MARIACHI

The older you get the more things you have seen. Some of the things start to run together, and you start to question some of those things. This morning was one of those times when I started thinking back to something I saw. Did I see it or did I dream I saw and heard it? Before I tell you what it was let me tell you how I saw what I thought I saw.

When I was stationed at Karamursel, Turkey the Turkish company that booked the entertainment for the Hilton Hotel in Istanbul, would bring the entertainment to our base. Most of the entertainers were good, but occasionally they were spectacular.

One evening a friend of mine ask if I was going to the Airman's Club for the International Floor Show? He told me it was a Mariachi band. You can guess my reaction to that. He was talking to one of the Turks that worked at the Club, and he was told this group did not want to perform for a bunch of GI's because I guess they were thinking most of the American GI's would have the same reaction to them as me to my friend. Having nothing else to do and knowing they did not want to perform was an added incentive to go. 

When I walked into the club the first thing I saw was this beautiful harp with all kinds if pearl inlays in the wood frame. And yes those oversize guitars scattered around on the stage. I had determined I was going to leave the club when the booing started.

The Turkish guy who books all the shows came on stage, and explained to us the difficulty he had trying to get this group to perform for us. Then he ask the group to come on stage. The harp player was in the center, and if I can remember the stage was only a foot off the floor, so this (at the time appeared to be a small young guy), and the harp player placed the base of the harp off stage on the floor and leaned his body into the harp and took the stance to play. AND DID THEY PLAY - The GI's went crazy with applause and whistles. This group was the most fantastic thing I saw all the time attending those floor shows at the Airman's club. The Mariachi band looked like they were in shock at the reception they were receiving from a bunch of GI's.

I never saw them again, but occasionally I would think of that night back in the 1960's when I witnessed a Mariachi happening. This morning I was thinking about that time and like in the comic strips a light-bulb lit up over my head saying YouTube. I don't know if this is the guy grown up, but it will give you a taste of what we saw so many years ago at the Airman's Club Karamursel Air Station, Turkey.