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¡Attack Sergio! Unbreakable: A fun read because of the contradictory content
I placed the order online on October 25, 2023. By return email, I received confirmation of payment and a promise to receive my copy the following week.
However, after several days I received a delay notification from the supplier. It was understandable that an artist of Sergio George’s stature would trigger interest in acquiring the work that promised to tell his story, perspective and opinion on the music industry. Exactly on November 25, 2023, the order arrived.
As a reader, I was deeply disappointed with the content of the “book”. Attack Sergio! Unbreakable falls short of being an autobiography. I would classify it as a self-help book with little depth, no substance.
Writing a book requires literary knowledge, basing the content on rigorous research and stating the data with mathematical precision.
The cover of the text is appropriate for the trajectory of the artist who is the subject of the text. However, the data on the cover that assures that he is the winner of 19 Grammy awards contradicts the text. Specifically, on the third page of the introduction it says that he is the winner of 18 or 19. Evidently, the recently launched book should not be taken as a reference for a subject of such seriousness.
From the legal page it is clear that Sergio George is the author and that Janice Rodriguez was in charge of editing. Sadly, the work lacked editorial care, which detracts from the literary value of what is presented. There are many expressions that seem to be literal translations from English and that do not necessarily maintain the idiomatic integrity of what the author wants to express. Now, if that were the case, you should stop counting the missing and extra accents.
Having said that, I am going to manage my criticism, since space is limited and the idea is not to write another book about the “book”. Certainly, in the world of the versed salsero, of which I am one, the most awarded producer in Latin music has a great story to tell. But his literary delivery fell short. I understand the intention to approach his complaint as a self-help book. But that grand intention also failed.
I read in each of the 128 pages discontent, loathing, complaint, frustration, resentment and wounded self-esteem. Objectively, you have to read carefully to see that what he claims to do is the opposite of what has brought him so much controversy.
In his usual combative style Sergio George launches harsh criticisms of salsa artists. Resentment has won out over objectivity. Each blow takes away the value of his exposition, until it becomes the outlet that we all need to have at given moments.
Of course, emotional maturity is what prevents one from publishing matters that should remain in the privacy of conversations between the affected parties.
With a high sense of arrogance, characteristic of narcissistic personalities, the author accuses the “great salseros” of having murdered salsa because of their ego, pointing them out as the culprits of the death of the “musical genre”.
This becomes another of the great contradictions of the text. At times he claims that salsa is not a genre, but on multiple occasions he refers to salsa as a musical genre. On the other hand, he says that salsa is in danger of extinction shortly before assuring that it is dead. His point of view in that sense is not clear either, although he does state near the end that there is a legacy that does not die.
This is the contradictory nature of the reading, whose common thread is the attack. That may be the origin of the idea of the title, although at first glance one might think that “Attack Sergio!” is the repetition of the battle cry that invites him to attack the piano, while he prolifically produces music.
I believe in the evolution of the species and I see that the adaptations through which salsa has gone through are similar to the genetic modifications necessary so that, within each species, the fittest survive.
The text has several anecdotes. However, due to the lack of details, these do not add value to the construction of the history of salsa. In some of them, the names of certain characters are not mentioned. I guess the author did not want to enter into a request for relays or preferred not to risk dealing with legal controversies.
With so much that Sergio George has contributed to the history of Latin music, it is a mistake that the book has not been given more structure and objectivity.
Sergio George has been a cornerstone in the history of Afro-Latin rhythms and is the owner of a brilliant musical career that has made many shine. But to that exposure, the text does not do justice either.
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Eddie Palmieri brought salsa for the first time and live from Sing Sing Penitentiary in New York
In the early 1970s, the American social landscape was dominated by the Vietnam War and the birth of several protest movements advocating for equality, justice and the defense of human and civil rights, and from sing sing a historic concert.
In the midst of all that collective turbulence, Eddie Palmieri and his orchestra were giving free rein to their social rebellion with a sweeping musical proposal.
But Palmieri’s rebelliousness was not only reflected in his music, but also in his decision to take his group’s sound to atypical and controversial scenarios that would attract the attention of the authorities.
By the beginning of 1972, Eddie Palmieri had already performed in some correctional institutions, including the Louisville Correctional Facility and the Attica and Rikers Island prisons in New York, but the pianist wanted something more.
In those days, a good friend of Eddie Palmieri was incarcerated in the sinister and historic Sing Sing Correctional Facility, also known as Sing Sing Prison, infamous for the reputation of its inmates and for its executions with electric chairs.
It was at that moment that the idea of an unprecedented performance at the facility was born.
Palmieri’s group was not only the orchestra of choice for Hispanics, it was also favored by the majority of African-Americans in the Latin dance world, and at that time the prison population at Sing Sing was composed mostly of Hispanics and African-Americans, so the stage was perfect.
However, it was not easy to perform a concert in a maximum security prison like the dreaded Sing Sing Prison.
However, at the request of Eddie Palmieri himself and with the coordination of Roulette Records and the prison administration, the performance took place on Wednesday, April 12, 1972.
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Correctional Services prison in Ossining, New York State, United States. The name comes from the original name of the town of Ossining.
It was the third prison in New York State, built in 1825. The state legislature allocated $20,100 to purchase the Silver Mine farm. The prison was to be self-supporting and not require a state budget.
Elan Lynds, a jailer at Auburn Prison (New York’s second prison), brought 100 convicts from Auburn to the new prison and employed them for its construction.
Harris A. Smiler was the first person executed by electrocution at Sing Sing on July 7, 1891. From 1914 until 1971, only the electric chair at Sing Sing was used for executions.
On January 8, 1983, more than 600 inmates in B Block started a riot, taking 17 officers hostage; it ended 53 hours later.
Sing Sing in popular culture
Near the end of Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scribe, it is mentioned that Monroe Edwards died of tuberculosis in Sing Sing Prison.
There is a song called La cárcel de Sing Sing, written by Bienvenido Brens, which tells the story of a prisoner in this jail who was sentenced to death for killing his wife and her lover. The song was made famous by José Feliciano. It is also performed by Colombian singer-songwriter Alci Acosta.
In addition, it was performed live by the band Corizonas (union of Arizona Baby and Los Coronas) in their live album “Dos bandas y un destino”.
There is a song by the salsa group Conjunto Clásico on the album El panadero released in 1986, called A los muchachos de Sing Sing, which has a message of encouragement to convicts.
There is a song by the French-Tunisian singer-songwriter (Michel) Laurent entitled Sing Sing Barbara, from 1971, which tells the story of an inmate who sends desperate messages of love to his wife from this prison.
There is a song by the Madrid group Los Nikis entitled Diez años en Sing Sing, which also gives title to the tribute album to that group.
There is a song by the Basque group Sorotan Bele titled Sing Singatiko Folk & Rolla.
In 1932 the film Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing was shot, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis. The film is based on the book of the same name by Lewis E. Lawes.
In the film Constantine, and in the official Constantine comic book, John Constantine is seen to use the Sing Sing prison chair to connect to hell.
In the film Citizen Kane, protagonist Charles Kane threatens his political rival, Jim Gettys, to send him to Sing Sing, when Gettys informs Kane that he will publish his affair with Susan Alexander in the newspapers if he does not withdraw from the election.
In the film The Pilgrim, Charles Chaplin plays the role of a convict recently escaped from prison, who, when he is at the train station, moves his finger without looking over the board of destinations to choose one at random and falls on Sing Sing, so he repeats the process again when he realizes his unfortunate choice.
In the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly periodically visits inmate Sally Tomato at this prison.
In the movie and musical The Producers, the main characters stop at the same prison and create a musical called Prisoners of Love.
In the video game Driver Parallel Lines, the protagonist spends 28 years in Sing Sing.
In the ABC television series Castle, Sing Sing is cited during an episode of the fourth, fifth and eighth seasons.
In the film noir movie Odds Against Tomorrow, Johnny, the character played by Harry Blafonte, says, “I know they changed his color when they rehabilitated him in Sing Sing.”
In the AMC television series Mad Men, Sing Sing is quoted during an episode of the third season.
In the series Breakout Kings, prisoners are transferred to Sing Sing for their help.
In the song Báilalo como tú quieras, by artist Tego Calderón, the phrase “If rapping was a crime, I’d be in Sing Sing!” appears.
In the horror movie saga Maniac Cop, cop Max Cortell is killed in Sing Sing prison by inmates and is resurrected in the form of a “maniac cop”.
In the Netflix series The Punisher, Arthur mentions to Billy Russo having been imprisoned 10 years in Sing Sing, in episode 4 of the second season.
In the novel “The Ppsychoanalyst” by John Katzenback published in 2002, the Sing Sing prison where a man served six months is named.
In Georges Simenon’s novel The Hound Dog starring Commissar Maigret, one of the characters spends several years in Sing Sing prison.
In the comics “Mortadelo y Filemón”, by cartoonist Francisco Ibáñez, when a character has done something barbaric, he is sentenced to Sing Sing prison and appears with the typical black and white striped prisoner’s suit, chopping stone with an iron ball chained to his leg.
In the series Law and Order the Sing Sing prison is constantly mentioned.
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