The Godmother

Another day, another front-page story of an American coming to harm in Mexico. Today's victim is Ms. Jenni Rivera, a 43-year-old single mom from Encino, CA, who thought it would be good, harmless fun to become one of Mexico's biggest popular music stars, only to have Mexico turn on her in the form of a plane crash in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Will these gringos ever learn?

She seemed to play in Querétaro at least once or twice a year, and according to the local press, she was the madrina - godmother - of the Querétaro White Cocks soccer team.  (They don't really explain what that means, but we gather it's like Honorary Head Cheerleader.) Truth be told, we're not all that familiar with her music, because (cultural insensitivity alert!) most banda tunes sound pretty much the same to us, but more sophisticated people disagree, so fish around on YouTube and decide for yourself.

However, we do love us a good narcocorrido, and the LA Times tells us that Ms Rivera was the daughter of Pedro Rivera, the Berry Gordy of narco ballads:

Among his achievements, Pedro Rivera was among the first to release the records of Chalino Sanchez, a skinny young immigrant from Paramount, who, in death, would become the godfather of the Mexican narcocorrido or narco-ballad.

Pedro Rivera formed Cintas Acuario from a Long Beach storefront. The company rode the immense narcocorrido wave that followed Sanchez’s slaying in 1992 with a series of anthology cassettes -- Corridos Perrones -- with bands and singers posing with AK-47s, flashy cars and songs suggesting the musicians’ drug-mob connections.

The whole piece is pretty interesting, so go read it.  And if you're not in the market for some cultural enlightenment, well, this being Mexico, where the press has no limits on good taste, we can just direct you to this photograph of what appears to be Ms. Rivera's scalp lying among the wreckage.  (Seriously, you'll regret clicking that.)