Soledad en masa

I’ve come to realize that living in an upperclassmen dorm, where alcohol is permitted and so are parties, is not that good of an idea. It’s 1:46 a.m. and I can hear the parties, some muffled by the distance, others too close for comfort.

Cabrones, ¿quieren tocar su música fuerte a esta hora?

I feel like buying speakers, the kind they put in cars that shake the windows of houses fifty feet away when the volume is just halfway, connecting to my computer, pointing them out my window and into the courtyard, and blast some good ol’ accordion, an instrument that, apparently, a lot of people can’t stand. Or maybe I’ll do it with a blast of banda sinaloense al compás de Luis Pérez Meza (please, have your speakers loud for this one). That’s a great way to wake up, no?

No! I know what I’ll do! I’ll keep a rooster as a pet in my room. I sure could use the alarm, and so could the rest of these people.

I found actual Mexican restaurants (and by Mexican, I mean, food from Jalisco) in Boston. I had a bowl of pozole at 2:30 and I’m still full. THEY SERVE BIRRIA AND MENUDO ON WEEKENDS!!!

I need sleep. A better, more coherent post when I feel up for it.

Last Wednesday, September 3rd, Cipriano Silva, former trumpeter of el Mariachi Vargas, passed away. He played in el Vargas from around 1959 to 1965 (according to this website), which places him in some of my favorite recordings, including the songs Francisco “Charro” Avitia recorded with el Vargas in 1960 and many Miguel Aceves Mejía and José Alfredo Jiménez recordings.

Here are two trumpet-driven songs by el Vargas from that era that I found from YouTube. I don’t know for sure that it is really him playing.

This next clip came at the tail end of his career with Vargas. It’s a pasodoble from the Pasodobles album.

I’m a part of the Mariachi Vargas Official Fan Club (it’s an online mailing list) and their secretary is part of the Fan Club. He announced that traditionally, when a former member of Mariachi Vargas or an artist who worked with them in the past, el Vargas sends the family of the deceased a crown as their token of appreciation for the work of the deceased. May Silva’s family get the crown soon.

This is a quick update. I spent three weeks in México and wrote something about it over at L.A. Eastside. That’s all I’m going to write about my trip; any more would give too much of my personal information.

I’m coordinating the whole college move-out/move-in thing right now. This will probably be the only post I write for the next two weeks.

Yesterday I heard the sad news that one of my favorite country singers and guitarists, Jerry Reed, passed away. I discovered his music through GTA: San Andreas and loved it instantly. His music lives on.