Elvis In Mexico, Jimmy Buffett Too!

Oye como va. Last week I was in Mexico. The planets aligned and gave me the opportunity to take a vacation in Bucerias, which is northwest of Puerto Vallarta. I was part of a large group and we stayed at an all-inclusive resort. We were fed commercialized Mexican culture and free booze. A good time was had by all.

Luckily, I managed to hear some Mexican bands. At the resort first was a guitar trio with a female singer that played pop tunes like "Margaritaville" and "Brown Eyed Girl" with phonetic pronunciations of the English lyrics: "Jour my brown-eyed girl," even the sha-la-las were "Spanish." They resembled the type of band that playing weddings thirty years ago. They threw in the odd Latin American song, but mostly played crappy old pop standards. "Beer Barrel Polka" and "Achey Breaky Heart." Ack.

Next, a midday trip to the Bucerias market led to lunch at a restaurant appropriately called La Cucaracha. There I met a duo called Pamed that, like the previous group, played a mix of Latin American songs and American pop. They asked me to sit in and once we got past the language barrier and figured out that "Tears In Heaven" was a good choice, we launched into a smooth, loungey version. Very cool. Next we played "Black Magic Woman" with a screaming guitar solo complete with beer bottle slide guitar.

Pamed is two brothers, Cesar sings and Charley plays lead and fills. They use backing tracks, and for some reason that I never found out, Charley plays a five-string guitar. His guitar is missing the A string, so he never played any chords, just single lines under the vocals, some fills, and the solos. He pulled off a great solo in "Black Magic Woman," notwithstanding his five strings. We finished off our little set with "Proud Mary," complete with a weird introduction that sounded like they didn't know what the real intro was so they made it up. Charley pulled off a behind-the-head-Hendrix-style solo too. It was great. Trans-cultural exchange at its finest.

The next group was a mariachi band at the resort. Very cool sound, but the group looked old and tired. I wondered how many times they had played their tunes, which were mostly very recognizable Latin standards. "Guantanamera" has to get old after you play it 500 times. Having said that, it's no different than me singing "Take It Easy," which I did around 2500 times. Still, they gave the touristas what they wanted, me included. I thought they were great. 

The last group was in a restaurant called Pipi's in Puerto Vallarta. A trio of guitar, bass, and accordion played pretty much whatever you wanted for 70 pesos. Such a deal. Our table was serenaded with "Blue Suede Shoes," entirely apropos for a Mexican restaurant. Great, I thought, come all the way to Mexico to hear Elvis played badly by a Mexican trio. "Margaritaville" was a fave of this little group too, although they couldn't bring themselves to sing "And I know, it's my own damn fault," instead they sang "And I know, it's my own darn fault." So funny.

I did enjoy the music I heard while in Mexico. Throughout the resort the various bars played a mix of classic rock, 70's disco, and current Latin pop stuff, the latter being the most enjoyable. I also found it interesting how pop music has become so international. Latin pop is identical to its English counterpart, language being the only real noticeable exception. I heard Spanish versions of Bon Jovi and Avril Lavigne alongside Latin pop superstars.

Music truly is the international language, but pop music is the international money maker.

Livin' the vida loca!