My Lecture/Concert at the Marin County Civic
Center
March 29, 2007
by Mark Guerrero
On March
29, 2007, I did a lecture/concert and a screening of "Lalo Guerrero: The
Original Chicano" at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California.
It was in a building that was awesome in size and design. No wonder, the
legendary Frank Lloyd Wright was the architect. The event was part of the
Cesar Chavez Day festivities. I was invited by the Assistant Public
Defender in Marin County, Jose Varela. Jose happens to be the brother of
well-known Bay Area Latin jazz radio host, Chuy Varela. The
idea was for me to screen the documentary, do a question and answer session, and
sing some songs solo with acoustic guitar. The event was sponsored by the
Board of Supervisors and OLE (Organization of Latino Employees).
I was flown up to the Oakland Airport and put up in
a wonderful, historic hotel called the Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley.
What made the trip a little difficult was that I had performed at the Cesar
Chavez Awards Dinner in Los Angeles the night before. I had to stay in a
hotel near the Ontario Airport in Southern California to be able to catch an 8
a.m. flight to Oakland. By the time I got to the hotel and was able to
fall asleep, I only slept about 2 or 3 hours. I had to wake up early
enough to get ready and get to the airport an hour and a half before the flight.
Upon arrival in Oakland, I was met by one of the other Marin County lawyers, whom
I followed in my rental car up to the venue in San Rafael. It was about a
45 minute drive. The event started at noon and I got there about 11 a.m.
I was not exactly feeling fresh. However, we screened the documentary on
time for about 80 people in the Board of Supervisors Chambers. About half
of the audience was made up of at-risk 8th graders. The remainder were
county employees. The organizers were worried that the 8th graders would
not pay attention and might misbehave. As it turned out, they were great
and paid attention to the film and the whole three hour presentation.
After the
screening, I answered questions from the audience about my dad and the film.
I also performed several songs as we went along. I sang my song "The
Ballad of Lalo Guerrero," which had been used in the documentary over the ending
credits. I also sang my dad's "Los Chucos Suaves" and his parody, "Tacos
for Two." On "Los Chucos Suaves," I was accompanied by pc Muñoz on the
cajon (a percussion instrument, which is a wooden box with a snare inside).
The player sits on it and hits it with his hands like a conga drum. It
worked really well on "Los Chucos Suaves" and we had a good time playing
together for the first time. pc is a friend and a Bay Area songwriter and
recording artist whose music I like. I had invited pc to come to the event
and I'm pleased that he did so. Another friend I invited who attended was
Alfredo Arteaga, who's a professor of Chicano Studies at U.C. Berkeley. I
had spoken at one of his Chicano music classes at Berkeley in 2005. I also
screened a video of my performance with my dad in Paris, France in 1998.
Since we were at the end of our allotted time, I just showed the finale of the
concert. Everyone seemed to enjoy the presentation and Jose and I heard
nothing but good comments about it afterwards. Later, Jose, Alfredo, pc,
and I went to a Chinese restaurant in the neighborhood and had some good food
and even better conversation. The next day I flew out of Oakland and
arrived in Ontario at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. As I got off
the plane, by chance I immediately ran into Los Lobos who were waiting to board a plane to
Tampa, Florida for a show. They were all there and we talked for a good 15
minutes. I hadn't seen them in about 10 years! It put a nice cap on
a hectic, but fulfilling and enjoyable 48 hours, starting with the Cesar Chavez
Awards Dinner in Los Angeles.
Click here for
Marin County Lecture/Concert Photo Gallery
Contact me at:
info@markguerrero.net
Previous page
||
Go to next miscellaneous writings
article
Return to miscellaneous writings
index page
|
