What a wild wonderful few weeks I've had – wait has it really been OVER a month?! What happened to JULY!!!
Well, here's an update that's slightly out of order. I just got back from a whirlwind trip around our great beautiful country. First to LA for a show with Moby, and then to Athens, GA for a spectacular cultural experience. Before this one of my best friends in the world was visiting me, Kyshona Armstrong.
The Moby show was for the LA radio station, KCRW. It was really cool concert in two parts, techno and live. KCRW actually recorded the show with cameras, and you can watch it if you'd like to. It is divided into 2 parts. Part one is the electronic techno portion, and part two is the live band portion. If you only have a little time, I think my favorite section was part 2.
Click here to see Part 1
Click here to see Part 2
It was really fun to play again and see some of the old gang. Also the performance was in Malibu, so seeing the Pacific ocean was absolutely a marvel for my eyes. GORGEOUS, and so very different from the Atlantic!
The Pacific
The show
The whirlwind trip to Athens was for my "family" and friend, Yelenia Joselin Casas. She turned 15 years old (when I met her she was 3, ahh!!!) and celebrated her quinceanos (spelled with a ~ over the "n") in the most grandiose birthday party I may have ever attended! A quinceanos is more than a sweet sixteen. It is, in the Mexican culture, when a girl becomes a woman. There was a formal dance, where Yelenia was escorted by her 11 male chambelanes (kind of like her chapperones or posse), and she took turns waltzing with each of them, dancing around them, being lifted into the air by them, yeah. Then 8 young girls dressed all in white with big green bows around their waists danced around Yelenia and the chambelanes, as Yelenia received her last doll, and her father put on her first pair of high heels. And boy those things were HIGH! I was impressed that she was able to weild a hoop skirt between 11 men while walking on pencil thin 5 inch heels and not tripping on the little half-pint princesses running around her legs… WOW!
Maria Reina Casas. The reason I was at this quinceanos.
I started teaching English to Maria when I was a freshman at the University of Georgia. It was a volunteer program organized through the Catholic social services, where once or twice a week I would go to Maria's and teach her English with the ultimate goal of her being able to obtain a good job. This was in 1996. Maria had recently immigrated to Athens, GA with her 2 children who were 8 (Irving) and 3 (Yelenia), to join her husband, Jose, who had already been working in the US for several years. They had followed all the immigration rules and Jose was months away from a candidacy for US citizenship when I met him. Oh I was delighted to learn that they were the very sweetest family! Always Maria would serve me some kind of Mexican delight as a thank-you for her English lesson. It was in her kitchen I first tasted gorditas, tamales, real Mexican-style guacamole, nopales, homemade salsa verde. Yum. She is a phenomenal cook and we still joke about her opening up her own authentic Mexican restaurant, because her food tastes better than any Mexican restaurant food I have ever tasted! Over the years we became very close, and it was absolutely thrilling for me to learn so intimately about another culture while sharing mine with them. So beautiful! Now I feel like they are my family, and even though I don't see them as often as I used to, I always try to make a visit for Christmas, and really special events - like this Quinceanos!!!
La familia
The Princess and her Princesslettes (I think Yelenia looks like a true princess! And her favorite color is green, so she had a totally green-themed party, how fun!)
The traditional dance
Presentation of Yelenia's last doll, while her dad puts on her first pair of high heels
Dancing around the last doll
After all the traditional festivities the room became a dance. An 8-piece Mexican band performed on a fully equipped stage, and everyone who had been sitting down during the formal dance rushed to the dance floor! Oh let me try to describe the HEELS these women were wearing! Absolutely amazing how they could move so quickly and gracefully in shoes so pointy and high. It was a true display, a feat of balance and posture. I spent most of my time with my mouth wide open staring in horror as I felt my own feet start to hurt inside my sandals - and I was sitting down!
Here is a zoomed-in shot of a few of the shoes I was astounded by:
Los padres de la princesa. Parents of Yelenia, Maria and Jose, during the dance.
A chat between dances.
Oh look how gorgeous she is! A true young lady!
And now for the final update, Kyshona Armstrong. She performed not one but 2 shows in NYC! She blew away the Bitter End -they were asking her why she doesn't live up here by the end of the night! And I had the pleasure and honor of performing a few songs with her at the Red Lion. She again had people walking out oo-ing and aah-ing, over her performance. Gooooo Kyshona! I am so proud of you! Check her out! And go to her myspace page and hear a sampling of some songs off her new album, Music.
myspace.com/kyshona
Soundchecking
In Action!
At the Red Lion
More to come, so much happening these days!
Love always,
Luci
