The final TSO Pops concert yesterday included a few moments of hilarity that had me laughing out loud, on stage.
Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School (I've included their bio below) played three numbers in the concert again this year. These kids are simply incredible. But a few of our singers wanted to have some fun this year during the performance of Felice Navidad. So four tenors whipped open their cell phones and waved them aloft in time to the music, a la waving lighters at rock concerts. Pretty soon eight women on the back row of the chorus were waving their arms aloft in sync with the cell phones. This went on during the first verse. Pretty soon we started noticing waving cell phones in the balcony and the very back of the main floor of the hall. In the left of the balcony, front row, I noticed four cell phones together, which I later determined to be my boss, her husband, and their daughters. It was just so funny to me that these guys in the chorus would have started this and then for so many people to jump right on the bandwagon.
To me, this was a nice way to end a month of rehearsals and performances. The concert was followed by dinner with the Traveler at Rio Cafe, then a delightful hour with old friends at Jill's party, where I may have agreed to adopt another cat.
If you open your gifts tonight, as my darlings do, I hope you find many beautiful delights in those packages under your tree. Today I'll take a bubble bath in the Perlier honey bath and shower cream that Scott sent from my Amazon wish list. Then when I get home from dinner at Gail's, I'll open the other packages from Scott, Tyler and Jaci.
And a note about the genius programmers on staff at Amazon: they recognize when something on your wish list is consumable. When someone buys that item, it isn't removed from the wish list. It stays there so it can be purchased again and again. Sheer genius!
Now I gotta go bake some cookies for Santa.
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About Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School
Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School was founded in the fall of 1992 by Mr. Richard Carranza, as a curricular component within the Pueblo High Magnet School Performing Arts department. Comprised entirely of Pueblo High Magnet School students ranging in age from 14 to 18 years old, the mariachi program has grown from eleven students in its first year to well over one hundred and twenty students currently. Students are offered three levels of mariachi music: Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced/ Performing group – “Mariachi Aztlan”. Students entering the performing group must, after audition and acceptance, maintain a high level of academic achievement in order to remain on the “first team”. Their extensive practice and performance schedule also demands most of their free time. The sixteen-piece Mariachi Aztlan is motivated by pride and dedication to their cultural heritage of Mexico.
The group plays authentic mariachi music, arranged and conducted by director, John Contreras, himself a mariachi musician with over twenty-five years of experience. Dressed in their elaborate traje de charro outfits, the group boasts a repertoire of traditional mariachi music.
As Tucson’s most popular youth mariachi, they have gained a reputation for excellence, sharing the stage with many of the world’s finest Mariachi ensembles as well as Symphony Orchestras. Through their music, they are continuously promoting a manifest pride in their cultural background and are an excellent example of the best our youth has to offer.
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