You know how grateful I am for the terrific arts scene we have here in Mazatlán. Our neighbor, Enrique Patrón de Rueda, is one of the people who makes our city so incredibly, artfully awesome. Last night, his niece starred in La Traviata. My heart didn’t stop beating for a good two hours after the show finished. It was INCREDIBLE! Click on any image to view it larger or peruse a slideshow.
To think that we have 500,000 people in this small city, and our talented arts school is able to put together singers and musicians of this caliber, and that we can afford to attend… I am so thankful.
The theater was packed to the gills; all three levels of the balcony and the orchestra seats were filled.
We went last night, it ROCKED, and you don’t want to miss the next one!
Lance Vient and the Hotel Playa have a new series of shows this year, and if last night is any indication, Mazatlán is indeed blessed! Called Playa Palooza, last night’s show had a nearly full house dancing till we dropped.
Headliner was a Patsy Cline impersonator, Amberley Beatty. Her voice is sultry and sweet, and her personality sassy. She most definitely charmed our audience. Below is a short clip of her opening her set with “Pearl Bailey:”
Click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.
Amberley Beatty as Patsy Cline in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Amberley Beatty as Patsy Cline in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Amberley Beatty as Patsy Cline in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Amberley came out into the audience several times to engage the crowd. Below is a clip of her flirting with one happy man from the audience:
Opening for Patsy was Buddy Holly impersonator, Jeff Scott. He had the energy and the moves, and included some Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and Johnny Cash tunes in his repertoire. Here’s a short clip of him singing “That’ll Be the Day:”
And a few pics of Jeff; click to enlarge or see a slideshow:
Jeff Scott as Buddy Holly in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Jeff Scott as Buddy Holly in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Jeff Scott as Buddy Holly in Playapalooza Mazatlán
And here’s a short video of Jeff singing “Peggy Sue:”
Both Patsy and Buddy were wonderful, and they were what drew Greg and me in, but what really made the night for all of us was the INCREDIBLE rockabilly group from Culiacán—Los Moustros del Espacio Exterior. Yes, weird name, but the group is AWESOME! Very, very tight; excellent musicians. The lead singer, “Voodoo” Sanchez, is completely bilingual, which adds so much feeling to those old favorites. Guitar, bass, sax, drums, and keyboards combined to get even this more “seasoned” crowd jumping to their feet and dancing in the wings of the Venado Showroom. I know we’ll be contacting them for our next party! Check out this short excerpt of just one song:
The group had nearly everyone on our feet, shouting like teenagers. They know how to rock! Click photos to enlarge or view a slideshow.
Los Moustros in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Los Moustros in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Los Moustros in Playapalooza Mazatlán
Los Moustros in Playapalooza Mazatlán
The Hotel Playa has long been our absolute favorite hotel in town. It’s gorgeous—the architecture, the lighting, the setting, the beach. We can rely on the Playa to have excellent dance music in the evenings, though we do miss their weekly fireworks displays (hint, hint).
For three decades before we moved to Mazatlán full time we stayed at the Hotel Playa on family trips, and we hosted our wedding party here as well. Our son Danny grew up with Paulina, who worked at the pool café. And now, keeping it in the family, Lance Vient is managing things. Below you can see a pic of him last night with his beautiful wife Brooke.
Entering the Hotel Playa for Playapalooza last night
Brooke and Lance Vient
The final bow last night
There isn’t a bad seat in the Venado Showroom, everyone, so run over to the Hotel Playa Mazatlán right now and get tickets for the remainder of the series! Mazatlán is home to some of the world’s best musicians; music runs in the blood of patasaladas. So, it’s especially encouraging to see the Hotel Playa bringing music front and center via its innovative Playapalooza!
Lots of changes these days amongst the palapas on the malecon. Many of the changes were precipitated by the storms during the summer of 2014 while other changes are just natural turnover and expansion. One of the more intriguing changes for us is the addition of Palapa Mariscos Los Porteños. Why is this intriguing to us? Well Los Porteños is one of the better known Bandas of Mazatlán (click here for video). It is an interesting concept to have the owner of a banda group open a palapa with the same name. One of the other welcome changes along the malecon is more banda music beyond the strolling musicians. More palapas are welcoming bandas to play at their restaurant, including of course, Mariscos Los Porteños. The day we ate there the band playing featured various members of local bandas. They were getting in practice time and played very well together. Their vocalist lacked a microphone, so he would sing at your table with the band remaining stationary at the end of the restaurant. A nice touch. Songs were 100 pesos each, but spread among 12 guys, that’s not a bad deal. We negotiated four for 300. We found Palapa Los Porteños to be excellent as far as palapas go. First, it is new, which means it is clean and a little more modern than others. It is larger than some as well with ample beach seating under umbrellas or seating under palapas. The kitchen is fast and efficient and the servers friendly and dedicated to your satisfaction. The palapa is well built with attractive supporting beams. The kitchen pick up area features a matching wood face that is unique to Mazatlán palapas. It has a very unique and deceiving floor which you can check out in the photos.
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We have long kept a tradition of dining at a palapa each Friday. Originally this was to celebrate Danny surviving another week of school, but now just a chance to remember why we live where we do and celebrate the end of a work week. We have kept a list of palapas in order north to south with our likes and dislikes and relevant comments, but it is sorely in need of updating. After the commotion of Semana Santa, I am committed to getting this done and will publish it for everyone to use and comment upon. Until then, take off your sandals, order a cold beer and some fish or shrimp and enjoy Mariscos Los Porteños. You will find more or less across from the Sands Hotel. Coming south from the acuario, it is the second palapa. Across the street are things like Qualitas Insurance and the Mara Gymnasium, Scorpio V and the road to the bus station. Provecho!
Went to a baseball game last night. Not your average baseball game however. Those of us who have been to see the Venados de Mazatlán play are familiar with the party-like atmosphere where the game almost takes a back seat to the music, the beer and extracurricular activities taking place on and around the field. Last night however, was not a Venados game. Last night was El Juego de las Estrellas – or Game of the Stars. By stars, I mean the stars of Banda Music, the style of music popular in this region of Mexico. (See my earlier blog post on the subject here).
This is an annual event although the complete history of it is unknown to me, so if you can fill me in, please leave information in the comments below. Thanks.
The event is free to the public. The event has many sponsors, but the main sponsor was radio station 102.7 who gave away the tickets. The doors were set to open around 5:00 and people were in line before 3:00 to try to get the best seat. The real best seats, the box seats and cabinas, were not available to the public. We were lucky enough to score two tickets from our niece, Vanessa, to whom we are eternally grateful. Don’t know for sure, but I believe we may have been the only two foreigners in the crowd, much like our night at Julión Alvarez, a couple of years back (blog post here). Our seats were right behind the dugout for the blue team which gave us much amusement as we watched the stars interact with fans obliging them with photos and autographs and kisses for the ladies. The volume of screaming girls was deafening at time. El Yaqui is definitely the favorite of the young girls, but Julión Alvarez was the overall fan favorite garnering much attention. He played on the yellow team, so we could only see him well when he took the field. Did I mention there was a baseball game going on?
Each team was introduced one player at a time with full name, banda affiliation and a partial recording of a song the crowd would know. The team “managers” were introduced last: both legends in the banda business. Germán Lizárraga managed the yellow team while René Camacho managed the blue team. With introductions concluded the seven-inning game finally began around 6:30. The blue team got off to an early lead and never looked back – but who cares, right? Many players were rotated out, some only playing a single inning. El Coyote was the opening pitcher for the yellow team and lasted less than an inning.
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Chuy Lizarraga amused the crowd with a slow walk towards first after making contact with the ball to the infield for an easy out. Julión struck out his first time at bat, but made up for that with a single his next time up. Governor Malova showed up midway and joined the yellow team. He walked once and popped up to the shortstop the second time. This last at bat was booed by the crowd. Not sure if it was because the guy caught the ball and put the Governor out, or if they expected more from the big guy?
During the game there was a non-stop queue at each dugout to meet and greet stars. They were all extremely accommodating and gracious. Security had to intervene at times, but overall it was quite orderly. Somebody sitting in front of me was famous. I didn’t know who he was, but have since learned that he is Amilcar Gaxiola who pitched a no-hitter for the Venados this season. Thanks to our friends at Torres Mazatlan Vacation International for recognizing him and letting us know. The mystery is solved!
Mystery Guy: Amilcar Gaxiola
The house band was Banda La Corona Del Rey. There were in the stands in box seats just near the yellow team dugout. They played before the game started and during each change of sides. The vocals were often handled by the stars including Julión Alvarez, Roberto Junior and Eden Muñoz of Calibre 50. Before each player batted, the house music would change to one of their hits which helped remind us who was who at the plate.
Click any picture below to enlarge or view a slideshow.
Fans
Fans
Julion at the plate
Julion singing for the crowd
Decibel level with music playing
Dianne with El Yaqui
El Yaqui heard his name called by the girls all night long
Official staff shirt
Roberto Junior
The dugout
Screaming Fans
Eden Muñoz of Calibre 50
The good seats!
Fans
Fans
And now you can watch this amazing video:
It was a great night for music fans and baseball fans alike. See you next year!
Do you love horses? Do you love an excuse to party, and are amenable to doing so before, during and after you ride 25 kilometers on a horse? Do you have kids who enjoy watching horses dance? If so, you ought to join in the Familia Escobar’s cabalgata or cavalcade next year. The cabalgata is held up in Cerritos on the second to last weekend in January every year, and this time 600 horses and riders, from five states of Mexico, participated.
This was so very different from our first cabalgata—in Jerez de Zacatecas, on Holy Saturday of 2011. That one hosted thousands of charros with incredibly beautiful sombreros, tooled leather and embroidered suits. Here in Mazatlán, it’s puro Sinaloa, baby! Most everyone wore a cowboy hat rather than a sombrero, though we did see a few baseball caps as well. Almost everyone had a bandanna around their neck, jeans instead of leather, knee-high leather boots, and either a brightly colored shirt or a plaid shirt instead of an embroidered, fancy mariachi-like top. And, in typical Mazatlán style, we saw one guy without a shirt.
Princess of the parade
One surprising thing, at least to us: they were drinking a whole lot less here than what we witnessed in Jerez. Amazing? I’m confident they made up for it at the final ranch, or perhaps it’s because this is much more a family event, but we only saw beer, not the quantity of tequila and whiskey that we did in spring 2011 in Zacatecas. I will also say that Mazatlán wins, hands-down, in the friendliness department!
Men, women, children, couples, families, and singles participated. Riders told us there were over 1000 people participating, Tourism reported 600, but at most we saw 250-300 pass by us. We waited on the beach in Delfín for quite a while, significantly north of the bridge. However, the riders must have turned back to the road from the beach quite a ways north of Delfín, because we only saw a few on the beach—the bulk of them we saw on the road to Emerald Bay.
The cabalgata started at Rancho Chuchupira, which is about 14 km north of town. Because the bridge is under construction, the riders this year rested at Oceanica, the drug rehab center in Delfín just north of the wonderful new bridge. There the facility’s staff watered the horses, and guys on 4-wheelers handed out beer and water. The riders continued south along the railroad tracks, turning west for another rest at Rancho El Palomo, and then ate lunch and partied with beer, food and banda music at Rancho Las Habas. Quite a deal for 150 pesos! We met riders from Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Durango and the USA, and were struck by how incredibly friendly everyone was. Greg and I both received multiple offers to hop on a horse and join the fun.
Photo from the cabalgata in Cerritos
If you’ve never witnessed a cabalgata, it’s worthwhile taking the opportunity. Sinaloa is farm country; raising horses is part of one people do on the ranchos here. Cabalgatas are another wonderful cultural opportunity we can avail ourselves of here in Mazatlán. I do, however, recommend you ride rather than just observe. Looks a whole lot more fun!
You know how grateful I am for the terrific arts scene we have here in Mazatlán. Our neighbor, Enrique Patrón de Rueda, is one of the people who makes our city so incredibly, artfully awesome. Last night, his niece starred in La Traviata. My heart didn’t stop beating for a good two hours after the show finished. It was INCREDIBLE! Click on any image to view it larger or peruse a slideshow.
We went last night, it ROCKED, and you don’t want to miss the next one!
Do you love horses? Do you love an excuse to party, and are amenable to doing so before, during and after you ride 25 kilometers on a horse? Do you have kids who enjoy watching horses dance? If so, you ought to join in the Familia Escobar’s cabalgata or cavalcade next year. The cabalgata is held up in Cerritos on the second to last weekend in January every year, and this time 600 horses and riders, from five states of Mexico, participated.
¡VidaMaz! 