Thursday, March 24, 2005
Tucson bids adios: Lalo Guerrero remembered
Life of ''Father of Chicano music' is celebrated
DANIEL BUCKLEY
Tucson Citizen
To the sound of mariachis, behind a wooden cross, the guitar of Lalo Guerrero was ceremoniously carried up the aisle of Tucson's St. Augustine Cathedral by his sons, and placed on the altar before flowers and a giant photo of the venerable father of Chicano music.
It was a send-off he would have loved, fitting of his stature in the world, his closeness to his hometown and of the kind of person he was.
Presided over by Bishops Gerald Kicanas, Francis Quinn and Manuel Moreno, with Monsignor Arsenio Carrrillo assisting, yesterday's memorial service saw a turnout of roughly 500 family members, friends, associates and fans.
Mr. Guerrero was cremated in Palm Springs, Calif., where services were held earlier this week. His ashes will stay in Tucson, where he was born and so often returned to play.
Appropriately, it was a Who's Who of Tucson musicians at yesterday's ceremony, among them his compadre Travis Edmonson, singer Linda Ronstadt and the entire Ronstadt clan (Guerrero was a close friend of the late Gilbert and Edward Ronstadt), Ted Ramirez, Monica Trevi?o and Ruben Moreno to name but a few.
Music played almost as primary a role in the service as religion. Lalo's son, singer-songwriter Mark Guerrero, covered his father's beautiful song "Tucson" and added a moving original on the same topic in demonstration that the gift of music continues strong in Mr. Guerrero's offspring.
The unexpected musical highlight was the gathering of members of the Ronstadt family to bid a musical adi?s to the close family friend who'd serenaded them since their births. With Linda Ronstadt taking the lead, siblings Michael, Peter and Suzy Ronstadt, along with cousin John Ronstadt, harmonized with the kind of sound that only a lifetime of singing together can produce. Sentimental, sad, yet hopeful, the song cut to the chase of what the whole room felt.
It wasn't all straight, pious and reverent, though.
"Did you know he didn't own a shirt without chili stains on it?" his son, producer-playwright-performer Dan Guerrero, quipped in his eulogy.
Dan read from letters and e-mails he's received since his father's death March 17 of prostate cancer. Many began with, "You don't know me but ..."
They came from the children of Chicanos in their 80s whose whole lives have had a Lalo Guerrero soundtrack. They came from the parents of today's children who came to know him as Papa Lalo through his Grammy-nominated children's CD with Los Lobos, "Papa's Dream." Those kids felt they'd lost a grandfather.
"We have lost a legend, you have lost a father," one wrote. Another said, "Your father will be missed and remembered. He made us laugh. He made us think. He made us proud of who we are."
Rounding out his remembrance of his father, Dan turned the Mass into a participatory event.
"He loved his public but most of all he loved applause. So I think we should all give him a big-old standing ovation."
The whole church rose as one in a thunderous din of applause and whistles.
