a day of refreshment

Let’s see.  I have played Honored Guest.  Gawking Tourist.  Slack-jawed Yokel.


It is about time I slip on my Short-term Resident personality.  After all, that is one reason I came here.  To see what it would be like to serve time in San Miguel.


I know I am staying here for less than a month, but I want to spend some time learning how this town works.  So, that is what I did on Wednesday.


I set out from the casita with only one task in mind -- to buy the tickets for the chamber quartet concert for the end of the month.  The tickets I could not buy Tuesday.  But having only one task is as it should be.  It made me feel as if I lived here.


Buying the tickets turned out to be a social event.  The young man selling the tickets remembered me from Tuesday.  He asked how my day was going.  If I was enjoying San Miguel.  If the weather was better for me.  Only then did he tell me the computer was now working.


Then we got down to business.  I picked out my seats.  He borrowed my pen to write the seat number on the tickets, handed me the tickets, and I handed over my 900 pesos.  It was a pleasant exchange of perhaps fifteen minutes.


But I quickly discovered not all ticket sales are as social.  I noticed posters around town announcing the Third Stream Ensemble was presenting a Gershwin, Bernstein, and Bolling concert Wednesday night.  Because I came here for a dose of culture, I decided to start right then. 


Off to the theater box office I went.  Using my Spanish of a three year old, I told the cashier I wanted a ticket for that night’s performance.  “Preferred or general?,” she responded rapidly in Spanish.  I knew that only because those were the only two seating choices.  As I handed her my 200 peso note, she slapped the ticket in my hand.  We were done.


No chit chat.  Money changed hands for services promised.


Other than my welcome dinner on Saturday, brunch on Sunday, and the culinary disaster of Sunday’s picnic, I have eaten all of my meals at the house.  I decided to put an end to that.

 

When I posted I was coming to San Miguel, Don Cuevas had a dining suggestion: La Grota for pizza.  He has never steered me wrong.  But this time I was not so certain.  The restaurant is located a block away from La parroquia -- the very symbol of tourist San Miguel.


It turned out my doubts were unfounded.  I ordered a pepperoni and onion pizza -- far more Italian than American.  It avoided that over-pasted taste that destroys any subtle tastes up north.


This pizza was extremely good.  Thin, but crisp, crust.  Pepperoni that was not Boar’s Head, but was what pepperoni should be.  And with just a hint of garlic in the sauce.


It was good enough that I returned that evening for a delicious plate of fettuccine Alessandro.


I would usually stop my blog here.  But that would leave you hanging about the concert.  And I wouldn’t do that to you.


Just as the posters announced, the entire concert was Third Stream pieces.  That delightful fusion of “classical” and jazz forms.  And who better than George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Claude Bolling to display the best of the form.


The Third Stream Ensemble is a mixture of expatriate and Mexican musicians.  With violin, flute, bass, percussion, and piano.  The type of group you might expect to find playing in a smoky Manhattan bar.


It was a short performance.  Ninety minutes.  No intermission.  Four pieces.  Gershwin’s Preludes; selections from Bernstein’s West Side Story; and Bolling’s Suite for Violin and Jazz Piano Trio, and Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio.


There were two vocal selections (Maria and Tonight).  The night would have not missed their omission.  I assume they were added to placate the “Know what I like; like what I know” crowd.  But the vocalist’s talent and range simply were not up to the task.


But that was the sole clinker in the evening.  The vocalist quickly redeemed himself with his expertise on the flute.


In fact, the entire ensemble, with the exception of the violinist, found the heart of the music and served it up to us with jazzy style and stylish jazz.

 

The star of the show was Mauro Ledesma, a young pianist who grabbed the audience by their brains and glands with his performance of Bernstein’s Cool.


The fact that the Gershwin and Bolling pieces were not pieces usually heard in concert won me over immediately.  I want to hear new music.  And it is even better when the new music is played as well as it was Wednesday night.


I can honestly say both my stomach and soul were well-fed.