MANUEL BEAN: AMAZING GOSPEL IN HARLEM

The Beans arriving to the B.B. King Blues Club

Today is Sunday and at B.B. King Blues Club New York, the Harlem Gospel Choir is going to sing beautiful songs and prayers. Manuel Bean is a great fan of gospel and this is the main reason because the family is going to assist to this event.

The Harlem Gospel Choir is an American gospel choir based in Harlem, New York. It is one of the United States's most prominent gospel choirs.

The group comprises 65 members, ranging in age from 17 to 70. It has toured the world, logging two million travel miles. They have appeared on national television programs. 

More information: Walks of New York

They have performed for Pope John Paul II and Paul McCartney, and have performed with The Chieftains, Diana Ross, Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, the Dixie Hummingbirds, Jimmy Cliff, Lyle Lovett, Lisa Marie Presley, Volbeat, Bono from U2, André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra, Jessica Simpson and Josh Groban.

Selfie of Manuel with The Harlem Gospel Choir

The group was founded on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, 1986 (January 15, 1986) by Allen Bailey.

The Harlem Gospel Choir tours the world every year and was the first American gospel choir to perform in Australia, New Zealand, China, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Morocco. The choir is always looking for new territories to introduce to gospel music.

The group comprises 40 singers and musicians but performs on tour with a formant of nine singers and two musicians (keyboards and drums). It has toured the world, logging over two million travel miles.

They perform every Sunday at BB King Blues Club New York for a gospel brunch and have a strong presence in New York with annual appearances at the Children's Museum of Manhattan and several elementary schools during Black History Month.

More information: Harlem Gospel Choir

The Angels in Harlem Gospel Choir is the older touring arm of the Harlem Gospel Choir.

I have spoke with the tongue of angels.
I have held the hand of a devil.
It was one empty night.
I was cold as a stone.
But I still haven't found

what I'm looking for.

 U2

YASMINA BEAN & BRAD PITT: CATS IN BROADWAY

Yasmina Bean & Brad Pitt in Broadway

Yasmina Bean is a happy woman today. She's going to Broadway to watch Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats with her family but this is not the best of the day. She has a premium seat in the theatre because she has been invited by Brad Pitt, an old Grandma's friend who met some years ago in Las Vegas when she was a part of the Ocean's group. The Grandma knew that Yasmine was very interested in meeting Brad and she has phoned him to ask for an appointment in the theatre with the young Bean.

More information: Brad Pitt Web

Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as the Jellicle choice and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Cats introduced the song standard Memory. The first performance of Cats was in 1981.

Yasmine Bean inside the theatre

Directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, Cats first opened in the West End in 1981 and then with the same creative team on Broadway in 1982. It won numerous awards, including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier Awards and the Tony Awards. 

The London production ran for 21 years and the Broadway production ran for 18 years, both setting new records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became particularly associated with the musical. One actress, Marlene Danielle, performed in the Broadway production for its entire run (from 1982 until 2000).

More information: Cats The Musical

As of 2016, Cats is the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history, and was the longest running Broadway show in history from 1997 until 2006 when it was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera. Cats is the sixth-longest-running West End musical. It has been performed around the world many times and has been translated into more than 20 languages. In 1998, Cats was turned into a made-for-television film.

Memory.
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile happy your days (I can dream of the old days),

life was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was.
Let the memory live again.

Memory, Cats

ELI BOND-BEAN: YANKEES, A HISTORIC BASEBALL TEAM

The Beans arriving to the Yankee Stadium

Eli Bond-Bean is a Yankees' fan. This is the main reason because the Beans are going to visit the Yankee Stadium today. It ¡s not possible to watch a Yankees match because the season doesn't start until March but The Beans have visited the Stadium. 

The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. 

They are one of two major league clubs based in New York City, the other being the New York Mets of the National League. In the 1901 season, the club began play in the AL as the Baltimore Orioles, no relation to the modern Baltimore Orioles. Frank Farrell and Bill Devery purchased the franchise, which had ceased operations, and moved it to New York City, renaming the club the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders were officially renamed the Yankees in 1913.

More information: New York Yankees Official Website

The team is owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, an LLC controlled by the family of the late George Steinbrenner, who purchased the team in 1973. Brian Cashman is the team's general manager. The manager position is currently vacant. 

Babe Ruth, Jimmy Reese Allen Cooke & Bubbles Hart

The team's home games were played at the original Yankee Stadium from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. 

In 2009, they moved into a new ballpark of the same name after the previous facility was closed and demolished. 

The team is perennially among the leaders in MLB attendance; in 2011, the Yankees had the second-highest attendance.

Download Yankee Stadium Guide

Located in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium is just over the bridge from Manhattan and is home to the New York Yankees baseball team. The new Yankee Stadium opened on April 2, 2009 and the first pre-season game was played on April 3, 2009 against the Chicago Cubs. 

Yankee Stadium is located across the street from the location of the former Yankee Stadium, which was referred to as The House That Ruth Built. The new stadium incorporated state-of-the-art stadium technology and increased the inventory of high-demand luxury seating.

The Beans are going to visit some things at Yankee Stadium:

Eli Bond-Bean inside the Yankee Stadium

Firstly, Babe Ruth Plaza. Located outside of Yankee Stadium, along 161st Street, Babe Ruth Plaza recounts the life of Babe Ruth, perhaps the most famous Yankee

After, Monument Park. Features interesting display with all the New York Yankees retired uniform numbers, as well as commemorative plaques for important players, managers, and events at Yankee Stadium. Monument Park opens when gates open and closes 45 minutes prior to the start of the game.

Finally, New York Yankees Museum. Located on the Main Level near Gate 6, the New York Yankees Museum features memorabilia, life-size statues and exhibits.

I was born and raised in the Bronx and my grandfather and my brother Garry were huge Yankees fans. One of my first memories is of them listening to a game on the radio and screaming at the radio. My brother would cry when they lost, and when I was really little, I didn't know why he was crying. 

Penny Marshall

CRISTINA BEAN & THE MET: THE ROMANIC CLOISTERS

The Beans arriving to the Metropolitan Museum

When Jordi Bean chose The USA to go at Christmas holiday, The Grandma asked for every member of the family about their preferences in this journey.  

Cristina Bean confessed she wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum in New York City and today, her dream has come true. The Grandma is also very happy with this visit because she was very interested, as a good Andorran woman, in the MET Romanic cloisters. She also wanted to see some Salvador Dalí's works which are exposed in this magnificent museum.

More information: The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially the Met, is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the second most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. 

Cristina Bean in front of The Temple of Dendur

On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. 

The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

Download The MET Guide by The Grandma

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

A great day in New York would be to wake up, get a cup of coffee and head up to Central Park for a nice walk. 

Then I'd go down to the East Village and stroll around. 

After that, maybe I'd go check out a museum or catch an indie film at the Angelika. 

Emmanuelle Chriqui

CAROL BEAN: A HEART IN NY, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK

Barefoot in the park poster with Carol Bean

Carol Bean had a dream. She wanted to visit Central Park and today her dream has come true. Carol has visited this wonderful place accompanied by her family. All together have spent a nice day in the park visiting the real places where Robert Redford and Jane Fonda filmed Barefoot in the park in 1967 and have assisted to the Simon & Garfunkel Concert.

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. It comprises 341 ha between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, roughly bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) on the west, Central Park South (59th Street) on the south, and Central Park North (110th Street) on the north. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013, and one of the most filmed locations in the world.

More information: Central Park Conservancy

The park was established in 1857 on 315 ha of land acquired by the city. In 1858, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the Greensward Plan. 

The Beans in Central Park, New York City

Construction began the same year, and the park's first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction north of the park continued during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and the park was expanded to its current size in 1873. 

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park. Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s.

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962, which in April 2017 placed it on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

More information: Central Park

The park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 341 ha park.

New York, lookin' down on Central Park
Where they say you should not wander after dark.

New York, like a scene from all those movies

but you're real enough to me, but there's a heart,

a heart that lives in New York.

Simon & Garfunkel

SAINT STEPHEN IN LITTLE ITALY: CANNELLONI & MUSIC

The Beans arriving to Little Italy.

Today is December, 26 Saint Stephen in The USA and Sant Esteve in Andorra where The Grandma was born. It's an ancient Andorran tradition eating cannelloni in this date. Cannelloni, like pizza in Italian cuisine, migas in Andalusian or Carn d'Olla in Catalan one is a dish that has its origins in the poverty.

The Grandma is a great fan of keeping traditions and although The Beans are in NYC enjoying the city, she has invited all the family to have dinner in Little Italy, one of the most popular neighbourhoods in Lower Manhattan, where they will find a mixture of Mediterranean tradition and American one, feeling closer to home although they're not near because an enormous deep ocean separates the two continents.

The Grandma has choosen one of the best restaurants in the area, Pizzeria Napoli, where they will taste the best Neapolitan dishes and The Grandma will be able to evocate her memories about Naples, the beautiful unforgettable capital of the Campania Region. She will take profit of the situation and will try to play a little with numbers and probabilities doing the impossible, possible, meeting with one of the most superstitious communities around the world: The American Neapolitan People.

Download The Numbers

 And wouldn't it follow that everything made from those things is ruled by numbers, too? Genes, chromosomes, us, the Universe.

Monica Reyes, Improbable, The X Files

THE BEANS IN NEW YORK CITY: A STATE OF MIND

The Beans arriving to the Bryant Park Hotel

After a long transoceanic flight, The Beans arrived to New York City with time enough to celebrate Christmas in the capital of the world.

They went to check in their hotel, The Bryant Park Hotel and they started to enjoy their suites. The Bryant Hotel is a very comfortable modern New Yorker-style hotel located in Manhattan near the business district and the most important sights of the city.

More information: The Bryant Park Hotel

During these days, The Beans are going to enjoy the city. Their agendas are full of proposals and activities and they're going to spend some unforgettable days in the city of the skyscrapers.

The Grandma watching Star Trek in her suite

The Grandma has her own agenda and she wants to watch a New York Knicks match and the Barbra Streisand's concert on New Eve's Day in the Madison Square Garden. 

She also wants to visit an exposition about Salvador Dalí in the Metropolitan Museum and have a meeting with old friends like Richard Castle and the members of the CSI team in New York City.

Download A New York City Guide by The Grandma

Come on Beans, enjoy one of the most beautiful cities around the world, and the most important, enjoy its people and its culture and remember that New York is a state of mind.

It comes down to reality, and it's fine with me cause I've let it slide
I don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons I left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind
 

Billy Joel

THE SONG OF THE SYBIL: JUDICII SIGNUM & A NEW HOPE

The Sibyl

Last Friday, 22, The Beans reviewed some grammar about Prepositions of place and There is-There are while they welcame another new member of the family: Natalia Bean.

More information: There is/are

The family was excited about the next travel to The USA and they were preparing the travel and searching information about flights and hotels.

The Grandma talked about her personal point of view about Christmas and she remembered the Song of Sibyl, one of her favourite songs, a song full of history and trascendental events.

More information: Prepositions of place

The sun will lose its lightness showing itself dark and veiled, the moon will give no light and the whole world will be sorrow.
 

The Song of the Sibyl

EXPRESSING ORDERS AND ADVICE: MUST & SHOULD

Manuel & Cristina Bean

Last Thursday, 21, The Beans continued with their English classes. The class started a bit late because The Grandma had been attending some important business in Barcelona. She must vote.

That day, they talked about modal verbs: Must and Should. They also discussed about So and Such.

More information: So & Such

It's important to know when you have to choose one kind of verb or another because it demonstrates the power of the emitter over the receiver.

The Beans prepared the last details to travel to The USA at Christmas and thought about which places they wanted to visit and they were discussing about their new home. The Grandma accepted all their proposals and now they have an enormous work to refurbish all of them.

More information: Must & Should

To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain. 

Louis L'Amour

HOW TO CREATE A TIÓ BY THE BEANS FAMILY

The Grandma & The Tió

Last Wednesday, 20, The Beans continued with their English classes and they reviewed some grammar like the Prepositions of Time and The Articles, paying especial attention to the rules of the The article.

More information: A/An Articles

It was an interesting day, The Beans worked hard as always and they could make a Tió, a typical Catalan Christmas figure composed by a trunk and a blanket in its old version and the same elements, with a red hat and a painted-face in its modern one. 

More information: The Article

It was a good chance to use the Imperative to create a little manual about how to create a Tió.

More information: Prepositions of time 

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling. 

Edna Ferber

PREPARING THE JOURNEY TO THE USA

Paqui & Yasmina Bean's packing list

Today, The Beans have talked about the Imperative and how to convert Infinitives to Nouns. They have also studied which is the correct order of the adjectives in English.

More information: Imperative

The Grandma continues with her huge cold and although she's trying to keep her voice alive, sometimes it has been difficult to explain some new things. These kind of things are very usual where you are 92 but she has explained an interesting story about the game of  the goose.

More information: Order of Adjectives

Jordi Bean chose to travel to the USA and all the family will go with him. This is the reason because they have been working with the vocabulary of travels.

Moreover, the family has been writing their letters to Santa Claus. Xmas is coming to town and they are ready to welcome him with all the honours.

More information: Gerunds as Subject

Finally, the family have played with Who is Who and Scattergories and they have discussed if king is a job, a profession or nothing.

Roll of the dice, family!

Santa Claus has the right idea: visit people only once a year. 

Victor Borge

THE BEANS, A NEW FAMILY AND NEW OBJECTIVES

The Grandma in the Roman Thermes, Sant Boi

The Grandma has a new family. Today, she has met The Beans a funny group of people who have lots of things in common although they don't know it. 

It has been an intensive day because MJ has arrived with tones of burocratic documents to sign and after, The Grandma has tried to introduce herself to the new members of her family but she wasn't in her best moment today because an enormous cold is affecting her seriously.

Download The Family

First day of a meeting is a good chance to discover how the new members are, what kind of things you can wait for them and what's more or less their level of English. It has been a good experience and The Grandma trusts on them to start a beautiful and unforgettable travel around the world where the first stop is the USA.

Download The ABC & Download The Adjectives

Today, they have been talking about the importance of our ancestors and our historic past to understand our present and our societies and how many things you can explain with your name, your surnames or the toponimic names.

They have also talked about the order of the adds in a sentence and about which kind of information you need to create a profile. Every member of the family has known her/his new role in it, her/his job and her/his nationality.

Download Nationalities & Download Jobs and Degrees

Finally, they have been playing a little with some passwords and some games about Who is s/he?

Tomorrow, the family is going to study the order of the adjectives and the imperatives because they must start to prepare two important goals: the new travel to the USA and Santa Claus's letter. Xmas is coming...

Nothing is impossible, 

the word itself says 'I'm possible'! 

Audrey Hepburn

THE GRANDMA RETURNS FROM ANDORRA LA VELLA

The Grandma has returned to meet a new family

The Grandma has returned. After some months of living alone after saying goodbye to The Bonds and since September, 20 when she suffered an incredible attack and left to publish on her blog. 

She is on fire again and she's ready to start a new journey with a new family.

She's going to leave Andorra la Vella today, her hometown where she has been skiing and visiting her old neighbours and friends.

Tomorrow, December 18, The Grandma is going to join with a new family: The Beans. She doesn't know a lot of things about them, in the same way that they don't know anything about her but MJ and M have been preparing the possibility of starting a new journey together, a journey plenty of adventures, good feelings and unforgettable moments.

She's very happy to start a new life with a new family because she has great memories about her past ones: The Collins, The Addams, The Holmes, The Poppins and The Bonds. She hopes her new family accepts her as a new member and they can travel around the world, discover new cultures and learning a lot of English.

Welcome to The Grandma's Logbook again! We follow...

Europe started out with six countries; 

three small countries and three large countries. 

Jean-Pierre Raffarin