White Plains’ 4th Best Personal Blog

Haven’t had much regular Internet access for the past week, or much spare time for that matter, so I haven’t been able to update as regularly as I had hoped. But I wanted to at least get one more post in before I fly back across the pond tomorrow, so here goes.

At last report, we were leaving Granada and heading to Seville. I have this theory — and Brianne insists that it stems from my indie snob/contrarian side, or at least that I must mention that I have such a side — that the popularity of certain foreign cities  with many Americans is fairly easy to explain. These are places, and they are indisputably charming, where Americans can feel like they are overseas, but where there are so many other English-speaking people around (and people and establishments that cater to them) that they don’t really have to struggle that much. Places like Barcelona or Prague or even Montreal. My point is that it’s understandable why these places have become destinations for Americans, especially of a certain age. They offer a different, and perhaps “exotic” setting, but essentially people do more or less the same things they would do anyway regardless of where they were.

In some ways, this was kind of the feeling I got from Seville. While eating dinner at the outdoor terrace of a so-so pizzeria/Italian restaurant one night, we probably heard more English spoken than Spanish. Several groups of what seemed like American college kids — perhaps celebrating the end of their semester/year abroad programs — drifted by. If not for the maze of narrow, old streets and the abundance of tapas bars, it could have been pretty much College Town, U.S.A.

If this makes it sound like I didn’t like Seville, let me attempt to dispel that notion. I think it’s a fine city with some beautiful sights. We managed to slip into the cathedral — known for its Moorish bell tower, La Giralda, as well as holding the tomb of Christopher Columbus — for a peek without paying the admission fee. And we took an interesting tour of the city’s famed bullring (pictured above) and made a slightly less interesting visit to the circa-13th century Torre del Oro. But the real charm of the city, as a friend who had spent some time there told me, was simply wandering around and getting lost in the small streets and alleyways — and we did plenty of that as well.

One added bonus of Seville was that we got to see a great lineup at the Territorios Sevilla festival. We were there to see Wilco, of course, but they ended up playing before the Jayhawks. What a treat to see these two bands together again! This was a very late festival, at least by American standards. (Wilco played from 11:45 p.m. to 1:05 p.m., and the Jayhawks from 1:40 until about 2:45 a.m.) Needless to say, we didn’t get very much sleep that night. But personally, it was fantastic to see the old Jayhawks lineup — with Gary Louris and Mark Olson, joined by Marc Perlman, Tim O’Reagan and Karen Grotberg — for the first time.

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Wilco//5-29-09//Centro Andaluz De Arte Contemporaneo, Seville, SPAIN//(Territorios Sevilla festival)

Wilco (the song)/Handshake Drugs/One Wing/IATTBYH/A Shot in the Arm/At Least That’s What You Said/You Are My Face/Bull Black Nova/Jesus, etc./Impossible Germany/You Never Know/Hate It Here/Walken/I’m The Man Who Loves You/Spiders (Kidsmoke)

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The Jayhawks//5-29-09//Centro Andaluz De Arte Contemporaneo, Seville, SPAIN//(Territorios Sevilla festival)

Wichita/I’d Run Away/Take Me With You (When You Go)/Up Above My Head/Waiting For The Sun/Red’s Song/Settled Down Like Rain/Leave No Gold/Two Hearts/Real Light/See Him On The Street/Nothing Left To Borrow/Martin’s Song/Tomorrow The Green Grass/Blue/Bad Time/Miss Williams’ Guitar