Friday, August 28, 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Lupita Lopez

Though she comes from Yucatan, Lupita Lopez has become a female phenomenon of national recognition thin her native Mexico. It is a good time to be a lady bullfighter as this is an era
 where such are being taken seriously, rather than as seen in decades past, be seen as a novelty.

Now a full matadora de toros, she has formed somewhat of a competition with fellow female performer, Hilda Tenorio . The two have appeared in numerous all female cartels in Mexico alongside other lady toreras.

Lopez has proven herself as capable as many male counterparts with capote, muleta and sword.  She continues to do so both along the border and in the major plazas within the interior.  She has also earned the respect of the aficion in Plaza Mexico.

Lopez has not escaped the bullring unscarred, for she has taken as of now, three serious gorings.

In spite of these injuries, she ahs returned to the bulls as sound of bravery and capability as ever.

It will be interesting to watch as her career continues to expand and improve.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The Banda Taurina Sonorense

Sadly, they never cut a record, but for over two decades the Banda Taurina Sonorense, consisting of the same pack of 4-12 local musicians provided music in Nogales on the border.  From the late 1960s into the 1980s, they continually played at the Plaza Monumental and the short-lived Guadalupe in this city.

Among their arsenal of pasodobles were La Virgin De la Macarena, Cielo Andaluz, El Beso, Silverio, Fermin, Novillero, Gato Montez, En El Mundo, El Dos Negro, Cuerdas, Morena De Mi Coplas, Manton De Manila, Espana Cani and  Calesero.

 

Capetillo: The Ageless Veteran

Guillermo Capetillo  continues to go strong in all of his chosen professions, be it music, film or the bullring. He is truly an ageless wonder.

The son, brother and stepbrother of bullfighters, he comes from a long line of tradition in the plaza de toros.

After a brief career as a novillero, Capetillo took the alternativa in San Luis Potosí at the hands of Manolo Martinez and Manzanares in 1977. It was confirmed in Plaza Mexico shortly afterward with Rafaelillo and Belmont.

In Plaza Mexico, Capetillo  did have one truly magnificent performance some years back that is still seen on copies on vhs and dv among the aficion, as well as Yu Tube, in which he silenced his critics by cutting ears and tail.

Some of Capetillo's finest corridas in Mexico historically came in the border town of Nogales, alternating with Chilolin, Carlos Gonzalez and others. One spectacular corrida saw him winning ears and tail alongside Chilolin, with both men leaving on shoulders in one of that plaza's finest moments.

Another tremendous border corrida saw Capetillo cutting a pair of ears in the placita of Agua Prieta, before a violent thunderstorm suspended the rest of the corrida.

Other plazas where this matador has triumphed over the years include Tijuana, Juarez, Aguascalientes, Guadalajara and more. While he has appeared in Spain in the past, he has never confirmed the alternativa as of yet in  Las Ventas.

Like a fine wine, Capetillo has improved with age.

More power to him.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Luis Ignacio Y Zacatecas


A Parade Of Famous Masons Expanded Book

Am expanded issue of the book, A Parade Of Famous Masons, by Dale Pierce, is now available at http://www.lulu.com/content/9091275

The forst section of the book is a series of lists off famed lodge members in varied walks of life and celebrity status. The rest of the book consists of bios and stories.

Features on masonic bullfighters and bullfight personalities are within, including the French torero Marc Serrano, the late rejoneador Zoio and the olden day matador, Nili. The comic torero, Cantinflas, and the writer, Ibanez, are also featured prominently.

Zotoluco

El maestro Eulalio Lopez "Zotoluco" tentó el día de hoy en la ganadería de Rancho Seco, de cara a los compromisos que tiene este fin de semana, mañana por la noche estará haciendo el paseíllo en la tradicional corrida de las Luces en Huamantla, donde compartirá cartel con Uriel Moreno "El Zapata" y Octavio Garcia "El Payo" con una corrida muy bien presentada de Rancho Seco.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Diego Silveti En San Luis Potosi

Dentro del serial potosino Diego Silveti, se presentará este viernes por la noche alternando con el maestro Eulalio López “Zotoluco” y Fermín Espinosa “Armillita IV” ante una corrida de Marrón.

 

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Film Review: The Brave Bulls

Tom Lea arguably wrote one of the best bullfighting novels in English with The Brave Bulls,  with the account of fictional matadores Luis & Pepe Bello having an historic bullfight in the equally fictional Cuenca, Mexico. The 1951 film form his novels has survived the test of time as well.

Mel Ferrer makes a somber Luis Bello, a figura who loses his nerve after a goring and Eugene Iglesias of Puerto Rico plays the younger brother, Pepe, hot to make it on his own, but in the shadow of his famous kin.  Add the ill fated Miraslava as the love interest and Anthony Quinn as Fuentes, an unscrupulous manager and you have quite a cast.  Real life banderilleros and picadors such as Pancho Balderas and Vicente Cardenas make up the cuadrillas. Rafael Rodriguez was one of the stand in toreros who did the actual fighting scenes.

Whether the movie is out on dvd or not is anyone's guess , but the movie still makes the rounds on late night tv.

The movie follows the book fairly well. A shifty empresario mouths off that he has Luis Bello under contract for a regional feria when he has nothing of the kind and then must act upon his boast. Luis agrees to appear in Cuenca if his brother is on the card as well. The end result, after many mishaps, is a great corrida that sees both men gored, but triumphant. The book is if course superior to the film, butt hen, most books are.

Ferrer and Iglesias play their matador counterparts just as the book intended them. the former is dry, insecure of his own self until a bull named Brujo draws the best out of him a la a Cagancho or Procuna and Iglesias I perfect as the hungry young torero eager to make a name or himself on his own.