I've finally cleaned out my mailbox, so you can e-mail me again should you want to. Sorry; I haven't been real down-to-earth over the last few days, for obvious reasons. My e-mail, in case you don't know, is crankyyanqui at yahoo.com. Please, if all you want to write is a comment on one of my posts, leave it in the Comments section. That way everybody can read it and it won't clog up my box. If you want to get in touch with me personally, though, feel free to write.

In case you didn't already know, I am throwing a party on the evening of April 10, the day before my birthday. I haven't had a birthday party for years. We're hoping for a good turnout of all my friends here and some of you folks from out there in cyberland. The famous Franco Aleman might even be present, and we're hoping for Trevor to show up. All readers who are going to be in Barcelona that day are invited; e-mail me for details. If you need a hotel or a pension, try the Hotel Suizo, the Hotel Rey Jaime I, the Pension Fernando, the Hostal-Jardin Pi, the Park Hotel, or the Hotel de Espana downtown; these are older, not so expensive hotels downtown with some character. In my neighborhood there is the Pension Lesseps, which is quite adequate. There is also the Pension Alberdi, bare-bones but clean and acceptable. They're both cheap. If you insist on a three-star business-style hotel, the Guillem Hotel is within walking distance of my place. And, of course, if you have plenty of dough, book a room at the Ritz. Xavier Cugat lived there in his inimitable style the last ten or so years of his life.