Sure, Natalia has had it rough. A certifiable worldwide hit with Muñeca Brava, a stud actor boyfriend followed by a superstar musician boyfriend, a rising singing career; she’s the kind of girl many mere mortals would love to hate. But… she’s just impossible to dislike!

Wicoy: como una calabaza pequeña, tal vez 15 cm de diametro, verde y blanco y es mucho mas fino que la calabaza. Para comer es parecido a un zucchetthi/zucchini. Bastante rico. (Thank you to Guatesol for info!) Rafael relates facts and myths of the natural environment in his native land.

Armando David Ortigosa decided that something needed to be done to motivate the young people of Mexico to participate in its presidential election. He looked north for inspiration, where the “Rock the Vote” campaign used pop stars to try and get young voters to the polls. The Mexican equivalent became known as Tu Rock Es Votar.

Belanova is appreciative and proud that so many of Latin America’s and Mexico’s biggest stars, such Joselo and Coti saw fit to take the time to join them on their tour. The band is humble, but not without ambition; they have set their sites beyond the habla hispana, seeing potential fans in Australia, Italy and even Japan.

Imagine the shock to Natalia’s parents when they first saw another couple on the TV claiming that she was their child. Unfortunately, such a thing was not, in fact, entirely impossible. A blood test, however, proved the sad couple wrong. Natalia’s starring role in Ricos Y Famosos would soon bring Natalia, and her actual mom and dad, back to the top of the world.

Nelly Ocacia and Benjamín Moldonado are both 19-year-old university students, and enjoy dancing with the Ballet Folklórico Guamanique when not studying. We caught up with them at the airport in San Juan, where they were welcoming new arrivals and seeing off departing passengers, much to the delight of travelers.

“Rock en español” is what we refer to the relatively new movement of musicians from Spanish speaking countries singing in their native language. Back in the sixties and seventies, these musicians were taken up with rock like much of the rest of the world, but they sang in English. Puerto Rican Carli Muñoz explains while looking back over his career.

As it turns out the young Arturo Vega, Mexican emigré actor and artist in New York, lived below a girl who was seeing a young man named Douglas Glenn Colvin (who would come to be known as “Dee Dee Ramone”). The two visionaries got to talking…

To hear La Gusana Ciega play live we trekked to a club called Babel located in a giant mall / theme park called Mundo E, located just north of Mexico City. Come backstage with us for an exclusive interview you’ll find only here!

Edgar Huerta, keyboardist of Belanova, refers to Joselo of Cafe Tacuba as un cuate. The word comes from the indigenous Nahuatl word coatl, which means “twin.” But Joselo is not Edgar’s gemelo, cuate is known by all Mexicans to refer to a “good buddy,” a “dear friend.”

A little research tells us that the musical comedy Arturo did with Héctor Suárez at the Teatro de los Insurgentes was Sigue tu onda (Follow Your Wave), a Spanish language adaptation of a Broadway show known to American theater-goers as Your Own Thing. Soon Arturo himself would be heading to New York on a tip from Paul McCartney’s agent that he could land a spot in Hair...

Fuengirola, is an extremely popular seaside destination on the Costa Del Sol, in the province of Málaga. Not only are there five miles of sandy beaches, bars and hotels, but also you can find the remains of a genuine Roman Villa and a medieval Moorish fortress. Arume dropped in before summer itself became history.

When a strange man insists he is Natalia’s true father, she is oddly sympathetic, “we all know about el proceso.” But do we? The “process” is shorthand for the era of military dictatorships that engulfed the Southern Cone in the mid 70’s. During this era, untold numbers of infants of suspected “subversives” were kidnapped, often taken by police or military members to raise as their own.

Arriving in December of ‘71, a young Arturo Vega decides that it is New York where he is going to clavar, or stay put. His journey began in Mexico, where he began his artistic life as an actor and participant in experimental theater or “happenings”—an art form which was not well received by the powers that be in that country.

Why is it that some musicians have such synergy together? Belanova describes the fusión that is created when each distinct musical personality comes together, and how this unique “fusion” has brought them from after-class practice to stadium-filled tours.