We're Back!

Sorry that we've been a little quiet recently but we've been busy getting the first issue of 2011 - with the lovely Lina - Puerto Banus Pocket Rocket - on the Front Cover.

The feedback from you all has been fantastic - so thanks for that and we are also very excited about our new Spanish magazine - Revista Hot.

Just in Madrid at the printers with the May edition so look out for that in May!

Looking forward to summer 2011 in Marbella!

Keep the Faith

Faithless, the World’s biggest dance act, headline the L.I.V.E concert in Marbella this month. Hot Marbella spoke exclusively to Sister Bliss the day after their storming set at the Glastonbury Festival.
Faithless have always been at the forefront of the International Dance Scene and for the first time in southern Spain the British collective’s central trio of Buddhist MC/poet Maxi Jazz, indomitably cool club doyenne Sister Bliss and visionary producer Rollo will be bringing their distinctive music to the L.I.V.E concert on July 31
It’s been fourteen years since their debut album “Reverence” took the club world by storm. Now their sixth studio album “The Dance” has gone back to Faithless’s dance floor roots as well as bringing in old friends such as Rollo’s sister Dido, to extend that Faithless energy even further – always passionate, always progressive.

Hot Magazine spoke to Sister Bliss as she looked forward to the Marbella concerts

Hot. We interviewed you last year when you were doing a DJ set at Puro Beach and you hadn’t been to this part of the world before but told us how much you liked it. And now you’re coming back!

Bliss. Last time I was here on my own and it was a little tester. So now I’m bringing the whole gang with me! (laughs) But I am hoping that we get a good crowd and a mixture of both expats and the Spanish for the event, because variety is the spice of life!

Hot. What’s it been like when you have played in Spain before?
Bliss. The reaction has been amazing . We’ve played in Barcelona and Madrid before and we also played at Creamfields in Almeria and the reaction was awesome. There are a lot of passionate fans and there’s a great exploding electronic music scene in Spain so it’s going to be great to be there. We’re playing Ibiza after the Marbella gig so if anyone gets the bug they can come and see us there as well afterwards!
Hot. You played Glastonbury last week and got rave reviews. What was it like?
Bliss . It was just awesome. I’m actually just recovering now in my back garden. It was a brilliant, brilliant show, I nearly cried when I came off stage and Maxi was welling up as well. It was just something very special and we hadn’t played there for eight years. So it was great to come back, and the passion hasn’t diminished - it’s actually grown and the fans have grown as well which is wonderful. We’ve been doing this for 15 years now and so we’re not the flavour of the month!

Hot. The week before that you played at an economic summit in St. Petersburg…
Bliss. Oh my God that was mad! It was little random jaunt by private plane and we ended up being booked to play in front of an audience of world leaders. Imagine that Anrea Merkle getting down…
Who knows who booked us but it was very exciting and a lot of fun! Of course in Russia at this time of year it doesn’t really get dark so we didn’t know when to leave the bar!

Hot. You may find the same thing happening in Marbella
Bliss. Yeah (laughs)

Hot. Your new album “The Dance” is also doing well.
Bliss. The reaction to “The Dance” has been so brilliant that we’re really, really, really happy. The fact that people are going out and buying our records just blows me away. The fact that in this day and age that people are actually buying records anymore! We are always trying to make it better and people are responding to that. We are always trying to keep it fresh – “Mass Destruction” is an anti war protest song which is quite a way from “God is a DJ”.

Hot. What can the fans expect for your first ever gig in Marbella?
Bliss. Our energy, our commitment and our vibe really, I mean what else can we bring but to bring our very best? We always give it everything we’ve got because it’s the fans that have brought the clothes on our backs. I feel very angry when bands say they don’t feel like performing. When you perform you have to give it everything. The people will respond to that, even if every note is not in tune, it’s about your passion and energy and your commitment within the performance and that’s something that Maxi inspires in all of us. And with our fans you very rarely see people give as much as they do. We are given so much love and in return and we just want to pay our respects.
And performing a Kick Ass show is the best way we know how!


Faithless headline the L.I.V.E concert at the Bullring, Puerto Banus on July 31
Tickets at available at www.ticketmaster.es

Get Ready to Party!

Hot Marbella starts the summer party season with the Pink and White Party, held at the fabulous setting of Buddha Beach, the boutique beach club. Join Marbella’s hottest magazine for an unforgettable evening, including a live performance by DJ Mark Strut, the coast’s most manic and maravek DJ, as well as seductive dancing by The Pink Hotties.

Tickets are €20 (which include two drinks) and VIP tables are also available.
Available from Buddha Beach

Faithless to headline L.I.V.E in Puerto Banus!

International dance superstars Faithless will headline the L.I.V.E event at the Bullring in Puerto Banus on July 31. The concert, organized by Kings of Production, will be the first time that Faithless have played in southern Spain and they will be supported at the event by British Djs including Tall Paul, Platnum and Levi Lewis.


To their millions of fans worldwide, Faithless need no introduction. When this British collective first emerged in the mid-1990s, the idea that a dance music act could produce rich full-length albums rather than one-off tracks, pack out live concerts, and bring together all kinds of genres and music fans, seemed quite revolutionary. Fourteen years, several albums and numerous global tours, festivals and hits later, those Faithless qualities have become benchmarks of the 21st-century music scene. Their sixth studio album The Dance, which is released in May, reunites the central trio of Buddhist MC/poet Maxi Jazz, indomitably cool club doyenne Sister Bliss and visionary producer Rollo, and extends that Faithless energy even further - always passionate, always progressive.



“Essentially, I’ve always been trying to say the same thing: that all human beings have greatness inside of themselves,” says Maxi. “People tend to think that the spiritual and the material world are two separate things. I don’t see it like that. Life is for living, and I’m trying to express something that’s relevant to someone who works five days and parties hard at the weekend. Being in Faithless, I’ve seldom seen more loyal, loving, dedicated and sweet fans. They keep me devoted, and they’re all over the world.”



Money from the event will be going to L.I.V.E. is the Malaga children’s Home “Cuidad de los Ninos”, which home cares for more than 50 children in residence, aged from infants to young adults up to 18 years old.





Tickets for the event are priced from €50 and available from www.ticktackticket.com.


For your chance to win tickets, go to www.hotmagazine.es

Motorcycle Madness!

It’s the biggest sports event in Spain attracting over 120,000 devotees of all things 2 wheeled to the normally tranquil town of Jerez for a weekend of motorcycle madness.


You really have to question the sanity of whoever came up with the original idea of building a motor racing circuit in Jerez. The place could be described as sleepy at the best of times and until the circuit hosted its first Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix, Jerez was best known for its riding schools and sherry.

All that changed when the motorcycle boys roared into town, closely followed by their cousins in Formula 1. True, the megastars of F1 with their private jets and blackened out motorhomes didn’t return to race after 1997 (The mayor of Jerez, caught up in the excitement of the occasion, and perhaps with just a little too local product inside him, decided to hand out all the prizes at the trophy ceremony, instead of just 3rd like he was supposed to do so. This upset the officials who where waiting behind him and vowed never to come back!), but the heroes of MotoGP loved the place and the fans adored Jerez.

If you’ve never been to a MotoGP in Jerez, a word to the wise. Get up early! There are a few reasons behind this – assuming that you don’t normally spring out of bed with a song in your heart and a gleam in your eye at 6 every Sunday morning. Firstly you want to avoid the Sunday drivers who are either tooteling slowly along the Ruta de Torros, the scenic road up from Algeciras or getting stuck behind a coach of tourists on the way up to Ronda. Nothing is more frustrating than going to watch motorsport where the riders will be racing at over 200kph, while you’re stuck doing 20 behind the Ronda bus.

When you do get up to Jerez, don’t worry about following the signs to the circuit, you’ll be surrounded by bikers - and we’re not talking about hairy arsed Hells Angels here or posers on their Harleys. The guys passing you on either side of the road are sports bikers, wearing brightly coloured racing leathers that wouldn’t look out of place in the paddock. Even the local motorcycle police get into the act, blowing their whistles and waving their arms like demented track marshals.

Once you’ve got into the circuit itself you have a few options available. Buy a baseball cap, T-shirt or flag to declare your allegiance to your favorite rider (Rossi or Lorenzo are safe options) or grab a beer. Rather than the hushed ambience of other sporting events, Jerez is more like a very macho carnival at times. Ladies, if seen at all, tend to be of the pit lane girl that holds the umbrella over the rider while he’s waiting to start the race or the bike bikini bimbo brigade, posing for some PR stunt or other.

Another specialty of the Jerez race is the fireworks. Without doubt, these are the loudest and longest you have ever heard, and it’s a wonder that the US hasn’t targeted Jerez as next in line for weapons of mass destruction. The firecrackers are especially likely to go off at any time from 7am onwards, covering everybody in smoke and accompanied by fino-fuelled cheers.

When the actually business of racing gets underway the first lap is mayhem. It’s a blur of speed and colour as well as smoke and noise (see fireworks above) You, of course will be sitting next to the Rossi fan with the air horn so pack some earplugs, as well as lunch as catering at Jerez is basic. The sheer speed of the motorcycles is awesome. If you’ve seen races on TV, it looks about half the speed when you see and hear them in the flesh, and every corner looks like a controlled crash. Make no mistake; these guys earn their money.

If a Spanish rider wins one of the 3 races (125,250 and 500cc) you’ll be involved in more partying, liquid and, yes, you guessed it, fireworks, than Carnival at Rio. And if the world’s favorite rider, the super talented Italian Valentino Rossi wins, expect unconventional celebrations. One year at Jerez, he stooped on his slowing down lap, got off the bike and made use of the portaloo at the side of the track!



Spanish Moto GP
Circuito de Jerez
Ctra. Arcos, km.6
Tel: 956 15 11 00

This one's for the Ladies....

The Ladies were out in force in last for Casino Marbella’s first ever Ladies Night Tournament. The freeroll, which will be a monthly event, attracted 58 competitors, many of who were playing in a casino card room for the first time. Lorena Aparicio Ruiz took first prize and a cheque for € 815. And, it being Marbella, there was a fair amount of glamour on show as well with a selection of beauty products for the top six!

Also congratulations to Paul “The Marbella Kid” Zimbler, who won the € 750Pot Limit Omaha at the recent Irish Open, beating 148 players to scoop the € 36,4000 first prize. The San Miguels at the beach club are on him, if it ever stops raining!

Marbella in Manhattan!

Marbella Mayor Takes Manhattan

Marbella Mayor, Angeles Muñoz and and Councillor of Tourism, Jose Luis Hernandez were in New York last month and took the opportunity to visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City's Times Square to discuss tourism and business opportunities in Marbella. Muñoz , met with potential investors, media and representatives of the tourism sector promoting Golden Mile tourism and the opportunities for investment in Marbella opened up by the PGOU (urban development plan).
‘The time has come to commit ourselves to the external promotion of Marbella as an internationally recognised town that has always attracted foreign investment’ she said.To mark the occasion, Mayor Munoz presided over the NASDAQ Closing Bell!
Marbella residents, however, may have felt that the money would be better spent on filling the potholes in the road, now that the rain has stopped!