Ibiza
F*ck Me I’m Famous.
That’s what it says on the billboard into town.
You’d think it’s Los Angeles in the seventies, with billboards for records flanking the roadway. There’s no concert recession in Ibiza, then again, are these giant raves/clubs actually concerts?
A little backstory.
Felice has a brother. Who comes to Ibiza for two months every year. He’s implored us to come, said we’d love it, but the family declined the invitation until this year, when Chris is having a landmark birthday.
We started in London. Well, not everybody, just me and Felice. You see you can’t fly direct from L.A. to Spain, never mind Ibiza, so why not fly where we have friends? I.e. Richard Griffiths and Harry Magee of Modest! Management. They represent all the X Factor stars. Along with Alison Moyet… I was introduced to her at the party, in Richard’s backyard.
Just a coincidence. That the Modest! garden party was scheduled for the day of our arrival.
One thing you’ve got to know about London in the summer time. It never gets dark! Really, in the middle of the night, you go out and the sky is still blue. As for the sun going down, when you need to turn the headlamps on in your car…that occurs about 10:30. To tell you the truth, I felt like Al Pacino in "Insomnia"… It starts to get to you. Like Barbra Streisand asking for rain in L.A., I just wanted a little darkness.
Well, the creme de la creme of the British music industry was assembled at this garden party, oh so English. It’s the same in the U.K., but different. The labels are no longer the heads of the vampire squid, and the concert business is not foolproof. But as Nick Gatfield told me two days later, music is in the U.K. DNA. It’s not like America, where everybody’s moved on to the Net. Hell, it’s truly not like the U.S., everybody still reads the newspaper, the physical one!
We went to Wimbledon… The grass is not as fast as they tell you. With a Grounds Pass, you can amble amongst the dozen odd courts and take in the early round play. Pretty fascinating, you can truly be up close and personal. Makes you want to rally…but not in this heat!
The next day we went to the War Rooms. Where Churchill and company worked underground during World War II.Â
I love this shit. So different from today, truly life and death. Utterly fascinating.
And then the meeting with the aforementioned Mr. Gatfield. Which, unfortunately, was off the record. But I can tell you that EMI is doing very innovative deals. And rather than try to compete with Universal, et al, they’re going their own way. Will they have enough rope to complete their mission? I believe Guy Hands injected more capital to get them to the lawsuit, which I think Terra Firma’s going to win, or settle. Then again, when that’s complete, I expect them to sell the label to Warner. We’ll have to just wait this one out.
Then on to Madrid.
Makes you hate L.A.
Because, just like London and Paris, Madrid has a PHENOMENAL underground. You can get anywhere in minutes.
We went to the Prado. Saw Hieronymus Bosch’s "Garden Of Earthly Delights"! Almost didn’t seem real. And to think he painted this five hundred years ago! A heathen like this would be excoriated by today’s Christian Right.
And the cars! All tiny, with weird shapes. Especially the Citroen with the back like a shelf.
Raise the gas prices in the U.S. and suddenly everybody will be driving machines like this. BMW 1 Series instead of 5’s and 7’s.
And today on to Ibiza.
For such a laid back place, the excitement is palpable. After dinner tonight, we’re going to see Swedish House Mafia. They say rock is dead, I’m not sure if electronic/dance music is here to replace it, but it’s certainly one of the surviving niches, in this case thriving.
Oh, and on the way back to the hotel in Madrid what did we pass… THE LIVE NATION OFFICE! Yup, climbing the hill by the Botanical Garden…
So, I was completely removed from my usual beat on the plane in, reading "Operation Mincemeat", living in the forties, but as soon as we landed and I saw those billboards for the clubs, featuring talent I know but barely has a profile in the U.S., I got a smile on my face, I got energized, I had a desire to dig into the scene.
And to tell you.
