Last year, we went to a big to-do at one of the local restaurants for Cinco de Mayo. I remember the beginning of the evening and the Folkloric Dancers, and these big giant three-foot long plastic glasses with margaritas inside. After that, I’m sure the evening was fun.
This year, my tribute to the day was listening to a scratchy recording of “Las Perlitas” by Arturo Lopez and Mariachi Chapultepec. I don’t know much about mariachi music, but I always thought this was a happy little song.
(The story here is this: in the summer of 1999, someone I worked with handed me a stack of scratchy 45s and asked me if I would convert them to CD for her grandmother. Most of them were mariachi records from the 50s and 60s. I’d never really listened to this stuff before, and in the process of recording them to tape, transferring them to .wav files, editing them to get rid of the worst of the pops and clicks, then burning them to CD, I got real familiar with them. “Las Perlitas” is, as I said, a happy little song, and when I request it at a Mexican restaurant, the local mariachis are really impressed.)
We’re getting closer to the Lake Arlington Duck Race. Next Tuesday, I’m speaking at the Park District Board meeting and The Duck will make an appearance. I won’t say who’ll be in the costume, but it’s in my trunk and it’s designed to fit an 11-to-13 year old kid.
The photos of Emma in her skating outfit were posted on the studio’s web site, so that order will be placed shortly. Stand by for new pics. And I promise I’ll get to digitizing the video soon.