pop confessions

once upon a time, i was visiting with a friend. we were sitting in my living room, and he was looking through my computer, surveying my itunes library. i'm not going to say it's the most complete or best-curated collection of songs in the world, but you know, there's a decent amount of good music in there. so, he would play an occasional song, usually rock en español, and say things like oh my god where did you get this? or oh i loooove this band or whatever. but then it got quiet. i looked over and he had this sort of crushed look on his face and his eyebrows furrowed. finally he said, paulina rubio? (pause, avoiding eye contact) really???... like he couldn't believe his eyes. like it was a political betrayal. like i had broken his heart. i blushed.

you know, i could have made up some excuse of how she ended up in there. but truth be told, i put her in there. i admit.

y yo sigo aqui (remix): paulina rubio



y cuando me acerco a ti, hay una bomba explosiva! that song hit 1 on the "latin" charts or equivalent not only in the u.s. & all over latin america but also the philippines, malaysia, portugal, & finland. oh my god, that video is so crazy though. me da verguenza all over again.

: diabólica

**

and now, because admissions are always better in good company, i introduce my co-conspirators...

la pachuquita :

I confess...to the love that knows no name or reason. I love Ricky Martin. Yes world, I love the ex-Menudo, now international hip shaker, vida loca living, ambiguously sexual, single parent, sometimes hot mess. I forgot about my childhood crush on Menudo Ricky Martin until 1998 when "Copa de la Vida" became the anthem for the 1998 World Cup and then Summer of 1999 when "Livin' la Vida Loca" was forever connected with nights out dancing in Colorado. What sealed the deal was "Vuelve", which I will forever associate with a great novela ("Sin Ti") and late nights out inebriated while foolishly mourning young love in Mexico City. Ricky also has a cute humanitarian-steering-towards-left bend, including giving Bush the one finger salute during one of his songs and then saying this when he was criticized for it, ""My convictions of peace and life go beyond any government and political agenda and as long as I have a voice onstage and offstage, I will always condemn war and those who promulgate it".

I feel better after my confession, but what will be my penance? I heard Ricky Martin is coming out with another album in 2010. The waiting will be penance enough.

vuelve : ricky martin



**



la cumbiambera :

Ever since my marido moved in with me a year ago, my house is almost always filled with románticas, pop-rock, bachata, etc. Music that used to be cheesey and intolerable to me has earned its place as our family soundtrack. I am embarrassed to say that I am no longer embarrassed when my playlist subjects my dinner guests to songs such as this one. ¡Que viva el pop!

hacer el amor con otro : alejandra guzmán



**

¡¡feliz día de amor & amistad!! besos--

las rsf

What do Alejandra Guzmán and tamales de mole have in common? - New York

I find myself in New York a lot these days and last night went to see Alejandra Guzmán at the Nokia theater in the commercial madness known as Times Square. The show opened with a mini-documentary about none other than Alejandra Guzmán while the real Ale G. hung out towards the darkened back of the stage under a black hooded robe. Um, yeah. As you can imagine, once the show started and the robe came off it was one gran espectáculo. There was something different for every song, everything from huge silver balloons that floated out from backstage during “Hacer el amor con otro,” to an acoustic set played on guitars with amazingly intricate sound holes, to an on-stage lap dance performed on a (male) audience member who had been strapped to a chair. The lap dance was, of course, executed by Alejandra as she sang “soy la diosa de la seducción.” Alas. To Guzmán’s credit, she can sing and she definitely can perform. She can even strum some chords and bang a cymbal while signing, which she did before tossing the battered drum stick (which I am now in possession of) into the crowd.

I must say that at first I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing Alejandra Guzmán on stage. My disbelief was not due to fan fever but rather to the fact that I have been watching Alejandra Guzmán perform(ed) in drag shows from San Francisco to Guadalajara for the last ten years. So when she came on stage last night at Nokia, I had to really struggle to come to terms with the fact that 1) I was not in a gay club and 2) Alejandra was not in drag. She might as well have been though. As I studied her inches-thick make-up, square frame, gold sparkly chonies, and her chichis bouncing around in her bra I began to feel the lines between drag show and live concert show growing wavy all around me. As if to reassure me that I was not in the twilight zone, two bear couples appeared in front of me. They held each other’s hands and waists as they belted out all of Ale’s top hits along with her. Everything, they seemed to say, is as it should be.

P.S. What do tamales de mole have to do with all of this? If you’re ever on la 5a Avenida in Burklin (also known as Brooklyn) near Sunset Park, pop into any Mexican restaurant there. You will not only find tamales de mole, but also quesadillas de huitlacoche and lots of other regional yumminess whipped up by the ex-residents of Puebla, Tlaxcala, and of course, México, D.F.