Latino Film Festival-Alma Y Mas
I made it to the opening night of the Cine + Mas 8th SF Latino Film Festival to see the Chilean comedy “Alma”. It had a light, airy touch considering that it’s about a serious subject: a heroine that’s a manic depressive with bi-polar disorder. Under less capable hands, this film could have been a depressing fiasco. However, it was a hilarious farce built around the 20 year marriage between Alma and her husband, Fernando. When Fernando lets his frustrations with her behavior come out at the worst possible time and declares that he is ashamed of her illness, he gets kicked out of the house and Alma meets Gaspar a new, younger suitor. It is Fernando’s quest to get her back that is the cornerstone of this engaging comedy. Other significant films that were featured during the festival included the powerful prison drama “Perros” which stars comedian John Leguziamo in a serious dramatic role, the Cuban family saga “Cafe Amargo” and the intriguing Mexican drama “Amir” about an aspiring musician who has to resolve conflicts on his way to adulthood. This is the eight annual Latino Film Festival which have shown films in venues as diverse as the Alamo Draftshouse, the Roxie Theater, The DeYoung Museum and the Mission Cultural...
read moreNotes from Late Summer 2016
Hi Everyone, I hope that your Summer was full of fun and excitement. I recently returned from visiting in-laws, family and friends in Spain! I got back to participate in the San Jose Jazz Summerfest on a Salsa DJ fueled stage with my radio colleague Jose Ruiz…it was a blast! I was sidelined for most of the month after the show recovering from an accident (I’m ok!!) However, I was able to bounce back and volunteer my help during Labor Day weekend at the annual Brazilian Day – Lavagem produced by my old friend Concecao Damasceno of Ginga Brasil/Bras Arte and the great people of Casa Del Cultura.(Shout out to Nick, Jose, Vanessa and the crew). Great live music provided by special guest Margareth Menezes sitting in with SambaDa(who were fabulous), Spok, Boca Do Rio, Dandara and Pandemonium and others!! I was also able to catch only a bit of the Festival De La Isla up in Vacaville. I caught a bit of the music of Avance, Hector Tricoche(who killed it with Orquesta De La Isla) and 90’s Salsa Romantica crooner Nino Segarra. I wasn’t able to catch Johnny Rivera or Ray Sepulveda but I heard they had great sets! Catch you...
read moreRandom Notes 7/29/16
Is it me or is this Summer just blowing by? It’s been hot in the SF Bay Area. Roberton from Los Van Van visited the SF Bay and joined locally based Cuban vocal legend Fito Reinoso on stage at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival’s monthly Thursday Salsa happenings at Jessie Square last week. Our good friend, Luisito Cuba was instrumental in hooking up a visit from Roberton who not only hooked up with Fito but visited SF’s Bissap Baobab after the show for a rumba featuring Roberton on congas and vocals joined by renowned congueros Sandy Perez and Jesus Diaz. Reinoso joined Roberton on vocals. Other visits included the Cigar Bar and Cana Oakland!…Salsa heartthrob Jerry Rivera also visited the SF Bay and headlined the Peruvian festival at Swiss Park….Speaking of Pop/Salsa heartthrobs…El Sonero De La Juventud Victor Manuelle is paying SF a visit on Saturday, July 30 at the Regency Ballroom. N’Rumba is opening up the show which is also featuring DJ Pablo. Coming up: John Santos Sextet at Yoshis Aug. 12. SF Jazz is featuring a Cuban piano summit with Gonzalo Rubalcaba 8/11, Fabian Almazan/Aruan Ortiz 8/12, Alfredo Rodriguez/Ivan “Melon” Lewis 8/13, Harold Nussa-Lopez/Aldo Lopez-Gavilian 8/14 and featuring percussion phenom Pedrito Martinez joining each of the headliners on these string of dates….San Jose Jazz Summerfest heats up the same weekend 8/12-8/14 with a kick-off Salsa block party featuring yours truly from 9 to 11 pm and my radio/dj colleague Jose Ruiz starting at 7 pm at the San Pedro Street Stage. We’ll be throwing down hot music for dancing in the streets so come on by!! Festival performers that weekend will feature the hot Puerto Rican band “Pirulu Y La Tribu” as well as La Maquina Insular, the Bay Area Salsa All Stars, Lizz Wright, Sergio Mendes, Miguel Zenon, Kermit Ruffins, Bobby Caldwell, Jose James and others. Info:...
read moreCatching Up With Arturo Sandoval
I feel invigorated after catching a set from virtuoso trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and entertainer Arturo Sandoval at Yoshi’s this week. Sandoval, whose illustrious history includes being one of the founding members of the famed Cuban supergroup Irakere, a protege of the legendary jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie and currently enjoying an acclaimed solo career, was in fine form fronting a top notch band of ace players. Sandoval whose winning combination of his sharp sense of humor, effervescent personality and phenomenal playing easily won over the packed Yoshi’s crowd. He played a few selections off his current “Live At Yoshi’s” recording including an explosive Funk to Salsa tour de force version of the classic “El Manicero” featuring Sandoval on vocals, trumpet, keyboards and timbales! His jazz selections were sublime including his version of “A Night In Tunisia”! It’s great to catch up with greats such as Arturo Sandoval who is definitely alive and...
read moreOMCA 2nd Fridays are Smokin’ En Clave!
It was a joy to DJ for a crowd of diverse, beautiful folks at the Oakland Museum last Friday, July 8th for their Friday Nights at the OMCA. The great Cuban vocalist Fito Reinoso and his Ritmo Y Armonia was the featured band and they did smoke with their energized, hypnotic brand of Timba and Son “para el bailador”. I was behind the wheels of steel playing hot Salsa, Timba, Mambo, Son, Guaguanco, Reggaeton and Merengue to the packed masses on the Oakland Museum outdoor dance floor. It’s a great scene and it’s free every Friday night. Every 2nd Friday is devoted to Latin music with rotating bands and DJ’s. For more information, visit their web site at museumca.org/friday-nights-omca. Check it...
read moreJose Mangual Jr. – Still Swinging and coming back to Northern Cali!
One of the enduring figures in Salsa, the renowned vocalist, percussionist and record producer Jose Mangual Jr. will make a rare appearance at the 38th Annual Western Region Puerto Rican Council’s El Dia De San Juan scholarship fundraiser at History Park, 1650 Senter Road in San Jose this Saturday, June 18 from 11am to 7 pm. Jose Mangual Jr. is one of two musician brothers born to Jose Mangual Sr., legendary percussionist with the Machito Orchestra and other giants of the Cubop/Mambo era. Jose joined a youthful orchestra led by a budding trombonist Willie Colon in 1968 which featured vocalist Hector Lavoe, conguero Milton Cardona and timbalero Louie Romero. This band was to make musical history with a fresh take on NY Salsa combining jazz, boogaloo, street smarts and the urbanization of PR jibaro music in it’s mix and produced many hits. Mangual performed with Colon until 1977 when he took over musical direction of Hector Lavoe’s new band. He later started his solo career as a singer, musician and record producer. Mangual produced his first recording “Tribute To Chano Pozo” as well as his solo recordings, his collaborations with Jimmy Sabater as Son Boricua, the Estrellas Caiman and countless others. He will be reuniting with Louie Romero (Colon alumni) on this special...
read moreLos Van Van – A Giant of a live band with an enduring legacy!
The other great one-of-a-kind band that I caught live was the legendary Los Van Van who made their annual SF visit to the Herbst Theatre (which isn’t the ideal place to catch this fabulous dance band – what we have to put up with to see our favorites!) Once I got to the Herbst, I forgot about my seat and stood with the dancing masses near the front of the stage. What an incredible show! The front line of vocalists/show people: Mandy Cantero, Roberto “Roberton” Hernandez, Yenny Valdes and Lele Rosales just had the crowd in the palm of their hand with great singing, charisma, knockout dance moves and irresistible call and response. Leader/drummer/timbalero Samuel Formell was all smiles as he was having a great time leading this dynamic intergenerational band with a sound that’s a force of nature made up of 3 trombones, 2 violins, 2 keyboards, bass, conguero, guiro and background vocalist. Performing new material and crowd favorites, Los Van Van conquered the Herbst crowd. By the time that they performed “Te Pone La Cabeza Mala” as their final song of the set, the crowd was standing up, dancing and ready to party the whole night! Unfortunately, this is the United States and prestigious gigs end early. The fortunate thing for all of us is that we can look forward to Los Van Van to visit us again in the...
read moreSHO – One of two great one of a kind bands – caught live!
I may have missed the phenomenal Oscar D’Leon at Carnaval SF this year but I caught two of the best live bands in the planet. One of them is the Spanish Harlem Orchestra led by pianist/musical director Oscar Hernandez. SHO wowed the Carnaval weekend audience at Yoshi’s! What a great live Salsa orchestra-SHO played phenomenally and with passion. The front line of great vocalists, Marco Bermudez and Carlos Cascante were joined by new member Jeremy Bosch on vocals and flute replacing Ray De La Paz. The coros were on the money and the band sounded incredibly tight. The repertoire of predominately original material and the Tito Rodriguez cover “This Is Mambo” was top notch for both the listener and the dancer. SHO were missing 3 members of the band! However, timbalero Joey De Leon, trumpeter Mike Olmos and trombonist Jaime Dubberly played in top form that you marveled that they were subs for great musicians. They joined incredible players such as trombonist Doug Beavers, saxophonist/flautist Mitch Frohman, conguero George Delgado, bassist Jerry Madera and percussionist Jorge Gonzalez. Spanish Harlem Orchestra reminded me of their commitment to Salsa Dura and the greatness of that musical art form that is still thankfully alive and...
read moreCompania All Stars in San Francisco!
The Compania All Stars, acclaimed dance troupe from Santiago De Cuba has been performing and visiting around the SF Bay Area. They have just performed at the Brava Theater in SF’s Mission District the weekend of May 21st and 22nd. The troupe is scheduled to make a couple of performances that are free to the public at SF Carnaval on 17th & Harrison on Sunday, May 29th at 2 pm and at the De Young Museum Friday Nights on Friday, June 3rd starting at 5 pm. I have the honor of emceeing this free event which features their performance as well as dance lessons taught by Ryan Mead and Sidney Waverling and their Rueda De Ritmo dance company at 5 pm and 6 pm. The Compania All Stars will start their performance at 7...
read moreIndia comes alive in SF!
The “Princess of Salsa”, India visited the SF Bay Area to a packed enthusiastic crowd of her fans at Roccapulco last weekend. India still possesses a tremendous singing voice and still displays a lot of heart, warmth and soul into her performances. I haven’t seen her in a long time but was impressed with her joy, her ability to connect with her audience (she wasn’t afraid to talk to us) and her professionalism. Backed by her musical director, the incomparable pianist and one of the former architects of the late RMM Sound, Isidro Infante and a hand picked group of crack local musicians, India tore it up with her repertoire of chart hits, beloved songs and a great tribute medley to her idol Celia Cruz. India is still an important artist who is able to connect in the commercial market but astute enough to deliver the real goods in...
read moreLive Appearances
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