I MARRIED A DUG DUG
by MARGARET DE LA TORRE WILKEY
You're about to meet the most extraordinary person I've found through my work on the Dug Dug's website since Armando Nava himself. In 1965, Margaret Samson was a free-spirited 18-year-old from San Diego who attended beauty school by day and crossed the border to take in the Mexican nightlife by night, becoming a regular visitor to the famous Mike's Bar. It was there that she first heard the sounds of a new band which had just arrived in Tijuana from its native Durango and was looking to take Mexico by storm. That band, of course, was the Dug Dug's!
Margaret soon found herself falling head over heels for Jorge de la Torre, the band's original lead singer. Her growing passion for the music of the Dug Dug's, combined with her growing passion for Jorge, led her to give everything up for rock and roll in the biggest of ways. She cancelled her original plans to marry and settle down with a well-to-do member of the wealthy Ratner clothing family, and actually moved to Tijuana to be with the band and with Jorge, and even adopt his surname. (Actually, they were never officially married -- but even Armando Nava refers to Margaret as "Jorge's ex-wife," and besides, we couldn't think of a better title for this story!)
From 1965 until early 1968, Margaret lived with Los Dug Dug's, eventually following them to Mexico City and becoming the mother of Jorge's first two children, Jorge Jr. (born in Mexico City in 1966) and Lisa (born in San Diego in 1968). Along the way, Margaret witnessed the birth of the Dug Dug's phenomenon as it happened, and became friends with all the original band members. She also got to know other Mexican rock legends such as Pajaro Alberto (Tijuana Five, Love Army, Conjunto Sacrosaurio), and Miguel Ibarra of Los Yaki, who lived with Los Dug Dug's for a while.
The romance of Jorge and Margaret ended shortly before Los Dug Dug's made their ill-fated trip to New York in late 1968. By that time, the growing demands of the band's increasing popularity had pushed their relationship to the breaking point, and Jorge was developing a heroin habit which would eventually cost him some hard time in prison, and very nearly his life as well. Margaret returned home with their two children to San Diego, where she still lives today. She is now a successful designer, and the son and daughter she had with Jorge are both alive and well. Unfortunately, all three currently have almost no contact with Jorge. Yet, even today, Margaret insists she has no regrets about her life as Los Dug Dug's onetime number one fan, and is more than happy to share all the details of her amazing story with us.
The seeds for this project were planted in midsummer 2003, when Margaret first introduced herself to me, and I assembled, edited and sequenced the story from dozens of emails she sent me in the days and weeks that followed. During this time, I survived the Big Blackout in northeast America, and Margaret survived the wildfires in southern California -- and watched them burn an entire row of houses to the ground right across the street from her house!
But then, just as we were finally approaching the finish line, Armando Nava made his first email contact with this website in a long time, and announced that he was coming across the border to visit his two daughters in San Diego. I proceeded to make all the necessary contacts, and as a result, this website successfully reunited Margaret with her old friend Armando for the first time since she left Mexico City, the Dug Dug's, and Jorge, a good thirty-five years ago. What we went through to bring you this very special feature is another story in and of itself!
I MARRIED A DUG DUG is more than just the story of the band's formative years. It is a rock & roll-styled Mexican novela of sorts, filled with excitement, tension, drama, and heartache. It is a unique personal glimpse into the lives of five naive and talented young men who lived for their success. And every last word of it is true. Over the next several pages, we will be bringing you the incredible story of a young American woman and three unforgettable years in the late 1960s in which she ate, drank, slept, breathed, and lived only for Los Dug Dug's, every minute of every day and night. We should all be as lucky as she was to have done so, and at such an early time in the band's career. Hopefully her words will make you feel like you were there too. I know I felt that way.
Margaret and I would like to dedicate this story to the memory of original Dug Dug Genaro Garcia, who sadly strummed his last guitar chord just a few short years ago. May he rest in peace. -- RAY
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