Author: Marcia Blondin

There is something endearing about Elton John and his music. He is wonderfully weird and complicated, but under the layers of bejeweled eyeglasses, sequins, and feathers, I believe, is a kind and loving man. Daniel Celis captures that aspect of Elton John in ‘Rocketman Concert‘ and embodies the sheer joy of entertaining, after first making…

Oh! What a night at Coco Cabaret! Their Opening Night with BOYS ON FIRE. No amount of air conditioning could have cooled off that room. The Boys – Sebastian, Alex, Pedro, Angel, Woody, and their host and compadre, Nacho, obviously spent the last five months training like maniacs in the gym. Maybe not Nacho so…

I have a new word to use for last night’s weather as a couple of hundred of us squeezed onto the rooftop of Cuale, a chi-chi renovated condo hotel on Aquiles Serdan – S U L T R Y. Another rendition of hot and humid. Still, it has a flick-feeling to it, as in moving…

Today is going to be so great on so many levels, I can hardly stand it! First, at the crack of 8:30 this morning, Deborah Cole is picking me up and we are going to the Coapinole tianguis. Her, for the first time. Deborah is a gifted photographer, specializing in black and white dramatic pics…

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow Canadians out there! A number of fine restaurants in town are offering traditional turkey feasts; you can check VallartaCalendar.com for a comprehensive list. Enjoy the food and company, and give thanks for our remarkable abundance of all things necessary to life —the biggest and most important thing we…

Yesterday I sat down with Brian Peters aka Mama Tits, over mango smoothies at the Vallarta Factory. I wanted to find out how he was feeling and his plans for the near future, given his recent stage three cancer diagnosis. Friends have set up a GoFundMe for Brian’s uninsured medical bills, which could easily reach…

My living room floor has been returned to me, and all my old books are gone to their new home – The Living Room Bookstore and Cafe. Thanks go to Madeline Milne for taking them off my hands and leaving me with barren shelves. I won’t allow that to accumulate again. The books, I mean.…

Humpday means Scrabble – yay! Everybody is still out of town; we’ll have to wait and see if there is anyone to play with. I was busy yesterday sorting through things, mostly books. Dusting them, then making piles, in alphabetical order. Then, stacking repeat offenders – the piles of David Baldacci, Lee Child, Harlen Coben…

Stepping right back onto the sand at El Solar, Sandra Bradley and I, snifters of mezcal in hand, made a beeline for a small clump of gorgeous men – Sebastian Coronel, Alejandro Barron Ortiz, and Daniel Celis. Dani’s show, a spectacular tribute to Elton John, ”The Rocketman Concert,” opens The Palm Cabaret‘s 26th season, at…

The weekend flew by on top of expectations of rain and storms, and nothing happened. Lots of people are champing at the bit for Season to hurry up. We are impatiently tapping our toes and planning outdoor renovations that won’t be altered by a massive storm or, god forbid, a hurricane. It’s early to assume…

How is everyone doing this gray morning? The highlight of this day so far has been watching my kitty Bogie creep up to his elevated food bowl and cautiously dip one foot into the soggy mess, dig around a bit until he snags a chunk of whateverthemeatis and carefully pop it into his mouth. Most…

I am being lulled by Fall. It seems drier in the air: we haven’t had any rain for three days. The river is still high, and after walking home last night from La Catrina Cantina, it occurred to me while unlocking my front door that I was not sweating. Yay! These small idiosyncrasies keep us…

What a jam-packed October this will be with the opening of The Palm and Coco Cabarets, mid-month, Halloween, of course, just after my baby sister arrives for six or seven weeks. Today is our monthly Scrabble Tournament. I will have a chance to wear that crown once again as the current Scrabble Quine is on…

My sister, Patrice, arrives for her winter vacay exactly four weeks from today. And here we are still dripping wet from summer heat and torrential rains. Temperatures in Southern Alberta are already in single digits, although it felt that cool to me at the end of July! Yesterday, I sat down with my daytimer and…

My sister, Patrice, and I spent a couple of weeks in northern Europe this summer, mostly in Sweden, for the wedding of our niece Evelyn. Whatever city we were in, we walked for miles and miles. We rarely had a destination in mind, but roamed wherever our feet wanted to take us. We got lost…

The last weekend of September, as we roll inexorably into the days preceding Vallarta’s Tourist Season, which traditionally begins on the first Sunday following American Thanksgiving and runs until the Sunday following Easter Sunday. Or, in real time, this Season starts November 30, 2025, and concludes April 12, 2026. We LOVE those tourists the best…

More than 50 people, friends and family, filled Georgia Darehshori’s living room at Avida condo, for ‘Libations and Love Songs,’ another in the Summer Concert Season Series, usually held at Casa Karma. It was also a preliminary memorial to singer Patrick Henry Murray, who should have joined the headliner for the evening, Jason Darion Mathis.…

Mitchell Rivadeneyra has hung up his sequined gowns, strappy high-heeled sandals, and has put Karma the Bitch to rest. While sounding slightly less offensive in Spanish – Karma La Perra – sounds kinda sweet, doesn’t it? Her persona was the antithesis of Mitchell’s personality, and that takes its toll after years of playacting. Unlike most…

A week ago, Maestro Bing Young was sitting right behind Patrick Henry Murray as Will Walker announced that Patrick would be joining Jason Mathis in concert at the second in the Summer Concert series to be held at Georgia Darehshori’s condo at Avida, rather than at Casa Karma. Bing told me that Patrick was very…

Welcome to the first full day of Fall. I was going to leap into my column this morning, but saw I had a message from Petru. He had forwarded a lovely video made about his partner and my friend Jean-Guy Comeau. I have shared it on Facebook. Seeing the year he was born, 1958, gave…