Monthly Archives: October 2022

The 2005 Border Book Festival

Community events, Travel, , , ,

In this post, I will share some of the memories I have of visiting Las Cruces and La Mesilla, New Mexico in 2005, when I attended the Border Book Festival in Mesilla for the first and only time. Before I begin, here are some brief overviews of each community:

Click anywhere on the text above to see a larger shot of the above entry.
A map of Las Cruces and La Mesila. There are approximately 100,000 people who live here. It kind of reminds me of Tucson back in the 60s.
An aerial view of La Mesilla’s historic district.
From a mid 20th century brochure about the Mesilla Valley region of southern New Mexico. Click on the text above to see a larger version of it.
A more recent description of the small community.

I had never knew much about Mesilla before, and attending a literary festival like this was quite out of the ordinary for me at the time, as my focus at work was primarily on music and the performing arts. Even so, I’ve always enjoyed Chicano literature and have been reading material in this genre since high school. I’m so glad I did attend, as I met Denise Chavez, whose novel, “Loving Pedro Infante” remains one of my very favorites, and I also got to visit La Mesilla and Las Cruces, two very interesting, historic communities just a mere four hours away from Tucson.

This is the hotel where I stayed.
An ad from the Albuquerque Journal and my registration receipt for the festival.
The festival program was filled with information about all the activities that were slated to take place. Organizing a festival like this must’ve taken many, many months and a great deal of patience!
From the program above.

Border Book Festival History

March 24 2005

History and Scope of the Border Book Festival by Denise Chavez. (From a now-defunct website on the Border Book Festival that I found on the Wayback Machine).

The Border Book Foundation (BBF) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization founded in 1995 by a group of writers, artists and community people committed to celebrating literature and the art of story in the southern United States–Northern México border region.

Based in Las Cruces and Mesilla, New Mexico, the Border Book Foundation believes that literature and the arts can bridge the many boundaries–racial, ethnic, generational, cultural, socio-economic, and gender-based–that divide our community. Ours is a grass roots organization that impacts its community by offering programs that are blueprints of positive communication, interaction and connection between people in our borderland region.

The Border Book Festival is a catalyst between many different groups and organizations including city, state and governmental agencies, schools, businesses and community centers. We are a bridge builder and model for positive exchange between diverse people in the borderland region.

Our annual book festival takes in April each year and features many activities for audiences of all ages including: Libros Y Más/Books And More, a Trade Show featuring national, regional and local presses and writers, a series of readings, workshops and panels, a school outreach program, as well as family storytelling events throughout the festival weekend.

The Premio Fronterizo honors a major American writer for their life long contribution to literature that transcends borders, real and imagined, and whose body of work has done much to add to the southwestern literary canon. Past winners of the Premio Fronterizo have included: Rudolfo Anaya, Sabine Ulibarrí, Tony Hillerman, Byrd Baylor, Leslie Marmon Silko, Barbara Kingsolver, Gary Soto, Sandra Cisneros, Luis Rodríguez, N. Scott Momaday, Luis Urrea and Ofelia Zepeda.

In addition, we present the Sunshine Community Service Award to a local business, organization or person who works to promote literature and the art of story at a grass roots level as well as the Cauthon Volunteer Service award to hardworking festival volunteers.

The cornerstone program of the Border Book Festival is the Emerging Voices Program, a series of hands-on writing workshops held throughout the year at various venues throughout the area.

The Border Book Foundation is committed to bringing audiences to writers and writers and book artists to audiences. Our programming is innovative, challenging, and transformative.

The BBF has had considerable impact in the Southern New Mexico border corridor as well as throughout the region. We have been touted in the New York Times as a “place where books matter,” and featured in Publisher’s Weekly as one of the top regional book festivals in the U.S.

The 11th annual Festival, Re-Inventing the Americas, will take place April 15-17, 2005 in Mesilla, New Mexico.

======================================================

I do not remember all the programs I attended, but I do remember going to the ones that featured the following writers:

I remember Ms. Castillo as a powerful, fierce speaker. I consider myself very lucky to have seen her in person.
I met Ms. Harjo while getting coffee at my hotel during the festival. She was our nation’s poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.
In 2017, Ms. Chavez was one of the featured speakers for a program (Visions of the Borderlands: Three Women Writers Share Their Stories) I produced in conjunction with the exhibit, “Visions of the Borderlands”. It was a great pleasure working with her.
I love this book.

Our Commitment to the Community November 8 2005 (from a website on the Border Book Festival that no longer exists, found using the Wayback Machine)

The Border Book Foundation, with its annual Border Book Festival and expanding Cultural Center, will continue to bring the best of literature, literacy and storytelling to our multi-cultural, multi-generational audiences.

The Cultural Center of Mesilla/El Centro Cultural de Mesilla “C.C.M.” has filled a powerful need in our regional community. Not only do we offer a place for people to buy new, used and out-of-print multi-cultural books, bilingual books for children and adults and books in Spanish and English, we offer a haven and home to those who want to connect with border culture in a deep and meaningful way.

Located one block from the Mesilla Plaza, the Cultural Center was once home to a Mexican garrison building and later, the well-known and loved D.C. Frietze grocery store, run by Mesilla’s former mayor and our present landlord, Roberto Frietze.

The historic building is one of Mesilla’s oldest adobes and is permeated with sense of history and story that is the heart of our southwestern landscape. We offer a hot cup of coffee or tea and the opportunity to view the Lannan series of writer’s videos as well as previous festival documentaries including work by Lourdes Portillo on the disappeared women in Juárez or films by border filmmakers Paul Espinosa, Ray Santiestaban and Lisa Garibay.

Our book signings have reached hundreds of people who have never come out before to support literature. We have reached rural communities in Mesilla, Vado, Chamberino, La Union, Anthony, Derry and elsewhere. The Rudolfo Anaya book signing on December 10, 2004 brought over 400+ people to our Center who waited for hours to have Mr. Anaya sign their books. We had scheduled a reading but it was not possible because the line went down the street and past the acequia!

Book signings and readings for Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Denise and Susan Gonzales Abraham had over 100+ people each and many books were sold and new contacts made. The Gonzales Abraham book, Cecilia’s Year, written about the small farming community of Derry, New Mexico inculcated a new-found pride in “lo nuestro,” stories from our own backyard in southern New Mexico.

The Cultural Center’s workshop series has introduced the Art of Nopales (cactus) to many who only thought nopales was only the name of a Las Cruces restaurant. (“Nopalitos? You mean it means something?” someone said with wonder.) It is this lack of understanding about the basics of cultural life that have prompted us to address and educate and empower our audiences through our work at the Cultural Center of Mesilla and our on-going workshops and literary and arts events programming.

Our workshops have been myriad, challenging, informative and fun. They have included: Paper making with Martha Durán, The Care and Evaluation of Out-of-Print Books, with out-of-print book dealer, John Randall, Sacred Beads and Knots: The Significance of World Prayer Traditions Across the World, A Poetry Intensive with Miriam Sagan, ¡Familia! A family story writing workshop series with Denise Chávez, A writing workshop with Camino de Vida, an AIDS outreach organization, A Kid’s Art Day for 7-12 year-old with breakout sessions that included creative writing, dance, photography, drama and painting.

Upcoming workshops include: A Women’s Healing, Renewal and Transformation Retreat for women in the Gila Mountains, Vatos, a writing workshop for men, Senior to Senior, a poetry workshop for senior writers and writers in high school, mentoring and learning from each other, as well as a Feng Shui workshop.

At the root of all our work is the core belief that literature and the arts can empower and change lives.

The Cultural Center has hosted visits and receptions for many organizations and non-profits including the National PEN Women, the Executive committee of the American Library Association, The Association of University Women, The National Hispanic Cultural Center, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, human rights activist, among others.

You can expect the Border Book Foundation to initiate events for all ages that will reflect the best of our cultural history, legacy and strength of spirit. We see ourselves as a resource center and clearing house for the arts, as well as a place where community can find a way to understand itself through culture.

Future events will include workshops, panels, readings and book signings in English and Spanish, oral history gatherings, storytelling for children and families and any number of creative offerings that fit in with our mission to offer programs that are blueprints for positive communication, interaction, connection and healing between people in the borderland corridor.

We believe that literature and the arts can transcend the many perceived borders-racial, ethnic, generational, cultural, socio-economic, and gender-based-that divide our community.

==========================================

The following video was produced in 2014, several years after I attended the Border Book Festival. The Festival closed down for good just a year later, in 2015. I feel very lucky to have been to at least one of these momentous events.

Below are some of the monuments, shops and restaurants I visited in La Mesilla and Las Cruces in 2005. I was bummed that there were few, if any antique stores open at the time in Mesilla, but I did enjoy the two bookstores that were there, and the restaurants were really good too. I found another bookstore in downtown Las Cruces that was well-stocked with books and cds. If I recall correctly, I even found a Joy Harjo recording there. I also found a couple of antique stores out on Picacho Rd. and bought some records. I didn’t partake much of the night life, except once when I went to a nightclub in one of the local hotels. It was okay. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, even though it lasted just a few days. I knew I would go back again, but it would be over a decade before I made it back

The Basilica of San Albino and the kiosk in the main plaza are the most recognizable landmarks in Mesilla, smack dab in the center of town.
The altar of the Basilica.
I vaguely remember going inside this store, which was once the courthouse where Billy the Kid was sentenced to be hanged. I bought apple butter and chili powder. What a strange combination!
From “Fodor’s New Mexico”, 5th edition, pp.194-195. Click on the text to see a larger version of the story.
This restaurant has since moved from La Mesilla to Las Cruces.
I bought a bag of these for my dad. He got a big kick out of it.

During this trip, I also explored Las Cruces, and found a couple of antique stores and a bookstore. I kept the following receipts and found business cards in an antiques directory for each store that I visited. These places are likely no longer in business.

Another little historical marker noting the significance of La Mesilla’s role in the history of the Southwest.

A few books about Mesilla, New Mexico

  • Mesilla Comes Alive: A History of Mesilla and its Valley, by C.W. Ritter and Craig Holden. Las Cruces: Ritter Publications, 2014.
  • The Mesilla Valley, An Oasis in the Desert, by Jon Hunner and Peter Dean. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2008.
  • Pioneers of the Mesilla Valley, 1823-1912. By P. Paxton.
  • A Place As Wild As The West Ever Was: Mesilla, New Mexico, 1848-1872, by Mary D. Taylor  Las Cruces: New Mexico State University Museum, 2004.
  • La Posta: From the Founding of Mesilla to Corn Exchange Hotel to Billy the Kid Museum to Famous Landmark, by David Thomas. Las Cruces: Doc45 Publishing, 2013.
  • Turmoil on The Rio Grande: History of the Mesilla Valley, 1846-1865, by William S. Kiser. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2011.

A few books about Las Cruces, New Mexico

  • Celebrating 150 Years of Las Cruces History.  Las Cruces: Las Cruces Sun-News, 1999.
  • Las Cruces, by John Hunner. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
  • Las Cruces: A Photographic Journey (New Mexico Centennial), 1912-2012, by New Mexico State University. Las Cruces: FIG Publications, 2011.
  • Las Cruces: An Illustrated History, by Linda G. Harris. Las Cruces: Arroyo Press, 1993.
  • Las Cruces New Mexico 1849-1999: A Multicultural Crossroads, by Gordon Owen. Las Cruces: Red Sky Pub, 1999.
  • Legendary Locals of Las Cruces, New Mexico, by Charlotte Tallman. Charlotte, SC: Legendary Locals, 2014.

Benny Goodman (May 30, 1909-June 13, 1986)

Music, My Favorite Things, , ,

My first eight years of schooling took place in the public schools. I started learning the cello in the 4th grade at Robison Elementary School, using an instrument provided by the school. I continued playing while at Mansfeld Junior High, and really came to love it. I even went to music summer camp one year at the University of Arizona, and was beginning to get better and better at playing, even though I never had private lessons.

All of my brothers and sisters attended Tucson High School, and I was expecting to do the same. Instead, however, I begged my parents to let me go to Salpointe, a private Catholic school with a great academic reputation, but no orchestra. Sadly, the move to Salpointe meant that I had to give up playing the cello, because my parents could not afford to buy me one of my own, and there was nowhere else to play the instrument. I hadn’t heard of Tucson Junior Strings, a local youth orchestra that I could have joined, but even if I had, I likely would not have been able to participate because of the costs involved. Going to Salpointe was going to stretch my parents’ budget beyond what they could afford as it was.

During orientation at Salpointe, the band director recruited me and encouraged me to try the saxophone. I really didn’t know much about the instrument, but I really liked the saxophone solos I had heard on the pop tunes of the late fifties and early sixties. Songs like Tequila, the Twist and the Mashed Potato featured saxophone solos that really helped make the tunes come alive. So I gave it a try.

At first, I played the tenor saxophone, and later the alto, using instruments provided by the school. The band director at one point bought a brand new alto and let me be the first to play it. I liked it a lot and took to it quickly. Before long, I had learned how to play the song “In the Mood”, made famous years ago by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. As I think back, this was really my first exposure to the music of the swing era. I didn’t really know any other songs from that time period, except for maybe Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by the Andrews Sisters. Everyone knew those tunes. Sometimes there would be commercials on tv advertising the music of the big band era, and while it sounded intriguing, I didn’t go crazy over it. This was the music of my parents, so it was considered old-fashioned.

I learned how to play this song in while in the high school band.

Once I started earning money my junior year of high school, I began to collect record albums, and expanded my musical interests in many directions. Around the time I started college, I began listening to jazz. I have been collecting jazz recordings and books for many years now. My love of the music of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and my reading about their lives led me to the swing era, and I learned a little bit about all the great musicians of the time, and a few of the orchestras. I knew that the Chick Webb Orchestra, for example, was one of the best swing bands of the era, and that Ella Fitzgerald worked with him when she first started singing. I also knew that Billie Holiday worked with both the Count Basie band and the Artie Shaw orchestras, and had recorded with Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson at the start of her career. And, of course, I knew about Glenn Miller and “In the Mood”. However, I was never a fanatic about swing era music to the point where I collected everything I could find and knew the repertoire of all the great bands. It wasn’t until recently that I realized what an impact this music had on American culture. Swing was a real phenomenon. It was huge. The youth of America went crazy over it.

Benny Goodman was always one of those musicians in whom I was interested, and when I was collecting 78’s, I found a lot of his recordings. I didn’t know a whole lot about him or the details of his life and work, however, except that Peggy Lee worked with him in the early 1940s and that he was known as the “King of Swing”. On a whim, I recently decided to read a biography about him by James Lincoln Collier. The book was titled, “Benny Goodman and the Swing Era”. I found the book fascinating and especially liked reading about Chicago and New York in the 1920s and 1930s, how the Great Depression affected popular culture, and how popular music made a comeback in the mid-30s, in large part due to the popularity among American youth of Benny Goodman and his Orchestra. The musical analysis provided in the book was a bit beyond me, but I made it a point to listen to Goodman’s music along the way, and I watched a lot of videos of Goodman and his band. The most fascinating were the ones that included Gene Krupa, the famous drummer and bandleader. That guy was a bundle of energy. His playing on the tune “Sing, Sing, Sing” is just outrageous!

Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. They were quite a pair!
Sing, Sing Sing is one of Goodman’s signature tunes, and this clip features Gene Krupa going crazy on the drums.

I’ve been intently listening to Goodman’s work for the past few months, and I must admit I like his early work (mid to late 30s) better than what he recorded in the latter part of the 40s. The trio and quartet material is great too, as are the tunes he recorded when Peggy Lee was his vocalist in the early 40s. As bebop became more popular in the 40s, Goodman tried to incorporate it, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. The high pitch of the clarinet and the band playing at full throttle on tunes that are more dissonant and experimental in nature, sounds awful to my ears. I know everyone has their own tastes and preferences, however. By the mid-40s, interest in swing had faded, and more attention was paid to individual performers, particularly singers. Goodman never stopped recording or performing, but he reached his peak as early as 1940, and was never able to get “back on top” again, so to speak.

I’ve put together some materials in my collection. I purchased most of the cds on Ebay while I was reading the biography, but I’ve had the albums for many years, and I have more 78s in storage that I need to find. I even have an extended play (these feature two songs on each side, rather than one) 45rpm record that I just dug out from my 45’s collection. I didn’t realize until I started looking, how many books about Benny Goodman and the swing era were already in my collection. I now have 5 Goodman biographies, after having purchased two on Ebay recently. I even have a glossy, 8 x 10, autographed portrait. I’m not sure the signature is real or if the portrait was published with the signature on it, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve put everything together and wow, I’ve got a very nice collection!

I was saddened to learn that many of his fellow musicians thought Goodman was such a jerk in real life. Collier alludes to this several times in his biography, but never really goes into any depth. However, toward the end of the book,he makes reference to a publication called “Jazzletter” and a very revealing four-part series about the Benny Goodman tour of the USSR in 1962, written by a member of the band. The story, which I found available online in Jazzletter, (see below), was quite revealing. Goodman’s band members thought he was a tightwad, aloof and bad-mannered, and that he always needed to be top dog, in the spotlight at all times.

I’ve since read other material about Goodman, and have learned that John Lincoln Collier’s biography leaves out a lot of interesting information, such as the fact that Goodman performed in concerts for various progressive causes, and that his role as a band leader with an integrated ensemble was groundbreaking and had an impact that was felt far and wide. It helped to bring down at least some of the racial barriers in place at the time in American entertainment. His defense of fellow musician Gene Krupa, who was busted and jailed for possession of marijuana also stands out as a noble act. He publicly stated after Krupa was released that he could play in his band any time. Goodman’s brother-in-law, John Hammond was immersed in the American left, and he undoubtedly influenced Goodman to take risks he may not have otherwise taken.

In the end, Goodman’s music has stood the test of time, and is absolutely wonderful.

I found some of my 78s. I think I have more…
Record albums in my collection, including a 10″ lp recording of Peggy Lee singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. “The Best of Benny Goodman: 30 years of his greatest Hits” is a four record anthology produced by Columbia House and issued in 1972. The rest are all standard 12″ single lps. Goodman recorded for Columbia, Decca, RCA and Capitol over the years. I’m sure there were others as well.
A mish mash of stuff in my collection, including a 7″ 45rpm e.p, a cassette, the soundtrack to the Benny Goodman Story, and an anthology of Goodman’s best music on red vinyl that is part of the legendary “Greatest Jazz Recordings of All Time” series produced by the Institute of Jazz Studies and the Franklin Mint back in the mid-1980s.
New acquisitions. I purchased these lps at Zia Records on October 12, 2022.
I picked these lps up on a recent trip to Phoenix and Prescott, Az. The first one is a two-record set.
Here are two more recent additions. The one on the left is a vintage lp, and the other is a cd. The lp is a bit beat up, but I’m glad I bought it anyway. It’s an original copy, released in September, 1954.
My latest acquisitions as of 12/18/22. All lps.
Here is one more lp. Purchased on 1-16-2023 at the Goodwill for $1.49. It sounds pretty good!
CDs in my collection.
2 new cd acquisitions. Purchased October 12, 2022.
I purchased this 3 cd set in New Orleans in January, 2023. It was released in 2012.
Books in my collection. The one called “The Kingdom of Swing” is a small paperback called “An Armed Services Edition”, produced specifically for American soldiers during World War II. There are other books about Goodman, but this is what I have…so far.
Another recent acquisiton. Benny has his own postage stamp!
The Benny Goodman Quartet, including Lionel Hampton on vibes, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa on drums and Benny Goodman on clarinet, performing “I Got a Heartful of Music” from the movie, Hollywood Hotel.
Original 1935 program advertising the Benny Goodman Orchestra at the Palomar Ballroom.
Goodman made national headlines back in late 1937. This article is from the Arizona Daily Star, Monday, December 20, 1937.
Two years later, Goodman appeared in Tucson. April 23, 1940. Az Daily Star.
Ad from the Arizona Daily Star, May 2, 1940. In addition to the show on May 3rd, Goodman and his band made a special appearance at the University of Arizona the following afternoon.
Why Don’t you Do Right? featuring Peggy Lee, early 1940s.
This compilation of tunes that Peggy Lee sang with the Benny Goodman orchestra in the early 1940s was originally released on lp in 1957. I have the cd version.
Goodman appeared in the 1944 movie, Sweet and Lowdown, with Linda Darnell.
Charlie Shavers was the featured trumpeter in this film clip from the Sid Caesar show in the mid-50s.
Released on February 2, 1956, this film loosely follows Benny Goodman’s real life up until his 1939 Carnegie Hall concert. The soundtrack is excellent.
Goodman visited Tucson again in 1960, appearing wiht the Tucson Synphony Orchestra.
China Boy and Sheik of Araby, Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa, 1961.

I’ve had the following article in my research files since 1986, when the article first appeared. It’s an obituary/tribute written for the Village Voice by writer Gary Giddens. It was published on July 8, 1986, shortly after Goodman died.

Benny Goodman materials in my collection

September 5, 2022, updated October 8, 2022

Cassettes

  • Let’s Dance 1999 compilation

Compact discs

  • The Hits of Benny Goodman Capitol 1989 cd
  • The Essence of Benny Goodman Columbia/Sony 1991 cd
  • The Original Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Sessions  Vol. 1 After You’ve Gone RCA / Bluebird 1987 cd
  • Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 1938 Complete Columbia 1999 cd
  • Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert 2 cd set. London 1978, 1986.
  • The Blue Room, cd.  TIM no date.
  • Benny Goodman: The King of Swing 1998 Sugo Music cd
  • The Best of the Big Bands: Benny Goodman Madacy1994
  • Benny Goodman Yale Archives Vol.  6 Amerco/Musical Heritage Society 1991 cd
  • Benny Goodman Rarities 1940-1942
  • The Benny Goodman Sextet, featuring Charlie Christian (1939-1941)
  • Benny Goodman, Vol. III / All the Cats Join In 1986 cd
  • Benny Goodman Sextet 1988 cd
  • Benny Goodman, Vol 1 (Yale University Music Library Series)
  • Benny Goodman (Ken Burns Jazz) Sony 2000 cd
  • Benny Goodman and His Orchestra: Sing, Sing, Sing 1987 cd RCA/BMG

LPs

  • Benny Goodman, His Orchestra and Sextet, Vocals by Peggy Lee Columbia 10” lp CL 6033
  • Columbia Presents The Great Benny Goodman Columbia lp CL 820
  • Benny Goodman: Swing Into Spring Columbia XTV28995 Prepared expressly for Texaco
  • The New Benny Goodman Sextet Columbia lp CL 552
  • Together Again: The Benny Goodman Quartet RCA Victor LPM-2698  1964
  • The Benny Goodman Story Decca Records DXB 188 2 lp set. I only have one of the lps, however.
  • The Best of Benny Goodman: 30 Years of His greatest hits 4 record set Columbia House P4M 5678
  • Benny Goodman–Lionel Hampton/Jazz Milestones (The Greatest Jazz Recordings of All time, vols. 37-40)
  • Benny Goodman: Mostly Sextets Capitol T668
  • The King of Swing, Vol. 1 1937-38 Jazz Concert No 2 Columbia lp CL 817
  • Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Live 1937-38 Columbia Special Products/Aimez Vous le Jazz No. 7
  • Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet Vol. II (1937-38) Columbia Special Products/Aimez Vous le Jazz No. 15
  • B.G from 1927-1934 Brunswick Records BL 54010
  • The Benny Goodman Trio Plays for the Fletcher Henderson Fund Columbia lp, GL 516
  • Benny Goodman 2 lp set (Time-Life Music: The Big Bands series STBB003)
  • The Complete Benny Goodman, Vol. III 1936 2 record set Bluebird AXM2-5532
  • BG: The Small Groups RCA Victor LPV-521 (RCA Victor Vintage Series)
  • Benny In Brussels, featuring Jimmy Rushing, Vol. 1 Columbia lp CL1247
  • The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert, Vol. 1 Columbia lp CL 814

7 inch 45 rpm EP’s

  • Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

78’s

  • My Blue Heaven / Put That Kiss Back Where You Found It
  • On the Alamo / Rattle and Roll
  • Don’t Be A Baby, Baby / All The Cats Join In
  • My Guy’s Come Back / Symphony
  • Six Flats Unfurnished / Why Don’t You Do Right?
  • Idaho / Take Me
  • The Way You Look Tonight / The Wang Wang Blues
  • Heaven In My Arms / That Lucky Fellow
  • Boy Meets Horn / Let’s Dance
  • Where or When / I Cried For You
  • A String of Pearls / Jersey Bounce
  • He Ain’t Got Rhythm / This Year’s Kisses
  • When It’s Sleepy Time Down South / Changes
  • Let’s Give Love A Chance / Somebody Nobody Loves
  • That Did It, Marie / Somebody Else Is Taking My Place

Books:

  • Benny Goodman and the Swing Era, by James Lincoln Collier. NY: Oxford, 1989.
  • Benny: King of Swing, a pictorial biography based on Benny Goodman’s own archives, with an introduction by Stanley Baron. NY: Morrow, 1979.
  • Swing, Swing, Swing: The Life and Times of Benny Goodman, by Ross Firestone. NY: Norton, 1993.

Memorabilia and other stuff:

  • Signed autograph black and white 8 x 10 portrait of Benny Goodman
  • Ad: Benny Goodman Sextet Gammage Center, Sunday, February 20, 8pm. (Tempe, Az.)
  • “The Mirror of Swing, by Gary Giddens. Village Voice July 8, 1986.
  • “To Russia, Without Love: The Benny Goodman Tour of the USSR”, by Bill Crow. This is a 4 part story featured in Jazzletter (August, September, October November, 1962). Crow writes a critical review of the trip, and describes Goodman as a difficult bandleader and all around asshole. A very unflattering portrayal, to say the least.
  • Newspaper ad, Arizona Daily Star May 2, 1940. Benny Goodman in person at the Santa Rita Ballroom, Friday, May 3, 1940
  • Newspaper artcle, “Goodman Swings in City Tonight” Arizona Daily Star, May 3, 1940.

This is a 78 rpm anthology of Benny Goodman tunes that I have in my collection. These “albums” usually included 4 10″ discs with a song on each side.

Gene Lees’ Jazzletter includes four issues devoted to Benny Goodman’s 1962 trip to Moscow. It’s not a very flattering portrayal, but from what I understand, this is how Goodman behaved with his band mates throughout his career as a band leader. His music was great, but he was not a nice guy. You can read about the tour by looking up the August, September, October and November 1986 issues of the newsletter.

For more information about Benny Goodman, see:

“Benny Goodman: The Official Website of the King of Swing”

“Benny Goodman” in Wikipedia

“Benny Goodman Discography” in Discogs

“Ellington, Goodman, Shaw” by John S. Wilson, in Liberty Magazine, Spring, 1973. (I’ve had this magazine in my personal collection for many years, and only recently realized that there was a very good article on these three jazzmen included in it.

I recently found this in my music research files. I had no idea I had this! Not sure if the signature is “original” or if it’s a print, but that’s okay.
Benny Goodman’s clarinet.

Cine Plaza at the Fox

Community events, Community Service, , ,
The Plaza Theater, on the southwest corner of Congress and Court.

As a child, I grew up listening to my mom’s many stories about her youth in Tucson. Her widowed mother moved the family here from Superior when she was 12 years old. They settled in a small house in South Tucson, near the corner of 31st Street and 9th Avenue, in close proximity to many of my grandmother’s immediate family, including her mother and brothers .

Mom attended Safford Jr. High, but left school after the eighth grade to start working full time, as being the oldest child, she felt obliged to help support her four younger siblings. She would often talk about her different jobs, but the one she would reminisce about most often was the one at the Cine Plaza (or the Plaza TheAter, as she used to say), where she worked as an usherette in the early 40’s.

Josefina Rascon, Mexican Rodeo Queen candidate, 1942. Barrio Libre, presente!

In her youth, my mother was a very pretty girl, and quite popular. She was also very nice to the poorer kids that hung out in front of the Cine Plaza, and would often let them sneak into the theater while the manager wasn’t looking, saying “ándale, méntense, méntense” (go in, go in) to them in a hushed voice. This eventually cost her the job, and it made her very sad, but boy how she would love to tell us all about it! I think it was her favorite place to work.

That’s how I first learned about the Cine Plaza.

*****************

Julie Gallego has, for the past several years, organized a number of community cultural events, including the ever popular Viva Arizona, a celebration in dance and music of the local Mexicano community’s rich cultural heritage. She also owns and manages a dance studio called Viva Performing Arts, and recently spearheaded the formation of a new, and Tucson’s only all female mariachi group, Mariachi Viva La Mujer. She also manages the CHISPA Foundation.

I have had the privilege of participating in a couple of projects with Julie, the latest of which is Cine Plaza at the Fox, a Mexican film series that celebrates the Plaza Theater, a mainstay of the Mexicano/Chicano community in downtown Tucson for many, many years. The purpose of the event is to raise money for the Fox Theater Foundation and the Fox Theater.

The organizing committee includes Julie Gallego, Ralph Gonzales, Elva Flores, Liz Rodriguez-Miller, Betty Villegas, Terry Gastelum, Bob Gastelum, Elsa Aguirre, Dan Buckley and me. Supporters of the event include County Supervisor Richard Elias, Old Pueblo Printers, and Bob Fineman.

A few members of the coordinating committee: Betty Villegas, Liz Rodriguez-Miller, Elva Flores and Bob Diaz

My contribution to the event has mainly been to provide ideas for movies to show during the festival and to provide my own insights on producing such a festival, as I managed a similar project (Cine Mariachi at the Fox), back in 2006 when I was a member of the Tucson International Mariachi Conference Board of Directors. I’ve also been assisting with logistics at each of the events.

The first event featured the film, La Cucaracha, with Maria Felix and Dolores Del Rio.
View the complete film below.

It also featured part one of Dan Buckley’s documentary on the Fox Theater, and Mariachi Viva La Mujer, pictured below.

Mariachi Viva La Mujer, Tucson’s only all female mariachi group.

Guests of honor at the first event included Joe Garcia, a well-known usher at the Plaza, County Supervisor Richard Elias, and Congressman Raul Grijalva.

Raul Grijalva, Julie Gallego, and Richard Elias

The second film was “Alla en el Rancho Grande” and featured Jorge Negrete.

View the complete film below.

Entertainment was provided by a number of very talented local youth mariachi and ballet folklorico groups, including Mariachi Corazon, Mariachi Tesoro, Mariachi Rayos, Mariachi Aztlan, and Ballet Folklorico San Juan. Part two of Dan Buckley’s documentary on the Cine Plaza was also shown and proved to be very popular with the audience.

The final film, Cantando Nace El Amor (Love Is Born Singing) starring Elsa Aguirre, Raul Martinez, and Andres Soler, and featuring both Agustin Lara and Lalo Alcaraz and their orchestras, as well as El Trio Los Panchos, aired on Sunday March 28.

Unfortunately, the film is not available on Youtube.

Prior to the film, Sergio Mendoza and Salvador Duran led a live band that performed some of the best songs composed by Agustin Lara.

Following that, the third part of Dan Buckley’s documentary on the Plaza Theater featured comments from members of the community about the changes urban renewal brought to our pueblito viejo.

Turnout for the last event was even better than the first two showings. Overall, it was a wonderful day of music and cinema. Below are a few photos of the final day’s events.

Terry Gastelum at the raffle table
Elva Flores and Bob Diaz at the pastry table
Betty Villegas, Richard Elias, Ramona and Raul Grijalva.
The Fox Theatre, Tucson.