El Grito Festival '13

I love a full house.  Aaron and I are both from large families (I'm the oldest of four, he's the second of six) and so we rather enjoy being smooshed in close quarters with lots of people around, it's a norm for us, a cozy thing packed with nostagia.  I love the sounds of children rushing about and playing, and people lounging in the living room chatting, at the dining table recounting stories, or (as it happens in my house) hanging it the kitchen grazing around light conversation and laughter.  People and food just go together in my mind.   And since I've become a Villanueva, music has become part of that perfect equation, too.  These Villanuevas are really, truly, deeply, musical.  The improv jams they have sitting around a living room is remarkable, not to mention the extradinary variety of instruments they procure to do so.  I'm so blessed to have my boys exposed to such wonderful cultural and musical influences.

So when our brother in law in Spokane, Nic, told us he landed a gig for his Latin band, Milonga, at El Grito in Pioneer Square in our neck of the woods, and invited Aaron to play rhythm guitar with the band, it sent a flurry of excitement around the family.  They were buzzing.  They were bubbling over.  Tom and Rachel had just moved to Olympia from Cincinnati, and were eager to go to the concert, but needed a sitter for their beautiful two year daugther, and wanted to share one with us.  (The gig was from 9:30 to 11:00.)

So we invited them over for dinner and offered them the boys room to sleep in, as well.  I've always dreamed of a stocked guest room, something where guests can just plop down, kick off their shoes or whip off that bra and feel at home.   But these days, we relocate the boys to a makeshift bed on the floor of our closet in our room, and offer their room to our guests.  This summer we housed a dear writer friend of ours as she came from Eugene to the Willamette Writer's Conference, and she loved having a room of her own for three nights while here.  So it works for everyone:  we get to love on our guests, our guests get to feel at home, and the boys still have a place to sleep.  After Tom and Rachel responded with an elated "yes!" it just made sense for me to invite everyone here for dinner.  Now, bear in mind, that's nearly 20 people, including kids.  Everyone replied "great! what can I bring!" My answer, knowing this family as well as I do, is always wine.  Bring wine, folks.

Our dear friend Suzi, a woman of immense faith, stayed with us during the WW Conference in August.  I met her in my screenwriting classes last year, and it was so easy to love her.   She said she wanted to take what her daughter calls a "selfie" on her cell phone, and I'm so glad she did.  She's not only a very encouraging friend of my writing, but she's a amazingly gifted writer as well.  I hope to see her movies on the big screen one day. 

Then Mel, Aaron's other sister who lives with her hubby and baby boy in Spokane announced they would even be making the 6 hour trip down and wondered if they could crash here after the concert.  Without hesitating, we said of course!  Then we dandied up the office studio, and apologized for not having enough pillows and blankets, but the space was theres to have for the night.

The boys at their table in the playroom.  Their cousin's daddy is the band leader, Nic.  

My rule of thumb when hosting a dinner party for 15 people or more is keep it simple as can be, especially when there's kids.  And since we're scraping by right now, I needed to be real about the bottom line too.  So I cheated and just bought two gi-normous Marie Callender lasagnes, six bags of salad, more wine (because it's 20 people) and beer, and loads of tortilla chips with salsa, and not the wimpy kind, y'all, after all these are Villanuevas we're talking about.  Rachel was bringing bread, bless her.  And I did make a huge peach cobbler to smother with vanilla ice cream, so it wasn't all cutting corners out of bags and boxes.  Plus I love the smell of something sweet and cinnomony baking when guests arrive.

And it was a nice dinner, everyone loved the lasagne and the musicians got out their goodies and rehearsed a bit, and as soon as our sitter arrived and we loaded up and caravaned to Portland for the show.

What I love about Mexicans is that they know how to have a good time.   

This mariachi band was on stage when we got there and the crowd was practically slobbering with delight.  They were awesome.  I could see Aaron off stage warming up and by the look on his face these guys would be a tough act to follow.

Warming up, handsome guy!

Pride.  The music was BLARING and everyone was dancing!  It was a real fiesta!

I wish I had a camera that could have captured the raw energy here.  It was thumping and everyone at every age was there to party.

I've been blessed to grow up with my sister in laws over the last 20 years.    

It's midnight here, and are they tired?  No.  Is there music going?  Yes.

Mel is special to me, since she's the one who told her big brother to call me all those years ago.  Now she's a mommy of an adorable little tike, and he was a real trooper up so late.

Handsome music man! 

After the show, after the stage was cleared and the instruments and amps loaded, Mom and Dad went to their hotel room in Vancouver.  Nic, Rita and their little boy went home to stay with Tia Cris.  Everyone else came home with us.  And after a show you can't just go to bed.  Not in this family!  No, you go home and rummage through the left over lasagne, and grub, and reminisce.  So we all came home, slipped into our yoga pants, or sweats, and poured more wine, ate more munchies and gabbed until 3 am.  I loved that time together.  The next morning I was up at 7 making breakfast, because I told everyone it would be served at 9 am sharp, and like dinner, it was wonderful having the house full of family one more time before they all departed for their homes.

It happened by accident.

I was told two years ago when I bought my camera that it had a video feature, but I had never been able to get it to work.  I thought that since I bought it off the floor at Target (discontinued) for a killer sale price on top of a hefty markdown, that the video was just a dud.  But then at the concert, the music was so great, I was motivated to just start pushing buttons and see if perchance a video recorded.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized it had!  I have no idea how I did it, but despite the grainy, badly focused image and humming audio, it captured!  And all I could say was woh.  Aaron was having so much fun up there!  I've never seen him play like this, as it's such a departure from Bach and Villalobos, classical musician that he is, but he sounded good and looked good, too!  I loved this song, so I'm glad it recorded.  I was so excited and proud of Aaron, and grateful he had this awesome experience.  (Change the video quality to 720 when viewing it.  Big improvement in images!)