El Cantante Page #2

For me?

- Yeah.

- Who invited you?

Oh, chocolates.

How sweet.

I heard you singing.

Yeah?

Yeah.

You're famous, right?

Trini Lpez-

that's who you are.

Yeah, that's me.

That's me.

You can call me Trini.

- You're funny.

- Yeah.

But your pants

are even funnier.

What do you mean?

These are $5 pants.

Bad.

- Bad? I'm not bad.

- Yeah.

I'm being me-

not mean, just honest.

- Hey, man.

- LiI' bro.

- What's up, man?

- You know, Hector, I'm so glad you could make it.

- Thank you.

- Take it.

Little sister, I see you touching that,

I'm gonna kill you.

- Yeah.

- Give us a minute.

Let me give you

a little brotherly advice:

Don't f*** with her

unless you're gonna

f*** with her.

Hey...

you wanna f*** with her,

f*** with her.

Got it?

Nice one, man.

- Have fun.

- All right.

Look, I'll show you.

It's not like

a cigarette, man.

You gotta hold it

like this.

Go like this.

- Hold it in?

- Mm-hmm.

- How's that?

- For how long?

Do you feeI anything?

Keep going.

? That I asked of you?

? to the best of your knowledge?

? if you knew that nowhere

in life was there...?

- Are you okay?

- ? another love...?

No no no no! Not on the sofa.

Not on the sofa.

- Okay.

- Okay?

- Mm-hmm. Okay.

- Okay.

- Come on.

- Okay.

Come on.

Are you okay?

- Ooh. Okay.

- All right.

- All right?

- Mm-hmm.

Tell me your name,

baby.

Come on.

I don't want you to die

without knowing your name.

- What's your name?

- Uh, Hector.

- Hector. Hector what?

- Huh?

- Hector what?

- Perez.

Hector Perez.

Okay.

Well, don't die on my birthday,

Hector Perez, okay?

Oh, man, I woke up

in her arms, man.

It was beautifuI.

It was beautifuI, man.

It was like-

I don't know, you know.

I just took care of business.

Yeah?

What kind of business?

Oh, man, just- just-

she gave me life back.

- That good, huh?

- Damn, no.

Actually,

it was that bad.

We drank,

we smoked, we danced,

and then I threw up

all over the poor girI.

I was so high

and so dizzy, man.

I never wanna do

that sh*t again.

I didn't know

where I was.

I didn't know

who I was.

Oh, man, that's the best

impression you can make

with Puerto Rican girls-

is being sick.

Marriage, brother,

marriage.

You vomit,

you marry.

They're naturaI-born

nurses, man.

I think

she liked me, man.

Jerry used to be a cop,

became a lawyer.

Now he's a-

now he's a thief,

robbing every

Latin musician blind,

but he's all we got, man.

That's all I gotta say.

Hold on, let me look at you

for a second, man.

Let me see.

No boogers-

- you look good, man, decent, you know?

- No way.

Now, hey, we gotta be carefuI

in there, though.

You know, we just-

we'll just play it off

and, you know,

see where it takes us.

- It's a big day.

- It's a big day for you.

- Oh yeah, oh yeah.

- Big day for us.

First we cut a record

and then we do a tour.

It'll be a '60s approach...

...you know,

but Spanish.

Now we are a young company,

but, you know,

we're looking to do bigger

and better things, you know,

more mainstream things,

you know.

The black musicians

have, uh, Motown,

Stax Records.

Now the Latin musicians

are gonna have their own labeI-

- Fania Records.

- Fania Records, yeah.

I know. I-I-I- I buy-

I buy your records, man.

Then you know

what you're getting into.

- Now, Hector, do you have a lawyer?

- Yeah, we have a-

- We have a good lawyer.

- Yeah.

- Oh, okay, good good.

- Very- he's- he's-

he's very good. Yeah.

He's very good.

He's- he's-

but you're an honest guy,

so I didn't bring him,

you know?

I'm the only guy.

- Mmm.

- There's one more thing-

and we all gave this

a lot of thought-

It wasn't me.

Me neither.

No no no, it's something

someone suggested

and I agree.

That name's

gotta go, man.

- Who gotta go?

- Your name.

uh, it really doesn't mean anything.

Uh, it's, uh- it's too common,

like Smith.

Perez is like Smith?

Uh, yes. Yes.

Um, it's, uh-

it's- it's like an unemployment-line name,

you know?

- Oh, yeah.

- Uh, no offense.

And you want a name that the

unemployment line is gonna look up to.

Ah, like Smith.

I- I understand.

No no no.

Like Lavoe.

Like La what?

"La voe"- "the voice"

in French.

Yeah.

Sounds fancy.

But won't they think

I'm French or something,

- singing in Spanish?

- No no no.

Hector, see, look, you're clearly

Puerto Rican. I mean,

- you're gonna be-

- I'm just playing with you, man.

Come on, man.

He was corny.

He was funny.

He was corny.

I remember the first time

that we were together.

It was

very impressive.

Nothing but

the best for me.

Oh, Hector.

Oh, it hurts.

Oh, it hurts.

Yeah?

What, me?

No, the back seat.

Okay...

Oh, come on, baby.

You okay?

Yeah.

What's the first thing

you're gonna do?

When?

When you're famous,

silly.

Come here.

Why are you so sure

that I'm gonna be famous?

Because I know these things,

that's why.

I want a family.

And a brand-new Cadillac.

This way we don't have to

make love in this sh*t.

My brother

liked Cadillacs.

Whatever happened

to your brother?

He died

when he got here.

He was gonna

take care of me.

Well, we'll take care

of each other, okay?

- Okay, let's eat, eh?

- Okay.

Babe, these are

the best beans in life.

The best beans.

Why do you think

I still live here?

I'm not going anywhere.

Where were you raised

on the island?

Oh, um, no,

on this island.

- Here?

- Right here.

I don't even remember

what a palm tree looks like.

It doesn't matter where she was raised,

'cause she got me now-

palm trees, beaches,

pork hash- in person.

It's like Berlitz dining.

Maybe, uh,

one day I'll get back

to Puerto Rico. I'll get there.

What did I say?

You're there.

Next you'll meet

my father.

He thinks

he owns the island.

Doesn't he?

We're from Ponce.

All of our family

still lives there.

- Hector and I are the only ones here.

- Mmm.

- The only ones left.

- So...

how long have you guys

known each other?

Oh, days.

But it's destiny.

Mmm.

And your family?

They live here?

Mm-hmm.

Oh, I forgot.

You don't speak Spanish.

I do.

I do speak...

Well, what does

your family do?

Sell dope.

Yeah. Why, are you with the FBI

or something?

Because we should get that out of the way

right now. What are you-?

You know what, Hector?

I came here to eat, not to be grilled.

Ay, no. Ay no. No, hold on.

Priscilla's

with the Ponce police.

Babe, this has been

my life, okay? It's okay.

What do you mean, it's okay?

It's not okay.

Priscilla, what's with you?

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean

to come on that way.

I'm just trying to do what a mother,

a sister, a father has to do.

Don't take it

like that. I-

Okay?

We happy again?

We're home now.

We're gonna be living here,

all of us.

Let's not fight.

Let's be happy.

MusicaI conductor-

the great Johnny Pacheco!

One of the great

singers of Fania,

Hector Lavoe!

Ladies and gentlemen,

ladies and gentlemen,

Willie Coln!

Willie!

Yeah, oh yeah.

Hey hey, Willie.

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