WED · 7
Similar to rodeo, charrería is a traditional Mexican competition demonstrating skill in horsemanship. The World Series of Charrería will bring this style of horse show to the Will Rogers Memorial Center, the first time this high-level competition has been held outside of Mexico. The event includes the escaramurza, exclusively displaying the skills of female riders. It runs today thru Sun at 3401 W Lancaster Av, FW. Tickets are $45-205. Call 817-392-7469.
THU · 8
If you’re near downtown Fort Worth during your lunch hour, you should drop by Sundance Square for the National Tourism Week event that’s being called the Fort Worth Block Party. Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Los Noviembres, and members of Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra will provide music while city staffers put on various activities touting the spiffed-up downtown as a destination. 11am-2pm at 4th & Main sts, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-255-5700.
FRI · 9
Richard Williams raised and coached two of the greatest women’s tennis players in history, but his memoir Black & White: The Way I See It is less about his pedagogical methods than about his experiences with racism. We’re sure he’ll have some insights into last week’s Donald Sterling flap when he appears at 7:30pm at the Dock Bookshop, 6637 Meadowbrook Dr, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-457-5700.
SAT · 10
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the premiere of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a powerfully tragic stage play that explores the roots of racism through the story of a recording session in 1927, as an ambitious jazz-oriented trumpeter runs up against a blues singer who’s set in her ways. Jubilee Theatre honors this important work with a production that runs May 9-Jun 8 at 506 Main St, FW. Tickets are $15-25. Call 817-338-4411.
SUN · 11
“Acedia” is defined as a state of boredom and apathy and was the original name of the deadly sin known as sloth. It’s the title of Sydney Bell Herndon’s playlet, which will receive a staged reading this afternoon as a finalist in the High School Playwriting Project. Three other plays, including Rachel Ann Levy’s delightfully titled Why I Love Hot Gas, will also be read. The performance starts at 3pm at Circle Theatre, 230 W 4th St, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-877-3040.
MON · 12
Metal bands from all over the country will visit Diamond Jim’s Saloon in Arlington as part of the Sinners Are Saints tour. The headliners are from Mobile, Ala. (D.R.E.A.D.), Toledo, Ohio (The Convalescence), and Flint, Mich. (Variables), but they’ll be sharing the stage with local acts Ancient Decay, The Initiative, and Lobotomy. The music starts at 8pm at 305 N Great Southwest Pkwy, Arlington. Admission is $10-12. Call 817-633-2838.
TUE · 13
Johannes Brahms started out writing pieces for solo piano and then, as he gained confidence, branched out into composing chamber music, songs, and symphonies. However, as his life wound to a close, he went back to composing pieces for the piano. This evening, Barry Douglas will perform both Brahms’ exuberant early Third Sonata and his reflective late Op. 119 piano pieces, plus works by Liszt and Schubert. The recital starts at 7:30pm at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $20-90. Call 817-212-4280.
Now this is interesting! This is the very same event which was run out of Las Vegas only last year. The promoters, knowing full-well that the Clark County animal welfare ordinance specifically forbade the roping of horses by the legs, proceeded to push for the event, under the false impression that local politicos would clear the way. Wrong! And they reportedly lost over $100,000 in the process.
For the record, only THREE of the charreada’s nine standard events have American-style counterparts: bull riding, bareback bronc riding, and team roping.
Three of the charreada’s events involve lassoing the legs of running horses, either front (“manganas” – two styles: one on foot, the other from horseback), or rear (“piales”). All of these events can put the horses at great risk. Indeed, “horse tripping” has been outlawed in a dozen states, Texas included. (California was the first, in 1995.) Nebraska banned both “horse tripping” and “steer tailing” in 2009. Two California counties (Alameda & Contra Costa) banned both back in 1993). The entire country should follow suit.
“Steer tailing” (aka “colas” or “coleadero”) is even more abusive than the horse roping events. The steer’s tail may be broken, even torn off. And horses sometimes suffer broken legs when the steers run the wrong way. Some “sport”! (See the many YouTube videos.)
I’m a big fan of cultural diversity, but NOT when it crosses the line into animal abuse, as do all of these events. Neither “horse tripping” nor “steer tailing” is a standard ranching event anywhere in the U.S., nor is either sanctioned by the PRCA or any other American-style rodeo association (which has its own share of problems, e.g., calf roping (babies!), single steer roping, and steer wrestling). Even Cesar Chavez publicly condemned the abuses of both rodeos and charreadas. (Letter available upon request–see email below.)
At the very least, one hopes that Fort Worth Animal Control will be closely monitoring these activities, and that a licensed veterinarian will be ON SITE (not merely “on call”). This seems the very least we owe these animals. Simple “tradition” justifies nothing.
Si se puede!
x
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland, CA
email – afa@mcn.org
I can’t believe the Fort Worth Weekly would promote a charreria… they might as well start advertising dogfighting matches. Animals are horribly bullied and abused for these cruel events. In “steer tailing,” for example, a rider on horseback grabs a steer’s tail, wraps it around his boot and stirrup, then veers off, slamming the steer to the ground. Sometimes this rips the skin right off the steers’ tails. This sadistic spectacle doesn’t deserve any promotion.
Before Blackfish aired widely on CNN, people went to SeaWorld without ever really thinking about what life must be like for the animals there. I hope people will take what they learned, the empathy they felt, and apply it elsewhere. It is beneath us, as a species, to tease and torment animals for our entertainment, as is the case with Charreria. If you were touched by Blackfish, please don’t attend or promote any events that involve unkindness to other animals.
Charreadas are cruel and have no place in today’s world.
In charreadas, the events are purportedly designed to test “horsemanship.” The “step of death” involves leaping from the back of one horse onto the back of a wild horse and riding until the animal becomes exhausted from trying to buck the person off. “Roman riding,” or “death jump,” calls for a charro to straddle two horses and force them to gallop toward and leap over a parked car. During the terna en el ruedo, which is the equivalent of team roping in a North American rodeo, riders must rope a calf as quickly as possible, one by the neck and the other by the hind legs. The victimized calves may suffer from paralysis, throat and neck injuries, and broken bones. Horse tripping rounds out the program of horrors.
Deliberately tormenting animals for entertainment should outlawed everywhere. Readers can learn more at http://www.BucktheRodeo.com.
I’ll stick to MLB’s World Series. There’s nothing sporting about charreadas–only a loser would support cruelty to animals.
Estimada Ms. O’Connor:
You are so wrong and if I had the pleasure of being in your presence I would let you know how ignorant you are about charro rodeo events but I refuse to use cyberspace as a shield when calling a spade a spade. You confuse what you call the “step of death” with the “death jump.” The Paso de la Muerte or Wild Horse Vault indeed involves a charro jumping at a gallop from his trained horse to a wild horse with the objective of staying on the wild steed until it stops bucking. Although no injury to the wild horse has ever been documented animal rights radicals claim the Paso de la Muerte is termed as such because the animal’s in-play are killed or crippled – WRONG! “Roman Riding”, as you term it, is a circus act and has NEVER been performed by any charro during any charreada. Charro “team roping” has NEVER involved calves. The terna involves the heading and heeling of a bull (minimum weight requirement – 924lbs.) No evidence has ever been presented to document any paralysis, throat or neck injury or broken bones to any animal used during the charro terna…the same goes for the foreleg horse catch-release charro mangana event. What a shame that some people still open their mouths with absolutely no idea of what they’re talking about.
¡SALUD!
EFR
PS: I can document all of my comments with facts.