The last stop on Music Friday’s move to Guadalajara, Mexico is the resort city of Mazatlán, on the Sea of Cortez. In summer it is full of Mexican tourists fleeing the heat in surrounding cities, or just taking a beach vacation. As with most Latin cities, Mazatlán has a Malecon, a broad paved walkway along the beach, separating it from the adjacent street. Malecons are a major scene of nightlife in the Latin world with bands, families, bars strolling lovers, skateboarders, vendors, and random balloons. In Mazatlán, the blocks across the street from the Malecon are lined with bars and restaurants, each with its own band – although sometimes the bands switch locations and members.
The street itself is a scene, with cruising convertibles, dune buggies full of teens on bathing suits blasting hip hop and mariachi, police cars with flashing lights ignoring traffic violations, double-decker party busses, and bicycle vendors. At one point a convoy of Federal police armored cars with mounted machine guns cruised through, the soldiers waving at the strolling crowds.
We could not resist dinner and drinks at a restaurant on the Malecon, followed by music. The bands ranged from solo singers to a local rock band playing original indie songs mixed with Doors covers to a salsa band made up of men in their 50s and 60s and an array of young female singers doing high energy (these guys rocked!) traditional tunes, to solo guitarists. All of them were pretty damn good, especially for street bands.
It made me think of my last live performance in LA, Grammy nominee Alih Jey with Sin Color as the opening act. I am looking forward to continuing to bring you the best of LA and México
