Paloma Chamorro died yesterday at the age of 68. She was a fascinating woman, hugely popular and influential, always ready to challenge the powers that be. You might remember her articulate introduction of Tom Verlaine's gig in Madrid in 1984, televised live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pOJidze65g
You can see the whole concert here:
https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E5788181CB47646E
Unfortunately I cannot find the interview Paloma did with Tom. It was up on YouTube for a while. Tom said, among other things, that he was suffering from "the world's worst cold". But he played a great gig anyway.
For a few years in the 1980s Paloma presented the weekly live music programme La Edad De Oro (Golden Age), and it was a golden age in many ways for Spain. One never-to-be-repeated concert could serve as a summary and perhaps pinnacle of the age: One night in May 1985 The Smiths played a gig in a park in Madrid. It was free, staged by the City Hall, and televised live. Nothing fancy, just the four-man band, a simple light system, and so on. But the crowd! There were about 300,000 there, some say more!
--JoeT