Marina and I were at a book launch last night, in a night club here in Madrid. The launch coincided with the inauguration of a new publisher, Drakul, run by one of Marina’s work mates, Javi, who promised us a memorable evening. The whole event went well, with a series of speeches about the book, followed by a comedy sketch involving four men dressed up as bullfighters. Javi then declared the launch party events complete, and the club was opened up to the general public.
As the place started to fill up, a young Spanish belly dancer took to the stage and started a wild dance routine to some Eastern-style disco music. Soon she was running into the crowd, grabbing young men and involving them in her routine, which meant sitting them on a chair and finding interesting ways to wrap her legs around them. With each new man grabbed from the audience, off came something else, until, finally, with a swish of her veil, she stood center-stage and completely naked (un desnudo integral).
‘And now,’ came a voice over the PA, ‘it’s the ladies’ turn!’ And on came a very large black guy, who basically repeated the routine, picking young ladies from the audience. On one of his victim-seeking forays he even grabbed Marina, but she clung so hard to my arm that he had to give up and choose someone else. Lucky for her, as the next part of the routine involved the lucky young lady sucking an ice-cube out of his mouth. I’m not sure whether Javi planned this last part of the show or not (I think it was for the benefit of the singles club that came in when they opened the doors to the public), but he was right about one thing, it was certainly a memorable evening! I wonder if all Madrid book launches end like that…
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 