Tchaikovsky Spectacular!

It is the time of year for the “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” which means the end of the summer outdoor concert season with the 1812 Overture with cannons and fireworks. Here in Southern California that means The Hollywood Bowl and many other regional outdoor concerts and festivals.

 But it signals much more than that. The fact is that good Russian music is being played more and more in concert halls and on the classical music radio stations all over the country. I love it. Even if I was raised on the desert near El Paso, Texas,  I loved Russian music from an early age. Rimsky-Korsakov of course (our kids were raised on “Peter and the Wolf.”) As I write this, Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges,” is being played on our great classical music station here, KUSC. There is so much to enjoy: Rachmaninoff, Borodin, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Mussorgsky – the list goes on and on. So many greats. Such romance, such stories in song and melody. I lived in Russia for six years and what a treat in the evenings.

 So fireworks may end the summer outdoor concerts, the stirring and romantic music from the great Russian composers is heard all over all the time. A KUSC announcer once said, “Russian music, like Russian literature, is always excited about something.” Maybe that is why we like it so much. Nothing boring there.

You can find me at www.en.rian.ru. Go to “Features and Opinions” then “Columnists.” Read the others, too.

And don’t forget “Walking on Ice, An American Businessman is Russia.”

“Dos Gringos” for the screen?

The comment I continually hear from readers of my family book “Dos Gringos” is that it ought to be a film.

“In the middle of the Mexican Revolution, a penniless Norwegian and a drifting Irishman meet in an El Paso bar and are hired by a Pittsburg con-man to fix a gold mine in Mexico with parts which, they discover too late, purposely don’t fit.” I agree it should.  Some of what I have heard:

“This is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—with accents.”

 “Can’t put it down.  So much intrigue.”

“A page turner, better than most out of Hollywood.”

“Thrilling – and funny.  Crazy guys.”

 If anyone has an idea how I can get this responsibly started toward a film, let me know. I have had classes in screen writing and would be open to working on a financed production. Quality is the thing.

 Let me know if you have ideas.

 If you haven’t read it –get  YOUR copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

MORMONS IN MEXICO

As you have read in earlier posts to this column, although born and raised in El Paso, on the Mexican Border, I was ignorant of the Chinese and Japanese in Mexican history. But I did know about the Mormons. After Utah was annexed by the United States in 1848, many Mormons, to escape the American ban on Mormon practice of polygamy, fled to Mexico.

I read there are over a million Mormons in Mexico today, including many Mexican converts. They are mostly in Chihuahua and Sonora. I knew about the original escape from Utah, but I should have assumed their legendary missionary efforts would be activated in Mexico as in the U.S. and elsewhere. George Romney, once a Presidential candidate, and father of Mitt Romney, was born in Mexico.

Our neighbor Mexico surely has a history which so many of us know little about. That is a reflection on our educational system that ignores the 1,969 mile border we share with that neighbor to the south.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Japanese in Mexico?

When I went to El Paso, my hometown, to speak and sign my new book, “Dos Gringos” set in the Mexican Revolution, one thing I did not expect to learn was how little I knew about Mexico and its history. But all agreed that the Texas school system still teaches little about anything other than Texas history, and even that from an insular perspective.

Among the new things I learned was about Japanese in Mexico. Their settlement goes back to 1897 where they settled in Chiapas. Another wave came in 1901-07.  When the the Mexican Revolution began many Japanese Mexican emigrants left for the U.S., settling in the farming valleys of California and in Arizona and Texas.

They suffered a rough time during World War II, like in the United States, but afterward the Japanese population grew and shifted from agriculture to small urban businesses. Mexico became their permanent home. Today, young Japanese Mexicans continue to build upon the legacy of their past while playing a more integral role in Mexico’s multicultural society and Japanese Mexicans in general are proud of their community in Chiapas  called Colonia Enomoto and are very important in Mexican culture.

The Main Cause of Death in Hollywood!

The main cause of death in Hollywood, they say, is encouragement. I can understand that concern as the encouragement I have received for the film potential of my latest book, “Dos Gringos” has been mounting. But, I don’t consider it threatening.

Readers, including screenwriters and others in the film industry have said that “Dos Gringos” is visual, moves along, well written with a unique voice. The characters are well developed, deep, but at the same time humorous. They say all that and more. And at this time, the centenary of The Mexican Revolution, and set in El Paso and Juarez, anything having to do with Mexico gets attention.

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—with accents” they call this story about a Norwegian and an Irishman who meet in an El Paso bar and against all common sense, are conned into going to Chihuahua to fix a gold mine with parts that, they learn too late, purposely don’t fit. I welcome all the positive comments. 

I am encouraged–healthily encouraged.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

El Paso and Juarez~like Orphan Sisters

Spain searched for “Cibola”, the Seven Cities of Gold and never found them. But from late 16^th century they kept traveling up the Rio Grande River, through El Paso del Norte, the pass through the foothills of the Rockies, all in the name of Roman Catholicism, and gold. So the two cities, Juarez and El Paso, like sisters, grew at that pass.

 But, today, it struck me as if the sisters were always orphans. Juarez is too far from Mexico City, even Ciudad Chihuahua; and El Paso is too far from the center of Texas, like Dallas and Austin. Their “parents ” don’t really know them.  And like orphans who have grow up divided by “the tracks,” actually that shallow and narrow river, one in a middle class working family and the other in distressed barrio of crime and poverty, they are far apart, but still sisters.

 Having been born and raised in El Paso, it is a sad feeling to see my home, El Paso, called the 2^nd safest city in America and its sister city Juarez, called the most dangerous city in the world today.  There are articles asking if Mexico can survive. If Americans were not buying the drugs and supplying much of the guns, there would not be the problem. Something to think about. What is our responsibility?

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

DO REVOLUTIONS EVER END?

Like most revolutions, the Mexican Revolution is a story – but unlike most stories, it is one that never ends. As we sit across the border from Juarez, named for the great hero of Mexican independence, the conflict continues. Many factors contribute to the criminality of today. While celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the Revolution, we cannot ignore the conflicts today. We have a lot to consider and to learn.

It’s important for us, sitting in the safety of El Paso, Texas, deemed the Second Safest City in America and across the Rio Grande is Juarez, considered the most dangerous city in the world, with 5,500 killings since January 2008, that we reflect, learn from these tragic events, and take action as we can to change it. Revolutions are about change and like many events in life history; the end result is often not what many thought it would be. It is our responsibility to keep our hearts, and minds, and actions, directed toward change that is beneficial to all, to peace, to happiness for all. What can we Americans do to help bring safety and order to our neighbors in Mexico? What is the American role in this criminality? It is drugs and guns. And we must take steps as responsible citizens and human beings to invest our elected officials to take effective action.

 In my recent trip to El Paso to promote my book, “Dos Gringos,” I found a silence about the violence across the river. I realize there is not much an individual can do about this costly issue, but I was surprised there was not more concern expressed.  Change is difficult to manage and usually resisted. But lives are at stake here and we have to make the change quick and lasting.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

El Paso ~ where “Dos Gringos” starts and ends! And another gringo discovers his home.

I have just returned from four days of book signing and speaking in El Paso, Texas, where my newest novel, “Dos Gringos,” starts and ends in an El Paso bar. This week was the local celebration of the centenary of the Mexican Revolution and there were exhibits and events all over. I was there to talk, but I learned so much. This is my home, El Paso. But as a teen, I learned little about the history of Mexico—it was all about Texas. This visit was an experience that the publishing of this story of my father’s experience in the Revolution has become the event that brings me back home—after over fifty years.

 The interest in my book was impressive. I spoke at the El Paso Museum of History, Barnes and Noble, The El Paso Central Library, and met interesting people, recognized historians, writers, and others. The response from audiences was enthusiastic, and lots of books were sold and signed. They loved the humor of the story, but also the historical setting and environment. The growing knowledge, on my part, of the larger picture of the revolution was of unexpected value.

I was so impressed with the cordiality, the helpfulness, the sincere interest of my sponsors and presenters. In fact I find the people of El Paso amongst the nicest I have met. “They are as warm as the desert they live in,” one said. I surely agree.

The story of the two mismatched foreigners loose in the midst of the Mexican Revolution totally hit home with so many as that period of time created so many unusual and unpredictable stories. It was a great experience for me and my “Dos Gringos.”  If you have any questions about El Paso, ask me and I will send you to one with the answers.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

“Dos Gringos” heads for El Paso (Uno Gringo, anyway,)

This week I will be in El Paso, Texas, my home town, to speak and sell and sign books at a number of places as part of the centenary of the Mexican Revolution there.  Talks are scheduled for the El Paso Museum of History, Barnes & Noble, and the Central Library. I hear all this is well advertised so I expect reasonably good audiences. I will be talking about the story behind my book, “Dos Gringos,” and about my father and grandfather’s part in all of that. I look forward to this as I have myself learned from giving the talks. I realize how much is into the story that comes from within. Underneath my father’s actual story, are known historical stories and some implied intuitive behavior. I am sometimes surprised at what is there, having come out from under the blankets of the past.

I will also be meeting old friends and making new ones. Coming “back home” after 50 years is a real experience. On my first trip back there three years ago I found so much had changed and so much was the same. This will be especially so in El Paso this time, rated the 2^nd safest city in America, and across the Rio Grande is Juarez, Mexico,  the most dangerous city in North America due to the drug cartels and the murders. So discussing the revolution of a hundred years ago within the present bloody atmosphere across the border will be interesting. I will have something for this space on that when I come back for sure.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Hooray for El Paso

 This summer, El Paso, Texas was named a 2010 All-America City.  The All-America City Award, given to ten communities each year by the National Civic League, is considered the “Nobel Prize” of city awards. El Paso is my hometown and the beginning and ending settings of my historical novel, “Dos Gringos,” set during the Mexican Revolution.

You wouldn’t guess that with Juarez, Mexico, a city of 1.7 million, and one of the deadliest cities in the world, that El Paso across the Rio Grande is the 2nd safest city in the United States for cities over 500,000 in population. (Honolulu is first safest.)

The violence in Juarez has been ongoing for nearly three years, with killings averaging between 200 and 300 a month, while crime in the City of El Paso continues to decrease. The 2nd safest city ranking is based on Uniformed Crime Report data compiled by CQ express numbers from 2008. El Paso’s 2009 numbers were lower than 2008, and 2010 numbers are currently lower than 2009. El Paso is a safe city, full of life and culture.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.