Great footage from the Rhone Valley. These vines are the original vines for my Mourvedre, Grenache and Counoise vines come from Tablas Creek Winery and Nursery in Paso Robles.
On Sunday February 27th, 2011, Morante de la Puebla started out his Spanish season in great fashion with a sound performance in Madrid’s Plaza de Toros Vista Alegre. An encierro of Fuente Ymbro provided great play for El Cid and Morante as Juan Mora drew the lesser of the toros. Morante look a little tight but still showed hints of a great season to come.
Nothing else need be said than Morante de la Puebla’s performance in Jerez de la Frontera last week. Masterful with the capote. Classic with the banderillas. Pure with the muleta. The jabonero sucio from Nuñez de Cuvillo was a dream toro who allowed Morante to showcase elements of his Toreo which others wish they had. Eso es torear con duende!
In the Inaugural Corrida of the Feria de San Isidro in Madrid’s Plaza de Toros Las Ventas, Curro Diaz provided the only highlights from a dreadful afternoon where the toros from Salvador Domecq failed to show up. Diaz continued chipping away at his few opportunities in his rise in the escalafon. Diaz demostrated patience and arte on the fourth toro with a relaxed series of profound derechazos capped off with a solid estocada which found him rolling off the shoulder of the burraco. Diaz is a talented Matador who deserves more appearances in Ferias de primera and hopefully his performance today has secured more opportunities in 2010.
José Tomás is back in Spain now. Less then two weeks after nearly being fatally gored in Aguascalientes, Tomás returned to Spain to begin is long recorvery and hopefully return to the ring. Below is video of his release from the hospital last week and his grateful words for the doctors and citizens who came to his aid.
José Tomás will live to fight again. On Saturday April 24th 2010 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Tomás was caught in the left thigh while fighting the 5th toro of the afternoon. The goring was 15 Centimeters and severed the Superficial and Femoral Arteries. Tomás lost 8 Liters of rare A+ blood. Doctors stabilized him in the infirmary and transported him to Hospital Manuel Hidalgo where he was in surgery for three additional hours. News of the goring spread throughout the bullfight world and sent shockwaves because of the nature of the injury. Femoral Artery gorings have killed many Toreros over the years, the most recent being Francisco Rivera “Paquiri” in 1984. By evening Spanish time, reports of Tomás’ stabilization eased the minds of many taurinos throughout the world. The televised corrida from Sevilla offered updates and interviews throughout the broadcast.
Although it was a far gone conclusion, Kevin Nolan scissor kicked Newcastle United back up to the Barclay’s Premiere League. After falling a goal down to Sheffield United, Peter Lovenkrands converted an obvious penalty and set the stage for the Toon’s return to top flight football. Thus ends a year of exile filled with humility, joy and good football. Nearly a year after the nightmare of going down, the Magpies are where they belong!
Wacky trajes and no toros resulted from the second Annual Corrida Picassiana in “La Malagueta”. The three Matadores who participated, El Cid, Javier Conde, El Cid and El Fandi, El Fandi was the only one to muster any support from the tendidos. The toros from Luis Algarra were not good.
Javier Conde, de azul y azabache. Tres pinchazos. Se echó (pitos). En el cuarto, tres pinchazos. Se echó (bronca).
El Cid, de azul y oro. Estocada trasera y tendida (palmas). En el quinto, pinchazo y estocada (ovación.
El Fandi, de grana y oro. Estocada que asoma y descabello. Aviso (ovación). En el sexto, estocada y descabello (palmas de despedida).
On Saturday March 27th, Mexican Matador José Ramon Tirado died in Los Angeles at the age of 77. Tirado was a Matador in the 1960′s who fought in Mexico, was married to Mexican actress Lola Beltrán and who retired from the ring to build lamps in Montebello, California. In 2007, Burladerdos.com published an article on Tirado which was informative, but what I found to be most interesting was discovering the 70′s hit by El Chicano, “Viva Tirado” was actually written by Gerald Wilson in honor of Tirado. With his passing, another important variable and contributor to the history of the storied border town bullfight story is lost. QEPD.
Before the last corrida of the 2010 version of the Feria de Fallas in Valencia, photographer Mauricio Berho captured a shot for the ages of the All Star Corrida of Spanish and French Figuras. From left to right are Morante de la Puebla, David Fandila “El Fandi”, José Maria Manzanares, Sebastian Castella, Julian Lopéz “El Juli”, Cayetano Ordoñez and Enrique Ponce. the photo rivals those of yesteryear of Joselito, El Gallo and Juan Belmonte.
American Clint Dempsey chipped his English club Fulham past Italian club Juventus and into the quarterfinals of the Europa League. The goals have been coming few and far between for Dempsey, but hopefully this will turn his luck in time for his club and country to benefit.