Music News aka Houston Music News - October 2023

Also In This Issue

Foo Fighters

Chris Alan

Shakey Graves

Beach Fossils

Marcia Ball

Luger & MIjares

La Mafia

Ne Obliviscaris and More!

Coco Montoya

Saturday, October 7

Friday, October 13

Alien Shore

Saturday, October 14

Distorted Rage

Friday, October 20

Dauzat St. Marie

Saturday, October 21

Bobcat

Social Distancing

Zombilly

Friday, October 27

Bad Habit

Saturday, October 28

Chlorine Carranza Of 83

October 2023

Hi Folks, Hello Music News readers. I hope you had a great September. I’m proud to announce that with this issue we now start our 43rd year in business. It’s been a long haul, but we made it. Over the years we’ve covered a lot of great artists in these pages and we will continue to do so in the future. I would like to thank all of you out there reading this for being our supporters in our quest to bring awareness to the music scene in Houston. Thank you so much for all your help.

Our cover story for this month is Sting. Sting is bringing his My Songs Concert Tour to Houston this month at The Cynthia Woods Pavilion On October 15th. This concert is scheduled to feature almost all of his major hits, both solo and with The Police. It will be definitely one concert you won’t want to miss.

We also feature a fine interview with the Legendary Coco Montoya. Coco will be appearing At Dosey Doe this month in support of his new Alligator Records Release, “Writing On The Wall.” Be sure to check out both the album and his concert appearance here in the Houston Area.

Now, on to the new issue. In this issue, as usual, we have some great stories and information to pass on to you. Check out stories in this month’s issue on Foo Fighters, Chris Alan, Shakey Graves, Beach Fossils, Marcia Ball, Ne Obliviscaris and more, as well as another installment of the original story, THE BIKER! Also in this issue are a ton of great pictures of bands performing around the Houston area. I’m sure you’re going to be familiar with a lot of these bands. Those bands include 6th Sense, Bardo, Cooper Mohrmann, Felix The Cats, Hammerlock, Henry Lee, The HipWaders Flying Circus, Jidora, Judas X, Killing Daylight, Mandi Powell, Mark May, Murali Coryell, Sparky Parker, The Octanes, Throat Locust, and Witness To The Fallen.

We’d also like to invite you to check out our Spanish music section. This month we feature stories on Lucero Y Mijares, La Mafia, and Ivan Cornejo Check these stories out in English and Spanish.

I sincerely hope that everybody reading this new publication finds something here that they like and I would like to encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about us. Just look for us every month at http://www.houstonmusicnews.net. I would also like to encourage you to email us for a free subscription to Rock And Blues International as well. Just email us at musicnew@airmail.net and in the subject line simply put “Sign Me Up” and we’ll email you a copy each month when it is published. Remember, for your convenience, Music News is also now downloadable. You can download the issue into your computer or storage device and save it and read it at your convenience without having to get logged on to the internet every time. Try it now and save every issue. It will make things a lot easier for you.

Kevin Wildman

Kevin Wildman Editor and Publisher

Sting will be bringing his My Songs Concert Tour to The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion this October 15th. Sting’s My Songs concert is an exuberant and dynamic show featuring his most beloved songs, written throughout the 17-time Grammy Award winner’s illustrious career both with The Police and as a solo artist. Fans can expect to be taken on a musical journey with timeless hits like ‘Fields of Gold’, ‘Shape of my Heart’, ‘Roxanne’, ‘Englishman In New York,’ ‘Every Breath You Take,’ ‘Roxanne,’ ‘Message In A Bottle’, ‘Demolition Man’ and many more. The tour has already made stops in the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore earlier this year.

Composer, singer-songwriter, actor, author, and activist Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five studio albums, earned six GRAMMY Awards® and two Brits, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

One of the world’s most distinctive solo artists, Sting has received an additional 11 GRAMMY Awards®, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, four Oscar nominations, a TONY nomination, Billboard Magazine’s Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. In 2003, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his myriad of contributions to music. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he has received the Kennedy Center Honors, The American Music Award of Merit and The Polar Music Prize. Sting has been awarded Honorary Doctorates of Music by the University of Northumbria (1992), Berklee College of Music (1994), University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2006) and Brown University at its 250th Commencement ceremony (2018).

Throughout his illustrious career, Sting has sold 100 million albums from his combined work with The Police and as a solo artist.

Following his critically acclaimed album, 57th & 9th, his first rock/pop collection in over a decade, Sting and reggae icon, Shaggy, both managed by Martin Kierszenbaum/ Cherrytree Music Company, released a collaborative, islandinfluenced album, entitled 44/876, drawing from the many surprising connections at the heart of their music. With its title referencing their home country codes, 44/ 876 first and foremost honors the duo’s mutual love for Jamaica: Shaggy’s homeland, and the place where Sting penned such classics as The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” Their release spent over 20 weeks atop Billboard’s

Reggae Album chart in the US, earned Gold certifications in Poland and France and received the GRAMMY Award® for Best Reggae Album.

In 2019, Sting was honoured at the BMI Pop Awards for his enduring hit single “Every Breath You Take,” which has become the Most Performed Song, with 15 million radio plays, from BMI’s catalog of over 14 million musical works. The song was also added to Spotify’s ‘Billions Club,’ having amassed over 1 billion streams on the platform.

Also in 2019, an album entitled My Songs, featuring contemporary interpretations of his most celebrated hits, was released and followed by a world tour of the same name. Sting’s ‘My Songs’ concert is a dynamic and exuberant show featuring his most beloved songs spanningthe 17time GRAMMY Award® winner’sprolific career with The Police and as a solo artist. North American dates were recently announced with the full tour itinerary here.

Always known as a musical explorer, pioneering genre-bending sounds and collaborations, Sting’s next release Duets, compiles some of his most celebrated collaborations, including those with Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, Charles Aznavour, Mylène Farmer, Shaggy, MelodyGardot,Gashiand more.

Sting’s latest album, The Bridge, showcases his prolific and diverse songwriting prowess. Representing various stages and stylesfrom throughouthis unrivaled career and drawing inspiration from genres including rock n’ roll, jazz, classical music and folk, the eclectic album featuresSting’ s quintessentialsound onpop-rock tracks such as the album’ s opening rock salvo“Rushing Water”andnew indie-pop sounding“If It’ s Love.”

Sting kicked off his Las Vegas residency, “My Songs,” at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace to rave reviews. The show presented a compendium of his most beloved songs with dynamic, visual references to some of his most iconic videos and inspirations with Sting treating fans to an array of greatest hits spanning his illustrious career, including “Roxanne,” “Message In A Bottle,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “Every Breath You Take” and several other fan favorites, plus brand new songs from his latest album, The Bridge.

Sting produced Shaggy’s latest album, Com Fly Wid Mi which finds the dancehall/reggae icon performing the Sinatra songbook in a reggae style. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Reggae Album. To celebrate its release, Sting hosted a party at the

legendary Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC where Shaggy performed the album in full.

Sting recently became a Fellow of the Ivors Academy – the highest honor reserved for those who have reshaped and redefined the art and craft of music creation. The event, presented by Amazon Music, celebrates songwriters and took place on May 18 in London. To commemorate Sting’s honor, an unheard demo of “If It’s Love,” is available here.

As recently announced, StingandShaggy have curated and will coheadlinetheOne Fine Day Festival,a full day ofeclecticmusic featuring adiverseartistlineup -Thundercat, Koffee,Tank and theBangas,Philly’ s own G. Love & Special Sauce, Kes, FlordeToloache, and French/ Italian sensation, Giordana Angi -across two stagescoming exclusively toThe Mann in Fairmount ParkinPhiladelphia, PA, onSaturday , September 9, 2023.Sting & Shaggy willperform their biggest hits together,trading of f andcollaboratingon‘Every BreathYou Take,’ ‘Englishman In New York,’ ‘Message In A Bottle,’ ‘It Wasn’t Me,’ ‘Boombastic’ and ‘Angel’ and more.

Sting has appeared in more than 15 films, executive produced the critically acclaimed A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, and in 1989 starred in The Threepenny Opera on Broadway . His most recent theatre project is the Tony®nominated musical The Last Ship, inspired by his memories of the shipbuilding community of Wallsend in the northeast of England where he was born and raised. The show, with music and lyrics by Sting, ran on Broadway in 2014/2015and completed a UK regional theatre tour which ran from March-July 2018. Thereafter, Sting starred as shipyard foreman Jackie White in the Toronto-based production of The Last Ship at the Princess ofWales Theatre. In 2020, he reprised the role for productions in Los Angelesat theAhmanson Theatre and San Francisco at theGolden Gate Theatre.

Sting’s support for human rights organizations such as the Rainforest Fund, Amnesty International, and Live Aid mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world’s rainforests and the indigenous people living there. Together they have held 19 benefit concerts to raise funds and awareness for our planet’s endangered resources. Since its inception, the Rainforest Fund has expanded to a network of interconnected organizations working in more than 20 countries over three continents.

Meltdown The is coming! MELTDOWN 2023

Thursday, November 9

RONNIE’S HOG HEAVEN (Dickinson)

Benny Brasket, HipWaders, Grifters and Shills

Friday, November 10

THE MOON (La Porte)

BURGER AND BIKE NIGHT (&Country Night)

Joe Borrego, Mitch Jacobs, Bad Bob Rohan (fiddle) HipWaders, The Mighty Orq Trio

Saturday, November 11

THE MOON (La Porte)

Good Train, Von Hindenburg, Donny Taylor, David Hargraves, CW Ayon (Las Cruces, NM), David Schwope, Erik Dongel, Benny Brasket, HipWaders, BERT WILLS

Sunday, November 12

SHADY ACRES (Houston)

mom-DOSE, CW Ayon, HipWaders, Mike Barfield

More acts to be added • Camping • VIP Packages Available

October 5 - Rusty Dentz Trio

October 12 - Sonny Boy Terry

October 19 - Nathan Quick

October 26 - Chris Crochemore

October 6 Eric Korb

October 7 Western Bling

October 15 Hipwaders Flying Circus

Thursday Night Heights Blues Series

October 1 Rusty Dentz Trio

October 19 Nathan Quick

October 12 Sonny Boy Terry

October 26 Chris Crochmere

October 20 Kory Quinn

Dog Friendly Sundays - Bingo @ 3 - 6 pm

October 22 Los Vertigos

October 2023 Entertainment Schedule

10/1 - Tyler Wayne Griffith

10/5 - The Rusty Dentz Trio

10/6 - Eric Korb

10/7 - Western Bling

10/8 - F.R.C. Band

10/12 - Sonny Boy Terry

10/13 - 35 Drive

10/14 - The Southern Implication

10/15 - Hipwader’s Flying Circus

10/19 - Nathan Quick

10/20 - Kory Quinn

10/21 - Jacob Ryan Marshall

October 29 Paul Ramirez

10/22 - Los Vertigos

10/26 - Chris Crochemore

10/27 - Sentimental Family Band

10/28 - Zachary Burnett

10/29 - Paul Ramirez

Coco Montoya Releases His New Alligator Records Album WritingOnTheWall Watch Coco Montoya In Concert This Month at Dosey Doe Big Barn On October 28th

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By Kevin Wildman

Legendary guitarist Coco Montoya has just released his new album, Writing On The Wall on his longtime label, Alligator Records. To call Coco legendary is almost an understatement. This man’s legacy goes back over 50 years. His introduction into the music business was pretty standard at a young age. He started out on drums performing at local venues around Santa Monica, California, playing in several rock bands, however a Creedence Clearwater Revival concert in 1969 at which bluesman Albert King was the opening act changed his direction on where he wanted to go with his music. It was going to be the Blues for Coco.

“After King got done playing,” says Montoya, “my life was changed. When he played, the music went right into my soul. It grabbed me so emotionally that I had tears welling up in my eyes. Nothing had ever affected me to this level. He showed me what music and playing the blues were all about. I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

A chance encounter in the mid-70s with another legendary guitarist, Albert Collins really changed his destiny for the better. He wound up playing drums for the great bluesman. Albert started mentoring Coco on guitar and it wasn’t long before Coco switched from drums to guitar performing as Albert Collins’ second guitarist.

“We’d sit in hotel rooms for hours and play guitar,” remembers Montoya. “He’d play that beautiful rhythm of his and just have me play along. He was always saying, ‘Don’t think about it, just feel it.’ He was like a father to me,” says Coco. There was many a night that Coco found himself staying over at Collins’ house. Albert proudly proclaimed that Coco was like a “son” to him.

But things didn’t stop there. After leaving Collins band, Coco caught the eye of another Blues legend, Mr. John Mayall. John Mayall had caught a performance of Coco playing Otis Rush’s All Your Love (I Miss Loving) and it soon led to a phone call from John to Coco with an invitation to join the world famous John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers. These were going to be pretty hard shoes to fill as previous guitars for John Mayall included Mick Taylor, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and more, but Coco was up for the challenge. He spent the next 10 years on the road with Mayall and recorded seven albums with him.

The next step came in 1995 when

Coco stepped out on his own to lead his own Blues band and issued his first solo album, 1995’s Gotta Mind To Travel (originally on Silvertone Records in England and later issued in the USA on Blind Pig Records). It quickly became a Blues favorite and his fans and new fans just loved it and it cemented Coco into becoming a full-fledged solo artist recording albums for Blind Pig Records, as well as two stints with Alligator Records with whom he records with today.

Well, Coco is back with his new Alligator Records release, Writing On The Wall, and without a doubt, this is his best album yet. With 13 great songs on this album, five of which Coco wrote or Cowrote, this is definitely a tour-de-force for the legendary guitarist. Other writers or cowriters on the album include: Jeff Paris, Dave Steen and Drew Steen. He even includes three cover songs written by Don Robey, Andy Fraser, and Lonnie Mack respectively. Performing on the album is Coco’s fantastic band which consists of Jeff Paris (Keyboards, Piano, Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer, Background Vocals, Electric and Acoustic Guitars and guitar solo on Writing On The Wall, Rhythm Guitar on What Did I Say?), Nathan Brown (Bass)’and Drew Steen and Rena Beavers (Drums and Background Vocals). This is the first time that Coco has brought his touring band into the studio for an Alligator Records release and it really enhanced the production and spontaneity of the album making it one of the most

enjoyable recording sessions for Coco. As you listen to the songs on this album, you’ll see how tight this band is together.

Guest musicians on the album include: Ronnie Baker Brooks (Guitar on You Got Me (Where You Want Me), Guitar and Vocals on Baby, You’re A Drag), Lee Roy Parnell (Slide Guitar on A Chip And A Chair), Dave Steen (Rhythm Guitar on A Chip And A Chair, The Three Kings And Me), and Tony Braunagel (Drums on Save It For The Next Fool, (I’d Rather Feel) Bad About Doin’ It, Be GoodTo Yourself, Natural Born Love Machine).

Writing On The Wall was Produced by Tony Braunagel and Co-Produced by Jeff Paris. It was recorded at Jeff’s Garage, Studio City, CA.

Songs on the new album include: “I Was Wrong,” “Save It For The Next Fool,” “You Got Me (Where You Want Me),” “(I’d Rather Feel) Bad About Doin’ It,” “Be Good To Yourself,” “Stop,” “Writing On the Wall,” “Late Last Night,” “What Did I Say?,”, “A Chip And A Chair,” “Baby, You’re A Dray,” The Three Kings And Me,” and “Natural Born Love Machine.”

We sat down with Coco Montoya recently to discuss the new album and the songs on it as well as reminisce somewhat

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about the past and had quite an interesting conversation which we’d like to share with you right now.

Coco Montoya: Hello.

Music News: Hello Coco.

Coco Montoya: Yes.

Music News: This is Kevin with Music News. I think I’m supposed to be talking to you about now.

Coco Montoya: You’re the next one up, Kevin.

Music News: All right. How long do we have?

Coco Montoya: Your the last one, so I have to stop now. I’m just kidding. (laughs)

Music News: Okay, well, I’ve been listening to the album. I really enjoy it. It’s really nice.

Coco Montoya: Oh thanks.

Music News: I found a couple of the songs selections a little unusual, but they sound great.

Coco Montoya: Well thank you.

Music News: You don’t hear too many people doing a Don Robey song, “You Got Me (Where You Want me)”.

Coco Montoya: It happens every once in a while. You know, it’s amazing. We took from a lot of different areas on this. That’s probably the biggest enjoyment for me as an artist and the players on the album and the

producers had a lot of freedom. And there’s so many places I wanted to explore there. You know that I have these influences that are inside me. There’s not just straight-ahead blues.

Music News: What made you pick that song?

Coco Montoya: Where am I at? I’m gonna get a look on the list?

Music News: “You Got Me”.

Coco Montoya: “You Got Me”. Bobby Bland. I got that from Bobby Bland. Alligator records sent that to me. Bruce Iglauer sent it to me and I liked it right away. It was a song he wanted done. He thought it would be a good one for me to do and of course we picked upon it and I rather enjoyed it and thought it was a good vehicle to bring in Ronnie Baker Brooks as well.

Music News: Right.

Coco Montoya: I thought right away Ronnie would be great on that. Let’s see if he’ll do it. Of course, he was up for it.

Music News: You use several guest artists on this too. I think the big change for you must have been when you switched from studio musicians and brought in your band.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, I have done that in the past over the years, on occasion, especially during the early Flying Pig things on some of the tracks. But this was a situation where I been playing with these guys for a long time and we were so connected and they had so many hours of playing together. That to me, it was a no brainer to just go this route this time, because we had a little more

freedom, and a little more time to do as we wanted to do. So nobody could use the excuse that the studio musicians were getting quicker. We weren’t worried about that. We were not worried. So we decided to go ahead with it and it turned out to be a really great thing, a lot of enthusiasm and the comfort in playing in the studio with each other knowing each other as well as we did was a real asset.

Music News: How much did they contribute to.... you know, when you hire studio musicians to work for you they tend to follow what you tell them to do. But when you’re working with your own band in there, there’s probably a little personality that creeps in on songs and would you say their personalities influenced the songs that they played on there?

Coco Montoya: Yeah, just because I gave them the freedom to select. To start, we made demos to give ourselves an idea how would we play this song. I said we do the demos, guys. Throw out the Bobby Bland version. Don’t think about Bobby Bland. Just think about the song and let’s just see where we come from, whether in tempo or we come from simple things and just see where it fits. I think we even had a different key for that, that didn’t fit really well until we actually played it and realized we had to move the key around and put it in “G”. I think I had it a little higher than that and it was still too high for me. That was the beauty of the whole deal is just having their ability to do this the way we play it and that was the most important thing. This is going to be the way we play it. We do not want to imitate the track, the original. We didn’t want to totally imitate that which is great. It made them think, made them feel, made them just play, just play it like themselves, because that was what we wanted. Great, great experience.

Music News: Well, you recorded this over Jeff Paris’s studio, right?

Coco Montoya: I sure did, yes.

Music News: Was that the first time you were there recording with him or had this been happening before?

Coco Montoya: Well, a long, long time ago, we did an album called I Want It All Back. That’s where I met Jeff. And we were back and forth between his studio and Keb’ Mo’s studio that he had. They both had them in their backyards. So we used Jeff, because he did all the pre production there. And we worked out the songs, worked out the grooves, how are we going to present them and the vocals later where we did them at Jeff’s house, so I had some experience and felt comfortable in that room. And then we would cut over at Kevin’s (Keb’ Mo’) house. So that’s happened before. So yeah, coming in here to me felt at home and I felt very comfortable. We’d rehearsed there several times since Jeff has been in the band. So we’re all comfortable. And once again, you

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got guys that had been on the road together, played every night for several years. We know each other. We know how each other works, and we know the moods. And it all worked out to our benefit. It was a really comfortable situation and enjoyable.

Music News: Well, do you find that a lot easier? Did you find making this album a lot easier than say when you went to other studios and then worked with studio musicians?

Coco Montoya: I found it to be easier, within also saying that recording is not easy. Recording is very tedious. And in my opinion, and it can be, it’s challenging and definitely you have to keep your emotions together. And you gotta remember you’re going to be under the microscope. Everything that you do is going to be criticized, plus or minus. So, yes, just the idea of being in a studio for me is a little bit daunting, but this experience that even no matter the hardest times of doing anything, we all stayed enthusiastic and we all made things work and we all figured out problems. That was the beauty of it all. So this is a very great experience in my book.

Music News: All right. A lot of this stuff was well... I think five of the songs you wrote or co-wrote and the others were songs that were written by someone else, or for the sake of any other word, a cover song of somebody’s that you put your own style and feel into it. So let’s start off with the first song, “I Was Wrong”. Dave Steen wrote this thing and you’ve worked with Dave before.

Coco Montoya: Many, many times, he was my go to co-writer for many, many years... still is. He’s still one of the guys that I work with and now I’ve got Jeff Paris as well. We all... the three of us have written together. As you can see on the album, we’ve actually wrote together with the three of us doing zoom sessions. I wrote with Jeff, me and Jeff Rowan, and me and Dave, of course, over all these years, a lot of Dave Steen co-writes and singles. He writes his own and all over my material, on a lot of my albums.

Music News: Okay, well, let’s talk about the first song “I was wrong”. Tell me about that song. What was it about that, that made you pick that, to pick that song by Dave.

Coco Montoya: I heard his version of it, that’s the thing. He’ll send me some stuff. And then he recorded that one for his own reasons. I mean, he recorded me a great, beautiful recording of it and I said, Well, now

how would I interpret that? I hear that a little more slimmed down, you know, a cut down version. And that’s how it worked out with that. I mean, he brought it to me and I said, I could use that one if you don’t mind.

Music News: It’s a very, it’s very slow and very soulful.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, well, that’s the thing I liked about it and the approach of the guitar is kind of like the opposite of all that because I was thinking more. I’d say I was thinking more Clapton during his era with John Mayall when I was playing the guitar solo stuff. So my approach is a little more aggressive, more British, trying to be a little more... The fella’s upset. He was wrong. He realizes he was upset, he was wrong. And I thought the guitar had to really show that he’s distressful, what he was feeling trying to say. Okay, you’re right. I really did it. I don’t know how I did this, but I did it. So the guitar to me, lends itself to that emotion of how the person in the story is feeling. I was trying to look as, maybe I would be in a different situation.

Music News: Right. And what about the second song, “Save It For The Next Fool?” That’s, that’s a bit more upbeat on there.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, that’s just a wonderful.... One of those Dave Steen things that I love. I said this is really cool. I just gravitated towards it and just said, Yeah, this is something I want to do, because there’s that side of me to me where that song is kind of pushing a little, a little more modern area, a little more groove, a little more tough story. In a nutshell. I liked it. I like the groove on it. The background vocals were really attracted to me.

Music News: Okay. And we already talked a little bit about “You Got Me (Where You Want Me)” which was originally written by Don Robey, but whose version is that that you’re doing?

Coco Montoya: The version we got to listen to was Bobby Bland’s version.

Music News: Okay, and what was it about that song?

Coco Montoya: Well, right away, as soon as I heard it, I’ve been looking for something because I wanted to bring Ronnie Baker Brooks in. And I said, well, this is definitely me and him to trade some guitar licks in this. We could definitely do that and that was attracted to me too, right there. So that was the vehicle there for Ronnie... me and Ronnie Baker Brooks to get together on this because I’ve always wanted to do something with Ronnie. We’ve known each other for a long, long time. I was really close to his dad and his brother Wayne for many years. We first met during the Bluesbreakers days and so this a good opportunity to bring him in. And once again, a good experience for me and Ronnie, but a great experience for the people to hear Ronnie, and hear us work together.

Music News: I love the version. It sounds really great. That brings us to “(I’d Rather Feel) Bad About Doing It”, which was written by Jeff Paris. Had you been doing many of Jeff’s songs before this, or is this like one of the first?

Coco Montoya: No, no, I definitely have done some. With I Want It All Back (2010) we did some Jeff Paris stuff. And I think on Hard Truth, I did a Jeff Paris song if I’m not mistaken. I don’t have it in front of me, so my brain isn’t as great as it used to be. But um, yeah. That was the tune that Jeff started because of the line. I told him a story that I heard from Paul Barrere. It was a joke. It was just a joke and it was funny. I don’t know if I should be telling the press, but we were all laughing about something that Paul remembered a buddy of his coming up to St. Paul feeling guilty and bad. I go why’s he

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feeling bad? Why, what did he do and he’s kind of had this little affair thing. And Paul looked at me as well, I forgive you. And he goes, ‘Look, I’d rather feel bad that I did it. I’d rather feel bad that I did it than feel bad that I didn’t, which is pretty funny to me. And I just remember that and I told Jeff about it. And he goes, ‘that’s it, there’s a song in there, just that... I’d rather feel bad about doing it. That’s what he came up with and he came up with these great lines in there and turned it into this thing, this multi, multi structured story. There’s multi stories going on within this song.

Music News: Right.

Coco Montoya: Just kind of great. I really loved what he did with this.

Music News: The next song that you did that I found really kind of surprising, because you don’t see too many people doing Andy Fraser songs, was “Be Good To Yourself”. I thought that was kind of unusual. He was a great songwriter. His work with Free was unbelievable.

Coco Montoya: Right! Right! So incredible. I got it from the Frankie Miller version.

Music News: Really!

Coco Montoya: Yeah, I’ve been a big Frankie Miller fan for years. I got to jam with him at the Central Club back in the early 80s. Nice guy, great guy. He’s funny as hell. And everybody knows the story that Frankie had a massive stroke and can no longer perform.

Tony Braunagel is really close to him. He knows Frankie really well. So we were just kind of looking around and he says you’ve done a couple Frankie Miller songs and I say ‘Yeah, I have’. A “Beginner At The Blues” was one of his tunes. It was on one of my albums. I know there was another one I did by him and I can’t remember the title off the top of my head, but yeah this one came up and I said ‘I’ll just do this. Check this out,’ and Uh, so this is really good. I saw the video on YouTube myself, Frankie sounds great’. As soon as Jeff Paris heard it, he goes, ‘we got to cut this’ so it was kind of like, everybody was for it immediately.

Music News: All right, and that brings us to a Lonnie Mack song, “Stop.” That one really sings.

Coco Montoya: Now see, that was a song that was brought to me a long time ago by Bruce Iglauer, the president of Alligator Records. He’s been bugging me to do that song for quite a few years now. He’s actually brought it up enough to want you to think about doing this. Why don’t you think about doing this. And I wasn’t disagreeing with him. I just wasn’t sure I could pull that off because I guess I’ve been too affected by seeing him do this so many times on gigs. Lonnie was incredible. I mean, his vocals are intense. I guess I didn’t feel very confident that I was up for that. Eventually, we said let’s give it a shot and Jeff Paris helped me once again, Mr. Incredible Talent helped me find a key that would be comfortable enough to be able to pull off the vocal. So yeah, I’m glad we did that. I’m glad we worked at it maybe for a few hours and it made the

biggest difference in the world. So I’m very proud of that song.

Music News: The leads on it are so emotional. I mean unbelievable. So tell me about when you went to write the leads on that, were they written out ahead of time or did they just come to you on the spot?

Coco Montoya: Oh, that’s more on the spot things. I mean, I did stop and fix a few little places and stuff like that. I had to do that. But mostly just whatever comes out of my mind. There’s no way you can interpret stuff like that without just feeling it. That’s just my approach to most everything I do. I just got to feel it. If I can’t feel it, then I can’t do it. So that to me is the prime necessary element in anything I do play. I got to be able to feel something. And that song makes you feel something. I mean, this guy is just begging her to stop mistreating him. He’s trying so hard to hang on to what he’s got, but she’s evil. But you know, God bless him, he loves her. And that’s the greatest thing about the story. Once again, you feel the story. And that’s what you got to play to this. What you got to think about when you’re actually playing is just like, Yeah, my heart... I’m really up against it here with you.

Music News: Well, I found the song to be very emotional.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, he’s not saying he’s leaving. He’s begging her to stop doing what she’s doing. That there’s an incredible... if you think about that, how incredible that feeling is. I’m not leaving you, I don’t have what it takes to leave you. Just please, just be good to me and I can be so good to you. You got to stop doing it. And that’s where the emotion is coming from. So you play with emotion, or you feel emotion easily. That’s where you end up going. You got to play that way.

Music News: Right. I really enjoyed that one. I really enjoyed some of the softer songs on here. They’re just.... your playing is in all of them... for the lack of a better term, they just sound very emotional. Like you’re really putting your heart and soul into those particular songs.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, well, I appreciate that too because that’s the way you do that kind of stuff. You can’t do without that emotional element. I mean, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. You have to you have to be able to feel it.

Music News: Right. And then that brings us to the next song which is also the title song of the album “Writing On The Wall”. Now, I may have heard this wrong, and you can correct me. But when that thing started out, it sounded like a little bit of a honky tonk song to me.

Coco Montoya: Yep.

Music News: ...with that piano. Did I

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Coco Montoya: No, I don’t think you misjudging it at all. I think what the important message musically in “Writing On The Wall” was to not ignore or feel so pigeonholed that, that can’t be. I went through this with “You Think I Know Better” a long time ago. When I got done with it, I put Leroy on it. The record company was concerned because they said it sounded a little bit too country for them. I said, ‘Well, so what’. Well, you’re a blues man. I come from the blues. But am I a bluesman? I don’t know if I’m a bluesman. I definitely blues in what I do. It’s all over what I do. I learned to cut my teeth on all that. And yes, but why should that stop me from writing something that just came out of me naturally and organically? Why should that stop me from going that direction and then recording the song? I don’t see the... I didn’t understand the pigeonholing. I never understood that. And eventually, I won the argument with them about putting the song out and what it did it end up being? It ended up being the title cut. So kind of funny, is when you hear it kind of leans a little bit on a country kind of groove, which is okay. You know, it’s kind of nice and what’s really brilliant about is that Jeff Paris... I told him just for an idea, just throw me a solo on there and look what he did. And I said, ‘that’s perfect’. That makes the song great! Jeff played perfect to the song. And you got enough of me playing all over this record, why not show the talents of the guys you’re working with?

Music News: Absolutely. Well, you, Dave and Jeff wrote this. So who contributed what to what part? You don’t have to give it to me line by line.

Coco Montoya: Well, it’s just amazing. Me and Dave had written probably a good 70% of this song. We never finished it. We could never find the right... something’s missing, but we couldn’t put our foot on it. And maybe we need another first. We needed something. We said, let’s give this one to Jeff and see what he can do. It’s pretty much done. It just needs something else. And overnight Jeff said, ‘Yeah, I’ll have something in the morning for you and he came up with a bridge, which is great in there. And then he came up with another verse, which is exactly what we needed to get us into the bridge. He just, he just filled out the rest of the song. It’s just perfect. And isn’t it amazing. You can get so stuck and somebody else comes in and goes, boom, they can see clearly what it needs. So that’s how that song came about is something me and David had started many years ago, and brought Jeff into

it and it got done.

Music News: How about “Late Last Night”. You and Jeff wrote that one as well.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that’s a fun song. It’s a funny song. Straight ahead bluesy kind of r&b feel to it. Yeah, that’s just about the challenges when we’re younger, going out at night and next thing you tie one on, and you had to explain to the little woman where the hell you were and why you were coming in so late. it’s, it’s fun. It’s a funny story. It’s just fun.

Music News: What that written by experience from you?

Coco Montoya: oh, gosh, yes.

Music News: Have you had to do some explaining about coming in a little too late at times?

Coco Montoya: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You don’t have a drug habit and alcohol problem, and not have this kind of situation. I haven’t had a drink or drugs since late ’72. I mean ’92. Me and Jeff on it are hilarious, because this guy’s like, he’s out there. Somebody had a jam and he says, ‘I stopped by to sing a song.’ It turned out to be an all nighter. It’s kind of... It’s just hilarious. I listened to this. I started laughing. I smile, because talking about waking up naked on his front lawn. That’s pretty funny. And then the wife says, I don’t trust your friends. I don’t trust the guys you call friends, what they’re doing to you! So yeah, I think every guy at some point or person is at that point where they’ve fallen off the deep end a little bit and do some explaining.

Music News: Right. And I think, yeah, for one reason or another. Yes.

Coco Montoya: I came up with that line. I wouldn’t have been late if I wasn’t late

last night. I came up with that quite a while back and that’s another situation where Jeff said, ‘what was that line again’, wrote it down and we started working on it. You know, I hear something there.

Music News: Well, you and Jeff seem to be doing quite well writing together. The next one was fantastic, too, a bit slower, but it’s another one of those emotional songs. “What Did I Say?” So explain that. What did you say?

Coco Montoya: Well I think that’s the question he’s having is, what did I say? What did I do? The line I came up with once again... I thought of something, then I call Jeff. I was ‘Jeff write this down. “What did I say? What did I do to make you run baby to someone new?”’ And he said, ‘Okay, wow, that’s a great, great song. We got something there’. We would see it and like me and Jeff will do that. With me, Dave, will do that. We’ll talk the story out. What is the story? What are we trying to say? And what we were talking about basically. The exhilaration of finding love is just like the exhilarate of take it.. It was the exhilaration when John Mayall called me and asked me to be a Bluesbreaker. I was just like, over the moon about it. I’m gonna be a Bluesbreaker, and I’m so excited until I first went on the road did the rehearsals and all that, and then it started to sink in. Oh, shit, we’re gonna do “Have You Heard.” We’re gonna be doing “Pretty Woman.” We’re gonna be doing all these songs like “All Those Heroes” where Clapton played “Have You Heard.” Nobody’s beat that? Gosh, now it’s sinking in that I’m gonna be compared to Eric Clapton. I’m gonna be compared to Mick Taylor. I’m gonna be compared to Peter Green. Now, the other side of it, the insecurity. The doubts start coming in. So it’s the same kind of idea but with a love affair between two people. And basically, she’s backing off at him.

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That’s where we talked the story of me and Jeff, we were talking the story out and he doesn’t know why she’s backing off. That’s why he said, ‘What did I do? What did I say? What happened? Why are you not contacting me? Why are you getting cold feet?’ And basically the song goes through the whole thing, how he’s changed. He says in the bridge, then he says that the thing he would normally do is just walk away. . And he said, we got to work at this, and to have hurt just gave him doubts. He kind of said, I like what he says, What’s your thought? He’s like, did I fail some test? That’s the idea. It was like there was a test, and I failed it. Are you letting me go just because of that., you’re not going to be willing to work out it. And basically, if you’re scared, I gotta tell you, and let me tell you, I’m scared too. I have my doubts. And that’s what that song is all about is just like, communicating, because you really don’t want to lose this great thing you guys got. But it’s always full of doubts. You got to get beyond those. If it’s real good and true love you get beyond the doubts.

Music News: Right? And then now we’ve got “A Chip And A Chair” now. Is that a gambling song?

Coco Montoya: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Wonderful song. Another song, like I say, it cracks me up. I have to like, I have to kind of go after Dave and I have to go after Jeff. Sometimes they have songs that they’ve written that they just... “I didn’t think you’d be interested in this. I never showed it to”. this gem, this beautiful song or a great song. Yeah, “A Chip And The Chair” was Dave song that I liked the groove of it, kind of swampy little thing. And I thought there’s

my vehicle for Leroy Parnell and I could see the future of that. The song was written by him and his son Drew. Drew said ‘yeah dad, I had a gambling problem for a while there, that I’ve gone to meetings, and I gotten out of my problem. I don’t have that anymore’. But, you know, in the old days, when I used to gamble, is that sort of everybody would say, that was a saying, as long as you got a chip and a chair, you’re still in the game. So if you got your last chip, which is your last bit of money, you’re still in the game, if you want to play. So that’s what that whole thing was derived from was just showing that if you want to take it, follow it all the way to the end, whatever it may be, like in the songs talking about playing to an empty room. The idea is just, yeah, some days you really got it, some days you don’t, you just got to keep going. As long as you got a chip and a chair, you’re still get in the game, so I gravitated towards that really right away. I thought that was a great song.

Music News: And Dave even did a little guitar on here as well.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, Dave did. I wanted him for the rhythm tracks and stuff because he built them so beautifully. I said, Dave, give me those tracks. So he flew out and came to the studio and hung out for a day and brought some great groove to the song. I don’t think it would be the same. I don’t think I could have played it anything like that.

Music News: Leroy Parnell’s slide guitar was fantastic as well.

Coco Montoya: Isn’t that wonderful!

Music News: It is!

Coco Montoya: I knew it. I knew it right away. He’s been on three songs on my albums, three albums I mean. There’s three albums with a Leroy Parnell appearance. He’s such a dear friend. Great guy. I was a huge fan of his way back and he ended up playing on my second album, Ya Think I’d Know Better. His solo on there is just to die for and we were good buddies and we just shipped it down there he put it solos on and played against me. We played against each other on it. I think it’s magic.

Music News: Well, it sounds like magic and the whole song just really grooves.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, it sure does.

Music News: Okay, on “Baby, You’re A Drag”, tell me about why baby’s such a drag.

Coco Montoya: Oh, that was funny. It was hilarious. We we were messing with this one a long time ago. I had actually forgotten that we had done this, me and Dave and Dave said, ‘Do you remember’ revisiting some of the old stuff? I found his “Baby, You’re A Drag,” and I did not even remember that. And then we listened to what we had on it. And the story, I said, Oh, this is a great story. Why didn’t we finish this? Usually every writer goes in there and gets it done till it’s done, good or bad. We just let that one lag. I don’t know what we lost it. It got lost in the shuffle, stuffed in a box somewhere. And yeah, it’s just a story, a great story that’s not common, which is great., I mean he’s just commiserating with his buddy. What I thought right away is it could be a thing for me and Ronnie Baker Brooks as well. Write the song into a place where the two guys commiserating about what a drag their old ladies are? Their wives are just no fun. You know, she don’t want to go out and party. Music’s too loud. Don’t like those people, you know? Yeah. So, me and Ronnie said, Well, we can share that. It’d be two old guys talking about it and that’s how it came out, as we made it like two guys just chat it up bitching about the old lady.

Music News: Yeah, and he does guitar and vocals on this one.

Coco Montoya: Yeah. That’s another vehicle for us to share the guitar talents of another great guitar player and working with him and we both are trading off.

Music News: Who are the Three Kings in “The Three Kings And Me”?

Coco Montoya: Very simple. That’s Albert King, Freddie King, and BB King.

Music News: That’s what I was thinking. Although it doesn’t really say that. Or at least if it did, I missed that line.

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Coco Montoya: Well, it’s just the beauty of it. It’s just... it was a guy here that doesn’t have much love for the holidays, especially at Christmas time. That’s what this is all about. And he’s got no presents, he’s got nobody there, he doesn’t have a wife or anything. You can hear through the whole song, it’s just him talking about going through another Christmas, but he’s got these three wisemen, so it’s about us musicians and musicians like me and David. So their our Wiseman and our guys that we look up to as blues players and that right there got me and the idea that he ends up ‘I’m here with them,’ so it pays homage to these three greats.

Music News: Well it’s definitely very bluesy.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, definitely very bluesy.

Music News: Last song an album, “Natural Born Love Machine”. Is that like a song about yourself?

Coco Montoya: Oh, no, at 71. No, I doubt it.

Music News: Well, you never know. Sometimes they say the older you get, the better you are. I mean, we’re both the same age, you and I.

Coco Montoya: If there’s another blues guy that is 71 and is doing all that, I hate him already. I’m jealous as hell. “Natural Born Love Machine” started out with a guitar riff that I had that led us into the groove. We approach the song purely from a musical standpoint to say we’ll catch a groove, catch some chord changes, which is not the usual way we go about it, but we talked the groove and the idea, then we just came in “Natural Born Love Machine”. We just wrote together, me and Jeff on that, so we had plenty of time to sit around the studio and come up with that. I think he came up the Natural Born Love Machine idea and we just kept bouncing it off each other until we ended up with that, which is a lot of fun. It’s just to me just a great r&b groove. Lot of fun to play that kind of stuff. I had to break up the set from some of the slower models. Some songs are a little slower. It’s so different. It’s uptempo a little more, but it’s so different from “A Chip And A Chair”, things like that.

Music News: But there’s a lot of great variety on the album from song to song. It’s not like they all sound the same. There’s a couple that that might sound a little similar, but they’re not.

Coco Montoya: The important thing is to definitely spread the flavors, I guess, like I said, to be able to go in here and do these different kinds of songs on here. They’re so different from each other. Taking chances is just being able to be free to to create and add somebody’s... You know, I never have a problem, somebody comes up live. I didn’t like to feel bad about doing it like that when it’s me, but I really like “You Got Me”. I didn’t like “Stop” as much as “Three Kings”. I mean, it’s just but that’s because that’s what people are gonna say out there. Interesting, and that’s why I like the variety. I’m not afraid to have the variety to stir it up a little bit. If anything taught me that was the I Want It All Back album. Don’t forsake everything that’s inspirational to you because you want to find exactly what the best... all the songs to be accepted. They’re not all going to be accepted by all people.

Music News: Absolutely.

Coco Montoya: Yeah. So to me, that’s the whole thing. You paint the picture, you uncover it. Once you uncover it, now anybody can say what they want. They think that photo, the painting you did is a piece of shit or they can send another guy which brings me to tears. It’s so beautiful.

Music News: Right.

Coco Montoya: That’s what you got to let yourself do, open once you’re done with it. That’s okay.

Music News: We’ve talked a lot about Jeff Paris. We’ve talked about Ronnie Baker Brooks and Leroy Parnell. And let’s give a little love to a couple of the other musicians on here. Nathan Brown is your bassist on here. Tell me about Nathan.

Coco Montoya: Nathan Brown. He’s originally from Michigan. He lives out here in sunny California and he doesn’t want to leave. He’s an amazing player. I found him playing with the Boneshakers, Randy Jacobs And The Boneshakers. Incredible band. Some of the players used to be in Was Not Was. Great band, really funky and soulful. I saw him playing at a festival in Santa Cruz, California and I went up and gave him my number. Just, I’m looking for another bass player at this time. Let me know if you’re interested. Luckily, him being more of a jazz bass player and funk, r&b kind of soul thing, I wasn’t expecting him to say yes, because there’s a lot of different genres I cover in the scope of my music. But he said yes to it and he’s been here ever since and we just enjoyed each other. What an amazing player, very well liked by a lot of people in the business.

Music News: Can you comment a little bit on what his playing might have lent itself to a couple of songs.

Coco Montoya: I think Nate’s playing, especially on... looking for the one that I really love what he does. And “What Did I Say” of course, incredible. “Natural Born Love Machine”’s playing is tough. I mean, it seems Nate always finds the right thing to play and what not to play. He knows what not to play. With Nate, it’s always asking him for something you hear and he’s got it. He said, I just don’t want to fill it up too much, I wanted to make a statement with simple words, instead of trying to... It’s like writing 50,000 words and you only need 10 to express yourself. He’s brilliant like that.

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Music News: All right now, I will probably get the name wrong on the next one. But Rena, Rena Beavers.

Coco Montoya: It’s Renee, Rena pronounced Renee, but he spells it that way. And if your guess is as good as mine is why he won’t change it.

Music News: Well, it’s Rena on what I’m reading.

Coco Montoya: That’s what it is. Renee Beavers.

Music News: Okay, tell me a little bit about Rena.

Coco Montoya: I first met Rena out of the Blue circuit. He was playing with Jennifer Magnus, and little Milton he played with as well if I’m correct. He’d been around. He’s done toured with a lot of the great blues people. He was out here playing in some local clubs and we really connected. And, yeah, I saw him when I was in need for another drummer. I mean, he happened to be around and I gave him a call and he came down. I said, this is the guy and he’s been here for a long while. And he just once again, was really refreshing, he plays to the groove, plays to the song. That’s what I love about my guys, they play to the song.They really try and flush out what is necessary that they need to do or not do. They’re real conscientious that way and Rena is very conscientious, like his famous saying. He always says ‘group responsibly’, which is what his intention always is. And yeah, he’s brought the band to another level because he’s also is a great singer. He’s got a great voice and a wonderful falsetto, so he’s enhanced the band not only as the drummer, but also a background vocalist. And so yeah, I’ve got probably the

best guys I’ve had ever, in these guys.

Music News: Okay, and last but certainly not least, a man of all seasons here. Tony Braunagel. Fantastic drummer. Fantastic producer.

Coco Montoya: A Scalawag. Great.

Music News: Yeah, he’s from Houston.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, he’s from Houston. He’s a great guy. I’ve known him for many years, many, many years. We know a lot of the same people. He did the last two albums before. He brought me in there in the studio with old friends. The last ones I told you does this. I’ve got two albums. Actually, I got three albums with Mike, Mike Finnegan on it. If you don’t know Mike Finnegan is Mike Finnegan’s probably...

Music News: The keyboard player.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, he was the ultimate to me in every aspect. I mean, incredible B-3 player, incredible piano player... the singing. That man can out sing anybody he ever worked with, anybody he ever played with. Mike Finnegan could sing like you wouldn’t believe and I never thought I would have something like that in my band. I guess if I had something like that. And the Tony albums, it shows Mike is just tremendous. Well, I did and when I got a hold of Jeff Paris and we talked about him joining the band, I couldn’t believe it when we got out and start playing. He could sing his butt off. He’s an incredible singer. Jeff is so multi talented, so you know what he brings to the band!

Music News: Absolutely, he plays guitar, he plays keyboards, he plays every-

thing.

Coco Montoya: There’s nothing he can’t play. He’s a great harmonica player, that’s something. I’m thinking of ideas of how to feature that... I’m going to feature Jeff on... He’s phenomenal. He’s just a wonderful talent and wonderful guy to have on the road. My boys are all behind me. It’s just sometimes I am amazed by how behind me they are and how much effort they put out. So another one of the reasons why it was the right thing to do for us to go in here as a band and do the album.

Music News: Well, Tony’s on for four songs on here.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, and that’s stuff that needed Tony’s expertise on, which is absolutely wonderful. It always is.

Music News: And what was it like working with him as your producer?

Coco Montoya: Tony is great. Tony has great ideas, great vision. He listens, which is great. That’s part of the real important thing, is to listen to the artists. It’s not whether the artist is right, or gets his way. It’s whatever ideas going through his head, he gets to state it and put it out there and Tony is really good about that. He’ll stop what he’s doing. He’ll say, ‘What did you have to say? What was your idea?’ That was really important to me. And I’ve always been grateful for that and with him. He’s a very understanding producer.

Music News: And how do you feel that this album fits in with the rest of your body of work? Is this the best one yet?

Coco Montoya: Yeah, I think everyone’s the best one as you do it. I mean, as you move along, you get better and better and better. I personally really love where the sound is coming from in so many ways. Like I said, the freedom this album represents right now, I never thought I’d ever have. So this gives me... I’m looking at it when I walk away from this, no matter what it does, plus or minus, that’s up to the good Lord and all the people out there that either they’ll like it or they won’t. I’m hoping they do. And I walk away from this album going, I just made, in my opinion, a really good album. And I’m at peace with that. That’s important to me. Now we want to take it to the people and see what they say.

Music News: What’s the response been? I know it’s not out yet, as we’re as we’re talking now, I know that you’ve played this for some people. So tell me what the response has been from the people you’ve played it for so far?

Coco Montoya: Well, I’ve played it for very few people. I want to keep it down to make sure... I was told also by the company just don’t give it away. I don’t because I want

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it to be done right and correct. I have personal friends of mine, a few personal friends of mine, that just, they think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. But that’s too early now to even tell if that means anything. Give us six months down the road. And we’ll see where this thing is sitting on the charts to see where this thing is selling, because you never... I don’t think there’s anybody, I don’t care how big you are, how small you are. I mean, nobody’s got their finger on the pulse of what sells and what doesn’t, what’s a hit, what’s not a hit. Nobody can really. I don’t believe anybody can pinpoint that. People can guess. But you never really know until that actually does what it’s supposed to do.

Music News: I don’t know, you’re on Alligator Records and Bruce Iglauer is very vocal about what he thinks is going to be good and what is not going to be good, so when you played it for Bruce, what happened?

Coco Montoya: You know, that’s what’s also brilliant, which is a very good sign, that also leads me to be more... Even when I say things well, you never know. But I feel confident, I feel good in this. And so did Bruce, when we played it, we went to Chicago and brought him the roughs of demos. And these weren’t even the tracks. We brought the demos in there. And we listened to all 13 of them. And he just looked at us and said, I like them all. And believe me, there’s a guy over there named Bruce Iglauer that will tell you straight out if there’s something he doesn’t like. He doesn’t have a problem, so it was a great, great experience for him to say I like them all. And my manager John Boncimino just said, ‘Well, do we got an album? And Bruce said, ‘Yeah, let’s get to work’. So that’s a positive sign all the way down the road to get us to where we are here. Now the next thing is when we get it released, get it to the people and see where it goes. And I’m very, very enthusiastic. I’m very, I’ve got a positive mind that this is going to be probably one of the best sellers if not the best seller.

Music News: I think response on it is going to be fantastic. I really do.

Coco Montoya: I actually have a good feeling it does. I feel really positive on this thing. And it’s not just me, it’s all these people that we just talked about that are involved all the way down the line. Without their input, it wouldn’t be what you’re hearing. I don’t think it would be. Everybody was necessary.

Music News: Anything you’d change?

Coco Montoya: No. No, there’s nothing unless there’s something I can give you. There’s always stupid stuff. You can go in there go ‘Oh god, I hate that guitar riff. I could play that better.’ You could do that to yourself ad nauseam. So you try to, you walk away from this saying ‘look, this works and I’m presenting this. I think this is great.’ And like I said there’s a couple of little things in there that I probably would have changed, but you know what it is. To me beauty has little flaws. You get too perfect, it’s too sterile, it’s too perfect. I used to make that comparison to Playboy. When playing I used to have these beautiful pictures of these beautiful women and then you go back as they moved to Munna, they airbrushed everything so much, and then you start seeing make believe commercials and all this stuff in this limited process that they’re just like mannikins. That’s not attractive to me. You know, a woman with a wrinkle here or a woman with a beauty mark there, that’s real. That’s the same thing to music, it’s like a beautiful piece of wood. It’s got a knot in it that you leave in there because it looks great. It’s got a great design to it. There’s a lot of ways of comparing it. This album to me is perfection and its imperfection.

Music News: I certainly understand your feelings with that. That’s great. If someone listened to your music for the very, very first time, and they’ve never heard anything you’ve done before, what album would you want them to listen to, this one?

Coco Montoya: Well right now I can’t get this out of my mind, so this would be the one because it’s so diverse. We worked hard on the other ones to be a little diverse as well if you go back and listen to them. I guess what I’d like this to do is to hear this and then want to go back and get the others and listen to the others and listen where as you know, as we count on this road since the first release. That’s the idea. It’s like, listen to this and then if you can go back further. Go back further. It may make you want to. I want it to make people say, ‘I gotta hear his other stuff’.

Music News: Well, this is Coco Montoya today.

Coco Montoya: Absolutely.

Music News: Well, what haven’t I talked about that I should have?

Coco MontoyaL Well, I don’t know. We pretty much covered this I think. We got Tony there.

Music News: As soon as we hang up, you’re going to think of something that we should have talked about.

Coco Montoya: I know, well that’s always the way it goes. That’s the way it goes. It was just an amazing, great time. The idea actually is kind of a background info thing. It just like we were doing this album as well. Jeff’s studio in the back it was... what was brilliant about this situation is like Jeff’s studio is not far away from being a real studio. We had to bring in a brand new recording system. So there was things that need to be done to fire this thing up. It’s like finding an

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old car. It’s a little dirty here. I want it to start. If not, what do I gotta do to get this started up and we had to work on it. I brought in microphones I’ve had from other items that I bought over the years. They were really good microphones. A couple of preamps I had, a set of Tannoy speakers. Jeff had dug this out and dug that out so I brought all of this recording equipment I had for my demos in my house that I wasn’t using. So we basically built a studio and fired it up and got all the bad pits out of that whole thing. I don’t understand the digital recording. Now that’s way out of my realm, but these guys basically built up the studio and got it running. And so there was a lot going on trying to do all that, get it ready, and then finally start working. But in the meantime, we had the ability to make the demos, so we had to make the demos and try and get the studio built up and running on its own. So we did. Jeff did an amazing amount of stuff. Tony was really helpful. A couple of the engineers came out and helped us troubleshoot all kinds of things and it took a long while so we had to do all that in the meantime and then eventually go in there and start working, cutting and it was a blessing. Next time we go in there, it won’t take nearly as long but I guess the reason why I tell you that it’s it shows the dedication from everybody. You know, everybody showed up, everybody got things running, everybody wasn’t worried about the time clock. Nobody was worried when they’re gonna get their money. Everybody pretty much worked on a leap of faith to get it done, so we could do it at Jeff’s place and we’re so glad we did it totally.

Music News: Well, before I let you go, was it the strat you played through the whole thing, or did you use other guitars?

Coco Montoya: No, I pretty much used that strat through everything. Yeah. That was it. I didn’t mess with anything else. I think I had enough backing things. Jeff played some rhythm parts. Ronnie played some great parts as well, you know the background and of course Dave came in and played. He played an SG on a lot of things in the background. So I was covered. I play so unorthodox that sometimes playing rhythm parts for me, I can tend to play a little out of tune. That’s just an honest factor. I don’t care if anybody knows that. I work on it, but I get help when I need it and where I need it. I don’t have any ego with that.

Music News: Well, I enjoyed the guitar tone through the whole album. It’s a fantastic album. And well, nothing else we need to talk about? You Sure?

Coco Montoya: Other than, you know, I was grateful for Two Rock Amplifiers. I got one of those and it’s proved to be very useful in the studio, that one and my Steve Carr amp and we used a lot of different things. We had another Super of Jeff’s that we used in there and it’s just the right thing to use. We line all the amps up and then everything came into into favor at one point or another.

Music News: All right. Well, I want to thank you for your time. And if you think of anything else, give me a call. Otherwise, I hope I’ll be able to see you in Houston again. sometime. I believe I saw you here at.... God, I want to say it had to be 10 to 15 years ago at the club called Rockefellers,

Coco Montoya: Rockefellers. That’s about right, Rockefellers. So that’s still there.

Music News: Yeah.

Coco Montoya: Oh, man. Oh, yeah. I used to play there with Mayall. I played with Albert.

Music News: Yeah, it used to be a bank that was robbed by Bonnie and Clyde.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, yeah, I remember that story. That’s great. They robbed that place.

Music News: Yeah, there’s still chunks of concrete knocked out on the wall outside where they shot it up a little bit.

Coco Montoya: I’ll be damned. That’s amazing. Wasn’t there another place? Was there a Fitzgerald’s down there?

Music News: Yeah. Fitzgerald’s, it’s now a parking lot.

Coco Montoya: Oh, goodness gracious.

Music News: Oh, yeah.

Coco Montoya: Well, I remember that place. Oh, my God. I was with Mayall. We played there and we flew in to do the gig and they had backline and stuff. But we had our gear, you know, guitars and John had a keyboard he had to take with him and all that. And we went out to the parking lot to watch over our gear. The area there was a little shaky, a little weird.

Music News: Right.

Coco Montoya: But there was supposed to be a car coming along to take us, a van or something to take us back to the hotel so we could fly out the next day and go home. And nobody showed up. Oh, yeah, this is when we didn’t have cell phones. This was a long time ago.

Music News: Right.

Coco Montoya: I remember we had to stand and watch over everything. I forgot

which one of us went find a payphone? Yeah, we had to call the promoter and all this stuff. And then he was saying the guy was there and you weren’t there. No, we’re sitting here, there’s nothing. And I don’t know how... I think John got a couple of taxis to come find us and take us to the hotel. We were sweating bullets in that dark, dark parking lot. I remember that.

Music News: Yeah, gravel.

Coco Montoya: Yeah, gravel. Exactly. Oh, that was just, that’s the road. It’s the blues. It happens.

Music News: Yeah, I’m sure you’ve got a lot of tales you can tell about different venues you performed at, some good, some bad. Some a little shaky.

Coco Montoya: Yes. some not good, some great. All in all, it all averages out. It’s all good.

Music News: Well, I’ll let you go. Thank you for your time. It looks like we spent about an hour on this, which I don’t know if that’s too long or too short.

Coco Montoya: I think we’re fine.

Music News: All right. Well, thanks again. You have a great weekend. And I’m looking forward to the next album as well.

Coco Montoya: All right, buddy. Thank you so very much. We’ll hook up the next time we come down to Texas.

Music News: Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks again. Bye bye.

Coco Montoya: Bye.

Writing On The Wall is definitely the best album for Coco Montoya to date. This album is chock full of everything that Coco is know for, soulful and incendiary leads, great melodies and complete music honesty. This is Coco Montoya today. This is the passion of Coco Montoya out front for everyone to hear. As you can tell by the interview, Coco is busting at the seems to get out on the road and start performing these great songs. Coco plans on tour non-stop, as he has been doing all his life to promote his new album, Writing On The Wall. For Coco, touring is everything besides touring back and forth across the United States, Coco has performed in many countries including Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, England, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Canada. Keep you eyes and ears peeled for Coco Montoya, as without a doubt he will be performing somewhere near you in the imminent future. And please be sure to pick up his new Alligator Records release, Writing On The Wall. It is simply fantastic!

The Foo Fighters Perform At 713 Music Hall On October 10

Foo Fighters are set to return to Houston this month on October 10th at the 713 Music Hall. This date mark the band’s first live show in Houston since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. The tour comes in support of Foo Fighters’ new album, But Here We Are.

But Here We Are is the eleventh studio album by the Foo Fighters, released on June 2, 2023. Produced by Greg Kurstin and the band itself, it is their first studio album since the death of their longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, in March 2022. Frontman Dave Grohl performed and recorded the entirety of the album’s drum tracks in Hawkins’ absence. Four singles, “Rescued”, “Under You”, “Show Me How” and “The Teacher” were released ahead of the album, while drummer Josh Freese was announced as Hawkins’ replacement for touring after its release.

As early as mid-2021, Dave Grohl had already been planning for a follow

up album to Medicine at Midnight (2021). Grohl noted that each album the band records is a response to the prior one, and in response to Medicine at Midnight, he was considering writing “an insane prog-rock record”. Grohl had not even started writing said material, as the band was still focusing on touring in support of Medicine at Midnight. Despite this, all plans were later abruptly cancelled after longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, unexpectedly died in March 2022. The band cancelled everything planned for the rest of the year, largely going quiet and leaving their future uncertain. In December 2022, a statement was released confirming that Foo Fighters would continue, but that they were “going to be a different band going forward”.

The album is the third collaboration with producer Greg Kurstin, following Medicine at Midnight (2021) and Concrete and Gold (2017). The band described the album’s sound as “soni-

cally channeling the naivete of Foo Fighters’ 1995 debut album, informed by decades of maturity and depth” while lyrically exploring “a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters have endured recently [...] 10 songs that run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between.”The album was also described as “the first chapter of the band’s new life”. Lyrically, the album explores Grohl coming to terms with not only Hawkins’ death, but also his mother, Virginia, who died at an undisclosed-to-the-public time in 2022. “Under You” released as the album’s second single, has been described as melodic punk.

The album was released on June 2, 2023. The first single, “Rescued”, was released concurrently with the announcement of the album on April 19. A second song, “Under You”, was released ahead

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of the album on May 17. Over 25 live shows in support of the album have been announced across North America and Europe. On May 21, Josh Freese was announced as the band’s new drummer, and during the livestream they debuted the song “Nothing at All”. Freese made his live concert debut on May 24, where the band debuted the album’s title track. Another song, “Show Me How”, was released on May 25 and features Grohl harmonizing with his daughter Violet.

With alt-rock anthems heavy on melody and personality, Foo Fighters have grown from Dave Grohl’s humble solo project into one of the biggest — and most enduring — acts in modern rock. Once his self-recorded debut became a hit in 1995, the former Nirvana drummer turned Foo Fighters into a fullfledged band whose lineup coalesced after the 1997 release of The Colour and the Shape. With 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose, the group’s sound gelled into a recognizable signature built upon the hooky loud-quiet-loud dynamics of Pixies and Nirvana, a modern rock sound anchored by Grohl’s love of classic guitar rock. Alone among their peers, Foo Fighters displayed a rigorous work ethic, recording and touring relentlessly into the 2020s, racking up hit albums, multiple Grammy wins and, eventually, a 2021 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. All this activity allowed the Foos to experiment, whether it was on 2005’s double-album In Your Honor, the travelogue of 2014’s Sonic Highways, or the danceable, feel-good anthems on 2021’s Medicine at Midnight. The dedication to work also carried Foo Fighters through tragedy when their drummer Taylor Hawkins unexpectedly died in 2022. Grohl rallied the group to deliver But Here We Are, a cathartic tribute to their colleague, the following year.

All of this industriousness stems from Dave Grohl, who had been playing guitar and writing songs long before he began drumming. Throughout his early teens he performed in a variety of hardcore punk bands and in the late ’80s he joined the Washington, D.C.-area

hardcore band Scream as their drummer. During Scream’s final days, Grohl began recording his own material in the basement studio of his friend Barrett Jones. Some of Grohl’s songs appeared on Scream’s final album, Fumble. After the band’s 1990 summer tour, Grohl joined Nirvana and moved cross-country to Seattle.

After Nirvana recorded Nevermind, Grohl went back to the D.C. area and recorded a handful of tracks that would appear on Pocketwatch, a cassette released by Simple Machines. For most of 1992, he was busy with Nirvana, but when the band was off the road, he recorded solo material with Jones, who had also moved to Seattle. The pair kept recording throughout early 1993, when Grohl returned to Nirvana to record In Utero. He had toyed with the idea of releasing another independent cassette in the summer of 1993, but the plans never reached fruition. Following Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994, the drummer kept quiet for several months. In the fall of 1994, Grohl and Jones decamped to a professional studio, where in the space of a week, they recorded the songs that comprised Foo Fighters’ debut album. Boiling down his backlog of songs to about 15 tracks, Grohl played all the instruments on the album. He made 100 copies of the tape, passing it out to friends and associates. In no time, Grohl’s solo project became the object of a fierce record company bidding war.

Instead of embarking on a fullfledged solo career, Grohl decided to form a band. Through his wife he met Nate Mendel, the bassist for Sunny Day Real Estate. Shortly before the pair met,

Jeremy Enigk, the leader of Sunny Day Real Estate, had converted to Christianity and quit the band, effectively ending the group’s career. Not only did Mendel join Grohl’s band, but so did Sunny Day’s drummer, William Goldsmith. Former Germs and Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear rounded out the lineup. The band, named Foo Fighters after a World War II secret force that allegedly researched UFOs, signed a contract with Capitol Records. The band’s self-titled debut, consisting solely of Dave Grohl’s solo recordings, was released in July of 1995. It became an instant success in America, as “This Is a Call” garnered heavy alternative and album rock airplay. By early 1996, the album was certified platinum in the U.S.

Throughout 1996, Foo Fighters supported the album with an extensive tour, enjoying a crossover hit with “Big Me.” Late in the year, the group began recording its second album with producer Gil Norton. During the sessions, William Goldsmith left the band due to creative tensions, leaving Grohl to drum on the majority of the album. Before the record’s release, Goldsmith was replaced by Taylor Hawkins, who had previously drummed with Alanis Morissette. The Colour and the Shape, Foo Fighters’ second album and the first they recorded as a band, was issued in May of 1997. Smear left the group in the wake of the album’s completion and was replaced by guitarist Franz Stahl, whose stay proved short-lived; 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose was recorded as a three-piece, with ex-No Use for a Name guitarist Chris Shiflett signing on soon after.

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One by One, the group’s most polished production, appeared in late 2002, followed by 2005’s In Your Honor, which narrowly missed the top of Billboard’s album chart. After releasing a live album titled Skin and Bones in 2006, the band returned to Norton’s studio and started constructing a dozen fractured, eclectic rock songs to be released in 2007 under the name Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace. Two years later, the group released its first compilation, Greatest Hits, as Grohl launched his new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, which also featured Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Foo Fighters reconvened for 2011’s Wasting Light, a Butch Vig production that doubled as the official return of Pat Smear, who hadn’t played on any of the band’s albums since 1997. Wasting Light wound up as a smash success for the Foos, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts, going gold in the U.S. and garnering the band another four Grammy Awards. In the wake of Wasting Light, several other Foo projects emerged — a limitededition compilation of covers called Medium Rare released for Record Store Day 2011; a documentary of the band called Back and Forth — and the group toured the album into 2012.

In 2012, Foo Fighters announced they were taking a hiatus and Dave Grohl immediately returned to the

confines of Queens of the Stone Age, drumming on their 2013 album, ...Like Clockwork. He also threw himself into directing a documentary about the legendary Los Angeles recording studio Sound City. The film appeared early in 2013 to positive reviews, and it was accompanied by a soundtrack called Sound City: Reel to Real, which featured Grohl-directed jams including a variety of Sound City veterans, plus Paul McCartney. Not long after its release, Foo Fighters announced that their hiatus had ended and they were working on a new album. Sonic Highways, released late in 2014, was their most ambitious project yet; each track was recorded in a different city, some with special featured guests, a process documented on an eight-episode documentary series for HBO. Sonic Highways saw international release in early November 2014. During the Sonic Highways world tour, the Foos had the honor of being the final band to perform on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 24, 2015. Soon after, as touring resumed, Grohl fell from the stage during a stop in Sweden, breaking his leg. He performed from a throne for the remainder of the tour, which was rechristened the “Broken Leg Tour.”

In late 2015, both as a gesture of appreciation to fans and a tribute to the victims of the Paris terror attacks, Foo Fighters released the Saint Cecilia EP, a five-song blast that featured Gary Clark, Jr. and Ben Kweller. It returned the band

to the Billboard charts, peaking in the Top 20 on the Hard Rock, Alternative, Tastemaker, and Vinyl charts. Soon after, the band announced an indefinite hiatus and would not release new music until two years later, when they returned with the single “Run.” This was the first taste of their ninth album, Concrete and Gold, which appeared in September 2017. Produced by Greg Kurstin, the album found Grohl incorporating some prog rock influences into the group’s sound. It also featured a handful of unexpected guest performers, including Paul McCartney, who played drums on a track, saxophonist Dave Koz, Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman, and the Kills’ Alison Mosshart; the latter two both added backing vocals. Along with topping the rock charts, the album was also the group’s second to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.

Foo Fighters toured extensively throughout 2017 and 2018, including making an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. By 2019, they were back at work in the studio, recording in an historic house in Encino, California, and again working with producer Kurstin. Initially scheduled for release in 2020, Medicine at Midnight was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a lead single, “Shame Shame,” did appear in November 2020, topping the mainstream rock chart. Two more songs followed, “No Son of Mine” and “Waiting on a War,” paving the way for the album, which ultimately arrived in February 2021. In March 2022, the Foo Fighters traveled to South America to play a handful of concerts, headlining the Lollapalooza festival in Argentina on March 20. On the morning of March 25, 2022, drummer Taylor Hawkins was found dead in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia, where the group was scheduled to perform that evening; he was 50 years old.

At the end of 2022, Foo Fighters announced they planned to continue as a band following the death of Hawkins. Grohl and his bandmates processed the loss of their colleague on But Here We Are, an album that occasionally echoed the spirit of the first Foo Fighters album while also featuring the assured, precise execution of Greg Kurstin, who returned for his third record with the Foos.

Live Music Schedule

Sunday, October 1 - Freak Establishment Tour

Thursday, October 5 - Rose Invasion, Transmission Lost, San Merci

Friday, October 6 - Crushing Planes, Linus, Take This To Our Grave, Bright Fires

Saturday, October 7 - Stone Side, Further North, The After Dark Society, Long Live

Sunday, October 8 - Time Capsule, Hitch Band, The Ronnies

Thursday, October 12 - He Films The Clouds, Under Auburn Skies, Atlas Below

Friday, October 13 - The One Man Menace

Saturday, October 14 - Distartica CD release

Sunday, October 15 - Jackson Aberdeen

Tuesday, October 17 - TANG, Challenger Deep, and Medians

Wednesday, October 18 - Feral Vices

Thursday, October 19 - Bovine, MatthewTheFilm, Bipolar Joyride

Friday, October 20 - STONE AND METAL

Saturday, October 21 - Michale Graves, 307Departure, Doug Westcott, The Revisions

Sunday, October 22 - Bobcat

Thursday, October 26 - The Human Condition with special guests Wick

Friday, October 27 - Mourning Sun, Nativo

Saturday, October 28 - Bar Rats

Sunday, October 29 - KONINGSOR, Never Rest, Four Funerals, Soul Way, Postalsatx

Talkin’ T-Shirts, Houston Radio, & Moby With DJ & Entrepreneur Chris Alan

We recently sat down and talked with entrepreneur Chris Alan, former KLOL DJ, the owner of all the Christian’s Tailgate’s in Houston, and now the Saturday afternoon DJ on Houston Radio Platinum, an online and on air radio station, about his new business, the T-Shirt business. Chris is revitalizing the TShirt brands of radio stations KIKK, 97Rock, and KLOL. If you ever wanted one of those sought after shirts and never could get one or if you mother, girlfriend or wife threw away or destroyed it, they can now be replaced. All you have to do is go to https:// www.favoriteradioshirts.com/ and order the shirt of your choice. I’ve got to say, this was one of the best conversations I’ve had in a

while. We sat there and talked for what seemed about forever about Houston Radio, T-Shirts, the good old days in radio and even about our mutual friend, former 97Rock DJ Moby, who had recently passed away. Let me tell you, it was a helluva conversation and was certainly a lot of fun to reminisce about the good old days when radio was King in Houston and you could hear your favorite DJ’s talk and talk about what was going on around Houston. That conversation really brought back a lot of memories for me. Back then I did a lot of business with KLOL and 97Rock. It was always a lot of fun to go down to the stations and hang out there. It was even more fun to show up at their

promotions, and believe me, they had some great ones. At any rate, why don’t you kick back and take a little time and read this great interview I did with Chris. It will probably bring back a lot of memories to you to.

Music News: Hello.

Chris Alan: Hi.

Music News: How are you doing today?

Chris Alan: Not too good. What a terrible day. Well, not terrible. You heard about Moby, right?

Music News: No.

Chris Alan: Oh my god! Moby died yesterday.

Music News: Oh no!

Chris Alan: So, all last night and today and I’ve just sat here and went through hundreds of... We’re putting together... you know who Bob Ford is right?

Music News: Yeah.

Chris Alan: Yeah, Bob and ... Well, with Houston Radio Platinum we started yesterday, we’re putting together a tribute for Moby for Houston Radio Platinum and then Bob is going to create a tribute video, so we’ve been wrangling cats overnight. And today, Dayna Steele and Brian Shannon and John Lander to Sam Malone, all these great radio people to submit videos or just recordings or just a blurb, just hey, “here’s my, here’s my Moby story,” and they tell their Moby story and so we’ve been working on that from last night. I got up this morning and got right back on it. I’m just sitting here going through all these Moby pictures and compiling them for Bob to use in the tribute video that he’s going to be putting together.

Music News: Moby was on the cover of our second issue of Music News.

Chris Alan: If you can, if you’ve got a copy of an image of that send it to me and I’ll put it in with the photos.

Music News: I actually don’t. I went down there to the station and did an interview with him and he was as colorful as ever. It really freaked out the girls that I had that were transcribing the interview for me to put in the magazine back then, but you know how he talked. Especially off air.

Music News: Well, we, Sam Malone. Do you remember Sam Malone?

Music News: Yeah.

Chris Alan: Yeah. Well, for my favoriteradioshirts.com, we did this legends of Houston podcast.

Music News: I’ve been watching it this

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morning.

Chris Alan: The one with Moby?

Music News: Yeah.

Chris Alan: Okay. Yeah. So did you see it on Mike McGuff? I gave it to him yesterday. We were debating, Sam and I yesterday were talking and I go ‘Do you realize that this may be his last interview?’ And Sam goes ‘oh my god, Chris. I bet it is.’ And I go ‘so how can we share this without it looking like we’re trying to shill for shirts?’ He goes ‘don’t worry about that. Just put it out there now. It’s a historical thing.’ And it’s really prophetic when you listen to him talk in it. I listened to it again yesterday when I was out doing my run. But yeah, he has a potty mouth and he goes ‘oh, shit. I can say shit.’

Music News: Yeah, I saw all that. He was very colorful when I went down to the station and we did the interview. Of course, we weren’t on air so he could really express himself, but that was’ 82.

Chris Alan: Yeah, Bob told me the story last night or yesterday and that he, of course, Bob Ford should be a writer. He wrote this huge Facebook post about his friend Moby and about the very first day they met. Moby showed up at 97Rock in a car and parts of it were falling off because he had hit something and Bob took him to Fitzgerald’s. That was the first bar they went to and Bob and I, last night on the phone, were just telling stories about Moby and about various things and about how genuine and how selfless and how real Moby was. Bob said “Chris only one time when we were at the Astrodome and Moby was at the height of his fame, Moby pulled out the ‘I’m the superstar card’” and Bob goes ‘Come on, man, you’re not going to do, you’re not going to do that shit with me. Come on man, I’m Bob Ford, I’m your buddy.’ He said Moby just started apologizing profusely ‘man, you know that really isn’t me. I’m sorry man. I can’t believe I acted like that.’ And he was acting like a superstar, which he had every right to, but deep down Moby’s just not that guy. He’s the most down to earth, just a simple guy and after talking with Mike McGuff last week... you know the KLOL movie Premiere’s coming up October the 12th I believe. I’m a corporate sponsor. I went down to Match Theater. It’s in Midtown, mid-Main and I went down there earlier this week, Tuesday I believe, I can’t remember what day. We went down and did a walkthrough because I’m going to be providing... Christian’s Tailgate’s going to be providing the food and then I cut the sponsorship in half to be Christians Tailgate slash Favoriteradioshirts.com. We looked at the facility and then went into the theater and stuff and then Mike and I were just sitting and chatting afterwards about the difficulties in making that documentary. ‘It’s all of the egos.” He goes, ‘Chris, you don’t understand.’ You know, there are certain people that years later have come back to me and said, I want to go back and I want you to re-interview me. Because, you know, because I’ve lost a lot of weight and I look a lot better now than I did it.’ And Mike’s like ‘the film’s already made. I go, ‘well, who was the best?’ He goes, ‘Dayna.’ And I go, ‘of course, she’s the best.’ I just got off the phone with her. I just got her to record a video tribute to Moby. She’ll do anything, she’s so great.

Music News: I remember when the station turned over to Spanish. I got a call in the morning from a couple of DJs and they’re going, man, we showed up at the station. They wouldn’t even let us go upstairs.

Chris Alan: Oh my god!

Music News: We had to be escorted up to get our stuff out of there.

Chris Alan: That’s just terrible, man. Well, my stomach has this feeling in it right now because I’ve worked in radio since I was 19 and I know that feeling. You come in and you go, ‘oh, something’s wrong’, and then they call everybody to the conference room, the

radio stations been sold. Now, nobody worry, just keep doing your job the same way you are. Everything should be all right. Well, no, once that happens unless you’re just lucky as hell, your job is done. And getting another radio job isn’t easy. There’s only so many positions, full-time positions at each radio station... five.

Music News: Yeah, you got to go out and kill someone to get the job.

Chris Alan: Well, yeah, or you got to do like me. I was fortunate enough to, I learned early in my career that if, if you just do a bunch of shit that nobody asked you to do, they kind of want to keep you around. And so I would do, I would do that. In fact, Shelly James, my PD at Arrow 93.7... A couple of months ago, she goes Chris, I haven’t talked to you in a long time. I texted her. I go call me, let’s talk and we’re talking and she goes, can I tell you the one thing I love the most about you? And I go What’s that? She was Chris, you did anything and everything. And she goes, a lot of times I would just be thinking this needs to be done and I would walk in and you’re doing it. She goes, ‘that’s what I loved about you. I go, ‘Shelly, thanks for telling me that’, but I’ve heard that from all my PD’S, because I just knew how to protect my job. I used to do stuff and people will be like, who did this, this is great. And then people would go, ‘I didn’t’, ‘I don’t know’, ‘Oh, it was Chris’ and the other DJs would go, ‘f@#king Chris, man. But then when Hit 96.5... You know it was 97 Rock, then Hit 96.5, and then it became Energy 96.5, so it couldn’t have been two more different formats. Hit 96.5 was an AC Adult Contemporary format. Energy 96.5 was a high energy dance nightclub blah. You know, I was the only person that made the transition from the the AC station into the high energy dance station and the station manager, God, I can’t remember her name. Last name was Campbell, Susan, Susan Campbell. She came from Power 106 in LA. It’s a big time f@#king station. She called me in and she goes, ‘Hey Chris, I see you

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look worried. Chris, you’re not going anywhere. You’re going to be a part of what we’re doing on the other things, but don’t go around telling.’ She goes, ‘You still got to... she goes, ‘Chris, we’re gonna make everybody go through an audition, a live audition on the air. It’s starting at two o’clock in the morning until five o’clock in the morning.’ All the other old timey jocks and shit had to come in and all these guys go on. They were used to saying, ‘Hit 96.5, we’ve got another blah, blah, blah, you know, they had to come in and go Hit 96.5, here we go. And she goes, You got to do the audition too. She goes ‘but Chris, don’t sweat it. You have a job.’ And I go ‘thanks for telling me.’ She goes ‘don’t tell anybody else. ‘I go, ‘I won’’, and it came to fruition and so I was lucky that way. But It

wasn’t because of talent. it was because of all the shit I did that, that they loved that. Hell, I would sweep a radio station out if I had to.

Music News: Well, you know, free help’s hard to come by.

Chris Alan: Yeah, it is. It is. And like I said, in the radio business... You know, you’ve heard the saying ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Yeah, in the radio business, where there’s smoke, there is a f@#king forest fire. So the first time you hear a rumor? ‘Hey, man, I heard something that you all might be sold’, it’s true. Just know it’s true. It was true. That’s the thing I do not miss about radio, is there’s that sinking sick feeling that they just come in and you’re

gone. And they come in and no matter how big you are, you’re all gone. You’re gone. Everybody’s gone. We’re now playing German Oompah music and you know we’re going to cater to the German population here in Houston. Thanks sir. Thanks for everything you’ve done. Oh by the way don’t bother trying to go upstairs. We won’t allow that, your stuffs in a box over here, so that’s the one thing about radio I absolutely hated.

Music News: I hated the transition because I was out money when KLOL folded. They had been a sponsor of the magazine for forever, forever. We even had KLOL on the cover of the magazine.

Chris Alan: Yeah, there in the 90s, radio stations started producing their own magazines. Well, Clear Channel did. Right now I’m staring at a photo, at a framed Jamz The Magazine KISS 98.5, Nsync on the cover. I was the executive producer of this magazine for KISS 98.5, Magic 102, and 97.9 The Box. We just had different issues with the logos on it. And I had a Jamz The Magazine Van. I’ve staring at another picture of me standing next to the Jamz The Magazine van. My house looks like a Hard Rock by the way. When you bought an ad in Jamz The Magazine, you got a mini remote where Chris Alan would drive the van out to your location. “Hey, it’s Chris Alan with Jamz The Magazine. Come pick up your fresh new copy of Jamz Magazine. We’re here at Shorties Hydraulic Shop, you know to make cars bounce up and down. We’ll be here for the next 45 minutes, come by.’ Yeah, that was part of what you got with your ad when you bought an ad. We were billing over $35,000 a month. It was non traditional revenue, NTR. Money that wasn’t there before and it was a cheap, easy way to ease into radio advertising I, to buy a little quarter page or larger in Jamz The Magazine and you got a free mini remote. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. And then it all went away. Radio looked for short term gain and profits over what would keep radio profitable and going on for years and years and so they’ve just cut and slashed and now radio’s just a shell of what it used to be and nobody really listens anymore. Why would you when you stepped down for nine or 10 minutes with nine or 10 minutes worth of commercials in a row. Nobody’s gonna listen to that shit, especially a kid.

Music News: Well, I loved working with KLOL. I’ve worked with Doug Harris there. I remember one time. Doug calls me up and he goes, ‘Kevin, I got bad news. Our budget got slashed. We don’t have any money for the next six months to spend with Music News. Can we give you our Chevy Blazer?’ So they gave Blazers that the DJs had been tearing up, so I drove that around for a while.

Chris Alan: Did that have the Silver Surfer on the side of it.

Music News: Well no, they painted the whole truck gray when I got it, primer gray.

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Chris Alan: That’s the one that had the Silver Surfer on it right.

Music News: Yeah, I think so.

Chris Alan: There are images of that online. Yeah. That was way before my time there. I was only there for a few years right at the very end. But I was fortunate enough to to be over at the Lovett Studio. I wasn’t there when they moved over to radio hell over by Post Oak in the Galleria area, so I wasn’t there. I was in there one day to cut a commercial for one of our nightclubs at the hip hop station that was in there. What was it? I can’t remember what it was called... Hot 97.1 and I walked down the hall and Outlaw Dave was on the air and I opened the door and stuck my head and he’s ‘What the hell are you doing up here?’ You know, I just felt bad. That’s not KLOL, not up here. KLOL’s at Lovett Boulevard in the heart of the crime free Montrose. Just terrible. So, how are we going to do this, or is that going to be the interview?

Music News: Well no, we’ll talk a little bit more than just that. I looked at your website and somehow I look on here and I think it’s more than just t-shirts for you. I think this is a bit of a nod to your legacy.

Chris Alan: Well, maybe a little Yeah, I didn’t work at 97 rock or KIKK, but I love radio and I miss radio, even though I do this Houston Radio Platinum, Saturday afternoon thing. And so I do that and it’s a chance to have those same emotions and feelings of being on the air, which I missed. And all radio guys miss that. I think I may I may have told you before when I was on in radio,

I was kind of I was kind of the guy that came in did my stuff and I didn’t hang out with jocks. I didn’t hang out with the other announcers and stuff. I didn’t, I don’t know why.Not because I was stuck up. It’s just I wasn’t that guy. I didn’t go get drunk with the other jocks and stuff and years later I look back on and go, ‘why didn’t I hang out with these guys.’ And now I’ve made up for that by now hanging out with these guys and talking to him and getting to know people. It was such a competitive business that if you were the competitor, I wanted nothing to do with you and damn sure won’t go out and have a beer with you,. I wanted to kill you on the radio. I wanted to beat your ass. I had to demonize my competition, which I guess if you’re an athlete that’s a good thing, but not in life and so now for the past 15 or 20 years or so, I’ve just made an effort to go back and make friends with these people that I didn’t hang out with, that may have thought, ‘Chris is just kind of stuck up, he just doesn’t like hanging out with us’ and now they’re surprised to learn that Chris is a good guy. I wish he would have hung around and and I don’t know, you probably have to talk to psychologists to figure out why that happened, but it was just the way I was. I love everything radio and I love doing this stuff. Sam Malone wants to be remembered, God, Moby wanted to be remembered, he love being remembered. I would call Moby every month, month and a half just to shoot the shit with him and tell him that ‘hey Moby I was at a restaurant today and I could overhear people at another table and they were talking about you’, and he’s like, ‘no shit,’ because he would always go, ‘Chris, do people even remember me in Houston?’ I’m like, ‘oh my god they remember you. Yeah, of course they remember you Moby’, and he loved hearing those stories, so I loved calling him and telling him those stories. I’m the person that gently took a while to convince Moby to be on Houston Radio Platinum, even though it’s voice tracking, which he was familiar with. I’ll always remember where I was sitting in my jeep. We were talking and I was parked in my jeep. I was about to go in and get my hair cut and he goes ‘what are you doing’ and I go ‘I’m waiting for the damn hairdresser.’ I’m sitting out my jeep, I don’t like sitting in the waiting room inside and we’re talking and talking and finally he goes ‘Chris, why do you like doing this Houston Radio Platinum.’ I go ‘Moby because I can sit down and I can put my headphones on and when it tails out of the song is rolling, I’m back at KILE in Galveston, my first radio job or I’m in the control room at KLOL or I’m on The Arrow 93.7 or a station in Austin. Just all of those memories come back with this man.’ He goes, ‘Chris, you don’t have to say anything.’ He goes, ‘I’ll do it. I’ll do it. I’ll do it.’ And I go, ‘great.’ So I was so excited and then I called Joey K. and I told him ‘Moby’s in’. We got everything set up for him and he gave us all of his vocal tracks we had to pull them all off the air yesterday. Now they’re replacing everything with tributes to Moby, which is sad man. I’m gonna miss calling him and like in my little blurb that I put in Mike McGuff’s thing, Moby made a lot of people laugh. I loved listening to Moby laugh. And you know, I’ll miss that forever. No one will ever

hear it again? I loved just picking the phone up and giving him a call, just chit chatting, wanting to shoot the shit. So that’s done.

Music News: Well, he ended up moving to Nashville, didn’t he?

Chris Alan: No, he lives right outside of Atlanta, just a little to the north of Atlanta and a town called Roswell with Mary Beth, his wife. That’s where he’s been living up to a couple of weeks ago, or a few weeks ago. He went to the doctor for some pains and stomach pains and issues and they went in and they did, I guess exploratory. They determined he had stomach cancer and then they said it was stage four, so they operated on him and he at this time wasn’t right. When he went into the hospital, I called his house. I didn’t want to bother him on his cell phone, so I called the house phone and left a heartfelt message for him and Mary Beth and then sent an email and said just ‘you’re in my prayers.’ And then we get the news yesterday that he that he passed, and it was from stage four stomach cancer. That’s a shame, man. But these tributes are going to be good and I’m

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looking forward to all the stuff that we’re putting together and that other people are doing as well. It just shocked a lot of people that this just happened.

Music News Well, I’m shocked since you told me today. I’ve just been listening and watching the video on your website. And I mean, I’m talking 10 minutes ago, well, 10 minutes before I talked to you and then I hear, he’s not here.

Chris Alan: Yeah, that was that was filmed in late July or early August. So it was right before he he got his diagnosis, just a little bit before that. And so yeah, that’s a shame man. Yeah, it’s a shame. But I don’t know, I don’t know what to say.

Music News: But let’s talk about the t-shirt business.

Chris Alan: All right

Music News: Tell me about the T shirts. What got you started in doing these?

Chris Alan: Well, a friend of mine, Tim Trostle, who worked at 97 Rock and worked at Rock 101. He worked with Doug. He was a promotions guy and he was part time on the air at these great stations and Q102 in Dallas. And Tim, bless his heart, has Parkinson’s disease. I just got him moved to another Assisted Living Center and that was the hardest thing in the world yesterday, to go over there and and tell him about his friend Moby. But Tim and I were talking about doing these T shirts. It’d be cool. I wonder why nobody’s done this, but then we come to find out some people have, but they’re not associated with radio like we were so I wanted to do this as something to give Tim something to look forward to, where he would wake up and go ‘T shirts man, Chris let’s talk about how we can promote these’ and so it was for that. Now it’s morphed into doing this with Doug Harris. Some of the money will be used for the George Batches Foundation. He’s the guy that created the Red Runaway Radio. So I’m doing some of that for that for charities. There’s not a whole lot of profit in the tshirt, but I’m using it for these charities and for Dayna’s ‘A Woman In The Mirror’ play, her foundation for that, her nonprofit. And that’s how I got started. And actually the KLOL shirt, not this past February, but February 2022, when we had the KLOL reunion, I thought it’d be really cool thing to make up some old historic KLOL T-shirts, something’s been out of print for a long time. So I made a whole bunch of them to bring up there to give everybody and it was such a hit. That’s when I first told Tim that we probably could sell these. A lot of that stuff is in public domain. And you know, that’s why I’m not doing them with stations that are still on the air. I don’t want to deal with the battle. But you have to remember back in the day when these great radio stations were still on the air. I’m talking about in their heydays, in the 70s and 80s and early 90s. The only way you got a Rock KLOL shirt or a 97Rock shirt was if you were taller than the person to your left and the person to your right, if you were at a concert or or an event where the radio station was there and they were throwing T-shirts out into the crowd. You got one and you held on to it like grim death. You know, I got my KLOL and nobody else in my school has got one or none of my friends has a KLOL or a 97Rock or KIKK shirt. You held on to that shirt until you were married and one day you’re digging around looking for it and you asked your wife or your significant other “where is my KLOL shirt, the one with a Red Runaway Radio on it.’ ‘Oh that old thing I cut it up used it for for dust cloths years ago.’ So now if your wife or whoever did that, you can come back and replace it. You can find one online. Scott Hunter who was in the promotions department at 97 Rock and I were having lunch yesterday at Christian’s Tailgate, where I was in West U when we learned about Moby’s passing. I asked Scott several months ago, tell me your favorite 97Rock t-shirt story. Just tell me a story... Your favorite story about about 97Rock t-shirts and he goes ‘Chris, that’s easy. We were down in Galveston. 97Rock had a big stage set up and they had a concert and all of this stuff going on the beach in Galveston. Scott said ‘Chris, me and a couple of the promotion kids, we have this huge cardboard box full of 97 Summer Rock T-Shirts and

we’re on the stage just throwing the T-Shirts out into the crowd and everybody’s jumping up and fighting for them and stuff.’ And Scott goes ‘Chris, when the box was empty, I picked the box up and I showed everybody out there and turned it upside down and showed him showed him that it was empty.’ And he said somebody in the crowd was going ‘give us the box’ and he goes ‘Chris, I tossed the box out into the crowd and this one guy gets it and he’s running around going ‘I got the box that the shirts came in, I got the box.’ That’s how f@#king important these things were to people back in the day back in the day. People today cannot understand the importance of of your connection to your favorite radio station. Back when you were a young adult and teenager or whatever you were, that was your tribe. When you pulled into the parking lot at school you could tell which kids were which kids. If they had a “Proud to be a KIKKer sticker on the back of their car, they were a cowboy, they were a kicker. Then the stoners and the surfers and the cool kids and whatever had a KLOL or a 97Rock sticker there in their window or on their bumper or if they were fortunate enough, they were wearing the T-Shirt to school.

Music News: I depended a lot on on the radio station T-Shirts back then. Back in the 80s there was times I wouldn’t have had anything to wear if I hadn’t been able to pull out a 101 or a 97Rock TShirt.

Chris Alan: Oh my gosh yeah. I’ve got a collection of T-Shirts from almost every radio station that I’ve worked for. In Austin I worked for a station called Key103. It was a #1 station and we famously, you know, had no t-shirts, no wax lips, no records. We don’t give away trash, we give away cash. But we didn’t have t shirts, and the only one I’m missing is Energy 96.5 and I gave every one of those away, I had to. Now I’m looking at right now, going up my stairs upstairs, at these picture frames that are the shape of a T-Shirt and

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they’re made to put a whole t-shirt in and they’re really nice to display your shirts. I’m looking at Rock 101 KLOL, Arrow 93.7, 97.9, The Box, KILE and I’ve got these T-Shirts from great radio stations that I’ve worked for. I went digging around for them when I started this company. I went digging around for those shirts and we may recreate the Energy 96.5 and another one that people are asking for is Oldies 94.5 and KQQK, that we may be adding. We just added the Silver Surfer, KLOL Silver Surfer and Silver Surfer logo.

Music News: You need KBTL. Do you remember that?

Chris Alan: Well, of course I do. It used to be KTLW from Texas City. And then they became KBTL. And then I think they became KYST.

Music News: Right! They went out of business owing me money.

Chris Alan: Oh, wow. Do you remember where their studios were?

Music News: Yeah, it was in Houston. I think over near the Astrodome.

Chris Alan: Astrodome, exactly, that’s where it was. But originally, I grew up in in and around Galveston, and there’s a little town outside of Galveston called Texas City and I went to school there. And when we were kids, we went down on Sixth Street not to be confused with Sixth Street nos.

Music News: No, I know, I live down in this area. So I know Sixth Street.

Chris Alan: Yeah. So there was the Showboat Theater, and it was an old timey movie theater.

Music News: It’s still there.

Chris Alan: Yeah, well KTLW was upstairs on the side, KTLW. Katie Lou is what it was called, Katie Lou. But I was a little kid and that was the am radio station there, KTLW. And then of course right across the Galveston Bay was was KGBC in Galveston and KILE and KUFO, the FM station, KUFO. And my first radio station that I worked for was KILE in Galveston. Pat Fant worked there. Back in the day, Bob Ford, Kenny Miles, Ron Foster, Dan Gallo, Pam Ivey, all of these great people worked at that little radio station in Galveston, Texas. Who would have thought Man. There’s so many great people got their career starts at KILE or had went through there at some point in their life. And that’s, that’s really cool. You remember Kenny Miles, Miles In The Morning?

Music News: Yeah.

Chris Alan: He was on KRBE.

Music News: T shirts are great bargaining tools. I even had TShirts made up for Music News. One time I went to a club in Houston and my van got blocked in and I had a box of Music News T-shirts, and it’s blocked in by one of these small compact pickup trucks. So I go ‘hey, if anybody will help me move this truck. I’ll give you all a free T shirt.’ So we got like 10 people. They picked up the truck.

Chris Alan: Oh wow.

Music News: And they moved it out into the middle of Westheimer and left it sitting there in the street and I was able to get my van out and they just left the truck in the street.

Chris Alan: Oh wow, that’s, that’s great. Tim Trostle reminded me yesterday when I was out at his, at the Assisted Living Center that he’s in. He goes Chris, he goes back in the day at 97 Rock and he said

they also did it at KLOL Well, we know when he was in promotions over there. He goes, you know they would they would go out and get exotic dancers, titty dancers and they would set up a tent at an event. They would set up a tent and they would have a really buxom lady walk around saying KLOL or 97Rock, whichever station it was at the time, and would say ‘you want to buy the shirt off my back’ and there would be a line of guys at this tent and they would walk in and there would be small, medium, large. And the ladies were wearing a T-Shirt and they would give them $20 and the lady would take their shirt off, nothing on under it and hand them the shirt for $20 and then move on out of the tent. That’s brilliant.

Music News: Oh, that is, that’s a great way to sell shirts.

Chris Alan: Yeah, it was brilliant. Yeah, you couldn’t do that today. But yeah, that’s just frigging brilliant. Yeah, and that’s Tim and those guys. Promotions guys were extremely creative back in the day, you know, like Doug, to come up with these promotions and stuff, and just creativity and that’s when radio was creative and radio meant something. It doesn’t really seem too much anymore. I don’t. I can’t say that. Outlaw Dave is on the radio.

Music News: It was good to see him get hired again on a rock station.

Chris Alan: Yeah. And I was really hoping it was live. I was just having the image of Dave driving to the studio and going in there and sitting down with a cup of coffee or with Dave, a beer and doing a show. And because he posted online, you know, our man, what a great show, and I’m heading home and all of this stuff. And I thought, Well, great. He’s really on the air. And then the other day, of course, Dave’s on the air at Eagle, and then he’s posting live videos of him emceeing the whatever wet t-shirt contest out at some club. I’m like, Oh, man. You can’t be at two places at once. Greggo streams voice tracks on continued on next page

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The Spot. Do you listen to that ever?

Music News: No. I never listened to the spot.

Chris Alan: Yeah. 95 is the old KIKK. It was 95.7, but Greggo’s gone there. Greggo voice tracks that. But Greggo voice tracks the way I do with Houston Radio Platinum. We were all having dinner, Moby, Greggo, and a couple of other people and I asked him, so you’re voice tracking, or is that live? And he goes, ‘Chris, I voice track.’ And I go ‘honestly, I was driving one day, and there was a huge plume of black smoke and you started talking about it.’ He goes, ‘that’s a great thing about voice tracking, because Chris, you can go back and re-record it and make it sound like you’re there, that it’s live and I go ‘dude you had me f@#king fooled. He says ‘good, because that’s the way it’s supposed to be.’ I was telling him about mine, that I would do two or three takes. He goes ‘Chris, if you f@#k up, leave it in there. It makes it sound like you did when you were live on the air, you f@#ked up and you just kept on talking.’ And I go, ‘you’re right, man.’ So I’ve really made a conscious effort to make my shit sound as live as possible. I don’t intentionally make mistakes, but if I’ve got one in there, and it’s not something outrageous, I just leave it in there and keep on going. That’s the way it should be. That was the beauty of real radio. That’s why you fell in love with these guys, because they were human and they want to suck up sometimes and maybe you were listening to it one time when when Moby said “motherf@#ker” on the air.

Music News: Which could be almost any day.

Chris Alan: Yeah, but, I’ve only had that happen to me one time and that was at 97.9 The Box. You know what a pot is, it’s a potentiometer. It’s a big dial you turn to turn things up or slide up and down. I was on the air at 97.9 The Box and I absolutely hated it because I was a guy that loves talking up and you got a 15 second intro and you can you could tell everybody what the temperature is, that traffic’s backed up on 45, blah blah blah blah blah blah, and here’s whoever, the song title and hit the post. That’s part of being a DJ. Well 97.9 The Box is just heavy rap songs. They had really short intros and you didn’t get a lot of talk time, ramp time. And I stepped on an intro and I slid the pot down as hard as it gets, just real hard. And I go “what the f@#k” and I slid the pot down. Well it hit so hard at the bottom that it bounced right back up. So you hear “what the f@#k was that” on the air. Oh my god, I froze. I was just staring because I could hear it in my headphones. I’m like, ‘No way’ and I looked down and that pot had bounced all the way back up and the program director walked in and he goes ‘Chris, you all right.’ ‘Yeah’, but you know, you could get in trouble for that. No cursing on the air. Well, supposedly. Yeah. innuendos. Oh, there was this video I posted in the Houston Broadcast. It showed this young DJ, he goes ‘I’m gonna say the F word on the air and nobody will even realize it.’ He was saying, “for crying out loud, but he was saying, ‘f@#k crying out loud, f@#k crying out loud.” I would have been doing it all the time just to push the envelope.

Music News: Oh yeah. I do the same thing with my podcasts. I don’t go in and re-record my questions or anything. If I say something wrong, or I say the same word twice in a row, I just leave it there and continue on with the podcast. When I did my first couple of podcasts, I would go back and I would redo what I had said. And then I thought, Well, that just sounds pretty disingenuous to me. So yeah, yeah, it’s best to just leave it in there as it was and keep on rolling. Well, what else do we need to do to talk about the T-Shirts, because that’s what we’re supposed to be talking about?

Chris Alan: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well. I don’t know what else to say about the T-Shirt Company. It’s a passion project. It’s a way to stay in tune with radio and it’s an opportunity for people to show their colors if you if you haven’t. If you when you were younger, if you always wished that you had gotten one of these shirts, now’s your opportunity. You can get one and like I said, I’m not trying to get rich off of them. There was a need and people want them and I like being

associated with radio and being especially with KLOL. Well I got to work at KLOL, to be on the air there and that was where I wanted my radio career, my real radio career, not what I’m doing on Houston Radio Platinum, but that’s where I wanted my radio career to end, was at that station, so the very first shirt I designed was a KLOL shirt. I love everything about that station and I love everything about KLOL, the talent that was there, the people that were there, and Dayna Steele had me design some onesies for kids, and it won’t be long those will be on the up on the site for sale as well. And the great thing about onesies, if you put the KLOL logo on the front, it’s a onesie. if you put it on the back, it becomes a dog sweater. It’s the same thing. It’s the two holes and then you know that your front legs and the dog can fit into and man, can you imagine who’s a cool dog out for a walk with a KLOL or 97Rock T-Shirt on.

Music News: Well, it looks like you can’t keep the hats in stock.

Chris Alan: Well, the hats are a big deal. The Silver Surfer and if you’re not familiar with this, the Silver Surfer, it’s the chrome dome. The chrome head that has the lightning bolt going through it. And boy what a controversial bumper sticker and all of that back in the day. It was very controversial and there was a small town between Houston and College Station and the sheriff or the police chief or whoever in this little community, he told his officers that’s probable cause to pull somebody over because they’ve probably got marijuana in their car. So this guy got in all kinds of trouble, this police chief or sheriff or whoever it was. You can Google the story. It’s out there, but they would pull over college kids driving driving back from Houston or coming down to Houston on the weekend and driving back up to College Station and they would pull them over and search their car. Its illegal search, but they use that as probable cause if they’ve got that thing on the back of their car, they’re probably potheads.

Music News: Well as they said in the police business, ‘they fit the profile.’

Chris Alan: That’s it and that Silver Surfer and chrome dome logo was it. It rubs some small town people the wrong way for some reason.

Music News: Oh yeah. If you wanted to drive from Houston to Dallas and not get stopped, you had a KIKK sticker on your car.

Chris Alan: Yeah, exactly. So I guess I’ve given you enough stuff, right? You can cut some of this out.

Music News: I don’t know, if we’re doing a story on radio stations, or the T-Shirts, to be honest with you. It’s a combination.

Chris Alan: You can’t separate the two, the radio station, TShirts. So it’s up to you. I mean, if people are interested in hearing the radio story, and going ‘Well, damn, and that was interesting.’ And they hold on and they get to this. Let me go to favoriteradioshirts.com and see what they’ve got here.

Music News: Thanks Chris, it was great talking to you.

Chris Alan: It was great talking to you too Kevin, bye.

Thanks for staying to the end of this interview. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as much as I did doing it and reminiscing with Chris Alan. I’m sure you can tell we had a great time talking to each other. So folks, if you want to put your hands on one of these fine collectable T-Shirts, simply go to https:// www.favoriteradioshirts.com/ and order the T-Shirt of your past. It’s time to show what tribe you used to belong to. Also be sure to check out one of the Christian’s Tailgate locations in Houston for a lot of fun, food, and great beverages. Last, but not least, be sure to check out one of Houston’s great online and on air radio stations, Houston Radio Platinum on air at 850 AM KEYH and online at https:// houstonradioplatinum.com/. They’re spinning some great music there and you might even hear one of you favorite old DJs on there. Tune in on Saturdays to hear our old buddy, Chris Alan. I think you’re really going to like his show. Tune into 850 AM any day of the week for some great music. They’re playing Houston’s Classic Hits.

Cuco Performs At White Oak Music Hall On The Lawn October 29

California singer, songwriter, and producer Cuco rose to success in the late 2010s combining romantic, lo-fi bedroom pop with charm, wit, and Spanish lyrics. After winning a fervent fan base with the release of his 2016 debut mixtape, Wannabewithu, he signed with Interscope and gained more widespread attention with his Billboard-charting 2019 full-length Para Mi. The slicker but still quirky Fantasy Gateway followed in 2022 and featured a range of guests including Mexican singer/songwriter Bratty and American country singer Kacey Musgraves. Cuco continued into 2023 with a series of standalone singles including the Marías collaboration “Si Me Voy.”

A native of Hawthorne, California, Omar Banos developed his musical abilities early, listening to Chicano rappers like MC Magic and Baby Bash, and experimenting with digital recording. Under the name Cuco, he recorded Wannabewithu while still in high school and quickly developed a regional following, particularly among young Latinos. A follow-up mixtape, Songs4u, arrived in 2017 as Cuco made the move from playing SoCal house concerts to proper clubs, selling out his first two venues. Singing in both English and Spanish over woozy track beds of synths and drum machines, he

continued releasing new material, including the 2018 singles “Sunnyside” and “CRV,” both of which appeared on his EP Chiquito in May of that year. He issued the stand-alone single “Fix Me” with Dillon Francis in 2019.

These placeholder songs paved the way for Cuco’s debut studio album, Para Mi, which arrived in the summer of 2019 on Interscope Records. It peaked at number six on Billboard’s Top Modern Rock/ Alternative Albums chart and cracked the front half of the Billboard 200. Aside from an appearance on Yung Gravy’s 2020 track

“Off the Goop,” Cuco kept a relatively low profile until early 2022, when he released the singles “Caution” and “Time Machine.” Both songs appeared on his sophomore album, Fantasy Gateway, in July of that year. Produced by Venezuelan hitmaker Manuel Lara (Kali Uchis, Bad Bunny), the album boasted a higher production value and featured appearances from Bratty and DannyLux, as well as Kacey Musgraves and Adriel Favela on the streaming hit “Sitting in the Corner.” Cuco continued his collaborations in 2023 with “Si Me Voy” with the Marías and “Medusa” with Caloncho.

Shakey Graves Performs At White Oak Music Hall On The Lawn October 27

Playing a smoky, spectral fusion of blues, folk, and rock in a stripped-down one-man-band style, Shakey Graves is the stage name of Texas singer, songwriter, and guitarist Alejandro RoseGarcia. The Austin-based musician parlayed the grass-roots success of his homespun 2011 debut, Roll the Bones, into national visibility, signing with Dualtone for subsequent releases, including 2014’s And the War Came. Along the way, Graves toyed with his approach, trying out more expansive full-band sounds and even venturing into more psychedelic territory on smaller EP releases, such as 2020’s Look Alive. In 2021, he put out an anniversary reissue of his debut with heaps of rare bonus material, followed in 2023 by another set of unreleased songs, Deadstock: A Shakey Graves Day Anthology, and a lush, stylistically adventurous set of new material, Movie of the Week.

Born in Austin, Texas, on June 4, 1987, Rose-Garcia grew up in a family that encouraged his creative pursuits — his mother was an actress who also worked as a director and writer, while his father managed a theater. Initially, RoseGarcia followed his interest in acting, working with his high school’s drama club and later moving to Los Angeles, where he appeared in several films (including Spy Kids 3: Game Over and Material Girls), as well as landing a recurring role on the TV series Friday Night Lights. But Rose-Garcia also had a

passion for music, and he wrote and recorded songs in his spare time. In 2007, Rose-Garcia attended the Old Settler’s Music Festival in Driftwood, Texas, and while spending time with friends, they began coining rustic nicknames for one another; someone dubbed Rose-Garcia “Shakey Graves,” and the name stuck.

In 2009, Rose-Garcia saw a performance by blues-punk one-manband Bob Log III and was impressed both by Log’s minimal performance style and how he used tempo and key changes to make his songs unpredictable and capture his audience’s attention. Drawing inspiration from Log, Rose-Garcia began crafting a stage persona for Shakey Graves, using foot pedals to keep the beat with a tambourine and a bass drum fashioned from a suitcase, while playing music he dubbed “hobo folk.” Audiences were impressed by his music, charisma, and talent for spinning tales, and the act evolved from a part-time home-brewed music project into a growing presence on the Austin music scene. In 2011, he released the first Shakey Graves album, Roll the Bones, which documented his stripped-down performing approach. Initially released online, Roll the Bones became an impressive independent success, and the Mayor of Austin acknowledged his rising star in 2012 by declaring February 9 “Shakey Graves Day.”

Later in 2012, Shakey Graves released a follow-up EP, Donor Blues, and attracted the attention of independent roots music label Dualtone Records, which signed him to a recording contract. The first album for Dualtone, 2014’s And the War Came, found him expanding his approach, using backing musicians on several tracks as well as duetting with vocalist Esmé Patterson. He toured extensively in support, as well as appearing on a number of late-night TV shows, including Conan, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Seth Meyers, as well as Austin City Limits. In 2015, he decided to celebrate the anniversary of Shakey Graves Day by releasing a digital album, Nobody’s Fool, which was available as a free download for three days only, from February 9 to February 11, 2015. Also in 2015, he took home Best Emerging Artist at the Americana Music Awards. Two years later, Graves combined Donor Blues and Nobody’s Fool into the double-disc collection, Shakey Graves & the Horse He Rode in On: Nobody’s Fool & the Donor Blues EP. Early 2018 saw the release of the Sleep EP, with Graves’ third full-length Can’t Wake Up arriving later that May.

He began the next decade with another EP, 2020’s four-song Look Alive, which featured further forays into psychedelic pop. In April of the following year, he celebrated the tenth anniversary of his full-length debut with an expanded re-release, Roll the Bones X. In addition to the original 2011 album, the reissue included a second disc of rarities, demos, and deep cuts. Deadstock: A Shakey Graves Day Anthology, a collection of previously unreleased material, appeared in 2023, as did the singles “Evergreen” and “Ready or Not,” the latter of which leaned toward alt-country singer/songwriter Sierra Ferrell. In 2018, not long after completing Can’t Wake Up, Graves was approached by some friends who were making a film. They asked him to score their project and he was soon working on music to accompany the rough-cut footage, but as he submitted his compositions to the filmmakers, they didn’t feel that his ideas meshed with their own. Eventually, Graves walked away from the project, but he was pleased with many of the melodies he’d written and used them as the basis for his next album. Boasting a lusher sound than much of his previous work, Movie of the Week was released in September 2023.

Open

Tuesday thru Sunday

Wednesday’s @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Thursday, Fridays & Saturdays @ 8:00 pm - 12:00 am • Sundays @ 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Sunday, October 1 - Katie’s Sunday Jam with guest host Hugo Jamz

Wednesday, October 4 - Katie’s Jam with guest host Keith Vivens

Thursday, October 5 - Hugo Jamz Trio

Friday, October 6 - Jay Hooks Band

Saturday, October 7 - Wake Zone

Sunday, October 8 - Katie’s Sunday Jam with guest host Pierce

Wednesday, October 11 - Katie’s Jam with guest host Bob Emmons

Thursday, October 12 - Josh Harnet

Friday, October 13 - Jonn Del Toro Richardson

Saturday, October 14 - Mark May

Sunday, October 15 - Katie’s Sunday Jam with guest host Mark May

Wednesday, October 18 - Katie’s Jam with guest host Keith Vivens

Thursday, October 19 - Groove Kings

Friday, October 20 - Pierce And The Purple Moon

Saturday, October 21 - Static Blues

Sunday, October 22 - Katie’s Sunday Jam with guest host Bayou Gipsies

Wednesday, October 25 - Katie’s Jam with guest host Bob Emmons

Thursday, October 26 - Lightning Rob

Friday, October 27 - Eric Demmer

Saturday, October 28 - Funksion Halloween Party

Sunday, October 29 - Katie’s Sunday Jam with guest host Chris Castaneda

Pegstar Presents Beach Fossils: The Bunny Tour Live at Warehouse Live October 27 In The Ballroom

Throughout the last fifteen years, Beach Fossils have steadily earned their stature as one of the most definitive and enduring bands of the 2010s New York underground, consistently reaching new listeners as their sound has grown from the DIY solo project of Dustin Payseur to an influential four-piece dream pop band, self-produced and self-released.

Bunny (2023) continues the stunning evolution of Beach Fossils’ sound, pulling elements from the jangly melancholy of the self-titled debut Beach Fossils (2010) and What a Pleasure (2011), the gritty, post-punk inspired tracks from Clash the Truth (2013), and the lush arrangements of Somersault (2017). Throughout, Payseur is joined by core band members Tommy Davidson

(guitar), Jack Doyle Smith (bass), and Anton Hochheim (drums).

Through tone and mood, Beach Fossils communicate a coming-of-age narrative of self-discovery. Payseur’s slice-of-life lyrics reflect on depression, love, adventure, loss, mistakes, New York City, friendships coming and going — a mélange of granular pieces in the process of continuing to find yourself.

Chiming guitars, reverb-heavy production, and easygoing songwriting with vague traces of nostalgia make Beach Fossils one of the more adored acts in a particular wave of dreamy indie rock bands. Along with albums released around the same time by Wild Nothing and DIIV, Beach Fossils’ self-titled 2010

album was a defining document of the kind of hazy, gently warped sound these bands were exploring as they started out. Subsequent albums found Beach Fossils both upping production values and trying new stylistic approaches, ranging from a clearer sound on their 2017 album Somersault to the poetic lyrical perspectives of 2023’s more personal Bunny.

Beach Fossils originally formed in 2009 as a vehicle for the reverb-heavy solo recordings of guitarist/vocalist Dustin Payseur. Bassist John Pena and guitarist Christopher Burke were brought into Beach Fossils’ lineup later that year, after Payseur had single-handedly put together the recordings that would

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Pegstar Presents Beach Fossils

comprise the group’s first album. Beach Fossils’ debut 7" single, Daydream/ Desert Sand, was released on Captured Tracks in February 2010; their self-titled album was released on the same label later that year. Pena and Payseur worked together on the group’s next release, 2011’s What a Pleasure EP, before Pena left to focus on his own group Heavenly Beat. The next Beach Fossils album featured drummer Tommy Gardner and production from the Men’s Ben Greenberg. Clash the Truth was issued in early 2013 on Captured Tracks.

After taking a break, during which the band appeared on the HBO show Vinyl as members of the early-’70s “punk” band “the Nasty Bits,” the group began working on a new album. This

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time out, Payseur involved the other members of the band in the writing process, with both bassist Jack Doyle Smith and guitarist Tommy Davidson contributing ideas. The record was made in various locales in New York City and Los Angeles, including engineer Jonathan Rado’s home studio and a cabin in Upstate New York, and featured guest vocals from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell and Cities Aviv. Somersault was released in early 2017 on Bayonet Records, a label Payseur started with his wife Kate Garcia. Their 2018 output included a cover of Yung Lean’s “Agony” and a split single with Wavves for a tour. In 2021 the band released a tenth anniversary edition of their self-titled debut that included a limited-edition 7" of “Vacation” and the previously unreleased B-

side “Time.” In November of 2021, a fourth album, The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads, was released on Bayonet. The album featured eight songs plucked from across the band’s discography, rerecorded in a tender and saxophonedappled jazz style. Payseur and crew returned to a dream pop sound on 2023’s Bunny. The band worked with engineer Lars Stalfors to give it a more popattuned feel, putting big choruses and sentimental hooks into Payseur’s songs about the joys of parenthood, the pain of grief, and other mature themes.

Ne Obliviscaris Perform At Warehouse Live October 13 In The Ballroom

Ne Obliviscaris is an Australian extreme progressive metal band that melds death and melodic metal, classical, jazz, and vanguard improvisation. The group’s early works elicited significant acclaim in the metal underground. They courted mainstream success with the release of 2017’s Urn, which reached number 35 on the ARIA albums chart. Ne Obliviscaris’ fourth long-player, Exul, arrived in 2023. Conceived late in 2003 by violinist/clean vocalist Tim Charles and harsh vocalist Marc “Xenoyr” Campbell, the band included a female soprano vocalist, lead guitarist, bassist, and drummer. Former Gomorrah rhythm guitarist Matt Klavins signed on in early 2004, as did lead guitarist Corey King. Their original rhythm section was replaced in 2005 by bassist Brendan “Cygnus” Brown (ex-Aphotic Dawn/ Primordial Space) and drummer Daniel “Mortuary” Presland. For nearly two years this unit continued to rehearse and play regional shows.

In 2007 the collective released the three-track, 33-minute demo The Aurora

Veil to thunderous underground acclaim due to its signature yet unpredictable meld of death and melodic metal, classical music, jazz, and avant-garde improvisation. King left shortly after the record’s release and Ne Obliviscaris were forced to soldier on without a guitarist until they successfully auditioned French guitar slinger Benjamin Baret, who had played with Brown in Primordial Space in 2008. As Ne Obliviscaris began recording their fulllength debut with this sextet in 2009, they held a concert called Festival de la Grenouille to raise funds for a Distinguished Talent Visa. It would allow Baret to relocate to Australia. After 14 months of waiting, and having a finished record about to be mixed, his application was denied.

Ne Obliviscaris appealed the decision by initiating a petition and letter-writing campaign that proved successful in 2011. The long-finished Portal of I was finally released in 2012. The evolution in sound and approach was greeted globally with critical and fan

acclaim. In 2013 the band signed to Seasons of Mist and began recording a follow-up. After finishing the album, they began a crowd-funding campaign in June of 2014 to finance a world tour to support it upon release. They asked for $40,000 and received over twice that. Citadel was issued in November of 2014. The 2017 full-length Urn was heralded by the release of the singles “Urn (Part I) — And Within the Void We Are Breathless” and “Urn (Part II) — As Embers Dance in Our Eyes.” It became the group’s first ARIA-charting effort, reaching number 35. Tracking for the band’s fourth album began in earnest in March 2020, just as the world was going into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite all of the setbacks — longtime drummer Daniel Preslend parted ways with the group in 2022 — Ne Obliviscaris persevered and completed the record. The resulting Exul was released in 2023.

Conversations With The Professionals

by John in Houston

It’s The Sound Baby! A conversation With Top Rated Track Mastering Pro Nick Landis

When a team of four mastering professionals were asked at a Recording Academy (Grammy) technical meeting what mastering was the panel members smiled and with tongue in cheek replied that no one was quite sure what the exact definition was but you can bet it’s there when you hear a great piece of music. Basically, that’s correct because in the simplest terms when you hear something that the instrumentation is not over powering the vocals you can bet that it’s the mastering that set the levels. The bottom line is that mastering is an art form, results rely on the ear of the person doing the mastering work. Enter Nick Landis, protégé of the world famous Jerry Tubb. Landis’s credits range from symphony music to country to Americana to rock and more including the sound track credits such as can found in “Sin City A Dame To Kill for”. The foundation of Nick’s experiences can be traced back to his uncle’s influence while in his formative years. His uncle would crank up ZZ Top’s Eliminator album and Nick would think wow this is really great. He credits these experiences as the original foundation of his love of the guitar but that was far from the end of it. Young Nick started piano lessons in kindergarten additionally church choir through elementary school then saxophone in school band starting in 5th grade finally circling back to guitar, classical guitar, starting in 8th grade. Yet his thirst was not quenched so he joined marching band and on top of that jazz band in high school. Originally he lived in Wooster Ohio then they moved to Toledo until Mom got a full scholarship that took them to SMU in Texas. After his formative years in Toledo they would live in Texas and all of his coming of age experiences including his increased passion for music would develop even more. He had been learning the guitar and could not get enough so much so that this inherent desire moved his level of understanding far beyond normal expectations and with this came a well earned degree. In his freshman year in college he majored in jazz guitar and this is when the roots of becoming a sound engineer took shape. In fact it was his first audio job with the One O’Clock Lab Band at UNT that moved his interests rapidly toward transferring into the highlyselective Sound Recording Technology program at Texas State. This would lead to Nick meeting the world renowned mastering expert Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova.

Nick received a great honor as he was chosen to intern for the great master himself. Nick would go on to become an integral part of the Terra Nova team and was actively involved in beta testing the new mastering compressor

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Conversations With The Professionals by John in Houston

It’s The Sound Baby!

A conversation With Top Rated Track Mastering Pro

Nick Landis

designed by Rupert Neve and his team at Rupert Neve Designs. Today, with these experiences behind him he is a revered expert on all phases of recording and mastering at his studio in Austin, Texas. His collection of studio projects shouts of a who’s who in music including Willie Nelson, Ruthie Foster, Dale Watson, Elaine Garcia, Jesse Dayton and more. But it doesn’t stop there, the man also gives credit where credit is due to other professionals on his website. For example, if another studio records the artist/band and he is contracted for mastering duties he lists their credits on his site as well as any others that could be mentioned. On another front the man continually educates those that are looking for industrial level support on rising technologies such as Dolby Atmos (he’s certified by Dolby). However, the education is not limited to new technologies but also encompasses existing technologies that many independent artists do not fully understand. A prime example is the topic of metadata. Without the proper metadata in place radio stations that spin the song cannot submit the spin to the chart tracking companies. Therefore the song is not going to chart even if it’s gaining strong radio play. Nick shares, “This happens way too often, but it doesn’t have to happen. It’s a simple fix but it must be done before the product is submitted to radio. (Some of this is automatically addressed when submitting to streaming platforms, they have the artist fill out a form with all the metadata during the submission.) In this instance, metadata like the ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is used as a unique identifier much like a more well-known identifier called a bar code. It’s easy to place when mastering, but without it preferred results on the business side are limited. This information should be as descriptive as possible removing any barriers to identify anything about the recording in question. Tags like album artist, track title, album title, and genre are all common but frequently left off; other tags like ISRC and IPI, used for publishing rights, are less common but can be very important. The end result is that these tags help identify all kinds of information about specific recordings and without them, information gets lost.” At times artists wonder why a song seems to be doing good but no money is coming their way. Could it be it’s the improper listing of the metadata or possibly there isn’t any tag at all. Learn more at www.NickLandis.com

Leon’s Lounge Is Now Available For Private Parties! Make Your Reservations Now!!

This October at Leon’s Lounge

Wednesday, October 4 - Randy Soffar Hosts Leon’s Open Mic @ 8:00 pm

Thursday, October 5 - Thursday Sessions

Friday, October 6 - Blue Heeler Juvenoia

Saturday, October 7 - Corny F8ers

Wednesday, October 11 - Brennen’s Party

Thursday, October 12 - Thursday Sessions

Friday, October 13 - Dompston, Mother Ghost, Tides, The Amazing Bozo

Saturday, October 14 - MSGC Jazz Quartet

Wednesday, Octoaber 18 - Randy Soffar Hosts Leon’s Open Mic @ 8:00 pm

Thursday, October 19 - Thursday Sessions

Friday, October 20 - Pushing 10

Saturday, October 21 - The Lightnin’ Brothers

Wednesday, October 25 - Randy Soffar Hosts Leon’s Open Mic @ 8:00 pm

Thursday, October 26 - Thursday Sessions

Friday, October 27 - Halloween Bar Crawl w/ Junebird

Saturday, October 26 - Halloween Bar Crawl w/ Treynwreck

Tuesday, October 31 - Halloween Bar Crawl w/ As If 90s

Wednesday, November 1 - Randy Soffar Hosts Leon’s Open Mic @ 8:00 pm

Marcia Ball Performs at Bayou Theater At The University Of Houston Campus Clear Lake On October 18

Texas-born, Louisiana-raised pianist, songwriter and vocalist Marcia Ball will perform live at the Bayou Theater in Houston on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 . Ball has won worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse rhythm and blues party every time she takes the stage. Ball’s romping Texas boogies,

swampy New Orleans ballads and grooveladen Gulf Coast blues have made her a oneof-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. Her latest album, Shine Bright, produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, is full of everything music fans love about Marcia—rollicking two-fisted piano, soulful vocals, a top-shelf band of Texas and

Louisiana musicians, and Marcia’s magnificent songwriting. Recently, the Texas Songwriters Association named Ball its 2023 “Texas Music Legend.” She won the 2023 Living Blues Readers’ Poll Award for Most Outstanding Musician (Keyboards), and in 2018 Ball was named the Official 2018 Texas State Musician and inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall Of Fame.

With Shine Bright, Ball set out to, in her words, “Make the best Marcia Ball record I could make.” In doing so, she has put together the most musically substantial, hopeful and uplifting set of songs of her fivedecade career. Produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and recorded in Texas and Louisiana, Shine Bright contains twelve songs (including nine originals), ranging from the title track’s rousing appeal for public and private acts of courage to the upbeat call to action of Pots And Pans, a song inspired by renowned Texas political writer and humorist Molly Ivins. From the humorous advice of Life Of The Party to the poignantly optimistic World Full Of Love , the intensity of Ball’s conviction never wavers while, simultaneously, the fun never stops. Shine Bright is exactly the album Ball set out to make. “It is a ridiculously hopeful, cheerful record,” she says, in light of some of the album’s more serious subject matter. The secret, according to Ball “is to set the political songs to a good dance beat.”

Born in Orange, Texas in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. Seeing an Irma Thomas performance in 1962 and falling under the spell of Professor Longhair’s piano playing convinced Ball to seek out a career in music. She led a couple of early psychedelic country rock bands before pursuing her solo career from her adopted hometown of Austin, Texas.

“Fifty years have passed in a flash,” says pianist, songwriter, and vocalist Marcia Ball of her long and storied career. Ball, the 2018 Texas State Musician Of The Year, has won worldwide fame and countless fans for her ability to ignite a full-scale roadhouse party every time she takes the stage. Born in Orange, Texas and raised in Vinton, Louisiana, her deep Acadian heritage and a lifetime of absorbing Gulf Coast rhythm and blues is evident in her original songs and the classics she chooses to cover. This has made her a one-of-a-kind favorite with music lovers all over the world. With each new release, her reputation as a profoundly soulful singer, a boundlessly talented pianist and a courageous, inventive songwriter continues to grow. Her love of the road has led to years of soul-satisfying performances at festivals, concert halls and clubs.

In Marcia’s most recent album, Shine Bright, she has put together the most musically substantial, hopeful and uplifting set of songs of her five-decade career.

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Marcia Ball

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Produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and recorded in Texas and Louisiana, Shine Bright contains twelve songs (including eight originals), ranging from the title track’s rousing appeal for public and private acts of courage to the upbeat call to action of Pots And Pans, a song inspired by renowned Texas political writer and humorist Molly Ivins. From the humorous advice of Life Of The Party to the poignantly optimistic World Full Of Love, the intensity of Ball’s conviction never wavers while, simultaneously, the fun never stops. “It is a ridiculously hopeful, cheerful record,” she says, in light of some of the album’s more serious subject matter. The secret, according to Ball “is to set the political songs to a good dance beat.”Marcia grew up in a family whose female members all played piano and she began taking lessons at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley and popular music tunes from her grandmother’s collection. But it wasn’t until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the power of soul music. One day in 1962, she sat amazed as Irma Thomas performed on a show at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans and delivered the most spirited and moving performance the young teenager had ever seen. A few years later she attended Louisiana State University and after dropping out to explore the brave new hippie world of the late 1960s, she was invited to try out for a blues-based rock band called Gum. She made the cut and her future was set.

In 1970, Ball left Baton Rouge for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, and while waiting for repairs she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn’t long before she was performing in local clubs with a band called Freda And The Firedogs, a group that pioneered the Progressive Country movement, which attracted many musicians and significant media attention to Austin. It was around this time that she discovered Professor Longhair, the seminal New Orleans piano player. “Once I found out about Professor Longhair,” recalls Ball, “I knew I had found my direction.”

When Freda And The Firedogs broke up in 1974, Ball launched her solo career and began touring outside of Texas and Louisiana. She signed with Capitol Records in 1977, debuting with the country-rock album Circuit Queen. As she created and honed her own sound, she released six critically acclaimed titles on the Rounder Records label during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, Ball—collaborating with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton—recorded the hugely successful Dreams Come True on the Antone’s label. At the end of 1997, Marcia finished work on a similar “three divas of the blues” project for Rounder, this time in the distinguished company of Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma Thomas. The CD, Sing It!, was released in 1998 and was nominated for a

Grammy Award.

Marcia Ball has appeared many times on national television over the years, including the PBS special In Performance At The White House along with B.B. King and Della Reese, Austin City Limits and HBO’s Treme. She performed in Piano Blues, the film directed by Clint Eastwood included in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues series which aired on PBS television nationwide in 2003. Marcia also appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman with The New Orleans Social Club, where she not only reached millions of people, but also helped to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2012, she had a role in the independent film Angels Sing starring Harry Connick, Jr., Lyle Lovett and Willie Nelson. In 2017 she performed on NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, live from The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.Ball joined Alligator Records in 2001 with the release of the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent. The CD won the 2002 Blues Music Award for Blues Album Of The Year. Her follow-up, So Many Rivers, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year as well as the coveted Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year award. Her next release, Live! Down The Road, released in 2005, also garnered a Grammy nomination, as did 2008’s Peace, Love & BBQ (the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart). She holds eleven Blues Music Awards, ten Living Blues

Awards, and five Grammy Award nominations. 2010’s Grammy-nominated Roadside Attractions and 2014’s The Tattooed Lady And The Alligator Man successfully grew her fan base even further.

She has been inducted into both the Gulf Coast Music Hall Of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame. The Texas State legislature named her the official 2018 Texas State Musician. In 2018, Marcia was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.

Since March of 2020 and the onset of the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdown, Marcia has filled her time with work on a nonprofit organization she co-founded called HOME – Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers, which pays rent and utilities for older musicians in the Austin area (HOMEaustin.org). She also improved her streaming and virtual performance abilities enough to participate in many on-line fundraising efforts throughout the year. She put her domestic skills to work making masks. She and her husband Gordon got a dog to replace their dear Lily. She has written songs and she is collaborating on a musical play which she hopes becomes a real live show in the near future.

And she’s getting the band ready to get back out on the road. “I still love the feel of the wheels rolling,” she says, “and the energy in a room full of people ready to go wherever it is we take them.”

Parker McCollum Performs At The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion October 28

Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Parker McCollum rhas eleased Never Enough, a statement album that cements his status as one of country music’s undeniable new stars. It was released this year on May 12 via MCA Nashville. The follow-up to his 2021 major label debut Gold

Chain Cowboy, Never Enough arrives with the momentum of the Gold-certified single “Handle on You.” McCollum earned his firstever No. 1 hit with his Double-Platinumcertified debut single, “Pretty Heart,” and his follow-up Platinum-certified single, “To Be Loved By You,” another No. 1 hit. Along

with headlining his own tour this summer, McCollum will play stadiums with Morgan Wallen on Wallen’s One Night at a Time World Tour.

McCollum has been named an ‘Artist to Watch’ by Rolling Stone, Billboard, SiriusXM, CMT, RIAA, and more with American Songwriter noting, “The Texas native teeters on the edge of next-level superstardom.” MusicRow listed McCollum as their 2021 Breakout Artist of the Year and Apple also included him as one of their allgenre “Up

Next Artists” Class of 2021. A dedicated road warrior, McCollum made his debut at the famed Grand Ole Opry in 2021 and he already sells out venues across the country (over 40 sold out shows nationwide in 2021) including record-breaking crowds in Dallas (20,000), The Woodlands (16,500), Austin (7500+), Lubbock (7700+), Jackson, MS (5000+), Kearney, NE (3000+), Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, and three nights at Fort Worth’s iconic Billy Bob’s Texas. In March 2022, McCollum made his debut at RODEOHOUSTON to a sold-out crowd with over 73,000 tickets sold, returning to perform at the Opening Day celebration in 2023. He recently made a dream come true with his first-ever Austin City Limits performance, kicking off their 2023 season. In 2022, McCollum earned his first ACM Award for New Male Artist of the Year, took home “Breakthrough Video of the Year” (a fully fan-voted honor) at the 2022 CMT Music Awards, and scored his first-ever nomination in the New Artist of the Year category at the 56th CMAAwards.

Never Enough, Parker McCollum’s second major-label release, is a statement album. If its predecessor, Gold Chain Cowboy, announced Parker’s arrival in the country music mainstream, Never Enough (MCA Nashville) says that, damn right, he’s here to stay.

Like Gold Chain Cowboy, it pairs Parker with producer Jon Randall (Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley), a fellow Texan who understands exactly what fuels Parker’s artistry: authenticity, vulnerability, and a little bit of defiance. Never Enough bristles with honesty and attitude and is shot through with equal parts rock guitar and country songwriting.

“What I do best is write songs from a very real place and sing country music, but also be very ‘me’ and not try to sound like someone else,” Parker says. “We definitely did that on this record and every one of the 15 songs sounds different.”

Compare album opener “Hurricane” and the confessional ballad “Have Your Heart Again” to hear his point. “Hurricane,” a song about a strong-willed girl who blows through your life and leaves it in tatters, is a driving rock anthem with a guitar riff that calls to mind the theme from Friends (“I’m sure some people will hate on that, but I don’t give a shit,” Parker laughs. “I thought it was cool”).

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Parker McCollum

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“Have Your Heart Again,” meanwhile, is a simple vocal-and-piano arrangement with Parker hitting a stunning falsetto note. The songs are each irresistible and unique, rich in lyrical imagery, and unlike anything you’ll hear coming out of Nashville today.

Credit that to Parker, as sturdy as a live oak, for knowing exactly who he is.

“This town can eat you alive, the music business can eat you alive, with artists trying to remain relevant and have hit songs. That’s something I never cared about when I’m writing or making a record,” he says. “I’m never thinking about singles. I’m trying to just write songs that can potentially stand the test of time. That’s the sole purpose of writing songs for me.”

Even Never Enough tracks that have since become gold-certified hits weren’t written with radio in mind. To Parker, “Handle on You” was just a drinking song with clever lyricism (“I tell myself that I should quit/but I don’t listen to drunks”) and a late-Eighties country sound as smooth as Tennessee whiskey or, perhaps, a Shiner Bock.

“That song is a nod to some of the great records I grew up with,” says Parker, who counts George Strait, Willie Nelson, and cult hero Chris Knight as chief inspirations. “A lot of radio songs nowadays are kind of bubble-gummy. I don’t have any problem with pop-country, but I’d like to hear a little more classic country too. My team kept saying ‘Handle on You’ was a radio song and I said, ‘If y’all put that on the radio, then hell yeah.’”

A mostly solitary songwriter prior to his entrée into Nashville, Parker has now written with some of country music’s finest. Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, and Liz Rose (a.k.a. The Love Junkies), David Lee Murphy, Brett James, and Ashley Gorley all contribute to Never Enough, along with Parker’s Texas peers Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen, and Ryan Beaver.

“That’s been the biggest change since coming to Nashville: having access to some of the best songwriters in the world and sitting in a room with them to write,” Parker says. “The way these songwriters care and write, it’s from a place that I think I do as well. It’s made me look at songwriting differently.”

The proof is in Parker’s chart history. He scored his first-ever No. 1 country hit with 2020’s “Pretty Heart,” his debut single. “To Be Loved by You” followed suit, also hitting No. 1. Now, he’s staring down a career-making single in “Burn It Down,” a

moody, smoldering break-up song that equates a busted relationship to a house reduced to just ashes and smoke.

Written with the Love Junkies, “Burn It Down” was born during a writing session at Parker’s home, where he spontaneously started singing the words “burn it down” over and over again. “Some days are like that, where the melody and the idea for the song is so good and everybody is on the same page,” he says. “If you’re talking about moving the needle in my career, ‘Burn It Down’ is probably going to be the song.”

Parker lives for the type of spontaneous creation that happened that day. He’ll often challenge himself to write a song without changing a single word. He did that with “Too Tight This Time.” With a pretty acoustic guitar lick, a Dobro guest shot by Jerry Douglas, and a heavy dose of humility and introspection in Parker’s vocal performance, “Too Tight This Time” is Parker’s favorite track on Never Enough.

“I said, ‘Let’s pour this thing out and whatever it is in 15 minutes, that’s what it’s going to be forever.’ I love to write songs like that and live with the end result. This one was easy to do because the melody was so good,” he says. “The line ‘There must be something broken inside this lonely man’ just hits so hard.”

For all his quiet strength and rough-

hewn masculinity, Parker isn’t afraid to bare his soul. But, ironically, one of the most personal songs on Never Enough is the only song he didn’t write: “Things I Never Told You,” penned by Monty Criswell, Lynn Hutton, and Taylor Phillips, parallels Parker’s relationship with his mother. “When I moved away from home/I didn’t realize how much I’d miss ya,” he sings. “A phone call don’t take the place/of your smilin’ face cooking in that kitchen.”

“Those lines were all in there. People send me songs all the time and I never really hear any that I’m blown away by,” he says. Currently getting ready for a massive summer tour, including stadium dates with Morgan Wallen, Parker debuted “Things I Never Told You” for his mother during rehearsals. “We were in this massive amphitheater and my mom came the last day and I sang it for her. It was pretty cool.”

To Parker, the gesture was a way to show he cared. Never Enough then is a testament to how much he cares about country music.

“Sometimes I wish I didn’t care so much because everything would be easier. Hopefully one day people will look back at what I’ve done in country music and think it was honest and good for the genre,” Parker says. “This album may be called Never Enough, but if they see that what I did was real, that’ll be enough for me.”

Lucero Y Mijares Bring Their “Hasta Que Se Nos Hizo” USA Tour 2023 To Smart Financial Centre October 13

Lucero Y Mijares will be performing this month at Smart Financial Centre on October 13.

Catch a passionate performance Lucero Y Mijares. The dynamic showcase features two popular artists in the world of Latin music. Both artists are multi-talented and have worked as actors and singers. Since 1987, they have been making a splash in the industry and behind the scenes. The two entertainers married in the 1980s and began their own careers. These days, even after a public separation, they are joining forces on stage once again and treating fans to a sensational celebration of music and memories. It is not every day that you get a chance to see them performing on one stage. In this concert, fans can experience the power of their exceptional talent.

Lucero has sold millions of albums and has worked in a variety of Spanishlanguage soap operas known as telenovelas. She has topped the Latin music charts and won a slew of awards. Likewise, Manuel Mijares, known professionally as Mijares, has had a celebrated career in his own right. He performs an exciting blend of Latin pop, mariachi and more.

Lucero is one of Mexico’s most iconic performers. A best-selling singer/ songwriter, she is globally renowned for her recordings of rancheras, mariachis, and pop songs. Further, she is an awardwinning actress of screen and stage, as well as a popular television host. Lucero’s professional career began at age 11 performing on a Mexican children’s variety program. She started acting in telenovelas in 1982 and released her

debut album, Te Prometo, as Lucerito the same year. Her first charting album was 1990’s Con Mi Sentimiento. 1991’s Lucero de Mexico went Top 40 in the U.S. Virtually every studio outing that decade charted, including 1998’s multiplatinum Cerca de Ti. 2004’s Cuando Sale un Lucero and 2006’s Quiéreme Tal Como Soy both hit internationally. 2010’s Indispensable featured “Dueña de Tu Amor” the hit theme for Soy Tu Dueña for her telenovela. 2017’s Brasileira offered bossas and sambas in Portuguese. Also in 2017, she released the first part of her Sinaloan trilogy, Enamorada con Banda, followed by 2018’s Mas Enamorada con Banda and 2019’s Sólo Me Faltabas Tú. The boxed retrospective 20y20 followed a year later.

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Lucero was born Lucero Hogaza León in Mexico City. From the time she could walk and talk, she sang and danced. Her mother Lucero León, a former performer herself, trained her and has managed her career, which Lucero began at 11, performing with her guitar on the variety show Alegrías de Mediodía in 1980. Two years later, she played the title role in the telenovela Chispita and won an industry award as best new actress. As a teen, she appeared in the film Coqueta, which also featured Pedro Fernández, and earned the nickname “Queen of the Telenovelas,” acting in no less than nine, including Cuando Llega el Amor, Los Parientes Pobres, and Lazos de Amor.

While her career as an actress made her a nationally beloved cultural figure, Lucero’s musical career, which began with her 1982 debut Te Prometo, ran concurrently and was arguably more successful. During the ’80s, she appeared in no less than seven films and released six albums as well as a dozen EPs and singles as Lucerito. They ranged across the musical spectrum from synthesized pop to traditional rancheras, mariachis, and romanticos. With 1990’s Con Mi Sentimiento, she adopted the name “Lucero.”

1993’s Lucero sold more than 800,000 copies in Mexico alone and made inroads at radio in the Southwestern United States. 1995’s Siempre Contigo peaked at number 15 on the Top Latin Albums charts in the U.S. and toured in Mexico and South America. In 1999 she released Un Lucero en la México, her first live offering. It included one disc of pop songs and one of Mexican Regional songs; it was certified gold out of the box and went on to sell millions of copies worldwide.

2004’s Cuando Sale un Lucero, her debut for EMI, was certified gold and subsequently platinum. The same year she appeared as Esperanza in director Alfonso Arau’s biopic Zapata: El Sueño de un Héroe, at the time the most expensive Mexican movie ever produced — its opening was also the highest grossing in Mexican history. 2006’s Quiéreme Tal Como Soy contained reworked versions of some of her greatest hits (written by Rafael Pérez Botija) and covers by Rocío Dúrcal and

José José.

2010’s Indispensable, her first studio set in four years, was among her most ambitious and successful outings. Released during the same year she acted in the popular telenovela Soy Tu Dueña, its first single, “Dueña de Tu Amor,” was the closing theme for the show and propelled Lucero to the upper rungs of the Mexican charts, and placed in both the United States and Europe. While 2011’s Mi Secreto de Amor hit the Top 40, 2011’s Un Lu Jo (a duet album with Joan Sebastian) topped the Mexican Regional Albums chart in the U.S.; it also peaked at number three on Mexico’s national chart. A collection of romantic ballads, Aquí Estoy, appeared on streaming charts in 2014.

Lucero released Enamorada con Banda in 2017, a set of popular hits recorded in the banda style, to great acclaim. It topped the national charts and landed inside the Top 40 on the U.S. Latin Albums chart. To honor fans in Brazil and Portugal, she also released Brasileira on Fonovisia that year; a collection of her own songs and covers of bossas and sambas sung entirely in Portuguese. 2018’s Mas Enamorada con Banda charted and sold with equal success as its thematic predecessor. In 2019, she and producer Luciano Luna teamed for a third banda collection, Sólo Me Faltabas Tú, that proved no less successful commercially.

In 2020, Lucero held a virtual press conference announcing the release of the boxed retrospective 20y20, a fourdisc set that covered her 40 years in music to date. She explained, “The first two discs cover the transition from girl to young woman and the second, the last 20 years as an experienced artist, mother, and mature woman.” In 2021, Lucero reunited on-stage with ex-husband

Manuel Mijares for the streaming concert Siempre Amigos. In 2022 she released no less than nine singles — including four very different versions of her pop hit “Los Ricos Tambien Lloran.”

Manuel Mijares is an adult contemporary pop singer from Mexico who performs under his last name. Possessed of a resonant, theatrical baritone, he is one of Latin America’s most noteworthy performers. After placing three Top Five singles from his 1986 EMI debut Soñador, he rode the Latin album and singles charts to the tune of ten gold, seven platinum, and five diamond certifications and has won countless awards. Mijares has sold more than 20 million records. His biggest recordings — 1989’s Un Hombre Discreto, 2005’s Jose Jose tribute Honor a Quien Honor Merece, 2013’s Canto por Ti, and the following year’s No Se Me Acaba el Alma — have endeared him to fans across the globe. Further, his songs have appeared as themes and cues in a wide variety of television programs and films including Oliver y Su Pandilla, Beauty and the Beast, and The Road to El Dorado. In 2016 he released the live retrospective Sinfónico Desde el Palacio de Bellas Artes with his road band, two symphony orchestras, and a choir. In 2018 he recorded Rompecabezas and its 2019 counterpart, Rompecabezas II, entirely in Los Angeles. They included not only new songs but covers and allstar duets. After embarking on a pair of sold-out U.S. and Mexican tours, he issued his debut holiday collection, Feliz Navidad, in 2020.

Singer Manuel Mijares was born José Manuel Mijares-Morán in 1958 in Mexico City. He cites his mother, a dance teacher, as his first major musical influence. She encouraged him to

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participate in his elementary school choir where his distinctive vocal qualities were noticed by his teachers, who offered further encouragement. After singing in groups with friends throughout high school, Mijares got serious about music. He made his professional debut in 1981 in a local festival called Valores Juveniles. He emigrated to Japan at 24 to accept a singing job in a nightclub, and while there he recorded television and radio jingles. After returning to Mexico in 1983, Mijares won a spot in the backing chorus of Latin pop star Emmanuel. Two years later he signed a solo deal with EMI and released his debut album, Soñador, in 1986. He represented Mexico in the annual OTI Festival and won “Revelation of the Year.” The label reissued the album and it subsequently netted three Top Five singles. Mijares first hit the international pop charts with the 1987 single “No Se Murió el Amor,” the opening track from Amor y Rock ‘N’ Roll. He toured incessantly across Mexico and made inroads to West Coast American radio. He made his debut as an actor in the 1988 film Escápate Conmigo, where he met his future wife, the pop singer Lucero. Based on the film’s success, Mijares issued the triplegold-certified Uno Entre Mil that year and followed it in 1989 with Un Hombre Discreto, which was certified gold seven times over and peaked at number four on the Top Latin Albums chart.

Mijares would reside in the upper rungs of the singles and album charts throughout the early ’90s. After 1993’s number five Encadenado, he released

Vive en Me, a live outing recorded in New York City. It featured songwriting contributions from Pablo Milanes, Lolita de la Colina, and Gerardo Flores. While the album missed the upper rungs of the charts, it did net two Top Ten singles in the title cut and Francis Cabrel’s “Je L’aime a Mourir”; it was adapted as “La Quiero a Morir” by Luis Gómez-Escolar.

In 1996, Mijares issued Querido Amigo, a tribute to Mexican singer and actor Pedro Infante. Producer José Luis Espinosa dubbed Mijares’ fresh vocals onto cleaned-up tapes of Infante’s singing, with fresh orchestral and choral arrangements.

In January of 1997, Mijares and Lucero married. El Privilegio de Amar, his debut album for Universal, was a chart hit; its title track, featuring Lucero on backing vocals, became the title theme of a telenovela, reached the Top Ten on three U.S. charts, and registered at number one in 11 Latin American countries. Its follow-up, “Estrella Mia,” didn’t chart in the U.S. but did reach number two in Mexico and the Top Ten in a dozen other countries. In 2000, he was invited by Dreamworks to sing three Elton John songs for the score to The Road to El Dorado. He also issued the ballads collection Historias de un Amor, followed by the 2002 live offering En Vivo.

Mijares had become an influential persona in popular music. He sold enough records and concert tickets to dictate having a say in what he recorded and how — a rarity in pop circles then and now. To that end, he signed a short

deal with Sony to record and release Honor a Quien Honor Merece in 2005, a heartfelt tribute to the influence of José José. It marked Mijares’ first platinum certification. A year later he issued Acompañame, a duet album with Yuri, and in 2007, Swing en Tu Idioma, which presented some of his favorite songs in big-band settings. 2008’s Hablemos de Amor was an oddity for Mijares: A oneoff for EMI, its title track was composed for a telenovela of the same title and used as its theme song. The rest of the recordings were left to languish.

In 2009, Mijares returned to Warner for the covers album Vivir Así; it attained platinum status and prompted a 2010 sequel that attained diamond certification. After more than a decade of marriage, Mijares and Lucero divorced in 2011. The singer undertook transatlantic tours in the next two years, and in 2013 he released the platinum-certified smash Canto por Ti. Its single “Hoy” featured a duet appearance by Peruvian Latin Grammy winner Glan Marco. The album spent five weeks in the top spot on the Mexican pop charts and registered Top Ten in a dozen other countries. The following year’s No Se Me Acaba el Alma also topped the chart at home, earning diamond certification. In September of 2016, Mijares performed a 30-year career retrospective concert at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes with two symphony orchestras, a choir, and his road band. The show was filmed for a television special and released as an audio-video package the following year as the chart-topping Sinfónico Desde el Palacio de Bellas Artes. It was certified gold upon release and later attained platinum status.

The accompanying video format appealed to Mijares. For 2018’s Rompecabezas, he recorded a slew of new songs and covers in Los Angeles. Among them were three duets: “A Donde Vamos a Parar” with Marc Antonio Solis, the title track with former boss Emmanuel, and “Vencer al Amor” with ex-wife Lucero. He and the label also filmed videos to accompany each song. Rompecabezas reached number two in Mexico and earned gold certification. Mijares enjoyed the experience so much, he followed it with a second volume in 2019. Also recorded in L.A., it included three duets — “No Te Vayas Todavía” with Maria León, “Besos Usados” with Melendi, and “Bandida” with Andrés Cepeda — and once again included videos. It was certified diamond in early 2020. Later that year, Mijares released his first holiday album, Feliz Navidad.

Ivan Cornejo Performs At The 713 Music Hall On October 21 and

Ivan Cornejo is a singer and songwriter of Regional Mexican Music from Riverside, California. Alma Vacía, his 2021 debut album, was released by Manzana Records in August, just two months after his 17th birthday. It peaked at number two on the Regional Mexican Albums chart, while its singles, “Noche de Relajo” and “Corazón Frío,” also registered inside the Top 20. A

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week before his 18th birthday, he issued the full-length Dañado. It too topped genre charts during its first week of release.

An adept guitarist who taught himself to play at age seven, Cornejo began jamming with older friends at 14. They praised his playing and singing acumen and encouraged him to develop his skills further. He did. At 15 he began posting video

requintos (guitar instrumentals) on TikTok, covering songs by his favorite artists. They registered millions of views and drew the attention of Andres Garcia, president and A&R boss of Houston’s Manzana Records, who encouraged his singing and then signed him after discovering that he was also a fine songwriter.

“Noche de Relajo” appeared in late 2020 and registered on streaming charts. “Llamas Perdidas” followed in June 2021, just after his 17th birthday. In the meantime, his performance videos began to score major notice on YouTube, garnering millions of views. In late July, Cornejo issued the single and video for “Corazón Frío” and in October he released the eight-song album Alma Vacía; it rocketed to number two on the music industry’s Regional Mexican charts. He followed it with the Top Ten single “El Greñas Mentado.”

In February 2022, Cornejo issued the single “Perro Abandonado,” a corrido of insufferable heartbreak. Two weeks later, he released “Triste,” a duet with Polo Gonzalez. In June, a week before his 18th birthday, Cornejo released the romantic, ballad-centric Dañado, another seven-track album. It soared to the Top of the Regional Mexican Albums chart as well as streaming, debuted at number four at Top Latin Albums, and cracked the Top 200 at number 149 (unusually high for a Regional Mexican album). The set also became the first chart-topper for Manzana Records, boosting the label’s profile across the industry. Cornejo kicked off 2023 with the heartfelt single “Aquí Te Espero.”

La Mafia Brings Their Celebrating Life Tour To The Arena Theater October 21

The chart-topping, Grammywinning Tejano band La Mafia from Houston, Texas are among the most enduring, successful, and versatile bands to emerge from the city’s music scene. As Texas Monthly put it back in the late ’90s, “They are to Latin music what Willie Nelson and ZZ Top are to country and rock.” For 40-plus years, La Mafia have changed members with almost alarming regularity, yet with each change they have evolved, wedding their Tejano roots to cumbia, Latin soul, tropical rhythms, electronic funk, R&B, and stadium rock while remaining close to the vintage polkas, corridos, romanticas, and boleros of their youth. They are a rarity among Latin bands: Instead of trying to become successful in El Norte first, they started in Texas and went south and east before reaching back into their native United States.

In the 2000s and 2010s, La Mafia became synonymous with power pop ballads, rife with electric guitars, synths, samples, and doo wop- and soulinflected backing vocals. They have placed most of their dozens of albums and countless singles and compilations on no less than a dozen different charts, from Tropical Songs to Mexican Regional and Latin Pop Albums. In 1991, 11 years after they almost singlehandedly created a resurgence of the norteno sound, they packed the Houston Astrodome for the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo with a crowd of 55,000 — only Selena would surpass that number during that decade. That same year, they issued Estas Tocando Fuego, their 16th album and their first to register platinum. (They did it again in 1992 with Ahora y Siempre.) Since that time, they’ve continued to perform and record, aside

from a very brief and bitter break at the end of the ’90s. In 2000 they were named one of the Billboard’s Top Ten Latin artists from the entire preceding decade. They took a longer break from recording, between 2008 and 2014. In 2014, they placed an album in the Top Ten on both the Mexican Regional and Top Latin Albums with Amor y Sexo. They continue to tour on both sides of the border, playing shows from the nationally televised Señorita Mexico pageant to soccer stadiums in Central and South America. They have been awarded eight Premio Lo Nuestro Awards and a dozen Tejano Music Awards (including one for Lifetime Achievement) in addition to a pair of Grammy awards for the albums Un Millón de Rosas (1996) and En Tus Manos (1997), and Latin Grammys for

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Para El Pueblo (2004) and Nuevamente (2006), and a nomination from the latter for 2008’s Eternamente Romanticos.

The group was founded by brothers Oscar (a vocalist now called Oscar De La Rosa) and Leonard Gonzalez, from the north end of Houston, and keyboard player Armando Lichtenberger, Jr. (who also plays accordion). They started playing music together when they were ten years old, at weddings, quinceañeras, and the yard party scene like most bands. They issued their self-titled debut for the independent Discos Diana label from Baytown, Texas in 1980. Two more albums followed on the label over the next year before La Mafia shifted allegiance and signed to San Antonio’s Cara label, where they remained until 1986. On Cara they issued albums that would spread word of their sound throughout Texas and into northern Mexico: Honey (Cariño), Electrifying, Mafia Mania, Hot Stuff, and Neon Mania. In 1986 they left the label and signed to CBS Discos (now Sony). Even during these early days, La Mafia was releasing albums and singles that would inform their later sound and become treasures among fans, especially 1986 and 1988’s Explosivo. While the group’s Spanish-language skills weren’t great (their first language is English), the music they played, whether the old standards learned from their parents or songs by the Beatles, registered with audiences because of the band’s dynamic stage show. David De La Garza III joined La Mafia in 1989 as second vocalist and keyboardist. His presence in the outfit helped mightily, both on-stage and in the studio. 1991’s Estas Tocando Fuego initially sold half a million copies in the U.S., but eventually moved over four million. 1992’s Vida spent 47 weeks on the Top Latin Albums charts and peaked at number two. 1993’s Ahora y Siempre went triple platinum and hit the top spot on the Mexican Regional Albums chart. The band became a radio staple and placed singles on the charts as often as albums. 1996’s Un Millón de Rosas peaked at number one on the Regional Mexican Albums chart and its single also reached Top Ten on the Top

Latin Songs chart. The album earned them a Grammy for Best Mexican/ Mexican-American Album.

In 1999, after nearly two decades of non-stop touring and recording, La Mafia split, shocking fans, as they were at the top of their game critically and commercially. Initally stating “retirement” as the reason, the truth proved to be a split between the Gonzalez brothers, who cited differences. In truth, vocalist De La Rosa had become, for all intent and purposes, the face and creative force behind La Mafia. Leonardo sued for the band’s name, but lost in court.

La Mafia began the new century as a very different, more polished band, with Contigo. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best MexicanAmerican album. It peaked at five on both the Mexican Regional and Top Latin Albums charts. The group issued a pair of albums in 2004, Para El Pueblo (Latin Grammy nominee), and the charting Inconfundible. Incessant touring over the next two years rewarded La Mafia with an extended break. They returned in 2008 with the Latin Grammy nominated Eternamente Romanticos, their last studio recording for six years. It

only hit 67 on the Top Latin Albums chart. Over the intervening years, La Mafia’s various labels filled the gaps with hits compilations and live albums. After spending time with family and on various solo recordings and production projects, the band reconvened in late 2012 and began rehearsing and touring again. They re-emerged with Amor y Sexo in 2014, which landed inside the Top Ten at Mexican Regional, Latin Pop, and Top Latin Albums lists. The band’s personnel still changed repeatedly and its 2010s incarnation included De La Rosa, Lichtenberger, Jr., and De La Garza III. Guitarist Marion Aquilina — a group member from 2000-2006 — longtime bassist Tim Ruiz, percussionist and bajo sexto player Robbie Longoria, and drummer Eduardo Torres. A years-long worldwide tour was undertaken and afterwards, another long break. In early 2018, De La Rosa announced the imminent release of Vozes, a collection of newly recorded duets. De La Rosa’s singing partners on the 13-track album included Sebastián Yatra, Ana Bárbara, Ricky Muñoz, Andy Vargas, Pedro Fernandez, Cristian Castro, and more. Vozes was released in May on Fonovisia.

The Biker, The Blues and The Blues Be Talkin’ To Me!

You would have to be living under a rock not to know who Dr. John was, he’s gone now but his music remains. The man could lay down the blues and he did it for an entire lifetime. His call to fame was both his gravely voice and his masterful tempos on the piano. With Dr. John you felt the blues more than just listened to them and that is exactly how it is supposed to be. The man was cool to the max. Today there’s somewhere around one hundred blues festivals in the U.S. alone and when it comes to Europe well the Europeans know how to treat blues artists. The blues is universal and to think that about seventy years ago leading into the sixties it was known as race music. Forward thinking recording studios and record labels such as Chess Records in Chicago let the genie out of the bottle with my good friend Max Cooperstein booking black acts on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. It was unheard of but once that sound made the main stage on television Katy bar the door music lovers wanted more. Years would go by and people like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger would praise the works of such blues artists as Muddy Waters and many others. Their on stage presence was effected drastically and years later they would perform with one of their idols John Lee Hooker. It’s simply because the blues be talkin’ to me, talking to me, you and literally millions around the world. Max shared with me that Muddy was not sure of going to England to perform, he wasn’t sure the nation would accept him. Other Chess artists convinced him it was a good move and finally he gave in. When the plane landed it pulled up to the steps so the performers could exit the plane and there was this bright red carpet waiting for them along with literally hundreds of fans. Muddy was blown away and extremely happy that he could see their music being appreciated by throngs of Brits. It continues, today the Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland sells out the very next day after their current event ends and that is without anyone knowing who the performers will be the following year. The blues world has what is known as The Blues Foundation which resides in Memphis. The blues is so popular worldwide that they have over one hundred blues societies around the world. Blues festivals now exceed over one hundred shows annually both here in the states and abroad. Literally hundreds of radio stations are either dedicated to the blues alone or

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host blues show hosts once per week. One such station is KPFT which presents twelve hours of all styles of blues every Sunday. People tune in digitally from around the world.

Just about every artist in every genre will tell you that they started out with the blues. It touched them and still does. It’s rather unique that young people may think that the blues is something for their Mom and Dad until they learn how many of their favorite artists and bands are laying down the blues. ZZ Top as one example presents a driving down home beat with lyrics that reflect on life such as can be found in their famous song “La Grange”. In his early days Jimi Hendrix traveled to Chicago just to watch Buddy Guy lay it down and came away totally blown away. Buddy’s creations include “Damn Right I Got The Blues” and much of what you hear is not only his original style but pieces of what he picked up from the previous generations. No doubt that Janis Joplin could present what was in her heart as she performed on stage after stage. Yet for young music lovers, even though they love these artists most do not know they are enjoying the blues. The bottom line is that the blues be talkin’ to me and to you and it hasn’t stopped. Today aspiring talents such as blues rocker Clay Melton, Ally Venable, Anika Chambers and many more are welcomed with open arms by the stars of today including Janiva Magness, Diunna Greenleaf, Kenny Wayne Shephard, Trudy Lynn and a host of additional high demand artists. Why is this happening is the question? Because the blues is in their heart, in their soul. As I travel around the United States on two wheels I meet the coolest, hippest people on God’s green earth in blues clubs from city to city. The blues scene can be a bit sultry as it attracts all kinds including all sorts of down to earth souls and the good news is all are welcome. The famous song “The Ballad of Curtis Lowe” is a prime example of a young white person finding the blues in an older black gentleman who would play the blues everyday for spare change. The young man was intrigued with this man’s music so much so that he would go and collect pop bottles, turn them in just to give Curtis some money to play the blues for him. You feel the blues and you can feel it at any age. The blues isn’t just blues rock or slow blues or any one kind of style, it’s just the blues. Europe’s Maria Daines sings a song titled “Low Down Dirty Love” and she delivers it brilliantly. Her presentation is believable, it’s like she’s been there done that although maybe she hasn’t but she can relate. If you have ever fallen in love with the wrong person you know it’s a low down dirty love but you just can’t give it up. Some blues numbers are delivered rather tongue in cheek. Take for example Lonnie Mack’s song about being addicted to Oreo cookies. Too funny and yet rather believable because whether it’s Oreo cookies or Harley Davidson motorcycles or something else that fascinates

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Page 2 - The Biker, The Blues and The Blues Be Talkin’ To Me!

you it is indeed a humorous addiction. One that can’t hurt but is there. Blues is true American roots music. Janis sang a song that included the verse “nothing left to lose and nothing ain’t nothing unless it’s free”. A song about being with someone you love and yet being free. Me, I hang with my scooter and together we meet all sorts. My lifestyle doesn’t have to be this way but it’s that low down dirty love of being free, of being a free soul that allows me to experience people and regional cultures. The Allman Brothers coined it right in the song “Midnight Rider” with the lyrics “some ole bed I’ll soon be sharing”. This lifestyle can be lonely especially when you see couples and families with pets and kids. A person cannot have those things for very long on the road. Yet I meet ladies that have it together who are alone too and we bond sometimes for a night,

sometimes for a week but we both know that one day when the sun rises one of us will say adios. I run into an exotic dancer that moves around too. I see her every once in a while in different cities. I’ve never asked her why nor has she asked me why but we have a soft spot for each other in the most bizarre way I suppose. Just as I can listen to slow blues and get lost in the music the same goes for a woman who is classy enough to present an alluring stage presence. Sometimes a blues rocker performs and lights up the night and his or her performance is top shelf, that sets me free as well. I would imagine there are things that set you free or perhaps you have put yourself second due to traditional upbringing and values. Listen to me; once in a while you got to let the badger loose because you are only going around once. Right now, today, set yourself free - at least a little bit. Pour a cold one, go to You Tube and choose a slow blues album, and sit back for awhile. If you can’t get away then arm chair it. Let your mind relax, dream, be unaware of the rigors of daily life even if it’s just for a short while. You will come away smiling, maybe even refreshed. The blues baby can do that for you, go on, you know you want to and who knows maybe one day you will set yourself free for a weekend and take in a blues festival. Hundreds of others that you don’t know. That could be cool. A lawn chair maybe with someone you love, a cooler and a good attitude. It can do wonders for the mind. So many interesting people in the world many of them just like you and me. If you do get away and you see a red chopper with a long rake on the front end ask the owner if he writes a column about the blues and getting away. See you down the road…

En Español En Español En Español En Español En Español

Lucero Y Mijares La Mafia Iván Cornejo

Lucero Y Mijares Llevan Su Gira “Hasta Que Nos Hizo” USA 2023 A Smart

Financial Center El 13 De Octubre

Asista a una actuación apasionante con las entradas para Lucero Y Mijares. El escaparate dinámico presenta a dos artistas populares en el mundo de la música latina. Ambos artistas tienen múltiples talentos y han trabajado como actores y cantantes. Desde 1987, han causado sensación en la industria y entre bastidores. Los dos artistas se casaron en la década de 1980 y comenzaron sus propias carreras. Estos días, incluso después de una separación pública, están uniendo fuerzas en el escenario una vez más y regalando a los fans una celebración sensacional de música y recuerdos. No todos los días tienes la oportunidad de verlos actuar en un escenario. En este concierto, los fans pueden experimentar el poder de su talento excepcional. Lucero ha vendido millones de álbumes y ha trabajado en una variedad de telenovelas en español

conocidas como telenovelas. Ha encabezado las listas de música latina y ha ganado numerosos premios. Asimismo, Manuel Mijares, conocido profesionalmente como Mijares, ha tenido una carrera celebrada por derecho propio. Presenta una emocionante mezcla de pop latino, mariachi y más.

Lucero es una de las artistas más emblemáticas de México. Cantante y compositora de éxito en ventas, es reconocida mundialmente por sus grabaciones de rancheras, mariachis y canciones pop. Además, es una galardonada actriz de cine y teatro, así como una popular presentadora de televisión. La carrera profesional de Lucero comenzó a los 11 años presentándose en un programa de variedades infantil mexicano. Comenzó a actuar en telenovelas en 1982 y lanzó su

álbum debut, Te Prometo, como Lucerito el mismo año. Su primer álbum en las listas fue Con Mi Sentimiento de 1990. Lucero de México, de 1991, llegó al Top 40 en los EE. UU. Prácticamente todos los lanzamientos de estudio de esa década llegaron a las listas, incluido el multiplatino Cerca de Ti de 1998. Cuando Sale un Lucero de 2004 y Quiéreme Tal Como Soy de 2006 fueron éxitos internacionales. Indispensable de 2010 presentó “Dueña de Tu Amor”, el exitoso tema de Soy Tu Dueña para su telenovela. Brasileira de 2017 ofreció bossas y sambas en portugués. También en 2017, lanzó la primera parte de su trilogía sinaloense, Enamorada con Banda, seguida de Más Enamorada con Banda de 2018 y Sólo Me Faltabas Tú de 2019. La retrospectiva en caja 20y20

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Lucero Y Mijares

siguió un año después.

Lucero nació Lucero Hogaza León en la Ciudad de México. Desde que pudo caminar y hablar, cantó y bailó. Su madre Lucero León, también ex intérprete, la formó y ha dirigido su carrera, que Lucero inició a los 11 años, actuando con su guitarra en el programa de variedades Alegrías de Mediodía en 1980. Dos años después, interpretó el papel principal de la telenovela. Chispita y ganó un premio de la industria como mejor actriz revelación. Cuando era adolescente, apareció en la película Coqueta, en la que también participó Pedro Fernández, y se ganó el apodo de “Reina de las Telenovelas”, actuando en nada menos que nueve, incluidas Cuando Llega el Amor, Los Parientes Pobres y Lazos de Amor.

Si bien su carrera como actriz la convirtió en una figura cultural querida a nivel nacional, la carrera musical de Lucero, que comenzó con su debut en 1982, Te Prometo, se desarrolló al mismo tiempo y podría decirse que fue más exitosa. Durante los años 80, apareció en nada menos que siete películas y lanzó seis álbumes, así como una docena de EP y sencillos como Lucerito. Abarcaron todo el espectro musical, desde pop sintetizado hasta rancheras tradicionales, mariachis y románticos. Con Con Mi Sentimiento de 1990, adoptó el nombre de “Lucero”.

Lucero, de 1993, vendió más de 800.000 copias sólo en México e incursionó en la radio del suroeste de Estados Unidos. Siempre Contigo, de 1995, alcanzó el puesto 15 en las listas de mejores álbumes latinos en los EE. UU. y realizó giras por México y Sudamérica. En 1999 lanzó Un Lucero en la México, su primer trabajo en vivo. Incluía un disco de canciones pop y uno de canciones regionales mexicanas; obtuvo la certificación de oro desde el primer momento y vendió millones de copias en todo el mundo. Cuando Sale un Lucero de 2004, su debut para EMI, fue certificado oro y posteriormente platino. El mismo año apareció como Esperanza en la película biográfica del director Alfonso Arau Zapata: El Sueño de un Héroe, en ese momento la película mexicana más cara jamás producida; su estreno también fue la mayor recaudación en la historia de México.

Quiéreme Tal Como Soy de 2006 contenía versiones reelaboradas de algunos de sus grandes éxitos (escritos por Rafael Pérez Botija) y versiones de Rocío Dúrcal y José José.

Indispensable de 2010, su primer estudio ambientado en cuatro años, fue una de sus salidas más ambiciosas y exitosas. Lanzado durante el mismo año en el que actuó en la popular telenovela Soy Tu Dueña, su primer sencillo, “Dueña de Tu Amor”, fue el tema de cierre del programa e impulsó a Lucero a los peldaños superiores de las listas mexicanas, y se ubicó en ambas listas. Estados Unidos y Europa. Mientras que Mi Secreto de Amor de 2011 alcanzó el Top 40, Un Lu Jo de 2011 (un álbum a dúo con Joan Sebastian) encabezó la lista de álbumes regionales mexicanos en los EE. UU.; también alcanzó el puesto número tres en la lista nacional de México. Una colección de baladas románticas, Aquí Estoy, apareció en las listas de streaming en 2014.

Lucero lanzó Enamorada con Banda en 2017, un conjunto de éxitos populares grabados al estilo banda, con gran éxito. Encabezó las listas nacionales y se ubicó dentro del Top 40 en la lista de álbumes latinos de Estados Unidos. Para honrar a sus fans en Brasil y Portugal, también lanzó Brasileira en Fonovisia ese año; una colección de canciones propias y versiones de bossas y sambas cantadas íntegramente en portugués. Más Enamorada con Banda de 2018 llegó a las listas y se vendió con el mismo éxito que su predecesor temático. En 2019, ella y el productor Luciano Luna se unieron para una tercera colección de banda, Sólo Me Faltabas Tú, que resultó no menos exitosa comercialmente.

En 2020, Lucero realizó una conferencia de prensa virtual anunciando el lanzamiento de la retrospectiva en caja

20y20, un conjunto de cuatro discos que cubrió sus 40 años en la música hasta la fecha. Explicó: “Los dos primeros discos cubren la transición de niña a mujer joven y el segundo, los últimos 20 años como artista experimentada, madre y mujer madura”. En 2021, Lucero se reunió en el escenario con su exmarido Manuel Mijares para el concierto vía streaming Siempre Amigos. En 2022 lanzó nada menos que nueve sencillos, incluidas cuatro versiones muy diferentes de su éxito pop “Los Ricos Tambien Lloran”.

Manuel Mijares es un cantante de pop contemporáneo adulto de México que actúa bajo su apellido. Poseedor de un barítono teatral y resonante, es uno de los intérpretes más destacados de América Latina. Después de colocar tres sencillos en el Top Five de su debut en EMI, Soñador, en 1986, subió a las listas de álbumes y sencillos latinos con diez certificaciones de oro, siete de platino y cinco de diamante y ha ganado innumerables premios. Mijares ha vendido más de 20 millones de discos. Sus grabaciones más importantes: Un Hombre Discreto de 1989, el tributo a José José Honor a Quien Honor Merece de 2005, Canto por Ti de 2013 y No Se Me Acaba el Alma del año siguiente, le han granjeado el cariño de fans de todo el mundo. Además, sus canciones han aparecido como temas y pistas en una amplia variedad de programas de televisión y películas, incluidos Oliver y Su Pandilla, La Bella y la Bestia y El camino a El Dorado. En 2016 lanzó la retrospectiva en vivo Sinfónico Desde el Palacio de Bellas Artes con su banda de gira, dos orquestas sinfónicas y un coro. En 2018 grabó Rompecabezas y su homólogo de 2019, Rompecabezas II, íntegramente en Los Ángeles. Incluían no sólo canciones nuevas sino también covers y duetos de estrellas. Después de Continúa en la página siguiente

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Lucero Y Mijares

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embarcarse en un par de giras con entradas agotadas en Estados Unidos y México, lanzó su primera colección navideña, Feliz Navidad, en 2020.

El cantante Manuel Mijares nació como José Manuel Mijares-Morán en 1958 en la Ciudad de México. Cita a su madre, profesora de danza, como su primera gran influencia musical. Ella lo animó a participar en el coro de su escuela primaria, donde sus maestros notaron sus distintivas cualidades vocales y le ofrecieron más aliento. Después de cantar en grupos con amigos durante la escuela secundaria, Mijares se tomó en serio la música. Hizo su debut profesional en 1981 en un festival local llamado Valores Juveniles. Emigró a Japón a los 24 años para aceptar un trabajo como cantante en un club nocturno, y mientras estuvo allí grabó jingles para radio y televisión. Después de regresar a México en 1983, Mijares ganó un lugar en el coro de acompañamiento de la estrella del pop latino Emmanuel. Dos años más tarde firmó un contrato solista con EMI y lanzó su álbum debut, Soñador, en 1986. Representó a México en el Festival anual OTI y ganó el premio “Revelación del Año”. El sello reeditó el álbum y posteriormente obtuvo tres sencillos Top Five. Mijares llegó por primera vez a las listas de éxitos internacionales con el sencillo de 1987 “No Se Murió el Amor”, el tema que abre Amor y Rock ‘N’ Roll. Realizó giras incesantes por México e incursionó en la radio estadounidense de la costa oeste. Debutó como actor en la película Escápate

Conmigo de 1988, donde conoció a su futura esposa, la cantante pop Lucero. Basado en el éxito de la película, Mijares publicó Uno Entre Mil, con triple certificación de oro, ese año y lo siguió en 1989 con Un Hombre Discreto, que obtuvo la certificación de oro siete veces y alcanzó el puesto número cuatro en la lista de los mejores álbumes latinos.

Mijares residiría en los peldaños superiores de las listas de sencillos y álbumes a principios de los años 90. Después del número cinco Encadenado de 1993, lanzó Vive en Me, una salida en vivo grabada en la ciudad de Nueva York. Contó con contribuciones de Pablo Milanés, Lolita de la Colina y Gerardo Flores. Si bien el álbum no alcanzó los escalones superiores de las listas, logró dos sencillos Top Ten en el corte principal y “Je L’aime a Mourir” de Francis Cabrel; fue adaptado como “La Quiero a Morir” por Luis GómezEscolar.

En 1996, Mijares publicó Querido Amigo, un homenaje al cantante y actor mexicano Pedro Infante. El productor José Luis Espinosa dobló la nueva voz de Mijares en cintas limpias del canto de Infante, con nuevos arreglos orquestales y corales.

En enero de 1997 Mijares y Lucero se casaron. El Privilegio de Amar, su álbum debut para Universal, fue un éxito en las listas; su tema principal, con Lucero como coros, se convirtió en el tema principal de una telenovela, alcanzó el Top Ten en tres listas de Estados

Unidos y se registró en el número uno en 11 países de América Latina. Su continuación, “Estrella Mía”, no llegó a las listas de Estados Unidos, pero alcanzó el número dos en México y el Top Ten en una docena de otros países. En 2000, Dreamworks lo invitó a cantar tres canciones de Elton John para la partitura de The Road to El Dorado. También publicó la colección de baladas Historias de un Amor, seguida de la oferta en vivo de 2002 En Vivo.

Mijares se había convertido en una persona influyente en la música popular. Vendió suficientes discos y entradas para conciertos como para poder opinar sobre lo que grababa y cómo, una rareza en los círculos pop de entonces y ahora. Con ese fin, firmó un contrato breve con Sony para grabar y lanzar Honor a Quien Honor Merece en 2005, un sentido homenaje a la influencia de José José. Marcó la primera certificación platino de Mijares. Un año después publicó Acompañame, un álbum a dúo con Yuri, y en 2007, Swing en Tu Idioma, que presentó algunas de sus canciones favoritas en ambientes de big band. Hablemos de Amor de 2008 fue una rareza para Mijares: única para EMI, su tema principal fue compuesto para una telenovela del mismo título y utilizado como tema principal. El resto de las grabaciones quedaron languideciendo.

En 2009, Mijares regresó a Warner para el álbum de covers Vivir Así; alcanzó el estatus de platino y provocó una secuela en 2010 que obtuvo la certificación de diamante. Después de más de una década de matrimonio, Mijares y Lucero se divorciaron en 2011. El cantante realizó giras transatlánticas en los dos años siguientes y en 2013 lanzó el éxito certificado platino Canto por Ti. Su sencillo “Hoy” contó con la aparición a dúo del ganador peruano del Grammy Latino Glan Marco. El álbum permaneció cinco semanas en el primer puesto de las listas de éxitos pop mexicanos y se registró en el Top Ten en una docena de otros países. No Se Me Acaba el Alma del año siguiente también encabezó la lista en casa, obteniendo la certificación diamante. En septiembre de 2016, Mijares realizó un concierto retrospectivo de 30 años de su carrera en el Palacio de Bellas Artes de la Ciudad de México con dos orquestas sinfónicas, un coro y su banda de gira. El programa fue filmado para un especial de televisión y lanzado como paquete de audio y video al año siguiente como el Sinfónico Desde el Palacio de Bellas Artes que encabezó las listas de éxitos. Fue certificado oro en el momento de su lanzamiento y luego alcanzó el estado de platino.

La Mafia trae su gira Celebrando La Vida al Arena Theatre el 21 de octubre

La banda tejana La Mafia, de Houston, Texas, ganadora de un Grammy y que encabeza las listas de éxitos, se encuentra entre las bandas más duraderas, exitosas y versátiles que han surgido de la escena musical de la ciudad. Como lo expresó Texas Monthly a finales de los años 90: “Son para la música latina lo que Willie Nelson y ZZ Top son para el country y el rock”. Durante más de 40 años, La Mafia ha cambiado de miembros con una regularidad casi alarmante, pero con cada cambio han evolucionado, uniendo sus raíces tejanas con la cumbia, el soul latino, los ritmos tropicales, el funk electrónico, el R&B y el rock de estadio, sin dejar de permanecer cerca del polkas, corridos, románticas y boleros antiguos de su juventud. Son una rareza entre las bandas latinas: en lugar de intentar tener éxito primero en El Norte, comenzaron en Texas y se dirigieron al sur y al este antes de regresar a su Estados Unidos natal.

En las décadas de 2000 y 2010, La Mafia se convirtió en sinónimo de baladas power pop, plagadas de guitarras eléctricas, sintetizadores, samples y coros con inflexión de doo wop y soul. Han colocado la mayoría de sus docenas de álbumes e innumerables sencillos y compilaciones en no menos de una docena de listas diferentes, desde canciones tropicales hasta álbumes de pop latino y regional mexicano. En 1991, 11 años después de que casi por sí solos crearan un resurgimiento del sonido norteño, llenaron el Astrodome de Houston para el Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo anual con una multitud de 55.000 personas; sólo Selena superaría esa cifra durante esa década. Ese mismo año publicaron Estas Tocando Fuego, su álbum número 16 y el primero en registrar platino. (Lo volvieron a hacer en 1992 con Ahora y Siempre). Desde entonces, han seguido actuando y grabando, salvo una muy breve y amarga pausa a finales de los

años 90. En el año 2000 fueron nombrados uno de los diez mejores artistas latinos de Billboard de toda la década anterior. Se tomaron un descanso más prolongado de la grabación, entre 2008 y 2014. En 2014, colocaron un álbum en el Top Ten tanto en el Regional Mexicano como en el Top Latin Albums con Amor y Sexo. Continúan de gira en ambos lados de la frontera, presentando espectáculos desde el certamen Señorita México televisado a nivel nacional en estadios de fútbol de Centro y Sudamérica. Han sido galardonados con ocho Premios Lo Nuestro y una docena de Premios de la Música Tejana (incluido uno por su trayectoria), además de un par de premios Grammy por los álbumes Un Millón de Rosas (1996) y En Tus Manos (1997), y Latin Grammys por Para El Pueblo (2004) y Nuevamente (2006), y una nominación de este último por Eternamente Románticos de 2008. Continúa en la página siguiente

La Mafia

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El grupo fue fundado por los hermanos Oscar (un vocalista ahora llamado Oscar De La Rosa) y Leonard González, del extremo norte de Houston, y el teclista Armando Lichtenberger, Jr. (quien también toca el acordeón). Comenzaron a tocar música juntos cuando tenían diez años, en bodas, quinceañeras y fiestas en el jardín como la mayoría de las bandas. Publicaron su debut homónimo para el sello independiente Discos Diana de Baytown, Texas en 1980. Siguieron dos álbumes más en el sello durante el año siguiente antes de que La Mafia cambiara de lealtad y firmara con el sello Cara de San Antonio, donde permanecieron hasta 1986. En Cara publicaron álbumes que difundirían su sonido por todo Texas y el norte de México: Honey (Cariño), Electrifying, Mafia Mania, Hot Stuff y Neon Mania. En 1986 dejaron el sello y firmaron con CBS Discos (ahora Sony). Incluso durante estos primeros días, La Mafia estaba lanzando álbumes y sencillos que informarían su sonido posterior y se convertirían en tesoros entre los fanáticos, especialmente Explosivo de 1986 y 1988. Si bien las habilidades del grupo en español no eran muy buenas (su primer idioma es el inglés), la música que tocaban, ya fueran los viejos estándares aprendidos de sus padres o canciones de los Beatles, se registró en el público debido al dinámico espectáculo de la banda. David De La Garza III se unió a La Mafia en 1989 como segundo vocalista y teclista. Su presencia en el equipo ayudó muchísimo, tanto en el escenario como en el estudio. Estas Tocando Fuego, de 1991, vendió inicialmente medio millón de copias en Estados Unidos, pero finalmente vendió más de cuatro millones. Vida, de 1992, pasó 47 semanas en las listas de los mejores álbumes latinos y alcanzó el puesto número dos. Ahora y Siempre, de 1993, obtuvo triple platino y alcanzó el primer puesto en la lista de álbumes regionales mexicanos. La banda se convirtió en un elemento básico de la radio y colocó los sencillos en las listas con tanta frecuencia como los álbumes. Un Millón de Rosas de 1996 alcanzó el puesto número uno en la lista de Álbumes Regionales Mexicanos y su sencillo también alcanzó el Top Ten en la lista de Mejores Canciones Latinas. El

álbum les valió un Grammy al Mejor Álbum Mexicano/Mexicoamericano.

En 1999, después de casi dos décadas de giras y grabaciones ininterrumpidas, La Mafia se separó, sorprendiendo a los fanáticos, ya que estaban en la cima de su juego crítica y comercialmente. Inicialmente indicando “jubilación” como la razón, la verdad resultó ser una división entre los hermanos González, quienes citaron diferencias. En verdad, el vocalista De La Rosa se había convertido, para todos los efectos, en el rostro y la fuerza creativa detrás de La Mafia. Leonardo demandó por el nombre de la banda, pero perdió en los tribunales.

La Mafia began the new century as a very different, more polished band, with Contigo. The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best MexicanAmerican album. It peaked at five on both the Mexican Regional and Top Latin Albums charts. The group issued a pair of albums in 2004, Para El Pueblo (Latin Grammy nominee), and the charting Inconfundible. Incessant touring over the next two years rewarded La Mafia with an extended break. They returned in 2008 with the Latin Grammy nominated Eternamente Romanticos, their last studio recording for six years. It

only hit 67 on the Top Latin Albums chart. Over the intervening years, La Mafia’s various labels filled the gaps with hits compilations and live albums. After spending time with family and on various solo recordings and production projects, the band reconvened in late 2012 and began rehearsing and touring again. They re-emerged with Amor y Sexo in 2014, which landed inside the Top Ten at Mexican Regional, Latin Pop, and Top Latin Albums lists. The band’s personnel still changed repeatedly and its 2010s incarnation included De La Rosa, Lichtenberger, Jr., and De La Garza III. Guitarist Marion Aquilina — a group member from 2000-2006 — longtime bassist Tim Ruiz, percussionist and bajo sexto player Robbie Longoria, and drummer Eduardo Torres. A years-long worldwide tour was undertaken and afterwards, another long break. In early 2018, De La Rosa announced the imminent release of Vozes, a collection of newly recorded duets. De La Rosa’s singing partners on the 13-track album included Sebastián Yatra, Ana Bárbara, Ricky Muñoz, Andy Vargas, Pedro Fernandez, Cristian Castro, and more. Vozes was released in May on Fonovisia.

Iván Cornejo se presenta en el 713 Music Hall los días

21 y 22 de octubre

Iván Cornejo es un cantante y compositor de Música Regional Mexicana de Riverside, California. Alma Vacía, su álbum debut de 2021, fue lanzado por Apple Records en agosto, apenas dos meses después de cumplir 17 años. Alcanzó el puesto número dos en la lista de Álbumes Regionales Mexicanos, mientras que sus sencillos, “Noche de Relajo” y “Corazón Frío”, también se registraron dentro del Top 20. Una

semana antes de cumplir 18 años, publicó el larga duración Dañado. También encabezó las listas de géneros durante su primera semana de lanzamiento.

Cornejo, un guitarrista experto que aprendió a tocar por sí solo a los siete años, comenzó a tocar con amigos mayores a los 14. Ellos elogiaron su perspicacia para tocar y cantar y lo alentaron a desarrollar

aún más sus habilidades. Él hizo. A los 15 años comenzó a publicar vídeos de requintos (instrumentales de guitarra) en TikTok, versionando canciones de sus artistas favoritos. Registraron millones de visitas y llamaron la atención de Andrés García, presidente y jefe de A&R de Manzana Records de Houston, quien lo animó a cantar y luego lo contrató después de descubrir que también era un excelente compositor.

“Noche de Relajo” apareció a finales de 2020 y se registró en las listas de streaming. “Llamas Perdidas” siguió en junio de 2021, poco después de cumplir 17 años. Mientras tanto, sus vídeos de actuaciones empezaron a llamar la atención en YouTube, obteniendo millones de visitas. A finales de julio, Cornejo publicó el sencillo y video de “Corazón Frío” y en octubre lanzó el disco de ocho canciones Alma Vacía; se disparó al número dos en las listas regionales mexicanas de la industria musical. Lo siguió con el sencillo Top Ten “El Greñas Mentado”.

En febrero de 2022, Cornejo publicó el sencillo “Perro Abandonado”, un corrido de desamor insufrible. Dos semanas después, lanzó “Triste”, a dúo con Polo González. En junio, una semana antes de cumplir 18 años, Cornejo lanzó el romántico Dañado, centrado en baladas, otro álbum de siete pistas. Se elevó al Top de la lista de Álbumes Regionales Mexicanos, así como al streaming, debutó en el número cuatro en Top Latin Albums y alcanzó el Top 200 en el número 149 (inusualmente alto para un álbum Regional Mexicano). El set también se convirtió en el primer éxito en las listas de Apple Records, impulsando el perfil del sello en toda la industria. Cornejo inició el 2023 con el sentido sencillo “Aquí Te Espero”.

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The HipWaders Flying Circus with special guest Bert Wills Perform At Katie’s Bar in Bacliff

Photos by Kevin D. Wildman

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6th Sense Perform At The Concert Pub North

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The Cooper Mohrmann Band Perform At Shady Acres Saloon

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Hammerlock Perform At Katie’s Bar In Bacliff

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Jidora Perform Åt The Acadia Bar & Grill

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Killing Daylight Perform At The 19th Hole

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Mark May Performs At The Big Easy

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Sparky Parker Performs At Dan Electro’s

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Murali Coryell

Performs At Green Oaks Tavern

In Humble

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Throat Locust Perform At The Concert Pub North

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Witness To The Fallen

Perform At The

Acadia Bar & Grill

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Bardo Perform At The 19th Hole

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

The Octanes Perform At The Big Easy

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Felix The Cats Perform At Katie’s Bar In Bacliff

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Perform At

Shady Acres Saloon

Mud Creek Revival

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Henry Lee and Michele Brown Perform At Leon’s Lounge

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman

RANDOM SHOTS

Judas X Perform At The Acadia Bar & Grill

Photos By Kevin D. Wildman