Hi, hello everybody!

 

My name is Martin Palatsi, I’m a 30 year old man from Benicarló, a small city in Spain. I’m a Queen fan and concerned about HIV/AIDS, so it’s not been difficult to get involved with the FFAD event.

 

About my costume, it is a mixture of the Montreal 1981 concert and the Wembley 1986 concert, with some pieces that made me crazy (like the microphone) but there we go!

 

Starting from the bottom up, I put on my everyday shoes, my white stripped trousers that my mum sewed on the machine with the red and golden stripes (thanks a lot and love to Mum who is in cancer treatment, but inspite of this she still got involved), and the trousers are the ones she used to wear when she worked at the butcher’s!! Also, a black belt to avoid the trousers sliding down, a fresh white vest with the "S" from Super Freddie that a local shop gave me as a present for the FFAD.... and now it comes the microphone that I built with a real mic supported by a hook from my bike and the stick I use with my photocamera. Continuing with the wrist bandage, that I had to make with two red socks, cause I couldn’t find any in red. And after that it comes the mustache, that it is my own moustache that I grew with love and no embarrasment, my normal hair and my eyes lined with a little black for the occassion, no other makeup the artist considered necessary. Haha, what a scandal at my home! It was 9:00 am.

 

And now about the day, I prefered to change the day from the September 3rd to the previous Saturday August 28th, because in my city we were celebrating The Feast of the Patron Saint, the biggest feast of the year. You can imagine how many people saw me from my town and the tourists, and how many photos were taken of me with cameras from all over the world because it is a very big tourist site. All started early in the morning, at 10:00 am at home. It was a very hard moment to leave home, a big step crossing the door, but there was no coming back! You can imagine the city full of people, taking photos (13:00) ... but for me there weren’t enough people so I decided to appear at a bull ring at 17:00, where I met with friends to go out later. 

 

We went for supper, (21:00) and had some very very funny moments and after that we went to a pub (23:00) (many thanks to Wolf from HotRod bar), once we were in there some friends asked the DJ to play some Queen songs (I had promised that if they played a Queen song I would get up on the pub’s bar)... so I was up there, singing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" for the audience and after that, when we were about to go outside because there were plenty of people, DJ Wolf played "We Will Rock You", and it was an amazing finales – everyone clapping, making videos, taking photos... I felt like Freddie for a moment! 

 

Now it was 2:00 am, my eye makeup was all smudged (by now we’d done FFTD: Freddie for Two Days), we went to a big party, a place where all young go during The Feast of the Patron Saint, where there is music, drinks and drunks. Some man (who’d had a couple of drinks) looked me many times, came next to me and asked me  "Are you real? I thought I’d seen a spirit". We were at a place with rock music and once again, I got up to the bar singing "We Will Rock You", it was 6:00 am. 

 

The only thing I can say about this day is "IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY"

 

But we all know it was not only a memorial to Freddie, it was also an HIV/AIDS event. So after that, this week I did these things:

 

1. A justgiving page http://www.justgiving.com/martinpalatsi/

2. A facebook photo album with all my photos to raise awareness

3. Wrote an article for a newspaper with all links to the MPT, FFAD and my justgiving page

4. Moving people to make a event next year for the MPT, the director of the Benicarlo Orchestra is interested in collaborating.

5. Trying to make contact with somebody (maybe Queen or a tribute band) to do a concert here to collect money at The Feast of the Patron Saint (this year David Bisbal came to play, but not in aid of the MPT)

6. Tried to get a photo of myself dressed up as Freddie with Montserrat Caballé (but I can’t get in touch with her)

 

And that’s what I have done for the HIV/AIDS cause this week, but the fight needs to go on.

 

All in all, Freddie For A Day has been a very rewarding experience, in all senses.

 

Many thanks to everybody: Mum, Dad, my sister, Feli, Rufi, David, Laura, Raquel, Sandra, Carol, David, Pedro, Inma, DJ Wolf (HotRod), DJ Juanjo (penya Mechero), K&A, Noemi Oms (7dies newspaper), all the Benicarlo crew, all the Facebook comments, all the anonymous people who donated to the cause and to the Mercury Phoenix Trust for al its great work.

   

Thank you all.