Friday, April 10, 2009

The Brothers Gibb and other brother/sister musical acts!



(You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, drop a dime here.)
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The brother/sister act is one of my favorite parts of popular music.  It must be fun to sing with your brother or sister.  Wouldn't that be fun?

In this post, I will tell you about my favorite "family" groups.

Let's start with The Beach Boys.  They were the Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis. You can add cousin Al Jardine and good friend Mike Love.  The result was wonderful harmonies and great songs like "Barbara Ann".

Second, Richard and Karen Carpenter were very successful in the 1970's.  Karen died in 1983.  They left us some wonderful songs, such as "Goodbye to love".

Third, Donny and Marie Osmond were cute and part of The Osmond family.  They were also very talented. I liked their version of 'Morning Side of the Mountain":

Fourth, Before Michael Jackson, there was The Jackson 5. Why did Michael ever grow up? I loved their songs back then. They still sound great:

Fifth,  The Cowsills were the whole family. They were mom, little sister and brothers. They eventually inspired "The Partridge Family", a popular TV series about a singing family. The Cowsills recorded some very nice songs. Their harmonies were great. I still love "The rain, the park and other things":

Sixth, The Bee Gees.  Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb wrote some of the greatest songs of the pop era. Maurice died in 2003 and The Bee Gees were retired. It's hard to pick one song. I love "Country Lanes" from the "Main Course" LP released in 1975.

Last, but not least, let’s remember The Everly Brothers. They were a bit before my time but their harmonies were great! In fact, their harmonies were very influential on the Beatles' sound. I love "Devoted to you".

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Remembering some of the great Cuban players of major league history






Friday, April 03, 2009

And they play baseball on Good Friday?



Allow me a departure from the politics to share some memories of our first Easter in the U.S.  
It was indeed a welcome sight to see the first signs of spring after heavy snowstorms in February and January.  
It was also a time for a few cultural adjustments for this Cuban kid embracing his new homeland.
We came from a very traditional Spanish Easter culture. We called it “Semana Santa” or Holy Week.
Before Castro outlawed religious celebrations, took our guns away, and shut down the press, Cubans generally celebrated the very Catholic Easter. 
It was a very Spanish country, as most Cubans of my generation have grandparents who moved to the island from Spain from the 1850s to the first half of the 20th century. These Spanish immigrants brought Catholicism and very traditional Christmas and Easter customs. Many of the small merchants were also Spanish immigrants and you could see their traditions in the storefront decorations.   
It started on Palm Sunday. It was followed by Lunes Santo, (Holy Monday), Martes Santo (Holy Tuesday), and Miercoles Santo (Holy Wednesday).
Then it got seriously holy with Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday) leading to Viernes Santo (Holy Friday).   
As I recall, Holy Friday was a day of total meditation and reflection. There was no music on the radio, the TV was practically unplugged and all of the merchants closed. Only hospitals were open but no one wanted to end up there that day.
The meals were light and my mother encouraged us to sit and read Catholic books.   
The streets were empty and everyone was in a very somber mood. We did go out to see the religious marches and the recreation of Christ carrying the cross.
It continued on Sabado Santo (Holy Saturday). In fact, Saturday was another very quiet day. It all had the feeling of mourning the loss of a loved one. My mother reminded us that we were mourning the loss of a special one.
On Sunday, every changed and we called it “El Dia de Resurreccion” or literally the day of resurrection.  
The church bells rang. The wardrobe changed and it was a party atmosphere. We finally had the chance to watch TV. I recall one year that we got to watch Erroll Flynn’s Robin Hood!
Our first encounter with Easter in the U.S. was indeed a cultural shock. My parents did not understand the bit about going to the beach for Easter.    
My favorite recollection of our first Easter was hearing my mother’s reaction to a major league game on TV. She looked at me and said: “They play baseball on Good Friday?”
Have a wonderful Easter however you celebrate the holiday. To be honest, Easter brings me a lot of memories of my parents and grandparents.
P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, drop a dime here.

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