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A song I don’t think I’ve ever heard before!!

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1) In this week’s song, Lucie Arnaz encourages us to hop a ship and join her in Cuba. Is your passport up to date?

Definitely not. It’s been years since I’ve had a passport.

2) She sings that Cuba is a great place to enjoy wine and Panatelas. Do you like the smell of a good cigar?

Depends on the cigar. I’ve smelled some that smell terrible, but I have a memory of a chocolate-scented one. Honestly, I haven’t really been around too many cigars.

3) Lucie said her Latin Roots CD represents “the rhythms of my soul” and is a tribute to her father, Desi Arnaz. Cuban-born Desi starred on Broadway and in nightclubs but was best known for co-starring in and producing the 1950s sitcom, I Love Lucy. When you think of I Love Lucy, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Always this scene. I don’t know why!!

4) While Lucie’s parents – Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball – are famous for their TV work, Tony-nominated Lucie has found her greatest success on the stage. She inherited their love of performing, saying, “My parents were always happiest when they were working.” What have you inherited from one or both your parents? (It could be anything from your work ethic to your eye color.)

My love of music, both listening and playing, came from both of them. My diehard love of books also came from both of them. And I think I look equal parts my mother and father.

5) Though “Ricky Riccardo” often mangled English on I Love Lucy, Desi’s English was very good. Lucille Ball admired his facility with languages and encouraged him to speak Spanish to their children so that they would be bilingual. When you were growing up, did your family speak any language other than English?

No, not on the regular.

6) Desi Arnaz often performed “I Will See You in C-U-B-A.” Is there a song that reminds you of your father?

A few. My dad, who was a lawyer/photographer, also had perfect pitch and could play any instrument he put his hands on, sing any song. He heard a song once, and it was his.

The Devil Went Down to Georgia was one of his favorites to perform. Sometimes he’d play the fiddle, other times guitar, but it was the singing he loved the most for this one.

Dueling Banjos is another. He’d play this with his best friend and it was amazing.

This is one of my favorites, and my dad sang this a lot with his friend.

7) After Lucie’s parents divorced, Lucille Ball remarried and Lucie got a stepfather, Gary Morton. Lucie appreciated how positive Gary always was about Desi. Decades later, when she married a man who already had children, Lucie said she better understood what a tough role stepparent can be. Did you have a stepparent? Are you a stepparent?

I had both stepmoms and a stepfather, but I am not one.

8) As a single dad, Desi lived south of Los Angeles in Del Mar. Lucie and her brother, Desi Jr., spent school vacations there, going to the race track, bowling, and fishing with their dad. Share a happy memory from one of your school vacations (Christmas, Spring Break, or Summer)

Summers growing up were spent at camp at Higley Flow. We had a place on the river, so summers were spent out in the boat with my cousin and our friends. It was great. No phone, no cable. I miss it.

9) Father’s Day began in Washington state. In the early 1900s, Spokane resident Sonora Smart Dodd listened to her minister deliver a sermon celebrating Mother’s Day and devoted herself to similarly honoring fathers. A century later, more money is still spent annually on Mother’s Day. Why do you suppose that nationally we still make more of a fuss over Mother’s Day than Father’s Day?

I honestly don’t know. In my family growing up, and in ours now, it’s treated the same.