Upcoming Casa Karma Concerts
Puerto Vallarta has always been a safe, welcoming place for everyone. More and more ex-pats fall in love with the exuberant energy and find ways to settle on our shores, bringing their life stories to date, scattering those tales to the wind, and then learning who is listening. In that quiet time, friendships are solidified, and Vallarta’s loving energy expands.
Georgia Darehshori, her neighbor Brian Bott, and I sat down over mango smoothies and spent a couple of hours sharing fragments of our lives as they came up in conversation.
I bumped into Pam Thompson at La Comer. We had not seen each other for ages so it was good, stopped there by the cat food leaning on our carts catching up somewhat. We have known each other for more than 30 years; it was lovely to see her.
Open Mic, every Friday at 7 pm at Mary Ann’s Ovations Piano Bar, grows a teeny bit every week. The old Incanto crowd has found a new home with David Maiocco playing piano and hosting with Cate Valcic.
The next day, after a quick stop to see my herbalist Ricardo Mazcal on the Isla, I again showed up for David Sabella’s Voice Workshop at Act2PV. Body and vocal-chord warmups take about 15 minutes, then the fun begins; it really is my fave ‘show’ of the week, all three solid hours of it.
A couple of hours after auditing the Workshop, I returned to Ovations for Saturday afternoon Bingo. I didn’t win again! Amazing run of (rotten) luck! Saving it all for Scrabble, evidently, eh, Sharon?
I spent Saturday night on the Isla at the Cultural Center for the penultimate presentation of Alberto Sosa’s one-man show, “La Scuola di Mangiare.” Hugely overweight, humpbacked Pietro from Naples teaches his love of food in three languages, which he equates with love, and the bigger he gets, the happier he is. Not true, of course, but it is the underlying premise. Alberto did a masterful job improvising his script to include our small audience in his production. All set to Mario Lanza’s tenor voice. Alberto is teaching acting classes for free for the balance of the summer. Find him on Facebook!
Last night, I rode to Casa Karma with Rob Burton and Jan Dorland to listen to Will Walker sing, accompanied by Bing Young on piano. Soul music was the order of the evening, unfolding into the sunset and sliding into the night. At least 40 of us enjoyed cocktails, the coolness of the living room, passed hors d’oeuvres, and the glorious setting that matched Will’s voice, reminiscent of Harry Belafonte’s – smooth as silk.
There will be at least 17 more mini-concerts at Casa Karma this summer and fall. If you check VallartaCalendar.com under Featured Venues, you will find them added as dates become written in stone. Tomorrow is the next, with Gloria Fiona presenting Adele and pianist Isabel Zuleta.
Enjoy this beautiful day, and be sure to tell someone you love them.