I
entered the main stage and it was Jonny
Martinez and his group. Man talk about explosive performance. They
gave the crowd what they wanted. Good music and a great time. The
accordion player (Estevan) was pushing and pulling the bellows with
fierce intensity. He made it look so easy and he was having a great
time. Steve, on bass, was doing a great job on the bass. Mr.
Martinez has a great group of young men who can really play and put
on a show with great music. Jonny then gave the crowd a surprise
when he introduced Eddie Gonzales. The people went crazy. I had a
great view from the side of the stage. I felt a presence next to me.
It was Ricardo Hernandez from Aur-Marc entertainment. When Eddie got
on stage a young man looked at me and said. " Hey Juan!" and he made
his way to the stage. I was so surprised that I forgot the song that
they played. The young man that greeted me was playing the accordion
and man was he good. He had to be one of the most musical and
professional accordion player I have seen to date. Yes people …THAT
GOOD. I asked Ricardo Hernendez if he knew who that young man was
and he said it was his son Marcos Hernandez. He also stated that his
son got a Grammy along with Chente Barrera. I am certain that we
will hear more from this young man. Mr. Hernandez you should be very
proud of your son. Eddie then went into the song ‘Porque’. He got
the crowd to sing along. Great performance by Eddie, Marcos, and
Jonny along with the rest of the band. Jonny then played a cumbia
like song that was very different in sound. It was like tropical but
Estevan was taking the lead with the accordion. It was a great song.
I wanted to grab the nearest female and just dance. I got mental
pictures of myself passed out on the floor from exhaustion and I
changed my mind. When they finished I was a little disappointed
because I wanted to hear more.
I tried to make my way outside. I
barely made it out the door. Shelly Lares was singing but I couldn’t
even get close enough to see her. What I heard was great and I could
see that the people were really having a great time. All of the
people were like children in the greatest Toy Store just having a
wonderful time. I made my way back inside because there was just too
many people outside.
Just in time too because Los
Desperadoz were on stage and what a musical treat. These guys
started strong and just kept playing and playing. PJ (Patrick) was
on drums and people kept giving him cheers of encouragement. Patric
had fallen ill for sometime but he was back. They had a great
timbale player by the name of Joey Olivarez. Lee and Mike were doing
some awesome vocals. They did some Bernal, Chachos, 2 g’s, all
Desporadoz style. Great 3 part harmonies by the group. I was
enjoying myself just standing and listening. The whole band looked
like they were having a great time. The crowd? They went crazy with
the music. I could not believe the level of musicianship that I had
witnessed so far….FROM A FRONT ROW SEAT…AGAIN.
Well the night came to an end
for me and off we went to get some rest for the next day. Oh..My
son? I tried to keep an eye on him but everytime I looked for him he
had his arm around some beautiful TEJANITA. When we left the
Cadillac bar my son said he had a great time. His face was gleaming
with joy. It kind of looked like a ‘glazed’ doughnut.
It was Saturday morning and off we went to the
meeting setup by the TAB Administrators. I was surprised by how many
people were there. What impressed me the most was the number of
young talent that was there. People…these young men and women play
our beloved, true, Tejano music. They are ready to do their part.
All they want is a chance. They are ready to pay their dues, so to
speak, but they need to start somewhere. They don’t want their
chance on a silver platter. THEY WANT TO EARN IT AND THEY ARE READY.
The meeting ended around noontime. I got an invite to see Veronica Y
Avance at fanfare. I also told her I would do my best.
I had to go see my mom. I got an
earful the last time I went to San Antonio so I made the time to go.
I got back to Market Square and I got to see and hear the last 3
songs from Veronica Y Avance. I really enjoyed their performance.
Veronica did very well with her vocals. The rest of the band was
also very good. They had a good horn section and a female bass
player who really impressed me. This band also put on a great show
without compromising the music. The accordion player was also very
good. The last song was done by the guys in the group. The horn
section put down their instruments and did their thing in front of
the stage. This was done with a polka being played by the accordion
player who did an incredible job going up and down the scale with
the accordion. He didn’t miss a note. It was like in a 2/4 beat and
the accordion was playing a lot of 16th notes. Well.it
sounded like that to me. I believe the accordion player’s name was
Nelson Cardona (I lost part of my notes). The bass player was Erica
Sustaita (not sure of spelling). The young men did some great
choreography with the last song. They stood on each side of the
accordion player and did some " air accordion" playing. Then they
thrilled the crowd when the whole band did the ‘ dodging bullets
backwards’ scene from the MATRIX movie. It really looked cool. The
accordion player also did it without skipping a beat on the
accordion. This was a great finish.
I now went to the Mariachi stage to see if I could
see Ambixion play. There must have been about 6 or 7 thousand people
at Market Square. Give or take 2 or 3 thousand. I got to the
Mariachi stage and my good friends from Bnet radio were there.
Roland Martinez, Manny ‘El Picante’ Garcia, and the lovely Betty G.
Maryanne (DHOC) and her sister were also there by the stage. There
was a band there that was playing killer classic rock. The lady
singing was Hilda Lamas. She had that voice that was meant for rock
music. I really liked the way she sang the songs. She was backed by
some of the best players that could play rock music. The guitarist
was a very seasoned player and he played the guitar like if he had
been born with it. The whole band did a very good job and the crowd
loved the music. There were young and old dancing and swaying to the
music. They finished there set with a classic song named " Alright
Now". I don’t remember who had recorded the song but Hilda did a
great job. What I liked was that they were not trying to be anybody
but themselves.
Wile the next band was getting ready I was honored by
the Bnet crew when they called me to the stage to give a few
shout-outs and to talk a little about Tejano R.o.o.t.s. that was
really cool of Bnet radio. We are all here for the same reason…to
promote and support our beautiful music.
It was time for Ambixion and they started really
strong. The guys were very energetic and they also had their own
distinct style. They did some classic remakes of some songs with
there own flavor. I liked their rendition of ‘Cumbia del Sol’. They
also did ‘ El Pintor’ and they gave the crowd a little country tune.
I was impressed that the entire crowd was still there but they had
made their way closer to the stage. This Dallas conjunto has it
going and I expect great things to come from this band. I heard that
the accordion player has just a few years of experience on that
instrument. This band was definitely Conjunto To The Bone….I got a
copy of there CD. When I arrived in Alice I was surprised to see
that one of the songs they recorded was ‘ LO Lindo De Ti’. A song
that my father wrote and recorded with El Conjunto Bernal.
Well folks that was all the time
I had. I needed to get back to Alice. It wasn’t even dark yet but I
had to get up at 5:00 a.m. the next day. I went to check on Javier
Villanueva before I left. I just wanted to see if he was OK and if
he needed anything. It was hot out there. I caught the last song of
Sueno and they did a great job. They had a really big crowd and I
was not surprised. This band just keeps getting better and better
with time. A lot of Dallas, Texas was playing in San Antonio and
they were there to show the world that THEY CAN PLAY. I left out
some of the songs that all of these bands play on purpose. I don’t
want for people to take my word that they can play. I want the
people to see and hear for themselves. None of these bands sounded
the same. They all had their own unique style of playing our music.
I did not see the legends, and the already established groups,
because I already know that they can play. I wanted to see and hear
the future of our music. I have great hope and high expectations
from these young Tejanitos/Tejanitas. The Tejas Records stable of
Artist is very good. The Cadillac bar and its personnel were great.
I just want the younger groups not to let ‘being good’ get in the
way of ‘getting better’. I hope that you enjoyed my Tejano
Whisper!
>>> Back to Part
1
