Guest Commencement Speaker
On Monday, June 21st I was a guest Commencement Speaker at my old Middle School PS 52 in the Bronx, which is now known as Middle School 302 x. I was very happy to be there, especially since it took a few years for me to make it because I was always traveling when initially approached by them. Last year they had Secretary of State Colin Powell as their speaker, who also graduated from the school. It was terrific watching the elation of all the students and seeing how enthusiastic and supportive they were of each other at the graduation ceremony. And of course, it was wonderful seeing the happiness and understandable pride of the parents and family members regarding the important scholastic achievements of their kids. After the honor students received their awards, then came the Cumbacheros Choir, directed by Rachel Baez..My biggest surprise was hearing them sing “Azucar Pa’ Ti” (I had no idea that they were going to sing it) and they sounded amazing! After that I helped the Principal distribute flowers to the faculty and staff and then it was time for a second surprise, I was given a Proclamation from the Bronx (narrated by my son, Eddie Palmieri II, (by the way, you did great, Eddie!!)), that June 21st is now considered Eddie Palmieri Day in the Bronx. This is a huge honor to treasure always and I want to congratulate everyone that is involved with this fantastic school – the happiness of the students and their families is testament to the incredible work you do. Special thanks to Evelyn Figueroa, Assistant Principal Larry Thornton and the Principal, Angel Rodriguez, for making it such a memorable experience.
The next day, I performed at Soundview Park, (also in the Bronx), where we performed with the large Salsa Orchestra. The show went very well and we got out of there just in time before the pouring rain came down. It was wonderful to fulfill the concert before “estaban llorando the gods.” We closed the show with Nicky Marrero, a dear friend, and it was a superb afternoon.
Three days later I found out from my daughter Ileana that “Azucar Pa’ Ti” was voted in to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress! The list for 2009 is comprised of 25 compositions, with “Azucar Pa’ Ti” being one that represents the sound recording for the year 1965. This is a tremendous honor. I was so surprised that this happened and what a great feeling because this was a composition that turned things around with respect to commercial recording…Azucar went past the 2 minutes and 45 seconds that you had to record historically. Azucar is 8 minutes and 30 seconds, and with that, a new precedent was set with respect to sound recordings. It is a typical latin composition that has the section that is now being called latin jazz, all done in 1965. And I was thrilled that they also mentioned my bandstand buddy, Barry Rogers in the press release. This really was my sugar week!
Now I’m preparing to travel to Europe and we’ll have our first run of two separate trips to that wonderful Continent. We are traveling with our latin jazz group and it should be a very exciting summer.
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