Last year, in a special Thanksgiving collaboration with I Am An Immigrant, Cooking with Granny traveled to California to tell the refugee immigrant story behind Grandma Lan’s crispy Vietnamese quail. It’s baked, fried, and flambeed — and served with a side of her famous fish sauce. Under Communist rule in Vietnam, Grandma Lan thrived as an underground fish sauce dealer in the black market so much so that she came to be known as “Madam Fish Sauce.â€
When asked for her full name, Charo is known to laugh in her cheerful manner and ask, “Do you have time?â€
The Spanish-American actress, comedian, and flamenco guitarist was born in Murcia, Spain, and her full given name is MarÃa del Rosario Mercedes Pilar MartÃnez Molina Baeza. Perhaps best known in the U.S. as the “Cuchi cuchi girl,†for her trademark expression she often says while wiggling her hips, her stage name “Charo†is a shortened form of her middle name Rosario.
The exuberant entertainer became an American sensation in the 1970’s – appearing in countless television shows, including several episodes of “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,â€Â “The Carol Burnett Show,â€Â “The Love Boat†and in the films, “Moon Over Parador†and “The Concord: Airport ’79.† Although she is now 66, Charo’s energy and charisma have not simmered down. Earlier this year, she was on the 24th season of  ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,†she will be performing in the Hollywood Bowl on August 27, and her next flamenco guitar album, “Guitar on Fire,†also drops later this month.
“I am very excited, because it was one of my dreams to go to the Hollywood Bowl,†says Charo. “When I was a little girl, I saw a movie about a little mouse dancing at the Hollywood Bowl, and it was one of the best things I ever saw. I told myself if I ever go to America, I will play at the Hollywood Bowl.â€
She calls the show a challenge, because the audience will be international and comprised of different age groups, “but I know I can do it,†she says. “The guitar is my security blanket, and the music I selected is international.â€
Charo is used to performing anywhere. She moved to the Hawaiian island of Kauaii for approximately 15 years to raise her only son, Shel Rasten, away from the Hollywood life. Although, she still kept busy performing locally and even opened a restaurant called Charo’s. Since 2000, however, she’s been living in her Beverly Hills mansion with her husband and extended family.
Ideally, Charo would start her day without an alarm clock.
“Every day for me sucks, because I don’t like to wake up,†she says, although it’s hard to imagine her not radiating a constant joie de vivre. “I’m a night person, because I’m used to performing. Waking up is torture. I wake up at 8am, not because I want to. I play the guitar a little bit, then I run two miles, take a shower, then spend three hours minimum on the phone and making decisions.â€
Although she works a lot now, she says she would never want to go back to when she was 20.
“It was work, work, work,†says Charo in a more serious tone. “My father was involved in politics, and we lost everything. There was no time to play. I grew up playing in casinos. I started performing professionally when I was 12.â€
World-renowned classical guitar master Andres Segovia taught her to play the guitar at a young age. She landed a role on the show “Villa Alegre†– Spain’s version of “Sesame Street†where she would sing “La Bamba.†When she was almost 15, the Spanish-American bandleader, Xavier Cugat, came to see the show and discovered her. Soon after, she joined his orchestra as a singer and dancer, and despite a 40-year age difference, they got married.
“He talked to my mom and father,†says Charo of Cugat, her first husband. “I was very prepared when I came to this country. I practiced the guitar three hours a night. When I’m playing the guitar, I’m in another world, not in my “cuchi cuchi†persona.â€
In addition to playing the guitar, another topic close to her heart is taking a stand against one of her native Spain’s cultural past-times, bullfighting. She even adopted a bull she named Manolo.
“I hate to watch the news, because I love people around the world,†she says. “I was born in Spain, but I consider myself a citizen of the planet Earth. I write my own comedy to cheer me up.â€
Regarding the recent terrorist attack in Barcelona, she says she is heartbroken.
“I began praying for the victims right away,†says Charo. “I am sad for Spain, a beautiful country, full of joy, music and passion. I know Barcelona and Las Ramblas very well. It is like the United Nations there. You hear all the different languages and many people, including tourists, go there for fun…It saddens me to learn of the catastrophe they have suffered. I pray it never happens again. I believe the way to achieve world peace is for us to pray. Pray for each other. Pray for the planet. Pray for peace.â€
She does seem to know how to keep peace and love in her home, as she has been married 39 years to Swedish businessman Kjell Rasten, who is also her manager and the father of her son.
“He produced the Golden Globe Awards when I was nominated with Carol Burnett. I did not win, but I got the producer,â€Â Charo jokes.
What does she say makes her long marriage successful?
“Love, loyalty and respect, and having two separate bedrooms – his and hers,†she laughs. “Because 24 hours together, and you are going to get sick and tired of each other.â€
Bobby Gonzalez has had practically every job you could think of — from a medical records clerk in a hospital to customer service at a utility company. However, he says it was at age 40 that he discovered his life’s calling and passion – storytelling. His favorite topic is his Puerto Rican and Taino heritage, which in turn, challenges his listeners to get curious about their own roots.
Ever since that moment of enlightenment, storytelling is what Gonzalez devotes his life to. At 65, he still resides in his native Bronx, NY, with his wife Maria, but sometimes he doesn’t even know where he’ll end up the next day giving a workshop or lecture. So far, he’s spoken in 42 states — in the past two weeks alone, he’s been at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Davidson College in North Carolina speaking about the racial and cultural diversity of Latinos. Next week, he’ll host his monthly spoken word event in Queens, NY.
“When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say, I’m an educator through lectures and poetry,†says Gonzalez, who has also authored two books, “The Last Puerto Rican,†and “Taino Zen.”  “I don’t know what’s going to happen the next minute. Occasionally, I get a phone call asking me, ‘Can you do this?’ and I do it. I’m not afraid to fail.â€
His second favorite job in life, he says, was working at his family’s bodega, which they owned for more than 30 years.
“That’s where I really polished my speaking skills, and I heard a lot of great stories,†says Gonzalez, about the place which birthed his purpose. “It was quite an experience.â€
He says his parents also played an important role.
“We were very fortunate, my brothers and I, to have had two Puerto Rican parents who always made the point to tell us where we came from and instilled in us a great pride of who we were,†says Gonzalez. “That inspired me to embark on a lifetime of personal research. I got my information from books and oral traditions – here and in Puerto Rico. When I was a little boy, my parents would take me to Puerto Rico, and I would sit at the feet of my great grandfather. He would tell me the stories of the old days, and I would roll my eyes, but I wish I listened more carefully.â€
Gonzalez can see clearly now that his ancestors grew up in a different world, and that gives him the incentive to tell their stories. One story in particular which has marked him is one of his mother’s arrival to New York from Puerto Rico via a train from Miami in the 1940’s.
“She was very light-skinned, and when she got to Miami, the conductor told my dark-skinned grandmother to sit in another car,†recalls Gonzalez. “I have to remind young people they take a lot for granted – even the right to vote.â€
Gonzalez remembers the exact date he began documenting his family roots by writing poetry.
“It was February 9, 1964,†he says without hesitation. “The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, and the day after, millions of kids around the world bought their own guitars and started to write their own music.â€
Storytelling came very naturally to him, he further explains.
“Every day, I would go to the library, get some books, and then go down my block and tell stories,†says Gonzalez, who still has the same almost involuntary instinct years later. “I spend a lot of time in the Manhattan and the Bronx libraries,†where he sometimes also hosts spoken word nights for teens.
He says one of his biggest career challenges also took place in a library while he was telling stories of his ancestors, the Taino people, who are an indigenous people of the Caribbean.
“Once I was speaking in a library in Queens, and a man told me, ‘There are no Tainos left. I don’t know why you’re doing this.’ At the end, he came up to me and said, ‘I’m proud to be a Taino.’ I was taught by my parents never to say ‘You are wrong.’ We were all raised differently, so it’s important to dialogue in a civilized manner. We are all one.â€
Gonzalez says he used this parental wisdom when speaking at the University of Mississippi last year, as well.
“We can’t have the same perspectives, and that’s okay, as long we listen to each other with respect,†he adds. “I meet students from Latin countries, and they don’t know about their indigenous heritage, and people who lived here their whole life don’t know American history. My favorite moment is always when people say, ‘I didn’t know that.’â€
Education is primordial for Gonzalez, even though his father only finished 2nd grade and his mom, 6th grade. He admits he never finished his bachelor’s degree in marketing, but he believes through his natural curiosity, he has learned so much more by devouring books on his own. And now he loves to share that knowledge with kids as young as pre-k, all the way to seniors.
“I don’t have the sense of fear,†says Gonzalez about what has helped him the most in life. “The times now are nothing compared to what my parents went through. Police brutality was a lot more common back then, there were no bilingual services, and immigrant groups lived in one neighborhood. My brothers, and I went to college. We didn’t finish, but we did it, because my parents sacrificed for us.â€
What is the one piece of life advice he wishes he could tell his younger self today?
“It gets better every day if you make the conscious effort to improve yourself passionately and persistently.â€Â
Juana la del Pipa, once known as the “Tina Turner†of Flamenco, for her strong legs and dynamic nature, is still turning on passionate performances at 68.
The deep-voiced Gypsy cantaora (singer) was born and still lives in, Jerez de la Frontera, located in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. The city of more than 200,000 is best known for its sherry (“Jerez†is the Arabic word for “sherryâ€), its fine horses, and its classic Flamenco music and dance tradition. And like most of Andalusia, Jerez de la Frontera has a large Arab and Gypsy influence.
In many classic Flamenco songs, Juana says it is customary that many lyrics are in Caló – their Gypsy dialect. However, her primary language is Spanish. When having a conversation, she ends almost every sentence with “cariño.†The Spanish expression for “my love.â€
Juana seems to live every day driven by feelings. Flamenco, an extremely emotional musical genre, seems to run through her veins and make her heart beat. And when she sings, the words seem to flow from the depths of her gut, through her heart, and out of her mouth with a passionate force only capable from a deep-seated love, which has also known great pain and sadness.
“It came down through my genes,†says Juana in her in her native Spanish. “It is my life, and everything I feel, my love.â€
From as far back as she can remember, Juana remembers Flamenco being a part of her life. After all, she lived her entire life in Barrio Santiago, the neighborhood coined as the birthplace of classic Flamenco, and nearly all of her family members are Flamenco musicians of some form. Her nephew is the world-renowned Antonio El Pipa.
“It’s important in Flamenco circles to know what town you’re from,†explains Juana, who is related to the Parrilla guitar-playing family and both the Zambo and Terremoto singing clans. “Barrio Santiago is where you can hear the best original Flamenco – the most Gypsy. We have a certain way of approaching the rhythm.â€
It is common for families there to sing and dance together, as Flamenco expresses her people’s way of life, their philosophy, their struggles and pride in their culture.
Juana started singing among her family at age 11. Then at 15, she sang at the Mairena del Alcor Festival, which began her professional singing career.
“I felt marvelous the first time,†says Juana. “It was, I don’t know what I felt…I can’t explain it.â€
She says she was mainly influenced by the talents of Manolo Caracol, Tio Borrico, and Terremoto, because their singing reflected her Gypsy culture, and they transmitted deep feelings.
But the most memorable moment of her career, she says, was at 15, when she sang a solea for her mother, while her mother danced for her.
“That was an incredible honor for me,†says Juana, explaining that it took place at the wedding of her niece.
Her mother played an integral role in her life. Juana inherited her name, “Juana la del Pipa,” from her mother, a world-famous Flamenco dancer. And her mother got the name, because when she was young, she sold “pipas,†the Spanish word for “sunflower seeds.â€
“She was a great person,†reminisces Juana. “[Her character] was the first thing I learned about her. And she danced until she died.â€
Today, when Juana’s not on tour, or performing at an event or family functions, she spends her days cleaning, cooking and taking care of her 19 grandchildren.
Like her mother, she says she hopes to continue performing classical Flamenco until her last breathe.
What advice about life would she give her 20-year-old self?
“The most important thing in life is your health. I take care of myself with food. I eat lots of fish,†says Juana. “Keep fighting in life, and don’t give up the struggle. Stay strong, my love.â€
Arvol Looking Horse does not have a computer or access to internet. He is also careful with his spoken words – he has to be, as he is Chief of the Great Sioux Nation and is not allowed to use foul language.
He earned his eagle feather in 1990 by riding on horseback for 191 miles – from Standing Rock Reservation to Wounded Knee – in the middle of winter, for the annual Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride.
“I was chosen by my own people, because I rode with my Big Foot Riders,†says Chief Looking Horse, who rode annually from 1986 through 1990. “We did a ceremony in 1990 – wiping the tears of seven generations.â€
Chief Looking Horse resides on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, a total land area of 4,267 square miles created by the United States government in 1889. It is currently home to approximately 8,500, according to the 2010 Census.
“Since I was 12, I have been the 19th generation keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe – an ancient spirit bundle that was brought to us by a Buffalo Calf Woman,†says Looking Horse, now 63. “We use the sacred pipe in ceremonies. We make treaties with the U.S. government. We use the bible and the sacred pipe.â€
He explains that in Sioux culture, each generation is counted by 100 years, and that 19 generations ago, “the great spirit†told them a certain way to live.
“Two scouts were sitting on top of the hill, a woman came to them, carrying a bundle. And one of the scouts looked at her as a woman to take home. When she approached him she said, ‘I know what you’re thinking.’ As he approached her, a cloud enveloped him, and when it lifted, she was a skeleton. She taught how we are supposed to pray and live in peace and harmony. When she left, she went up the hill and changed into four colors, a young buffalo calf, a red buffalo calf, a yellow buffalo calf, and then towards the top she turned white. When people are not living that life anymore, she will return to the earth as a white buffalo calf.â€
He says a decade ago, a white buffalo calf was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, signaling turbulent times. According to the National Bison Association, the odds of having a white buffalo are one in millions.
“This was the beginning of big changes with the environment and climate changes,†says Looking Horse. More white animals will be born because man has gone too far. The reason we are having so much sickness is that everything is about money. We are having a hard time bringing that message to the people. The message is that we have to return to a place of prayer.â€
On June 21, Chief Looking Horse will be heading the World Peace and Prayer Day – an annual ceremony he founded for all “people of the Earth.â€
He asks that everyone go to their own sacred site or place of faith on this day to join together to pray for healing of the world’s sacred waters.
“I pray that our sacred sites can be protected, and that our people can live in peace and harmony, and the water of life can be there for our children,†says Looking Horse. “Right now, the most important thing is the water. Man has gone too far, and now we have to go back to the spiritual way – it’s all about prayer in the end.â€
Looking Horse says many changes have occurred for his people over the past 100 years.
“They put our people on the reservations – they were concentration camps,†he says. “There were a lot of massacres. Back in 1890, during the Wounded Knee Massacre in South Dakota, they killed all the buffalo and horses. They killed our spiritual leaders…our people were being wiped out. Children were placed in boarding school. They are the grandfathers today. So a lot of them just speak English, but our language still survives. Today, we are trying to teach our culture and language to our children.â€
He explains the Sioux people have three dialects Lakota (spoken in Nebraska), Dakota (spoken primarily in North and South Dakota), and Nakota (spoken in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada).
“The year I was born, we had to have a permit to leave our reservations,†he says. “When I was born Indian people could not drink whiskey. There was a sign on a bar that said, ‘No dogs or Indians allowed.’ Now there’s a resolution to allow alcohol on the reservation. To us, that’s bad, because we talk about a good mind. We pray to have a good mind. We have to eat traditional food – like buffalo. Since 1990, we have been praying for the buffalo to return, and clean our body…But today, people are trying to say marijuana is a medicine, but we say ‘no,’ we can’t use marijuana or alcohol in our body.â€
The Chief adds that before the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978, his people were not allowed to talk about their spiritual ceremonies in public.
“We would go to jail,†he says. “But today, we are faced with a lot of sickness. We are now trying to protect our water. We use water in ceremonies. The pipeline is trying to go across our lands. We are trying to maintain our environment through ceremony. [At the start of] the four seasons we do ceremonies. In spring, on March 21, we do a welcoming in the Black Hills – they are shaped like a heart – that’s the heart of mother earth. It’s like a heart that is pumping.â€
He’s thankful that his people are able to legally pray and conduct their ceremonies for the health of their future generations.
“It’s the corporations we are surrounded by – Monsanto, fracking, they are pushing everything on us. If we are to survive with our children, we have to hold our day of prayer for healing with the water,†says Looking Horse. “Our main source we are trying to protect is the water of life. We have some young people that ran from North Dakota to Omaha to bring the message to engineers. They called it Running for Our Life. Our people used to live along the river, and they put a dam for electricity there and the river got polluted. We are still drinking that water from the mining of the oil companies. We have a lot of sick people on the reservations from the chemicals. Our elders say it’s like a chemical warfare. We used the buffalo to eat, now they give us cows. Milk is not good for us.â€
He considers the fact that many are becoming Christian on the reservation positive, because more people are praying.
“We pray together,†says Looking Horse. “Ten or 15 years ago, we were having problems, but now people ask me to go to church to pray in my own language.â€
“When I was young, our people lived in a dark time when we couldn’t speak about our culture, now the youth have the opportunity to carry on the wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors – to carry on the teachings to help our future generations…â€
