Welcome to the last column in July... any minute now it'll be cool, and Christmas will be next week. How we humans carry on, right?
I had the infinite pleasure of getting to know Khaled Bakleh over my favorite pasta dish - fettuccine, mushrooms, truffle oil - at Il Pesce last week. It was brilliant as always; the staff and owner, Carlos Venegas, were warm and welcoming, again, as always. Khaled and I talked and laughed for hours and hours. We share some oddities; he currently lives in Washington, Dc, as did I, just at the end of the Nixon administration. He spent five years in Lebanon; I did too, sometime before he was born. Khaled's love of Vallarta has turned into a full-time job with his creation of Petit Joys. If you haven't heard of the company, just wait; you will. Khaled sponsored shows at The Palm and Coco Cabarets last season, which is where I first became aware, admiring photos of the simple but elegant packaging before shows. Our conversations took off with a mention of a name: Mj Talit Leon, for example, was his first Petit Joy. I know her, of course; I buy my beeswax from her. Georgia Dareshori's name came up - our association goes back light years, and I put my herbalist Ricardo Mazcal and Khaled together, so we shall see what magic gets cooked up with that! And that's Vallarta in a nutshell - friends sharing friends.
I spent 35 minutes at Stan Wagner's office receiving some neurofeedback, and I am going again tomorrow for another session. Over Scrabble last week, I tried to explain the benefits to Sharon Gerber Scherer. The bottom line is - neurofeedback cannot hurt you, and the benefits aren't always what you would expect; there is no magic wand to change, but change does happen, and it's all positive. And, it's half an hour of downtime dedicated to yourself, peace of mind, with an updated version of your perfect self at the end. I highly recommend a session or two for everyone.
I bouyantly left Stan, met Georgia Darehshori at her place, and the two of us walked to Xocodiva's for coffee and conversation. She had been in New York for weeks with her daughter, doctors, and a few Vallartenses appearing in clubs around that massive northern city. Owners of Xocodiva - Ron and Laura Story popped in, said hello, and were off on a mission delivering their exquisite chocolates. Kennedy Morgan came in with his dog, and we caught up on all the exciting news about upcoming entertainment at his Mystic Circle Cafe (and now bar!).
'El Día del Silencio' opened at the Pitillal Gallery called IF6WAS9 (thank you, Jimi Hendrix) last week and will run to the end of August. The 'dia' was February 22 of this year, when Vallarta was shut down by systematic cartel violence. More than 30 photographs made up the collection in this large upstairs gallery a few blocks from the main square in Pitillal. I ran into a few people I knew, including Brent Lane and his wife, Sebastian Coronel, co-owner of Coco Cabaret and choreographer of Boys on Fire, and photographer extraordinaire, Daniel Paul Smith. A large crowd enjoyed the ambitious exhibit; you can see it by appointment only until the end of August.
A new non-profit collaboration of concerned citizens, including Vallarta Botanical Garden's founder Bob Price, restaurateur Francie Nguyen, chef/bon vivant Jeff Wright, and Mikel Alvarez, founder of Thrive Spa, will work with the City of Vallarta to clean up our streets. VallartaLimpio.org will build decorative trash bins and containers in the Zona Romántica to start with, helping create a cleaner, more attractive space for our visitors. Please help in any way you can!
Coco Cabaret is opening for two days only next week for the very exciting Mexican finals of the World Karaoke contest. Monday, August 3 and Tuesday, August 4, will bring the best voices from all over the country to determine who will represent Mexico to the world in Las Vegas for the Grand Finale. Heady stuff! See you at Coco Cabaret a week from today!
Enjoy Vallarta - the rain, the heat, the green - and reach out to someone just to say, I love you, From Here.
