Today's Performances at the California Theatre

I thoroughly enjoyed Mariachi del Sol de Mexico. After hearing them, I was still a bit surprised to have learned they have done recordings for all three Beverly Hills Chihuahua movies as well as Rango, McFarland, Don Juan de Marco, Seabiscuit, and American Me.

They were great.

Some other tidbits I learned afterwards:

• Mariachi del Sol de Mexico has three Grammy nominated albums.
• The leader, Jose Hernandez, has worked with Selena, Vicente Fernandez, and Linda Ronstadt.
• Lady Gaga surprisingly performed with them at a club.

Here's a clip of them performing at Disney's 2nd Annual Mariachi Festival.

Don't forget your gritos (yells) while watching it!

This performance reminded me of a PBS special called "Mariachi High," which followed a Texas high school's premier mariachi ensemble's preparation for the world-renown San Antonio Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza. It is remarkable what young people can do when they are committed to something. Catch it on PBS when you can: http://www.pbs.org/arts/exhibit/mariachi-high/; it'll be worth your time.

Symphony Silicon Valley did a good job connecting the young crowd to classical music and other musical terminology. Here's a video from their annual Summer Pops presentation in Plaza de Cesar Chavez.