“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi

I think many people might be wondering how it was that I got to do these interviews, or how I was able to successfully conduct them. I was very, very lucky to have been granted access, but factors that helped me were that I was legitimately conducting a research interview, I had legitimate questions (which sometimes I was denied one or two questions; due to the artist and managements decision), and lastly I did have legal documents that proved that I wasn't coming by to just meet these performers.

At the end of the day I wasn't walking into welcoming spaces with candies and butterflies and unicorns.

Not everything went smooth all the time either, I sometimes had issues with management, record companies, the artists/groups. Schedule changes, artists/groups running late, set-ups we had organized and set-up weeks before broken at the last minute.

All of these things had a lot to do with catering to their availability and time. Sometimes I would schedule something at a specific time and get a message or phone call that they wanted to move it up or move it down. At times I found this incredibly frustrating but I was flexible, or I would lose my one opportunity.

For many months I sacrificed weekends to travel back and forth, or get to every entertainer who was coming through. Sometimes it was easy, other times I would have to wait a long time to get the interviews done.

But, I managed....I think I had so much to prove that I zombie'd my way through a year and a half of missed sleep, missed time with my babies, time away from my family. I was exhausted, but my desire to prove that I could do this, was my sole motivation.

Again, my stubborn ass ways wouldn't let me stop. There was one night I hurt my leg so badly, I still kept on. I had a huge ball/lump that formed. It lasted several months to completely go away. This became my reminder of the interview with Gerardo Mercado.....I remember I felt like I had fire in my leg......I tried to touch that area but it hurt so much I had tears in my eyes. I told myself it will go away, just get good footage and then it will be worth this pain you have.

Another thing that still hurts is my shoulder and neck. I was interviewer, camera person, etc. So carrying and lugging around a huge camera bag with me, eventually created some problems for me. To this day, I have pain, though I continue to ice and apply natural remedies to see if I can make most of the pain and pressure go away.

So I suppose while I am proud of myself, and happy I was able to get this far, I am only missing two interviews, Mr. Gerardo Ortiz and El Komander. I've been fortunate enough to interview the older groups who set the stage for the current entertainers.

I have made this my last goal for this research. Without Ortiz, I fear my work will lack the full circle. I have used his personality and his music to create my whole research, so of course I would feel devastated to not have him in it.

But, I have also come to the dreadful conclusion that this might never happen, and so I am thinking of how to manage that with the amount of information I have compiled about Mr. Ortiz and how I had wanted to format my documentary.

But.....I am still gonna try......cause like my papacito Raul tells me and has so articulately placed me in this category of women; "crazies and chingonas." Ay voy Gerry...

Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy. ~ Aristotle

There are very few men in this genre that can take your breath away......the only good looking man I have interviewed has been Martin Castillo from Gerencia360. I like to say I have this love/hate relationship for him. The first time we sat down together he made me so mad I wanted to kick him in the throat and throw him out of my moving car.....true facts.

But, the second time we sat down I was so impressed by his views, and we had a lovely dialogue about the history of corridos, narco culture, and his commitment to maintain old style with the ever evolving narco corrido genre that it made up for my first impression of our first meeting.

He has dabbled in different styles; romantic songs, even singing rancheras. But his style is narco corridos. And truth be told this is a style that truly suits him. He has presence, he is a great performer and he works his personality ever so clever.

Seeing his performance was different from others, because he is one of very few good looking performers he has more women coming up stage. However, his fan base is long term males who appreciate that he sticks to narco corridos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0XLQmpjfNA

I have appreciated Castillo's contributions to the narco corrido genre, and wonder why he hasn't amassed to Gerardo Ortiz status. He definitely deserves the mainstream status that some of the performers have who aren't well suited for this genre.

I think overall the night I spent observing Castillo is one for the books, I have not had a similar experience and perhaps I won't. The generosity of allowing me to see so much more than just the concert and a quick sit down interview shaped the way I presented the research to those who followed his participation in my research.

The evolving genre seems to evolve within the narco cultura also shifting to a glittery world of Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci.....I wonder if these designers know how much money they are making off the narcos...and the singers and those followers who just love these brands. I personally dislike the elf shoes they wear, the over the top name brands, the man purses. It is just TOO MUCH!!!! I want the tight wranglers, boots and nice button down shirts with the cowboy hats.

However, Castillo continues to stick to his forte and that is refreshing in this genre. The only critique I have and I shared with him; is that I wished he would do social injustice corridos.

Something I think he should dabble in.

La vida es aquello que te va sucediendo mientras te empeñas en hacer otros planes. - John Lennon

I will admit I am a stubborn ass......I am SO annoying. I hate to hear NO, I will go above and beyond to get things done.

My mother Rosita....constantly lectures me about being a stubborn ass, "Siempre tienes que hacerlo, te empeñas y no paras hasta que lo tienes." True facts....I guess it's the determination that motivates me to push the limits of what I want.

Which is a reason why I didn't stop when I was getting nowhere, sure I cried in frustration and spent time hitting a punching bag, but mostly it is that I firmly believe that anything is possible, you just have to work hard for it.......and call and annoy people until they relentlessly say "Fine."

It's both something that makes me happy about me and irritates me.

So....these artists kept coming through steadily, and I was busy getting every interview I could.

 I drove to Phoenix to interview Noel Torres, I was excited because I felt he was one of the more mainstream, popular ones I could get.

I left Tucson with a good friend, we got to the venue, and waited. We waited for a while and then white vans arrived (Thank goodness for those white vans...) I asked someone from the band if I could do the interview and they said yes.

But, to be on the safe side I found a more official person and he helped me. He was so professional, and nice. I enjoyed the way he represented his artists, and the record company. I found out this company was Gerencia360. http://www.gerenciamusic360.com/

I was unable to take footage of Torres's concert. Unfortunately, I had issues with some young women who decided they wanted to be in the way of my attempts to take footage of him. I was angry that they kept posing for the camera, like "girl no.....seriously.....I've seen better ass and boobs." Of course I had no time to sit there and compete with immature girls who obviously felt threatened by little ol' me and my friend and my camera. I got tired of having to move around these women who kept finding themselves in my view. I am not the type to deal with that BS...so I walked up to the Gerencia guy and said, I can't deal with those girls over there, showed him how shitty it was because they were all up in there, and we agreed to set up the sit down interview with Torres in Tucson after his concert the next day.

To this day I still thoroughly enjoyed this interview, we had a very long conversation about many topics, he spoke about social injustices, and many, many more things. I also had a nice male audience that came with him. I talked to them about my penis theory. What is this penis theory you ask??? Well its not much of a theory....it is more of a disadvantage women have. I explained that normally the way men choose the women they take home is through explicitly saying they will take the one with the "big tits" or "the big ass" which of course is gross objectification and sexualization of women. Whilst women don't know what they take home, its always a surprise. So I proposed to my women friends, that women also find out what they will take home and base their decision then and there. Why can't we choose the same way I exclaimed! We should see what is in the pants and also objectify these men.

It would only be fair, Mr. Torres disagreed of course and we debated for some time, his strongest argument was "women wear fajas, push up bras, and sometimes padded panties." My reply to this was "not my fault you don't check before you go." Which was my point.....

After that interaction i was able to connect with someone from Gerencia360 and he helped me immensely by helping me set up future interviews. I am very grateful and happy for his friendship and his help. Gracias Mr. G.