"Nochebuena: Christmas Eve in Mexico...

 Once again the Angelina Arts Alliance brought a great show to Lufkin. The show was a dance troupe with a mariachi band called Nochebuena: Christmas Eve in Mexico. Nochebuena means good night and refers to Christmas Eve which depending on your beliefs or whether you get what you want is a pretty good night, maybe one of the best in history. The crowd was a bit sparse I thought for these great performances compared to attendance at some shows but I did see quite a few people I knew there. There was a no picture policy so I did not take any. The wiry little older lady who was an usher had to visit the row in front of me several times to request that they stop filming and taking flash photos so I figured if I snapped one photo she would probably jerk me up by the coat collar and drag me out.  

This video and the people in it is the very show I saw, right here in Lufkin, Tx. 

Speaking to the audience I seem to recall and this was back before COVID that there were actually public meetings so people could have input on what kind of entertainment we needed around here. Somebody must have spoke for me because I think the shows have been great with something for everyone.  

I do have a friend, a musician who has spent a life time in music who attends almost all the shows at Temple Theater as well as at the Pines Theater. This person attends with an older cohort of people and from here I have received some feedback on what people of Lufkin are thinking about some of these shows. 

On the recent Squirrel Nut Zippers/Dirty Dozen Brass Band show (one of my favorite groups) which is a cross between old time vaudeville, a medicine show, a gypsy blues camp, who along with the Dozen which probably have at least a couple of guys who were drum majors at some HBCU so this is stuff you should have heard by now there were several complaints. "Too Loud!" "Well he played fiddle ok but I did not like the way he swung his hair around." 

My friend the musician says, "It's a show! It's how things are done!"

There were also complaints on the M5 Mexican Brass who used no microphones with the good acoustic of the Pines Theater and played a classically based repertoire very delicately completely from memory, "Too Loud!" 

Of course this is probably the minority but as we have seen the minority can be a vocal majority. The sparser that usual attendance could be explained by the fact there there were several local Christmas Concerts at the college one of which I played in, some at churches, a traveling family musical group that visited my church and more that I probably don't even know about. You do have to make choices. 

If you are fan of the Hispanic traditions such as this I advise you to catch our local Danza Guadalupana De San Patricio. Their dance venerates Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day is this weekend. Here's a photo of the local group in which some friends participate. Check this website for Spanish Mass Times Saturday and Sunday to see the dance as well as a procession beginning in the Planet Fitness Parking lot and heading to the church. 

In September at the St. Patrick's Multicultural festival you can catch traditional Mexican and El Salvadorian dances. 

And if you need more and I mean a lot more I plan on being in Kiwanis Park about 11am tomorrow to play Christmas music on the tuba. 

Get out and see something different. 

   

Next AAA show is on my birthday, Jan. 20th and it's Pink Martini. We have followed them for a few years and have a bunch of cds. They do have a pretty good Christmas CD as well.