An Aficionado’s Legacy: Support the Real Low Down on Flamenco! Vivencia - the Spanish word for lived experience - has long been Paul Shalmy’s watchword, his rallying cry. Flamenco life, flamenco culture is something to be experienced, not something he wanted to write about. That was for later. Lo and behold, later is now. Paul Shalmy has just turned 83 and some of the details are becoming a little hazy. He has seen many of his friends die and the recent death of his dear friend and flamenco artist David Serva has made Paul realize that now is the moment to pass on to younger generations the product of his vivencia in Gitano flamenco culture. Because Paul spent his prime earning years - from the age of 32 to 52 - working mostly on the Spanish economy, it made it difficult to amass much retirement income. He lives modestly now and so the expenses to travel to Spain for his book’s research would make a trip of this nature impossible. That is why we are doing this LFEBridge. GOALS The goal of this endeavor is to write a long text that might serve as a framework for a book, but at the very least will be made available for the enlightenment of the Bay Area flamenco community, especially the younger generation. And of course, contributors to this LFEBridge will be given access to pre-released sections as they become available. In order to get the details as accurate, sharp and telling as possible, Paul needs to go to Spain and do it now before all the people he shared experiences with are gone. He wants to compare recollections with people like Miguel Funi, Paco and Juan del Gastor, El Marsellé, Andorrano, Pepe Torres, Jill Bacán (Pedro's widow), Inés Bacán (Pedro's sister), the flamencos he knows in Jerez, Perico and José Pañero, Angel Camacho (a great aficionado who is a close friend of his and who knows and has known most everyone), and Antonio Macías Bermudez (Anzonini del Puerto's grandson). Paul hopes to spend three months in Spain trying to get his recollections and information as correct as possible and return in autumn to begin writing. He will then continue to work on the text through the winter and spring in order to produce a full-length account of his experiences in flamenco, centered on the culture. THE ARCHIVE A priceless source of material for this text about life among the flamencos will be Paul’s Anzonini archive, which includes over forty hours of him interviewing the legendary fiestero Anzonini del Puerto. These interviews were given under strict conditions for their care which is why another part of this trip is that Paul must deliver the entirety of these archives to their proper resting place. Antonio Anzonini (Anzonini’s grandson) has recently been making highly acclaimed presentations about his grandfather, complete with slides and videos. He has earned two university degrees —one in law and the other in economics— and has worked for more than 30 years as a civil servant at city hall in Puerto de Santa María. With the support of this LFEBridge, Paul will be able to deliver his archive safely into the hands of Anzonini’s grandson. THE BACKGROUND Paul Shalmy, a journalist who worked at The New York Herald Tribune and Hearst Magazines, is a widely respected flamenco aficionado who lived in Andalusia from 1972-1992. He has had unique experiences and friendships with flamenco artists and aficionados, especially Gitano flamencos. The beloved fiestero Anzonini del Puerto lived with him in Morón de la Frontera for three years, and then Paul brought him to Berkeley where he became an important part of the Bay Area flamenco community from 1979 to 1983. In Andrés González Gómez’s book “Al compás de Anzonini del Puerto” Paul is quoted throughout. And in the “Agradecimientos” Andrés thanks Paul and states “without [his] friendly information . . . this work would not have been possible.” (p.366) Another extraordinary friendship that Paul enjoyed was with the remarkable flamenco guitarist David Serva. They were best friends for 67 years, from the tenth grade until David’s death in October of last year. David was one of the founding fathers of the Bay Area flamenco community. He was the person who first brought Morón’s Diego del Gastor Gitano-style guitar-playing to San Francisco in his performances at the Spaghetti Factory flamenco show, beginning in 1962. In 1972 he moved to Spain where he embarked on a notable lifelong career as a flamenco guitarist. No foreigner and few Spaniards have known flamenco culture like David. In addition to these two key friendships which gave him intimate knowledge of both the Spanish and Bay Area flamenco scenes, Paul had wonderful friendships with some of the most fascinating and important flamenco artists of the last sixty years: Diego del Gastor, Fernanda de Utrera, Juan and Paco del Gastor, Joselero, Andorrano and Diegito de Morón, Augustín and Pepe Ríos, Miquel Funi, Pedro Bacán, Pepa de Utrera, Mario Maya, and more recently Pepe Torres and Luis de la Tota. He was privileged to have friendly social relations with Paco Valdepeñas, Antonio de la Calzá, El Marsellé, Bernarda and Gaspar de Utrera, Pedro Peña, Lebrijano, Inés Bacán, Concha Vargas, Enrique Morente, Chano Lobato, Gaspar de Perrate, Marquisito, Antonio Moya, Pansequito, Orillo, Rancapino, La Cañeta de Málaga and José Salazar, Périco and José Pañero, Lole and Manuel Molina, Paco de Amparo, Moi, Galli, Jávier Herédia, and Luis Peña. The list goes on in Jerez: Agujetas, Moraíto, Diego Carrasco, El Mono de Jerez, Juanele, Luis Moneo, Enrique and Rafael Zambo, Diego and Pepe de Morao, Jesus Agarado, Gema Moneo et al. The aficionado Antonio Torres says in Andrés González's book, "Wherever there was something flamenco-related going on, there was Pablo, even if it was a wedding. In the places you would least imagine, there was Pablo. Casetas in the Feria de Sevilla that were very private, but there was Pablo. It seemed that if Pablo wasn't there they didn't want to sing. Pablo has to come in! He was like another Gitano among them. An American from California!"(p.190) Aside from the breadth and length of his experiences among the flamencos, Paul brings professional skills to the task. At Hearst Magazines from 1967 to 1972 he was entertainment editor of Eye magazine, Hearst's attempt to reach the public that Rolling Stone was addressing. In his work he did interviews and/or assigned and edited articles on Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Francois Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, everybody from Janis Joplin to Raquel Welch to Andy Warhol and the denizens of the Factory. He edited writers such as Nora Ephron, Pete Hamill, Nik Cohn, David Webb Peoples, Michael Thomas, Harlin Ellison, and Jon Landau who was one of his record reviewers and went on to become Bruce Springsteen's manager. Stanley Booth's book on the Rolling Stones came to be because Paul assigned him a two part series on the group for the magazine. All this to say that Pablo was accustomed to working with the greats of rock and pop culture, and is now ready to tell the stories of the greats of flamenco and flamenco culture - with your help. BUDGET $2,600 - Berkeley rent (3 months covered while travelling) $700 - Travel (trains, taxis, buses) $500 - Lodging $1,300 - Flight $700 - Festivales, ferias, conciertos, tablaos $500 - Incidentals = $6,300
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