Lalo Guerrero
Memorial Service- Palm Springs, California
March 21, 2005
by Mark Guerrero
At 12 noon on Monday, March 21, 2005 we held a memorial mass
for my dad, Lalo Guerrero, at Our Lady of Solitude church
in Palm Springs, California. My dad had lived in the
Coachella Valley, of which Palm Springs is a part, since 1973.
I moved to the valley in 1990. I'm glad I did because
I got to spend a lot of time with him during what turned out
to be the last 15 years of his life. In 1998, I bought
a house which happened to be a few blocks away from his house
in Cathedral City, which is adjacent to Palm Springs.
That worked out well too because I was close by as he needed
more and more assistance as he got older and more frail.
Lalo Guerrero passed away peacefully at the age of 88 on March
17, 2005. My brother Dan and I wanted to have his memorial
services occur in a timely manner so I immediately went about
securing the church and a venue for the reception which was
to follow the service, while my brother set up the church
and reception for the service and reception for Tucson, Arizona,
my dad's hometown.
Our Lady of Solitude church in Palm Springs turned out to be
the perfect setting for the memorial mass. It's a
older Spanish-style church, which had recently been
refurbished on the inside, mission style. It had seating for
300 people. As it turned out, all the seats were filled
with about 100 additional people standing. My brother
commented during his eulogy that my dad would have loved that
he had a standing room crowd. We were very pleased,
especially because word only started to get out about the
date and location of the service two days prior. Family
members attending, besides my brother and me, were his widow,
Lidia and her two children Jose, 39, and Patty, 36, whom my
dad adopted and raised from a young age. Also, Patty's
son and daughter, Jason, 17, and Alana, 7. My mom, Margaret,
whom my dad married in 1939 and was married to him for 24
years, could not make it because, ironically, she fell and
broke her arm the day after my dad's passing. My 10
year old daughter, Maya, also did not attend because she didn't
think she could handle it. Another interesting irony
was that this day, March 21st, was my birthday. Many
musicians were in attendance including Ry Cooder, Trini Lopez,
Chan Romero, Max Uballez, Justo Almario, Steve Alaniz, Willie
Loya, Ruben Guevara, Ernie Hernandez, John Valenzuela, Trini
Basulto, Lorenzo Martinez, Tim Gross, Alex Armstrong, David
Allen Cruz, and Carmencristina Moreno. There were also
many friends, relatives, and others whom my dad may not have
known whose lives had been touched by him and his music.
In front of the congregation on the right side of the altar
area was a 24" x 36" mounted black and white photo
of my dad in his prime behind a classic microphone from the
1940s. In front of the photo, which
was on an easel, was a Martin acoustic guitar he had bought
in 1941 and given to me in the late '60s, when I had it refurbished.
A bizarre thing happened to the photo at the beginning of
the service. When the priest and his two altar boys
were blessing the photo, some holy water hit the photo and
dripped down the image of my dad's face. For a moment
it looked as if the image on the photo might be crying and
some may have thought some kind of miracle was occurring.
My dad was an amazing person but can I assure you, it was
definitely the holy water. We had to have another mounted
enlarged photo made quickly to take to the Tucson memorial
the next day.
The service was a mariachi mass with about fifteen musicians
up in the balcony at the rear of the church. The group
was made up of various excellent local mariachis including
members of Grupo Tenampa, who had a good and long-time relationship
with my dad. The rousing, emotional music helped make
the service more of a celebration of a full and amazing life,
than a solemn, depressing affair. After one of their
songs, the mariachi yelled out in unison "que viva Lalo"
to which the entire congregation repeated the phrase in a
call and response manner several times. The Reverend
Miguel Ceja presided over the service in a similar spirit.
He also led the congregation in some rousing call and response
moments, as well as injecting a bit of humor at times.
He conducted the mass bilingually and proved to be the perfect
priest for the mass. World-class opera singer, Suzanna
Guzman (originally from East L.A.), sang a beautiful
a cappella version of "Our Father," followed by
Maria Elena Gaitan (a.k.a. Chola con Cello), who played an
instrumental version of my dad's classic "Barrio Viejo."
My brother Dan followed with his eloquent, emotional, and
sometimes humorous eulogy. He shared some of his memories
of our dad and quoted from some emails he received from people
we'd never met whose lives were affected by our dad's life
and music. He ended his eulogy by asking the congregation
to stand and give our dad a standing ovation, to which they
enthusiastically obliged. My eulogy was last.
I spoke, with some emotional difficulty, about some childhood
memories of my dad, as well as various musical experiences
I shared with him. I also read a paragraph I wrote about
my dad's musical legacy. I concluded my eulogy by singing
my 1992 song, "The Ballad of Lalo Guerrero."
There was another long standing ovation. The emotion
and outpouring of love was palpable in the church and made
the memorial mass a magical and unforgettable experience for
everyone who was fortunate enough to be there. No one
will ever forget it. At the nearby Cathedral City civic
center, on Avenida Lalo Guerrero, the flags at city hall were
at half mast and black ribbons were placed on his street signs.
A couple of weeks later, the Cathedral City city council presented
a posthumous proclamation to our family. See below for
the text of my statement at the memorial mass about my dad's
musical legacy, as well as the lyrics to my tribute song, followed
by a short account of the reception which followed the service:
Lalo
Guerrero's Musical Legacy
Lalo Guerrero is “The Father of Chicano Music.”
He will forever be known as “The Father of Chicano Music”
because his musical career as a singer/songwriter produced
a body of work of a quality, quantity, and diversity that
is unparalleled. And I’m not talking about only
in Chicano music. It’s unparalleled period.
He wrote and recorded rancheras, boleros, tex mex, musica
norteña, banda, cumbias, mambos, rumbas, Spanish language
covers of American hits, swing, boogie woogie, blues, rock
& roll, songs of social relevance, as well as comedy,
parodies, and children’s music. He was the first
to use caló (pachuco slang) on record. He did this first
with the Trio Imperial, before recording songs such as “Los
Chucos Suaves” and “Chicas Patas Boogie”
with his Cinco Lobos in the late 40s. As if all that
weren’t enough, he was a world class vocalist, who could
have held his own with the best singers in mainstream American
popular music. I have the recordings to prove it.
He also had that magic ingredient called charisma. There
never has, and never will be anyone like him. He’s
no longer with us, but his music and spirit will remain with
us and endure for future generations.
Mark Guerrero (eulogy and song)
The Ballad
of Lalo Guerrero
In
Tucson, Arizona on a cold Christmas eve
In nineteen hundred and sixteen the world was to receive
An infant with the promise to achieve renown
And from a small adobe house his music would resound
And since we’re gathered here today
Father I just want to say
Thank
you for your “Cancion Mexicana”
Expressing all your love for Mexico
From all of your hermanos y hermanas
Your legend’s got a long long way to go
His
childhood was painful, smallpox took its toll
The scars it left were many to his body and his soul
But his spirit was not conquered, his love of life prevailed
And though he made mistakes in life his music never failed
You made us laugh through all the tears
You brought us joy throughout the years
Thank you for your rocking “Elvis Perez”
Thank you for your jolly “Pancho Claus”
Las Ardillitas and your “Pancho Lopez”
I hope you feel the love in our applause
And “Los Chucos Suaves”, they dance the night
away
To “Chicas Patas Boogie” and you can hear them
say
Thank
you for your love songs and corridos
Songs that helped the people of Aztlán
Thank you for your melodies and ritmos
And the voice we love to sing the songs
We hope that you believe us
We love you además
Your music will not leave us
“Nunca Jamas”
After the service, there was a reception for friends and
family at Las Casuelas Terraza, a few blocks from the church.
This is the beautiful Mexican restaurant and cantina where
I perform regularly. A buffet was set up, courtesy of
owners Ric Service and Patty Delgado, in the outdoor cantina.
Lorenzo Martinez, who had played guitarrón with me and my
dad in Paris, France and other venues in the late 90s, took
the stage with some of his musician friends on other acoustic
guitars and began to sing and play. My longtime musical
partner Alex Armstrong joined in on requinto and the jam was
off and running. Saxophone legend Justo Almario played,
as did Willie Loya on congas. Willie had played with
my dad and me often in the late 90s in the Second-Generation
Band. Steve Alaniz, another great sax player who'd also
played with the Second-Generation Band, as well as with my
current Mark Guerrero & Radio Aztlán, joined in when I
got up to sing my dad's "Los Chucos Suaves" and
"Tin Marin de do Pingue." David Allen Cruz,
a former Teatro Campesino member who had sung with me in the
late 80s in Palm Springs, and Carmencristina Moreno, a brilliant
and powerful singer who goes way back our family, also sang
with the makeshift but excellent band. The reception
went on all day. At 5:30 my band went on to do our regularly
scheduled gig. Many of the reception guests stayed well
into the night. It seems many didn't want the special
day to end. Click below to read about the Tucson memorial
mass and reception.
