apicalternativa-la decana

R.I.P. Rey “Conga” Diaz – Percussionist Extraordinaire ByMichael Mut|December 30, 2024 I’ve had the pleasure and honor of playing and collaborating with many greats during my more than 25 years in professional music. By far one of the most talented, eccentric, and genuinely original characters was the late, great Rey “Conga” Diaz. He had been in poor health the past couple of years, and sadly passed away on Sunday, December 29, his birthday, with his mother and sister at his side. Though we weren’t as close as we once were, we had known each other for the better part of 31 years. Diaz and I were not only friends, but musical brothers, and drinking, smoking, and canoeing buddies. For years he organized an annual camping and canoeing trip to Peace River in Arcadia, FL, which once ballooned to more than 100 paddlers. The proprietors of the Canoe Outpost came to know us as the “Conga Rey” group. We had many great, noisy, boisterous, surreal, and musical times together, and one year the ...

Cuento de los iguales que cuento en navidad ¿El niño o los reyes magos? ¿Quién “te pone” a ti? Eligio Damas La navidad en mi barrio, donde la pobreza absoluta no hizo asiento y reino porque el mar generoso y el manglar le mantuvieron a raya, casi le derrotan, sobre todo para los muchachos, no enterados de aquel singular y como simulado combate, llegaba con enorme carga de felicidad, sueños y alegría; con ella, también la disposición para muy buenas cosas aumentaba sensiblemente. El desconocimiento de aquella singular realidad, el combate por la vida y contra la pobreza, por parte de los encargados de los mandos quedó de manifiesto, cuando su “progreso” de movimientos de tierras, vaciado de concreto y contratos de obras públicas, actitud irracional de cambiar el paisaje sin estudios u observaciones previas, destruyó el manglar, fauna marina y engendró pobreza. Porque es cosa extraña, el “progreso” pareciera destinado a multiplicar la pobr...