Elvis Crespo, Abuela, and Me

My real life consists of making meals, doing laundry and dishes, changing sheets and playing with my grandson. During the summer we also entertain quite a bit and do the normal hot weather stuff, like swimming and taking treks to the beach. 

I still maintain that it’s a charmed life, but it’s a very typical life in our very typical bedroom community in Southern California. Nothing to see here.

But I also get to do a lot of ridiculously fun things because I’m “internet famous.” (That’s famous with a little tiny “f,” but that’s not important right now.) 

Very recently, I had the very great pleasure of working as “background” for one of Jenny Lorenzo’s hilarious Abuela videos. If you haven’t yet seen Jenny’s Abuela character, you’ve been living under a rock. 

If you’re not familiar with her work, please head on over to her YouTube page and subscribe right this minute. I’ll wait. 

She is also an amazing content creator, writer, and producer of some genius We are MiTú videos. Here’s a classic example: When Abuela Throws Shade At Your Party

She channels all of our Cuban abuelas with amazing comedic precision. The gestures, attitudes, idiosyncrasies, and language so familiar to those of us raised with a Cuban abuela in the house are perfectly on point. 

So when Jenny put out the call that she needed some background for a video involving Abuela and Elvis Crespo, my son Jon and I jumped at the chance.  

A little backstory: Of all of the regular salsa songs my family plays at parties, Elvis Crespo’s “Suavemente” is a regular on our playlist. So my kids have grown up with that particular song. And by association, of course, they know about Elvis Crespo. 

The setting is the pair of Abuela’s – the genius, Laura Di Lorenzo (Mirta) and of course, Jenny Lorenzo (Abuela)  playing the classic One Up game that abuelas do so effortlessly well.

In this case: “My granddaughter’s quinceañera is better than your granddaughter’s quinceañera.”

 Of course, hilarity ensues. (For my non-Spanish-speaking friends, it has subtitles.) You’ll recognize Jon and me in the background enjoying the quinceañera and dancing up a storm when Elvis Crespo arrives at the party. 

I had tweeted about doing this video shoot which was retweeted by Elvis Crespo himself. Shut up. I konw. He looked right at me and said, “You’re the one that tweeted a little while ago.” (Full disclosure: I felt sooo accidentally cool.)

When Jenny Lorenzo asks you to be in a video with Abuela and Elvis Crespo, you say YES! 🇨🇺😎 #whenabuelascollide pic.twitter.com/asWPHzMIco

— Marta Darby (@Smrtqbn) May 24, 2017

I can’t even begin to describe how much fun we had because it was such a departure from my real life. Also, it’s almost impossible to keep a straight face when the abuelas start going at it, but that’s not important right now, either. 

It was such a pleasure to work on this set with so many talented people. I totally felt like I was with family. (I know people say that a lot, but seriously, it was so true.)

So we showed up. We shmoozed. We partied. We danced. Elvis Crespo sang Suavemente to us. I know. This is not my real life. 

But when I said that to Jon, he replied, “Mom, you met Elvis Crespo and danced in Jenny Lorenzo’s video. This is TOTALLY your real life.” 

Shut up. I know.