Viva Mariachi!

I was planning on waking up early this morning to get ready for the Mariachi festival, but I ended up waking up later than expected, because I stayed up too late. Instead of going to OLP for Mass, I went to the home parish, and endured that experience. There was a Mariachi Mass at 9 as a part of the festival; but I wasn't planning on going to that--it's a bit too much inculturation for the liturgy. Afterwards, I drove to downtown San Jose, and make a quick stop at Nikaku, to check out some GITS books. The si tau po was there this morning. She seemed more friendly this time around (though perhaps my memory of her being not as friendly before is false).

I parked on a side street, and was worried that the car might get broken into, but fortunately nothing happened. The location of the concert was moved to Arena Green in Guadalupe River Park. It had been at Discovery Meadow the previous times I went to the festival. There were less people than in previous years; only two stages for performances (perhaps the organizes realized that the third stage at Discovery Meadow was not really getting much attention from people and not worth the effort--its location at the back of the park was probably a reason why it wasn't as popular as the other two stages--I think the stage was also smaller than the others).

I don't know why attendance was so low. (Has it been declining over the years? The last time I went to the Mariachi festival was probably in 2000... maybe 1999?) Was this year the first time the festival was pushed back to September? The weather is cooler than it would be in July, but I still needed a lot of liquids today. Food at the festival was of course overpriced, but there was the Safeway booth with free samples of the Safeway generic brand products (including ice cream--which ran out quickly). For lunch I got a chicken sandwich (which cost $8--but at least there was a lot of chicken, and seemed to be a better deal than the burritos which were going from $6.50 to $7). Admission for the festival was only $5--I think that's stayed constant.

Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles was probably the best group that I saw today. "Women who are musicians and can [really] sing are hot." haha. Hrm, they have a MySpace page. And some cds? (I'll have to check that out.)

Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles Photo Gallery by Equinoccio at pbase.com
Females in mariachi
KRCC News: Individual Archive

Photos of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/projects/mariachi04/history/celestino10.jpg
http://www.mariachi.org/3hb_reyn.jpg
http://static.bakersfield.com/smedia/2007/06/20/21/242-Mariachi-Sol-4-07.standalone.prod_affiliate.25.jpg





Laura Sobrino:
http://www.sobrino.net/mer/images/LSobrino.jpg


There were some attractive women attending the festival--I don't know if Sarge is interested in Mexican women...

I wish I could have stayed for Mariachi Internacional Guadalajara and Mariachi Sol de Mexico (L.A.), but I had to pick up my mother and Fr. Bob from the retreat and drive him to Los Gatos. Mariachi Cobre did not perform on Sunday--did they leave town already? Or did they have something else scheduled? Or is it because Sunday's public concert wasn't worth it?

Mariachi Cobre:

More Mariachi Cobre videos.

Mariachi Vargas:

More Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan.
Eugenia León y el Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán Lola Beltan and Linda Ronstadt "Hay Unos Ojos"
Alejandra Orozco La Guadalajareña Ahijada de Mariachi Vargas

Mariachi Links:
Welcome to Puro Mariachi!
El Mariachi: mariachi music, mariachi culture, mariachi songs, mexico
Mariachi Connection - Dance
MARIACHI USA Festival at Hollywood Bowl - Celebrating 18 Years of ...
Mariachi Search - Mariachi4u.com - Mariachis in your area
Mariachi Education Resources
Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza
Mariachi Cardenal de Stanford
Mariachi Vasquez - Mariachi Music - Best Mariachi Group - Mariachi ...
Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference
Mariachi Music Online Community
mariachi alegre
Austin Mariachi
MENC's Mariachi Education Site - Main Page
Mariachi Spectacular
Mariachi Viva Mexico
Dallas Texas Proudly Presents El Mariachi Los Gavilanes
Mariachi Academy of New York
MARIACHI LOS PALMEROS
Mariachi Los Gallos
mariachi radio
Mariachi Colima de Javier Magallon, Oakland, CA 94601 powered by ...
Mariachi Garibay
Mariachi Voz de America
Mariachi Jalisciense
Mariachi Suroeste
Thank you for visiting the UTB Mariachi Escorpión
MARIACHI 2007
Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan
Vargas de Tecalitlán - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virtuoso Mariachi - Jeff Nevin
Mariachi Divas Official Website

Sarge says the extraordinary form of the Roman rite is celebrated at Sacred Heart in Dunn, NC. Good!

Ch. 32 is showing subtitled Korean dramas, Fantasy Couple is being shown at the moment. Nice!
Hrm, it's available at YesAsia for pre-order. No sign of Ha Ji Won's Hwang Jin Yi yet, or Uhm Jung Hwa's previous drama... it would be nice if her latest drama becomes available. Her most recent movie is set to be available on 10/30.

I didn't really do anything to celebrate the mid-Autumn/Harvest Moon festival... ah well... the Santa Clara Moon Festival was being held at Memorial Park this weekend, but I figure it is probably not "Asian" enough for my tastes. The other night, when I went to Togo's on Prospect, I noticed that the Togo's was rather "Anglo"--I don't think Saratoga is that much different from Cupertino in its demographics, but I suppose it is closer to Los Gatos than to Cupertino. Everyone working there was in high school;

I don't think any of my friends in the area would have been interested in attending the festival, even if they had the time. I am a bit partial to Spanish and Latin American culture. The question of how different Latin American culture is from Anglo culture, especially with respect to political customs, is one I will return to later. Will California eventually revert to being a Mexican territory? If current immigration trends continue, I don't see why it wouldn't, though who knows what the political future of California is. There are some Anglos who are resentful and see the changing demographics of California with the influx of Latinos and Asians as an "invasion." Then there is the talk about expelling non-Anglos by force, and keeping America for whites. The number of people who think this way is probably small, but what will happen when things get bad?

I must admit that it feels odd not being in Boston. I don't miss the city, but I feel a bit out of place here, not because I'm not used to California, but it is due more to the fact that I haven't found my "place" yet--I'm not settled in my vocation. That does bother me, and not being able to work on the thesis (which is due in part to my own lack of initiative, but also because of current circumstances) doesn't help things. I should abstain from reading blogs and participating in discussions, even if they are intellectually simulating. There are some that I will definitely not read regularly from now on, if at all.

I should take a walk tonight...

Hmm... Misato Nonoka.