Carla Lucero - Part 5

For Good Measure, by Ensemble for These Times (E4TT)
Episode 118: Carla Lucero - Part 5

Looking for a way to listen to diverse creators and to support equity in the arts? Tune in weekly to For Good Measure!

In this week’s episode, we talk to Carla Lucero about what drew her to San Francisco, how the music scene differs between LA and the Bay Area, and more about her family and background. If you enjoyed today’s conversation and want to know more about Carla Lucero, check her out here: https://carlalucero.com/. This episode was originally recorded in February 2024.

This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors, like you. Want to support For Good Measure and E4TT? Make a tax-deductible donation or sign up for our newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast!

Intro music: “Trifolium” by Gabriela Ortiz, performed by E4TT (Ilana Blumberg, violin; Abigail Monroe, cello; Margaret Halbig, piano),  as part of “Below the Surface: Music by Women Composers,” January 29, 2022
Outro music: “Lake Turkana” by Marcus Norris, performed by E4TT (Margaret Halbig, piano), as part of “Alchemy,” October 15, 2021

Transcription courtesy of Otter.ai.
Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903729/15412923

Producer, Host, and E4TT co-founder: Nanette McGuinness
Co-producer and Audio Engineer: Stephanie M. Neumann
Podcast Cover Art: Brennan Stokes
Interns: Renata Volchinskaya, Sam Mason, Hannah Chen

Curious to hear a little music from our guest Ursula Kwong-Brown, who we spoke to in our most recent episode? Check out the world premiere of the piece she wrote for us, you can find it on our YouTube channel.

Chapters

• 0:38 In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Carla Lucero, who we spoke to in February 2024.
• 0:46 You mentioned that your love of opera and counterculture drew you to San Francisco. Can you talk about that? Both the love of counterculture and what drew you up here? And then can you talk about how the music scene in San Francisco or the Bay Area...

Transcript

Nanette McGuinness  00:00
[INTRO MUSIC] Welcome to For Good Measure, an interview series celebrating diverse composers and other creative artists sponsored by a grant from the California Arts Council. I'm Nanette McGuinness, Artistic Executive Director of Ensemble for These Times. In this week's episode, we continue our conversation with Carla Lucero, who we spoke to in February 2024. [INTRO MUSIC ENDS] You mentioned that your love of opera and counterculture drew you to San Francisco. Can you talk about that? Both the love of counterculture and what drew you up here? And then can you talk about how the music scene in San Francisco or the Bay Area differs from that of LA?

Carla Lucero  00:48
So my first, my first opera, is Wuornos, and Aileen Wuornos was was the first woman serial killer, that's how she's labeled - first American female serial killer. And I was really drawn to her story, mainly her backstory. So it was really about a an unhealed life. And man, you know, this is horrible, horrible, like, somebody dealt such a horrible deck of cards. I was very interested in the story, not really because of the sensationalism, although I did learn about the story of Vanity Fair.

Nanette McGuinness  01:40
[laughs]

 Carla Lucero  01:40
Yes. [laughing] And then later saw her on TV, and there was this big, huge thing. But the story of Vanity Fair was amazing, this called hooker with a heart of gold. It kind of went into her, her psyche, and her backstory a little bit, and I thought, wow, you know, I want to know more about this, because it's, it's, she's an anomaly. But, but we understand, you know, some of these root issues, if somebody were to live the life that she lived, you know, who knows, you know, like, what their, what they would be capable of, especially without any support systems and all of that. So the story in and of itself is very interesting. And when I read that, I was sitting in my recording studio in Hollywood.

Nanette McGuinness  02:33
Okay.

Carla Lucero  02:34
Okay, recording a rap group. And I was, I was already like, "Okay, I'm done with the misogyny." You know?

Nanette McGuinness  02:42
Yes.

Carla Lucero  02:43
Totally. I love some of the some of the artists are really loved, but it was like, I can't hear, I'm not gonna say the words, you know, over and over again, right, throughout the day. So I was already kind of primed, you know, to get the heck out of dodge. [laughs] So I had a subscription to Vanity Fair so it arrived, and I was reading it in the studio, and I was like, "This is my first opera, but there is no way it's getting produced here." I know. And I was, like, so immersed in the, in the commercial music scene, the film, stuff that I that I was so out of touch, I was doing some dance, composition for dance, which was like saving my life because it wasn't part of that whole, you know, rat race. Yeah. Um, so I thought, "I got to do this." So I decided to quit, to quit, to turn them, you know, I don't want to do this anymore. I had a partner, business partner at that time. And it's like, "Sayonara, I'm out of here." So, so I actually so my parents, if their lives don't sound bizarre enough to begin...

Nanette McGuinness  04:06
[laughs]

Carla Lucero  04:08
They met in Africa, by the way.

Nanette McGuinness  04:10
Okay

Carla Lucero  04:10
[laughs] And now they've lived for 30 years in Mexico. So home, to me, my folks have lived is Mexico. So that's the Mexico connection. I told my parents, I want to, you know, I've been wanting to write an opera forever. And I feel like I'm ready to and I found my story. So can I live with you for a year? And they are like, "Yes, of course!" So I wrote treatment of the libretto, very early one, and then a couple of pieces, to, to shop around, to get produced, and I knew that I wasn't gonna, it wasn't gonna happen in LA. Yeah. So from there, I decided to move to San Francisco, and I got a producer within like two to three months of living there, but I knew San Francisco was going to be the place.

Nanette McGuinness  05:08
Interesting, really interesting.

Carla Lucero  05:12
Yeah.

Nanette McGuinness  05:13
That's fascinating. How did your parents meet in Africa? I have to ask this.

Carla Lucero  05:17
Okay, so my dad, before he was a scientist, he was a professor teaching math.

Nanette McGuinness  05:24
Okay.

Carla Lucero  05:25
And...which is like, ironic. I, my brain...I don't even, I can't even wrap my mind around math. I think a lot of it is because I am dyslexic. Yeah, who knows?

Nanette McGuinness  05:37
Sure. That makes sense, actually.

Carla Lucero  05:39
Yeah. So he was teaching at a university, so was my mom's sister. So they were teaching and...

Nanette McGuinness  05:49
Ah ha!

Carla Lucero  05:50
Yes, so my mom traveled from India to Africa to visit her sister. And they met, my mom and dad met. My dad proposed to her within two weeks of meeting her.

Nanette McGuinness  06:04
Oh my gosh!

Carla Lucero  06:05
Can you imagine that?

Nanette McGuinness  06:07
Uh, no. [laughs]

Carla Lucero  06:07
[laughs] I can't either. So, so, you know, they got married in Africa,

Nanette McGuinness  06:14
In Tunisia, you said? Did I hear you say Tunisia, or did I not?

Carla Lucero  06:19
Tanzania.
 
Nanette McGuinness  06:20
Tanzania, okay.

Carla Lucero  06:20
And so they married there. And they had to decide whether to have me in Africa, India, or the States. And my, my dad, my mom chose the States. And my dad was like, you know, that's fine, because he was a citizen of the United States. And he said, "that's fine." But he left it up to my mom. 

Nanette McGuinness  06:43
That was nice.

Carla Lucero  06:44
Yeah! So that's why I was born here.

Nanette McGuinness  06:48
Cool. Very cool. Quite a story.

Carla Lucero  06:51
Yeah, and now they live in Mexico. It's nuts, the whole thing.

Nanette McGuinness  06:56
It's an amazing life. I will say that. [laughs]

Nanette McGuinness  07:00
[OUTRO MUSIC] Thank you for listening to For Good Measure, and a special thank you to our guest, Carla Lucero, for joining us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast by clicking on the subscribe button, and support us by sharing it with your friends, posting about it on social media, and leaving us a rating and a review. To learn more about E4TT, our concert season online and in the Bay Area, or to make a tax-deductible donation, please visit us at e4tt.org. This podcast is made possible in part by a grant from the California Arts Council and generous donors like you. For Good Measure is produced by Nanette McGuinness and Ensemble for These Times, and design by Brennan Stokes, with special thanks to co-producer and audio engineer Stephanie M. Neumann. Remember to keep supporting equity in the arts and tune in next week "for good measure." [OUTRO MUSIC ENDS]