Feliz Cinco de Mayo, a todos!
We're celebrating with tamales and El Mariachi. The tamales are on now, so I don't have too long to write. I want to spread the word that if you just can't get enough of that special Mexican goodness today, Denver, naturally, celebrates well into the weekend. This year, we even have a cinematic offering to the Virgin of Guadalupe, La Bamba at The Watching Hour. Apologies, apologies, but I know absolutely nothing about this movie, and since that isn't always the case with the Watching Hour, I think I'm going to keep it that way until Friday. I'm going in blind.
This 80s-borne biopic is a tribute to the life and times of one Richie Valens, early rock and roll star extraordinaire and one of the first rock music 'young death' casualties:
La Bamba is like the icing on the cake of the wild 'music movie'-ride we took here at The Movie Advocate last month. With John Carpenter's Elvis, the totally epic Music Movie Fest, and finally sharing Phantom of the Paradise with my friends after keeping it my dirty little secret for the long, cold months of winter, April was a feast for the ears as well as the eyes. La Bamba appears to be a fitting swansong.
-Ben