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“It’s all about the kids.” When Gil Sperry says the 2nd Annual Rosarito Beach International Mariachi and Folklorico festival this September 28 will benefit the Rosarito chapter of the Boys and Girls Club, he means from the ground up -- literally. In 2009, Sperry was asked to attend the club’s groundbreaking ceremony.
They asked the author and retired Chula Vista elementary school teacher if he’d be able to help them raise money to build a new clubhouse. He agreed. “Last year, we had an espectacular concert. Mariachi Divas (the Grammy award winners are the subject of Sperry’s third book on Mariachi) were the headliners.”
Where does the club stand today? “The ground has been broken,” he says. “It’s been compacted, and with the money that we earn from this year’s event, based on our projections, we’ll have enough money to actually start the physical construction.”
Gil Sperry is essentially an idea man. In the past the Stanford-educated historian has owned a lighting company, and he served as the executive producer of a sport fishing show he created for the Fox network. He wrote an award-winning book, Soccer’s Story and a Futbol Fable.
“My son Matthew played with Tom Waits, Gloria Estefan, David Byrne. He was classically trained, and a pop and electric bassist as well. He came back from Jalisco back in 2003 with two CDs he’d recorded, and he had me fly up to his home in Oakland to hear them.” The music was Mariachi and as it turns out, that day was the beginning of a new adventure for Gil Sperry.
“Before the evening was over, he made me promise that I would write a book.” He agreed. Mariachi for Gringos (Mariachi for Gringos Dos is now in print as well) was born on that night. “I’ve been a musician my entire life and we’d been living in Mexico since 1998 so my Spanish was probably good enough.”
Three weeks later, Sperry’s son was killed in a bicycling accident.
“At the funeral, Tom Waits came up to me, said he’d heard from Matthew I was writing a book on Mariachi and asked me if I’d started it yet.” There was no great urgency, Sperry says, until that point in time. “That was how this whole thing started.”
Sperry and his family live in medio camino, a Baja community 40 miles south of the Tijuana border. “There’s many opportunities to do good down here. These kids are at risk, and they have so little.” He says he likes to open their eyes to their own culture.
“Mariachi’s not taught in schools here, whereas in the United States, it’s a big deal. I have kids coming from the Sweetwater Union School District to the festival, we have Tucson schools coming, busloads coming from Nogales and Sonora. Folklorico, the dance is very big in the Baja schools but Mariachi? They don’t pay any attention to it. I’m kind of a ground breaker in that area.”
“It’s all about the kids.” When Gil Sperry says the 2nd Annual Rosarito Beach International Mariachi and Folklorico festival this September 28 will benefit the Rosarito chapter of the Boys and Girls Club, he means from the ground up -- literally. In 2009, Sperry was asked to attend the club’s groundbreaking ceremony.
They asked the author and retired Chula Vista elementary school teacher if he’d be able to help them raise money to build a new clubhouse. He agreed. “Last year, we had an espectacular concert. Mariachi Divas (the Grammy award winners are the subject of Sperry’s third book on Mariachi) were the headliners.”
Where does the club stand today? “The ground has been broken,” he says. “It’s been compacted, and with the money that we earn from this year’s event, based on our projections, we’ll have enough money to actually start the physical construction.”
Gil Sperry is essentially an idea man. In the past the Stanford-educated historian has owned a lighting company, and he served as the executive producer of a sport fishing show he created for the Fox network. He wrote an award-winning book, Soccer’s Story and a Futbol Fable.
“My son Matthew played with Tom Waits, Gloria Estefan, David Byrne. He was classically trained, and a pop and electric bassist as well. He came back from Jalisco back in 2003 with two CDs he’d recorded, and he had me fly up to his home in Oakland to hear them.” The music was Mariachi and as it turns out, that day was the beginning of a new adventure for Gil Sperry.
“Before the evening was over, he made me promise that I would write a book.” He agreed. Mariachi for Gringos (Mariachi for Gringos Dos is now in print as well) was born on that night. “I’ve been a musician my entire life and we’d been living in Mexico since 1998 so my Spanish was probably good enough.”
Three weeks later, Sperry’s son was killed in a bicycling accident.
“At the funeral, Tom Waits came up to me, said he’d heard from Matthew I was writing a book on Mariachi and asked me if I’d started it yet.” There was no great urgency, Sperry says, until that point in time. “That was how this whole thing started.”
Sperry and his family live in medio camino, a Baja community 40 miles south of the Tijuana border. “There’s many opportunities to do good down here. These kids are at risk, and they have so little.” He says he likes to open their eyes to their own culture.
“Mariachi’s not taught in schools here, whereas in the United States, it’s a big deal. I have kids coming from the Sweetwater Union School District to the festival, we have Tucson schools coming, busloads coming from Nogales and Sonora. Folklorico, the dance is very big in the Baja schools but Mariachi? They don’t pay any attention to it. I’m kind of a ground breaker in that area.”