Recap: Good Morning, From Here, July 13 to 19
Monday
What a perfectly glorious morning with an almost clear sky and no rain last night. Today should be the actual start of rainy season, where we have a knockdown drag-out, terrifying storm, with rain so hard you can’t see across the street. Right now, it doesn’t look like the sky could sneeze politely. Check back with me tomorrow morning and we’ll see!
I had a lovely mango smoothie with my friend David Duvall last week. He’s a good writer – the man writes songs – and I asked him for a few hundred words a week on his life as a musician in a foreign country. Stay tuned!
As Act2 worked through its growing pains and figuring out schedules, the first Friday night Open Mic took place in Mary Ann’s Ovations Bar. It very nearly captured the warmth of Incanto’s famous Open Mics that nobody ever wanted to miss. It will take a season, and we have all summer to enjoy the spectacular entertainment before the hoards of tourists and snowbirds arrive. Many of the diehard Incanto performers – Bing Young, Enoch, Dashs, Kimberly, et al, were there, plus newbies like Cherry DeLorenzo, who was thrilled to sing a duet with “Liberace.”
On Saturday morning, I spent some time with my old friend Ricardo Mazcal at his Weekend Market on Isla Cuale. He is there every Saturday, rain or shine. He has developed a new product that is in the testing phase right now, and he asked me to try it. “WOWIE”! This is my comment for now, and much more talk about his latest herbal concoction coming up very shortly.
I attended David Sabella’s Voice Workshop Saturday morning and was so impressed I spent yesterday writing about it in a separate article. It will be published on Thursday in Vallarta Mirror, and I will also post it on Facebook. Extraordinary!
Bingo at Act2 is always fun to share with my Scrabble buddy Sharon Gerber Scherer because she wins all the time. Again, she won the blackout and gave the money back to the elevator fund.
I got a surprise message the other night from Michael Walters, who is currently living in New York City and coming to Vallarta for the month of February. Michael will be bringing suitcases full of fabulous frocks for Dame Edna, his alter ego, his partner Doug and their adorable chihuahua Ralphie who was adopted here in Vallarta years ago. I think I am Ralphie’s auntie!
He wanted to let me know that David Maiocco would be accompanying him for Ms Edna’s shows in the Casa Karma Red Room. It must have been ten years ago when Michael/Edna last played the Red Room. I saw nearly every Dame Edna show that season; I could not get enough of Michael’s rapid-fire repartee with every audience. I wrote much about him that year and remember being so sad, sitting up in the balcony at his last show. Dame Edna ended her run by presenting a bouquet of red roses and had Doug sprint up the stairs and give them to me. I don’t think I have ever been so lovingly surprised and touched From Here.
Tuesday
It’s Tuesday, and it’s not raining, so Coapinole Tianguis, here I come! I haven’t been since Patrice returned to Canada, so it’ll be fun and interesting—a full report in the morning.
Last night, I walked over to Casita & Garden to catch the Lovers Duo, which consists of just two of the band’s mates – Yoalli and Chabe (Luis). Yoalli is the lead singer and a Pata Salada, born in Ixtapa 29 years ago last week. She is delightfully perky and energetic, the opposite of her costarring role with Jordon Carnegie in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She is a rock and roller at heart and shares that with her dear friend and mentor, Diego Guerrero. Diego is famous for his Nina Simone ballads and boleros and adores singing rock. A tiny crowd came out for Lovers Duo, which was too bad, but the two played like it was a packed house, enjoying what there was for an audience and each other. Chabe was incredibly proficient on acoustic guitar and backup vocals, and the volume was perfect for conversation and easy listening. Their repertoire covered Tina Turner to Janis Joplin, a couple of Mexican favorites, Amy Winehouse, Rhianna and more. They play every other Monday at Casita & Garden at 7:30. I highly recommend the mushroom pizza.
Join us for Scrabble tomorrow, Qulture, at 12:30…it’s Happy Hour all day, From Here.
Wednesday
It is a picture-perfect morning – not a cloud and no humidity. The beaches will be packed; drink lots of water, people!
Singer Marco Camacho (La Catrina Cantina and Garbo’s) and I went to the tianguis in Coapinole and spent more than 2 hours hunting for treasures. Marco found a couple of designer casual tops and shorts and was surprised at the prices. He then went crazy buying veggies. I did my usual tables and came home with many new projects that cost me a whopping 100 pesos for clothes.
I needed seeds and grains and went to my fave store in Coapinole. There was a photo shoot happening with a professional wrestler with a year under his belt, who posed for pics, and Marco snapped one of me. One never knows what’s lurking right around the corner when you’re looking for chia seeds!
Yesterday also marked two months since I picked up my darling Bogie from his foster mom, Nathalie Herling. Every day, we get a little bit closer and easier with each other. I smile every time I look at him; what a joy.
Scrabble today at 12:30 at Qulture. Liberace channeler David Maiocco said he would join us; I hope he does. He is so busy these days putting the final touches on his show with Gloria Fiona, which opens tomorrow at Act2 at 7 pm. There will likely be a preview at the Greatest Show tonight in the Casa Karma Red Room; join me for both spectacular performances and enjoy this flawlessly beautiful day From Here.
Thursday
Another Greatest Show last night at Act2, another notch in performer Cate Valcic’s Producer’s belt. Every week, the show gets a little tighter, with different singers performing solos and duets that are unusual genres, genders, genuinely interesting, and sometimes hilarious.
Last night’s duet “Suddenly Seymour,” from Little Shop of Horrors, with Sargento and Andy Sands, was endearing – Sargento was such a gurl!
Sol Reyes, former Miss Colombia and last year’s winner of Act2’s Voice of Vallarta gave us a spicy taste of her upcoming show this season.
Alfredo Mendoza opened the show, first with a song in Spanish, salsa rhythms to a track, then blew me away with “Angels” by Robbie Williams, in English, accompanied on piano by David Maiocco. I have never heard him sing so beautifully. A hundred bravos, Alfredo!
The Casa Karma Red Room was packed, including the balcony, and the energy was equal on and off the stage. After the show, everyone stayed, packed into Mary Ann’s Ovations Bar for one last martini, listening to Alexis Macias on piano and rehashing favorite portions of the Greatest Show. What a Wednesday!
I had an opportunity to congratulate Alex Daoud, hairstylist extraordinaire, on his recent purchase of his salon in the Marina. We rarely get to see him on this side of town. Well done, Alex!
Tonight, the Casa Karma Red Room will be full again for the much-anticipated unplugged Gloria Fiona/David Maiocco’s show “From My Heart to Yours.”
Guess where I will be at 7 o’clock tonight, From Here?
Friday
Ah, Gloria Fiona.
Last night’s concert was one of those gentle rarities when all the energies mixed in perfect chemistry, creating one of the most intimate, loving concerts ever held in Act2’s Casa Karma Red Room.
Her voice, stories, gestures, and gorgeous smile welcomed the audience into her very soul, open and honest with tears, laughter, and love. The couple of weeks of brutally hard work of Two Davids (Sabella, Director; Maiocco, Musical Director) and one Gloria fell away, leaving a young woman whose voice has just begun to realize itself.
I spent the entire night with tears threatening; I remembered the first time I heard her sing; same building, different stage, a decade ago, knowing I was hearing genius. I wished I could have hugged her then; she was a million miles away from her home (Rome), family and friends, not speaking Spanish or English. But during that Voice of Vallarta contest, I kept repeating one word to myself every time she was on stage – andiamo, andiamo.
She is here, she is home. Clear a path, Vallarta, Gloria Fiona is in the house, From Here.
