The Culver City Cubans Reunion with Old Havana

That has such a nice ring to it doesn't it? First our reunion with the band, later our reunion with the band in our old city. Do we dare dream of hearing them play in Havana someday? Por supuesto!

There have been some questions regarding the new venue. Manny Rodriguez was able to get Sony Picture Studios for our reunion. Manny works at Sony and made the arrangements. Mil gracias Manny! This is fabulous! Everyone that has communicated with me is really excited about the new location and the entire group has been itching to see the band since the rumors of their reunion surfaced. And per Manny, the band is just as excited to be playing for us. This is special for them because we were their original fans. Perhaps its also because they recall all the beautiful Cubanitas that used to swoon for them (I have it under good authority that the moms swooned for them too).

Cost: The cost is not firm but it is our intention to keep the cost at $25 or less. When we firm up the amount I will announce it. We will have hors d'oeuvre and there will be a cash bar.

Time: Also not firm but the band usually starts playing around 9PM. We will definitely meet earlier for group hugs.

Attire: Fox will be at the event to film and I will schedule the Culver City papers. We would love it if guys would wear their best guayabera in keeping with the Old Havana theme. As for the ladies, no one needs to tell a Cuban woman how to dress. God help them if they even try. The ladies will wear what they please and we hear that in keeping with the theme some will wear Old Havana Chic.

Very Important: There is limitted capacity. Surely it's a good number but it's more critical now than ever that everyone RSVP and give me the number in their reunion party. Please write me at cecilia@dslextreme.com or write ivetflexon@aol.com.

A word about Radio Bemba:

I asked someone today if they knew what Radio Bemba was. They thought it was loud mouth. Although I may seem like a gritona, it is not. Here is an article by Mary Murray, NBC News producer that explains it better than I can:

Staying on top of events is no easy task for the average Cuban.

Cuba’s communist government regulates the Internet as a controlled substance. At the same time, the state owns all domestic media outlets – managing 19 newspapers, 20 television stations and 87 radio outlets across the island.

But one domestic information source has slipped through the state’s fingers: the traditional word on the street. Cubans even have a name for it: they call it "Radio Bemba."

Even though most folks trust it as much, if not more, than what they read in the Communist Party’s Granma newspaper, Radio Bemba is just Cuban slang for the rumor mill, the grapevine, street-side chitchat as news.

More times than not, some nugget of news rolling along Radio Bemba’s "airwaves" turns out to be right, or at least to contain a grain of truth.

‘I-know-a-guy...’The rumor mill that makes up Radio Bemba draws some of its energy from Spanish language television originating in the United States and entering thousands of Cuban homes on illegal cable or DIRECTV dishes. The shows that are especially popular are Telemundo’s "Al Rojo Vivo" and Evening News with Pedro Sevcec. Other sources of news and information for Radio Bemba include the I-know-a-guy variety:

A few months back, my neighbor, Juan Carlos, warned me to fill up the tank of my car, "I know a guy who says there’s a breakdown at the processing plant… Gasoline is going to run out by the weekend." He was only partly wrong. The gasoline lasted through the weekend, but ran out on Monday.

Another time, a different neighbor reported that the island had lost another top musician to the Florida glitter. "My cousin in Miami told me that he saw Issac Delgado at Publics," referring to a Florida supermarket chain.

Also true, and that was at least two weeks before Delgado’s publicist officially announced that the musician had defected to Tampa with a signed album deal. Fueling Radio Bemba is the lack of entertainment news on Cuban TV where programming slants toward science shows, political talking heads and late-night movies.

So, for celebrity gossip, Radio Bemba is the only place to go. And, just like in places that do thrive on celebrity news, Radio Bemba is prone to stretching the truth – the juicier, the better.

Ask Pedrito Calvo, the former lead singer for Los Van Van, Cuba’s number one dance band. Back in the 1980s, when Calvo was a charismatic sex symbol, rumors circulated that he was infected with HIV. To set the record straight, Calvo recorded a song entitled "El Negro no Tiene Na’" (The Black Guy Doesn’t Have Anything). He even went so far as to drive around town with that phrase painted on the side of his Volkswagen beetle.

Often only really source of information
But, gossip is only part of the picture. Radio Bemba is also about uncovering news the government aims to repress.

Last summer when a deadly outbreak of dengue fever spread across the island and made thousands ill, the government treated the epidemic as a state secret. There were no newspaper articles, no TV or radio reports and no public admissions until the disaster passed.

Shortly after the crisis hit, the health ministry mobilized an army of 300,000 to fumigate door-to-door and community-based doctors to check their patients for symptoms.
As you can imagine, word spread fast on Radio Bemba. It’s pretty impossible to keep a secret with that many people involved.

On a lighter note, Alberto Santiago spends his afternoons in what’s known as "la esquina caliente" (the hot corner) in Havana’s Central Park. Radio Bemba, for Santiago and other baseball fanatics, is a "great source of news on Major League Baseball," which is ignored by the government press.

Today, Radio Bemba travels an unofficial path, but its origins lie in Fidel Castro’s rebel army broadcasts from Cuba’s eastern mountains. His transmitters reached only so far, so word of his exploits got passed along by word of mouth.

Then and now, Radio Bemba can exaggerate or change the news. But as comedian Carlos Ruiz de la Tejera points out, "It remains one of the most effective means of communication" in Cuba.

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/02/15/57534.aspx

NEW TO OUR GUEST LIST:

Aimee Dominguez
Eddy Garcia
Betty Infante
Danny Medina

STILL AT LARGE:

Robert Gonzalez, I left a message for him today.
Noemi (Mimi) Medero. Awaiting an email reply.
Many from the Capa, Leon and Campos family.
Choco, Guayaba, Fifo, Laura & Lorena and many, many more please continue to spread the word. Radio Bemba is working for us.

FAMILY BLOGS:

I would love to do stories on your family. I don't want anyone left out. Please email me the particulars and pictures.

Old Havana, here we come! We've been waiting a long time to see you!!!!

Ciao