What’s a musician to do when his iPad goes blank in the middle of a concert?
I’ll tell you.
Because it happened last July at St. Paul’s Church in the midst of an audaciously good performance by cellist Alexander Hersh and pianist Evren Ozel.
I can’t recall if it was Debussy’s Cello Sonata, or Dohnanyni’s “Ruralia Hungarica,” or the Cello Sonata from Chopin.
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His name is Pehuenche and he will be in concert this Sunday, Nov. 17 at the Tres Fuentes hotel and as exciting a singer as the Veracruz native may be, there is an equally exciting story behind the concert.
San Miguel de Allende isn’t exactly on anyone’s music circuit – those well-traveled paths that bands and other performers follow from town to town – or at least it hasn’t been.
At least until now.
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Look, it’s not that I don’t love you. I do. I adore you. I love how you get out and make the most of all the wonderful things that make up San Miguel de Allende. Our relationship to date has been a bit one-sided. I get it. You’re busy. You don’t write. You don’t call. But that’s OK. You’re page views tell me I’m getting through.
It is just that, well, we need some time away from each other. Put it another way, I’m going away for a while. And where I’m going, you can’t reach me and I won’t be able to reach you. That’s just the way it is. Just the way it’s got to be.
We’ll always have Scotland.
Continue readingSunday, August 18
8 –10 a.m. OK, what’s a “botarga”?
I’ll tell you: It is a full-body costume often of a cute animal, vegetable, or a sports team mascot — or Spiderman and Deadpool. Put yours on, zip it up, and join the first Botargas Race at Plaza La Luciérnaga. Be your anthropomorphic best as you “Run, jump, and laugh.” Those are the rules. That’s all we’ve got. Registration is $100 pesos.
Sunday, Aug. 11
10:30 a.m. – Noon — Ecstatic dancing
San Miguel’s longest-running ecstatic dance community Danza de Alma meets at The Nautilus Chamber with the music of DJ Grandpa setting the swirling dervishes in motion. Here’s a map to Nautilus.
Danza del Alma is a scent free zone. Suggested donation is $150-$400 pesos ($8-$20 usd). paypal.me/JoanElenaGoldberg.Can’t make it in person? Zoom in: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6777780270 (Zoom Passcode: Danza, Meeting ID: 677 778 0270)
Sunday, August 4
10-5 p.m. Raising the bazaar on shopping
Bazar Nativa brings together merchants of second-hand and new clothing, antiques, costume jewelry, oriental, ecological and artisanal products, stones, toys, food, and even micheladas and live music on the first Sunday of each month in the Los Pinos Hall.
Bazar Nativa is also a space that provides an opportunity for local artists to make themselves known. Yesenia Múñoz stressed that although most of the exhibitors are local they currently also have merchants from Celaya, Dolores Hidalgo, and Querétaro.
This Sunday, organizers expect more than 70 exhibitors and they have room for more. The exhibition hall is located at Salida Real a Queretaro #173.
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Sometimes, the best thing you can do is just get out and take a hike. Especially now, while the rains have turned the region into an emerald dreamscape. Sure, the roads and trails can be a bit muddy (OK, a lot in some places). These photos, taken on Saturday, were from a walk near the north end of Pressa Allende.
There is a photo below of the extraordinary power of the Obraje stream as it courses and tumbles through the canyon in El Charco del Ingenio, the botanical gardens. See it before the rains slow down and it returns to a trickle!
Continue readingSunday, July 21
8 a.m. — Doggie day out
Elsewhere it may be the Dog Days of summer but not in San Miguel! Plaza La Luciérnaga is celebrating a happier Dog Day by inviting you and your pooch out to the shopping mall for a day of activities, prizes and lots of fun. Bring your pet.
10 a.m.–5 p.m. Artisan fairs popping up
In the Plaza de los Insurgentes, popularly known as “Plaza Garibaldi,” you can find products for the home, decoration and gifts such as mirrors, lamps, rugs and hearts, even high-quality jewelry and great designs, all made by San Miguel families from a wide variety of communities, neighborhoods, and colonias.
From July 24 to 28, a new edition of the “San Miguel de Allende Artisan Fair 2024” will be held around the esplanade of the Jardine Principal. It will offer “maximum face-to-face exhibition of the color and beauty of local crafts and labor, before thousands of local and foreign visitors.”
DiscoverSMA has the details!
Sunday, July 14
8 a.m — 4 p.m. Bomberos Flea Market
After 40 years of protecting San Miguel de Allende, the local fire department still counts on this monthly flea market to make ends meet. Crazy, huh? But this is our life! You will find new and second-hand clothes, glasses, perfumes, lingerie, toys and collectibles, and much more.
Where? At the firehouse on Salida a Queretaro, next to Real de Conde plaza.
10 a.m. — Play ball!
Baseball game between the San Miguel Paric and the San Miguel Pirates this Sunday at the Stirling Dickinson Stadium. The Pirates will try to break the undefeated record of the green-feathered Pericos De San Miguel De Allende. This is quality baseball, up-close, on the region’s finest baseball field. Located at Avenida Las Américas #113.
Sorry if things look a little abbreviated this week. There are two major football/soccer tournaments going on and even if all my favorites — across the world — have been knocked out of contention, the playing has been superb. Copa America and Euro Cup — check them out. The style of playing in each tournament could not be more different from the other.
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Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 