Wiser With Age

Tag: Wiser With Age

  • Charo at 66: New flamenco guitar album and prayers for Barcelona

    Charo at 66: New flamenco guitar album and prayers for Barcelona


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Charo (Photo/Jason Altaan)

    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 María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez 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 â€œThe Carol Burnett Show,â€Â â€œThe 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.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C3pgJRBzsU&feature=youtu.be

    “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€

  • Actor Ivonne Coll on playing the matriarch on ‘Jane the Virgin’ at 70


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Ivonne Coll (Photo\Starla Fortunato)

    Ivonne Coll is not a mother, or a grandmother, in real life, but she plays the role of both on television.

    Coll, otherwise known as Alba, plays the matriarch of her alternate reality home on The CW’s “Jane the Virgin.† There, the Puerto Rican actor plays the Venezuelan grandmother of Jane (Gina Rodriguez), and the mother of Xiomara Villanueva (Andrea Navedo). Her main goal as head of that household is to try and steer Jane in the right direction. 

    “What I like about the show is how they portray Alba is that she is still sensual,†says Coll, adding that her character is also courageous and intelligent. “A lot of times abuelas are shown as always having an apron on and asking if you ate, but Alba is a dynamic woman who has a boyfriend and makes mistakes in life. The creators allow me to sing and dance – those are the opportunities that this show has allowed me to express.â€

    In a way, the now 70-year-old actor is going back to her roots. At 20, while studying psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Coll won the Miss Puerto Rico title, and in the same year, 1967, she represented Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe pageant – both of which required her to display her talents of acting, singing and dancing. Upon seeing her performing skills, a producer in Puerto Rico gave Coll her own variety show. But at 26, Coll decided it was time to move to Hollywood.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Ivonne Coll in 1967 (Courtesy Ivonne Coll)

    “My mother couldn’t understand why I was leaving Puerto Rico, because I was so successful there, but I knew my calling was somewhere else,†says Coll. “I knew I had to study the craft of acting. I didn’t care about fame, or making it, or becoming a star, I wanted to become a working actor – that was my goal.â€

    Little did she know, she says, that according to the standards of Hollywood, she was already considered “too old.â€

    “But I didn’t know that, and when I was told about it, I didn’t care,†says the determined Coll. “I just thought, ‘Let me keep on growing and doing my craft.’â€

    It was around this time in her life that she often didn’t have money for food or to buy bottled water, but nothing, not even not having money, would be an obstacle to accomplishing her dream. When she needed diction classes to make her spoken English clearer, she instantly thought of a creative solution.

    “I would clean the room for free lessons,†says Coll, laughing at this memory. “It was joyful. I never thought that I was struggling. I never thought I was paying my dues. It was a joy to do that work to get that session.â€

    Shortly after, by a chance situation, she was hired to play the “redheaded singer, Yolanda†in Francis Ford Coppola’s, “The Godfather II,†which hit theaters in 1974.

    “It was around 2 or 3 in the morning, and Al Pacino came on the set to do the kissing scene, and that’s what it did it for me,†recounts Coll about the exact moment she confirmed she wanted to dedicate the rest of her life to acting. “As he walked to Fredo, watching the way he transformed. I thought, ‘How did he do that?!’â€

    It was then that she started to train even harder.

    “I studied acting techniques for seven years, with Lee Strasberg, David Alexander, and Lucille Ball – who gave an eight-week workshop in Hollywood,†says Coll, adding that Ball was very strict and committed as a teacher.

    Throughout her career, Coll has starred on Broadway in “Goodbye Fidel,†and played Lady Macbeth in “Lady Macbeth,†and acted in the films, “Lean on Me,†and “Walking the Dead,†and has countless television credits, including “Switched at Birth,†and “Glee.†Yet no matter how many years and projects pass, she still calls her mother her biggest inspiration, role model and hero.

    “It’s all for Puerto Rico and my mother,†says Coll about Rosita Mendoza who was a celebrated hairstylist in Puerto Rico. “I think I inherited all my talent from my mother…Later in her life, she would be training – her talent for teaching is my talent for coaching others. That’s my mother – I’m so lucky. The last thing she saw me in was in Puerto Rican Parade in New York City when I won the Lifetime Achievement Award [in 2015]. She saw it on TV, and a week later she died.â€

    Coll admits that as her recurring role as a mom in the television series,“Switched at Birth†was dwindling down, she started thinking about gracefully bowing out of show business and returning to her island home.

    “I didn’t think there would be more roles for me,†says Coll. “As I’m doing the paperwork needed to wrap up, I get the audition for this role at Jane the Virgin.â€

    Not taking it seriously, she first told her agency she’s busy doing jury duty.

    “I was so confused, because the role was in Spanish in English, and the audition was the next day!,†says Coll.

    Once there, she asked the producers what kind of Spanish dialect they wanted. They said Venezuelan, which was a very easy transition from her native Caribbean Spanish.  

    “God decided that role was for me no matter how much I didn’t take it seriously,†says Coll. “When they called me to go to network, I turned off my phone, and I didn’t hear they cancelled the audition. So I went. And at the moment the casting director came in, and she said, ‘Abuela, we’ll see your tape.’ They didn’t answer until the next day. We were in parking lot when I got it. I was screaming in the car. It’s been a great ride.â€

    She says working on “Jane the Virgin†has been one of her most special experiences, because her co-stars have become like true family.

    “It’s also the first time three Latinas are in a mainstream show, and now we have it in ‘One Day at a Time,’†says Coll about the Netflix series she will soon guest star on – reuniting her with Rita Moreno, 85, who played the “Glam-ma†on “Jane the Virgin.â€

    Looking back now to when she once heard she was “too old†at 27, Coll laughs.

    “I just produced and co-wrote a short and I’m acting in it,†she says. “It’s about two women – one is a principal, and one is a yoga teacher and married to a Harvard professor…I want to put [Latinas] in charge like we are in real life…Producers feel it won’t sell, but it will sell, because it represents the face of North America.â€

    What advice would she tell her 20-year-old self at her age now?

    “I wouldn’t change anything of what I did really…Go with your gut feeling. God lives in you. I was not aware that I was doing that. Be more aware of what moves you, because that will inform how your life will be.â€

    “Alba, to me, has been a gift of love from God that came at a time I was about to retire. Isn’t it incredible?,” says Coll. “You can plan, but God has other plans, and His plans are better than yours.â€

  • Random moments remind me of lessons my father taught me

    Random moments remind me of lessons my father taught me


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Nayeli Chavez-Geller with her father, Raymundo Chavez.

    I often think about my father.

    I find myself engaged in the most mundane of my daily activities, and I randomly remember some of our conversations. I treasure them like old video cassettes – worried at times that they will fade off if I think about them too much.

    My parents got divorced when I was five years old, and I am the eldest of four siblings. My mother, who is from New York, met my father in Oaxaca, Mexico and returned back home after their separation – giving him sole custody over us. I don’t remember much about the days living with both of my parents. It’s as if life started one day when I was at elementary school and all my friends pointed out to me, “Nayeli, your father is outside the school waiting for you.”

    Looking back, I guess we were the topic of conversation in other households – the four “gueritos” (a Mexican slang term meaning “light-skinned people”) that just by their physical appearance stood out like a needle in a haystack and were being raised by their father in a time where every kid in my classroom lived with both of their parents, and in the rarest scenario with their mother.

    My father was very devoted, but an authoritarian figure who was very strict with us. He believed in what he called “an integral education.” We had to excel both academically, and in sports. He also believed it was very important to have social skills. I remember one day he hit me with a belt for something that was not my fault. At night, when I went to kiss him before bed, he actually apologized. I seized that unusual moment of understanding and asked him why he was always so harsh with us? He told me it was because he knew that as good as we seemed, we hadn’t reached our potential, and that as a father, it would be a crime not to ask for more if he truly knew we had the capacity for it.

    I have been living on my own since I was 17, and I always remember that moment. I guess it’s a motor of motivation when things get too comfortable or tough.

    My father was born in a village that he’d take us to often, while we were growing up, to visit my grandmother. Once there was a bull running loose on the streets, and my first instinct was to run away from it, but my father got really mad, and he told me, “How can you turn your back on it, Nayeli? In life, you must face the bull in order to see which way to run.”

    I learned later that there is even a known phrase, “Grab the bull by the horns,” and hearing that for the first time reminded me of that moment.

    When I feel depressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, I force myself to go out for a run. I then start hearing his voice again,”Happiness isn’t permanent, you have to fight for it. This is your life, you can make the best of it, or be a victim. There aren’t any guarantees. Be the best that you can be. Remember time goes by, don’t waste your youth. You are free. I gave you wings to fly, and the skills to survive no matter what. Go out in the world, and be happy.”

    Nayeli Chavez-Geller is a reporter and correspondent for Univision television network, and she resides in New York City.

  • Flamenco singer Juana la del Pipa on her Gypsy culture

    Flamenco singer Juana la del Pipa on her Gypsy culture


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Juana la del Pipa (Photo/Christine Fu)

    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.

    Professionally, she sings as soloist in many festivals around the world, accompanied by different guitarists. Most recently, she will be returning to sing in New York with world-renowned dancer José Maya on February 17 (her first time in NYC was at age 28, and has come many times since then), and then in San Francisco on February 19 and 23.

    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€

  • Bibi Ferreira, 94, performs in NYC and shares her life

    Bibi Ferreira, 94, performs in NYC and shares her life


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bibi Ferreira (Photo/Willan Aguiar)

    Bibi Ferreira is an entertainment powerhouse in Brazil — she’s been singing, acting, directing and producing for the past 75 years. At 94, she is also a force that doesn’t quit.

    The “Grand Dame,†as she is often called, was recently in New York City performing “4 x Bibi†at Symphony Space, a show saluting her four singing peers — Frank Sinatra, Édith Piaf, Amália Rodrigues, and Carlos Gardel.

    “They are not my favorite singers, but they are the best,†says Ferreira, in her deep, strong voice, about why she chose these four to tribute. “Piaf was a composer herself.â€

    Although born in Rio de Janeiro, Ferreira speaks perfect English, as well as Spanish, French and her native Portuguese.

    “I had a lot of work to do,†she says about her childhood. “I was brought up in a British school. My mother was very tough with me. I spoke five languages at the age of 15. I also learned the piano and violin. It was a very, very busy life. I did whatever my mother wanted.â€

    Ferreira’s mother was Spanish ballerina, Aída Izquierdo, and her father, the prominent Brazilian actor, Procópio Ferreira. So the stage became Bibi’s second home from when she was still only months old.  

    “A very special night for me was an opening act with my father on February 28, 1941,†says Ferreira about her professional stage debut at age 18 in the Italian play “La Locandiera.†“My father – the greatest actor from Brazil – taught me everything I know.â€

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bibi performing in “La Locandeira” at age 18. (Courtesy Montenegro y Raman Art Productions)

    Throughout her career, Ferreira brought some of Broadway’s biggest musicals to Brazil in the 1960’s — as well as starred in them — such as, “My Fair Lady,†“Hello, Dolly!â€, and “Man of La Mancha.†She sang and acted, touring worldwide, and even hosted various television programs, including Curso de Alfabetização para Adultos — a televised literacy course which taught more than 30,000 people in Brazil.

    “It was one of the things that most honored my career,†says Ferreira, who takes the art of communication very seriously. “My career has been a success – one on top of the other…The most important thing for an actor is to make yourself understood.â€

    It wasn’t always an easy ride for Ferreira. She was married five times and had one daughter. Her last, and most successful, marriage was to Brazilian playwright, Paolo Pontes. However, after only eight years together, he died of stomach cancer at the age of 36, and she never married again.

    “Since I remember at the age of 12, I never decided anything in my life,†said Ferreira about her professional life. [My parents] decided my life…It’s a very severe way of living, but I like music very, very, very much – I really prefer the musicals.â€

    These days, although she still performs and tours occasionally, she is now free to wake up when she wants.

    “I wake up, have my coffee and milk, go for the mail,†says Ferreira. “Sometimes I play a little piano which I adore. Then my assistant tells me what I have to do. I get ready, get dressed.â€

    What is her most important piece of life advice which she wishes she could give her younger self?

    “Try to be simple. I think simplicity is the most important thing in life. It’s very important to just be yourself…The most important thing in life is to communicate. Just be happy. I could eat everything I want, and my health is good, so I’m happy!â€