Peter Frampton

Este musico ingles, excelente compositor, guitarrista y voz, tiene una larga carrera que comenzo a la edad de 11 años, y que se distingue cuando se incorpora a los 18 años como miembro fundador en la famosa banda Humble Pie.

Pero en 1971 Peter Frampton, deja esa banda para hacer carrera como solista y esto lo lleva a la historia del rock, al entregarnos una de las producciones en vivo mas vendida de todos los tiempos: Frampton Comes Alive !

Ese album que fue liberado en Enero de 1976 y que convirtio a Frampton en una super estrella internacional, sigue estando como uno de las producciones en vivo mas vendidas alrededor del mundo. ( en este momento luego de 32 años, aun en cuarto lugar ).
Si no lo tienen en su coleccion de mp3s, no dejen de incorporar muchas de las famosas piezas del LP original en su libreria musical de rock.

En Caracas, fui uno de los afortunados que lo fue a ver en el Poliedro, a finales de los 70s, cuando presento con extraodinaria pasion muchos de los temas de ese gran album.

Les dejo el link de su website, donde pueden ver que este año se encuentra en gira en varias ciudades de EEUU.

A parte de ese famosa produccion en vivo, les remomiendo un DVD liberado en el 2000: Peter Frampton Live in Detroit. Alli lo podemos ver ejecutando a los 49 años ( en 1999 ) su repertorio en forma impecable.


Les dejo con una hermoso tema de ese concierto en el 99 y adicionalmente 2 famosas piezas de su album en vivo, años antes (calidad de video regular).

1. Lines On My Face, en el 99 casi en sus 50.


2. Show Me The Way


3. Do You Fell Like We Do,usando el "talk box" desde el minuto 4:58.

Live Web Concert

Hace una semana vi mi segundo concierto en transmision en vivo via INTERNET. Fue un festival musical realizado en la ciudad de Denver en Colorado y fue colocado en vivo por la gente de AT&T via Live WebCast. En unos dias en esa misma pagina que les coloque, pondran ver el resumen del evento.
Pude avisar para que disfrutaran de algunas actuaciones, a 3 amigos en Venezuela que para ese momento estaban on-line.

Este festival denominado MILE HIGH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2008 conto con la participacion de mas de 30 artistas y se realizo el Sabado 19 y el Domingo 20 de Julio.
Estre los mas notables musicos actuaron: John Mayer, Steve Winwood, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers y Dave Matthews Band quien finalizo el festival con mas de 2 horas y 18 temas el domingo en la noche.
Del variado repertorio de artistas, vi en vivo la actuacion de John Mayer, con una excelente participacion. Tambien disfrute una hermosa e impactante actuacion latina por Rodrigo y Gabriela de Mexico, y finalmente la clausura del Festival con el poderoso Dave Matthews Band, donde me parecio magistral la pieza Proudest Monkey con los invitados Tim Reynolds y Rashawn Ross.
Extraordinario festival y por supuesto considero que la experiencia de conciertos en vivo usando los Live WebCast, se pondra cada vez mas popular. Con un buen sonido y una buena velocidad de conexion a la red, uno tiene primera fila pare estos conciertos.

Busque en YouTube y solo ubique en calidad aceptable de video y audio la actuacion de John Mayer. Luego cambiare los 2 videos restantes por las actuaciones de ese dia en particular.
Sin embargo los dejare con una pieza de cada uno de estos 3 participantes que oi el pasado dia domingo en la tarde-noche.

1. Rodrigo y Gabriela, Diablo Rojo


2. John Mayer, Slow Dancing in a Burning Room ( el 20.07.08 )


3. Dave Matthews Band, Proudest Monkey ( el 05.07.08 )

OBAMA en Berlin

Como parte de su gira internacional, y antes de continuar a Francia y a Inglaterra, Obama realizo una visita a Berlin, Alemania donde presento su vision a Europa y al resto del Mundo en un importante discurso.

Les dejo con el video y el texto del discurso de Barak Obama hoy 24 de Julio frente a miles de personas en Berlin, que querian oir y entender su mensaje de union y esperanza.



"A World that Stands as One"
July 24th, 2008
Berlin, Germany

Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome.

I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life.

That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom. And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life.

Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.

On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade.

This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin.

The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin.

And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city.

The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold.

But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!"

People of the world - look at Berlin!

Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle.

Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security.

Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity.

People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.

Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again. History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history.

The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean.

The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.

As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all.

In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny.

In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe.

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.
The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid.

So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other.

That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew.

This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.

This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent.

This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all.

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close.

This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one.

And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

Nuevas Sedes Deportivas

Hace como 3 semanas fui a un partido de baseball de las Grandes Ligas entre los Orioles de Baltimore y los Nacionales de Washington, en la ciudad capital de EEUU Washington.

Este nuevo stadium exclusivo para el baseball, que fue inaugurado en marzo del 2008 se llama Nationals Park, y es muy hermoso y practico. Su capacidad es de 41.888 espectadores , no tiene techo retractable, y sus espacios para sitios de alimentos y bares son de excelente calidad.


En el Blog les dejo 3 fotos que tome en esa ocasion. La visual para disfrutar el evento deportivo es excelente desde cualquier sitio donde se ubique el aficionado. Este stadium fue construido a un costo de $611 millones, por la misma firma HOK Sport, que tambien construye los parques de baseball en New York para los Mets y los Yankees y que estaran listos para la temporada del 2009.

Verificando un poco sobre la construccion de nuevos parques de baseball para el MLB en USA, existen 3 en progreso, los 2 en New York que ya mencione y el nuevo stadium para los Twins de Minnesota que estara listo en el 2010.

Adicionalmente ya aprobado y por comenzar construccion en Otoño de este año esta el nuevo stadium en Miami para los Marlins de Florida, que debera estar terminado en el 2011. Adicionalmente estan en planes y para ser aprobados nuevos baseball parks para los Atleticos de Oakland en California y las MantaRayas de Tampa Bay en Florida.

En USA y el resto del Mundo se estan construyendo continuamente nuevas e impresionantes sedes deportivas, con hermosos diseños arquitectonicos, que serviran para grandes eventos como las Olimpiadas de Beijing en China a partir del 08.08.2008 o las de Londres en el 2012. Normalmente estas grandes obras se utilizan durante muchas decadas, como pueden observar en el listado de sedes para los equipos de la NFL o la MLB.


Los dejo con un video de la impresionante y expectacular nueva sede deportiva para el equipo de football Dallas Cowboys que estara lista a finales de Agosto del 2009. Sin lugar a dudas, una nueva sede deportiva a visitar en Texas, USA cuando este en funcionamiento.

DIRE STRAITS

Una banda de rock inglesa que sacudio el mundo a finales de los 70's y durante toda la decada de los 80's fue DIRE STRAITS (activa en el periodo 1977-1995)

Con mas de 118 millones de albums vendidos a la fecha, DIRE STRAITS fue galardonada con prermios Grammys y tan solo produjo 6 albums en estudio y 3 en vivo, ademas de 3 compilaciones, pero el material que produjo los coloco por siempre en la historia del rock, debido a la pasion y gran riqueza de sus temas.
Aqui pueden leer su discografia.

Les recomiendo, las que son para mi sus mejores producciones: Alchemy album en vivo liberado en 1984, Brothers in Arms, album de estudio liberado en 1985, , y la extraordinaria compilacion The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations, liberada en el 2005.
Esta ultimo CD, a la venta en 4 versiones, sigue siendo muy buscado y obtuvo certificacion GOLD aun despues de 10 años de la disolucion de la banda.
No dejen de tenerlo en su coleecion.
Tambien les dejo el link de la biografia del lider voz y guitarra de la banda Mark Knopfler.
Adicionalmente su web site oficial y la pagina del tour en progreso.

Finalmente les coloco algunos de mis temas favoritos que siguen haciendo historia y links adicionales con otros temas o versiones.
Disfruten de una de las mejores bandas de Rock de todos los tiempos.

1. Sultans of Swing, en 1986 en Sydney, con close up a la ejecucion.



2. Brothers in Arms, obra magica y aqui solo con Mark Knopfler.



3. Romeo and Juliet, hermosa pieza.



4. Your Latest Trick.



Y ahora los links adicionales:

5. Sultans of Swing, esta version con mas de 3 millones de clicks.
6. Once Upon A Time in the West
7. Tunnel Of Love, atencion al audio. (parte I)
8. Tunnel Of Love, (parte II)
9. Private Investigations
10. So Far Away, en Sydney con una version muy buena.

PICKENS PLAN

Este millonario norteamericano propuso este pasado 8 de Julio, un plan para reducir la dependencia de Estados Unidos de la importacion de petroleo usando 3 fuentes: gas natural (para el transporte ), y viento y energia solar.
La verdad que su plan no es del todo muy original, pero observo que la matriz de opinion sobre la idea de elaborar y ejecutar en corto plazo un plan nacional para lograr la independencia de fuentes extranjeras en cuanto a la ENERGIA se refiere, es un hecho que la proxima administracion, ya sea republicana o democrata, pondra en funcionamiento.
Seguramente no sera su plan el que finalmente se aplique, pero quizas alguna variante del mismo. Sin embargo no queda lugar a dudas que Mr. T. Boone Pickens esta inviertiendo ya millones de dolares en generar energia usando el viento como fuente.
Al final de este blog pueden ver en YouTube su comercial de TV y unos minutos donde el propio T. Boone Pickens explica sus argumentos.
Estoy seguro de que esta linea de pensamiento ya esta siendo implantada en muchos paises del "primer mundo" y que sus primeros frutos se veran alrededor del 2020 al 2025, o en muchos casos antes.
Que siginifica todo lo anterior para los paises productores de petroleo como Venezuela o el Emirato Arabe de Dubai ? Es muy sencillo. Tienen muy poco tiempo para disfrutar del beneficio de esa super bonanza de dolares.
Particularmente en Dubai las inversiones en infraestructuras son a la fecha inmensas. Estan aprovechando esa ventana temporal a pasos acelerados para mejorar el pais.
No es el caso de Venezuela y repito el tiempo que queda es muy corto.

Pickens TV Commercial


Pickens y los argumentos de su PLAN.

John Mayer

John Mayer compositor ,vocalista y excelente guitarrista, ganador de premios Grammys en el 2003 y en el 2007, es uno de los jovenes del pop-rock-blues que mas exito ha tenido en los ultimos 7 años.


De John Mayer recomiendo su produccion Continuum, que fue liberada en Septiembre del 2006 y que gano Grammys como mejor Album Pop y mejor cancion con "Wainting on the World to Change".


En su gira Summer Tour 2008, se estara presentando en Raleigh el 27 de Agosto.

Hace muy poco, el primero de Julio de este año, libero su mas reciente produccion "Where The Light is" que es un CD/DVD de un concierto grabado en Los Angeles el 8 de Diciembre del 2007.
Al final de este post le pongo unos links de YouTube con algunos temas de dicha presentacion.

Espero disfruten mis 5 temas favoritos que les dejo en este blog y luego los links adicionales con otras presentaciones en vivo:

1. Gravity, grabado en Abbey Road.



2. Belief, tambiem grabado en Abbey Road.



3. Wainting on the World to Change, version acustica de su exito.



4. I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You, muy buen tema.



5. I Don't Need No Doctor, de Ray Charles y la toca junto a John Scofield.


Ahora los links para que continuen disfrutando temas de este joven artista:

6. Wainting on the World to Change , con la banda.
7. Neon , de su ultimo concierto en CD/DVD.
8. Bold as Love , tambien del mismo concierto.
9. Free Fallin' , bella pieza original de Tom Petty.
10. Gravity , en el concierto Live Earth el 7/7/07.
11. Slow Dancing in A Burning Room , un hermoso Blues
12. #41, acompañando a Dave Matthews Band en Virginia Tech concert.

Mensaje Universal

Hace un mes y unos dias se cumplieron 40 años del asesinato de Robert Kennedy, hermano del tambien asesinado 35th presidente de los EEUU John F Kennedy.

Ese lamentable hecho ocurrio el 5 de Junio de 1968.
Solo dos meses y un dia antes, el 4 de Abril de 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. era asesinado, un hecho que convulsiono la sociedad americana.
Al dia siguiente, el 5 de Abril de 1968 en Cleveland Ohio, Robert F. Kennedy, presento un hermoso mensaje titulado " The Mindless Menace of Violence" .
Considero que este mensaje, focalizado en su momento por el senador Robert Kennedy a la situacion de su pais, es un mensaje universal de reflexion sobre la violencia para todas las sociedades del planeta.

Este mansaje, que asumo se edito para acortarlo, fue utilizado en los minutos finales de la pelicula Bobby dirigida por Emilio Estevez y estrenada en el 2006.

Debido a la constante violencia que hay en el Mundo, en Latinoamerica y particularmente en mi pais de origen Venezuela, deseo que esas palabras de este ilustre personaje iluminen las mentes y acciones de los responsables por lograr una paz y el ansiado progreso que tanto requieren nuestros paises.

Los dejo con el mensaje " The Mindless Menace of Violence" en un video que localize en YouTube, y el discurso para su lectura, donde resalte las palabras del audio del video.

On the Mindless Menace of Violence

City Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
April 5, 1968

This is a time of shame and sorrow. It is not a day for politics. I have saved this one opportunity, my only event of today, to speak briefly to you about the mindless menace of violence in America which again stains our land and every one of our lives.

It is not the concern of any one race. The victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are, most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed. No one - no matter where he lives or what he does - can be certain who will suffer from some senseless act of bloodshed. And yet it goes on and on and on in this country of ours.

Why? What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.

No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.

Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence - whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.

"Among free men," said Abraham Lincoln, "there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and those who take such appeal are sure to lose their cause and pay the costs."

Yet we seemingly tolerate a rising level of violence that ignores our common humanity and our claims to civilization alike. We calmly accept newspaper reports of civilian slaughter in far-off lands. We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment. We make it easy for men of all shades of sanity to acquire whatever weapons and ammunition they desire.

Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.

Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.

For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is the slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter.

This is the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among other men. And this too afflicts us all.

I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.

We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.

Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.

We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.

Our lives on this planet are too short and the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a resolution.

But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

Surely, this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again.

Breeders' Cup Challenge

El hipismo en USA, tiene todos los años dos etapas muy importantes.
La primera comienza en enero por un periodo de 5 meses y medio con los caballos de 3 años tratando de clasificarse y batallando finalmente para ganar el gran clasico Kentucky Derby y los clasicos subsecuentes: el Preakness y el Belmont.
La segunda etapa es abierta a todas las edades, tipos de pista ( arena, grama o artificial ) e inclusive esta abierta a caballos nacidos en otras partes del mundo. Se trata de la Breeder's Cup donde los mejores caballos de USA compiten con caballos europeos e inclusive de otros paises como Japon, Australia, etc.
Normalmente la Breeder's Cup o campeonato mundial de criadores de purasangres de carreras se corre en Otoño, pero las carreras preparatorias y clasificatorias arrancan en Julio de cada año, con el llamado Breeder's Cup Challange, que este año seran 57 clasicos en las cuales el ganador clasifica automaticamente a la carrera en la categoria correspondiente. El resto de las clasificados se obtienen mediante un sistema de puntos.
Este fin de semana el Challenge se inicia con 2 clasicos en el hipodromo de Monmouth Park. El calendario completo de esas 57 carreras clasificatorias lo pueden ver aqui.

Desde el 2007 la Breeder's Cup se corre en un formato de dos dias.
El hipodromo seleccionado en el 2006 fue Churchill Downs en Louisville y puede disfrutar de este importante evento en vivo el 4 de noviembre , con 8 clasicos que sumaron en premios alrededor de $ 20 millones.
En el 2008 y 2009 la Breeder's se correra en California en el hipodromo de Santa Anita Park. Este año especificamente el 24 y 25 de octubre.
Seran 14 clasicos para mas de $25 millones en premios. Las yeguas estaran disputando 5 clasicos el viernes y los machos se mediran en 9 clasicos el dia sabado.
Estaremos siguiendo con atencion este Breeder's Cup Challenge.

Los dejo con el triunfo del campeon Invasor en el clasico Breeder's Cup Classic del 2006, ganandole a otro impresionante campeon Bernardini conducido por el jinete venezolano Javier Castellano.

DMB: Excelente Concierto

El concierto de ayer en la noche simplemente espectacular. Lleno total.

Dave Matthews Band y sus 3 invitados especiales se lucieron con todos los temas que tocaron y especialmente con Seek Up, #41, Dancing Nancies y un tema de Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer.
El Lunes 30 el saxofonista de DMB, Leroi Moore, tuvo un accidente serio en su hacienda y desde el martes lo esta remplazando temporalmente mientras se recupera, Jeff Coffin de la banda de Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. Los otros 2 invitados fueron los talentosos Tim Reynolds nacido en Alemania y Rashawn Ross, nacido en las Virgin Islands (Saint Thomas).

El escenario tambien fue modificado con respecto a la gira del año pasado y tiene una gran pantalla horizontal detras de los musicos y otra igualmente horizontal mas pequeña en frente de ellos pero ligeramente elevada. Las dos pantallas se superponen de vez en cuando, pero como son traslucidas realmente tienen un efecto muy particular cuando estan en uso ambas. Adicionalmente tienen 2 pantallas verticales, una a cada lado. Realmente los efectos de luz y estas pantallas logran un ambiente de concierto muy especial y espectacular.

Trate de ubicar videos de buena calidad en YouTube de la gira del 2008, pero aun no hay calidad en video y sonido.
Mientras ubico uno que valga la pena, les coloco esta pieza donde el invitado es Dave Matthews en una produccion de Carlos Santana: Love of my Life.

Ubique este video de la gira actual,en Pittsburgh (31.05.08) para que observen el buen diseño del escenario. ( 2min 11 seg)