Grant Cogswell is a co-author of the Seattle Monorial Initiative and the subject of the upcoming film "Grassroots," starring Cedric the Entertainer, amongst others.Chavela Vargas is something of a legend in Mexico City where I live. She’s still making records at 91. Muse to both the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (and reputedly also her lover), her endurance, depth of passion, outsized personality, and gorgeously fierce voice make here one-of-a-kind. She was born in Costa Rica, but has lived here in D.F. (Distrito Federal) most of her life, and was the first to give art-world legitimacy to ranchera music – Mexican country. If you take a bus through anywhere in rural Mexico, chances are a three-piece combo will step on and stun you with these songs of hard luck and hard love. Here is one of my favorites, recorded ten years ago in Spain when Vargas was only 81. You don’t have to speak Spanish to understand every word of this song. (And those are her real teeth!) This is an alltime classic for people who like to drink and watch Youtube: you know who you are.
