Modern Halloween, as in kids getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating, is not a traditional Spanish festival. In fact, the Spanish Bishops are getting a bit hot under the collar about the whole thing and are urging parents not to dress up their kids in costumes in celebration of this pagan event.

That doesn’t seem to bother my neighbour, Lola, much. She has been fussing and fretting over her kids’ costumes since the beginning of the month and seems quite bewildered at my lukewarm attitude. To be honest, I am just delighted that Gaga and her sidekick, Linda, are going to be throwing a party for the local kids which gives me the excuse to go out for a bit of kid-free gallivanting of my own. Let’s face it, Sami is a wee diablo for much of the year anyway, while Hania, well let’s just say she can be a little bruja when she feels like it.

Regardless of what the Bishops have to say, you can guarantee that unless you are smart and offl0ad the kids and shoot off out for the night or sit in pitch blackness with the telly off, your front door is going to ring off its hinges on Saturday night. So, just to help you out, I have prepared a little  list so that you  may have the right response handy.

Just fill in the blanks…

¡Caramba! ¡Qué un esqueleto espantoso! (Yikes! What a scary skeleton!)

• monster = monstruo
• witch = bruja
• fantasma = ghost
• vampiro = vampire
• werewolf = hombre lobo
• zombi = zombie

If you are having a party of your own, then there is nothing that screams Halloween more than pumpkin soup for which Andy Montgomery has provided a devilish recipe in the new online Tenerife Magazine.

And finally, I’d like to leave you with a little Halloween riddle that has bothered me for some time. Why do witches never have babies? Because warlocks have hollow weenies. Bwahahahah

If you are on holiday in Tenerife at the end of August  you will find lots of free beach-related activity and workshops centred round the Los Cristianos area. It’s all to do with the annual Aguaviva Canarias festival which is held to celebrate the sea and drive home the message that the wide blue oceans of the world are full of natural treasures that need to be tended, protected and loved. It is a collaborative effort with input from scientists, government bodies, musicians and entertainers, educators and the public.

There are free events and activites from August 22 and an open air concert on August 29th which requires payment but at only €15 should be worth the entrance fee.  The whole festival comes to a close on 30th of August with the release of turtles which has been co-ordinated by members of the Neotropico Foundation.  There are also volunteer educational projects like the cetacean research project run by Buena Proa.

Saturday 22 August

10:00 hrs – Beach Clean Up at Playa de Las Enojados, Las Galletas (free)

Sunday 23 August

18.30 hrs – Marine Life First Aid Workshop (seabirds, turtles and whales), Playa de las Vistas, Los Cristianos (free)

19.00 hrs – Marine Graffitti Workshop on the seafront of Los Cristianos, Memorial Plaza (free)

Friday 28 August

11.00 – 14.00 hrs and 15.00 – 17.00 horas, Aguaviva Baptisms – Make a spiritual connection with the ocean (free)

Dive into Aguaviva – Playa de Las Vistas. Playa de Las Vistas.

10.30 – 15.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

18.00 – 20.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

21:00 hrs Street Parade with CIRCUS JAM -Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

22.00 hrs – CONFABULADOS in concert. – Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

Saturday 29 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Aguaviva Baptisms – Get baptised in the ocean (free)
Dive into Aguaviva.- Playa de Las Vistas

10.00 hrs -  Cleaning the Deep Arona in Playa de Las Vistas. (free)
13.00 hrs -  Human Chain of Pollutionfrom the Playa de Las Vistas to the Centro Cultural de Los Cristianos. (free)
19.00 hrs Round Table in Arona in Playa de las Vistas (next to the breakwater of the port).
Panel discussion on the current state of conservation of the seafloor and the coast of the Canary Islands.Various interested groups are invited to attend including scuba divers, fishermen, scientists, researchers at the ULL and the Natural History Museum, conservationists, politicians and hoteliers.
10.30 – 15.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.
18.00 – 20.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

21.00 hrs  AguavivaFest Concert

The Zaragoza pop rock band Amaral are the headliners with We Are Standard, Line, Ramon Dominguez and Adjacant and DT Project also in the line up. See clips of Amaral, We Are Standard and Ramon Domingues below for a wee taster of what the night will hold.

Estadio de Los Cristianos, Annex. Advance tickets 15 euros.

Sunday 30 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Baptisms Aguaviva. Make direct contact with the underwater world with a free ocean baptism.

Dive into Aguaviva. Playa de Las Vistas.
10.30 – 15.00 pm Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

16:30 hrs - Turtle Release in  Playa de Las Vistas
21.00 hrs – Cinema on the Beach in Arona in Playa de Los Cristianos.

Among the many other wonders in store during the Tenerife Design Festival 19 to 22 October you can expect the magical flying grass carpet to make an appearance.

The flying grass carpet makes its way from city to city around the globe briefly touching down to let city dwellers play and stretch out on it as well as being a temporary base for a variety of public events.

What a lovely idea. The picture shown is from the carpet’s short trip to Budapest but you can find many more on the Flying Grass website.

The Tenerife Design Festival (TDF) is dedicated to fusing the ‘current trends of design with the main features of the Canarian identity’ and focusses on the three key concepts of local identity, landscape contrast and tourism.

Expect the unexpected during that week as designers from around the world get together to turn Tenerife into a ’seething mass of creativity and design’.

Oooo er. I’m not so sure about the seething mass bit. Whoever wrote the English blurb on the TDF website has done so in that annoyingly arty-farty nonsensical wittering beloved of those who think design concepts have to be drowned in a bucket of words before the rest of us plebs can get the point (or lack thereof).

Here slighty toned down are the descriptions of the TDF sections taken from the Tenerife Design Festival website.

TDFSigno – designers, industry and craftsmen collaborating on new products and ways of development which involve both fresh  ideas and traditional Canarian concepts.

TDFAtmósfera – ominously threatening to ‘involve the public’, TDFAtmósfera promises to bathe Santa Cruz in a wash of exhibitions and urban interventions. If you venture into large spaces within the city during this week in October such as the TEA, La Recova or the port itself expect to be pounced on by a creative installation or two.

TDFLab – three-day workshops for professionals, students and general participants to experiment with different ways to  generate new objects, graphics and interventions in different spaces with a focus on the interaction between design and the Canarian environment.

TDFAward cunningly sponsored by Turismo de Tenerife proposes Tenerife Design Paradise, an international prize, which encourages designers to work on elements that will make up a dream beach of the future.  Based on the idea “Design Paradise” the aim is the creation of products that may be further developed later by the sponsor to enhance the tourism experience.

TDFSolution brings together different professional approaches to spread and support advances in culture, innovation and design. The Symposium will consist of the presentation of works by businesses, local, national and international designers, stirred into action by a critic or analyst. The point of departure will be TDF’s three central concepts: nature, local identity and tourism.

See the Tenerife Design Festival website for more information including a Programme of Events and a Registration page which showing fabulous international creativity is only available in Spanish. According to the translation it seems registrations will not be open till September:

Inscriptions

To participate in various workshops and activities of TDF, you can simply register by filling out a form. In September the program will be more detailed for you to decide which section is more suited to your interests …

But you should be aware: the seats are limited!

I am surprised that this Youtube clip of Carlos Baute and Marta Sánchez singing Colgando En Tus Manos still works given the battering my daughter gives it every day.  In fact we all make quite an alarming racket murdering the lyrics out loud…

If she was just a little bit older I would love to take her to the concert in Candelaria on July 31st where Carlos Baute and Marta Sanchez will be singing  together in the for the finale of the Festival de Candelaria from 10 PM at the  Plaza Patrona de Canarias.

So are you all ready for Roddy then? Let’s just hope he didn’t book his hotel through Xcapewithus or he’s on a hiding to nothing. You know, with all the hype and Rod Stewart’s wizened mugshot gurning at you every time you turn around (sorry Gaga, but its true) I am surprised there are seats left. Maybe the concert will be stowed out but here we are late morning on Rod Stewart Eve and it looks like there are still seats aplenty on generaltickets.com.

After the security fiasco of the Elton John concert, don’t be surprised if there are beefy blocks of lard at five foot intervals round a three mile radius of Rod Stewart as he reprises his glory years (and ours, it has to be admitted). It will be like the raptor show at Aguilas Park. Don’t stand up during the show or you will get your head ripped off.

After the last red tartan scarf has fluttered to the floor read the Rod Stewart Concert Review on Joe Cawley’s blog. There is a reason the man is an award winning travel writer and with his Elton John review summarised by the immortal phrase, ‘…sugar and shite’, you can be sure his review will be as gritty and real as the lyrics of Dirty Old Town.

Me? I’m not going. I am waiting for U2

I just don’t get Jazz, you know. To me it’s like listening to a cat with saucepan lids tied to its tail getting scalded over a pan of boiling porridge but hey… to each his own, right? I’ll stick to the Chinese Opera if you don’t mind.

But if you are into Jazz, then Arona council have got a treat lined up for you this weekend. Hie thyself and several like minded friends over to the Plaza de la Iglesia de Los Cristianos where on Friday 8th you can hear Guitarr Juice and Funkfarria strut their stuff.

(The video below is of Funkfarria playing ¨No Digas Nada¨ a Liquid Soul Band original -  credit to Kamenup for the Youtube upload.  Kamenup has uploaded several other videos of the Arona Jazz Festival so worth a look if you are a jazz fan).

On Saturday 9th it is the turn of Manolo Rodiguez on Jazz Guitar and Ann Peters doing her NU Groove.

III Arona Jazz Festival

Friday May 8th 2009 – 21:00 hrs
Guitarr Juice
Funkfarria

Saturday 9th May – 21:00 hrs
Manolo Rodiguez Jazz Guitar
Anne Peters Nu Groove