Sounds of Travel 9: Me Gustas Tu?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Here at Gadling we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite sounds from the road and giving you a sample of each — maybe you’ll find the same inspiration that we did, but at the very least, hopefully you’ll think that they’re good songs. Got a favorite of your own? Leave it in the comments below and we’ll post it at the end of the series.

Manu Chao is a vagabond by nature. He was born in Paris to a Spanish mother and father, but he’s really from all over. Chao’s music wanders and meanders like his personal life, drifting languages from Spanish to English to French, and picking up influences and passport stamps from South America to Spain and to France and then back again. His improvised concert tours are equally freewheeling, featuring actors, circus performers and tour stops only accessible by boat (?!).

I stumbled across Chao’s free-form music while I was in college. There was something that sounded very culturally rich about it – it felt authentic and regional, yet somehow equally global and devoid of place. As I began to travel and see more of the world, I found Chao to be a poignant soundtrack for my travels, particularly in the Spanish speaking world where I happened to be visiting.

Whether wafting over the balconies of ancient windows in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, jingling from makeshift speakers in an apartment in Buenos Aires, or bouncing out of a car radio in Mexico City, Manu Chao’s music somehow made a particular sonic sense to me. Perhaps my favorite example is his song, Me Gustas Tu:


Me Gustas Tu is a bastard child of a song. It doesn’t have a lyrical “narrative” like you would expect from a pop tune. Instead it’s composed of a single continued refrain. As a guitarist plucks away a catchy, whimsical melody, Chao regales us with his love for life and for the Spanish speaking world, peeling off a list of countries, neighborhoods and “favorite things,” including the wind, traveling, planes, the morning, dreaming and the sea. Each of these favorites is preceded by the phrase “me gustas,” which basically translates as “I like” or “I love” in Spanish. In this case, Chao seems to be recalling the memory of a lost love, romanticizing what he remembers best.

If there’s one place Me Gustas Tu always evokes for me, it’s Barcelona. Each time I come back to this city on the Mediterranean, I’m drawn to the ancient walls and narrow alleys of the Gothic Quarter, a neighborhood that virtually explodes with life. As I walk the area, I always feel more alive, envigorated by rich, sensory experience. Down each street, the laughter of old men stumbles out of simmering tapas bars, water burbles quietly from forgotten fountains and my eyes gaze up at tiny metal balconies, shrouded in green curtains of plant life.

It’s hard to explain why, but I always feel happy when I’m there. I suspect it’s the sensory assault of the place and feeling of joy and wonder I find in the simplest experiences. Perhaps Chao is on to something then – Me Gustas Tu is a song that’s less about telling you where a vagabond like Chao has been, and more about where he is. That place is in his mind, filled with happy memories and vivid sensory experiences. For me the place is Barcelona, a memory I can conjure from time to time and forget my troubles. Suddenly I’m there, listening to Manu Chao on my balcony. And suddenly, life seems pretty awesome, doesn’t it?

Click here for previous Sounds of Travel

Delta flight diversion doesn’t save conjoined twins

by Jamie Rhein on

After writing the Winona post another flight diversion story came out. Winona’s seemed trivial in comparison, although I’m always interested to sift through vagueness of words like “sick,” and who gets what treatment.

The latest diversion story that I read at CBCnews.com has a sad ending. Yesterday, a Delta plane taking Liberian conjoined twins from Brussels to New York had to make an emergency landing at Halifax airport after the twins stopped breathing. The mother, sitting next to them, noticed the problem. A doctor on board provided help, but the twins died before the plane landed.

The one month-old twins were on their way to New York for treatment. Once in Halifax, the mother and twins were taken to a medical examiners office to find out what went wrong, and the other passengers who were sitting close by were interviewed. The plane continued to JFK once the mother and babies were off and the interviews were completed.

Being on an airplane with conjoined twins would be dramatic as it is. When I read the story, I imagined what it would be like to be on the plane rooting for their survival, but to no avail.

Now, several people have had a flight experience and a story to tell that most of us will never have in our lifetimes. So sad to think about that mother. [This photo from One Tree Hill Studios is of a plane landing at Halifax.]

Photo of the Day (11.21.08)

by Aaron Hotfelder on

This surreal shot from flickr user arunchs was taken at Tsomoriri Lake in Ladakh, India. I love the rich, earthy colors and the sense of otherworldliness this photo brings to mind. Take a look at the Google Images of this lake, and it really looks like it’s hard to take a bad photograph there.

Got a pic you want considered for Gadling’s Photo of the Day? Submit it here.

La Maison Du Chocolat opens on Wall Street.

by Scott Carmichael on

When it comes to chocolate, I’m a bit of a snob. I grew up on European chocolate so I never quite understood the fascination with the Hershey bar.

My favorite chocolate brand is La Maison Du Chocolat; a French chocolate maker with just a few stores around the world. Their prices are pretty steep, (about $45 for a box of champagne truffles) but the flavors are quite simply mind blowing. Thankfully they have something for every budget in their assortment, and you can pick up a box for as little as $7.50.

If you live in New York, you can visit one of their boutiques, including the recently opened Wall Street store, which opened just in time to sell chocolate to desperate traders.

If you are chocolate fan, then I highly suggest telling Santa about them, and begging for a sampler box. You will not regret it.

To me, nothing says I love you, more than A sweet and melting Gianduja praliné mixed with caramelized and finely ground hazelnuts.

The new Maison Du Chocolat store can be found at 63 Wall Street, if you can’t make it to the store, they will gladly accept online orders from anywhere in the world.

US Airways Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry

by Mike Barish on

You can’t drive drunk. You can’t operate heavy machinery on NyQuil. And you can’t fly angry. At least according to US Airways. Consumerist picked up a story of a traveler who was hoping that US Airways would price match a ticket that he had purchased to the new, lower price. US Airways informed him that they couldn’t match the lower fare. When he expressed his true feelings about the airline’s inability to be polite corporate citizens, he was told that angry is the new al Qaeda.

Just check out this exchange from his conversation with customer service (CS):

CS: “Did you say you were going to be angry on the flight?”
James: “I totally did. If I know that the guy sitting next to me spent $150 less for his seats than me, you better believe I’m not going to be happy.”
CS: “Well, if you’re telling me you’re going to be angry I’m going to notify security.”

A representative from US Airways Executive Relations later reiterated that James had said that he was “going to be angry, and that’s one of the words we look out for.”

I’d love to know what other words get you added to the watch list. And is it just for security? If I say that I’m parched, do they warn the bartenders in the airport lounge? If I mention that I’m horny, are the flight attendants put on high alert (sorry Heather)?

So add vocabulary profiling to the list of airline security techniques. And the worst part? Now real terrorists know not to tell their customer service reps that they are angry. Beware of the happy man with a one-way ticket.

Who else got into trouble in the skies?