Tag Archives: music

Pura Salsa on the Chicano Connection (02/19/20)

Chicano Connection Radio Show, KXCI, Music, ,

Salsa!

Listen to part one of last night’s show here.

Listen to part two of last night’s show here.

I was very tired yesterday when I got home from work at 5, so I took a nap, thinking I could just sleep for half an hour and wake up in plenty of time to work on my radio show from 5:30 to 7pm. As luck would have it, however, I overslept and woke up at 5:50 rather than 5:30. I thought to myself, oh oh, what am I gonna do? I don’t have a lot of time to prepare this show. I hate having to rush, but the clock was ticking away. I decided, to heck with it, I’m just going to play nothing but songs that last 5 minutes or longer. Where could I find a whole show’s worth of songs that were that long? And then the lightbulb went on! Last week I had played an all-English language dance music show, so this week I decided I would play an all Spanish language dance show and feature nothing but salsa! Those songs are all usually 4 to 6 minutes long and they’re quite danceable too. So lo and behold, that’s exactly what I did. I went through my small collection of salsa and musica tropical and came up with a good handful of tunes, all of which were at least 4 minutes long. I gave folks a heads up on Facebook that I would be having another dance party, but that this time the featured music would be a mix of salsa and Latin jazz, and one friend in particular got very excited and told me she had just put her dancing shoes on and was ready to boogie the night away. I dubbed the title of the show, “Salsa A to Z”. I almost made it all the way through the alphabet, but had to skip one or two artists because I had run out of time. That same friend who was ready to bop the night away later told me she thought it was a perfect show. Wow, sometimes you never know how things are going to turn out. I have to admit that initially I wasn’t all that excited about doing an all salsa show, as I was bummed that I had to rush things, and I usually like to mix things up, but I’m glad at least one person liked it.

It’s Time for a Dance Party on the Chicano Connection (02/12/20)

Chicano Connection Radio Show, KXCI, Music,

Listen to part one of last night’s show here.

Playlist for Part One:

Rufus with Chaka Khan/Dance Wit Me–Aretha Franklin/What a Fool Believes–Grace Jones/I’m Not Perfect (But I’m Perfect For you)–The Weather Girls/It’s Raining Men–The Pointer Sisters/I’m so Excited–Wham/Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go)–Madonna/Like a Prayer-Natalie Cole/This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)–Lipps, Inc./Funky Town–Cher/Take Me Home–Alicia Bridges/I Love the Nightlife–Deniece Williams/Let’s Hear It For the Boy (partial)

Listen to part two of last night’s show here.

Playlist for Part Two:

Deniece Williams/Let’s Hear It For the Boy(partial)–Aretha Franklin/Who’s Zoomin’ Who?–Whitney Houston/How Will I Know?–Gladys Knight/Love Overboard–Chaka Khan/I Feel For You–Darlene Love/He’s Sure the Man I Love–The Staple Singers/I’ll Take You There–Madonna/Holiday–Natalie Cole/Pink Cadillac–Etta James/Jump Into My Fire–Grace Jones/Pull Up to the Bumper Baby–Labelle/Lady Marmalade–Aretha Franklin/Deeper Love

I didn’t know what the heck I was going to feature on the program yesterday. I’ve been so focused on getting my website updated that I haven’t had much time to pay attention to birthdays or holidays etc. When I finally sat down to start preparing it, it occurred to me that I needed a good workout, as I haven’t been exercising regularly lately, and I thought about doing an oldies show, but for some reason, I decided on featuring 70’s and 80’s dance music. I started by looking at Aretha Franklin’s music from the 80s. I wanted to hear songs that had a strong dance beat, so I decided on stuff like “What a Fool Believes”, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” and “Deeper Love.”, all three of which I played last night. I actually had six of her songs in mind, but once I got started pulling other material, I ended up playing just three of them.

Because I wanted the show to be a dance show, I decided to open it with an invitation, and played “Dance Wit Me” by Rufus and Chaka Khan. I then played Aretha’s version of “What A Fool Believes” and Grace Jones song, “I’m Not Perfect, But I’m Perfect for you”. From there, I did my usual introduction and let folks know that the evening was going to be nothing but dance music by women, and proceeded with “It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls. I also played Madonna’s song “Like A Prayer” , Lipps, Inc. tune “Funky Town”,and other stuff. One of my boo boos included playing the song “Wake Me Up, Before You Go Go”, by Wham. I miscued the darned song, thinking I was going to play the Deneice Williams’ tune, “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”. I ended up joking about George Michael sneaking in and being one of the girls… oh well. I played the song by Williams later in the program.

The show proceeded without too many other boo boos, but one other big one occurred when, to my horror, Cher’s song, “Take Me Home”, started, rather than “I Love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges. Another miscue. Damn, that was the very first time I’ve ever played Cher. I think she’s tacky, stuck up and rude, and I don’t like her. I’ve never played her and never will again. I cut that song short, as a result, and segued into the Alicia Bridges song.

Other than those two miscues, everything else turned out fine. I included stuff by Whitney Houston, The Staple Singers, Labelle, Gladys Knight and others. I had a blast and danced my ass off for two whole hours. I’m now very sore, but I needed a good workout. I hope folks enjoyed the music!

I have no idea what I’ll be playing next week. That’s what makes this all so much fun!

UNA NOCHE DE CORRIDOS /Program (2016)

Music, Work, ,

13962564_1767884846824146_4267989753149409075_n

“Special Collections hosts its third annual evening of song, featuring local musicians performing Mexican corridos in Spanish. Similar to English ballads, corridos tell the story of an event, a person or a place, and often include words of wisdom for those tempted by lust or greed. A brief lecture, titled, “An Introduction to the Corrido” will be given by Bob Diaz, Special Collections curator for the performing arts. This program is supported by the Mexican American Studies department”.

Listen to the audio of the program here.

Wow, what can I say? I’m so glad that  “Una Noche de Corridos” event turned out so well, in spite of the fact that the musicians that agreed to  play for us were not able to make it after all. We had over 100 people in attendance. I had asked the musicians to show up 15 minutes early. By 6pm, they still hadn’t shown up. I was sweating bullets by then.

When 6pm rolled around it was time to start the program. I gave  my  presentation on the corrido, and  fumbled a bit along the way with having to toggle back and forth from one program to another, but I got through it. The audience was very receptive and understanding, and they seemed to enjoy the videos I presented.

_12a0975

Once I ended my part of the program (see my previous blog post, What’s to know about corridos, anyway?, as I used it as the basis for the presentation), it was time to announce that our expected musicians hadn’t shown up. I then asked if there were any other musicians in the house who wanted to sing. I knew Bobby Benton was there with his guitar, so I figured I could count on him. He agreed to sing. And lo and behold, to everyone’s delight and surprise another individual also came forward. Her name is Tiffany Alvarez. I had my guitar on hand, so she used it to perform. Tiffany is a biologist and mariachi musician who has performed with Mariachi Mujer 2000, and Bobby Benton is a native of Barrio Anita, and a well respected singer whose talents can be heard on the cd recording titled Heroes and Horses: Corridos from the Arizona-Sonoran Borderlands.

_12a0984They each sang three songs, and accompanied one another on guitar. The songs included: El Siete Leguas, La Herradera, El Corrido de Nogales, and El Preso Numero Nueve. The audience just ate it up. They loved it!

_12a0983

Again, I can’t say how grateful I am to these two wonderful individuals!

After the program, folks stuck around to enjoy some food and beverages. I met many wonderful people last night. My good friends Mima and Pernela were there too. We sang happy birthday to Mima, and I mentioned that Pernela had won a corrido contest at Tucson Meet Yourself. She said she was going to get me back for that one. She brought her sister Gloria, who used to babysit me when I was a baby. I love Gloria. She reminds me of Mrs Jones. She and Irene, my sister, were great friends in their youth.

By the time I got home last night, it was nearly 9pm. I was exhausted, and still a bit in shock over what happened. Thank goodness it all turned out so well!

Here is a very nice note I just received from someone who attended:

Hello Bob:

Just a quick note to say how much my son and I enjoyed last night’s program! We had a great time.

I really enjoyed the musicians and the snacks after. The whole thing reminded me of when I was a kid and my dad and uncles would sit in the backyard on a Saturday night playing the guitar and singing, all while the beer and tequila flowed. Of course, my mother wasn’t happy about the last part but I remember when my grandmother would join in the singing. I haven’t thought about that for a long time, so thank you.

Anyway, I wanted you to know that it was a lot of fun. And we enjoyed your talk, too. My dad used to play all kinds of Jose Jimenez records.

Karen

————————————-

P.S.

Writer Xavier Omar Otero wrote this review of the event for the Tucson Weekly.