Recap: Good Morning, From Here, October 25 – 31
Monday
It’s 8 am, and a mere 24 degrees C. A week ago today, at the same time, it was 32º. The difference is so wonderfully dry, and the air feels downright balmy.
Loads of stuff going on this week, with Halloween happenings – parties, concerts, and costume contests scattered around town, some with enormous cash prizes, at the end of it.
This week also celebrates the return of Patrice, my baby sister, for the next six weeks or so. Lots to do to get ready for that sweet reunion! She has an early flight from Calgary, landing here at noon on Tuesday; we have a full schedule starting at Coco Cabaret that evening if she can keep her eyes open.
It has been said a million times, ”The talent in Vallarta is (pick one or five): amazing; prolific; great; over-the-top; too much for such a small city; diverse.” And so on and so forth.
And we have a number of venues that range from rural to humble and makeshift to first-world Las Vegas showrooms. And some venues cannot be pigeon-holed because they are the square peg. I have written about the Social Club before, but not like this.
First, I am so grateful I was there last Saturday to witness one of the finest concerts held in this city. Ever. I did a quick headcount and came up with 30ish. The main bar, The Red Room, was sold out and packed. It doesn’t take much, granted, the space is tiny. What went on in there for two hours was groundbreaking on a whole lot of levels, and, lucky for all you readers out there, this show will be back next Saturday at 7. And the Saturday after that. And so on, winning friends and adding to the Social Club’s stellar reputation (can a Speakeasy have a stellar reputation?) and repertoire.
The ever-brilliant JT Horenstein created, wrote, and directed ”The Nina Simone Experience,” starring Shannon Maracle, who was elegant in a floor-length backless evening gown for the first half of the concert; her hair brushed out into a pulsing halo that took on a life of its own. Her voice is low and husky with a mid-range remarkably similar to Ms Simone’s. Shannon is as dramatic as Nina, taking up a lot of space while moving through the room, ceding just a touch without missing a beat to let the scurrying waiters squeeze past her to get to the bar for refills.
The band, with Mairead, an unlikely-looking, lovely young woman and kick-ass percussionist and upright bass player, Dante, with a space-age-looking instrument that lent itself well to a violin’s bow, creating some unearthly trembles.
Behind the light and sound board was magicman Tirso Garcia of Colectivo Hueco.
Herding together all this talent is Musical Director, David Maiocco, one of the finest virtuoso pianists anywhere, and now in Vallarta! What a pleasure to hug this man close and listen to his perfection, From Here.
Tuesday
A couple of days ago, on October 26, I spent some quiet time remembering my dear friend Allyna Vineberg. Two years ago, on the 26th, I saw her at her home for the last time; she would pass away mere weeks later. Her PV Mirror newspaper, which she founded almost 20 years ago, continues to honor her memory in a somewhat different format as Vallarta Mirror. Still dedicated to this gorgeous city and the people who live in it, and to those who visit us. Allyna calls on me now and then, disguised as a 🦋. Our visits are brief but magical as she lets me know she still has my back.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been cancelled at Coco Cabaret for tonight. I was looking forward to seeing it again with my sister Patrice, who arrives today (yay!), because she knows every word and what lines to shout back at the screen at the appropriate time. Rocky Horror was released in 1975 — 50 years ago — an amazingly long time for a small, campy film that is traditionally shown annually at midnight right around Halloween. We will try to amuse ourselves with something less entertaining.
I had the pleasure of lunch at Joe Jack’s Fish Shack on Basilio Badillo last week with an old friend, Bill Makley. It has been years since I have eaten there, and the changes have been significant. It is a ‘shack’ in name only, expanded in size, and full of well-versed and attractive wait staff. Bill is practically a regular and steered me toward and shared some of the vegetarian offerings. Of course, I forgot to take pictures, but the food was creatively presented; an order of devilled eggs and a bruschetta, the color of avocado toast but made with chickpeas, all served on tin plates. I was craving French fries, and a mountain of those arrived with my mac and cheese, which was artfully topped with a couple of al dente broccoli spears. I ate all the hot fries first, and took most of the mac and cheese home for dinner, and got to add the plain brown paper to-go bag to my composter. I like that so much better than a styrofoam container in a plastic bag. It is always a rare treat for me to see Bill; he — we — are always so busy.
Pizza, carrot cake, and mango smoothies were the order of the day when I hooked up with Rob Burton and Jan Dorland yesterday, who have just returned from an extensive visit to our mutual homeland of Canada. We hadn’t seen each other for ages. The chatter was nonstop for hours. Jan joked that he thought I should change the title of my daily column from “Good Morning, From Here” to “FOMO.” A couple of times while they were up north, Rob would write on Facebook that he wasn’t going to read me anymore until they returned; the FOMO was taking its toll. LOL!
I hope today is as happy for you as it is for me. If you have a sister, reach out and tell her you love her, From Here.
Wednesday
Patrice and I are well rested after many hours of uninterrupted, delicious sleep. Good thing, as we have a busy day with Scrabble, Bingo for the dogs at Nacho Daddy, a birthday party at La Catrina Cantina, followed by Angeloo’s show at 8. On our way home, I want to stop to say goodbye to Gilberto, who is retiring from Bar Frida, which he has managed for 7 years. On Friday, also at La Catrina Cantina at 5 pm, Gloria Fiona dons less clothing – think leather corset, grabs a whip, and gets the bondage party started. This is her third venture into public S & M, complete with a safe word, that has taken the public by storm (trooper?) Each of her Burlesque shows has been a little more daring, very interesting from a prurient standpoint, and, above all, fun set to pulsing music with guest stars. There may be a few tickets for ”Hallowkink” left. Check VallartaCalendar.com for details.
Chris Lopez is producing the second-season Grand Opening of Coco Cabaret on October 31 at 9 pm. The star-studded cast will include visitations by Coco’s brightest stars, with loads of singing, dancing, and fabulous visuals. As always, if it’s a Chris Lopez Production, just get tickets and go.
Besides being a clothes horse and a fabric hoarder, I am also a compulsive gardener when it comes to pineapples. If I forget to have the ‘corona’ removed from a fresh piña, I HAVE to put it in water and watch it grow. And grow. Anyway, my tiny patio is full of pineapple plants that have great root systems and are looking for homes. They need a lot of space that I do not have. So, if anyone has an acreage or a big, empty pot and can use some of these healthy, beautiful specimens, let me know. A caveat, I have no idea if they will ever bear fruit, but they are as stately as agave cactus.
Baseball anybody? Patrice and I walked over to Nacho Daddy to watch Game Four of the World Series and to eat totopos and salsa (both delightfully good!). We saw the gigantic burritos coming out of the kitchen and decided to split one (no way we could have each finished the whole thing!). Oh yes, and we had to talk baseball and watch it. Nacho Daddy was open until 1 am the night before when the two teams played 18 innings! They are extremely well-matched, from my really-not-interested perspective. We left Tammy Prust, co-owner of Nacho Daddy, happy with her full house of baseball fans. We should have stuck around for the 7th inning when Toronto batted in four runs, eventually winning the game, 6 to 2 over the LA Dodgers. The World Series is now tied two games apiece.
Look for Patrice and me creeping around Vallarta’s streets looking for hugs – no costuming required – From Here.
Thursday
Let’s get this out of the way…the Toronto Blue Jays won again, 6 to 1 over LA, and now lead the series 3-2 with the last two games to be played on home turf in Toronto. Any heavy betting going on out there? Ya’ think!
Scrabble was fun, Sharon is back from tramping all over the place, and next week we should be right back up to speed with the return of Kevin and Rob. Next week is our tournament. Nothing like full-contact Scrabble to brighten up a hump day!
Bingo at Nacho Daddy for Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic was so busy, Colette Zarry ran out of game sheets to sell! The Blackout was split five ways and included me and Patrice!
From Bingo, we flew down a couple of blocks on our way to La Catrina Cantina for the windup of Spencer Daily’s working birthday party. We passed Los Muertos Brewing, and who should be sitting in the window watching the baseball game but Deb and Barry Kessler. He is the host of the fabulous Puerto Vallarta Travel Show. They are transplanted Californians and were clearly unhappy by the third inning when LA was down by one….
La Catrina Cantina was packed with the usual crowd, with Spencer celebrating his birthday (which actually falls on November 2, seven days before mine) by singing his heart out. Dancers danced, drinkers drank, and those lucky people, like us, who stuck around had a choice of giant slabs of birthday cake – carrot or tres leches? Yes, please, I said, and Patrice and I exchanged plates halfway through. Delish! It was lovely to see Jim Lee after a four-month hiatus. Freda, Bara, and Karen were front and center with Juan Alvarado’s mom, and Vallarta’s most beautiful couple, Angela and Art Curley, made La CC shine just a bit brighter with their presence.
Luis Villanueva joined forces with Kim Archer and raised funds for Vallarta’s Women’s Shelter, Casa Esperanza, singing solos and a duet or two.
Shannon Maracle was in the house. We chatted briefly, and she is still unerved by the reception of her show at the Social Club last weekend. It was a classic meshing of perfectly oiled gears. Get your tickets as soon as possible, or at least add your name to the growing wait list for the Saturdays.
To wind up our night at La CC, ‘Angeloo’ sang his first set and included a couple of songs I requested, thank you, Angel! It seems impossible, but the older he gets, the higher his voice is becoming. And his lower range is filling out nicely as well. He is Vallarta’s brightest star and the youngest at 12, and I loved the brand-new black sequined outfit. Angel’s ever-supportive dad, Oscar Corral, was with him, of course.
Patrice and I walked down Insurgentes toward Bar Frida to say goodbye to Gilberto, who has managed the bar through several location changes and is taking over a bar in Bucerias that he will eventually own. Everyone, especially Frida’s owner, Tom Finley, is thrilled at this new opportunity for Gilberto. Adiós for now, Gil. We will see you in Nayarit, From Here.
Friday
Happy Halloween, everybody! And it’s Friday, and also the end of another month. As a kid, I used to adore Halloween. It was the first of three events (only) that I could look forward to and enjoy, gripped in the very center of yet another long Canadian winter. How I loathed the cold and the clothes that had to be piled on in a million layers just to get to school, and then that blast of forced hot air walking into a building from 20 or 30 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit in those days), would have me sweating and peeling off scarves, mittens, toques, coat, sweater before I could even sit behind my desk. Then, to do the reverse, a few hours later, to get home. I swore as a child I would find a better way to live – someplace where snow didn’t exist. (Clearly, I have crossed that big thing off my bucket list!)
So, Halloween meant that I only had nine more days to wait until my birthday! I would tick off every day easily. Just a little more than a week to go until Event Number Two arrives, complete with cake, ice cream, and maybe something very cool that I had to unwrap. The thing is, the tail ends of the candy and whatnot collected on the 31st were almost finished, so the birthday carbs kept that going forward until the Third and final Event only, in winter, that made me happy, was Christmas, where the birthday unwrapping of gifts got pumped up sometimes into double digits if you counted all the things in my stocking. It’s still all about the layers, overlaps, and stocking up on carbs and gifts!
It’s the only way I got through the winter with half a smile on my frozen face. And it was just yesterday that I experienced some residual brain freeze sitting at Costco with my sister, Patrice, digging into our ritual sundaes with strawberries. Damn, that stuff is good! It fired our second round of shopping, going to Costco straight from La Comer.
Both stores were packed and will remain that way until Easter. Go with patience and kindness and don’t bemoan the long, long lines. Take that time to celebrate the abundance of what’s in your cart and the dozens ahead of you in line, and remember how fortunate you are to be able to pay for all those things that will hopefully bring you happiness in some way or another.
This weekend is one of the most important in Mexico, as Dia de los Muertos honors family members who have passed from this life into the next, recognizing that death is not the end but a new beginning. Where your energy shifts shape and a fresh start awaits us all, From Here.
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