Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, April 08, 2005
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Carlos Santana
Delivered His Magic
Slouched over his guitar, head bundled in a beanie and lurking around his band almost like a backdrop to his own show, Carlos Santana scratched, strummed and wailed on two guitars – acoustic and electric – before a near-capacity crowd Wednesday night at the Saprissa Stadium in Tibás, north of San José.
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Memorial Service for
Pope Draws Thousands
More than 3,000 mourners flocked to the Metropolitan Cathedral in San José yesterday to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II. Outside the church, those who couldn't squeeze inside watched the ceremony on a large mobile screen in Central Park , cordoned and fenced off by police and patrolled by Red Cross officials in case of emergencies. There were none, officials said.
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Solar Eclipse
Visible Today
The year's first solar eclipse takes place this afternoon and will be visible throughout Costa Rica .
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Jazz Concert to Ring in Solar Eclipse
Hacienda Pinilla will host the jazz band Swing En 4 from 3-5 p.m. today, scheduled to coincide with Costa Rica's first solar eclipse of the year, predicted to occur between 2:52-5:18 p.m. Attendees will experience the magical occurrence of darkness descending on day as the moon passes between the earth and the sun accompanied by Swing En 4's harmonious jazz quartet.
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U.S. Embassy to Close for Juan Santamaría Day Monday
The U.S. Embassy in San José will be closed Monday, April 11, in observance of Juan Santamaría Day, a Costa Rican holiday. It will open the following day for normal business hours, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
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April 08
Athletes Hold Mass for the Pope
Athletes are invited to join the mass in memory of Pope John Paul II, God's Athlete, 8 a.m. Saturday at the Metropolitan Cathedral. Info: 284-8716.
Music Concert
Harmony Roads performs eclectic music, oldies, folk, country, blues, 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Restaurante Changos, 600 meters south of the Cruce de San Rafael de Escazú. Info: 228-1173.
Workshop on Bio-Resonance Medical Therapy:
Workshop is today through Sunday at the Mediplaza Auditorium, 500 m. south of the Multiplaza roundabout, Escazú. Info: 358-8684, 201-7201.
Edited By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
Carlos Santana
Delivered His Magic
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
Slouched over his guitar, head bundled in a beanie and lurking around his band almost like a backdrop to his own show, Carlos Santana scratched, strummed and wailed on two guitars – acoustic and electric – before a near-capacity crowd Wednesday night at the Saprissa Stadium in Tibás, north of San José.
The bass hit like a car accident and the light effects mesmerized. The sound was heard faintly even miles away in the heart of San José , and the effect on the fans was indelible.
He entered from his behind his row of drummers on a raised ledge, patted out a beat on the congas, then descended to center stage to strike his staggering opening chords.
His second concert in Costa Rica , more than 30 years after the first, was punctuated with an eccentric, laborious drum solo by Dennis Chambers, and a proud smile for his son, Salvador Santana, who soloed on the piano. Organist Chester Thompson also blazed with an impassioned, scrunch-faced and key-pounding series of solos throughout.
Chambers' drum solo brought the crowd to its knees. Winding up a hypnotic percussionist fury, he paused after a painstaking rhythmic descent, pounding each snare slower and slower until he stopped, his foot still punching the bass like a machine gun, while he drank a Gatorade in two gulps, then began his ascent to a roll, a flourish around the drum set, then dropped the sticks and exited backstage. If some weren't crying, they should have been.
Santana delivered a mind-blowing concert in his trademark modesty, and, also true to form, slipped in religious insight and political digs, dedicating, for example, his classic, “You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways,” to U.S. President George W. Bush.
The avatar of classic rock took a moment to mention Pope John Paul II, prefacing his remarks with the caveat, “I'm not Catholic,” then said, “But, we all come from the light, we're here for a visit, and we return to the light.”
There were swoons over classics like “ Samba Pa ' Ti,” which solicited eruptions of applause with the first melancholic notes.
It was not the usual homogenous rocker crowd. Among the bobbing heads and hip-shakers, there was as much white hair as in any row of church pews and children of all ages.
Fans agree, Santana stupefied Costa Rica and left a rock-driven, Latin rhythm footprint so deep, it will outlast the republic and become one of the hallmarks discovered some day by future paleontologists.
Memorial Service for
Pope Draws Thousands
By Robert Goodier
Tico Times Staff
rgoodier@ticotimes.net
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Prayers for the pope: Some 2,000 mourners prayed for Pope John Paul II yesterday in San José 's Central Park facing the Metropolitan Cathedral, where another thousand attended a mass celebrated inside. Those outside watched the pope's memorial service on a large, mobile screen in the park. |
More than 3,000 mourners flocked to the Metropolitan Cathedral in San José yesterday to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II. Outside the church, those who couldn't squeeze inside watched the ceremony on a large mobile screen in Central Park , cordoned and fenced off by police and patrolled by Red Cross officials in case of emergencies. There were none, officials said.
Archbishop of San José Hugo Barrantes announced the municipality's agreement to erect a monument to the pope, the only pope to visit Costa Rica, that will be designed by sculptor Jorge Jiménez, the only Latin American artist with a piece in St. Peter's Basilica. The monument will grace the cathedral's gardens in the “name of all the men and women of the city, regardless of religious, ideological, political or cultural differences,” the agreement from the municipality says.
Bishop of the diocese of Ciudad Quesada, the Spaniard Ángel Sancasimiro, delivered a lengthy homage to the pope, highlighting his achievements and throwing in his lot with John Paul II's alternatively beloved and bemoaned defense of conservative Catholic norms.
“His person and his life became the best testimony of the Evangelism of Life among a world that lives enclosed in a culture of death and in the gloom of sin and selfishness… John Paul II, a prophetic man, perceived the great danger that Christians run on the threshold of the third millennium, of getting swept away by the diverse currents of thought and of life, which are contrary to the Gospel, such as consumerism, hedonism and materialism that lead man to live his life superficially, idolizing various, mundane realities and forgetting that the most profound dimension of being human is the capacity to love God.”
He praised the pope's vilification of war and his struggle to protect life in all its stages.
Similarly, Archbishop Barrantes extolled the pope's refusal to bend on issues like marriage, including the possibility of allowing clergy to marry, and life.
“He held to our principles that we won't negotiate,” he said.
One by one, chiefs of church and government commemorated the pope's life and works at a podium on which a gilt-framed photograph of the pontiff was propped.
In the church, among the heat of more than 1,000 bodies, Catholics took communion distributed by clergy both from the steps to the altar, throughout the sanctuary and the facing Central Park .
Solar Eclipse
Visible Today
Jeffrey Van Fleet
Special to The Tico Times
The year's first solar eclipse takes place this afternoon and will be visible throughout Costa Rica .
An annular effect, in which the moon appears centered like a bull's eye in the sun's sphere, will appear at 4:09 p.m. over Punta Banco in a remote area of southwest Costa Rica near the Panamanian border (TT, April 1).
The rest of the country will see a partial eclipse from 2:52-5:18 p.m. Peak effect and maximum darkness (94 percent of the sun's sphere covered) will take place at 4:10 p.m.
Experts caution against looking directly at the phenomenon, citing the risk of macular burning, sometimes irreversible, to the eyes. The safest method of viewing the eclipse, other than watching it on television, is an indirect projection technique.
Cut a 5-mm hole in a piece of cardboard and view the skewed shadow cast on the ground. Another similar means is to view the skewed light cast on the ground as it filters through the leaves of a tree.
Jazz Concert to
Ring in Solar Eclipse
Hacienda Pinilla will host the jazz band Swing En 4 from 3-5 p.m. today, scheduled to coincide with Costa Rica's first solar eclipse of the year, predicted to occur between 2:52-5:18 p.m. Attendees will experience the magical occurrence of darkness descending on day as the moon passes between the earth and the sun accompanied by Swing En 4's harmonious jazz quartet.
Carlos Sanders, drums, Danilo Castro, bass, Luis Monge, piano, and Vinicio Meza, sax, formed Swing En 4 in 1998 in San José, creating a modern chamber music ensemble. The group specializes in the blending of the various sounds found in classical, folkloric, electro-acoustic and jazz music with a special focus on the African music heritage of the Americas . In 2002, Swing En 4 released its first album “ Origenes .” The group regularly performs in San José 's Jazz Café.
Guests will be offered eye filters and expert explanation of the eclipse, along with refreshments. For more information and to request reservations, contact Laura Sibley at 810-1493 or e-mail perkysibs@aol.com .
U.S. Embassy to Close for
Juan Santamaría Day Monday
The U.S. Embassy in San José will be closed Monday, April 11, in observance of Juan Santamaría Day, a Costa Rican holiday. It will open the following day for normal business hours, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Juan Santamaría is a folk hero, a boy who allegedly died setting fire to a building that sheltered U.S: filibuster William Walker's mercenaries and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for the Costa Rican troops in the battle of Rivas in 1856.
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