Posted by Carlos on 13 Nov 2017, 14:58
The story of Roberto (Nickname "Beto") because Roberto really existed and I met him.
This was in 1987, in a city deep in Argentina, when I was 21 years old.
Roberto was a semi-professional singer (basically Beto was a merchant in fuel and he had a couple of gas stations), and he loved music. He used to sing at parties, he liked weddings because he was a very romantic guy. His fixed place to act was a bar for "> 50" called " Candilejas".
Roberto had a tremendous voice, although he was a fan of Elvis and Rock and Roll, he had training in lyrical music and in his n his performances he always included some lyrical song, like "O Sole Mio"... "a capella".
And of course Roberto was a showman, dressed like Elvis, had a speech with some jokes and always talked to some of the audience. He had a group of fans, almost all ladies of my mother's age (my mother was not there luckily) to follow him to all his performances.
in winter he used to put a silk scarf around his neck "to take care of throat and voice"
Roberto used to get to the site in an old Rambler Ambassador (a car) and
he had a driver with a suit and tie and cap, but all that for the show, in his normal days he managed only a Renault 18.
in 1987 I was in college and needed some money, so I played the guitar for his band, "los meteoritos", the leader of the band was a rhythmic guitar that had a metronome in the head, precise and neat.
We used a suit like the 50's with some sequins.
What I can say about Roberto is that he always pays his musicians punctually, and he always managed to give us food and beer in the bars where there were performances. The man took care of his musicians.
I do not know what would have been of the life of "Beto" after I left town, but the man was a character that can not be forgotten.