Something beautiful Pt. 1

Something Amazing Pt. 2

Introducing... pt. 1

My NGBF. It was love at first sight.

Introducing... Abra. A fashionable and handsome 20 year-old with a penchant for Russ Meyer movies. He came from Alicante almost two years ago and - from what he's been telling me - has been setting the standard in the discerning club circuit with his fashion choices. In his own words, "everyone copies me". As one of the stars of www.icanteachyouhowtodoit.com (Barcelona's answer to The Cobra Snake), anything he wears can immediately become source of inspiration to the hundreds of visitors to the site. He started the leggings-for-man trend in Barcelona when, inspired by MIA and the beginnings of New Rave in London, he strutted his stuff in the most colourful lycra when all around him guys were just about coming round to tight-fitted jeans (ok, that might be an exaggeration and my apologies to the Barcelonian male species, but you haven't given me much proof of your fashion credentials so far!).

Abra Dallesandro

As any true hipster would do, as soon as the spray-on look spread around one too many manly legs, he stopped wearing it and moved on to his next fixation: Joe Dallesandro. For those of you who are not familiar with this beautiful specimen of God's creatures, he was one of Andy Warhol's Superstars, appeared in several of his movies and is a shining star in gay iconography. One of his staple looks was a bandana tied around his forehead, his flowing raven locks cascading from within it. Cue Abra, all chiseled features and asymmetric haircut, channeling the Joe Dallesandro look around the streets of Barcelona. A few months on, and it is now the norm to find at least two Dallesandro lookalikes in the clubs of the city.

At the Bonde Do Role show. Yee-haw!

As before, this was not to be missed by our hero's eagle fashion eye, who swiftly moved the bandana from his forehead to his neck in order to become a cowboy, now together with slightly-too-small denim or leather waistcoats, checked shirts, tight-fitting jeans and to top it all off in the right way, a cowboy hat casually slung backwards as if he had just stepped off his horse. His Wild West Saloons in this case being parties like Maricapop, Club Tropicana and Boombox Barcelona (unrelated to the London one), or clubs like Apolo and Razzmatazz.
A hard look to imitate from head to toe without blowing your own copycat whistle, but as any other fashion trend, if you take small details you can give a little highlight to your overall look. In this case, since every gay moderno's wardrobe already counted with at least one D'Allessandro bandana, it was only logical that this was the detail to be kept and now every other boy (and girl, actually!) has one around their neck.

Trend researchers: take note.

What's next for Abra? He's now opted for a very casual, toned-down look, the kind that is hard to be copied due to its brilliantly achieved simplicity. Then again, he has started wearing bright plastic Hawaiian lei's around his neck...

(all photos by www.icanteachyouhowtodoit.com)

It's a Rant. With capital R.

Me having an ugly day. But hey.
(photo by www.icanteachyouhowtodoit.com)

I just realized. I actually won't be living in London for at least two years, or ever. Had you thought about that? Cos I'm only just coming round to the thought. It's weird, isn't it?
Up until about a week ago, my body was here, in Spain, but my mind was somewhere else. Definitely not here. I think it was half in London, in the life I forcedly left there, and half in all the lingering thoughts I had about my future. But now it's starting to seem more of a fact that my life will have to be made in Barcelona, Spain, for the next few years. Bizarre. Things can change in a second, without you making any plans, and suddenly you have to change your whole life plan (I don't think I actually had a life plan but if I did it was certainly not like this).

So here I am. Now let's put ourselves in two little situations:
One. Imagine you get a phonecall, telling you you'll be the singer in a band and you're going on tour with them really soon, to an amazing place you never thought you'd go to before you were rich. All expenses paid. And you get to fulfill a long-life dream (let's not kid ourselves, who wouldn't love to be a rockstar?). Then it all goes to shit, just because you come from a country that needs a visa even to go to the corner shop.
Two. You're blind. You come from Belarus. You had to leave your country because you're a buddhist, and despite it supposedly being a democracy, you're persecuted because of your beliefs. So now you're in Spain, as a political refugee, and you have to get a permit that allows you to go see your mother in Russia because your dad died two months ago. If you don't get that permit, you can't leave the country, or return.

These are both true stories. Isn't it all a bit messed up? This coming from the point of view of The Immigrant. The one who has to go through a whole load of shit just because he or she thought it might be a good idea to try things out in a different country. If you're European or even American you might not always think about these things. You know, same when you sometimes think what's the use of learning another language if everyone speaks English. But these things happen, and they sometimes bug us.

But I don't wanna be a preacher. It's almost seven in the morning and I just came back from watching Princess Superstar being a bit of a disappointment, and these words are almost typing themselves... I promise the next entry will have a bit more details about what I've been up to over here and all these amazing people I've met and these fun fun parties I've been to and all that jazz. But for now, I think I'm going to bed!!

Something Amazing