j6ppc wrote:The concert was phenomenal. Just one set but it lasted two hours.
MaryB wrote:In 1993, I met Perla. Her onstage personna...warm, outgoing, personable, lovely woman. Arlene, the fact that you took the time to also record Perla's oral sentiments is so fantastic, as it gives us an insight to her personality.
First to recap the top of this thread, the concert took place in a tiny theater, The Grand Annex, run by volunteers. Only 99 seats and they were folding chairs. It was a charity raising event on behalf of the historic art deco Warner Grand Theatre of which it is a part. Being in such an intimate space and hearing her speak about her family and her life was, as Jon described, phenomenal. So, much of my report concentrates on that aspect.
On the phone with the box office, I was told that Perla's agent said, no photography. Well, I took my camera anyway in my handbag. Just before the concert started, the ticket manager came over to me, easy to spot in the first row, wearing Maarten's magical name tag and lanyard, and asked me if I brought my camera. I said I'd rather not answer that question. Well, she had good news, Perla said I could take photos. Her agent is supposed to say, no.
When Perla first came out, she asked us to call out songs during the show that we would like her to sing. At three different points, someone called out, "Hallelujah". She finally said, "Sabor a mi." ("taste of me" or "essence of me"
translation by Perla) So, I called out, "Dance Me To The End Of Love ... in Spanish." Perla said to the delight of the audience, "That would be a good encore. Let's pretend we didn't have this conversation."
The rumoured special guest was a great singer, Melanie Jackson. Perla introduced her at length saying she learned a lot from her and continues to learn a lot. Melanie sang one number, "Over The Rainbow". Perla introduced the song in the context of being from one of the first movies in colour.
Perla talked about her mother, which you can hear in the videos. And she talked a lot about her wonderful husband, Claud Mann and her fantastic 15 year old daughter Eva.
She said Claud makes her laugh and he is a good cook. He played the Conga drums in her band. I googled Claud and found this,
Mann also plays drums and sings in his wife's band, Perla Batalla. Watch for Celebrity Chef Claud Mann's Dinner & A Movie Cookbook Tour October 2003:
TBS Superstation's weekly presentation features Perla's husband, Claud Mann. In addition to writing for the show, Claud, a professional chef,
Perla spoke often about her 15 year old daughter Eva. All the terrible warnings she received about teenager years did not come true. Eva is sweet and delightful.
She said she resisted Facebook for a long time, thinking it was for kids. But now she loves it and thanked all her FB friends.
During the concert, she told this wonderful story:
Leonard Cohen once asked her to sing "Bird On The Wire" at a party he was throwing for a special person.
"But that's your song. I only know the la, la's and the ah, ah's." LC insisted she do it. So she practiced singing it for days until she felt confident. One day she said to the fellow on guitar that was practicing with her, "Today I own this song". He said, "No, it owns you."
Her final encore was indeed,
Dance Me To The End Of Love, which she sang in Spanish and English. Before she started to sing, she asked the audience to stand and join her in all the la la's. So there I was "singing" a leonard Cohen masterpiece along with Perla Batalla. I had tears in my eyes.
After the concert, I had a chance to speak to her for a few minutes when she graciously posed for the photo. She said she was happy to see that LC is still using several of HER arrangements on the current tour. I asked which ones and the only one I can remember in the excitement of a one on one conversation was "Closing Time".
I hope to see her in concert again when she performs at Royce Hall (UCLA) on October 2.
What a phenomenal singer. What a phenomenal woman.
---Arlene
EDIT: Perla was very kind and sent me the "Song List"
1. If it be your will
2. Moliendo Café’
3. Caminito
4. Cuando Sale la Luna
5. La Llorrona
6. Holy Roses
7. Melanie Jackson – Somewhere over the Rainbow
8. Cascabel
9. Cucurrucucu Paloma
10. Gracias a la vida
Encores..........
11. Dance me to the end of Love
12. Bird on the Wire
13. Guantanamera
There definitely seems to have been a Leonard connection to the concert! 
