Del Rio Grande 0918 by Del Rio News Herald

SEPTEMBER 2018

GUITAR MAGIC

Radney Foster carries Del Rio in his heart

MARCHING PROUD The Mighty Ram Band takes its music seriously

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LOCAL SOUND Del Rio bands nurture musical renaissance

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

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GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

FROM THE EDITOR

Listen to the music! PUBLISHER Sandra Castillo EDITOR Karen Gleason CREATIVE DIRECTOR Megan Tackett WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Brian Argabright Rubén Cantú Karen Gleason Megan Tackett ADVERTISING Kim Dupill Ashley Lopez Albert Treviño PRODUCTION Jorge Alarcon Roland Cardenas Antonio Morales EDITORIAL karen.gleason@delrionewsherald.com 830-775-1551, Ext. 247 ADVERTISING ashley.lopez@delrionewsherald.com 830-775-1551, Ext. 250 STORY IDEAS karen.gleason@delrionewsherald.com

2205 North Bedell Avenue • Del Rio, TX 78840 delrionewsherald.com Del Rio Grande is published by the Del Rio News-Herald. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without written permission of the publisher. Editorial content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher of this magazine. Editorial and advertising does not constitute advice but is considered informative.

Like many of the people we’re featuring in this month’s issue of Grande, I grew up in a house full of music. My Papa, who has passed into the spirit world, was an accomplished musician. He played viola in the symphony orchestra in the town where I spent a decade as a child, but I think his true love was the piano. Mine was a religious family, so much of the music I heard as a child was ecclesiastical – hymns and the music of the Lutheran liturgy. But occasionally, sometimes in spite of my mother’s outspoken dismay, my father would bust out with Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo-choo” or Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” and the three of us kids would dance wildly around the living room. It was expected that each of us would learn to play at least one instrument well. All of us started with the recorder, a wooden, flute-like instrument with a reedy, haunting sound. My Mama is an excellent player of the recorder, and she’s no slouch on the piano, either. We were all taught to read music and given mandatory piano lessons. My younger sister Monica had the voice of an angel, with incredible range, and my brother Peter became proficient on the violin and viola, playing throughout high school and college. I learned to play the violin, but my crowning musical moment came when I played a solo of “Edelweiss” at a sixth-grade recital, and I did not continue playing music as an adult. As I grew older, my exposure to other music increased, and in addition to a great love for Beethoven and Bach and Mozart, I also learned to adore AC/DC, The Cars, Metallica and Patsy Cline. I’m always discovering new music, mostly thanks to my friends Bill Rattay and Brian Argabright and am currently listening to banjo and bluegrass, Chris Stapleton and “La Mala Vida,” a song written by the Code 88s, one of the bands we feature in this month’s edition. Del Rio’s music scene is incredibly rich and varied, much more so than I thought when we first started planning this edition. Ours is by no means a comprehensive look at Del Rio music, we merely wanted to show off a small sampling of what’s out there. We hope that you’ll take every advantage of the flourishing music scene in Del Rio, whether it’s visiting Noches Musicales or sitting in on a live session at one of our local restaurants or bars. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the level of talent. I think all of us have a soundtrack that plays throughout our lives, and perhaps some of the musicians we featured this month will become accompaniments to yours. Play on!

Karen Gleason Grande Editor

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

CONTENTS 8

CALENDAR

THE MOONCAPS

Keep busy this month at these local events.

Retro rockers bring new life to old sounds.

Native son Radney Foster takes a little bit of his hometown along for the ride.

Growing up on the border influences this band’s unique sound.

GUITAR MAGIC

INSPIRED BY DEL RIO Many musicians have found their inspiration here.

LOCAL SOUND Checking in on Del Rio’s vibrant music scene.

FAMILY JEWELZ

AUDIO TRIP

HURAKARRANA Love for the music keeps this iconic local group going strong.

CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL Musician Peter Herrera strikes a stylish note.

MARIACHIS RAYOS DEL SOL Tradition and hard work flavor this group’s sound.

MARCHING PROUD The DRHS Mighty Ram Band set to continue its tradition of excellence.

A GRANDE LIFE Juan Nañez talks about the musical life.

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES Musicians model this month’s fashions

Music is in the Calderon brothers’ DNA.

‘VIVA LAS VEGAS’ Eat well even when the money’s gone.

THE CODE 88S Border punk rockers play by their own rules.

‘THE PROMISE’ A little sweet, a little sour, this drink has it all.

LAST LOOK Our creative director wraps up the September issue.

On the cover: Del Rio native Peter Herrera entertains audiences across south Texas with his voice and guitar. A full-time, professional musician, Herrera recently released “Del Rio,” a song he wrote extolling the places and people that are the foundation for his music. • Photo by Karen Gleason

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SEPTEMBER CALENDAR Keep busy this month at these fun local events

5 GRAND OPENING FIESTA 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Texas Community Bank 401 Pecan St. Everyone is invited to the grand opening celebration of Texas Community Bank’s new downtown branch and community room.

8 AC/DC TRIBUTE CONCERT 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Paul Poag Theatre 746 S. Main St. AC/DC tribute band TNT will light up the Paul Poag stage for a night of nostalgia. TNT will spend the evening honoring AC/DC’s late lead singer, Chris Terranova, while playing all the classics fans know and love.

15 & 16 PACHANGA IN THE PATIO 5:30 p.m.to 11:30 p.m. Casa de la Cultura - 302 Cantu St. Stop by the Casa’s annual patio event while celebrating Brown Plaza Association’s Dieciseis de Septiembre festivities. Enjoy music, art and crafts vendors, a kid’s art corner, face-painting, tamales, gorditas, brisket tacos and more.

18 LAST CHANCE FOREVER 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Dr. Alfredo Gutiérrez Jr. Amphitheater De La Rosa Street and Plaza Avenue The Bird of Prey Conservancy brings amazing, rehabilitated birds of prey to Del Rio for a unique display. Handlers will show hawks, owls and eagles to give the audience a rare, up-close experience.

29 OKTOBERFEST 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Whitehead Memorial Museum 1308 S Main St. Sausage, sauerkraut, spaetzle and the Seven Dutchmen come together for a night of German heritage at the museum. One more thing- there will be lots of beer. We hope that’s okay.

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

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Guitar Magic Native son Radney Foster takes a little bit of his hometown along for the ride. Story by MEGAN TACKETT; Photos contributed by RADNEY FOSTER

adney Foster was born in Del Rio in 1959, as the title of his first solo album announces. Since moving to Tennessee after high school, he’s released 11 albums, a book of short stories and written songs for a stellar array of country artists. Foster crafts songs that echo Del Rio’s simplicity, easygoingness and honesty. And while his undeniable talents have carried him all over the world, everywhere he travels, a little bit of his hometown goes with him. Foster, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter, grew up in south Del Rio, surrounded by tall pecan trees, the gentle flowing waters of the San Felipe creek and its attendant canals, a rich Hispanic influence and the strumming of his father’s guitar. This environment nurtured the southwest Texas instrumental

stylings that infuse his albums and recently published book of short stories. “I learned as much about structure and harmony from rancheras as I did from Willie Nelson,” Foster said. In 1977, Foster graduated from Del Rio High School and left Texas to pursue an education near the epicenter of country music, Nashville, Tenn., he said. He studied at Sewanee: The University of the South and signed a record deal with RCA as a duo group with his friend Bill Lloyd. The duo, Foster and Lloyd, released three albums before both members decided to pursue solo projects, Foster said. Foster recalls brainstorming a title for his first solo album with friends when one of them asked him where and what year he was born. “I said, ‘Del Rio, 1959,’”

Foster said. “And we all went, ‘That’s the title of the record.’” “Del Rio, TX 1959” included two Top 10 hits on Billboard’s country charts: “Just Call Me Lonesome” and “Nobody Wins.” Following singles, “Easier Said Than Done” and “Hammer and Nails” also reached Top 40 country music status, according to Billboard archives. While his songs feature Del Rio-derived themes, Foster also made sure his album covers reflected his border town upbringing. On the cover of his first album, Foster wears Smith-toe boots with a customdesigned Barrera-style jacket made by a Chicago-based modern artist. Foster has held on to the iconic jacket, even bringing it back for the cover of his “Del Rio TX Revisited: Unplugged and Lonesome” album cover. The album is an acoustic

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

homage to his debut album. Reprising the 20-year-old album evoked not only nostalgia, but also gave the songs surprising new meaning, he said. “You can never stand in the same river,” Foster said. “You can stand in the same place, but it’s always different water.” In addition to releasing his own music, Foster writes songs for well-known country artists like Sara Evans, Hootie and the Blowfish, Kenny Chesney, and recently, the Dixie Chicks. Three years ago, Foster extended his writing abilities to short stories as a means of distraction when his doctor forbade him from speaking and singing after contracting pneumonia and laryngitis. He developed short stories from songs he was writing for a new album, he said, and if the song couldn’t support a stronger narrative, it was trashed. “If I couldn’t find a short story in the song, it wasn’t

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

going on the record,” Foster said. One song in particular, which would eventually become the album and corresponding book’s title, tells the story of the heartbreak he felt after his father died, and the love he rediscovered for his wife who supported him through that dark time. The song, book, and album were titled, “For You to See the Stars.” “She walked me through my grief, and it’s one of those things that made me fall in love with her all over again,” he said.

The book and album cover depict Foster in a southwest Texas landscape, looking out at a starspangled horizon lit with distant building lights, holding a cardboard box, an image explained in the book’s first story. The cover perfectly represents Foster’s love of the Texas border landscape, which he still considers home. “Where the desert meets the pecan groves, that sort of oasis is such a unique thing,” Foster said. “There are not very many places like it.”

Foster said he is currently working on a novel, part of which is set in Del Rio. He plans to conduct research at the Val Verde County Library so the book will accurately recreate the area’s unique history. Foster still regularly tours the nation, performing his Del Rioinspired songs at every stop. Thanks to him, there’s a little bit of Del Rio left inside everyone who has witnessed him perform. •

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

Del Rio Music Story by BRIAN ARGABRIGHT

sk people around town what they think of when you say, “Del Rio music,” and you might get a hundred different answers. However, Del Rio’s musical tributes aren’t limited to the lyrics of its local talented musicians. They stretch across the annals of music, aided by the beauty and mystique of this southwest Texas oasis. Del Rio’s national musical past got its start thanks to Dr. John Brinkley, the infamous physician whose border blaster radio stations in Ciudad Acuña broadcast a welcoming message across the country, thanks in large part to the one million watts of power they churned out through the air waves. There are stories of people being able to tie a string to a wire fence and using a tin can to hear the broadcasts as far away as the Midwest. On a clear night, folks said

you could hear the broadcasts all the way up the eastern shoreline of the U.S. Besides the promises of autographed pictures of Jesus and the selling of live baby chicks, the airwaves of those radio stations delivered plenty of live music. Primarily serving up country and Spanish music, the stations eventually provided a platform for a wide variety of legends of music from country’s Carter family to the world famous Wolfman Jack. In recent times, Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña have been important destinations for country and rock artists looking for inspiration, and maybe a little trouble. The cities have been name-checked by a variety of artists over the past few decades. The following is just a small sample of Del Rio’s mainstream musical success. •

“Mexican Blackbird” by ZZ Top “If you’re down in Acuña, and you ain’t up to being alone …” Originally published on ZZ Top’s 1975 release, “Fandango!”, Mexican Blackbird is the tale of a prostitute whose legendary prowess is worth a trip south of the border. Clocking in at just over three minutes, the song drips with that Texas blues sound the band would become famous for. The album also features another song inspired by the area, “Heard It on the X,” which touches on Brinkley’s radio stations and how they inspired artists like ZZ Top.

“Blame It On Mexico” by George Strait Before he was the king of country, Strait was just another singer looking for a deal. In 1981 MCA Records gave him a shot, releasing the single “Unwound.” Its success led to Strait’s debut album, “Strait Country,” which featured “Blame It On Mexico.” At just under three minutes long, the musical journey of love found and lost over some drinks and a one-night stand has become almost the unofficial anthem for Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña. If you grew up here in the 1980s you knew what happened “In a bar in Acuña called Ma Crosby’s …”

“What I Like About Texas” by Gary P. Nunn Released in 1984 on Nunn’s “Home With the Armadillo” album, “What I Like About Texas” is a love letter to the Lone Star State, referencing sites and landmarks familiar to folks who grew up here. It’s the third verse that Del Rioans spent hollering in the 1980s as Nunn proclaims, “It’s Saturday night in Del Rio! It’s crossing over the border from some cultural exchange! Yee haw!”

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

“Just Call Me Lonesome” by Radney Foster Born and raised in Del Rio, Radney Foster first found musical success as one half of the country music writing duo Foster & Lloyd, along with Bill Lloyd. After the two decided to pursue solo careers, Foster released his debut album, “Del Rio, TX 1959”, named for his birth year and home town, in 1992. The first track off that album was “Just Call Me Lonesome,” which peaked at No. 10 on the country charts. The album produced four Top 40 hits, including “Nobody Wins,” which hit number two, but it’s “Just Call Me Lonesome,” which is most associated with Foster.

“Refried Dreams” by Tim McGraw McGraw’s 1994 debut album, “Not A Moment Too Soon,” spawned five top 10 singles, the last of which being “Refried Dreams,” which was released in 1995. It’s the story of a man who heads to Mexico to try and relive his memories through alcohol after a sudden breakup. Where in Mexico he goes is unknown, especially after the video was shot in Tijuana, but folks here knew because of the line, “Well I headed south out of Del Rio, Texas …”

“I Like Texas” by Pat Green If Nunn’s tribute to Texas touched on the traditional parts of the state, then Green’s 1995 rousing update turned the spotlight on some of the state’s newer landmarks like Shiner Bock beer and Stubb’s Barbecue. But Green’s ode to the state kicks off with a shout-out to the Queen City of the Rio Grande – “Well from Dalhart to Del Rio, and out El Paso way …”

“Acuña” by Wade Bowen One of the newer musical tributes to this area, Bowen’s “Acuña” is as much a love letter to Del Rio’s sister city as it is a lament to a relationship that has ended. Released in 2017, ahead of Bowen’s 2018 release “Solid Ground,” the song truly hits home with the line “Oh, nobody goes to Acuña anymore,” signaling how things won’t ever be the same for the lovers in the song and the actual city which suffered from the stigma attached to all border towns of cartels and criminals running wild.

Honorable mentions: “Hello Del Rio, Texas” by Scott Vance – A truck driver slowly becomes aware his relationship with someone from Del Rio is coming to an end. “Del Rio” by Brian Burns – A swinging lounge music ditty that is cheesier than convenience store nachos. “Del Rio” by Houston Marchman & The Contraband – An old man’s romance south of Del Rio becomes too much for him to ignore.

“Del Rio, Texas” by Mando Salas – A throaty musical love letter to the town Salas grew up in. “In Del Rio” by Billy Walker – A classic country tale of a cowboy who meets his demise in the “cruel” town of Del Rio. Think Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” set in Del Rio. “Del Rio” by Peter Herrera – A modern listing of what makes this community great. GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

Local Sound Drawing inspiration from a history of border blaster radio stations, Wolfman Jack, country, Tejano, rock ’n’ roll and the area’s binational and bilingual spirit, these Del Rio bands are carving out their own niches in a burgeoning music scene.

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

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MUSIC IN THEIR DNA: Family Jewelz carries on Calderons’ musical legacy Story by KAREN GLEASON; Photos contributed by GEORGE CALDERON and ETHAN CALDERON

amily Jewelz is literally a band of brothers: George Calderon and his two younger siblings, Ethan Wencho Calderon and Jose Adrian Calderon, whom everyone calls “Jac” because of his initials. George is the group’s lead vocalist and plays the guitar. Ethan plays the bass and Jac plays the drums, and both of them sing

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

as well. “Everybody in the family played music. I guess it was kind of instilled in the blood. I guess we really didn’t have a choice,” George Calderon recalled in a recent interview. “My father, George Calderon, and his brothers Billy Calderon and Richard Calderon have all been in bands. They’re the ones who kind of paved our way, and

they used to play at Memo’s restaurant every Thursday night,” he said. The most widely known of the musical Calderons is without a doubt George’s great-uncle, Blondie Calderon, George’s dad’s father’s brother. The younger George Calderon has some memories of seeing Blondie perform. “We’d go watch him with Ray Price

back in the day, and we’d get to hang out backstage,” George said. The latest generation of Calderon musicians got their start performing at local talent shows. After one such a talent show, the Sacred Heart Spring Festival in 1999 or 2000, the brothers began playing for local audiences. “We only knew three songs at the time, and we would just go and play,” he said. The three began practicing together in earnest and playing gigs on a regular basis. George Calderon said the band formed in 1999. “Then we had 10 songs, then 20, and then we went on and on and on. After a year or so, we knew about an hour-and-a-half of music, and this guy hired us to pay at Tod and Bullet’s, a local restaurant, and we started playing there every Tuesday. It our first set gig, and we got better and better at playing in front of people,” Calderon said. He said the brothers began listening to

more and more music as well. “My favorites are Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, and we fell in love with that kind of music,” said Calderon. “It seemed like we were playing somewhere every weekend while we were in high school, and that went on when we got to college. It never stopped,” he said. The band began to perform out of Del Rio as well, to crowds in Uvalde, Bandera and Leakey, as well as the Odessa-Midland area and in San Antonio. “We play almost all the genres. We play mostly classic rock and country, but we touch on a little bit of the Spanish music, a lot of Carlos Santana, some old cumbia songs, a little bit of everything,” Calderon said. They also began writing their own songs. “That was the logical next step. We felt like we were already good at other people’s songs, so we wanted to try and do our own, he added.

Much of the brothers’ collaboration was done in a home studio on Borroum Street in south Del Rio, and Calderon describes the brothers’ music has having a “catchy Latin reggae feel.” The group’s recordings can be heard on YouTube or on their Facebook page. Then, the younger two Calderon brothers were accepted into pharmacy school in Tyler, Texas, and lived in Texarkana until August when they both moved back to San Antonio to finish their schooling. “We’re going to get started back up like we used to. For the record, we never broke up, we just took a four-year vacation. We have a bunch of songs we’ve been working on,” said Calderon, who works at the GenTherm warehouse, where he is in charge of shipping and receiving. “It’s been a long road, a lot of music, a lot of playing, but it’s always going to be part of our lives. It’s just something we love doing,” he said. •

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

BORDER PUNK: Code 88s play by their own rules Story by KAREN GLEASON; photos contributed by PAUL MANCHA

ne of Del Rio’s oldest and most durable bands, the Code 88s have a plan for success: Just work on one good show. The friends who make up the group, Alex Aguilar, Gustavo Chapa, Javier Hernandez, Mikey Rodriguez and Cannibal – who described himself as “the road tech, manager, bouncer, chick magnet and backup to the backup singer” – never thought about playing music together long-term when they formed the Code 88s in the early 2000s. Today, the Code 88s have been together

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for 15 years, making the group of the oldest surviving bands in Del Rio. “From what we’ve heard, we are the only band that’s never split up,” said guitarist and group spokesman Alex Aguilar. Aguilar and Javier Hernandez, the group’s bass player, describe the group’s musical genre: “We call it border town punk rock.” How did the craziness start? “We’ve all known each other for a long time, before the band. Me and Javier, we grew up on the same street, on Avenue R,” Aguilar said.

“I convinced Alex to get a guitar, that’s how it started.” Javier interjected. “So he told me to get a guitar, and I did, but I didn’t know how to play it, a guy from school sold me one. This was when I was a junior in high school,” Aguilar said. Another friend, Chapa, got a kid’s drum set from Walmart, and the group began to form. Meeting at the Casa De La Cultura, where they’ve played many shows over the years, the Codes share an easy vibe, laughing and joking like brothers. “We had no idea what we were doing

when we started off. We still don’t,” Aguilar laughed. “We just listened to music, different sounds, a few chords, whatever sounded good. No solos, cause we can’t play solos.” “Our goal was to play one show. That was the plan. . . That’s probably why we’re still around, because we never really had a goal. And that was it, play one show,” he added. The band’s name comes from a time when most of group had jobs at Walmart. A “Code 88” went out for items returned, unwanted, by the customer. “It’s so stupid. I wish we’d thought of a cool name, like Los Tacos or My Funeral or Menudo. No, wait, somebody already had that. What about Barbacoa? Yeah, we could have been Barbacoa. It would have made cool shirt,” Javier said. The Code 88s are regulars at the Casa De La Cultura’s annual Yukfest and also play at the Casa’s “Noise for Toyz” toy drive every year. The group has played in San Antonio,

Corpus Christi, Austin, McAllen, Houston and Harlingen. They’ve also done a number of their own songs, which are a collaboration of the entire group. All of them say they still enjoy doing shows. “We don’t just hang out while we’re playing, we also just all hang out,” Hernandez said. What has made them so durable? “It’s not that we don’t care. But we try not to get to serious, and we don’t put pressure on ourselves. And we’re all friends,” Aguilar said. “I think it’s because we set out without expectations. Other bands are like, we want to go on tour, we want to make a CD. We’re just like, we want to play one show, and then we’ll call it quits,” Hernandez added. The group has a Facebook page and their music can be heard, played and downloaded on the bandcamp web site.•

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Performing their 100th show, The Mooncaps at Brown Plaza, from left, Daniel Cardenas, Eleazr “Lazer” Sanchez, Manuel Pagan and Pedro “Pete” Ortiz.

ROCKIN’ RETRO: The Mooncaps bring new life to old sounds Story and photos by KAREN GLEASON

he Mooncaps are Eleazar “Lazer” Sanchez, Daniel Cardenas, Manuel Pagan and Pedro “Pete” Ortiz. Sanchez sings and plays the guitar, Cardenas plays tenor saxophone and assists with background vocals, Pagan plays the drums and also sings background vocals, and Ortiz is the bass player. The Mooncaps roll out with instantlyrecognizable songs from the ’50s and’60s, some ’70s and ’80s oldies.

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“We play rockabilly, rock ’n’ roll,” said Pagan during a recent interview with the group. This particular lineup of the Mooncaps has been rocking regional audiences since January 2015. “There was another band before this one, which was Lazer’s, which was called ‘El Bandido and the Lounge Lizards.’ In late 2014, I came into the band, and after a few shows under that name, we

got together and decided to completely rebrand and revitalize the concept, and came up with the name ‘The Mooncaps,’ and the whole concept of dressing the same, but it was the same music, the same style,” Pagan said. The Mooncaps are definitely one of the most well-known and recognizable bands on the Del Rio music scene. “I think that’s about our community involvement. We like to help out our

community in any way that we can, fundraisers, events, that sort of thing,” Sanchez said. “I think we brought something different that this town had not seen, for example, the whole concept of an oldies band. There wasn’t anybody doing that exclusively. The whole concept of dressing the same. We have a show. We have stage banter where we joke around with each other. We involve the audience, have them sing along. We have a cowbell contest, where we bring people up from the audience and have them play along with us,” Pagan said. “Usually the more people drink, the more fun it is,” Pagan added with a laugh. The Mooncaps perform at least two shows a month and sometimes do as many as six or seven, some of them out of town. “Our main area of operation, though, is Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Uvalde, but we’ve gone all the way to Austin, McAllen, Laredo, south and central Texas. Essentially, our motto is ‘you pay, we play,’” Pagan joked. The members of the Mooncaps all have regular day jobs: Sanchez is a Del Rio firefighter, Cardenas is an in-house broker for a local maquiladora, Pagan works for the federal government, and Ortiz is a full-time student. Occasionally, the group performs some of its own songs. “There were a couple of songs that I wrote when I was doing the solo thing, and I kind of introduced them to the band when we were the Lounge Lizards, so we developed them together, and there were some other songs that came along, like a song called ‘Roll Along,’ that we did, collectively, as a band,” Sanchez said. “There’s about six or seven songs of ours that we’ll mix in, and there’s probably a few more that we don’t play that often, but there are six or seven that are staples of the set, and they’re all in the rockabilly style,” Pagan added. The Friday night after our interview, The Mooncaps played their 100th

show as The Mooncaps, a rousing performance before a large crowd at the city’s historic Brown Plaza for Noches Musicales. “We want people to know there is a real history in the music that we play. We take it very seriously, because we all have an emotional connection to the music, for example, me growing up, I had a lot of those records at home, and one of my first memories as a kid was having a console player that had records and my grandmother just putting records on all day long for us to listen to,” Sanchez said. “We started thinking about all the music history that’s here in Del Rio. The Carters lived here, you had Wolfman Jack. Elvis Presley came through here, XERF. There’s a lot of pride in that for me personally, and wow, that’s something we should definitely keep alive, a legacy to continue,” he added. “My father was a teacher and band director here for 30 some-odd years. Music was just in my family, the way it is for all of us. When my dad was growing up, he recorded a record, and I grew up playing in various Tejano bands. But this genre of music that we’re playing now is something that has been my complete favorite, and when the opportunity to join Lazer came up, I jumped on it because I loved what he was doing, that style of music. . .,” Cardenas said. “My dad was a record producer and artist manager. He managed really big names in the Latin community, back in Puerto Rico, where I come from. He was the manager and producer for a really famous artist who won the Festival OTI de la Cancion, Lucesita Benitez, in 1969. My dad was her manager and producer. He produced TV shows and all these things. My mother was a dancer on TV for a really famous artist, so I grew up in a really musical family. There were records playing in my house all day, every day, since I was very little,” Pagan said. The Mooncaps have a website: www.themooncaps.com and a YouTube channel and a Facebook page. •

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Audio Trip

Audio Trip’s current lineup, from left, Freddy Ochoa, Edward Hernandez, Sabrina Cioffi and Nick Garza, get ready for a show.

‘Home vibe’ influences a unique sound Story and photos by KAREN GLEASON

udio Trip’s members call the group’s sound “a home vibe,” music that reflects the working-class neighborhoods where it was born. In its current incarnation, Audio Trip is Freddy Ochoa, who plays guitar and sings, Edward Hernandez on the drums, Nick Garza, who handles duties on the bass and Sabrina Cioffi, the group’s lead

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vocalist. Ochoa talked about the group’s musical journey in a recent interview. He said he moved to Austin, to San Antonio, then back to Del Rio after high school, playing and writing music wherever he went. Resettling in Del Rio, Ochoa and friend Edward Hernandez got serious about putting a band together.

“I was on the road, doing the whole Tejano thing, and I took a break, and ever since high school, I’ve always had a drum set at (Ochoa’s) house, where it would be just me and him jamming. Every time I’d come home, if he was home, I’d go over there and we’d jam out. We didn’t have a bass player. We grew up together, went to elementary school. We’ve been friends forever,”

Hernandez said. Ochoa said of Hernandez, “He was always good, so I knew that one day, if I got good with the guitar, I had a drummer. “Freddy would always tell me, one day, me and you are going to have a band, and finally that opportunity came, and he said, ‘I’m serious,’ and I said, ‘For real, you serious?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ So I said I know a couple of other guys, and we called them and got together. I think from the get-go, right when we all got together, because they were all musicians too, magic was already happening, we were booking gigs and getting a lot of support.” The group’s single, “Don’t Know Why,” can be heard on their You Tube channel, which had more than 15,000 views an hour after it was posted, Ochoa said. He said he is gratified by the response to the group’s work so far. “I love writing. I’m trying to write the best music I can, something that lasts forever, that’s timeless,” he said. “The cool thing with Audio Trip is that when I was playing with the Tejano bands, I was playing someone else’s stuff, and with this group, I get to play my own stuff. That’s the most gratifying thing to me,” Hernandez said. Ochoa said he wants Audio Trip to sound like no one else. “We definitely have our own sound, and I think it stands out. Like when you hear the Red Hot Chile Peppers, they have their own sound, and I think that’s what we’re trying to establish, to be as original as possible. Even though we are a cover band, when we throw in our originals, and people are like, ‘Whoa!’ and they said, ‘What song was that?’ and we say, ‘That was ‘Carolina,’ that was ours.’” Ochoa promised the group is planning to record again. “I want people to know that this is a home vibe that makes us who we are. That our music is for everybody, for the people here in Del Rio. The music comes from us growing up here. We want this to be a musical revolution in our own community,” Ochoa said. •

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Story and photos by BRIAN ARGABRIGHT

or nearly 20 years, a group of friends has been playing music they like and having as much fun as they can along the way. Now, they’ve become pioneers in the local music scene. In 2001, Hurakarrana, a take on the name of a pro wrestling move originated in Mexico, played its first show in Ciudad Acuña at the town’s plaza. When they accepted the job they didn’t even have a name. It wasn’t until the band’s founder, Jerry “Giz” Avila, was being interviewed by a local radio station that the name came to light. “Giz didn’t even give us a chance to debate it, but it stuck and it’s been our name ever since,” Leno Hernandez said. “Most of us were into wrestling at the time,

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so we were between that and a bunch of other wrestling-themed names. That name just happened to be the one that stuck.” The current roster of the band features Leno Hernandez on keyboard and vocals, Lucas Hernandez on bass, Jesse Partida on lead guitar and background vocals, Edward Hernandez on drums and Rene Maldonado on rhythm guitar and vocals. Much of the band had musical chops before coming together as a group. Leno started playing in bands as a freshman, most notably as a member of the popular Tejano band Potenzia. He and Maldonado were high school friends, but Maldonado’s skills were in the guitar. “He was a rocker, and he would bring his guitar and play it at school,” Hernandez

said. “I did it primarily for the girls,” Maldonado said. Edward began learning the drums when he was young, four or five years old, according to his older brother Leno. By the time he was nine years old, he was playing complete songs and sitting in on practices. Lucas, Edward and Leno’s brother, got his start in the third grade. He said he asked to learn a song by La Mafia and worked at playing until he could hold his own. “Music has come easy for our family,” Leno said. “It’s like osmosis. We can just pick a song up and figure it out.” Partida was friends with Lucas in seventh grade, but his musical tastes were

The current lineup of Hurakarrana features, from left, Rene Maldonado (rhythm guitar and vocals), Leno Hernandez (keyboard and vocals), Edward Hernandez (drums), Jesse Partida (lead guitar and background vocals) and Lucas Hernandez (bass).

a little different than the other members of the band. “He would play in the band hall, stuff like Megadeth,” Lucas said. “When he met the rest of the guys, they kind of encouraged him to play more radiofriendly stuff.” “Jesse, Edward and Lucas would just keep getting better and better. Right now, they carry the band,” Leno said. Del Rio’s music scene in the late 90s and early 2000s was filled with Spanishlanguage bands, hard rock and punk acts and a few country acts. There was a void for more popular rock music, and Hurakarrana filled it. “We did songs a lot of bands weren’t playing at the time. We were doing Sublime, Molotov, Creed and some Mana. There weren’t any bands like us when we started,” Leno said. “Even now, there’s not a lot of bands like us right now. A lot of bands just play jam sessions, but we play songs, and we play them well.” All of the band calls Del Rio home except for Partida, who now resides in San Antonio. They also have full-time jobs and

many of them have families of their own, so the chances for actual rehearsals are few and far between, but the consensus among the band is rehearsal time is really just a formality now. “These are songs we’ve been doing for 18 years now, so we don’t really rehearse,” Lucas said. “Even for tonight’s show. We got together and practiced for about an hour and then said, ‘Yeah, we’re ready.’” The band does have some original music under its belt, but Maldonado explained that music was written at a different time when the members were younger and unburdened by the responsibilities of fatherhood and more. He said looking back, you can see just how much the band has grown in terms of its maturity. “We all have jobs and titles and families. We want to be respectful now,” Maldonado said. “We have responsibilities now we didn’t have back then,” Leno added. “Now, we’re doing this for fun. We’re kind of over ourselves. Back then, there was no real place to regularly play and there weren’t that many bands playing. Now, there are

like 10 bands playing nearly every week. Our attitude is let everyone have a piece of the pie and don’t take it all so seriously.” With nearly two decades under their belt, Hurakarrana could easily stake its claim as one of the forefathers of today’s modern music scene in Del Rio, but the members of the bands said that’s not for them to say. “We’ve gone full circle. There have always been a ton of good musicians in Del Rio, and all of us have been looked down on at some point for who we were and what we played,” Leno said. “I don’t want to treat anyone the way we were treated when we first started.” “I look at us as pioneers now,” Partida said. “We keep playing and we keep getting compliments, and it’s great to have fans and people who come out just to see us,” Maldonado said. “We love playing music and getting recognized, but really we’re more like Clark Kent. We just get to take off the glasses and be Superman for a few hours every few weekends.” •

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CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL

Peter Herrera Story and photos by KAREN GLEASON

Musical Influence “I look back and think about how lucky I was to be around singing the gospel hymns in Spanish and English. That kind of embodied the foundation of my music. Even to this day, I’ll play something on the guitar and think, ‘That really sounds like that hymn,’ and it takes me back.” Musical evolution “When I was 16, my dad put a guitar in my hands. . . “He taught me three chords, the famous chords that any beginning musician learns, G, C and D. He taught me those three chords, and after that, I taught myself how to play. At that point, music was more of a catharsis.” Touched by the music “Music to me was an outlet and helped me get through the angst of those latter teenage years. . .When I first realized I wanted to write my own music, I think it was later in my 16th year, there was a band by the name of Stain, a rock band, but when I saw them perform a song on MTV2, my jaw was on the floor. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do,’ and everything I did in my music for a few years, I emulated them. I wanted to be the lead singer. All the struggles and pain he went through came through in his music... I wanted to connect with people in the same way that this singer had connected with me and my life.” Finding His Tribe “At the very end of high school, I started a band with a couple of local musicians, called Alliance, with Freddy Ochoa, Tito Rizo and Roger Torres. We got to play clubs. We went to Mexico to play, and we lived that life for a little bit and it was cool.”

Editor’s note: Peter Herrera – Peter the 3rd – was born and raised in Del Rio, the son of Dolores Olivo Herrera and Peter Herrera Jr. He is the oldest of three siblings. As a child, Herrera recalled being surrounded by music. His grandfather, Peter Herrera Sr., was the pastor of a Pentecostal church here, and Herrera recalls “crawling under the pews with music always in my ears.” He is now a full-time, professional musician, and one of his most recent songs, “Del Rio,” pays homage to his local roots.

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Musical Catalysts Shortly after, he got a call from another group of local musicians who had seen Alliance play. “They called me and said, ‘We’d like you to sing in our band,’ and I said let’s do it. Their name was The Kicking Jimmies. It was a cover band, and I said, well, I’m not really into covers, but I’ll give it a try. Let’s have some fun with it. These guys were real catalysts in my music, Bo Holloway, Scott Nebel, Darrell Shadwick and John Martinez.” Turning Pro Herrera said he has considered himself a full-time, professional musician for the past three years. He has played in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Houston, Alpine, Terlingua, as well as a gig in Los Angeles. “I write a song because it sounds appealing to my ear, not because it fits into a certain genre. Right now I’m at the point where I’m just enjoying writing my own songs, being an artist. At some point, I would like to stop ‘gigging’ and just write.”

“I just like the way these look. Also, they’re in my logo.” Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses in classic gold. Are there cooler sunglasses?

“I carry this with me. My fiancé Nanca makes fun of me about it, but you’ve got to have a look nowadays, you know? For people to pay attention. Maybe that’s not what keeps them around, but maybe it makes them listen in the first place.”

“This is a bracelet my son gave me one day, and when your son gives you a friendship bracelet, you don’t take it off.”

“A lot of these things I have never or rarely come off. This was given to me a few years ago by a dear friend, and I hardly ever take it off, only to clean it. It’s a reminder of my faith, and I like it because it was given to me as a gift.”

“This is something I bought from this Navajo jewelry maker who sells his jewelry online and 10 percent of his proceeds go back toward his tribe. I’ve had it for about two years.”

“My dad made this logo for me one day. I got home from work, and my dad – he’s really creative, a jack-of-alltrades – had come up with this logo, and he showed to me and said, ‘What do you think?’ Everybody tells me it looks like Heisenberg from ‘Breaking Bad’ or the lowrider guy.”

“My dad bought me a pair of Lucchese boots when I was 18 years old. He bought them for me for graduation, but I wore them into the ground. So these are the Lucchese boots I bought to replace those originals. I even have a song about them, called, ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Luccheses.’ So these are them.”

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‘Viva Las Vegas’ Green Onion Pancakes Recipe by KARLA BULLARD; photos by KAREN GLEASON

“My favorite song, without question, is the remake of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ by ZZ Top,” said avid amateur chef Karla Bullard. “So, you’ve gone to Las Vegas, lost all your money and have to be frugal when you get home by making the most out of any leftovers you might have in the refrigerator. One of the recipes I’ve come up with for making the most out of leftovers is green onion pancakes.”

Ingredients • 6 whole green onions – washed, cleaned and trimmed to fit 5-inch skillet • 3 whole eggs – (2 may be used for less hearty eaters) • ½ clove chopped garlic • 1 Tbsp. soy sauce • ¼ cup shredded leftover chicken – you can use any type of leftover meat • Dash of Tabasco or sriracha • Sour cream and sriracha for topping

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Method • Spray 5-inch skillet with non-stick cooking spray and set on medium low heat. Place cleaned and trimmed green onion pieces in skillet. • In a bowl, beat eggs with garlic, soy sauce and sriracha. Add meat and stir to combine. Pour meat and egg mixture over onions in skillet. • Cover and cook until eggs are almost set. • Turn pancake over and cook until done. Both sides of pancake should be golden brown. • Serve with sour cream, sriracha and soy dipping sauce.

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The

Promise Recipe by MEGAN TACKETT; photo by KAREN GLEASON

A beautiful song deserves an equally beautiful cocktail. Inspired by Sturgill Simpson’s “The Promise,” originally recorded by 1980s band When in Rome, this drink combines gin botanicals, St-Germain’s unique sweetness and the voluminous element of an egg white. Top it off with a heart design drawn from a dash of bitters, and you have a cocktail that’s almost too wonderful to drink, but you absolutely should.

Ingredients

Method

• One ounce gin • One ounce St-Germain • Bitters • One egg • Lemon juice

• Start by vigorously shaking an egg white in a cocktail tin, about one minute. • Check to make sure egg white is nice and frothy. • Add ice, gin, St-Germain and a squeeze of lemon and shake. • Strain contents into a glass of your choosing. • Carefully shake of couple dashes of bitters in the middle of the cocktail’s froth. Use a toothpick to create a heart, or whichever design you choose • Garnish with a lemon twist, a sprig of rosemary or simply sip and enjoy.

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Violinist and singer Lesley Castro plays at Rudy’s on Aug. 15 along with fellow members of Mariachi Rayos del Sol.

MARIACHI

Rayos Del Sol Story and photos by RUBÉN CANTÚ

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Contributed photo Mariachi Rayos del Sol members are first row left to right: Lesley Castro, Stephanie Moncada, Victor Garcia. Second row: Ruben Flores, Ashley Gutierrez, Eliana Gonzales, Karla Casillas, Arianna Siller, Jesus Zertuche. Third row: Rolando Santana, Myles De La Garza, Alejandro Ruiz.

eepers of the tradition, advocates of Mexican folk music and firm believers in hard work, a group of talented young Del Rioans has been turning heads wherever they go, filling up venues to capacity and entertaining large crowds with their performances. Mariachi Rayos Del Sol, led by Del Rio Middle School mariachi teacher Jesse Brijalba, was formed in May 2015 by some members of Mariachi De La Juventud from Del Rio Middle School. “The people in this group are wonderful, they are friends, they are like family, and they are very talented. I really love this group,” said Jesus Zertuche, guitarron player and singer who has been a member of the mariachi for three years. Zertuche started playing guitar at

Casa de la Cultura when he was a fifth grader. Although he didn’t like the guitarron, a large deep-bodied acoustic bass guitar, he ended up playing it and loving it. “I hated the guitarron, but I thought it was a vihuela (small guitar). ‘Mr. B’ (Brijalba) told me they needed the best guitar player on guitarron, and I was thinking it was a vihuela, he gave me the guitarron, and I went, ‘Hey what is this?’ and he said, ‘It is the guitarron,’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to play this,’ and he said, ‘Well, too bad.’” One of the main goals for the members of the mariachi is not only to take their music everywhere, but to make a difference in the lives of others. “I enjoy seeing other people’s faces, when they are going through rough times it is nice for us to go play for them, to lighten their day. It is always

nice to see people when we are making their day,” said Alejandro Ruiz, trumpet player and singer. Although some of the members of the group had some musical education prior to meeting Brijalba, they were initiated in mariachi music by “Mr. B” when they went through middle school. “I didn’t start playing until seventh grade. I enjoy playing mariachi music, I like sones. They have a more complicated rhythm. I like being with my friends. We have been together since middle school and getting to play for the community, for events, funerals, etc.,” said guitar player and singer Victor Garcia. Violin player and singer Lesley Castro started in music with the strings group in fourth and fifth grade, but ever since seventh grade she got into

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Guitar player and singer Victor Garcia sings a requested song during a recent performance.

mariachi music and now it has become a part of her life. “I like all types of music, but in the violin I prefer the mariachi,” she said. Before Rayos del Sol, Brijalba led Mariachi La Diferencia, a group that played for seven years and performed for former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Senator John Kerry, as well as at numerous civic and community events in and around Del Rio. The group was also featured on ESPN. “I had a group about eight years ago, but it takes a lot of dedication and hard work, I tried to start groups before, but they weren’t just as dedicated. I met these kids in the eighth grade in middle school, and they were very dedicated,”

“The people in this group are wonderful, they are friends, they are like family, and they are very talented, I really love this group,” Brijalba said. For the group, the mariachi music represents a culture, and they try to play mostly classic mariachi. Songs like as “El Rey,” “Hermoso Cariño,” “Amor Eterno” and “El Son de la Negra” are among the most requested of their repertoire. The group doesn’t have any sponsors, and all proceeds go toward the members of the band. They purchase their own instruments, mariachi suits, etc. While most of the members of the group are currently high school juniors, Brijalba expects to have a little more time with them “because when they graduate high school most likely they will go out of town to college,” he said. •

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Trumpet players Karla Casillas and Alejandro Ruiz are members of Mariachi Rayos Del Sol.

Guitarron player and singer Jesus Zertuche. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like the guitarron when he started playing mariachi music, but the instrument grew on him and now he loves it.

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Performing at halftime of Del Rio High football games is just the start of the performance season for the Mighty Ram Band. The ultimate goal for the band is the state competition.

Marching toward excellence Mighty Ram Band members keep eye on prize Story and photos by BRIAN ARGABRIGHT

or the Mighty Ram Band, music is more than just a class. It’s a thread that binds its members together through the long bus trips, scorching summer practices and the highs and lows that come from nearly a year’s worth of competitions. This year is a state year for the band. Two years ago, they came the closest they’d ever come to making it to state. This year, they aim to finish the job. Work towards this season began prior to the end of last school year, and music tutorials began in June, about three weeks after the end of school. This

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year’s program is called “Numinous Elements,” but the drum majors – Gabriella Gomez, Iosua Corona and Eliana Gonzales – are keeping details about the show under wraps. “It’s very emotional and exciting with a lot of storytelling elements. It’s a step up from last year,” Corona, the head drum major and first in command, said. Once the band learns the music, then the grueling physical part of the journey begins – the dreaded summer band. The band works on an outdoor basketball court, a simple concrete drill pad that provides no shade and no

escape from the blazing Texas summer sun. For nearly two months they will convene at the band hall behind Del Rio High School, pick up their instruments and trek to Walter Levermann Ram Stadium to warm up. From there, it’s a short walk to the courts and a few hours of drill under the direction of marching coordinator Aldo Morales. “The goal of the workout is to build endurance and strength. The first hour of summer band is purely conditioning. They’ll run a mile and do strength training with their instruments. The ultimate goal is to be able to move their

Kaili Stuart awaits her cue as leader of the pit, the percussion portion of the Mighty Ram Band. The group sets up in front of the band and features instruments too heavy or unwieldy to carry, such as xylophones and kettle drums, in marching formation.

bodies as needed in the show,” Julia Donnel, assistant band director, said. Band director Ricardo Rios said the need for working out and getting the band into shape was born from previous competitions in which members would be exhausted to the point of needing medical attention. He noticed that it was only Del Rio’s band members who were suffering, so the decision was made to include a workout regimen. The next year, none of the band members needed assistance after their competition. “The heat is the hardest thing for the newcomers to get used to,” Eliana Gonzales, assistant drum major, said. “All the upperclassmen have gotten used to it, even when it gets up to 106 like it did this summer. But the freshmen aren’t used to it. We’ve had several freshmen faint already

this summer.” “There’s no real way to prepare for the heat. We have CamelBaks and drink lots of water, but to get used to it, you have to build up your endurance. You have to experience it from the first day of summer band. From that first day through all the marching practice, it’s always there,” Corona added. The band will work each day both indoors and outdoors in preparation for the first football game. It’s at the game, for that halftime performance, that they’ll first unveil their show to the public and truly see what they need to work on as they continue their march to state. “After that first football game, it just kind of hits you. It’s different performing in front of such a big crowd under those ‘Friday Night Lights,’” Gomez said. “When we

look back at that performance we feel there’s always something we can do to make it better. That’s where the dance company, the props, the electronics come into play.” All of those elements combine to create the show that the band members and instructors feel will give Del Rio its best chance at state. And even though the big competitions are still months away, the buzz surrounding the Mighty Ram Band is already rising. “We’re in it to win it this year. We’re doing something no other Mighty Ram Band has ever done. It’s time for us to move forward, and this is a huge step forward. We’re being known out there in the band community,” Corona said. “There are message boards online that are predicting Del Rio will make it this year,” Gomez said.

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That kind of bold prediction comes from Del Rio’s last run at state. Two years ago the band competed at the Area competition and tied for 10th, qualifying for finals. It was the first time the band had accomplished that feat, and it was an emotional moment for not just the students, but also for the band directors. “I remember being on the other side … waiting for all the programs that weren’t that good to leave and then seeing the stadium lights come on so the best bands could perform once more. That’s why I’ll always appreciate being in the finals,” Morales said. Eight minutes doesn’t seem like that much time, but that’s the amount of time the band will be judged at Area. They can use however much time they need to setup, but Rios said he prefers them to set up quickly and start performing so that once the official timer begins, the band has already worked to hit the big build-up in its performance for maximum impact. Band life is unique in a variety of ways. It can mean traveling for hours for just one performance, it means playing music you might not like, and it can mean dating only people who are in the band because no one else understands your weird schedule or your fellow band friends. It means being a part of something that you will always carry you, whether music is a part of your future or not. “We have kids that don’t want to graduate because of the great experience of being part of the band,” Rios said. “There are bands out there that have performers who individually are better or stronger than our kids, but when you put our kids together, it truly becomes something special.” •

The Rage Color Guard has always brought an elegant beauty to the Mighty Ram Band’s performances. • As the Mighty Ram Band learns its formations for the new season, the summer practices mean lots of repetition during each session. Aldo Morales, marching coordinator, puts the group through its paces for weeks before they even set foot on the field at Walter Levermann Ram Stadium. • The bond of members of the Mighty Ram Band has led to the creation of an alumni band, which has performed at home games in recent years.

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Live Music

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GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

A GRANDE LIFE

Juan Nañez Story and photo by KAREN GLEASON

ike many musicians, Del Rio native Juan Nañez grew up surrounded by music. “I come from a musical family. My dad was a musician. There were always musicians around the house practicing and so I started at a very early age. I liked the alto saxophone and was very blessed that when I was in school, in beginner’s band at the sixth grade, I had a saxophone instructor, Mr. Jesse Pena, and he inspired me, along with my dad, Ignacio Nañez,” Nañez said. Nañez took to the saxophone like a fish to water, and by the middle of his sixth-grade year, he was playing in his father’s band. Nañez left Del Rio to attend college in Kingsville and Alpine. “After my years of study, I returned to Del Rio and got a job with the school district, but I’ve always remained a musician,” Nañez said. “I strongly believe that everybody has talent in some form. It doesn’t necessarily have to be music, and that’s one of the reasons I studied in the field that I did. . . to help students develop their musical abilities as well as their character as individuals,” Nañez said. He worked for the school district for 33 years and spent 27 of those years as band director, both for the Del Rio Middle School and the Del Rio High School. “The Del Rio Middle School experience was a learning one for me as well as a memorable one. We started to compete, started to get the kids to understand there is a standard that is established, and we started winning medals,” Nañez said. “That is the greatest reward that you could have,” he added. “To see the kids being successful. All the hard work, as they say, pays off in that particular moment, and that’s what really triggered the program. Once they got a taste of what it was like to win, then they knew what that feeling was like, seeing them happy, screaming, crying, there’s not a trophy that I could ever get that I would trade for those memories,” Nañez said. In a few years, he moved to the high school and became the band director there. “I had to look at things from a different perspective. Here (at the high school) it was ‘Friday Night Lights,’ and people are looking at the program every week. My classroom was in

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front of an audience, that’s how I looked at it,” Nañez said. He said his goal was to establish “a consistent, winning program,” and Nañez more than realized that goal during his years at the high school. The awards the program and its musicians earned under Nañez’s direction are too numerous to list: dozens of University Interscholastic League (UIL) first division awards for the music program in various categories and hundreds of first division ratings in solo and ensemble categories. One of his most enduring memories is the hard work, dedication and true grit of his “flood band,” the students he led to competition in 1998, the year of Del Rio’s devastating flood, when some students lost instruments, even homes, to the raging waters of the San Felipe Creek. “Let’s go for the gold! Let’s go win! Let’s bring the trophy home!” was Nañez’s mantra. He said he relied on the support of the senior leaders in the band, school district board members, superintendents, administrators and principals. Nañez eventually moved into the position of fine arts director for the district, overseeing all of the fine arts programs. Through it all, Nañez has stayed true to the music. Even after his retirement from the district two years ago, Nañez said he continued wanting to pass on the love of music that had been gifted to him. To that end, Nañez opened a music store in the Plaza Del Sol Mall, JE’s Music & Learning Center, where he not only sells instruments and instrumental accoutrements, but also offers classes and a space for aspiring musicians to entertain mall shoppers. “There’s a lot of talent in this community . . .The local scene here has really blossomed. The nice thing is seeing the younger generation take off with all this. I’m thankful for the local businesses that support our musicians. . . I’m glad to see people taking a passion for what they love to do. You can see when a person is playing or singing their heart out. It takes guts to get up in front of an audience. . .One of the visions that I have is for the fine arts to have a really nice facility in our community, for everybody to come here and perform,” Nañez said. •

Back To Band Rock the school year with these looks from Bealls Wardrobe provided by Bealls Photography by TAG Photography Styling by Megan Tackett

Elaine wears a striped, Army green, off-the-shoulder jumpsuit from MM by My Michelle.

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Aaron wears a Calvin Klein short-sleeved collared shirt with Calvin Klein denim jeans.

Victor wears a plaid Ralph Lauren button-up shirt with Nautica denim jeans.

Lilyana wears a Wishful Park-brand plaid and floral henley top with Almost Famous denim jeans. GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

Aaron wears a Ralph Lauren chambray shirt with Calvin Klein denim jeans.

Lilyana wears a burgundy Wishful Park-brand dress while holding her trumpet.

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Elaine plays her violin while wearing YMI black jeans and a gray, lace Eyeshadowbrand top.

Victor wears a Rustic Blue brand striped t-shirt with Nautica denim jeans.

Special thanks to Kerr Wardlaw for providing our venue, Taylor Goodwin of TAG Photography, Bealls for providing wardrobe and our models, Lilyana Quiroz, Victor Garcia, Elaine Oyama and Aaron Cash.

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MUSIC PICKS

While some people are more musically-inclined than others, our favorite songs, bands and concerts influence so much about an individual. Incorporate your love of music into your home and wardrobe with this month’s music picks.

Up your guitar game with this gorgeous Yamaha electric acoustic guitar. Find it at Buddy’s.

Bring your favorite music everywhere you go with this southwest-style portable speaker. Find it at Marshalls.

Fill your home with music, or at least a note! Find this music note home decoration at Ross.

Feeling nostalgic? Grab these vintage-inspired band shirts from Bealls.

GRANDE / SEPTEMBER 2018

Rhythm deficient? Anyone can play a tambourine! Pick up this RhythmTech tambourine at Buddy’s Music.

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Last Look Hi readers-

Anyone who knows me well, knows I’m honest, sometimes brutally. So I will be the first to admit I completely biffed it this issue. I chalk it up to a

combination

wedding-planning lifelong apologies

heat-exhaustion, stress

procrastination for

and

habit.

disappointing

contributions this month. The team has talked about creating a music issue for almost an entire year. It was an easy theme to delay, however, since music is so ever-present in Del Rio, and all over Texas, really. Music follows us through the seasons, and through life, both in the good times and bad. I based the cocktail recipe around me and my fiance’s first dance song, “The Promise” performed by Sturgill Simpson, one of Chris’ favorite artists. I loved the original song so much that when Chris played the covered version during a road trip, I knew it was our song. I worked with four fantastic young musicians for the fashion shoot and my friend (I think I can call him that now) Taylor Goodwin came through in a pinch to do the photography. Kerr Wardlaw was also flexible with my last-minute request that went something like this: “Can we please use your warehouse for our fashion shoot? Great! How’s tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.?” It’s an act of God that anyone is still willing to work with me. Fitting in every story-worthy musician or band was a serious challenge this issue. We promise to re-visit the subject in the future but in the meantime, please let us know who or what you’d like to see when we revisit music. Thanks so much for reading our September music issue. As always, we hoped you enjoyed it. See you next month! Sincerely, Megan Tackett Creative Director 54

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Editor Karen Gleason shoots Freddy Ochoa outside the Casa De La Cultura. Creative Director Megan Tackett gets tangled up in twine on the set of the fashion shoot. Fashion shoot photographer Taylor Goodwin shot this picture of the Val Verde Wool & Mohair cat upon Megan’s request. We concluded our fashion shoot at Val Verde Wool & Mohair just in time to dodge a downpour on Aug. 11.

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Pediatric Mental Health Services

DELIVERING HEALTHCARE YOU CAN TRUST

VRMC offers mental health services for pediatric (under 17) patients. Using a variety of methods. Lyndsee Cooper,

MA, LPC (pictured at right) can help your child develop the tools to cope with their issue(s) and Dr. Linesse Vega can prescribe medication (if needed). • 1 in 7 children between 2 and 8 are diagnosed with behavioral disorders in the US. • Suicide among teens is on the rise. • Traumatic events in a child’s life, including physical illnesses, can lead to mental health issues, drug and alcohol problems and suicide. 56

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Lyndsee Cooper, MA, LPC

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Del Rio Grande 0918

Articles inside

Guitar Magic