| | |  Entertainment 
Kosmas is Back at Coco Tropical Restaurant
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
March 04, 2010
| | Kosmas performing a guitar ballad at Coco Tropical. | |
| | My adopted parents, Dr. Gabriel Parra and his wife Luzma enjoyed the evening listening, dancing and dining. | 
| | Three women from Vancouver decided to stop in when they heard the music walking along the Malecon and the next thing I knew they were singing the backup vocals to California Dreaming and did quite a good job. | |
I went out to Coco Tropical last week to see my good friend Kosmas perform while dining at the popular Los Muertos beach restaurant. Having known Kosmas for a number of years I expected to enjoy the show as I always do, but I was amazed when I realized that just like a fine wine, Kosmas is getting better with age.
Kosmas has been spending four months a year in Puerto Vallarta for the last 20 years and the rest of his year is spent in his hometown of Athens, Greece. After a very successful run of 38 years in the New York City area, Kosmas retired to enjoy life, travel, play tennis and of course pursue his passion; music.
He has been playing in popular supper clubs a few nights a week while in Puerto Vallarta for a number of years and the one man show continues to entertain everyone, regardless of age, with the wide array of songs in his arsenal. He plays to his audience and generally receives more special requests than what he had planned for his two hour show. Singing popular tunes in seven different languages fits in perfectly in this sunny seaside resort that has visitors from around the globe.
This was a special night for me as I took my adopted (not officially) Mexican parents to Coco Tropical to see Kosmas perform. Dr. Gabriel Parra and his wonderful wife Luzma speak just a little English, and I was not sure that they would know many of the songs that were to be performed. But after three or four songs I realized that music is a universal language and they knew each and every song, coming from the repertoire that Kosmas has compiled over the years. He can perform over 5000 songs and in seven different languages.
Opening with "The Way You Look Tonight", following with "New York, New York" and then the Mexican ballad "Besame Mucho", I stole a glance at my guests and they were signing the songs along with Kosmas. He called me up to the stage to accompany him with Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" and then a group from Vancouver requested "California Dreaming" and they sang backup and quite well. At this point the dance floor was full, with the crowd ranging from their young 30s to well, let's say long retired folks.
Then Kosmas belted out the popular "Conte Partiro" a most famous opera piece by Italian Andrea Bocceli and then did a Dominican cha cha number, a swing tune and then sang a melody of disco tunes; the most popular "I Will Survive". Then back to some American classics from the 50s and 60s, such as "Unchained Melody" and Runaround Sue" before I was summoned back onstage to help accompany Kosmas with one of my favorites, "Brown Eyed Girl". There were many more in between before he closed the night with "Imagine", the John Lennon classic.
As was the norm when Kosmas performs, he gets the audience involved and during his break he always goes to each table to chat with the customers. In Puerto Vallarta he has quite a following and always acknowledges everyone by name as they arrive when he is on stage. The Parras, my guests, told me that the night was one they will treasure for years to come and Kosmas gave them a CD at the evening's end.
Kosmas will be playing Thursday and Friday nights at Coco Tropical at Los Muertos Beach form 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM until the end of March. I would recommend calling for reservations at 222-5485 locally as he often plays to a full house.
Kosmas recently launched his own website that includes over 230 full versions of the 5000+ songs he performs. He has been kind enough to ask that his MP3 files remain free for downloading from this site. Visit Kosmas' site HERE and enjoy his music and sign his guestbook. |
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