The boys and I are enjoying the last days of summer.

he is impossible.

“I’ve heard about a “gold ring test” that supposedly demonstrates the presence of lead in lipsticks. Is that test reliable?”

No. The so-called “test” has absolutely no scientific validity and, in reality, is nothing more than urban legend. Mary Kay does not use lead or lead-based ingredients in its lipstick or in any of its other skin care or color cosmetics. Because lead occurs naturally throughout the environment, however, there are trace amounts of it in most consumer products, including most lipsticks and other cosmetics. Any naturally occurring trace amounts of lead in Mary Kay lipsticks or other of the Company’s products are well within the daily safe levels of exposure as established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

With regard to the so-called “test” mentioned above, the dark substance that appears during the test is really oxidized metal from the ring itself – just as your silver turns black when exposed to the air for a long time. A dark substance is released when you polish your silver, which is the same thing that happens in this so-called test. The appearance of the dark substance has nothing to do with the presence of lead.

Ingredients that Mary Kay uses in its lipstick meet all requirements for cosmetic ingredients. Mary Kay performs thorough, ongoing reviews of its products and ingredients and works closely with our suppliers to ensure the safety of all ingredients. We have been a recognized leader in the area of product and ingredient safety for many years and steadfastly stand behind the quality and safety of our entire product line. Mary Kay® products are safe, and you can continue to use them with complete confidence.

“Do Mary Kay lipsticks contain lead?”

Mary Kay does not use lead or lead-based ingredients in its lipstick or in any of its other skin care or color cosmetics. Because lead occurs naturally throughout the environment, however, there are trace amounts of it in most consumer products, including most lipsticks and other cosmetics. According to the American Council on Science and Health, potential trace amounts of lead occurring naturally in cosmetics are not harmful to the consumers who use those products.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have set daily safe levels of exposure for adults, children and pregnant women. Any naturally occurring trace amounts of lead in Mary Kay® products are well within the limits established by the FDA and EPA.

Ingredients that Mary Kay uses in its lipstick meet all requirements for cosmetic ingredients. Further, Mary Kay performs thorough, ongoing reviews of its products and ingredients and works closely with its suppliers to ensure the safety of all product ingredients. Mary Kay has been a recognized leader in product and ingredient safety for many years and stands behind the quality and safety of our entire product line. Mary Kay® products are safe, and you can continue to use them with complete confidence.

It still hasn't sunk in that I'm a fourth year. I'm still kind of worried about my future. Hopefully it'll all come together in the end...

I'm happy though. Happier than I've been in awhile. Funny how things work out.

This summer, we have been frequenting our local waterslide park.  There are lots of slides that are fun for kids of all ages (and Hubby), but two of the slides require riders to be four feet tall to ride them.  Each time we go to the park, A. asks to be measured, hoping to get the coveted "4" stamp on her hand.  Last time, the man told her, "maybe next year" as she missed the mark by maybe 1/4 inch.  This time, the girls in charge of measuring granted her wish!  She got stamped with her "4" and rushed off with Daddy to ride the "big" slides.  And I'll admit, I took advantage of her company, and enjoyed a few rides with her on the "big" slides, myself.

Unfortunately Typhoon Nuri, which – at it’s peak – carried a storm warning sign of 9 (A 10 means the whole city is shut down) cancelled our plans with Greenpeace in China.

After touchdown in India this Monday we had some incredibly good food with Bharati Chaturvedi, the founder of Chintan – an environmental research and action group in India - and a very passionate woman.

Talking to Bharati, you could tell that she really cared about the e-waste dismantlers and wants to make a difference in their lives. She has a very realistic and thorough understanding of the issues and people involved.

Being in India is very different. The heat still takes me by surprise every time I venture out of the hotel and crossing the street can be a challenge. There’s no crosswalks, you just jump into the traffic foray anytime you see a clearing.

-Serena Mau (Intern at SVTC)

Here I am!Back from my vacation!
My little head is still working on some good article for you..!
And especcially is prepering for the new incoming season F/W and the news that it will take!
For the moment I thank those of you who visited my blog during my absence and I leave you with one of the photos of my vacations.
Here am I at Italia in Miniatura  near the pendent tower of Pisa!

top : nuna lie
jeans : st. diego
cintura / belt : ??
infradito / flip flops : Pittarello
borsa / bag : local market

Per vedere tutte le foto delle mie vacanze clicca qui
To see more photos of my vacations click here

Tuzi

foto: tuzi

AJ went back to school this morning and practically ran all the way there. He and his friend O. arrived at opposite ends of the long sidewalk that runs down the side of the playground at the same time and waved at each other the whole way up the sidewalks that run up the hill, eventually meeting at the top. They ran together to line and took turns saving places next to each other while the parents humiliated them by dragging them out of line to take pictures. Their teacher was there with a camera too, and was running up and down the line photographing them. The girl next door showed up in a neatly pleated plaid skirt and a white blouse with a navy blue argyle vest. It was just the kind of outfit I would have chosen for a first day, one that looked a little like a uniform, which I desperately wanted. J. came later and stood in the back looking nervous and unhappy, despite the fact that he was in class with almost all of the kids in line last year, summer-struck shy. His mom had to help her younger daughter at her first day of kindergarten, so J was on his own. I gave him a quick hug and took his picture, which got a smile out of him.

Soon the bell rang and all the kids and teachers raised their two fingers in the air for silence. They stood that way for maybe three minutes, although it seemed like an hour. Mr. Spy leaned over to me and whispered, "What is this? A military funeral?" And then, just as silently, the lines marched inside, one by one.

Back on the street, I headed to the pool to teach and then home to clean up and squeeze in a few minutes of work before I had to leave to get AJ. I met my friend J. pushing her youngest in a stroller about halfway up my driveway (her middle child is in AJ's grade) and we walked together the rest of the way up to school. It was funny to return to the clutch of parents hanging at the back of the playground. It gave me the weird sensation that no time had passed since the last time I'd been there back in June. But before we had time to hear about everybody's summer vacations, the kids were barreling out the door and into our arms and then were pestering us to play on the playground. We stayed long enough for one of the girls in AJ's class to chase him and his friend C. around the playground a few times and then AJ and I walked home to get the car and meet friends for our annual first-day-of-school lunch at the local diner.

And now, after an afternoon of playtime, the last for a while, AJ is getting ready for football practice and I am finally sitting down to work. But tomorrow -- six and a half hours, all to myself.

No photos but just trust me on this one.

Fun with Goggles

way too full schedule  this week

way too much to study

I'm way too tired (since hubby kept me awake until way too late the two last nights. And whatever you guess is the reason - you are wrong)

So.. since you probably have nothing to do.. go ahead learn some Spanish. It's free! I command you!! Or if you don't want to learn spanish.. learn knitting instead. And since there are only two kinds of people in this world one of theese choices is perfect for you.

See.. brain dead..

This post wasn't even intended to be meningful.

Se ya'

Kilt em!

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.672932&w=425&h=350&fv=docId%3D7340777231463184188%26playerMode%3Dsimple%26hl%3Den]

our on the porch reading list for today:
- diggers and cranes (of course)
- where the wild things go
- corduroy
- the old lady who swallowed a fly
- duke the diggingest dog

i cannot fathom how much my life has changed within the course of a year [+]
a major move to hawaii. a return to new england (maine), another major move to boston. smaller move from davis square to dorchester (read: ghetto). several pay the rent and feed me jobs. two semi-longerish term jobs. intern. trading in the laid back life of hawaii for the high pace of east coast boston. a boyfriend. new friends. visits with old friends. making it in the last of my early 20's year.

as joel has pointed out... during college life just kind of happened to us. we had that course schedule we had to adhere to. we were committed to a certain locale for three [-] years. we daydreamed about the life ahead a lot. and now. we make life happen. or we get swallowed up in the hum drum.

trying to live boldly, simply: an intentionally loving life.

The Girl went to B.C. (or A.B.C., as she calls it) for 10 whole days. I didn't want her to go -- mostly for selfish reasons. I'd never been away from her for that long, and I wonder if she realized how long "10 sleeps" would really be. She drives me nuts most days, but when she was gone, I was distraught. I needed the break. But really, just.. distraught. I called her every day, and I know she had a great vacation. She came back with a fresh new haircut and was back to driving me nuts within a couple days :)

There is one more sleep til Kindergarten. One more. We've been counting down. The supplies are ready to go. We have our markers and pencils and glue sticks and paint shirt. We have a backpack and lunch kit and crayons and new shoes. The Girl and I went shopping for school clothes (she doesn't need them, but it IS the first day of Kindergarten). Dresses were hard to find. All I could see in the 4 - 5 stores we went to were "sweater dresses" and leggings. Really? Cause I think I wore that on MY first day of Kindergarten in 1984. Perhaps I should have saved my lime green and pink track suit from Grade 3.

The Boy is getting bigger. It's amazing how they do that. He's almost 8 months old now. Not crawling, but sitting quite well. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but the way he gums anything within reach.. they should start coming any day now. We are experimenting with more finger foods.

I picked up my textbooks for the fall semester. I managed to find them all used, which meant they were cheaper, and a little broken in, so I don't need to feel guilty about the odd scratch or singe marks when I inevitably set fire to them halfway through the course. When I brought them all to the cashier at the bookstore, she announced my total: "Three hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventeen cents." I expect that much, but it blows me away every time. Three hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventeen cents for USED books? That I'm probably not going to read? I was grumbling inside. Then she said, "Would you like to purchase a bag to put them in for sexty-nine cents?"

:|

Now, for three hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventeen cents.. for USED books, a bag should be included. No? For three hundred and eighty-four dollars and seventeen cents for USED books, she should be coming to scrub my bathroom with a toothbrush three times a week for a year.

"No. No, thank you." I loaded them into the bottom of the stroller -- which almost collapsed from the weight -- and went off to purchase my plastic parking pass for two hundred and fifty dollars and twenty-six cents. At least I'll be using that. ;)

After the car was loaded, I rummaged through the pile of books for my physics lab manual. I've been so worried about this class, and have actually arranged my last few semesters so that I can take it twice, if need be. A defeatist attitude, perhaps. I flipped it open -- gingerly at first, then like a 12 year old with a new comic book.

I could not believe the words that came out of my mouth: "Well, that doesn't look SO bad.. " Did I really say that?

The next 100 days.. will be the death of me.

And all she can taste is the cold of the sun beaming down upon her.

IThe loneliest time of the year; lonelier than Christmas, more isolating than cold winter nights. The schools sleep as the students finally wake. During the summer, she doesn’t exist. She ignores phone calls. It’s on silent. Facebook becomes the terrifying nightmare that is now filled with cobwebs accumulated from neglect. The icon of two turquoise busts with a white ‘x’ encased in a circle of red sits in the corner of her computer screen. No one can reach her, no one can touch her and no one can hurt her. She cares too much to show others that she cares at all. Yes, this is the time of year when dreamers fall into their own thoughts. I get lost in them once in a while, only to find my way out, just long enough to have a good cry.

And so what if she never goes out. That feeling is worse than knowing about the rumours. What does it feel like, to be wanted, as opposed to an obligation? Prove that she’s not invisible. Prove to her that you haven’t forgotten all that she once meant to you. Dissolve all her fears. She’s sick of writing to nobody, and being afraid to write to somebody. She wishes her friends existed, so that she could see you listen to her problems. Just listen and lift this burden. But you are just paper; the infinite medium of her mind. Nothing and everything.

This summer I set no ambitious goals and right now, as the summer comes to an end, I have zero let downs. It was a great summer. The few goals I set I came pretty close to reaching. I've been running 4 days a week which is 2 days a week off my goal of 6. I weigh 162 pounds which is right in the middle of my 160-165 pound goal. At the beginning of summer I was running 0 days a week and was down to a measly 152 pounds. It's a desirable improvement yet.

Working at Trader Joe's over the summer gave me something to do. It's one of the main reasons I liked the summer I think. I made some money and met a bunch of new people. It's also been motivation to finish school as soon as possible so I can get a real job. Maybe Trader Joe's Corporate?

The one vacation I went on was a good one. I wrote a long blog about it so I'm not going to cover the details. I want to have more family vacations in the future. It's a good way to get to know people I don't get to see very often. And now that my two sisters moved far away it's good to see them too.

Seeing everyone go off to school is hard for me. I could easily be one them right now. I could be on a plane going to San Diego. I doubt my decision to stay was super smart but I'm going to make the most of it. If I get into the school I want to it'll all be worth it, plus I still have some friends left that I'm looking forward to spending time with.

I read some good books here are a few of my favorites:

Well, it's official. The internet is dead.

Cory "Mr. Safety" Williams (aka smpfilms) ushered in the final moments of online video sharing by posting this "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" slide show over on the 'Tubes.

Sorry to break it to you, internet, but you know you have officially jumped the shark when one of your most subscribed users on the top video sharing site posts the same kind of slide show that every fat, balding suburban dad has been forcing his kids to watch for years. The only difference is the dad was only able to inconvenience his immediate family and unfortunate neighbors by projecting his slide show on his living room wall, while Mr. Safety aims to bore the entire fucking world to death by broadcasting his summer vacation opus across the world wide web.

My favorite part occurs at the 2:16 mark. With words superimposed over a slimy looking burrito, Mr. Safety writes, "We RUSHED over to our favorite Mexican place with food made by REAL Mexicans." Awesome. I can rest easy knowing that Mr. Safety can finally stop eating food cooked by FAKE Mexicans.

Ring. Ring. Hello? Oh, it's for you, Mr. Safety. The douchebag store called and they're all out of you. Also, while you were on summer vacation, 2002 called and asked if it could borrow one of your totally relevant graphic T-shirt and trucker hat outfits.

So, mark it in your calendars, kids. Today's the day the entire internet officially became a snake eating its own fucking tail. Thanks, Mr. Safety!

From what can be traced back to basically the start of this decade, both mega-producer Judd Apatow and independent filmmaker David Gordon Green have been steadily escalating to the top of their craft, cementing themselves as stand-outs amongst their comparable colleagues, at least in my opinion. It has been a tough, under-appreciated road to get here for both men, whose works early on this decade (Apatow with the television shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, and Green with the poetic debut, George Washington) didn't find an audience until much later on, with Apatow's in particular eventually becoming cult classics. Still, they both had the momentum of unanimous critical acclaim working on their side with everything they were creating, and it would only be a matter of time before they found an avenue into widespread appeal. For Apatow, that avenue was certainly in the choice of producing Will Ferrell/Adam McKay projects, which started out with his breakout hit, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Looking back, that was definitely the lift-off point for Apatow's career, the spot where his uncanny comedic knack was finally paying wealthy dues. For Green, however, it has been a much longer wait for exposure. Since his Sundance Film Festival breakthrough in 2000, he has been at the helm of three more films. In 2003 he made what I consider to be one of the top 5 films of this decade, the heartbreaking All the Real Girls. He followed that a year later with a Terrence Malick-inspired masterpiece, Undertow. In the time since then, we now know that he was finally making his attempt to segue into comedy (all while creating another hard-hitting piece of serious cinema, Snow Angels), something that he has stated in the past that he was eager to do and was ready to show the world he could pull off well. Somewhere along the line, Apatow heard that Green was waiting for the perfect chance to make that venture, and the producer is at the risk-taking point in his career that he made it happen. The most impressive, poetic new filmmaker of this generation, known for dark, human dramas, has teamed up with the new whiz-kid of comedy. Needless to say, it all culminates in a unique experience.

One of the main ingredients in concocting his many successful comedy projects is Apatow's decision to keep a closely knit, old school family together, and in Pineapple Express there are a ton of familiar faces both at the front and in the background. He enlisted the likes of Freaks and Geeks alumni Seth Rogen and James Franco to play the film's stoner buddies, and what makes the casting even more ingenious is the fact that it's Franco, not Rogen, who is playing the oblivious-to-life drug dealer...and it's so much fun just to watch these two play off of each other. Rogen co-wrote the screenplay with his longtime friend and Superbad partner, Evan Goldberg, and combined with the eye of Gordon Green, have turned Pineapple Express into an unpredictable, over-the-top of over-the-top, standing ovation throwback to 80's buddy comedies. The movie's idea is an extremely simple one taken to insane heights of hilarity - two stoners are on the run from a psychotic drug lord after one of them witnesses him murder a member of the opposing Asian force. Gary Cole plays the villain with an entirely serious tone, and that's what makes the character so funny, because it's almost like he knows he's in a carefree comedy but refuses to give in to the zaniness, for something inside him tells him that he needs to be straight-laced and ruthless. Along for the ride is a cast that, as I mentioned before, is peppered with some of the usual faces we're so accustomed to expect in an Apatow production. In an opening sequence that is so unexpected that I won't even mention anything about, Bill Hader appears and makes himself very memorable, along with the very odd addition of James Remar mixed in.

There are very funny supporting performances that assist the Express in chugging along as well as it does throughout its runtime, and most notably from Danny McBride as a two-timing middleman dealer named Red, and also Craig Robinson as one of the idiotic henchman sent to track the two down. McBride has been on the same rocky road to stardom as Green, the two being schoolmates at college many years ago and since collaborating on lots of things. The stand-out among the old friends' collaborations before this point was in All the Real Girls, where Green had the role of Bust-Ass entirely written with McBride in mind. He knew his friend was a natural with comedic timing, and in Pineapple Express he gets a chance to hold his own alongside Rogen and Franco, and he does. It's good to see not only Green becoming successful with this project, but also McBride, who is catapulting between this and another nice little supporting role in Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder. Craig Robinson and Kevin Corrigan are also familiar Apatow faces, with Robinson shining the most in this film, nearly every line he has elevating to the top of my favorite moments of the entire experience. I look for Robinson to start to appear in more significant roles in the future, especially after this and his small but gut-busting performance as the bouncer in Knocked Up. There are many more faces that will be noticed throughout, including veteran actors Rosie Perez, Ed Begley, Jr, and Nora Dunn, all having a really good time. This is what I imagined it being, and more - a new, innovative comedy that found a marriage between perfect comic timing and a brilliant captain behind the camera. It is an experience that has to be seen at least twice to fully savor and appreciate. It is the mighty Pineapple Express.

* * * *

And now...it's raining like there will be no tomorrow. Time to build an ark. I mean, it's torrential downpours lightening to heavy rain. Okay, so we are in a rainforest but still, there should be a good long summer. Back in 1998 I think we had a summer of no rain and no sun. It stayed cloudy and hazy the whole time. Plants barely grew and many yellowed and died in the ground because there just wasn't enough heat or sun.

But back to that ark. The animals that would first board it, or slither onto it would be snails and banana slugs. There are the ubiquitous snails that crawl over our plants and the sides of houses. If one hankered for escargot (a fancy word for garlic flavored, butter dipped rubber), you could just pluck them from gardens. And slugs, when I first moved to Vancouver my friends in Calgary didn't believe me when I said there were slugs up to a foot long. After all, the biggest a slug gets in Calgary is about two inches, if it's massive. (They're a different breed too.) But these natives to the coast are slimily large and have a high ooze factor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_slug 

The first banana slugs I ever saw were when we visited cousins in Kelowna. We were talking on the sidewalk as the sun started its descent and I kept looking back to the side of the stucco house. There were two large black things on it and I swore they had changed position. I finally pointed them out and my mother said, oh they're giant slugs. She was joking but in fact they were and remain the longest I've ever seen, being each a foot long. Eyewww.

Then I spent a year upgrading hiking trails along the Baden Powell trail in North and West Van. That's when I saw the rainbow of slimy critters. Sometimes they looked like glossy piles of pooh...until they moved. They were white, yellow, black and brown, sometimes with spots and averaged between 6-8 inches. I used to "accidentally" drop rocks on them. I was young and they disgusted me but I now realize they play an important part in decomposition and recycling of organic wastes into new soil But they are so so slimy. Settle has had slug races in the past and you can buy life size magnets.

Slugs remind me of my younger brother's wicked experiments when we were kids. He'd gather up a bunch of garden slugs and put them on the sidewalk in the hot sun. Then he'd surround them with a ring of salt. Death by salt or by sun. Usually they would try to swim the channel of white salt. They got their payback the day he was puttering in the garden. He went to take off his garden gloves and pulled them off with his teeth...getting a mouthful of slug. Hmmmm.

I also wrote a kids poem, a cautionary one about a slug that likes beer too much. You can leave a pot of it in your garden and they'll just slide on in and drown drunk. Of course you're left with the gooey stew to get rid of then.

I can't forget that on this West Coast ark, besides snails and banana slugs, there would be wolf spiders. I once had arachnophobia (somehow cured by working those hiking trails) but wolf spiders still creep me out. They're the size of small mice, have long eyestalks (okay it's probably their mandibles but they look like eyestalks), are hairy and move fast, way too fast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider I usually find one in the tub, it having gone for a drink and getting trapped by the porcelain sides (It's not true that they come up from drains, and I have a hair catcher on mine, though I wouldn't put it past the buggers to push that hatch over.)

The other night I caught a bit on the Discovery channel of a computer re-enacted piece on prehistoric times. When the oxygen was super rich and the planet super warm, there were dragonflies the size of eagles and spiders the size of your head. Yeee. Keeping that in mind, wolf spiders don't seem so bad but they still give me the heebie jeebies.

I'm hoping we'll get sun again because there has been so much rain that all of these denizens are creeping and slithering about. If I had to board an ark with them, they'd get their own hermetically sealed section.

800g blackberries
200ml cold water
400g caster sugar
Juice of 4 lemons
6 tablespoons creme de mures or kirsch
600ml (1 pint) double cream, whipped to ribbons - but do this in two batches when you're ready to churn the ice cream

Puree the blackberries with the water in the magimix for about a minute. Sieve this into a large bowl (the big plastic jigs at the cottage are best), pushing it all through until only the pippy mush is left in the sieve. Add the sugar, lemon juice and creme de mures to the pulpy juice in the large bowl. Divide this mixture into two (around 750/800ml each) and put one of these into the fridge until you can make the second batch. Fold in 300ml of the whipped cream, pour into the ice cream maker and churn the mixture for about 15 minutes until it's half-frozen. Scrape this into a container and freeze immediately. Do the second batch in the same way.

The recipe for this (from Michel Roux in an old Master Chef cook book) is originally for raspberry ice cream. I did that once too and it was also good, but not as unusual as the blackberry one and there are so many at the cottage in August it seems like a good way of using them.

The boys tolerate about 40 minutes, sitting in the stroller . . . munching whatever snack I remember to bring and sipping juice or milk, whatever I end up bringing. The whine a bit, they goof off a bit but mostly they talk and pick on each other. I have fallen in love with the trails at a local park and we get there as frequently as the gas money will allow. The above pic is of the trail that runs along the river . . . we took that for the first time yesterday. Nice and shaded, even at 11am or so whilst I jogged my backend off.

The payoff for the boys sitting so long is the promise and the action of stopping at the playground area after we (or mom) gets done on the trails.

Though the playground is becoming less of an attraction to them than the nearby wilds of the park . . . but the playground is approximately where we park the stroller and Byron gets tied up.

And then they noticed the blackberries . . . berries we've picked in the past but this day, this day they figured out they can pick the sweet berries themselves.

Tobias, obviously the more experienced of the two, would routinely feed them to Samuel.

And then they couldn't resist it . . . they escaped into the wild!

The cutest darn creatures I've seen in the wilds of Oregon!

God Bless!

Na ativa, os Catz detonam seus clássicos no calor do verão Europeu

Direto de Madri/Espanha

Por Jr. Sofiati

Outro show na capital espanhola acompanhado de um grande calor, e o pior que esse não era ao ar livre. Mas se tratando de Stray Cats, o calor quase não tinha importância. O show teve lugar na famosa sala La Riviera, onde recentemente tocaram os B52´s(que infelizmente perdi), e o mesmo lugar que tive o prazer de ver NOFX e Mando Diao. É uma casa de shows de médio porte, com uma lotação máxima em torno de 5000/6000 pessoas.

Chegando ao local, como já era de se esperar, vejo uma enorme quantidade de rockabillys e psychobillys. Fila longa, mas que graças à ótima segurança da casa, sempre anda muito rápido. O único defeito foi a falta de informação à respeito do começo do show. Na entrada só dizia a hora de abertura de portas, e o site da La Riviera está tão desatualizado que só tem a agenda de shows até junho, coisa que até hoje não entendo como uma casa do nível da La Riviera pode deixar acontecer.

Mas defeitos à parte, entro na casa pelas 20:30hs mais ou menos, e o show só começa as 22:00hs. Depois da longa espera, finalmente o grande trio entra no palco, Brian Setzer, Lee Rocker e Slim Jim Phantom, a melhor banda de rockabilly do mundo, segundo o que o produtor do show declarou quando apresentou a banda, e eu não poderia discordar.

De primeira já arrebentam com Rumble in Brighton, fazendo todos os cabelos e topetes armados do local saltarem. Aliás, parecia que se estava numa convenção rockabilly dos anos 50. Em seguida, depois de umas curtas frases em espanhol de Brian Setzer, começam Stray Cat Strut, um som perfeito para dançar e relaxar ao mesmo tempo.

A cada música, a cada riff, a banda ía tomando conta do público de uma maneira tão espontânea que ninguém queria estar parado. Uma loucura coletiva que estava mostrando o tamanho do efeito que causa o rock and roll nas pessoas. Deixando claro que os Stray Cats são nada mais e nada menos que uma das bandas mais míticas e carismáticas do rockabilly. Aquela sensação de volta ao tempo toma mais força quando tocam Runaway Boys e She´s Sexy + 17. A guitarra de Brian Setzer impressiona qualquer guitarrista, e podem ter certeza de que muitos vão se dar conta que têm que aprender muito ainda. E não digo só pela técnica, solos perfeitos e riffs inesquecíveis, senão pelos modelos das duas guitarras que usou no show, pra deixar qualquer um com inveja.

Mas não só o líder da banda merece elogios, Lee Rocker e Slim Jim Phantom também são músicos de primeira. Uma perfeição que poucas bandas conseguem atingir ao vivo. Geralmente nos shows são os guitarristas que trocam de instrumento entre uma música e outra. No Stray Cats todos tem esse privilégio, até o baterista, que pode ser definido como um minimalista deste instrumento. O contra-baixo clássico de Lee Rocker tem um dos melhores timbres que já ouvi, sem contar que este instrumento é uma peça fundamental nas bandas de rockabilly.

O show segue com I Won't Stand In Your Way, o único momento "mais calmo" do show, onde não pôde faltar, à pedido de Brian Setzer, um festival de isqueiros acesos pelo público, clássico ato em shows com baladas. Aqui na Espanha adoram brincar com fogo. Para deixar outra vez as pessoas extasiadas e com vontade de dançar, mandam Built For Speed e sem parar para respirar atacam com Baby Blue Eyes e Bring It Back Again, cantada por Lee Rocker, música com uma excelente melodia e com backing vocals impossíveis de não se cantar. O set list contou ainda com: Gene and Eddie, Ubangi Stomp, My One Desire, Rebels Rule, Storm the Embassy, Rockabilly World ,Fishnet Stockings, 18 Miles To Memphis, Pink Cadillac, Crawl Up and Die, Double Talkin' Baby(que não podia faltar), e pra fechar a primeira parte o grande hit Rock This Town.

Não deixando os clichês de lado, deram aquela saída básica que fazem quase todas as bandas, para voltarem poucos minutos depois para o bis. Para fechar quase uma hora e meia do melhor e mais puro rockabilly, detonam Jeannie, Jeannie, Jeannie e de seguida a excelente versão de I Fought The Law. Show pra deixar com um grande sorriso na cara de qualquer fã antigo dos Stray Cats. A pena disso tudo foi ouvir a declaração do vocalista Brian Setzer de que era a última atuação da banda no país. Segundo eles é a sua última turnê, e esse foi o show de despedida da turnê espanhola. Vamos ver se é mesmo verdade ou o velho conto que sempre ouvimos, só com o tempo saberemos.

Jr. Sofiati - é colaborador oficial do Mundo47 na Espanha e sempre nos traz grandes coberturas dos eventos "wrock" que acontecem na terra do Almodovar. Sofiati também foi membro da banda Enzime (punk,hard core) e baterista do Cuba Drinker and Hi´Fi´s