Cuban Pete, an appreciation

By Cory Doctorow at 11:35 pm Wednesday, Apr 18 • Comments • Share

My daughter and I share a trick memory for lyrics. Part of our bed-time ritual is singing three songs -- two "new" songs (that she hasn't heard before) and one "old" one (from a previous night). It's really challenging to come up with two new songs whose lyrics I can remember (or fake) well enough every night. Last night, I found myself singing Desi Arnaz's "Cuban Pete," as performed on I Love Lucy, and we both agreed that it was a keeper, particularly for the "chick-chicky-boom" refrain (not to be confused with the likewise excellent and legendary "CHICA CHICA BOOM CHIC" refrain from Carmen Miranda). YouTube being the collective memory of a large slice of the species, it naturally has a clip of Desi and Lucy performing "Cuban Pete" from the 1951 I Love Lucy episode, "The Diet."

Cuban Pete

CUBATV: photos of Cuban televisions and environs

By Cory Doctorow at 6:43 am Monday, Aug 1 • Comments • Share

Back in 2006, I blogged about photographer Simone Lueck's gallery of photos of TV in Cuban families' homes. She's since gotten a deal to print the photos in a handsome volume, recently out from Mark Batty: "In Cuba, television is the most important communication medium and a national pastime. No matter that the TV sets themselves are outdated, pre-revolution relics imported from America or sets from Russia over fifteen years old; green-hued beasts jimmy-rigged with ancient computer parts and fantastically adorned like religious altars."

Cuba TV: Dos Canales

CubaTV (online gallery)