both 37, are professional actors and musicians who live in Hastings, East Sussex, after a spell in Leytonstone, London.

L to R: Tom, Susannah and Emma                 

Tom hails from Warrington, Cheshire, and Susannah from Hastings.

Drama College

All three actors attended Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent, but at different times. Tom and Susannah met there and are now married with two children, boys aged four and one. Emma trained at the prestigious college, which also boasts Tom Baker (Doctor Who, 1971-1979), and Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour, 2017) among its graduates, 20 years beforehand.

The breakfast get-together was arranged by Tom’s father, Paul Whitelock, who lives in Ronda and is a good friend of Emma from the time when they coincided at the Ronda Theatre Group, Proyecto Platea, run by Spanish actor Marcos Marcell.

So, Emma, Tom and Susannah met today at Bar Ankanita (formerly Bar Stop) in Estación de Benaoján and had a good old “chinwag” about their respective lives and experiences.

Emma Cherry

Emma Cherry was a leading actress at the Ronda Theatre Group Proyecto Platea, as well as being a teacher there. She took the lead in many of their productions, one of which, “Novias”, was written by Emma together with good friend and fellow actress Charo Carrasco, a Ronda businesswoman.

The Culture Vulture has seen “Novias” three times: the first occasion when it premiered in the courtyard of the Convento de Santo Domingo in Ronda; once in the open air in Atajate, a small village in Málaga province; and finally in the Proyecto Platea studio theatre in Ronda.

Emma and Charo are a successful and prolific writing partnership. So much so that in 2023 they published “Yo soy Teatro” a collection of their scripts. It is a top seller in the genre on Amazon.

Emma has just returned from a stint in London where she was involved in two film projects.

Tom Whitelock

Tom Whitelock is predominantly a theatre actor/musician. His most high-profile role to date was as bass player Pete Quaife in the London West End production of “Sunny Afternoon”, the award-winning musical about the 60s pop group The Kinks. That ran for over a year, with some eight performances a week.

Tom has also played the lead in Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” at the Cervantes Theatre in London, Pete in several productions of Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”, in “Romeo and Juliet” at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, as well as “The Full Monty” (Simon Beaufoy), “All My Sons” (Arthur Miller) and “The Roses of Eyam” (Don Taylor) - Tom's acting debut aged six).

Tom has also landed some lucrative contracts recording TV advertisements.

Susannah Austin

Susannah Austin is mainly a singer/ songwriter, already with one album under her belt. Until she became a mum, she regularly performed on stage in the London area, and played gigs, sometimes accompanied by husband Tom Whitelock on guitar or double bass and vocals.

Susannah is the middle daughter of three of 70s singer, Claire Hamill, who sang with Yes, Wishbone Ash, and Jon Anderson, amongst others. Susannah's father Nick Austin was a record producer. So, Susannah has a good pedigree.

Claire, now approaching 70, is still active, performing live and recording. She has recently released her 15^th album.

While the three actors enjoyed “comparing notes”, the two “Pauls”, Emma’s husband is designer Paul Rolf, went for a stroll with the two boys and explored the Benaojan/Montejaque railway station and the river Guadiaro.

© The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

Charo Carrasco

CharryTV

Claire Hamill

Emma Cherry

Ents24

Facebook

Marcos Marcell

Paul Whitelock

Proyecto Platea

Susannah Austin

Tom Whitelock

YouTube

Links:

"YO SOY TEATRO" - Book review (eyeonspain.com)

Claire Hamill

PROYECTO PLATEA - Marcos Marcell

Susannah Austin - YouTube

Tom Whitelock | Performers | Stage Faves

www.help-me-ronda.com

Tags:

A Clockwork Orange”, “All My Sons”, Atajate, Bar Ankanita,  Bar Stop,  “Blood Wedding”, Cervantes Theatre, Charo Carrasco, Claire Hamill, Convento de Santo Domingo, "Doctor Who", Emma Cherry, Estación de Benaoján, Guadiaro, Hastings, Jon Anderson, "Lady Chatterly's Lover", Lorca, Marcos Marcell, Montejaque, “Novias”, Paul Rolf, Paul Whitelock, Pete Quaife, Proyecto Platea, “Romeo and Juliet”, Rose Bruford College, Sean Bean, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Stanley Kubrick, “Sunny Afternoon”, Susannah Austin, “The Full Monty”, The Kinks, “The Roses of Eame”, Tom Baker, Tom Whitelock, Wishbone Ash, Yes, “Yo soy teatro”

In Spain, even the tiniest settlement has its annual feria. From ciudad to pueblo, to aldea to pedania, they all pull out the stops for their local "fair".

Ronda (pop: 33,401) has lots, including la Feria de Pedro Romero and Ronda Romántica plus several in honour of local saints. Arriate (pop: 4,110) has a number also, as do Benaoján (pop: 1,683) and Montejaque (pop: 960). The pedania where I live, Fuente de la Higuera (pop: 100 approx.) celebrates in July and La Indiana (pop: 80 approx.), across the other side of the main road to Sevilla, held its feria this weekend just gone.

Feria de La Indiana

This took place over Saturday and Sunday. I had never been to it in previous years, but decided to take a look this year. I went twice, late morning on Sunday and again in the evening.

I watched some of the clay pigeon shooting - my God, they're good! - while I supped on a botellin of Cruzcampo. Then I ambled across the road to the main bar in the former primary school. long shut and now used for community activities and events.

I realised I had been there once before, in 2009, for the memorial service of the Scottish writer Alastair "Mister" Boyd, aka Lord Kilmarnock, who had died earlier that year.*

On Sunday lunchtime there were several family groups sitting at tables munching their first tapas of the day. 

***

There were a number of posters protesting against the planned vertedero - toxic waste disposal plant - just up the road on virgin land.

In the bar I spoke to several people, mainly bar staff, but also to the alcadesa of La Indiana, Mari-Paz Orozco, who was joined by a councillor from Montejaque, Miriam Sánchez, whom I know quite well. The two are apparently good friends and like to support each other's events.

One photo later and we went our separate ways.

[L to R: The Culture Vulture, Mari-Paz Orozco, Miriam Sánchez]

***

When I returned in the evening, I had timed it wrongly and it was all over bar the shouting. Oh well!

A great local event, with visitors from all over.

Links:

April at the Ayuntamiento - Ronda Council pleno (eyeonspain.com)

Romantic writer dies after stressful battle with developers - Olive Press News Spain (theolivepress.es)

Acknowledgements:

Paul Whitelock

Turismo de Ronda

Tags:

Alastair Boyd, alcadesa, aldea, Arriate, Benaoján, botellin, ciudad, clay pigeon shooting, Cruzcampo, fair, feria, Feria de Pedro Romero, Fuente de la Higuera, La Indiana, Lord Kilmarnock, Mari-Paz Orozco, Miriam Sánchez, Montejaque, Paul Whitelock, pedania, pueblo, Ronda, Ronda Romántica, toxic waste disposal plant, Turismo de Ronda, vertedero

The American Orson Welles was a towering figure in 20^th century film-making. He would commonly write, produce, direct and star in his own movies. After his ground-breaking (and brilliant) first film, “Citizen Kane” (1941) he was blacklisted for a time by Hollywood and ended up making sherry commercials and doing voice-overs. He also loved bull-fighting and spent much time in Ronda where he befriended top torero of the time, Antonio Ordoñez. Welles’ ashes are scattered at the Ordoñez estate just outside the City of the Tajo.

Is Danish actor Viggo Mortensen the new Welles? The newly released “The Dead Don’t Hurt”, a Western, was written by Mortensen, who produced and directed the film and starred in it. He also composed the music.

How did he do? The Culture Vulture has just seen the film, a fortnight after its release in Spain. Here’s his review.

"The Dead Don't Hurt"

Preamble

Once a month the local cinema, MulticinesRonda, shows a film in versión original, usually English, with Spanish subtitles. Organised by the admirable Delphine Du Boys, a French-born resident of Ronda, the initiative is well-supported by English-speaking residents in the area, as well as a significant number of Spanish locals, keen to improve their English.

“The Dead Don't Hurt” is a 2023 Western film written, directed and produced by Viggo Mortensen, and starring Mortensen, and Vicky Krieps, a Luxembourgish-German actress, whose breakout role was alongside Daniel Day-Lewis in “Phantom Thread” (2017).

Mortensen also composed the score to the film.

“The Dead Don't Hurt” premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

.

Synopsis

"The Dead Don't Hurt" - Spanish title "Hasta el fin del mundo" - is a story of star-crossed lovers on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860s. French-Canadian Vivienne Le Coudy (Vicky Krieps) is a fiercely independent woman who falls in love with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen) in San Francisco.

She agrees to travel with him to his home near the quiet town of Elk Flats, Nevada, where they start a life together. The outbreak of the American Civil War separates them when Olsen makes a fateful decision to go and fight for the Union.

This leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a place controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and his unscrupulous business partner, powerful rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt). Alfred's violent, wayward son Weston (Solly McLeod) aggressively pursues Vivienne, who is determined to resist his unwanted advances, but fails.

When Olsen returns from the war, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the person each has become.

Both a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, "The Dead Don't Hurt" is a portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.

In an interview with The Times, Krieps described working with Mortensen on the film:

“In the world of Westerns there were not many women. So that was very tough. Of all men he is very soft and open and very 'there'. But still it reminded me why I like to work with women.”

Release dates

“The Dead Don't Hurt” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023.

“The Dead Don't Hurt” was released under the title “Hasta el fin del mundo” in Spain on 10 May 2024.

“The Dead Don't Hurt” is scheduled to be released in the United States on 31 May, 2024,  and in Germany in August 2024.

Critical Acclaim

The Culture Vulture loved it.

After all the mediocre Westerns I’ve had to put up with throughout my seven decades on this earth, this was a breath of fresh air. 

I would put it a close second to my all-time favourite, the spaghetti Western “Once Upon a Time in the West” (Sergio Leone 1968). With a cast of famous actors, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards and music by Ennio Morricone, it was a landmark film.

By contrast “The Dead Don't Hurt” has a cast of relative unknowns – the only ones I’d heard of were Mortensen and Krieps. Nevertheless, this was a thoughtful film, beautifully shot in Canada and Mexico.

I arrived at MulticinesRonda very tired, after several nights of broken sleep, yet the film, quite long at over 2 hours, kept me awake.

It was a veritable “tour de force”.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 30 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "A solid step forward for Viggo Mortensen as a director, The Dead Don't Hurt offers viewers a comfortably old-fashioned Western with a satisfying, character-driven story." 

Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Top review on iMDB read as follows:

“Despite the fact that the plot has plenty of holes, this Western just about works. It's all about the determined ‘Vivienne’, very much a woman in a man's world of pioneering in the 1860s.

"She encounters the honest and thoughtful ‘Olsen’ and travels to his remote, and rather ramshackle, shack where they begin to make a home for themselves.

"He takes a job as the town’s sheriff and she, a little to his chagrin, starts working in the saloon.

"He is restless, though, and with the American Civil War looming large, he decides that he ought to use his Danish army training and go enlist. She's not enamoured of the idea, but off he goes and that leaves her alone and firmly in the sights of spoilt local ‘Weston’ (the rather un-menacing Solly McLeod).

"When ‘Olsen’ returns from the war quite a few years later he is presented with a few shocks!

"Subsequent events take an even more tragic turn, and now he must face his demons and settle accounts. This is a grand-looking romantic drama that takes it's time to get going and that allows Krieps to invest strongly in the maturing elements of her character.

"That he would just saunter off for years and leave her alone and unprotected does beggar belief a bit, and there's no denying that does negatively impact on the plausibility of what, rather obviously, comes next.

"Still, there is enough meat on the bones of the story, an effectively sparing amount of dialogue and a soupçon of chemistry between the two at the top of the cast that gives some indication of just how tough and lawless life was and at how difficult it was to be decent! 7/10."

Conclusion

Mortensen’s contribution as writer, producer, director, lead actor and score composer is consummate – a truly new “Orson Welles”.

I recommend the film highly.

©  The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

etsy

Facebook.

Fotogramas

IMDb

Paul Whitelock

Rotten Tomatoes

Wikipedia

Tags:

American Civil War, Antonio Ordóñez, bullfighting, Charles Bronson, “Citizen Kane”, Claudia Cardinale, Culture Vulture, Daniel Day-Lewis, Delphine Du Boys, Elk Flats, Ennio Morricone, etsy, Facebook, Fotogramas, “Hasta el fin del mundo”, Henry Fonda, Holger Olsen, IMDb, Jason Robards, Metacritic, Nevada, MulticinesRonda, Orson Welles, Paul Whitelock, "Phantom Thread", Ronda, Rotten Tomatoes, San Francisco, Sergio Leone, Solly McLeod, spaghetti western, “The Dead Don't Hurt”, Toronto International Film Festival, “tour de force”, versión original, Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Vivienne Le Cody, Wikipedia

Look at this photo from 1968, featuring some young-looking music stars of that era. Do you recognise them?

                           L to R: Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Winwood, Carl Wayne

Eric Burdon, lead singer of The Animals, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne (England). He will turn 83 in a couple of days’ time (11 May).

He is regarded as one of the “British Invasion’s” most distinctive singers with his deep, powerful blues-rock voice. Burdon is also known for his intense stage performances.

The Animals’ big hits were “The House of the Rising Sun”, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Bring It On Home to Me" and "We Gotta Get Out of this Place".

“The House of the Rising Sun”, about a whorehouse in New Orleans, is simply sensational.                                                                                    Eric Burdon now [Wikipedia]

Listen to it here: The Animals - House Of The Rising Sun (Music Video) [4K HD] (youtube.com)

Eric Burdon's school life was difficult. When he got to secondary school, a teacher by the name of Bertie Brown took the young Eric under his wing and was responsible for getting him into art school and changing his life forever. There, Eric first met John Steel, the original drummer for The Animals. He also met lot of other "young rebels" who shared his interest in jazz, folk and movies.

Burdon and fellow rocker and guitarist, American Jimi Hendrix, became very close friends in the mid-sixties and remained so up until Hendrix's death in 1970. Burdon was the person Hendrix's girlfriend called when she found him overdosed on drugs.

Burdon was also a good friend of John Lennon and, claims Burdon, was mentioned in one of their songs, "I Am the Walrus" as "the eggman".

In 1969, while living in San Francisco, Burdon joined forces with California funk rock band War. In April 1970, the resulting studio album was titled Eric Burdon Declares "War".

Burdon began a solo career in 1971 with the Eric Burdon Band, continuing with a hard rock-heavy metal–funk style. He also dabbled in film acting playing several minor roles.

***

John Mayall, Godfather of the British Blues, hails from Macclesfield in Cheshire, but grew up in Cheadle Hulme, also Cheshire.

Now aged 90, he was a blues pioneer back in the 60s, and his band The Bluesbreakers, was a “finishing school”, or better said, a “nursery”, for many a famous musician, eg Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, John McVie, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Jon Hiseman, Stephen Thompson, Harvey Mandel, Larry Taylor, and many more.                       John Mayall now [Stuttgarter Zeitung]

He moved to Laurel Canyon, California, in 1970, where he lived for some 15 years, and where he recorded some of his best work, such as the album entitled "Blues From Laurel Canyon".

Always keen to experiment and push the boundaries, he introduced brass, had a spell as a quartet without percussion, and jammed with all and sundry.

I saw him live three times. The first occasion was in 1968 at The Free Trade Hall in Manchester. As an 18-year-old university student in the city, I got an interview with John Mayall for the student rag. I was so nervous, I forgot to press the record button on my cassette recorder. Fortunately, Mr Mayall noticed and put me right. Phew!

What a gentleman!

The second time was to witness his landmark shift in style. “The Turning Point” with just four musicians and no drummer. That was in the ABC cinema in Exeter (Devon, UK) in 1969. "The Turning Point" remains one of my favourite Mayall albums.

Here is a sample track: California (youtube.com)

The third live concert was in 2004 at The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on a shared bill with Peter Green, who was making a comeback tour after years in the wilderness recovering from extreme drug addiction and schizophrenia.

Sadly, because I loved Green's guitar-playing and singing with the original Fleetwood Mac, he was a shadow of his former self. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers were altogether more polished.

In 2005, John Mayall was appointed an OBE in the Queen’s Honours List.

At the age of 90 John Mayall is still touring.

***

Jimi Hendrix was a black left-handed American virtuoso blues and rock guitarist. Born in Seattle, he moved to Clarksville, then Nashville, Tennessee, where he backed several musicians, including The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and Curtis Knight.

Within months of moving to England in late 1966, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary".

He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US.                      Jimi Hendrix aged 27 [Entertainment Weekly] 

The double LP was Hendrix' most commercially successful release and his only number one album.

At that time the world's highest-paid rock musician, Hendrix headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

Sadly, he joined "The Class of 27", when he was found dead of barbiturate-related asphyxia at that age in his accommodation in London in September 1970.

Click here for a performance of: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze (Live at the Atlanta Pop Festival) (youtube.com)

***

Stevie Winwood was the lead singer in The Spencer Davis Group, whose biggest hit was “Keep on Running”, now a classic. He then moved to Traffic and subsequently to a short-lived Blind Faith with Clapton, Ginger Baker and Ric Grech.

Winwood achieved fame during the 1960s and 1970s as an integral member of three major bands: The Spencer Davis Group (1964–1967), Traffic (1967–1969 and 1970–1974) and Blind Faith (1969).

                                                                                                                         Steve Winwood now [Die Welt]

During the 1980s, his solo career flourished and he had a number of hit singles, His 1986 album "Back in the High Life" marked his career zenith, with hit singles including "Back in the High Life Again", "The Finer Things", and the US Billboard Hot 100 number one hit "Higher Love".

Although his hit singles ceased after the 1980s, he continued to release new albums up to 2008.

In 2004, Stevie Winwood was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Traffic. He has won two Grammy Awards and an Ivor Novello Award, and has been honored as BMI Icon. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Winwood number 33 on its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Have a listen to this: The Spencer Davis Group (feat. Steve Winwood) - Keep On Running (1966) (youtube.com)

***

Carl Wayne was principally known as a member of The Move in the 1960s.

Wayne was born in Birmingham in 1943. Inspired by the American rock'n'roll of Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, he formed the G-Men in the late 1950s, and joined local band The Vikings, where his powerful baritone voice and pink stage suit helped make them one of the leading rock groups in the Midlands.

                                                                                                                         Carl Wayne before he died [Facebook]

In 1963 they followed in the footsteps of The Beatles and other Liverpool bands by performing in the clubs of Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg. On returning to Birmingham, in the wake of the Beatles' success, record companies were keen to sign similar guitar bands. The Vikings signed with Pye RFecords, but all three singles failed to chart.

Wayne won first prize when he represented England at the prestigious Golden Orpheus Song Festival in Bulgaria. 

In December 1965 he joined The Move, a Birmingham beat group drawn from top local bands. They enjoyed three years of hits with singles such as "Night of Fear", "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "Flowers in the Rain", "Fire Brigade", and their number one success "Blackberry Way".

In their early years The Move had a stage act which occasionally saw Wayne taking an axe to television sets or chainsawing a Cadillac to pieces. The group was banned for a while from every theatre venue in the UK.

Wayne went solo and made several singles and record albums, some including songs written and produced by Roy Wood (Electric Light Orchestra). Among his singles were a cover of the John Lennon song "Imagine", plus a cover of the Cliff Richard hit "Miss You Nights".

He was originally offered the chance to record "Sugar Baby Love" but rejected it as "rubbish"; it was promptly given to a new band, The Rubettes, and it launched their career with a number one hit.

As well as his work on television, including "Hi Summer", he sang the theme songs to the talent show New Faces, one of which, "You're a Star!", was a minor hit for him in 1973.

Wayne also made a few recordings with the Electric Light Orchestra as guest vocalist, though these remained unreleased until they appeared as bonus tracks on a remastered re-issue of the group's second album, ELO 2 in 2003.

He never made the charts after leaving The Move, but still enjoyed a steady career in cabaret and on television, recording versions of songs from the shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, as well as voiceovers and jingles. He sang backing vocals on Mike Oldfield's Earth Moving, released in 1989.

In his acting career he had a small role in the Birmingham-based soap opera, Crossroads, and in 1974 married Susan Hanson, another member of the cast.

His most acclaimed stage role was as the narrator in Willy Russell's Blood Brothers between 1990 and 1996. Later he became a presenter on BBC Radio WM, in the course of which he interviewed several of his former colleagues from The Move, among other guests.

He was also a fund raiser for leukaemia research, and ran several London Marathons for charity. He also made an appearance on The Benny Hill Show in 1985, in which he played the "Face" character in a parody of The A-Team.

From 1983 to 1988 he appeared in various Emu TV programmes, in the segment Boggles Kingdom alongside Susan Maughan and Rod Hull. Wayne performed several songs during the show, including renditions of Puttin' On the Ritz and Greensleeves.

In 2000, on the retirement of lead vocalist Allan Clarke, he joined The Hollies, touring Europe and Australasia with them, as well as playing venues all over the United Kingdom. They recorded a new song, "How Do I Survive", in February 2003, which appeared as the only previously unreleased item on a 46-track compilation CD of the Hollies' Greatest Hits later that year.

In addition to most of The Hollies' songs, they included "Flowers in the Rain" and "Blackberry Way" in their live repertoire. Their drummer Bobby Elliott described Carl Wayne as "a fearless performer and powerhouse singer".

Wayne played what turned out to be his last concert with the group on 10 July 2004 at Egersund, Norway. Shortly afterwards he was admitted to hospital for tests; he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and died a few weeks later, aged 61. He left a widow (Susan Hanson) and their son, Jack.

Because of poor sales, none of Wayne's solo releases remained on catalogue for long during his lifetime. In 2006 an album of his performances, remastered with the involvement of Wood and some previously unreleased, was issued under the title Songs From The Wood And Beyond 1973–2003.

Two tracks by Wayne and Choral Union appear on the two-CD set Friends & Relatives, a compilation of tracks by Electric Light Orchestra and associated acts.

Here is a track from his time with The Move: The Move - Flowers In The Rain 1967 (youtube.com)

© The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

Die Welt

Entertainment Weekly

Facebook

Stuttgarter Zeitung

Wikipedia

YouTube

Tags:

Allan Clarke, "Blackberry Way", Blind Faith, Bluesbreakers, "Blues From Laurel Canyon", "Bring It On Home to Me", British Invasion, "California", Carl Wayne, Culture Vulture, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Die Welt, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", Eddie Cochran, "eggman", Electric Ladyland, Electric Light Orchestra, ELO, Elvis Presley, Entertainment Weekly, Eric Burdon, Eric Burdon Band, Eric Burdon Declares "War", Eric Clapton, Facebook,"Fire Brigade", Fleetwood Mac, "Flowers in the Rain", Gene Vincent, Ginger Baker, Godfather of the British Blues, Harvey Mandel, "Hey Joe", Hughie Flint, "I Am the Walrus","I Can Hear The Grass Grow", Isle of Wight Festival, Jack Bruce, Jimi Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix Experience, John Mayall, John McVie, Jon Hiseman, Keef Hartley, “Keep on Running”, Larry Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, "Night of Fear", Peter Green, "Purple Haze", Ric Grech, rock'n'roll, Spencer Davis Group, Stephen Thompson, Stevie Winwood, Stuttgarter Zeitung, "Sugar Baby Love", The Hollies, “The House of the Rising Sun”, The Move, The Rubettes,“The Turning Point”, The Vikings, "The Wind Cries Mary", Traffic, "We Gotta Get Out of this Place", War, Wikipedia, Woodstock Festival, YouTube 

By The Culture Vulture

Wednesday 8 May 2024

The Culture Vulture wrote an appreciation of this musical phenomenon  just over a year ago for the website www.eyeonspain.com. Now, news has just broken that the American musician Ry Cooder, who discovered the elderly, down-on-their-luck Cuban musicians on a visit to the communist island in the Caribbean in 1996, has produced a 25th Anniversary edition on vinyl and CD.

Background

‘Buena Vista Social Club’ is both the name given to this extraordinary group of musicians and the album, recorded in just seven days in 1996 in Havana’s 1950s vintage EGREM studios.

It was clear from the atmosphere of the recording sessions that something very special was taking place. However, no one could have predicted that Buena Vista Social Club would become a worldwide phenomenon – awarded a Grammy in 1997 and, at 8 million copies, outselling any other record in the same genre.

The acclaim of the original album has elevated the artists - including Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa, Compay Segundo, Rubén González and Omara Portuondo - to superstar status, inspired an award-winning eponymous film by German director Wim Wenders, and has contributed to popularising Cuba’s rich musical heritage.

Produced by Ry Cooder for World Circuit records, the timeless quality of the music and the sheer verve of the veteran performers have ensured that this will go down as one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century.

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album’s recording, producer Ry Cooder and World Circuit’s Nick Gold have gone back to the original tapes and into the archive to produce this Deluxe Remaster package, featuring previously unheard tracks from the original 1996 recording sessions, previously unseen photos, and new liner notes.

I loved the BVSC and saw them live in London, Manchester and Jaca (Aragón, Spain). I have just ordered a copy from www.amazon.es for 14,99€ and am awaiting its arrival with bated breath.

STOP PRESS:

My fellow blogger, The Spanish Fly, is currently away in Germany. He tells me he has found the double CD on www.amazon.de for only 8.99€. He ordered it and it should be delivered to his hotel free of charge on Friday.

© The Culture Vulture

Further reading:

Whatever happened to BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB? (eyeonspain.com)

Acknowledgements:

Culture Vulture

History Man

Jaca

London

Manchester

Paul Whitelock

Spanish Fly

Wikipedia

World Circuit

www.amazon.de

www.amazon.es

www.eyeonspain.com

Photos:

picture-alliance/United Archives/Impress

YouTube

Tags:

25th Anniversary edition, Aragón, Buena Vista Social Club, Caribbean, Compay Segundo, Cuba, Culture Vulture, Deluxe Remaster, EGREM Studios, Eliades Ochoa, Grammy, Havana, History Man, Ibrahim Ferrer, Jaca, London, Manchester, Omara Portuondo, Paul Whitelock, Rubén González, Ry Cooder, Nick Gold, Spanish Fly, Wikipedia, Wim Wenders, World Circuit, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.es, www.eyeonspain.com

Tuberculosis, depression, and excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption aged Vivien Leigh prematurely, but they did not destroy her beauty or diminish her elegance.

[Rafael Narbona, El Español]

Vivien Leigh photographed by Roloff Beny in 1958. © El Español

Backstory

Vivien Leigh (5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967) was a British actress, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949.

After completing her drama school education, Vivien Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progressed to the role of heroine in "Fire Over England" (1937). Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that her physical attributes sometimes prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress.

Despite her later fame as a screen actress, Leigh was primarily a stage performer. During her 30-year career, she played roles ranging from the heroines of Noel Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet, and Lady Macbeth.                                                     

                                                                                                                   Photo: Wikipedia

Later in her life, she performed as a character actress in a few films.

At the time, the public strongly identified Vivien Leigh with her second husband, Laurence Olivier, who was her spouse from 1940 to 1960. Leigh and Olivier starred together in many stage productions, with Olivier often directing, and in three films.

She earned a reputation for being difficult to work with, and for much of her life she had bipolar disorder, as well as recurrent bouts of chronic tuberculosis, which was first diagnosed in the mid-1940s and ultimately led to her early death at age 53.

The twilight years

Vivien, who had contracted the disease at thirty-five, continued to smoke eighty cigarettes a day, a habit acquired during the filming of Gone with the Wind, when a benzedrine-intoxicated David O. Selznick demanded twelve-hour workdays and Victor Young hurled intolerable profanity at her for daring to make suggestions on how to play the impetuous Scarlett O'Hara.

After separating from Laurence Olivier, Vivien commented that she did not want to live long, because although she was not unhappy with Jack Merivale, her last partner, the passion was only a pale memory and not an everyday experience.

                                                                                                   Leigh with Gable in"Gone with the Wind"

The romance with "Larry", the name friends and family used to refer to Olivier, had included great storms, intense moments of anger, frenzy and madness, but it had also taught him that paradise was not a dream, a mere fantasy, but a sweet torment akin to Scarlett's unrequited love for Ashley Wilkes. "I longed for that sweet torment and couldn't bear to think that it was something irretrievably lost."

Tuberculosis, depression, excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption aged Vivien prematurely, but they did not destroy her beauty or diminish her elegance.

In the main photograph above she only needs to tilt her head slightly to give off sensuality and mystery. Wearing a black suit and arms crossed, the jewels she displays (a ring, a bracelet and earrings) convey not ostentation, but refinement.

                                                                                                                 Leigh with Olivier

Vivien, who had contracted tuberculosis at the age of thirty-five, continued to smoke eighty cigarettes a day at the end of her life

 

Trapped by a spiral of euphoria and sadness, illusions and disappointments, she barely knew happiness. Unstable, tragic, and intelligent, she externalized her own inner torment in A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951), where she gives life to a kind of Scarlett O'Hara stripped of Tara and with a faded beauty.

This portrayal brought her second Oscar for Best Actress.

                                                                                                Leigh with Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire

Her Blanche Dubois is not far from the Norma Desmond of The Twilight of the Gods (Billy Wilder, 1950). Gloria Swanson plays an old silent film actress who longs to regain the fame destroyed by the success of talkies. That's not the case for Vivien Leigh, who never wanted to be a star.

However, Blanche and Norma share a fear of old age. They know that they are withering away and their imagination does not stop travelling to the past, looking for those moments of happiness and splendour that their beauty gave them. Both abuse alcohol and groom themselves with great care, trying to hide the ravages of age. 

Despite her twilight appearance, Vivien Leigh still exudes strength, ambition, and fervor, but her eyes avoid direct confrontation with the camera.

Vivien Leigh died in 1967 at the age of 53. We would have preferred her to live to be 102, like Olivia de Havilland, her partner and rival in Gone with the Wind.

More than half a century has elapsed since then, but anyone who desires to know passion, courage, romantic despair, obstinacy, nostalgia, the most flowery fantasy, and the most foolish pride, is still compelled to follow in the footsteps of Scarlett O'Hara through the red clay of Tara or under the magnolias of The Twelve Oaks.

It's not true that the wind blows everything away. The beautiful and the good always endure. Vivien Leigh is not a handful of dust, but a rose of imperishable beauty. In 1963, a gardener created a pink with her name on it. Fragrant, crimson red and with black shading on the edge of its petals, it defeats death every time. That rose is really Vivien Leigh, and because of her, the world is a happier and brighter place.

©  The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

Country Living Magazine (photos)

El Español

Facebook

Paul Whitelock (Translator)

Rafael Narbona (author of article in El Español)

Wikipedia

Tags:

Academy Award for Best Actress, alcohol consumption, Ashley Wilkes, "A Streetcar Named Desire", Blanche DuBois, Brando, character actress, Clark Gable, Cleopatra, Country Living Magazine, Culture Vulture, depression, Facebook, "Fire Over England", Gable, George Bernard Shaw, "Gone with the Wind", Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Larry, Lawrence Olivier, Marlon Brando, Noel Coward, Olivia De Havilland, Olivier, Ophelia, Oscar, Paul Whitelock, Rafael Narbona, Roloff Beny, Scarlett O'Hara, tobacco consumption, Tuberculosis, Vivien Leigh, West End, Wikipedia 

Holy Week (Semana Santa) begins today, Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos), and lasts until next Sunday, Easter Sunday (Domingo de Resurrección).

In Spain Semana Santa is the annual tribute of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods (hermandades) and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of almost every Spanish city and town during Holy Week – the last week of Lent, immediately before Easter.

These hermandades have their origins in the Middle Ages, but a number of them were created during the Baroque Period, inspired by the Counterreformation and also during the 20th and 21st centuries. The membership is usually open to any Catholic person and family tradition is an important element to become a member or "brother" (hermano).

Some major differences between Spanish regions are perceivable in these processions: Semana Santa sees its most glamorous celebrations in Andalucía, especially in Jerez de la Frontera, Granada, Málaga and Sevilla, while those of the Castilla y León region see the more sombre and solemn processions in Zamora, León and Valladolid.

A common feature in Spain is the almost general usage of the nazareno or penitential robe for some of the participants in the processions. This garment consists of a tunic, a hood with conical tip (capirote) used to conceal the face of the wearer, and sometimes a cloak. The exact colours and forms of these robes depend on the particular fraternity.

The robes were widely used in the medieval period for penitents, who could demonstrate their penance while still masking their identity. These nazarenos carry processional candles or rough-hewn wooden crosses, may walk the city streets barefoot, and, in some places may wear shackles and chains on their feet as penance. In some areas, sections of the participants wear dress freely inspired by the uniforms of the Roman Legion.

The other common feature is that every brotherhood carries magnificent floats (pasos or tronos) or with sculptures that depict different scenes from the gospels related to the Passion of Christ or the Sorrows of Virgin Mary.

Brotherhoods have owned and preserved these "tronos" for centuries in some cases. Usually, the " tronos " are accompanied by marching bands performing "marchas procesionales", a specific type of composition, devoted to the images and fraternities.

Note: A version of this article in Spanish is available here:

SEMANA SANTA (Holy Week) (eyeonspain.com)

© The Culture Vulture

Tags:

Andalucia, brotherhood, Castilla y León, cofradias, Culture Vulture, Domingo de Ramos, Domingo de Resurrección, Easter, Easter Sunday, fraternities, Granada, hermandades, Holy Week, Jerez de la Frontera, León, Málaga, marchas procesionales, Middle Ages, Palm Sunday, paso, Passion of Jesus Christ, Semana Santa, Sevilla, Sorrows of Virgin Mary, trono, Valladolid, Zamora

By The Culture Vulture

I first came across the idea of the “book exchange” several years ago.

The idea is you deposit a book and take one away. No money is involved. It’s a great way to recycle books, instead of them ending up in landfill.

Bücher-Box

The first place I saw this was a good ten years ago in Pforzheim (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany). A disused Telefonzelle (telephone box) had been converted into a book swap site.

Ideal. A prominent location on a pedestrian only shopping street and protected from the weather. It worked on an honesty basis – the Germans are particularly honest (except for the b**tard who nicked my wallet in 2022 and the other a***hole who helped himself to my laptop on a train in 2023).

I’ve since seen such book swaps in other parts of Germany; in Detmold (North Rhine Westfalia), Dresden (Saxony), Heilbronn (B-W), Jülich (NRW), Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein) and Uetersen (S-H).

Intercambio de libros

Recently I have become aware of a few around the Ronda area and beyond.

In Barrio San Francisco there is one sponsored by the A.VV. (Asociacion de Vecinos) outside Bar Ambigú next door to the CEPSA petrol station.

The books are located in a glass cabinet in the porch, o you can access it when the bar is closed.

Three days ago I discovered another by chance in a bazar in Montejaque (Málaga), Complementos Vero.

This one has only just started up, yet has already received lots of donations of books in Spanish.

I’ve already benefited by acquiring a copy of La Casa de Bernarda Alba by my favourite Spanish playwright, Federico García Lorca, murdered in 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War on General Franco’s orders. I also got a book of poetry by Sevilla-born poet Antonio Machado.

Yesterday I acquired a super book about Málaga City, full of great photos, in exchange for a hardback novel in English by John Grisham. That was inside Super Chisma, a supermarket on the polígono industrial in Ronda.

I believe there are also book exchanges in Cortes de la Frontera (Málaga), Gaucín (Málaga), and Ubrique (Cádiz), three of the bigger towns around here.

There may be more. Please let us know, via the comments section.

© The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

All photos by Paul Whitelock except:

main photo (Facebook) 

telephone box (Wikipedia)

Tags:

Antonio Machado, A.VV., Asociación de Vecinos), Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bar Ambigú, Barrio San Francisco, Cádiz, CEPSA, Complementos Vero, Cortes de la Frontera, Culture Vulture, Detmold, Dresden, Federico García Lorca, Gaucín, General Franco, Heilbronn, John Grisham, Jülich, La Casa de Bernarda Alba, Lübeck, Málaga, Montejaque, NRW, North Rhine Westfalia, Pablo de Ronda, Paul Whitelock, Pforzheim, Ronda, Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Sevilla, Spanish Civil War,  Super Chisma, Ubrique, Uetersen

                          ^{Photo courtesy YouTube}

Live music in Ronda and the Serranía

By The Culture Vulture

Fans of live music are in for a treat starting tonight and finishing next weekend. There are live gigs in Ronda and in Jimera de Líbar.  

TODAY – Saturday 17 February 2024 at 7.00 pm

^{Photo courtesy Ronda Today}

Heaven Irish Tavern, Ronda. 

Free concert. 

The Howling Ramblers. 

This rockabilly group is well-established on the music scene around these parts. Tonight’s performance in Ronda is part of their current 2024 tour, which will take the band to Seville, Madrid and Algeciras, before they head off to France, Gibraltar and the UK.

^{Photo courtesy Facebook}

This five-piece band’s name is a tribute to American blues legend Howlin’ Wolf and US country icon Hank “The Rambling Man” Williams. 

I’ve seen and heard this band before and shall be there in Calle Santa Cecilia, Ronda, tonight. They are good! 

***

Saturday 24 February 2024 

Jimera de Líbar and Ronda

^{Photo courtesy Facebook}

Donovan Keith from Texas is touring Spain. He has already performed concerts in Lugo, A Coruña, Valladolid, Madrid and Zaragoza.

He is about to play four gigs in Malaga province: Estepona, Malaga City and two up here in the Serranía de Ronda.

Saturday 24 February

Donovan Keith is singing at Allioli Bar y Más in Jimera de Líbar, starting at 2.00 pm. 

^{Photo courtesy Facebook}

In the evening he will be performing at the afore-mentioned Irish Pub in Ronda. 

I know Donovan Keith. I met him in 2022 and again in 2023 when he performed  at the Pueblos Blancos Music Festival, which takes place every year over four days and nights in Grazalema, Montejaque, Ronda and Villaluenga del Rosario.

^{Photo courtesy Paul Whitelock}

Donovan is talented and knows it, but he’s a super bloke. 

I intend to go to one of his concerts, probably in Jimera. Sitting in the open air and paying normal prices for food and drinks is preferable to the stuffy and cramped indoor space and very pricey drinks at the Irish Pub in Ronda. 

Go on, treat yourselves to some great, free live music. 

For those who can’t make it, I’ll report on both gigs in the REVIEWS section of www.help-me-ronda.com after next weekend.

© The Culture Vulture 

Acknowledgements: 

Allioli Bar Y Más

Clive Muir, Ronda Today 

Facebook

FreePik

Paul Darwent

Paul Whitelock

Tony Bryant, SUR in English

YouTube

Tags:

A Coruña, Algeciras, Allioli Bar Y Más, Culture Vulture, Donovan Keith, Estepona, France, Gibraltar, Grazalema, Hank  Williams, Howling Ramblers, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimera de Líbar, Lugo, Madrid, Malaga City, Montejaque Music Festival, Paul Darwent, Pueblos Blancos, rockabilly, Ronda,  Serranía de Ronda, Seville, SUR in English, Texas, The Rambling Man, Tony Bryant, UK, Valladolid, Villaluenga del Rosario, YouTube, Zaragoza

Do you remember the 1989 Oscar-winning film of the same name starring Robin Williams as the teacher who was passionate about deceased poets? 

Williams is himself now dead, having committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. 

There are several writers, many of them foreign, who live/d in and around Ronda or who wrote about the town from abroad. 

Here, Ronda resident and would-be published writer, The Culture Vulture, casts his eye over some of them, whether dead or alive. 

Ronda Writers and Writers on Ronda 

By The Culture Vulture 

Dead or alive, there are a significant number of writers, mainly foreign, who have published novels, non-fiction works and poetry about the Ciudad Soñada (Ronda) and the surrounding area. Many still reside or did reside here. 

Of those still with us, in alphabetical order, are Ronda poet, David Aguilera; Polish environmentalist Eva Monica Bratek; Ronda businesswoman Charo Carrasco; Irish poet Michael Coy; English actress Emma Cherry; retired Canadian stylist Caroline Emmett; American journalist Edward Lewine; Norwegian journalist Karethe Linaee; Ronda novelist Miguel Ruiz Trigueros; and English newspaper publisher Jon Clarke. 

‘Late’ writers on Ronda include English historian Tony Bishop; Scottish peer Alastair Boyd; American Nobel-prizewinning author Ernest Hemingway; English walking guru Guy Hunter-Watts; and Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

‘Dead’

Tony Bishop

Tony Bishop, a good friend, met the lady who was to become his wife, Eva Monica Bratek, here in Andalucía in the early ‘Noughties’. They moved to live in Montejaque where they ‘jumped the broom’ in 2011.

I was thrilled to be invited to the wedding and the subsequent ‘wedding breakfast’. Tony and Eva had been working on a walking guide to the area. Walking in the Ronda Mountains was published by Editorial La Serranía in the same year, 2011. 

Sadly, Tony died following a fall at home in 2013. He was just 74. 

Alastair Boyd

Alastair Boyd (1927 – 2009), who became the 17^th Baron Kilmarnock on the death of his father in 1975, first came to Ronda in 1957 and lived in the partly dilapidated Casa de Mondragon, later to be restored and become a Palacio and the home of Ronda’s Municipal Museum. 

At first, Boyd ran a language school with his wife Diana. They had two horses which they rode around the region, culminating in several acclaimed books in English about Ronda. These include The Road to Ronda (1969) and Sierras of the South (1992). 

Both books were translated into Spanish and were re-published by Editorial La Serrania.  De Ronda a las Alpujarras (2007) is also available in Spanish. All three books are still available in bookshops and online. 

Alastair Boyd lived latterly in La Indiana, Ronda, until his death in 2009 aged 81. His son Jaime still lives here with his Spanish wife and family.  

Although I never met ‘Mister’ Boyd, as the locals called him, I attended his memorial service on behalf of The Olive Press, for which I was working at the time. 

Ernest Hemingway 

Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) never lived in Ronda, but, like his contemporary Orson Welles he was a fanatical aficionado of the bullfight. A regular visitor to Pamplona for the bullfight festival of San Fermin and to Ronda which back then was the hub of los toros, he wrote several important books on the area. 

His novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, also a 1943 film starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, was about the Spanish Civil War and includes scenes set in Ronda. 

He also wrote two classic non-fiction books about the bulls, The Sun Also Rises (published as Fiesta in the UK) and Death in the Afternoon are must-reads. 

A troubled man, Hemingway shot himself in Ketchum (Idaho, USA) in 1961 aged 61. 

I was recovering in hospital in Germany from an appendix operation, aged 21, when I was introduced to Hemingway. His books about bullfighting kindled an interest in bullfighting which remains with me to this day. 

After Germany I subsequently went to the fiesta of San Fermín in Pamplona two years running in the early 1970s. It was there that I saw the young Paquirri from Ronda for the first time. He went on to become the top torero of his generation, but sadly died in the ring after coming out of retirement for one last corrida. He was 36. 

When I ended up living in Ronda some 35 years later, I got the opportunity to follow in Hemingway's footsteps, so to speak. 

Guy Hunter-Watts

Guy Hunter-Watts (1959 - 2023) was a celebrated author of some 10 walking guides based on southern Spain. A resident of Andalucia for over 30 years, latterly in Montecorto, near Ronda, he sadly died of head injuries in 2023 after a freak cycling accident. He was just 64. 

His books include Walking Coastal Walks in Andalucia, Walking in Andalucia, Walking in the Mountains of Ronda and Grazalema, Trekking the Andalucian Coast to Coast Walk, Trekking the GR7 in Andalucia. 

Originally published by Santana Books (now defunct), Cicerone Press has now taken over his portfolio.

I bought several of his books, one containing a personal dedication. I had got to know him quite well before his sudden demise. He was a very likeable and popular man. 

I attended Guy’s funeral service in a private capacity, along with some 200 relatives and friends. 

Obituary here: MEET THE 'LOCALS' - Help me, Ronda (help-me-ronda.com) 

Rainer Maria Rilke 

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) was born in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. His native language was therefore German. 

Rilke, a troubled man, unsuccessful with women, wandered aimlessly to Paris, Toledo, and Cordoba in search of inspiration to battle his severe case of writer’s block. When, on a whim, he ended up in Ronda, he was suddenly inspired by the town he called Ciudad Soñada (City of Dreams). 

He stayed for two years in Room 208 of the Hotel Reina Victoria, and enjoyed the most prolific and productive period of his life. The hotel retains a small display dedicated to Rilke near the hotel bar. His poetry is highly regarded, although written in German. 

Three works have a Ronda connection: The Spanish Trilogy The Sixth Elegy The Raising of Lazarus.

For a longer article about Rainer Maria Rilke visit: RILKE. Who? (eyeonspain.com) 

‘Alive’

Those writers still with us all live or have lived in the Ronda area. 

David Aguilera, Charo Carrasco, Michael Coy, Karethe Linaee, and Miguel Ruiz Trigueros live in Ronda; Emma Cherry in Benaoján; Carolyn Emmett in Montejaque; and Jon Clarke splits his time between Arriate and San Pedro de Alcántara, where his son attends school. 

David Aguilera

David Aguilera (1977 - ) was born in Ronda, raised in Marbella, and now resides in Ronda once more. He has three collections of poems in Spanish, all published by Platero Coolbooks. 

They are Club de caballeros, Confidencias a mamá and Ronda, retales del alma (2023). 

Charo Carrasco

Charo Carrasco, born and bred in Ronda is the owner of a sports goods shop in the town, Intersport Cary. She is also a wife and mum to one son, Jesus. Her main hobby is acting. 

She is a member of the group Proyecto Platea, based in Ronda and run by professional Ronda-born actor Marcos Marcell. 

I know Charo well, having attended acting classes with her – she is a stunningly good actress. She is also a playwright, together with Emma Cherry, also great on stage, whom I also know. 

Emma is an English-trained professional actress who lives in Benaoján. 

Together Charo and Emma have recently published a collection of the plays they have written, called Yo soy teatro. 

The anthology is apparently selling like hot cakes, both in local bookshops and on Amazon, where it is already a bestseller in the genre.  

“Estamos muy contentas y un poco incrédulas porque en apenas unos días nos hemos colocado en el número uno junto a títulos como La Casa de Bernarda Alba. Es impresionante”, says Charo.   

Emma Cherry

Emma Cherry is a Londoner, who trained as an actress at The Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent. Coincidentally, the same drama school where my professional actor son Tom trained, although Emma was there a few years later. 

After living for a number of years in Mallorca, Emma moved to Benaoján, near Ronda, where she joined local drama school Proyecto Platea. That’s where she met Charo Carrasco (see above). And the rest is history. See above.

 Emma Cherry and Charo Carrasco pose with a copy of their book [Photo courtesy of CharryTV]

Jon Clarke

Jon Clarke, a former journalist with The Daily Mail in London, moved to Spain around 20 years ago, where took over the Western Andalucia edition of The Olive Press, then a new and free fortnightly English language newspaper. 

He settled in Arriate with his wife Gabriela and they soon had two children. 

In fact, I got to know Jon back in the early days of the paper when I emigrated to Montejaque and was interviewed for a job with him. I worked at The Olive Press for about a year, cutting my teeth as a writer and selling advertising space, in order to fund the paper. 

As time has gone on, Jon took over the Eastern Andalucia Edition of The Olive Press, combining the two papers. 

Over the years the paper has also expanded to five further editions in English, and one in German which debuted in September 2023. 

As for books, Jon Likes his food, so his first publication, Dining Secrets of Andalucia, takes us on a journey to some of the finest restaurants throughout the region. 

Jon has taken a keen interest in the Madeleine McCann case over many years. Maddy was the three-year-old English girl who disappeared from a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007. Jon’s book about the case is My Search for Madeleine and it’s published by OP Books. 

The book charts Jon’s often-frightening journey from the Ocean Club holiday resort in Praia da Luz through many isolated parts of Portugal and Spain and finally on to Germany. He points his finger firmly at the new prime suspect Christian Brueckner and explains, in detail and with the help of the people who knew Brueckner best, why he thinks he did it. 

He traces the suspect’s grim upbringing, his ease of movement around Europe and also questions the integrity of the Portuguese police. He wonders whether someone, somewhere is covering something up. 

“A page-turner from chapter one… Loved it. The detail will stagger you. This is what proper investigative journalism is about.” - Patrick Hill, SUNDAY MIRROR 

“Jon Clarke’s book exposes the secret dark world behind the biggest mystery of the 21st century.”                       - Mike Ridley, THE SUN 

Michael Coy

Michael Coy moved to Ronda over 20 years ago. The former teacher, then barrister, came to Ronda for love.

Irish-born, he worked in London, but shared a home with his brothers in Wrexham, N Wales, before emigrating. 

Fluent in Spanish now, Michael earns his living as a private tutor, and independent gestor, helping other foreigners sort out their affairs. 

He also writes poetry and inspired by a true story in Italy, he wrote and published an epic poem based on the case. It’s called The Luckless Girl and it was published by The Conrad Press in 2022. 

I’ve known Michael for over 20 years. We met in a bar in Ronda, as you do, and he has been a good pal over the years. Michael is the reason I am married to Rita - he introduced us in September 2008 at the Feria de Pedro Romero in Ronda. 

Back to his book, I attended his book launch in 2022 and bought a copy of The Luckless Girl in which Michael wrote a nice dedication. At over 800 pages (thicker than Tolstoy’s War and Peace, I think!). 

I must confess I haven’t got very far into it yet. However, I hear it’s selling steadily in a local bookshop, Librería Dumas, and also online. 

Carolyn Emmett 

Carolyn Emmett (1953 - ) and husband Kevin live in Montejaque in the Serrania de Ronda. They have had an exciting expatriate life, having lived in Canada, Indonesia, Botswana and South Africa before retiring to Montejaque in 2011. 

In 2013, together with local friend Victoria, Carolyn designed and produced The Cookbook and Village Guide (El Libro de Cocina y Guia del Pueblo), a bilingual recipe book that includes recipes from the locals, bars and restaurants and extranjeros. 

All proceeds from the cookbook were used for a social project in the village.

Edward Lewine

Edward Lewine (1967 - ) an American journalist, fell in love with Spain during a holiday here. He returned to spend time in Ronda where he wrote Death and the Sun (2014) about the bullfighter Francisco Rivera Ordoñez, son of Paquirri and grandson of Antonio Ordóñez Dominguín.

Part sports writing, part travelogue, this is a portrait of Spain, its people, and their passion for a beautiful yet deadly spectacle. A brilliant observer, Lewine reveals a Spain few outsiders have seen. There's nothing more Spanish than bullfighting, and nothing less like its stereotype. For matadores and aficionados, it is not a blood sport but an art, an ancient subculture steeped in ritual, machismo, and the feverish attentions of fans and the press. 

Lewine explains Spain and the art of the bulls by spending a bullfighting season travelling Spanish highways with the celebrated matador Francisco Rivera Ordónez (Fran, as he's known) through every region and social stratum. Fran's great-grandfather, the afore-mentioned Antonio Ordóñez, was a famous bullfighter and the inspiration for Hemingway's matador in The Sun Also Rises. 

Fran's father was also a star matador, Paquirri, until a bull took his life shortly before Fran's eleventh birthday. Fran is both blessed and haunted by his family history. Formerly a top performer himself, Fran's reputation has slipped, and as the season opens, he feels intense pressure to live up to his legacy amid tabloid scrutiny in the wake of his separation from his wife, a duchess. 

But Fran perseveres through an eventful season of early triumph, serious injury, and an unlikely return to glory. 

The New York Times wrote about Death in the Sun: "May be the most in-depth, incisively written guide to bullfighting available in English.” 

"Lewine demonstrates knowledge of and respect for the matador's dangerous profession.” — Boston Globe. 

I was stunned by the book; I couldn’t put it down. Having seen Paquirri perform in Pamplona as a young man, and subsequently his sons Fran and Cayetano in Ronda, I found it easy to identify with the book.

Karethe Linaee

Karethe Linaee is Norwegian but lived and worked in Vancouver, Canada, for many years. There she met Jaime, born in Mexico, but of Basque heritage. 

I met Jaime in 2010 when he rented my apartment in Ronda to do a “recce”. Karethe and Jaime had decided to leave Canada and move to Spain, and Ronda ended up being their choice “for the time being”. 

They stayed in my place another time while they found their feet in their new home town. 

They are still here 12 years later, and curiously bought the house next door to my apartment. 

Karethe is an experienced journalist and is editor of and contributor to several Scandinavian magazines and journals. 

She also wrote a book in English about their adventure in leaving Canada and moving to Ronda. Called Casita 26, it was published in 2020. It has since been translated into Spanish and is available in both languages from Editorial La Serrania. 

Miguel Ruíz Trigueros

Miguel Ruíz Trigueros was born in Málaga in 1961. When he was very young his family moved to Latin America where Miguel studied at universities in San José, Mexico City and the USA.  

At that time he was spending a lot of time crossing the Atlantic from east to west. 

On this side of the Atlantic Ocean he writes regularly for the magazines “Tierra” in Málaga and “El Candil de Diógenes” in Ronda.  

He also travels frequently to South America on behalf of several NGOs (non-governmental organisations).  

Since 1997, he has lived permanently in Ronda. 

Miguel Ruiz Trigueros is the author of the novels Los bailarines de Kronvalda, La Noche de Arcilla, Los Motivos del Sueño and La Sangre de Colón. 

I met Miguel many years ago when a local builder brought him along to interpret when I was renovating a house in the Barrio San Francisco de Ronda. As it happens, I didn’t need Miguel, but the builder didn’t know that. 

I bump into Miguel around Ronda from time to time. In fact, I saw him a couple of weeks ago.

Conclusion

This was my selection of "Dead and Alive Poets" with a connection to Ronda. I am sure to have missed some, for which I apologise.

Photos:

Editorial La Serrania, Freepik, Karl Smallman, Paul Whitelock, Santana Books, Secret Serrania, Snobb

© The Culture Vulture

Tags:

Alastair Boyd, Caroline Emmett, Charo Carrasco, Culture Vulture, David Aguilera, Dead Poets' Society, Edward Lewine, Emma Cherry, Ernest Hemingway, Eva Monica Bratek, Guy Hunter-Watts, Jon Clarke, Karethe Linaee, Michael Coy, Miguel Ruiz Trigueros, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robin Williams, Ronda writers, Tony Bishop