Elvin Polanco and me!

I love surprises and this weekend I had a nice surprise when I was invited to the Bronx Dominican Parade by none other than the founder of Aventura, Mr. Elvin Polanco. I would like to send a special thank you to Mr. Elvin Polanco who is the CEO of Elvin Polanco Music Group for inviting me to the parade and providing me with an all access pass. Mr. Polanco is managing Chantel Collado, Banda D Colores, and Javi Diaz (El Swagger) musical artists which I will be featuring soon here at WendyTFanLove.com.

The Bronx was full of Dominican Pride this past Sunday, July 28th , as the Grand Concourse played host to the 25th annual Dominican Parade. The floats were full of music and the parade route was full of extremely happy people. Some of the Dominican Republic’s well known artists such as Johnny Ventura, Sergio Vargas (I always wanted to see him perform live, and I got to see him today 🙂 ), and Maestro, Henry Garcia with Banda D Colores came to the Bronx to celebrate the parade with their fans. Also present were up and coming artists such as International Boyz, Bachata Heightz, Chantel Collado, and El Duo Perfecto, these young Dominican artists are starting to make their mark on the music scene with their unique fusions from Bachata, Pop, Salsa, Urban and R&B music. The parade was also filled with local media celebrities such as Shirley Ponce from Univision 41, El Pacha local radio personality, along with local radio DJ Alex Sensation, DJ Aneudy and DJ Lobo. There were also plenty of local politicians making their rounds and showing their respect to the Dominican community.

Besides music and celebrities in attendance one of the best parts of the parade is seeing the children with their parade costumes and dancing their well rehearsed moves. The parade is a celebration of Dominican culture,  its people, and there was plenty of it. The very best part of the parade for me is seeing the people with their flags, bandannas, hats and their smiles. I had a wonderful time at the parade and I also met up with some new and old friends which just added to my beautiful surprise. In Spanish the parade is called, La Gran Parada Domenicana, well it was certainly “Grand”, my congratulations to the parade founder and executive director Mr. Felipe Febles. #lovemyfanlife #fanlove

Shirley Ponce                                                                                    Henry Garcia (middle) and members of Banda D Colores

Cha

Chantel Collado                                                                                 Robin Cepeda of Duo Perfecto

El Pacha                                                                                             International Boyz

Cursi                                                                          DJ Joel Santiago

DJ Aneudy                                                                                  Tommy Pena (Comedian) aka El Goldy, TFIVEK, MR,5000

Some of the fabulous costumes                          Elvin Polanco and Karina Lascano (Mas Amboy FM 107.9)

Music is the universal language and it can brings total strangers together meet Nourhan who is a fan I have never met in person, but we have a fan love connection that goes back many years. Most of us that have been members of Marc Anthony’s various fan clubs, know of this very special young lady as “Marc’s fan from Egypt” and have been intrigued by her dedication and her genuine fan love for Marc over the years.

– Nourhan we know you as a fan, but barely know anything personal about you, please share some information about  yourself if you don’t mind.  Where were you born, were do you reside, how old are you, are you going to school and what is your major, or are you working and what is your profession? Do you speak/understand Spanish?

I’m from Alexandria, Egypt’s largest city on the Mediterranean coast. I went to school and college there. I was born in 1989..  I’m almost 25. I have a BA in Linguistics and Translation. Last year, I moved to Cairo after I was awarded a fellowship at a private university there. So, I’m currently a full-time graduate student and a part-time instructor of Academic English. If things go as planned, I will graduate in Spring 2015 with a Master’s in Applied Linguistics.

I understand Spanish pretty well; I taught myself with the help of online dictionaries and my fair knowledge of French. I also started taking Spanish classes a couple of years ago.

-When and where was the first time you heard MA singing and what did you think, what was your first reaction? When did you see him face and was he singing at the time and what did you think of him?

The first time I ever heard Marc singing was in 2003 (WOW, I can’t believe that was 11 years ago!). I used to watch a lot of music videos on TV back then… One day I saw “I Need To Know” and it immediately became a favorite… Then I listened to “I’ve got you” and I was hooked! I was amazed by Marc’s mesmerizing voice and his charisma. I started reading a lot about him and bought all his records that I could find in the stores here in Egypt. Because I couldn’t find his older CDs, some incredibly kind and generous MA-Angels (you know who you are J) were thoughtful enough to share them with me.

-What is your favorite Marc song and why? Do you understand the Spanish songs (tell me if you translate them or have friends tell you what they are about, if you don’t understand Spanish)?

It’s very difficult to choose just one favorite song by Marc, but some of my all-time favorites are “Y hubo alguien”, “You sang to me”, “Que precio tiene el cielo”, “Hipocrecía” and all songs from” Libre”.

I do understand the Spanish songs. I used to spend a lot of time translating the lyrics from Spanish into English and then I got to a point where I knew enough vocabulary and would just understand the songs without having to translate every single word. Like I said, my knowledge of French helped me a lot.

-What is it about MA that has led you to continue to be such a loyal fan?

To me Marc is an extraordinary artist; his voice is like magic. He’s tremendously talented in both singing and acting, he’s very charismatic and funny, and he’s very kind to his fans. His music has helped me through some tough times and for that he will always have a special place in my heart. He also introduced me to some very special people whose friendship I will cherish forever.

What is your ultimate Marc fantasy?

 I just wish I could attend one of his concerts someday.

 – If you could ask Marc one question what would it be?

This is probably very cliché, but I would ask him about the happiest and saddest moments in his life.

 – What would you like Marc to know about you?

I would just like him to know that I’m very grateful to him, his music, and the fantastic people I got to know through him.

 – What other artists are you a fan of and what songs are you currently into?

I don’t have a lot of favorite artists, but I like Amy Winehouse, Lana Del Rey, and Dido. I also love listening to Arabic songs from the sixties and seventies.

 -What has been your experience in sharing fellow fans?

I feel very lucky and grateful for having been part of “La Familia”.  I’ve always been amazed by how supportive, warm, and friendly everyone is. When I think of the Marc Anthony Club (MAC) community, nothing but fond memories come to my mind. I will always cherish the friendships I made there.

–I asked Nourhan if there was a special picture that I could share and this what she said and sent:

Well, back when we still had MAC, I logged in one day (I think it was in September 2005) and found a new thread with my name. I clicked and then found this autograph. I can’t describe how I felt; my heart was pounding and I started crying of happiness and couldn’t really comprehend what was happening. It took me some time to get myself together as I read the posts, I found out that one of the members of La Familia (the lovely lady we knew as “marcoholic”) had won a Meet & Greet with Marc. When she met him, she told him about me and asked him to sign her copy of Amar Sin Mentiras for me. She later sent me the actual CD cover in the mail and, needless to say, it’s one of my most prized possessions. I will never forget this incredibly kind and thoughtful gesture.

Thank you for bringing back so many amazing memories and for wanting to interview me for your blog.

 Nourhan, I am glad we share our love for “Libre”, I feel we missed out on having a “Libre” tour. My wish is that one day I could  facilitate your Marc  fantasy of attending a Marc concert and to enhance it with a meet and greet. Wish you lots of success in your chosen career we are proud that you have chosen the Spanish language as part of your life’s work. Gracias Y Bendiciones!

I had so much fun at the Soy Colombia Concert held last night  at the Prudential Center and I went all “by myself”. Most of the time I go to concerts I usually go with several friends and or meet them there. For the Soy Colombia concert I was in pursuit of getting a press pass hoping that I would be able to interview some of the performers that were going to be on stage and of course, try to get good pictures to share with you all. Well I was denied a press pass, which kind of turn out to be a blessing in the disguise, which I will tell you about as you continue to read. Now as some of you may know I am fairly new to this media/press pass thing, and taking pictures at concerts was a job I always left to my “concert going partners”. WendyT is way too cute and busy trying to enjoy the show to be taking pictures, well that’s the way it was.  I know its bad, but hey I am still trying to figure out how the camera I just bought works, yea I had to buy a professional looking one those cute small color ones don’t yell out “member of the media”, who knew ?

As I am driving I am praying let the miracles begin because I was looking forward to seeing all the performers, which included Groupo Niche, Orquesta Guayacan, Nicky Jam, Jorge Celedon, and Silvestre Dangond. I love being a fan, and that I am a “seasoned” fan is even better; I drove up to the parking garage and told the attendant that I just needed to park on the first level or second because I was by myself and would be returning to the parking lot late; this is something that works most of the time if you get to the venue early and you ask kindly, which I did and ended up on the second level, which was great they were sending everyone else to the third level. As I waited outside the venue there were lots of fans all gathering, it was nice to see young people and older people with such Colombian pride, they had their colors on with soccer jerseys (as I had suggested on a earlier post), bandannas, and hats. I was chatting with some of them I asked if could take their picture they said yes; and they were all so happy it was contagious. La Mega radio station guys were there too, had to chat with some, its sort of comforting to see them around every time I go to a concert in the tri-state area, (Cuba thanks for the pic).

Once inside the venue is where the blessing in disguise started to materialize, my seat was on the floor, row 16, which for a relatively short person it’s not the best situation, but for a “Professional Fan” , no problem. I just knew that there was no way I was going to stay in that seat, I got up and told the guard if it was Ok for me to take pictures from the sides, he said, “yes”, I immediately took that yes and headed closer to the front of the stage, while there Nicky Jam come on stage to performed and I was able to take pictures almost as if I had gotten a “press pass”! I was so happy I was beside my self; after a bit a guard came to me and told me that I could not take pictures because my camera had a big lens, which was not true but I was not about to argue. I put the camera down and went into my bag, pulled out the “small colored camera” out, there was nothing stopping me from taking a picture ;). After a little while I ended on the second row center, I pulled out the Nikon and  started again to take my pictures. I did take some that are just Ok like I said I am still a novice when it comes to taking pics, but I was not about to give up. The most difficult part about this process is trying not to dance while taking the pictures and videos, it’s almost impossible for me :). Orquesta Guayacan was the second act and by that time I decided to find a seat on the side not too far from the stage and I stayed there for the remainder of the evening. I needed to be in a place where I did not have too many people blocking my view above from the floor.

The fans were dancing in the aisles, they were drinking, singing and just feeling it , everything was so beautiful. I kept thinking as I sat there and was looking at everyone celebrating this immense pride for Colombia how much they must be missing their homeland. This feeling of melancholy just overwhelmed me because I know what the feeling of being away from your country is like. The artist who performed knew how it important it was for the fans to feel as if they were back in Colombia some sang typical Colombian music, and everyone was clapping and singing you can feel the love. Everyone was so kind with me, they offered me drinks, they were happy in allowing me to take their pictures, I could not have asked for more. When Grupo Niche and Orquesta Guayacan came out I was in Salsa, Cumbia and Vellanato heaven, I have  been dancing to their music for years. I have several friends who are Colombian, and a cousin who’s mom is Colombian, and according to them the country is beautiful.  Visiting Colombia is definitely on my bucket list and I am fascinated by their accent. QUE VIVA COLOMBIA!