Sayles

The reality of this situation is that my loss is no greater than that of anyone else. Everyone who knew him will miss him equally and those who never had the pleasure of knowing him will miss him without knowing it. The world has lost a gentle soul, a happy man and a wonderful friend. Through the hardest times he kept positive and strong. He smiled and laughed and loved always. He loved music and being with his friends. Meeting new people, driving and reading. Traveling and photography. He loved to have a good time.

As tears stream down my face I am flooded with memories. They are all good ones.

Tonight our friend, our brother rests in peace. I know that he is still smiling. I know he loves us all.

Fall Back

I’ve already hung up some Christmas lights in the living room to welcome the cool weather that has finally begun to arrive in Culiacan once again. The heat and humidity dissolve to a cool, comfortable and fresh temperature in the evening which means the windows stay open to allow the air to circulate through the house. The chill of fall has descended, which also means more mosquitos and cockroaches, who seem to seek warmth inside the house. However, it cannot be overstated the comfort pajama pants and wool socks bring to ones soul especially when that soul came from the north eastern US.

I will read a little before I settle in for a good night’s rest in my bed with just a fan and no A/C. Beautiful weather, a comfortable bed and clothing. Christmas lights and an electric fan. My health. I am very thankful for these things.

NBA in Culiacan

I was sitting comfortably in my living room one Friday afternoon when I heard through the grape-vine that several NBA basketball players were rumored to be playing an exhibition game in Culiacan the very next day. My first reaction was disbelief, however thanks to Eduardo Najera and Horacios Llamas, both Mexican NBA players, there was in fact an event scheduled and I made it my mission to get tickets and go see the game. That instant I dropped everything and bolted from the couch, jumped in the car in search of tickets that I would soon discover were already sold out. At the ticket office a sign hung that read “Boletos Agotados,” however after some smooth talking and a stroke of luck I weaseled my way into the very last three tickets available for the game at the price of about $16 a ticket. They weren’t winning lottery tickets, but they sure felt like they were.

From the time I bought the tickets until the players finally took the court felt like an eternity especially since I didn’t know who was actually going to be playing. I got to the game early to find good seats, but in a stadium the size of a high school gymnasium any seat is a good seat. An hour after the printed tip off game time a line of basketball players started jogging onto the court to warm up not ten feet away from our third row seats behind the far hoop. I will spare the suspense no more and share the list of players that graced the worn and dusty hardwood of the Polideportivo in Culiacan, Sinaloa that night.

On the White Team: Marcus Camby. DeAndre Jordan, Anthony Tolliver, Jarret Jack, Dahntay Jones, Iman Shumpert, Dominc McGuire, Corey Maggette and Kevin Love.

And on the Blue Team: Ryan Hollins, Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, JJ Barea, Darius Morris, Jordan Hamilton, Demar Derozan, Jerryd Bayless, Eduardo Najera and Horacios Llamas.

To be perfectly honest I am have found it very difficult to find the correct words to describe how incredible this game was for me. I walked onto the court during warmups to ask for a photo with Tyson Chandler, high-fived Shawn Marion (who was sporting a yellow mohawk) and even caught Dahntay Jones’s sweaty No. 7 jersey after the game. To say the least, I enjoyed the game.

Bring 19 NBA basketball players down to Mexico and one should expect no defense. The quarters were only 10 minutes in length, however, the final score of the game was a soaring 150 to 140 in favor of the white team. DeAndre Jordan and Iman Shumpert were the highlights of the game with their incredible high-flying dunks and alley-oops.

Thoughts

Love is a very complicated emotion. It takes hold sometimes suddenly and without warning, but it lingers and refuses to fade even when romance is gone. Not strength, intelligence nor ambition have a battle plan against it and as they say; love conquers all. The defeat that love deals out is a bitter one and it’s taste is awful and disgusting. The only defense one has against the evils of love is time. But, the problem with time is all the damn waiting. If it weren’t for love we would all get along just fine, but then again things would be so fucking boring.

Deep in thought. This week has been a rollercoaster of emotions, work and as usual plenty of alcoholic beverages. I am playing principal for the week so that has added extra stress and responsibility, yet it has also been amazing since the program includes Brahms’s Symphony no. 1. Meanwhile, I am trying to fix my Mexican temporary car permit so that I don’t have to loose a $200 plus deposit I paid when I entered the country. And this weekend the orchestra goes to Mazatlan to play two opera concerts of Madam Butterfly. Let’s be honest, what problem can’t be remedied with few days of cocktails, sun and beach? I know I’ve got my east coast peeps screaming since you’re all knee deep in snow right now!

Even though I am hundreds of miles from the majority of my friends and family I want to say that I miss you all and without you I would be a lesser person. With love. -Daren

Las Lunas del Auditorio

The Auditorio Nacional is one of the largest venues in Mexico City and in the evening of October 26th it was full for the Lunas awards show. I have no idea what the awards were for, nor when it was aired on TV, but the state of Sinaloa was being honored so my orchestra was invited to play a 6 minute medley of Sinaloan music. Two weeks earlier we recorded the parts to be played back at the show so instead of actually playing we were just pretending.

We arrived in Mexico City on Monday and had two days to go out on the town. Some of my chilango friends invited me on an adventure into the southern hills near the city limits to sample a fermented viscous drink made from the Maguey plant called Pulque. The process of making pulque involves long hours, close attention and horse manure and the mucous-like result doesn’t taste much different. The pulquerias are the only places you can get pulque and we went to two. There were sheep, dogs, horses and plenty of drunks at the first pulqueria, but the view was sensational. Unless you knew it was there you would never have found the second pulqueria and I searched for about 5 minutes for the bathroom when I realized it was just a hole in the ground next to the horse and donkey enclosure. Pulque is a diuretic and someone had missed the hole…

The next day we had our rehearsal for the awards show. We shared the stage with dances, chorus and the original Banda Limon from Mazatlan. Everyone but the soloists and the dancers were lip sinking or fake playing. I must say that I love TV. They know their shit and with just one hour of rehearsal we were finished and on our way back to the hotel. That night we went to a micro brew pub in La Condesa and had some excellent IPA, Hefeweizen, Imperial Stout and Porter brewed by some of Mexico City’s best.

The show was a who’s who of Mexican and Latin-American stars; however, everyone looked like a stranger to me until Tony Bennett and his entourage walked two feet from me. Our performance was a blast and I was able to snag the autographs of all the Banda Limon artists that we played with.

The trip was not unlike every other trip I’ve taken to Mexico City in that it was fun with very comfortable weather. I savored the beautiful morning weather of our last day strolling through the Bosque Chapultepec and the Zocalo, which reminded me of my amazing trip with Sayles this past spring. Now I’m back in Culiacan where the oppressive heat is finally beginning to break and a fan is all you need to sit comfortably.

Durango

The 1,300 kilometer route from Nuevo Laredo to Culiacan crosses nearly the entire width of Mexico from it’s Texan border to the pacific coastline and through the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Caohuila, Durango and finally Sinaloa. The toll road from Nuevo Leon to Durango is quick and well paved as it bypasses many of the cities and cuts through the southern strip of dry brown desert mountain landscapes of the Sierra Madre Oriental. However, between Durango and Mazatlan the toll road is still under construction so about 10 miles west of the city of Durango the toll road ends and the only way to pass is to trek the winding old highway route 40 in order to cross the great Sierra Madre Occidental. These are some serious mountains.

A safe top speed on the steep two lane road hairpin turns is about 7 kilometers per hour and the road goes this way for about 250 kilometers. The treacherous road does offer some of the most spectacular and absolutely breathtaking scenery and vistas. For over 250 kilometers the road snakes up, down and back and forth, hugging tightly around and over massive ridge lines, menacing rock overhangs and sheer cliff faces. As the highway approaches the state boarder between Durango and Sinaloa the humidity from Sinaloa creates massive clouds that form a pool of billowing fog that looks like a dense soup of steam in a bowl of green mountains. Descending into the wall of moisture and heat brings the temperature from a comfortable 65 degrees in the dry Durango climate to about 100 degree with 100 percent humidity in an instant.

The mountain pass is very beautiful and full of pine trees, wild flowers and small mountain villages. There are also camping grounds and cabanas for rent in various spots along the way. The construction of the new highway between Durango and Mazatlán will shorten travel time as it will pass under and over the Sierra Madre Occidental through tunnels and bridges, the most important being the Baluarte Bridge expected to be finished in year 2012.

Cats

Since I arrived back in Culiacan some three weeks ago I have been receiving regular stinky little care packages on my front doorstep courtesy of one of the neighborhood cats or dogs. I’m not talking about hunting trophies, but rather small piles of fresh poo for me to step on as I’m leaving for work. My lovely neighbors with whom I share this truly awesome duplex house and who have absolutely no connection with the drug cartel (a real bonus) would have me believe that these thoughtful gifts could not possibly be charity from their house cat “Nena.” But, I have my own suspicions.

Anyway, so this “Nena” is a realy sweet cat and tonight she got brave and actually entered my house like she owned the place and it reminded me of a very funny story about my awesome cat “Les.”

Always an outdoor cat at heart, I began letting “Les” roam free after I moved into my second apartment in Boulder, Colorado and one day he returned with what looked like a dead bunny, but after closer inspection turned out to be an Ushanka, (had to look that one up) one of those Russian hats with ear flaps and covered in fur. He looked hilarious as he strolled inside with large deliberate steps, dragging this massive hat awkwardly between his legs and dangling from his mouth. It was a funny conversation with my neighbor when I returned the hat.