Santa Cruz: gov’t seeks ‘political solution’

Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández claims ‘there is no other way out’

Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández called yesterday for “a political solution” to the conflict in Santa Cruz province over the Supreme Court ruling demanding the restitution of prosecutor Eduardo Sosa, fired by former president Néstor Kirchner in 1995 during his stint as governor. Meanwhile, Radical Deputy Ricardo Gil Lavedra condemned the graffiti sprayed by pro-government activists in the province against the Radical Party leaders last week, which he considered as “an overreaction of the ruling party leadership.”
Aníbal Fernández said Supreme Court Judge Eugenio Zaffaroni had stated in an interview earlier last week that “the only solution (to the conflict) is political” and agreed with the Court official
“If a Justice of the (Supreme) Court, who is part of the issue, says that, it is because the situation is complex,” said Fernández during a radio interview yesterday. “The only way out is political, there is no other solution,” added the Cabinet Chief, who backed Governor Daniel Peralta.
“A political way out is what the Governor suggested to the legislature,” said Fernández. “The prosecutor post is split in two, so the one that is currently on the post doesn’t have to leave and the new post created will solve the problem of Sosa, who had complained about his sidelining,” he added.

Fernández insisted “that is what Peralta suggested and the legislature will have to make a decision.”
“This situation of public provincial right never reaches the Court,” said Fernández. “It reached the old Court with automatic majority because the goal was to pressure the provincial government for other reasons,” added the Cabinet Chief in reference to the complaint filed by Sosa after being sacked in 1995.
Fernández claimed the issue reached the Supreme Court back then due to the fact that Kirchner’s administration, which ruled the sidelining of Sosa, “did not obey the orders of the national government” of former president Carlos Saúl Menem.
The Supreme Court has ordered the reinstatement of Sosa in his post, but the provincial administration has refused to obey the ruling claiming they cannot sack the current prosecutor — a position that has been publicly supported by the national government.
The Radical Party presented a bill requesting the federal intervention of Santa Cruz to restore Sosa in his post, and were accused by pro-government activists of being “coup mongers.”
Gil Lavedra said “an absolute tall story has been set up” in the province “saying we are trying to sack local authorities,” and insisted the Radical bill does not contemplate the replacement of the province Governor or Lieutenant Governor.
The Radical Deputy said the bill contemplates “an intervention with no sidelining” and aims to obey the Supreme Court ruling: “Remove the current prosecutor (Claudio Espinosa) and restore Sosa.”
“Under no circumstance the other branches of power in the province will suffer any interference in their functions,” said Gil Lavedra.

Kirchner discharged from hospital

 After undergoing surgery late Saturday night

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Former president Néstor Kirchner was discharged from hospital yesterday after recovering from an angioplasty on a coronary artery performed on him after being hospitalized late on Saturday at a private clinic in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Palermo.
Kirchner, 60, left the Sanatorio de los Arcos clinic at 8.20pm yesterday in company of his wife, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in an automobile that took him to the presidential residence of Olivos, in Greater Buenos Aires.
A stent was placed in an obstructed coronary artery during the operation, which was done with local anesthesia, Presidential Secretary Oscar Parrilli said.
In brief statements to the press standing outside the clinic, Kirchner said he felt “perfect” and thanked government officials, political leaders and party activists for their support.
The President’s husband was admitted to the Palermo clinic, where he arrived from the Clínica Olivos, a private clinic nearby the presidential residence which he allegedly attended on Saturday afternoon for a “routine checkup,” according to his spokesmen.

The current Deputy and head of the UNASUR Union of South American Nations has a history of heart disease and felt numbness in his legs during an alleged routine checkup, which led to doctors advising an immediate angioplasty, for which he was transferred to the Palermo clinic.
Kirchner went to the same clinic for emergency surgery last February to remove a plaque from his right carotid artery after having trouble moving his arm.
According to press reports quoting sources close to the former president, Kirchner was taken to the Olivos clinic after feeling “a pain on his chest” during the afternoon.
Carotid artery disease involves the narrowing of the main arteries that carry blood from the heart to the brain. These arteries can thicken with fatty substances and deposits of cholesterol known as plaque, slowing the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain and increasing the risk of a stroke.
In a joint statement released yesterday afternoon, presidential Doctor Luis Buonomo and physician Marcelo Ballesteros of the Los Arcos clinic said Kirchner was having a “favourable recovery” after the angioplasty and added “evaluation studies were carried out and results were in the range of normal values.”
Around 8pm yesterday, Media Under-Secretary Alfredo Scocchimarro confirmed the “institutional discharge” of the former president, who left the clinic minutes afterwards.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner spent the night at the clinic by the side of her husband and only left the institution for a few hours yesterday at noon.
Kirchner was visited by Parrilli, Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández, Planning Minister Julio De Vido, Economy Minister Amado Boudou, former Senator José Antonio Romero Feris and boxer Jorge “Roña” Castro.
After spending more than an hour at the clinic, the Cabinet Chief said he found Kirchner “in a good mood and looking all right.”
Meanwhile, pro-government activists from La Cámpora, Martín Fierro and Juventud Peronista organizations stood outside the clinic for several hours to express their support to the former president.
 

Cobos-Alfonsín: Party unity first

Radical presidential frontrunners agree non-aggression pact

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Vice-President Julio Cobos and Radical Deputy Ricardo Alfonsín — the two top contenders in the Radical Party for the presidential nomination next year — met in Tucumán province yesterday and agreed to stay united through the campaign, in a tacit non-aggression pact between the two.
“Nothing should jeopardize the unity of the party or the (electoral) front,” said Alfonsín after the meeting staged at the house of Radical Senator José Cano in San Miguel de Tucumán.
The two Radical leaders agreed on “sending out signals of unity” and pledged to support the candidates for mayor or governor of either faction who perform best in polls.
Cano — who aims to run for Tucumán governor and hosted yesterday’s talks — became the first candidate to have the support of both Alfonsín and Cobos for his candidacy.
In a press conference held after the meeting with Cano, both Alfonsín and Cobos said they had not discussed the issue of presidential candidacies. “The next step now is to construct a government programme to present to society,” said Alfonsín.
 

Cobos also said technical advisers of both candidates will meet with the National Committee and  Radical Convention authorities on September 20 and 24 to start working on developing the party’s government platform for the 2011 elections.
According to press reports, the meeting with the National Committee was scheduled by Radical Party chairman Ernesto Sanz and would also include the head of the Radical caucuses in the Lower House and the Senate, Deputy Oscar Aguad and former party chairman Senator Gerardo Morales.
Both leaders agreed the electoral platform should be defined before the end of the year.
Alfonsín insisted the presidential candidacies “could be decided by consensus,” while Cobos said “the citizens will express themselves in the primaries of August (2011).”
Although the Vice-President insisted the current electoral law establishes “a process of open primaries,” he admitted “that does not rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement” on the candidacies, which has been demanded by other sectors in order to avoid confrontation between the two.
In that sense, Deputy Margarita Stolbizer — head of the GEN Party — said yesterday: “I think it’s excellent that Cobos and Alfonsín meet here in Tucumán, because is something that we have been requesting.”
“Without meddling in the Radical primaries, we think it is very positive for them to meet as a sign of unity,” said Stolbizer.
Meanwhile, both contenders praised “the current favourable international conditions for the country” and agreed on “the need to grant a frame of predictability for international investments.”
Cobos also said that after the meeting, “the stage of reaching agreements with our GEN and the Socialist Party allies to move forward on the construction of a progressive front will come.”
In that sense, Alfonsín urged Civic Coalition leader Elisa Carrió to “reconsider her decision” of breaking ties with the Social and Civic Accord as “nothing has happened to justify that decision.”
The son of late former president Rául Alfonsín also downplayed the rumours of a rally to launch his presidential candidacy at the indoor Luna Park stadium on October 30.
“That’s just a proposal which was made by some friends, which we are currently evaluating, but the important thing is to make progress on the (government) programme,” said Alfonsín.
Cobos and Alfonsín were invited to Tucumán by the Moisés Lebensohn Institute — a Radical branch close to the Vice-President — to participate in a conference at the National University of Tucumán and there was wide speculation about a meeting between the two.
According to press reports, the talks were not confirmed until Cobos called Alfonsín from Catamarca province on Friday, asking him to meet.

Nightclub VIP lounge collapses

Two young women killed, city officials say building permits in order

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

The mezzanine of a night club in the Buenos Aires city neighbourhood of Palermo collapsed yesterday killing two women and injuring 24 people, who were reportedly out of danger.
The accident occurred minutes before 4am yesterday at the VIP room of the Beara nightclub, on Scalabrini Ortiz avenue.
The two women killed were identified as Adriana Lizarraga, 20, and Leticia Provedo, 21, Fernández Hospital sources said.
Sergio Aranda, one of the members of tropical group Ráfaga which had just finished their gig at the night club, said: “We heard an awful noise and the ordeal began. There were people crying everywhere,” said Aranda, who added a private party was being held for around 300 people.
At least 20 people — all of them between 18 and 29 years of age — were transferred to different city hospitals while another five youngsters went to private clinics, according to SAME Emergency Service head Alberto Crescenti.

 The nightclub had permits and the number of people inside the club did not exceed the amount of people allowed by the law, the city government said.
City Cabinet Chief Horacio Rodríguez Larreta said several inspections were conducted during the last year without registering any irregularities.
“An in-depth investigation will have to be carried out to establish what went wrong,” Rodríguez Larreta said.
The accident happened only a month after the collapse of a gym in the neighbourhood of Villa Urquiza which killed three people and injured 11 on August 9.
Relatives and friends of the victims of the gym cave-in demonstrated on Thursday to mark the first month since the accident and demand justice.
Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri, who is currently in Rome, expressed his “condolences to the families of the victims” via Twitter and praised the work of the emergency services during the accident.
“I want to express my condolences to the families of the two girls killed today in the collapse,” Macri posted on his Twitter account.
“Also I would like to thank the doctors, firefighters and policemen who did a great job during the emergency,” the centre-right mayor wrote.
In an official statement released yesterday, the city government said Macri “brought forward his return to Buenos Aires ahead of the tragedy that occurred at the Beara club and ended his tour through Spain, France and Italy after the meeting he shared with Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno.”
Although Macri had no activities scheduled after the meeting with Alemanno, government sources explained “his return was scheduled for Monday but was brought forward for Sunday.”
Several opposition figures criticized the city government and Macri after the collapse.
Cabinet Chief Aníbal Fernández said Macri’s administration “will have to give explanations” about the inspections carried out at the nightclub, while Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman posted several messages on his Twitter account directed to the city Mayor.
“Macri is taking a walk in Paris speaks about solving ‘the isolation of the country,’ he’d better  prevent the city from collapsing or the schools from falling down,” Timerman posted via Twitter.
Judge Alicia Iermini asked the city government to report on the inspections carried out at Beara, as well as the official plans and other documentation.
The judge also questioned the employees who were present at the time of the collapse and was waiting for survivors to be discharged from the hospital to summon them.
Rodríguez Larreta attributed the tragedy to the “misuse of the mezzanine” at the nightclub as he claimed “the authorization was granted correctly and several controls were carried out” and “no irregularities were found.”
In a press conference staged yesterday, the head of the Government Control Agency Javier Ibáñez said “several people moved to the mezzanine and started jumping,” while Macri’s Chief-of-staff Marcos Peña claimed “what happened was clearly a misuse” of the facilities.
An official statement said the nightclub had been controlled nine times this year, the last inspection was carried out on September 5.
The manager and one of the owners of the nightclub were in custody yesterday, while the owner’s lawyer linked the tragedy to “a failure in the construction materials.” Beara was authorized since August 29, 2009, as restaurant, coffee-bar and house for private parties and had a maximum capacity of 491 people, government sources said. 

Erdogan cancellation sparks controversy

No one takes blame

By Pablo Krause
Herald Staff

The cancellation of the visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires yesterday but suspended his trip late on Saturday, led to the governments of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri swapping the blame.
The CFK administration released a statement late on Saturday citing the cancellation of a ceremony scheduled for this morning to place a bust in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of the modern Turkish Republic) as the reason for Erdogan’s decision and blaming the Macri administration for the incident. However, City Hall rejected the accusations and claimed that no such ceremony was scheduled.
Yesterday, the city Foreign Affairs Department released an official statement expressing its regret over the suspension of Erdogan’s visit but insisting that the alleged ceremony was never on City Hall’s schedule.
“In reference to the statements of the Foreign Ministry, we insist the alleged ceremony as well as the placing of a bust of former Premier Atatürk was never authorized or communicated to that Ministry or the Turkish Embassy and it would have required a law approved by the local legislature in order to carry it out,” read the statement.
Asked by the Herald about the incident, PRO Foreign Affairs Secretary Diego Guelar said: “The Turkish Embassy requested permission from the Public Space Ministry to erect a monument to Atatürk about six months ago, allegedly in replacement of an existing bust, but the ministry confirmed there was no previous bust so the request did not progress.”
Guelar claimed: “There was never any ceremony scheduled neither was there an existing Atatürk bust to replace” and insisted such a bill would have needed the approval of the Mayor and the city legislature.
“There was no such ceremony on the schedule of Mauricio (Macri) for Monday,” Guelar told the Herald.
“We don’t know why the tribute was in the Ambassador’s agenda because it would have required a resolution signed by Macri, which he didn’t,” added the Foreign Affairs Secretary of PRO.
Guelar claimed City Hall became aware of the ceremony on Friday when the Armenian community requested an interview with Environment and Public Space Minister Diego Santilli to protest against the display of the Turkish founder’s bust, which was due to be unveiled in a park at the intersection of Figueroa Alcorta and Sarmiento avenues.
The Armenian community published a paid ad in a local newspaper on Saturday, repudiating Erdogan’s visit and making reference to the inauguration of Atatürk’s statue. Later on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry confirmed the Turkish Prime Minister had cancelled his visit and said Erdogan took offence at “a decision by Buenos Aires Mayor Mauricio Macri to cancel a scheduled tribute in which he was to take part.”
Foreign Ministry sources consulted by the Herald yesterday denied the City Hall statements and insisted the ceremony was part of Erdogan’s agenda for his visit.
Sources claimed Erdogan himself told Taiana in Brazil the suspension of the ceremony was the reason of his cancellation.
In statements to local media, Turkish Ambassador to Buenos Aires Hayri Hayret Yalav said the procedures for the monument “started in November, 2009 and there was no problem until yesterday (for Saturday) when Santilli informed me in a letter that the monument would not be placed.”
News agency Reuters reported Turkey’s Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement the two-day visit scheduled had been cancelled and blamed the move on Armenian lobbyists.
“The trip was cancelled because written permission for the monument given to Turkey beforehand by the Buenos Aires district was reversed as a result of initiatives by the Armenian lobby, which is opposed to Turkey,” said the statement, adding Turkey hoped Argentina would take steps to remove the shadow cast on Turco-Argentine relations.
According to Reuters, President Fernández de Kirchner spoke with Erdogan to explain she could not overrule the decision, yet he found this unacceptable and decided not to go, the statement added.
The Herald was unable to reach Turkish Embassy sources yesterday but a brief statement was released informing the cancellation of a forum at a downtown hotel where Erdogan was scheduled to participate, quoting “last-minute changes in the Prime Minister’s agenda.”
Despite the official explanations and the exchange of accusations between the city and national governments, several rumours spread about the reasons behind Erdogan’s cancellation.
City Hall sources which requested not to be named said the incident “could have been a misunderstanding on the part of the Turkish Embassy, which might have assumed the ceremony was already scheduled, despite having received no confirmation from the city government.”
On the other hand, a source from the Foreign Ministry consulted by the Herald, who also requested that their name not be published, said there was “a verbal agreement” between Macri and the Turkish Embassy for the ceremony but the city administration decided to cancel it following the protests of the Armenian community.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, is highly revered by Turks, but Armenians cite him as one of the main culprits for the mass killing of Armenians in 1915, known as “the Armenian Genocide.”
All officials consulted agreed the cancellation was a serious incident and an offence to the Turkish Prime Minister, comparing the situation to a last-minute suspension of a monument to national independence hero José de San Martín or a memorial of the Malvinas War during the visit of an Argentine president to a foreign country.
Some observers had even cited a possible link between the cancellation of Erdogan’s visit and the nuclear fuel agreement signed by Iran — which Brazil and Turkey have supported despite the protests from the United States and on which Argentina has not yet taken a position. However, all sources consulted by the Herald denied such possibility both on and off the record.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/35044

The last action hero

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and his affair with Argentine fans

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

In their long-running affair with the Argentine audience, Megadeth have visited here no less than six times, played at least 12 shows — excluding several acoustic sets in different locations from malls to radio stations and even the San Martín square in downtown Buenos Aires!
In addition, Megadeth recorded a live concert on DVD (That One Night In Buenos Aires) and even dedicated a song to their Argentine fans on their 1999 album Risk (I’ll Be There For You), played live only during the That One Night concert in 2005. In spite of all of the above, Megadeth’s performance at the Luna Park stadium last week (their 13th concert in Buenos Aires) was not just another tour date.
With bass player Dave Ellefson (from the original lineup) back onboard after an eight-year fallout with band leader Dave Mustaine (singer, guitarist, songwriter and, in other words, Megadeth himself), the band continued the South American leg of their Rust In Peace 20th anniversary. It meant the band would play the whole nine songs from their 1990 masterpiece — arguably one of the best metal albums of all time — in the very same order as the original record.
With only one date (not enough for for a band that played two soldout gigs at the same venue two years ago) tickets vanished in less than a week. It was Wednesday night, the venue was packed, and nearly a hundred people hang outside the stadium, begging for a resale.
But only a few thousand Megadeth fans were able to witness what was going to be, without a doubt, a memorable concert. Let’s face it, things had to go really wrong to ruin a concert that would include the entire Rust in Peace tracklist.
Even though they had to do without the classic lineup (drummer Nick Menza, and guitar player Marty Friedman), Shawn Drover and Chris Broderick proved be solid replacements on the band’s previous visits.
The scenography at the Luna Park was exactly the same as in the original tour, and it only took Mustaine three songs into the show to announce what everyone in the venue was expecting.
“We know we’re all here for one reason,” the red-haired guitarist said, holding the signature model of his Dean guitar with the album cover on it before the first chords from the memorable riff from Holy Wars: The Punishment Due.
It didn’t really matter that the song has been a staple in every Megadeth concert for the last two decades, usually saved for the show’s end. This time it was the real deal: it marked the beginning of a concert most fans would not even dare dream about only a year ago or less.
Right after this impressive kickoff, the speed metal symphony called Hangar 18 created a special bond between Megadeth and their Argentine fans, with the crowd actually roaring “ME-GA-DETH!” to the double-bass rhythm, almost like hooligans during a soccer match.
Halfway through the song, a teenage boy climbed onstage and hugged Mustaine before jumping back into the crowd. It was too late for security guards were to get hold of him.
The whole stadium gave the kid a big round of applause for his daredevil act, but Mustaine has stated that, since the murder of Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (shot dead on stage during a concert in Ohio in 2004) he has become very wary of security, barely leaving hotels while on tour. This may probably explain why the band took nearly ten minutes to come back on stage after the song. Organizers argued technical problems, but it is not hard to imagine Mustaine screaming at the security guy who failed to see the kid coming.
It took the band a couple of songs to get back on track, to the concert’s mood at the beginning. Not even the ferocious Take No Prisoners or the rarely-played Five Magics were able to restore the mood. The crowd seemed to have cooled off.
It was only when Dave Ellefson — alone onstage under the spotlight — played the first lines of Poison Was the Cure that the audience seemed to have swung back to the warm atmosphere palpable at the beginning. Also, the minute-and-a-half intro before the song kicks in with one of Megadeth’s sharpest riffs was the fans’ opportunity to welcome back the legendary bass player after an eight-year absence.
After the complex structure of Lucretia, the long-time classic Tornado of Souls drove the crowd on the verge of insanity, so much so that Ellefson had to repeat his solo sequence. This time it was the instrumental version of Dawn Patrol, which only increased the fans’ hunger in anticipation of the memorable Rust In Peace: Polaris. It is hard to understand why the song was dropped from the band’s setlist over the years).
It was little more than an hour into the concert, but the mission had already been accomplished. Mustaine could have gone ahead and call it a night with his trademark “You’ve been great, we’ve been Megadeth” line right there and hardly anyone would have complained, no matter how much money they had to dish out.
The decision to place the Rust in Peace segment on top of the setlist eventually boosted the raw power of the songs from their new record, such as the energetic Head Crusher or The Right to Go Insane. However, it was the 90’s classics — the beautiful A tout le monde or the fan-fave Trust (probably Megadeth’s last real-classic song to the date) that claimed the biggest ovations. And let’s not leave aside Symphony of Destruction, and the infamous “Aguante Megadeth!” chant on top of the riff — before closing the show with the legendary Peace Sells, the song that, in Mustaine’s own words, proved to the mass media that metalheads actually had something to say, and that their lyrics were rich in political content.
One way or another, the charismatic Dave Mustaine always finds the way to give a special feel to each Megadeth gig in Argentina. The sound at the Luna Park may not have been crystal-clear, as was the case on previous occasions, but it is unlikely that anyone left the arena with any complaint. This was a concert that metal fans in attendance will surely brag about for years to come. Only the few who got in will be able to say, “I saw Megadeth play Rust In Peace complete.“ Not an easy one to beat.

THE RED-HEAD’S SYMPHONY
Dave Mustaine learned to play fast by striking guitar along Iron Maiden LPs at 45rpm instead of 33 1/2. That way, he managed to achieve an outstanding speed with his fingers that would become one of his trademarks over the years.
In 1981, Mustaine joined thrash-metal pioneers Metallica, playing for two years before being fired. Mustaine is credited as co-author of four songs on Metallica’s debut Kill ’Em All (1983) and two others on Ride the Lightning (1984).
Following his departure from Metallica, Mustaine formed his own project: Megadeth, which quickly made a name for themselves among the “Big Four” thrash metal bands (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) with their début album Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good! in 1985.
Since their inception, Megadeth were praised for their complex and fast riffing, often described as “a jazz band playing speed metal,” and their 1991 masterpiece Rust In Peace was arguably the peak of their career.
During the 90’s Megadeth turned to a more mid-paced sound more oriented to the traditional song format rather than the epic compositions of their early days. Unlike most cases, fans took the change really well, and the band jumped to the summit of their successful career during that decade — that is, until the traditional Mustaine-Friedman- Ellefson- Menza lineup split circa 1999.
In early 2002, an arm injury forced Mustaine to stop playing and Megadeth officially disbanded. However, after a two-year recovery, Mustaine eventually put together a new lineup and reformed the band.
Since then, in spite of constant lineup changes, Megadeth have returned to their thrash metal roots, which revived their popularity among the heavy metal fans, especially with the release of their latest album Endgame in 2009, with several nods to the Rust In Peace era while keeping some melodies from the 90s.
After almost three decades on the road, business is still good for Megadeth.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/32892

The day that finally came

After their 2003 show cancellation, Metallica make it up to fans with two memorable shows

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Ten years have passed since the last time Metallica had last set foot on Argentine soil. Ten long years where, in between, thousands of fans had the bitter disappointment of the last-minute cancellation of their South American tour in 2003. However, Metallica aimed to make it up to their fans with two shows at River Plate stadium on last Thursday and Friday — the first of which sold out.
And what a comeback it was. With the band's latest record Death Magnetic taking the group back to their thrash metal roots — something long-awaited, if not demanded by their fans — the World Magnetic tour had focused in their old-school classics, playing little or nothing from their most questioned albums of the 1990s. In other words, anything a Metallica fan would have wanted.
Therefore, the blood of almost 60,000 people seemed to boil as the lights went down in River and The Ecstasy of Gold — the instrumental piece of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly soundtrack by Ennio Morricone which Metallica currently uses as their opener — started to sound on the speakers of the Monumental, only to be abruptly interrupted by the crunching riff of Creeping Death, one of Metallica's biggest classic from their 1984 album Ride The Lightning.
It was the moment thousands of fans had been waiting for over a decade. A massive release of anxiety, frustration and joy translated into hundreds of head-banging heads, thousands of fists in the air and throats that seemed to scream their lungs out.
It seems hard to believe that the four musicians on stage — singer and guitarist James Hetfield, Danish drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammet and bass player Robert Trujillo — will be pushing 50 in a few years (all of them were born between 1962 and 1964). All four continue to deliver an energetic performance and the band proves to be one of the tightest and most powerful acts in the business.
It is true that Hetfield's vocals have became cleaner over the years in comparison to that furious 20-year-old that recorded Kill 'Em All in 1983 almost tearing off his vocal chords, but his singing continues to make blood run cold as he intonates long running classics such as For Whom The Bell Tolls or Ride The Lightning with a deeper and more obscure approach.
Besides, Hetfield is probably one of the most hypnotising frontmen, his sole presence makes it almost impossible to take the eyes off him as he stands in front of the microphone opening his legs and bending his knees in which has already became his trademark pose.
Still, he is not the only one. Ulrich isn’t a static drummer and he is permanently jumping off his drum kit, standing up and screaming at the audience as he plays, acting as the perfect counterweight for Hetfield's hypnotising presence along with Trujillo's constant monkey-moves as he moves through the stage.
Despite the almost 30 years that had passed since its foundation, Metallica probes they still have a lot to offer. Both of the shows at River Plate were equally memorable, as the band modifies its setlist every night, making each show different from one another.
Of course, “mandatory songs” were part of both concerts. Fire and explosions gave way to the epic war story in One while the whole stadium punched their fist in the air to scream “Master! Master!” on Master of Puppets and fireworks lit up the stadium as the whole crowd sang the chorus of Enter Sandman, probably the band’s most well-known song ever.
However, several songs gave each concert its own identity. On Thursday, where the setlist cleared concentrated on the band's biggest hits, Wherever I May Roam and Harvester of Sorrow were part of the unexpected classics while the furious Blackened seemed to be a nod to the die-hard fans.
On the other hand, Friday's show featured some of the old-school fan favourites that Metallica seemed to have excluded from their concerts during the 90s as “Ride The Lightning, Fuel — with 12-metres-tall flames and endless pyrotechnics on the stage — and the epic The Four Horsemen made the first half-hour of the show almost relentless.
Only four songs from Death Magnetic were played at each concert, on both occasions with the classic Sad But True bringing some fresh air in between.
“We know we broke your hearts when we had to cancel our tour in 2003 but we are here to heal that wound,” Hetfield said at both concerts, in the usual rockstar speech that hardly anybody believes nowadays but everybody expects to hear. “Our hearts are back together,” he added near the end of the show.
But despite the “rockstar demagogy” — at least he didn't go for the Argentine soccer jersey! — it is fair to agree with Hetfield's statement. Not because of his words, but because of Metallica's performance. If they had to make it up to their fans for anything, the two concerts in River surely did. Especially with the energetic performances following the encore break which included fast-tempo classics Whiplash (on Thursday) and Fight Fire With Fire (on Friday) before closing the night with the song demanded by the entire audience.
Hetfield hands his guitar to the stage assistant and grabs the microphone with his hands. “I have three words for you: Seek and Destroy!,” says the iconic frontman before getting off the stage and climbing to the fence to sing their classic piece from Kill 'Em All — which they failed to play in 1999 — among the public. Despite the 10-year wait, what else could we ask for? We got what we wished for, and probably even more.

Rock ‘til you drop. Metallica was founded in Los Angeles in October 1981 by James Hetfield (vocals/guitar) and Lars Ulrich after they both answered an ad in a music magazine looking for musicians aiming to form a heavy metal band. They were later joined by guitar player Dave Mustaine (who later formed Megadeth) and bassist Ron McGoveny (later replaced by Cliff Burton, who died in a road accident in Sweden in 1986).
Almost 30 years later, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and its self-titled album from 1991 (also known as The Black Album which was certified as 15 times platinium in the United States last November).
However, Ulrich himself has stated the live performances and the style played by Metallica demand an enormous physical effort.
Asked by the Herald at a press conference before the show about how many years do they think they will be able to keep playing, Ulrich said:
“That’s the great question, the only one who may answer that question is Don (the band’s chiropractic). I think that spiritually, creatively and mentally this band will go on for another hundred years but the physical aspect of it will be the main question, we will have to see how long our bodies will hold up.
“I don’t want to know,” Hetfield added. “I think touring keeps us in shape and we look at other bands like the Rolling Stones or Lemmy (Kilmister) from Motorhead who are older than us and have been doing this forever,” he said. “Even with our level of intensity and energetic performances, I can see that in Angus Young from AC/DC so as long as those guys are around we will try to catch up with them.”

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/23473

Interview with Tarja Turunen: "I do what I feel"

Soprano singer discusses her solo career after ten years with Nightwish

By Pablo Krause
Herald Staff


Soprano Tarja Turunen was the voice of Finnish power/symphonic metal band Nightwish for almost ten years, recording seven albums and becoming the best-known female vocalist in heavy metal, leading the way to a new generation of female-fronted bands.
Tarja and Nightwish parted ways in 2005, in a controversial break-up that included a public letter from the band with strong accusations to Tarja and her husband.
Married to an Argentine record producer and dividing her time between Buenos Aires and Finland, Tarja says the “ghost” of Nightwish is no longer a part of her life and is now dedicated to her solo career, which she claims has given her an artistic freedom she had never experienced before.
Tarja will be performing four concerts in Buenos Aires, with two shows at El Teatro Flores and two intimate performances at La Trastienda, which she is more nervous about.
“It’s the first time I’m doing this kind of concerts with my current band, and I’m very happy because it’s going to be with the people sitting down, with tables and everything… a little scary for me also, because I’m going to be a lot closer to my audience and therefore I have to think what kind of songs I can perform,” said Tarja.
“But it’s not going to be an acoustic concert. We are going to do a rock concert with some premières and other special surprises,” she added.
Although the shows will focus on her solo career, Tarja will also perform some of Nightwish’s songs. She claims she is now better able to perform those songs, as her technique in the early years of Nightwish was not yet developed.
“On the first Nightwish album I was just… crap! Seriously, I was struggling with classical singing and the technique to sing in a heavy metal band and nobody was there to help me!,” she said.
“I had a vocal coach because during the Nightwish period I was permanently studying and taking classical singing lessons. Of course those studies helped me sing this kind of music too, we are talking about the same instrument – but it’s a different way to use my voice, so that it didn’t sound too operatic for heavy metal and people could understand what I was singing. It was a very difficult task, that was my struggle.”
Tarja was dismissed from Nightwish with a public letter from the band with strong accusations about money issues and diva attitudes. Back then, Tarja released a statement saying she did not recognize herself in those words.
“I think that many of the things that were said should have never been exposed to the public, and I will not comment on those things. There’s no ‘ghost’ of Nightwish in my life anymore. It has been a major part of my career and of my life, a very, very important period that ended very, very badly,” she said.
“Today, I still love the music of Nightwish and still play some of it because I’m proud of it. It’s very sad that it ended the way it did, but life goes on. I’m so happy today to be able to do my music. Nothing will change the fact that I was the singer in Nightwish and I don’t have any problems with that: I still have many Nightwish fans supporting me, and I’m really grateful for that,” she said.
Tarja was forced to write her own songs for her solo album (My Winter Storm, 2007), a field in which she had no previous experience as keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen managed all compositions in Nightwish.
“I’m free to explore things in life and find out what inspires me, there are no limitations to do a heavy metal song or some other kind of song… I do what I feel,” said Tarja.
“It’s always about how I feel. I sit in front of my piano and start composing songs, whatever comes into my head – good or bad. My style is progressing and I’m learning which things I like more and which I like less, that’s the great thing about being an artist. Music is all about emotions,” she added.
Before the release of My Winter Storm, Tarja said she was “trying to reach an original style or sound which did not exist in the music business,” as Nightwish had introduced her to metal elements that she would use along with her soprano voice.
“I’m still working on it,” said Tarja. “For the first album, it was really difficult for me to explain what I wanted to do to the people I was working with. It was really hard for me to put it into words and tell them that maybe I wanted to do a heavy metal song, but that there would have to be elements of movie soundtracks and different sounds. I wanted to create a kind of open and clear sound, full of emotion but also having elements from metal with a heavy-sounding guitar.”
Tarja has a second studio album (What Lies Beneath) expected to be released this year, where she aims to reach the sound she is looking for.
“It’s not easy to combine symphonic elements like very beautiful orchestrations with a heavy guitar. So there will be songs with guitars – and they will blow your head – and then there will be songs with the orchestra, and that is going to blow your head too,” she said.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/1701

Kirchner resigns as head of the Peronist Party

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

Former President Néstor Kirchner resigned as chairman of the Peronist party yesterday after his defeat by dissident Peronist Deputy Francisco De Narváez in Buenos Aires province in a mid-term election seen as a referendum on the government of his wife, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, where the ruling party lost control of both houses of Congress.
The former President requested that Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli take over the leadership of the party, and that both Scioli and Lieutenant-Governor Alberto Balestrini stay in office, resigning their seats in Congress, as both officials ran along with Kirchner as “testimonial candidates” in Sunday’s elections.
“I have presented my resignation from the national leadership of the Peronist party,” said Kirchner during a televised statement recorded at the presidential residence in Olivos yesterday.
“I also asked the governor to stay in office.. I requested my two lifelong partners, Alberto and Daniel, to reinforce the model and the changes, which are fundamental for the party,” said Kirchner.
Scioli said he will initiate a round of negotiations with Peronist governors and officials and claimed the debate on presidential candidacies for the 2011 elections should be postponed for the moment.
“I’m the Deputy Chairman (of the Peronist party) and I will take charge following the resignation (of Kirchner),” said Scioli, who confirmed he will stay on as Governor despite winning a seat in Congress.
“I feel this (the Buenos Aires government) is where I can make greater efforts along with my lieutenant-governor (Balestrini),” added Scioli.
“To start this transition, I will talk to each of my fellow-governors and all the (Peronist) leadership,” said the Buenos Aires Governor.
“There will be time to discuss personal projects in the future,” added Scioli, in a clear reference to the 2011 presidential elections.
However, De Narváez has already stated he has “no intention” of participating in the current Peronist party leadership (see box on this page).
Kirchner said he requested that Scioli stay in office as he considers “the residents of Buenos Aires province want him to stay as Governor” and recognized the outcome of the elections was unexpected for the government.
“He (Scioli) should take the lead of the Peronist party, with strong support from the party chairman in Buenos Aires province (Balestrini) who clinched a great victory in La Matanza (the biggest district in Greater Buenos Aires),” said Kirchner.
“The results are not as expected, we think it’s time to take measures and pay attention to the political results, which is why I am resigning the leadership of the party,” added the former President.
Along with other main ruling party officials, Balestrini tend to downplay Sunday’s defeat.
“This is just a mid-term election, where you can win or lose,” said the lieutenant-governor.
“This time we lost by a very small margin, but we are convinced that this is the project that will make the country progress,” added Balestrini.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/5211

Córdoba: Juez defeats Radicals, Peronists

By Pablo Krause
Herald staff

The main candidates for Senator in Córdoba province yesterday acknowledged the victory of former Córdoba city Mayor Luis Juez, head of the Civic Front, ahead of former ombudsman Eduardo Mondino of the ruling Unión por Córdoba front and Radical candidate Ramón Mestre. However, the race was neck to neck in the voting for Lower House, with the Radical party leading by less than one percent.
With 95 percent of the votes counted, Juez was in first place with 30.65 percent, while Mestre and Mondino were battling for second place with the Radical candidate leading 26.70 percent to 26.01 percent.
The margin was not wider in the race for the Lower House, with Radical candidate Oscar Aguad leading with 29.07 percent of the votes and Gumersindo Alonso from the Civic Front trailing with 27.98 percent, while Unión por Córdoba’s Francisco Fortuna was third with 25.59.
The result also showed a strong rejection of the national government, in a province searingly marked by the conflict between the government and the farm sector over the export duties bill, as Victory Front candidate for Senate Eduardo Acastello came in fourth with 8.77%, as did Lower House candidate Carmen Nebreda with 9,11 percent of the votes.
Juez’s victory came as revenge for the former Córdoba mayor and Social and Civic Accord leader Elisa Carrio’s candidate in the province, following a close defeat by Governor Juan Schiaretti in the 2007 elections, which was marked by fraud accusations from the Civic Front candidate.
“We have defeated a gang of crooks,” said Juez, based on exit polls from his activists, before the official figures were made public. Later yesterday, the former Córdoba mayor praised the work of his scrutineers.
“We defeated a huge party machine less than 23 months after they stole an election from us ,” said Juez, who urged the scrutineers to stay at the voting centres until the result was officialized.
“This time we took all the precautions we did not take last time, they could not steal this election from us because we stayed until the very last minute,” he added. “We are going to win by five or six points.”
Asked about the situation of the Peronist party in Córdoba province, Juez compared it to the Titanic.
“They (the Peronist) are all inside a cabin and the name of the ship is Titanic, I would be very worried if I was aboard that ship,” said Juez.
“The Peronist party was severely punished, the people answered with their vote,” he added.
According to the official figures, Juez and his running-mate Norma Morandini will be elected Senators for Córdoba, the country’s third larger district representing 8.7 percent of the electoral register, while Mestre was poised to be elected as the Senator for the largest minority in the province.
The result is a huge blow for the ruling party, which loses the seats of pro-government Deputies Roberto Urquía and Haidé Giri, while the Civic Front gains one senator as Carlos Rossi ends his term in office.
In the Lower House race, the Radical Party will pick up three Deputies, including Aguad’s reelection, as well as the Civic Front. Unión por Córdoba winning two and the Victory Front only garners one deputy.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Radical party and the Civic Front had denounced missing and false ballots at the voting centres.

Link: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/PrintedEdition/View/5167