Amalia Quiñones

24 memories9 places

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2026

1 photoAdded Oct 4, 2026

You went to Mar y Sol?

Sofía was looking through some of my old photographs and found one of Carmen and me when we were young. She asked where it was taken and I said I thought it was Mar y Sol. She said, "What's Mar y Sol?" So I told her. When I got to the part about Carmen telling her mother she was staying at my house and me telling Mami I was staying at Carmen's, Sofía looked at me like she'd never seen me before. "You did that?" I reminded her that I was 21 years old. Apparently this did not make it better. Then she wanted to know everything. Who we saw. Where we slept. What we wore. Whether my mother ever found out. Some of it I knew. Some of it I couldn't remember. And some of it I realized I hadn't thought about in more than fifty years.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

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~1983

2 songsAdded Oct 4, 2026

Nobody wanted to hear my records

When I came back from Mexico I brought records with me that almost nobody I knew wanted to listen to. Joy Division, Siouxsie, The Cure. Carmen tolerated them. Rafi said they all sounded miserable. I remember putting Siouxsie on one night and Rafi asking me what had happened to Santana. Nothing had happened to Santana. I still loved Santana. I never understood why people thought liking something new meant you had to stop liking whatever came before it.

Santurce, Puerto Rico

Christine — Siouxsie and the Banshees

A Forest — The Cure

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~1980

1 songAdded Oct 4, 2026

Héctor Lavoe in Mexico

Somebody put on “Periódico de Ayer” at a party and I started crying. Not dramatically. I just suddenly had tears in my eyes and had to go to the bathroom because I didn't want anybody asking what was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Héctor Lavoe had been around me for years in Puerto Rico and I barely paid attention. I was the one listening to rock records and making fun of what the grownups listened to. Then I heard him in Mexico and all I could think about was home. I stayed in the bathroom until I stopped crying and then went back out and pretended nothing happened. I don't think anyone noticed.

Mexico City, Mexico

Periódico de Ayer — Héctor Lavoe

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1979

1 songAdded Oct 4, 2026

The record with the white lines

Andrés brought over a record with a black cover and these strange white lines on it. I asked what it was and instead of answering he put it on. It didn't sound like the rock I knew. At first I wasn't even sure I liked it. Then he played it again. I ended up borrowing it and keeping it for weeks until he finally came looking for it. Joy Division sent me down a completely different path with music. Siouxsie and the Banshees came after that, and The Cure. I was 28 and suddenly felt like there was a whole new kind of music I knew nothing about. That was a wonderful feeling.

Mexico City, Mexico

Unknown Pleasures — Joy Division

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April 1–3, 1972

1 photoAdded Oct 4, 2026

Mar y Sol

Carmen's mother thought she was sleeping at my house and Mami thought I was sleeping at Carmen's. We were 21 years old, which sounds ridiculous now, but neither one of us was going to tell our parents we were going to spend the weekend at Mar y Sol. We went with some friends in a car that I can't believe made it there. I remember we brought almost nothing useful. No proper rain clothes, not enough food, nothing sensible to sleep on. We thought we were very prepared. Then it rained. There was mud everywhere. Everything was wet. At some point I stopped caring. I remember being exhausted and dirty and incredibly happy. For hours people kept saying Black Sabbath was coming. Then somebody said they couldn't get through the traffic. I don't know when we finally believed they weren't coming. I remember the Allman Brothers much more clearly. Or at least I think I do. That's the strange thing after all these years. I don't remember the performances in order. Some of them I probably only think I remember because I've seen the names so many times since. But I remember the crowd. I remember looking around and thinking I had never seen so many people like us in one place before. And I remember Carmen turning to me at some point and saying, "Your mother is going to kill you." She didn't. She was much more interested in why everything I owned was covered in mud.

Los Tubos / Manatí, Puerto Rico

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1970

1 songAdded Oct 4, 2026

The first record I bought myself

The first record I remember buying with my own money was Abraxas by Santana. I had bought singles before but an album felt like a serious purchase. I must have been 19. I think I bought it partly because I loved the cover. I brought it home and Rafi immediately wanted to know where I got the money for it, which annoyed me because I was working by then. I played it constantly. Black Magic Woman especially, over and over. Rafi eventually told me I was going to ruin it. This from the person who had spent years telling me not to touch his records.

Santurce, Puerto Rico

Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen — Santana

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~1965

Added Oct 4, 2026

Rafi's records

Rafi was five years older than me and his records were absolutely forbidden. Naturally I listened to them whenever he wasn't home. His room had a little record player and he kept the albums standing against the wall. I would sit on the floor and try to put everything back exactly where it was so he wouldn't know I'd been there. He always knew. I scratched one of his records once and blamed it on one of his friends. I don't remember which record it was anymore, although Rafi probably does. That's where I heard a lot of music for the first time. The Beatles, the Stones, Dylan. Later Hendrix. I didn't understand half of what they were singing about. It didn't matter. The funny thing is that Rafi wasn't especially patient with me about anything else, but sometimes he'd come home and find me there and instead of throwing me out he'd put something on and say, "Listen to this one."

Santurce, Puerto Rico

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