El Amor - Recital June 15 2007: The Summary

O.K. guys! Here it is. When I get off work, I will get back to you. In the interim, enjoy this summary.

O.K. raza! Aquí está. Cuando salga de la oficina, estaré de nuevo con ustedes. Por lo pronto, disfruten de este resumen.

Que viva el Amor!

Celi

El Amor - A Bilingual Performance

Hello, everyone! I apologize for my long absence. I've been busy :)

This weekend, however, I took the time to go for a nice, long drive to the Napa Valley and enjoyed an Italian festival, food, incredible wine and the company of our wonderful friend Felipe Davalos and his lovely wife, Ana Lilia Tovar. I promise to share a bit more on that later... it really was incredible. We tried to ride the Wine Train for lunch along the wineries but lunch was fully booked for the entire weekend. Now I know we need reservations :)

I resigned my position with Communicare Health Centers and accepted a full time position with NCLR (National Council of La Raza www.nclr.org). It's closer to home and a new experience I am willing to embrace and enjoy.

I am currently working on a couple of wonderful projects. I've met incredible musicians like Rene Paul, Dominic Garcia, Johnny Flores and Jerry Robins with whom I've had the pleasure of singing a little. I've let go of my project with a wonderful solo guitarist, Willie Chapin, as we both are working on projects that better fit our wants and needs. But the experience was incredible! I've put together about 30 new songs that I hadn't performed before.

I have a live performance before a crowd of 20 thousand people this Saturday in Vacaville, California. I'll be joining The Premiers- Jorge, Steve, Roberto and the incredible Oscar on base- with vocals!

Lastly, La Raza Galería Posada is featuring me on June 15, 2007 and would love to see everyone there.

I continue to do as best I can with what I have from where I am (www.tut.com).

Con cariño y corazón!

Celi

Stella - The Film - Sacramento International Film Festival 2007

I enjoyed participating in this festival and meeting so many daring and wonderful creators, actors, composers, filmakers. Thank you Marti for your hard work and dedication. Thank you for bending over backwards and making the screening of our film possible after all those technical difficulties at The Crest. I only wish there had been more people to view our film in such a wonderful and huge screen! Hope you're feeling better, Marti. Get some rest! Don't forget about us.

I also wish to thank our dear friend and colleague Jim Michael for taking the time to participate in the film and for his help in developing his role. I really have no way to thank you, Jim. You are wonderful. I Love the Cesar Chavez flag!

Additional thanks to Jim Harris, the plumber in the film, for allowing us to utilize those images. Doesn't he look great?

Thank you Adam Seitu for getting us into this whole experience and for being so supportive and an incredible friend.

This film would be incomplete without the music. You and the Moon is truly a beatiful song. For those of you who don't know the story, Tao and I met in Monterrey, Mexico and always searched for a chance to get together for a project. This is one of the things we did. You and the moon is his original song, lyrics and music. Once he approached me about adapting it and soon after I wrote the lyrics in English, we got together at his wonderful studio one night in Monterrey to record this version. This is actually scratch vocals but it's the only version I have. I still love it and hope we will have another opportunity to work together again for a little magic. Tao is without a doubt one of the best composers and songwriters I have met in my life. We share the same passion and intensity for music. Thank you Tao, from the bottom of my heart for sharing this song with me.

Thanks to my brother Jose Luis for arriving at the right moment and taking Saul for a drive around town. The shot we used of the Capitol is perfect!

Both Saul and I wish to thank our friends and colleagues who took the time to come share the moment with us.

Like my dear friend and colleague Armon Newton put it.... hey, if I can't make the Grammy, I'll take the Oscar home! Why not.... :)

For those of you who have not seen our film, please enjoy.

Home

This is actually someone's home.

This is one of the bus stops where I waited for a bus every morning for nearly three months. Rain or shine, a lady slept seemingly undisturbed by the constant arrival and departure of buses and people walking by.

The first time I saw this, inside of me, I wondered what that was. Once I heard a female passenger talk about how a lady actually slept bundled up under the umbrella. How could something like that be possible, I thought to myself.

Many times I saw the umbrella, surrounded by a metalic cart and bags of different types, filled with only she knew what. Pages from old newspapers taped to some of the bags with religious-type messages. Never actually saw her. Yet she slept in there and attempted to protect herself from the night, the winter and the noise.

Another morning, a police officer on a bike rode past the umbrella but made a sudden U turn on the side walk, slowly circled around the bus stop shelter, staring at the sight, as if trying to figure out what to do with it. But he said or did nothing and left. A male passenger just looked at him with a hint of bitterness as he rode away and said, "What do they know?".

The very last day I took the bus, I finally got a chance to see her. An old, frail lady attempting to sleep in a sitting position, bundled up, surrounded by all those bags, except... there was no umbrella. Where was her umbrella? What happened to it? A man sat on the bench right next to her as he coughed loudly and constantly over her shoulder. I heard her mumble angrily as she tried to make him quit. He spit at his own feet and laughed, then took a drag from his cigarette. Didn't move an inch.

This stuff happens in our city. People do sleep in the street, in dark, dirty corners where sometimes drunk, homeless or just ordinary people actually urinate and spit. This really is someone’s home, in the middle of the night, during winter rain, among city noises... as morning merciless arises.

Where do these people go when morning comes?

My favorite Things

This is a series of posts I have decided to title "My favorite Things". I will begin by sharing these two pictures. Many people who have seen these pictures online write to ask why I wore a patch on my right eye. I am no pirate or sailor. It is actually just an optical illusion. It's the shadow reflected on my face from the excess of light coming from the window. The dark, deep hallow around my eye makes it look like a patch connected to another thin shadow mirrored on my face. I suppose that comes from the bars on the window....

Friday Night - The Mood

My performance with Inner Soul at the Torch Club in Sacramento right on my birthday.

My Birthday!

With InnerSoul at the Torch Club. Friday, February 9, 2007.

Ya no podre (Araceli Collazo/Gerardo Garcia)

English:

I recently found this link to one of my songs online. I co-authored this song with a colleague of mine in Monterrey, Gerardo Garcia. Title of the song: "Ya no podré". This is a piece I recorded with Beto de Leon, the original keyboard player of La Firma for grupero singer from La Academia, Rosalía's first cd. Then the former pop artist from OV7 recorded this same song as a cover on one of her most recent productions. When I recorded the vocals on a demo format for Rosalía, little did I know that that version would be recorded twice, almost identical one version from the other. What do you think?

Our names are not mentioned on this video as authors of the song, but for those of you who might be curious, either buy the cd, that is, if you are into grupero music, or search it online.

Español:

Recientemente encontré esta liga a una de mis cancines en línea. Escribí esta canción junto con un colega en Monterrey, Gerardo Garcia. Título "Ya no podré". Esta es una pieza que grabé con Beto de León, el original tecladista del grupo La Firma y productor de Rosalía en esa ocasión, para la cantante grupera egresada de La Academia, Rosalía, en su primer disco. Posteriormente, la ex artista pop de OV7 Lidia Avila la grabó como cover en una de sus más recientes producciones. Cuando grabé la voz en formato demo para Rosalía, poco imaginaba que esa versión sería grabada dos veces, casi idéntica una versión de la otra. Qué piensas tú>




If you don't want to spend the money or the time buying or searching... I will soon post a picture of my copy of both of their cd's. Enjoy.

Si no quieres gastar ni el dinero ni el tiempo en comprar o buscar, pronto publicaré una foto de mis copias de ambos discos. Disfrútalo.

Me cabes

For those of you who haven't had a chance to see this on Youtube, I want to dedicate this spot to "Me cabes". A song I wrote a few years back in Monterrey, Mexico. The images you will see is real footage of rehearsals, the studio session and the contest in which we participated. My colleagues on stage are: Keyboard and lead: Oziel Salazar, Drums Alvaro Rubio, Guitar, Hugo Herrera and Base Uriel Martinez. Live performance at Plaza de Toros Monumental, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Song arrangements by Oziel Salazar, Araceli Collazo and Alvaro Rubio. Lyrics Araceli Collazo and Mara Gutierrez/Music: Araceli Collazo and Mario Cavazos.




This song was inspired by a poem I wrote that same year.

En el hueco de mi mano


En el hueco de mi mano
tengo guardada una palabra.

Pero el hueco de mi mano es tan profundo
que cabe más que esa única palabra.

Cabe el sonido de la lluvia
jugueteando sobre el techo de mi calma.

Cabe el sabor de tus labios empapados
y el reflejo de tus ganas.

Cabe el sentir de mis dedos,
recorriendo los caminos de tu espalda.

Cabe la luna, cabe tu nombre,
cabe tu esencia blanca.

Cabe la humedad de tus rizos
dormidos sobre mi almohada.

Cabe el corazón doliente, el alma abierta,
cabe esta estúpida esperanza.

Cabe el interior de una ciudad callada
buscando un mañana.

Caben mis ganas de estar lejos
de esta casa tan lejana, desolada.

El hueco de mi mano es tan profundo
que cabes tú mismo si te quedas y me amas.

Oil

Oil please!


For the past few months, my (our) life has revolved around car issues. OUr 1997 Land Rover- now we have it, now we don't. Then this 1995 Ford Escort wagon. It's been broken more than it's been driven. You guys know the saying, in English as well as in Spanish, "You don't know what you got until it's gone...". I never, ever thought I'd be driving a white wagon around, but now that it's totally broken, I will miss it each time I have to jump on the light rail or bus. Oil please!