Music Night

Thanks to those who skipped the ball game and joined us last night. We had a nice crowd and a truly unruly bunch of musicians.  The songlist was all over the map with country hick songs requested by yours truly to nice jazz standards like "girl from ipanima." This week our "band" lineup included  Maya (percussion, guitar, vocals, 3 or 4 other things), Jennette (guitar, percussion and vocals), Big Jim (guitar, standup bass, vocals and safety supervision), Ray (standup bass) Mary Mary (guitar and vocals), Mad Mike (drums) Vinnie (accordian and vocals), Easy Ed (harmonica), Dave (guitar and vocals), Rio (vocals).  (I think I left somebody out. If I did, email me.  I'll mention you twice next time.) There is lots of talent within our little community and lots of talent that passes through.   Huge thanks to the musicians. Great job. Only a couple of us practice together on a regular basis. 

Next week Roadrunner Cafe will serve dinner. The restaurant will be open to serve you at 6PM on Wednesday the 3rd.  I don't have the complete menu but the main course is spiral ham. We also have great desserts and cerveza, wine and well drinks.

Music will start about 7; we'll play until 9 or so.  Musicians: Please come a bit early if you can.

Music Night returns at Roadrunner

The Roadrunner Cafe will be hosting her first open music night of the season next Wed, Oct 27.  If you never made it last year, bring an instrument or your voice and join in.  If you want to do a particular song that is not in our songbook, make at least 10 charts to share with the other musicians. If you have questions, click on the "comments" at the bottom of this post and leave them there.

We'll try and get started about 7PM.  There will be a special food menu and drinks available.

Old photos of Baja California

While I was trying to find info about the subject of my last post, I stumbled across a great photo site. This photo purports to show the execution of one of the fellows involved in "Cabo Fierro."

Click here for more photos.

Cabo Fierro

Most of you know that I work for Cabo Riviera. The location of the development is a 600 acre parcel on the coast by La Ribera. Before it was purchased by the Cabo Riviera group, this property had been controlled by a local "ejido" since after the revolution in 1910.

Speaking of the revolution.....       That wasn't a real smooth segue was it?
But if you're interested in old stories and history, stay with me for a couple of minutes.

There is some old rubble on the property, literally buried in salt ceders. Remains is a better description; there are only a couple of recognizable objects.  I mentioned this to a young man who works with us named Diego. He told me that it was the site of "Cabo Fierro." As near as I can tell, during the years prior to the revolution, some local fellows were opposing the rule of Porfirio Diaz.  Troops were soon dispatched to re-educate the miscreants. The soldiers found the trouble makers holed up in a building built with thick, brick walls. The bullets were unable to penetrate the walls and the protesters survived the attack. Naturally they became instant heroes.*  According to Diego, the site where I found the rubble is the area where the anti-Porfirio folks were attacked.

Months later a lady I work with, Cristina, and I happened by the spot again and decided to stop and take a look. We soon found a trail that the workers had opened up. Cristina dove right in with her camera in hand; I followed looking for snakes. At the end of the trail we found an old well and a small structure near and above it. It obviously had been abandoned for years.

After some fine detective work (standing in one place and looking around) we realized that the well was once the source of water for the old abandoned brick aqueducts that provided local farmers with irrigation. The brickwork had been there a long time before being repaired with concrete. On the side of the little structue, we found a drawing etched in the concrete and a date. The date is 1964 and the drawing is weird.

See what I mean?

I noticed that the workers were occasionally taking the old bricks from the site and stacking them.  After inquiring I was told that the bricks were being saved to be used in the Artists Village area of the Cabo Riviera.

If any of you have heard anything pertaining to this, please write.  It's pretty interesting.

*
(I was told that later the protesters were caught by surprise while celebrating in town and all killed but why ruin a good hero story?)

The Little Bite Part 3

Cont.......


If you are stopped for a traffic crime in los Cabos but are innocent, you have rights. Drivers here have the legal right to go to the station immediately and resolve the problem. If you make it clear that you want to go to the station, normally the cop will back off, give you a verbal warning for the supposed infraction and say something like, “I will give you an opportunity today.” I’ve been given several opportunities. Each time, my little voice encourages me to say something like, “Gee sank you so vedi much. I gotta opportunity right hea’ fo’ ya mista." My inner voice has an accent. Too much TV maybe.


You know, when you roll it over in your mind a few times, the idea of dealing with a simple traffic ticket right there on the street almost makes sense. The poor idiot that let his tags expire pays the “fine” directly to the underpaid cop. Then both parties just drive away with no paperwork and no court date. The cop has no reports to file. The bureaucracy is smaller…… Hmmmmmm

Or maybe I’ve been here too long.