I Appear on TV, Meet a Pretty Girl and a Famous Mariachi, all in One Day!

I remember being in Mexico City and not knowing anyone.  I had just bought a shawl that I was going to give to my mother but it was cold, and I was wearing it.  I thought the shell was designed for a husband and wife to wear at the same time because it had two holes in it. It turns out that those holes are for your arms to fit through.

There was a pretty girl walking towards me and I held it out to see if she’d like to share it with me.  Just then Pepe Martinez from mariachi Vargas walks up, and he’s wearing his beautiful mariachi suit.  He recognized me from the carnival because we had been on TV.

He said to me: “You know, we’re playing down here at the Teatro Blanquita (White Theatre) here in Mexico City.”

He asked me if I would like to come, and like to bring my friend.  I didn’t even know her name yet but of course she came and we had a wonderful time together.  We watched the show from behind the curtain, and enjoyed a performance of Lucia Villa, one of the great ranchera singers.

That was the one successful line I ever had holding out the shawl that I thought was for two, and it worked!


The “Lost Child” Song Causes a Lot of Trouble for Us

There’s a song called El Nino Perdido, which means “the lost child.”   In this song, one trumpet house to leave the building to play the role of the lost child.  We were always getting into trouble with that song.  People had accidentally locked us out.

One night, we had a new guy playing the trumpet.  He was from Mexico and came into the United States by a coyote (smuggler).  It was his first day working with us and we were working at a bar in east San Jose.  It was nearly closing time for the bar and the customer and asked for El Nino Perdido.

So our new trumpet player goes outside the door.  Now the bar sits on a frontage road surrounded by a regular homes; it was a residential neighborhood.  What we didn’t know was that the police were driving by.  We heard our new trumpet player start the song, then it was my turn to respond, but nothing came back!

We figured that something might be wrong with his trumpet so I played again.  We waited for him to play his part.  When the violence come in again it was time for him to start his part.  But we heard nothing, so I played his part.  We finally finished the song but we didn’t know what was wrong.

We ran out the door just in time to see him in the back of a police cruiser about 100 yds. away.  He was waving out the back window.  We had played a number of jobs that day, and at the end of the day we are all to get paid.

They sent him back to Mexico and we never saw him again!

The rule is that if one person doesn’t have the boltanadora (decorative silver buckles that go down the outside of each pant leg), they just where regular black pants.  We weren’t dressed as full mariachis.

He got arrested for playing outside in the middle of the night.  He couldn’t speak any English or show any identification.

I don’t know if we could have helped him if we had gotten out there earlier. He couldn’t explain what he was doing, and these probably were not Spanish-speaking Mexican police officers.

In a way you look back on it and it’s funny, but it’s sad at the same time.



Playing at the Wrong Funeral, and a 2 AM Surprise Birthday Party

One day, we played at the wrong funeral.  We’ve also played at weddings where the bride and groom broke up right before the ceremony.

One time we were hired to play around someone’s bed during the middle of the night.  The husband had forgotten that it was his wife’s birthday.  We were working in a bar when this fellow remembered all of a sudden that it was his wife’s birthday! It was about 2:00 in the morning.

He said: “it’s my wife’s birthday.  She’s going to kill me! You guys have to come with me!”

So we followed him home.  The house was totally dark, and we tiptoed in.  He opened the bedroom door and had us walk in around the bed.  We couldn’t see anything.

He said: “honey, I’m home. Happy birthday!”

She was half asleep but she said: “do you know what time it is?  Take your clothes off and get to bed!”

At that point we started playing Las Mananitas, the birthday song.  There was a loud scream, a little night light comes on and she peeked from under the covers at all of these guys surrounding her.

She started to cry because she was so happy.  Within minutes she was reaching for the phone and calling all her friends.  We were playing the whole time around the bed.  Within an hour the house was filled with about twenty people who brought in food and tamales and menudo.  There was a party going on until about seven in the morning!

When I got home I got in trouble.


Playing for Bill Clinton, Clint Eastwood and other Notables

We’ve played for Clint Eastwood, Bill Clinton, and many other famous people.  Usually our leader doesn’t tell us who we’re going to play for. We’ve played in the Crocker mansion on the 17 mile drive, and many of the hotels on the 70 mile drive.  When we play there, the chefs always feed us very well.

At one place they gave us escargot, which I’d never had before.  One of our mariachis thought it was little pieces of liver, and he was so surprised when he found out they were snails!