[Dixielandjazz] New Year's Eve in Spain

[Jim Kashishian]

I'm home tonight!  It's been years since we've done a New Year's Eve
gig...thank goodness.  
 
Here, in Spain, it is tradition to eat dinner at your family home at about
10:30pm...ending with eating twelve grapes, each with a ding (or dong?) of
the bell in the main plaza of Madrid (watched by most from their tv set).
That will bring you good luck.  (It really brings good luck to the growers
of grapes, though...which apparently is how it started, with a large crop
one year!).
 
Anyway, people then leave their homes, so most parties & clubs start at 1am,
ending with hot chocolate & churros (a stick-like donut) which is dunked in
the chocolate.  You can't drink the chocolate as it is extremely thick.
This breakfast treat is at the end of everyone's evening...around 7am.  So,
if you play a gig, it is normally from 1am until 6am, and no one pays any
attention to the band.  Plus, they hire you as a jazz band, but by 3am they
only want bull-fight music & flamenco!  So, better to stay at home.
 
You can, for example, eat dinner at the Westin Palace Hotel in Madrid (where
we used to have a weekly gig), dance the nite away (with free bar included)
& stay in a room for the nite (day!) all for the quaint amount of 1,100
Euros (about $1,500!) per person.  And, Spain is in terrible financial
crisis!    :>
 
Cheers, Jim