http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:49:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I returned to Guanajuato on Friday the 22nd for the concert at the Museo Dieguino on Saturday evening. I'm not sure exactly what the function of the museum is but it appears to have something to do with history, although not just Mexican history. It's located below ground right on ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/09/07/museo-dieguino-concert/ After finally getting paid by the museum and deciding to skip the Xalapa portion of the trip I took off for Mexico City. I wanted to visit my friends from the Africa tour and Javier, the drummer in the group, and his wife Ale had invited me to stay with ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/09/07/mexico-city-and-paracho-trip/ A few days after the concert at the Museo Iconogáfico I went to Armando Lopez Valdivia's house to hang out, talk about music and celebrate his wife's birthday. His studio in his house contains his collection of over 200 instruments, many of which are replicas of medieval and renaissance instruments. ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/09/04/at-armandos-house/ While I was communicating with the museum folks in the months before the concert they said that because I'm a foreigner and I don't have a Mexican work permit (a Mexican green card) they can't pay me directly. I'd need a Mexican citizen to sign the "recibo" so I could ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/09/03/recibo-black-market/ As it turns out Armando López Valdivia was able to reschedule and play in the concert after all and it turned out to be just great. We got together on Wednesday night and cooked up some settings to improvise on. He decided to bring two violas de gamba (one a ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/08/16/concert-recap/ I arrived without incident and my flights were all on time, which is amazing during the summer travel season. I got settled into the house of Lucila Castillo who runs a kind of guest house. She's the mother of one of my former Spanish teachers and also helped me to ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2008/08/07/in-guanajuato/ The band's first show took place on Friday at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. The museum has a very nice auditorium although its sound system wasn't designed for 10 piece amplified bands. Add to that the fact that the band showed up very late for the sound check ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2007/09/10/first-concert/ Napoleon the pianist and his girlfriend invited me to a fandango last Saturday. A fandango is a kind of festival/party of Son Jarocha, the traditional music of Vera Cruz and the surrounding areas. It's far and away my favorite genre of Mexican music and I got to hear some of ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2007/09/04/fandango/ Since I had nothing better to do on Saturday hight, Eduardo invited me to go to a brief rehearsal of his African percussion group. It was interesting watching the rehearsal to see how Eduardo sets the arrangements for the group using special rhythmic calls from his djembe (a west African ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2007/08/29/my-kind-of-wedding-gig/ I'm here in Mexico City staying in the apartment of my friend Eduardo Garavito. Fortunately, he has a spare room in his house and, to top it off, one of his neighbors has an unsecured wireless network that allows me free internet access! My flight finally got out of O'Hare ... http://www.michaelkentsmith.com/index.php/2007/08/25/hit-the-ground-running/