FANIA HEATROCKS DAY #1: Celia & Johnny – self titled / VAYA+FANIA 1974 Fresh out of the gate, with the most sentimental value is this collabo between the queen of salsa, Celia Cruz and Fania Records Co-Owner Johnny Pacheo. No longer a secret, this is the record that i salute as my intro to latin culture. However I really attribute it to the loss of my virginity. seriously. The thief… Jackie Lehman. NO…she wasn’t Jewish (if you know me, u know it matters not if she was), the truth is she was cuban and very much adopted with 23 brothers and sisters!!!!!!! seriously.

It’s only now that I’m older, do i realize how fuct her living situation was. But that’s another time, another blog. Despite all that, Jackie and I kicked it one weekend a month before my fam left Miami during the Cocaine Crisis in the 80’s. It was only once a month because I lived in Miami and she lived in Plantation, Florida. Thats no afternoon bike ride. I would have to tell Momz my boy from school, Oliver James invited me over for the weekend. Soon as I got to his crib, we would jet 4 blocks over to Jackie’s house w all these fuckn kids comin’ in and out. Freestyle and Salsa, thats all she would play. This is the only Fania joint that i remember specifically tho, because we must have listened to side A like 100 times that nite. Quimbara is my shit. The Steve Deezy Wonder Years…wow.

Jackie, que nunca se le este puesto es de u mama!