La Closerie des Lias

by Rev. Anna V. Copeland

A couple of weeks ago, actor, director Marjorie Burren welcomed a packed house to the Teatro Santa Ana with an offhand remark. She observed that though well-traveled and from New York City, she has never experienced such a concentration of talented, creative people as here and now in San Miguel. "This is Paris in the 1920's," she declared.

While not La Closerie des Lias, Ernest Hemingway's café in Montparnasse, this week I found myself captivated over coffee in City Market's by New Orleans Jazz musician Les (Luigi) Colonello. I learned that fresh out of college in Pittsburgh, he tried teaching and discovered he didn't much like kids. It took just a few minutes before he and his wife Cynthia moved to New Orleans.

There he met a guy who needed a musician for a gig at the last minute: "I played five hours on Bourbon Street, stuff I didn't even know. Then he called the next day and asked me to come again. I worked myself in and played for this guy five nights a week for two and half years. Then I got calls, playing everywhere, conventions, private parties, clubs... I lived a dream for 50 years doing nothing but playing the trumpet, a matter of serendipity."

Bourbon Street
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It's said that the first time you come to San Miguel, you buy pottery. The second time you buy a house. When Les and his wife Carolyn came down to stay at the home of a friend, they looked around and bought a home in the countryside, eager to connect with Mexican neighbors.

"I came here to retire, and then I walked into Paprika with my horn and got invited into Jango and Gypsy Jazz with locally renown musicians from the Hot Tamales, followed by a gig at Sunday brunch at Café Rama." This past week Les debuted at Paprika with his own new band Mis Hermanos, New Orleans Meets San Miguel.

Les talked about how he's changed since moving to Mexico. He describes his previous life as self-sufficient, not very social. "I moved here and everyone is so accepting and welcoming. Everyone I meet is connected to the arts in some way. If you can encourage just one person to be happier, that is enough."

Les Colonello

Les plays Sunday with Israel Chávez (drums), Sergio Carrillo (bass), and Carolyn Studer (piano).

Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's vision of love, justice and compassion for all people, the theme Beloved Community imagines Paris of the 1920's now in San Miguel.

All are welcome

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Rev. Anna V. Copeland is a writer, artist and ordained clergy, currently serving as the Minister in Residence of the Community Church of San Miguel. Dr. Anna collaborated in the formation of monthly Jazz Vespers in Vero Beach, Florida, and has served churches north of Boston, in Chicago, and in the mountains of Colorado. As a permanent resident of San Miguel, she continues her commitment to work collaboratively towards that day when abundance for all will mean scarcity for none.

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