30 years ago, I took a trip to Mexico. Right off the bat, I went to a music store and bought some random cassettes to listen to Mexican music while I drove. One cassette completely blew me away. Turned out to be a dude named Vincente Fernandez. When I got back to NYC, I bought more of his music and I was hooked. In 1995, he did a show at Radio City Music Hall. I scored 4th row seats and it was one of the craziest shows I’ve ever seen. He continuously drank from wine skins handed to him from people in the audience. Women handed him bouquets of flowers. He was backed by an enormous mariachi orchestra. Everyone was dressed to the nines with huge sombreros on that gave Liberace a run for his money. Vincente even wore six shooters with gun belt holsters. His booming voice shook the building. A true legend. Sadly, he passed last week but I’m happy to have his music in my life.
