Hear No Evil

I just finished reading Hear No Evil by James Grippando. I hadn't read any of his other books, and this one was pretty good. It was about the murder of an American Officer at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, whose wife is accused of murdering her husband. The Miami attorney defending her is Jack Swyteck, who is half Cuban himself, so not only is there the murder plot going on, but also some mystery and intrigue about his own background, his mother, and his son. James Grippando keeps giving us clues as to who the murderer is - at one point I thought it was the wife, then I thought it was a fellow officer, and then maybe some political group. It has some interesting turns and twists, and although the plot is complex, it is not laborious to get through, and kept me guessing until fairly close to the end. It also has some parts of the story in Miami, and some in Cuba. This got me thinking about other Cuban stuff I have encountered since coming to the USA, and all of it has been pretty cool.

The first thing I found was Andre's restaurant in San Diego, where you could get great Arroz con Pollo, and with a coupon from the Reader on Two for One night, it was really a bargain. The next thing was the music. A friend lent me a copy of the Buena Vista Social Club which is one of the most fun CD's I've ever heard. The CD sounds as though the people singing and playing music are just having a great time, regardless of whatever circumstances they find themselves in. The music sounds as though it has laughter in it, and you feel really uplifted at the end of the CD.

Our friends who lent us this CD decided we should all go and see Omara Portuondo, one of the singers on the Buena Vista Social Club CD, and booked tickets for us at the El Cajon Center for Performing Arts, where she was performing. Now we didn't really have any idea what this was going to be like, but I think the main problem for us was that the whole show was conducted in Spanish and, unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish. The other thing I hadn't realized was that Omara was sixty-something years old, and although she did a great job, and sounded wonderful, there were a few hairy moments, where I think she kind of fell over on stage and one of the backing group had to catch her. All that to one side it was still a great evening, and the conclusion I came to was that Cuban people loved to sing and dance and laugh. Someone told me there is a Buena Vista Social Club DVD, and they said that this is even more fun than the CD.

A more recent thing I did while I was staying in Las Vegas was go to the Havana Night Show at the Stardust Hotel. Now there is definitely no-one falling over on stage here! This is an fantastic show which tells the story of the history of Cuban music. The dancers are extremely talented and beautiful, and the performance is full of bright colors, incredible dancing, and vibrant, sexy music. Check it out at www.las-vegas.travelnice.com.

At the beginning they show a film of the Cuban dancers' struggle to bring their show to the United States, and it is very sad that due to the political situation they have had to leave their families and friends behind in order to pursue their dreams. At this point there is no possibility of them being able to return to Cuba, but hopefully that situation will eventually change for them. I would recommend it as a show not to be missed.