Not What I'd Call Family Entertainment....

Several weeks ago, as we turned from the River Road onto the dirt road by the ball field, we saw something new....  a tent had been erected at the edge of the ball field.  As we were walking towards it we were wondering if some religion might be having a revival...  or possibly a circus was coming to town.

I took these photos on that day...  February 26....  more than 3 weeks ago.  The area was still neat and clean then...  

It wasn't but a day or so later that the show was up and running.  Every afternoon a car (that white one with the speakers mounted on top) drives through the town announcing the evening's performance.  Yes, it's in Spanish, but even if it were English, a person is hard pressed to understand what's being said.  Any of you who've lived in a Mexican town know what I'm talking about...  blaring over the speakers the recording is so loud it comes out garbled and run together.  

We live  a good 2 blocks from the ball field, but we've heard the announcer at the show every night from about 8:30 until...  well, I don't know how late.... it's still going strong when we go to sleep.  Yes, it's really THAT loud.... I think everyone in Lo de Marcos's 7 blocks can hear it!

We'd pretty much decided we wouldn't go to this "event"...  and had even heard that their permit (for the ball field) is up on Sunday, so we figured it would soon be gone.  Then...  Memo, our "city tour guide" send all us walkers that he'd be going to the 8:00 performance Friday night (last night) and anyone who'd like to join him could meet him at the "big top" entrance.

Okay...  I wanted to go.  Hey... I'm curious...  and I didn't want to miss out on anything.  Bill was more reluctant....  he was so pissed over the noise they make that he wasn't interested in paying them money.  But...  yeah, Bill likes me and so....

Here's our group....  That's Cross and Stephanie (Stephanie is Memo's daughter, Cross is her fiance), Memo, Bill and Nancy (one of the "walkers").  I took this early in the evening and the place hadn't filled up yet.  Oh yeah...  about that...  we all thought the performance started at 8 pm...  not exactly....  the ticket booth opened at 8:00 (20 pesos per person...  about $1.20 US)....  and people wandered in for the next 45 minutes or so.  Finally, sometime before 9 PM the curtains opened.

I forgot...  first there were "behind the curtains" rustlings...  lights flashing...  then strobe lights down one side of the stage....  and, did I mention the announcer?  Everything we were about to see was "SPECTACULAR"  (before the evening was over, I'll bet we heard that word several hundred times)

The first act came on stage....

I'll tell you right now that I didn't do well with photos...  the lighting and my camera settings just didn't work....  But....  the guy on the left was announcing something and the "person" on the floor came running out of the audience onto the stage.  Truth is, I don't remember exactly what was going on...  I was still in shock over the "woman" with the huge boobs crashing the show.  "She" proceeded to run into the audience and plopped "herself" down on some guys lap and started making out.  

That was our introduction to the show...

These 2 women came on stage (2 different performances) and danced to some recorded music.  Neither were particularly talented - but they weren't really obnoxious, either.

Then came the first "skit"...

I think the plot went like this....  This lovely lady is married to the slob....  

But she's having an affair with this suave looking guy...

At one point they go behind the stage curtains, and we're all treated to the curtains moving in a very suggestive way...  then the lady comes out adjusting her clothes as her husband comes home.

He's suspicious....  the lover tries to sneak out but gets caught....  the woman passes him off as being her husband's shadow.  There's a lot of silly stuff here, but also, a lot of it is sexually suggestive.

The audience is cracking up!  Now...  the audience is full of families...  kids of all ages.

This huge pair of lady's underpants appeared from the husband's shirt...  and much discussion ensued.  The "husband" kept sniffing the crotch...  and kept talking to the audience about that.  (maybe my Spanish needs improved...  maybe not)....

Eventually the lover escaped and that skit was over.

The next skit was beyond my comprehension...

This is the way it started...  that's the "comic" on the left....  at far right the little guy (must be about 4 years old) was painted up with a mustache and beard...  another kid (about 12) came on later....  they all pretended to play instruments.  Now...  I will say, the guy in the red pants could dance!  All parts of him were moving...  most at the same time!

However....

Whatever this skit was about degenerated into a lot of crotch grabbing, tits shown (okay, male tits), and a lot of leering and grinning.  Even that little kid was using his guitar in an obscene manner.

Nobody really played any real music...  but they danced, gyrated and otherwise had a good time on stage.

The audience was laughing like crazy...  I think I just sat there with my mouth hanging open...  especially with all the sexual innuendo... and blatant obscenities....  (maybe I'm a prude?).....   but mostly I couldn't believe this was considered family entertainment.

We left at the intermission.

Stephanie and Cross stayed for the whole thing.  We heard today that the 2nd half of the show had a hypnotism act.  They asked for audience volunteers and several young boys came up on stage and were then hypnotized.  However, after the show, Stephanie saw those kids outside the tent...  seems they were given free admission and free snacks to "participate" in the show.

Oh well...  whatever it takes, I guess.

I took this photo at intermission...  practically a full house!  (Some folks had already headed out for some snacks).

The Tents have been up for 3 weeks or so...

This is what it looks like now...  kinda trashed, huh?

I did ask Stephanie today what she thought of it all...  She said.... "Obnoxious".....

But she then added that Cross thought it was hilarious.  He's local and Mexican.

Maybe it's a cultural thing....

That's All For Today!