Nov 8, 2012

Playing Cultural Catch Up...

I've been trying to reconnect to my Latin heritage a bit. Inspired by the continued increase of Latin / Hispanic participation during the last two Presidential cycles and the proliferation of Hispanic Oriented media, I've been delving into the culture via television programming.

Now mind you, I'm not the best representative of my culture. Beyond 'una cerveza más fría por favor', I don't speak Spanish. But - I'm a pretty damn good cook, have a predisposition to wearing khaki pants and gleaming white sneakers in the Summer and, will start dancing in the Dairy section of the grocery store if Tupac comes on my Shuffle when I'm shopping.

Buoyed by that evidence of my Hispanic background, I've spent the last few weeks watching a lot of Spanish Language TV. Again - I have no idea what people are saying. So the insights I've gleaned into the culture over the last few days are based solely on my own intuitive sense of human nature.

Last night I watched the Premiere Radio Awards Show. Or something like that. I saw the words 'Premios De La Radio' and my keen linguistic ability kind of filled in the blanks. Let me first say that you can't really limit what I watched by simply calling it an 'awards show'. It was and is, so much more.

In a word, what I witnessed over 2+ hours (Oh, believe me once you start watching it's physically impossible to turn away), well I'm not exactly sure what it was. As much game show as musical theater with a heavy dollop of vaudeville. Oh, and a spicy side of soft porn. Seriously. Oh yeah, because what says 'Awards Show' more than a buff couple in skin-tight underwear grinding on stage? Nothing, that's what.

Here's a few screen shots of the show I took on my iphone and some observations.


Yes, that is a guy dressed up as a real life Wolfman. He was engaged in a heated conversation with the host. I'm not sure about what, but there's a very good chance he was arguing against the fact the network has Gillette as a key sponsor. The guy in the dark suit and white tie simply stood there staring at the chick co-host.


Okay, this made me feel particularly disconnected from the fashion of Hispanic culture. I'm sorry the pic doesn't do this full justice, but can you see the Cowboy boots? Imagine an Aladdin type, toe-curled boot. With the curled portion fully extended. BOOM. He's singing a ballad here, but the song before, he not only sang but played an accordion.


Again, words fail where poor visuals can't clarify. But, can you see that his left pant leg is shiny? Pleather. Half of his suit was pleather. You can see the diverse inclusion of instruments in his band, including a - well, not really sure but some kind of half-tuba.


Oh, and every musical act included a minimum of 6 back up dancers wearing very little.

Before we continue, let me just say or perhaps warn that, I would not suggest you watch this show in any kind 'altered state'. It's already too bizarre. If one were to not have full command of their senses while viewing, it's entirely possible you could simply disappear into the show itself and wake up somewhere backstage wearing a rubber suit and holding two live chickens about to go onstage and perform your version of Hello, Dolly!. Onward.


Hopefully, a few of you doubted my claim to the inclusion of 'soft porn' at the beginning of this post. This wasn't quite the finale, but pretty close. Please note, the couple was not - how shall I put this, um, 'fully vertical' at all times during their performance.

Also, you can't see (but please believe me) that the male dancer had a very large, Butterfly tattoo on his lower back. At this point of the dance, he was getting her in position for an overhead-lift. Unfortunately, despite the fact he had wings permanently etched onto his lower lumbar, he couldn't get her airborne. They settled for an awkward and clearly, crowd disappointing, 'back hug'.

Well, that wraps up Premios De La Radio. Tonight I'm watching something called Mi Sueno Es Bailar - which I've seen twice before. I think its a kind of American Idol show. Last week they had a woman in a gold, skin tight body suit dancing. With a puppet.

Happy viewing and, hasta la vista.