Calexico (& Shannon Wright)



Our official reason for going to Barcelona was to see Calexico, an top band from the American Southwest. No pictures of the gig (which was at the fabulous Bikini Club), but it was completely excellent; here're someone's pictures of the 23 February 2001 gig at Rome's Palladium, which seems to have been similar to what we saw in Barcelona. The support act, Shannon Wright (with a backing band that was basically members of Calexico) was also great. Sadly, we had just missed the Melvins, and were clearly going to miss Apocalyptica, but such is life. The rest of the weekend we spent bumming around Barcelona, which is an extremely cool town.

Jamon



We ate like kings in Barcelona. Here's a shop window absolutely crammed with Spanish hams, while if you look carefully you can see the reflections of a couple of non-Spanish hams (aka myself and Chris) in the glass.

Cathedral Towers



When the Addams Family drops acid, they go to church right here at the Sagrada Familia cathedral (designed by Antoni Gaudí, which has been under construction for about a hundred years (and shows no sign of stopping). Accept no substitutes.

Cathedral Porch



"Crucifixtion? Good …"

Cavaller



A very cool statue of a mounted knight (presumably representing, at some remove, a Roman soldier aiming to do ol' Yeshua ben Yosef no good). His lance seems to have become stuck in the ceiling.

Soldats



You can get really cool posters of the design sketches for these guys from the cathedral shop. I think all four of us ended up with 'em!

Our Lady of the Boogie-Woogie



This angel really seems to be getting into a serious groove with that oboe.

Fruit



Most of the Sagrada Famila spires appear to be topped with brightly painted stone fruit, which is great.

Tres Hombres



Me, Tim, and Chris somewhere on the walls of the Sagrada Familia cathedral. A raindrop on the lens gave Tim the appearance of having just blown out a crucial hit of reefer, and I've made a sloppy effort at cleaning that up a little. Still, this would make a great album cover.

Gaudí Building



Not content with wacky futurist cathedrals, Gaudí also made completely tripped-out apartment buildings. I'm ready to move in!

Carl Goes Futurist



Me on the roof of yet another zany Gaudí apartment building, posing next to what Andy described as a "giant war phallus". Yeah, well, just remember that size doesn't matter …

Barri Gòtic



A cool archway in the Barri Gòtic. And on the underside of the arch was …

A Skull with a Dagger Stuck through It



How cool is that? Very "gòtic", to be sure :)

Leonine Gargoyle



Nice kitty …

Gargoyle Dude Being Troubled by Snakes



Probably some Moorish guy, judging by his hat. He doesn't seem to be having as good a time as we were.

Waterfront Bums



Barcelona is a great town, though as you can see, there are some shifty characters down along the waterfront.

Reflections



At last, Andy gets into shot! (He's on the far left.) This is a detail from a shot taken off the mirrored ceiling of a big mall/plaza complex down by the waterfront.

Beach



The beach was the perfect place to soak up some nice spring sunshine before returning to cold, wet Cambridge.

Carl's Siesta



And there was just time for a siesta before catching the plane!