Recap: Good Morning, From Here, June 21 – 27
Monday
Happy Monday, if that’s not oxymoronic.
I was supposed to attend the Open House at Pacific Home on Saturday morning, but that has been postponed to early July. Evidently, there are road works, as in paving the street leading to the assisted living facility, mixed with the heavy rains, has made for a huge mess so, another week for that.
I happily joined my writer friend, Bill Makley for smoothies; it has been ages since we have caught up, and what better way than conversations interrupted only by sipping icy cold mango perfection? We did it one better and ordered apple pie and ice cream that came to our table warm and with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Heaven squared! We fairly flew to our respective homes because of the overabundance of sugar.
I had not heard the Texas Embassy Blues Band for ages, so I wandered over to Nacho Daddy for a listen at drummer Steven Tenney’s invitation. Bill Makley was there with his wife, Marcia, and Barry and Debra Kessler joined me for the first set.
I have known Sean Moore for as long as he has been in Vallarta – 25, 30 years, and have enjoyed every venue he has opened, going back to Full o’ Bull. (I think that was his first restaurant.) I recall the thick, juicy steaks vividly at a time when the meat offerings in Vallarta were pretty dreadful. I wondered when I was listening to him sing, why he didn’t pursue a musical career. He is so at home on stage, and his smoky, bluesy voice is really very good. I will have to ask him one day.
There are so many stories out there in expatriate land, and here we are, growing old together. We are still working in our late sixties and seventies – well, working at what we love, which requires a new name rather than that four-letter word, W O R K. Any readers have suggestions?
And re-invention deserves a huge nod in Vallarta. I don’t know about other cities, but the most interesting people in this city have been through loads of changes. Kevin Anthony springs to mind (more on his last show tomorrow). For more than 50 years, he has been a seasoned singer, entertainer, and Broadway star, and now he has added real estate sales to his resume. And, one of my dearest friends, Georgia Darehshori, was his very first client! We are a tight, rather incestuous bunch, I guess!
What our expat community does is support one another in a gigantic way. Someone will see a need or mention a deficit somewhere in the fabric of our lives, and BOOM! RISE has a huge annual variety show. BOOM!, the Girls School sprang up because cofounder Francie was dismayed by young, pregnant Mexican girls with kids lining up at the Food Bank. And that story continues into next week with the groundbreaking ceremony of their new school. All because one of us said help, and we did, From Here.
Tuesday
Another dreary, dismal day. This kind of weather makes me sleepy and lazy; that’s okay. There is not much going on in Vallarta these days, entertainment-wise. That’ll change July 1st, with the Second Annual Summer Series 2025 kicking off at Casa Karma. Patriz takes the floor of CK’s living room – doors open at 6, and the show starts at 7 pm. Casa Karma’s wonderful hors d’oeuvres are included in the ticket price, and remember, seating is limited, and parking moreso, so take a taxi or an Uber. I will see you there on Canada Day!
July 1 is a week today, and just like that, HALF of 2025 is done. Speaking of being done, Kevin Anthony’s last show was Sunday at Nacho Daddy. I have never been to a non-sold out Kevin Anthony concert before. It was sobering, and I felt bad for Kevin and his four-piece band, who had to be paid whether or not there were empty seats. Kevin’s show in May was packed to the rafters, and he said it was his last, however, riding on the success of that, he added one last show before Nacho Daddy is closed for vacations and performed Sunday to half a house.
An enthusiastic house to be sure and his performance was stellar but I have one question – where in the hell is everybody? Nacho Daddy is never high-priced, and don’t tell me everybody has gone home. Vallarta IS home, 24/7 to over 10,000 expats. So again – where the hell are you? This is not Buffalo, New York, in the dead of winter, it’s just rainy season in Vallarta. Buy an umbrella, for god sake, and get your asses out of the house! Entertainers have to eat all year round, and they need your physical support in the venue where your energy feeds the magic.
On February 22, 2026, Kevin Anthony plans to blow the roof off Teatro Vallarta with an extravaganza of a concert with the entire Vallarta Symphony Orchestra AND his fantastic four-piece Roxsand Band. This concert will benefit the Vallarta School for Girls, on whose board our beloved 63-year-old Great-Grandfather Kevin sits. That’s hard to believe but true! He still has the moves and his voice is as precious as he is. He is asking for your favorite song suggestions to be sent to him via social media for the big concert next year, so drop him a note.
For sure, I will ask him to sing “Jealous.” He delivers that raw, heart-ripping ballad like he is living that pain in front of our eyes. That’s the tremendous actor inside of him that landed him for years on Broadway because I know Kevin is currently UNheartbroken! But his heart remembers perfectly.
Even though Vallarta’s weather is not letter perfect, it is giving us time to do unusual things and meet new people over unusual food groups! Yay! A return visit to Tacos Now is on my immediate horizon today—a full report in the morning, From Here.
Wednesday
I can see blue sky hovering over our main church this morning. Lots of clouds still, but they may break up, go away, and leave us with some yummy Vitamin D.
It’s Scrabble Day! Our last regular play date until the next tournament on July 2nd. I’ll let you know how Sharon did today, tomorrow!
I had an extraordinary three-hour lunch yesterday at Tacos Now with a new friend, Angel “Maria Felix” Macias. Her mom named her Angel, but her dad was obsessed with the Mexican actress. The potatoes were luscious, and I ate a whole one! It did me for dinner.
Her story is terrific; you’ll be reading about parts of it in Vallarta Mirror soon. What she is creating for the women of Puerto Vallarta and the world is wonderfully exciting and necessary in our current chaos. She will bring peace, harmony, and joy to many so stay tuned for lots more good news. Angel officiated Gloria and Irene’s wedding in Mayto in March; just an FYI.
Other miracles, besides a new budding friendship and collaboration, is happening on my tiny patio. The two photos show new growth on two old potted bougainvilleas that I was thinking to maybe toss. Loads of bare branches, but the rain has rejuvenated both these old darlings that were given to me years ago by Bob Price, the founder of the Botanical Garden.
They were little then, maybe a foot high. The thing with this new growth is that four days ago, there were no signs of any of this stuff! Four days to grow inches of the plant! The shoots are so delicate, yet how hard they fight to live. I will have to keep my eye out for butterflies that love to eat the young, tender leaves. My entire garden is erupting in shoots and new vines; I think we are a whole month earlier this year with this exuberance.
Hah! Six months today is Christmas Day. How’s that for a wake-up call on how swiftly time is flying? Speaking of Christmas, I wonder if Derek Carkner will have a Christmas in July concert this summer. I used to love them at Incanto. I still miss that venue, as I am sure many readers do, as well. It became legendary in less than a decade before it closed. The energy that Tracy Parks created was a moving force that changed lives and the entertainment scene in Vallarta. I remember Incanto’s Opening Night like it was yesterday – everyone was so nervous, and CFE had to be called at the last minute to do something with the power to the building, but it was a smashing success and the start of something truly remarkable. You are sorely missed, dear Tracy. Still.
Make sure to smile at every person you pass by today. Even if you’re not feeling the love, you will before two blocks have been walked, From Here.
Thursday
The Scrabble Report… go get another coffee, come back, and settle in for an instant replay. I am kidding, or I wasn’t until I saw the collective rolling of eyes. To be brief: At the end of two complicated (they always are!) games, Sharon had won both, and toward the end of the third game, it looked like she was going to repeat her last week’s 3-1 victory. (These are practice rounds, remember!) A Bingo from me for the final play of game three put me ahead for the win. I opened with a Bingo in the fourth game and held the lead to the end. We decided to leave it at that and preserve our friendship! Next week is our monthly tournament: ‘News at 11!’
I joined our other set of Scrabblers, Kevin and Rob, the team behind VallartaCalendar.com, for drinks at La Catrina Cantina, for Open Mic. Luis Villanueva and Armando Chakham kept us entertained for an hour, and then Angeloo took the floor, La CC began to fill up, and Vallarta’s wunderkind had the patrons running up to the stage to fill his tip jar.
He ended his first set with “Diva Dance,” a song initially written for a 1990s science fiction movie. The French composer never intended it to be sung by humans as the notes are physically impossible, and fully expected only 60% of his score to be sung as written. For the movie, samples of voices were taken of the uber highs and lows and superimposed on the track. The composer was impressed when an Albanian opera singer managed to sing 85% of the music as written. I wonder how he would feel listening to a self-taught, 12-year-old Mexican boy nail the score 100%?
Nobody has ever said to Angeloo, “You cannot sing that high or hit that low note.” Or, if they have, he has, so far, ignored their skepticism and doubt. To date, he has not found a language he can’t sing in, and the entire world of music is open at his feet. Angeloo can tiptoe through every genre – Axl Rose meets Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – with equal reverence.
Two years ago, when Angeloo sprang out of the woodwork at Incanto’s Open Mic, my first thought watching the awkward ten-year-old perform was, what will he do the day his voice changes? It’s bound to happen. And it has. Four times, according to his Papa, Oscar Corral. And here we have this adolescent with one foot firmly planted in adulthood, making a living singing in bars, Gay bars, late at night, and his other foot is childishly banging his bass drum, learning how to play. He is a top student, winning campus-wide prizes, and is no stranger to being bullied. He acknowledges all these things, his somewhat estranged mom, with alacrity. This is his life, and that’s what’s in it for today. He is wise beyond his years and is adorable to boot. Thanks for sharing your gifts, dear Angel, From Here.
Good Morning, From Here, June 27, Friday
It is 7 am, on Friday, and the Rearview Mirror has been sent to hundreds of email addresses all over the world. What is the Rearview Mirror, exactly? It is a compilation of all the articles written in the past week and published daily in Vallarta Mirror, including a very long recap of this column that appears on Facebook Monday to Friday. And, because you have to ask for it to be delivered to your inbox every Friday, here’s a link https://vallartamirror.com/rearview-mirror-signup/
It’s as close as I can get to the old weekly PV Mirror and Vallarta Tribune newspapers that were so beloved by residents and tourists alike. The decision to go solely digital was driven primarily by economic factors, with environmental issues being a secondary consideration. The fact that I can correct errors in a minute rather than weeks is a tremendous benefit.
So, I hope you will send in your email addresses and keep in touch with us here in Vallarta bringing old and new voices to the forefront as our expatriate community grows and changes.
Tomorrow, June 28, is my baby sister Patrice’s 70th birthday. I don’t know how that many years have come to pass. She has been my only and therefore, BEST sister ever, and I think we would be closer only if we had been born twins.
Which, clearly, we were not! Lots of people have asked which one of us is adopted! Neither is the answer, and if you could see our brother, that would make sense. Patrice and I are diametrically at opposite ends of so many scales but have found common ground in most issues. All the ones that count, for sure.
Happy Birthday, Patrice; we will celebrate all of August in your honor as we traipse through parts of Europe together. You are the shiniest light in my life.
Gouda Gabor, aka Richard Lucas, and Sargento Dan are in Victoria, BC, doing their Glee Show they produced here in Vallarta at Nacho Daddy a couple of months ago.
Sargento’s first trip to Canada, and he’s freezing cold! Sargento’s coaches and residents of Vallarta, Rob Burton, and Jan Dorland, are on a cruise ship that’s headed to Victoria for the occasion. Patrice thought long and hard about making the trip out to Vancouver Island to see the show, which is tomorrow, and to celebrate her birthday. She couldn’t do it, but I know she is sending love and mucha mierda to those two funny and talented people.
On Saturday, I am heading to Awaysis Rio Bar with Sandra Bradley. At 7 pm, Eva Jimenez (Pink Tribute) and Ale(jandra) Matus (Tromba Vetusta) are joining forces and performing together. I think it will be the first time they have been in concert! I love the two of them! Read a full report on Monday. Have a great weekend, everyone. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Rearview Mirror, From Here!
