Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Monday, December 25, 2017
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
SPEAKER SILENCED: TOOOOOMAAAAAA!
BUZZ: BUZZ: SPEAKER SILENCED
It was clearly stated in her schedule. In fact, it was the only public event for that day. New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito would speak at the street co-naming for Richie Pérez at 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at East 172nd Street and Ward Avenue in the Bronx.
But the bona fide activists for justice that are comrades and disciples of the late Richie Pérez were not having any of Melissa’s posturing. “We didn’t want her there and definitely didn’t want to hear her speak,” a bochinchera said. “Her sitting on the Right to Know Act is disrespectful to Richie’s life’s work against police brutality,” another bochinchera told me. The Right to Know Act is a legislative package before the New York City Council that aims to protect the civil and human rights of New Yorkers while promoting communication, transparency and accountability in everyday interactions between the NYPD and the public.
Various bochincheras with whom B&B spoke said Melissa’s council adviser Erica Gonzalez was informed that “we didn't want her to speak.” Organizers of the street naming event were led to believe that the speaker would not be presente. “When she showed up, there was some scrambling,” another bochinchera said. “Erica was told that Melissa could speak, but that she should expect some of the justice warriors to call her out for killing the Right to Know.”
There was an in-your-face response from Erica to one of the organizers. “Melissa joined in the verbal assault,” a bochinchera told me. Under those terms, Melissa opted not to speak. Which leads me to speculate that Melissa, who’s used to having her way, was so pissed off that she took it out on City Hall press corps by banning them from the council side of the building.
I do know that all the women that I spoke with separately opined that if Richie were alive, he’d be denouncing Melissa. It appears the speaker has lost her activista credentials with these neoyorquinos.
Bochinche & Buzz is Gerson Borrero's weekly column of exclusive scoops and insider gossip. Remember, gente, it's all bochinche until it's confirmed.
It was clearly stated in her schedule. In fact, it was the only public event for that day. New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito would speak at the street co-naming for Richie Pérez at 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at East 172nd Street and Ward Avenue in the Bronx.
But the bona fide activists for justice that are comrades and disciples of the late Richie Pérez were not having any of Melissa’s posturing. “We didn’t want her there and definitely didn’t want to hear her speak,” a bochinchera said. “Her sitting on the Right to Know Act is disrespectful to Richie’s life’s work against police brutality,” another bochinchera told me. The Right to Know Act is a legislative package before the New York City Council that aims to protect the civil and human rights of New Yorkers while promoting communication, transparency and accountability in everyday interactions between the NYPD and the public.
Various bochincheras with whom B&B spoke said Melissa’s council adviser Erica Gonzalez was informed that “we didn't want her to speak.” Organizers of the street naming event were led to believe that the speaker would not be presente. “When she showed up, there was some scrambling,” another bochinchera said. “Erica was told that Melissa could speak, but that she should expect some of the justice warriors to call her out for killing the Right to Know.”
There was an in-your-face response from Erica to one of the organizers. “Melissa joined in the verbal assault,” a bochinchera told me. Under those terms, Melissa opted not to speak. Which leads me to speculate that Melissa, who’s used to having her way, was so pissed off that she took it out on City Hall press corps by banning them from the council side of the building.
I do know that all the women that I spoke with separately opined that if Richie were alive, he’d be denouncing Melissa. It appears the speaker has lost her activista credentials with these neoyorquinos.
Bochinche & Buzz is Gerson Borrero's weekly column of exclusive scoops and insider gossip. Remember, gente, it's all bochinche until it's confirmed.
Saturday, December 2, 2017
UN COMPROMISO: NO MOLESTAR LOS INDOCUMENTADOS RESPETUOSOS DE LA LEY Y CERO SANTUARIO PARA DELIN
Willie Colón
Los demócratas están apretando nuestro "botón Latino" para indignarnos y que luchemos para volverlos al poder. Harán todo lo posible para confundirnos y todos los demás, para hacernos creer que inmigrante es el sinónimo de “criminal”. Los demócratas necesitan que odiemos a los blancos y que los blancos nos odian para usarnos en su empeño de volver de nuevo en el poder.
Nos achacan al asesino Jose Ines Garcia Zárate, de 45 años, quien ha sido expulsado cinco veces y tiene 7 condenas previas y lo declaran como una victoria para los latinos, especialmente los inmigrantes.
Se desdibuja la línea de modo que estaremos condenados al ostracismo y puedan "venir a nuestro rescate."
No me importa una mierda qué origen étnico o color es él. Con sus priores delitos y esa endeble defensa, no debería haber sido absuelto. Él es el O.J. Simpson Latino.
Debemos dejar constancia de que no queremos ser utilizados como escudo para los latinos delincuentes o cualquier otra provenencia.
No queremos estas personas viviendo entre nosotros para victimar de nuestra comunidad.Tenemos que negociar y dialogar. Queremos que el gobierno trate delincuentes de todas las razas y grupos étnicos por igual. Ningún santuario para criminales violentos, traficantes de drogas, traficantes de seres humanos y similares.
Latinos respetuosos de la ley no deben ser amenazados con la deportación cuando buscan atención médica, informe de un incidente a las autoridades, o hagan contacto con el gobierno en sus vidas cotidianas.
Constitucionalmente, no existe ninguna ley que requiere un ciudadano producir alguna identificación, a menos que haya cometido un delito o cae bajo *sospecha razonable*. Recuerden ciudadano Latinos que se si permitimos estos registro le damos licencia a las autoridades de interferir con cualquier persona que parezca un inmigrante. Y solo se tendrían que disculpar por el error.
Los ciudadanos latinos deben solidaridarses para llegar a un compromiso que suprimiría las ciudades santuario para los delincuentes y tener una política de no molestar los indocumentados respetuosos de la ley.
Este es un gran cambio de política para ambos lados, pero de eso se trata la negociación. De esta manera hemos repuesto los buenos que están trabajando y contribuyendo y podemos deshacernos de los malos.
La ironía más grande de las Ciudades Santuarias es que dan a los criminales indocumentados más derechos que a los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos.
La ironía más grande de las Ciudades Santuarias es que dan a los criminales indocumentados más derechos que a los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos.
NO SANTUARIO PARA DELINCUENTES, CRIMINALES O FUGITIVOS DE LA JUSTICIA.
A COMPROMISE: HANDS OFF PEACEFUL WORKING UNDOCUMENTED & NO SANCTUARY FOR CRIMINALS, FELONS, OR FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE.
Willie Colón
Democrats
are pushing our "Latino button" to make us indignant and fight for them to
get back in power. So they will do everything they can to confuse us and
everybody else into believing that immigrant means criminal. The Dems need us
to hate whites and for whites to hate us so they can get back in power.
So they hang around our neck- killer Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, 45, who has been deported five times and had 7
prior felony convictions as a victory for Latinos especially Latino immigrants. They blur the line so that we will be ostracized
and they can “come to our rescue.”
I don’t give
a crap what ethnicity or color he is. With his priors and that flimsy defense,
he shouldn’t have been acquitted. He’s the Latino O.J. Simpson.
We must make
it known that we do not want to be used as a shield for Latino felons or any
other criminals. We don't want these people living among us. They will prey
upon our community.
We need to
negotiate and dialogue. We want the government to deal with criminals of all
races and ethnicities equally. No sanctuary for violent criminals, drug
dealers, human traffickers and the like.
Peaceful law-abiding
Latinos should not be menaced with deportation when they seek medical
attention, report an incident to authorities, or go about their daily lives.
Constitutionally
there is no law that requires a citizen to produce hard copy identification
unless he has committed a crime or falls under reasonable suspicion.
Latino citizens should beware that acquiescing to arbitrary stops gives authorities a license to detain anyone that "looks like an immigrant". They would only have to apologize for the error.
Latino citizens should beware that acquiescing to arbitrary stops gives authorities a license to detain anyone that "looks like an immigrant". They would only have to apologize for the error.
Latino
citizens should stand together for a compromise that would abolish sanctuary
cities for criminals and have a hands off policy for peaceful undocumented.
This is a
big policy change for both sides but that's what negotiating is about. This way
we spare the good ones that are working and contributing and we can get rid of
the bad ones.
The biggest irony of Sanctuary Cities is that they give undocumented criminals more rights than US Citizens.
The biggest irony of Sanctuary Cities is that they give undocumented criminals more rights than US Citizens.
NO AMNESTY
FOR CRIMINALS, FELONS, OR FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICE.
he (Willie Colón) is symbol of what’s wrong with the youth of today.
I found an old clipping
from when I released Asalto Navideño. Unfortunately the top was ripped off and
I’m missing some text. I would love to know who the author was.
ARTICLE ABOUT ASALTO NAVIDEÑO 1977
(Lost
text)
…Nostalgia is certainly one of the
main motives for buying jibaro music. In fact, this is one of the main differences
between here and “the other side.”
Island-based
singers don’t go in for exile-nostalgia, for obvious reasons. But recordings issued
for sale in New York usually feature a valley and the dawn and the rural shack
and “Mi Linda Borinquen,” and a whole package of similar images. In other words,
a particular version of Christmas as a time for rose-tinted memories. (The obvious
analogy shouldn’t be pushed too far: isla-linda-ism may have physiological
links with cottage-in-the-snowery, but the jibaros singer’s high art is in no
way comparable to “White Christmas”).
The importance
of nostalgia in navideño music is reflected by the fact that Fania records and
all its offshoots have issued only seven Christmas albums over several years.
And, in fact, the general assumption has been that jibaro music will last only
as long as the present generation of enthusiast.
But there
are signs of a revival of interest in jibaro music among young New York Puerto Ricans.
Even among people who have never been to the island. If this is so, the rise in
cultural consciousness among young Puerto Ricans clearly has something to do
with it. But so also does Willie Colón, and that is a pleasing irony.
Willie Colón
is more than a bandleader and trombonist. To many older Puerto Ricans (and not
only jealous musicians), he is symbol of what’s wrong with the youth of today.
He looks kind of cocky and he dresses kind of flash, and he has a disrespectful
attitude to clave, and worst of all he’s young and good looking and successful.
So when Colón
turned his mind to a Navidad record, that in itself upset the stereotype. But it
was completely…
(lost text)
…and the
second shows a bunch of elves with automatics holding up a filling station.
Willie’s Christmas
album sold phenomenally, of course. All his albums do that. And then something
else began happening.
Felix
Costello, who works in the Discoteca on Smith Street- the son of a singer and a
musician himself-described it to me. “Guitar music is coming back since Willie Colón
brought it back. Five years ago the guitar was dying. It was all band. Now the
guitar is coming up again.” (For guitar read also tres and cuatro.)
With growing
interest in jibaro music, Costello and his friends have begun to form parrandas
in the last two years, in an area of Brooklyn where up to then “people had the
spirit to do it, but nobody had the courage.” (Parenthesis for paranoids: “the
courage” was needed to face the cold, not what you think.)
Why should
music from Puerto Rican countryside, something associated with rural poverty
and grandma both, suddenly be coming back to New York City? Because younger Puerto
Ricans are becoming much more heritage-conscious? Perhaps. But if a music doesn’t
speak to the condition of today, people won’t buy it; however much lip service
they may give it.
Willie Colón: “That music is for real. It hasn’t been
messed with. And it has a lot of things to offer. It has more chord
progressions, and the melodic lines are longer and prettier.”
The return
to the jibaro may be a flash in the pan. But people keep telling anecdotes
about the young cousin just out of the army who was into jibaro music though he’d
never been to Puerto Rico, about kid parrandeando
down Smith Street, about other kids buying La Calandria and Ramito records.
Él (Willie Colón) es el símbolo de lo malo que pasa con la juventud de hoy.
He encontrado un viejo recorte desde cuando lancé Asalto Navideño.
Lamentablemente, el comienzo de la pagina fue destruida y me faltan algunos
textos. Me encantaría saber quién fue el autor.
Artículo sobre Asalto Navideño 1977
(Texto perdido)
…la nostalgia es sin duda uno de los
principales motivos para comprar música Jibara. De hecho, esta es una de las
principales diferencias entre aquí y "el otro lado".
Cantantes insulares no se dedican la nostalgia en el exilio de, por razones obvias. Pero sus grabaciones emitidas para la venta en Nueva York por lo general disponen de un valle y el amanecer y la choza rural y "Mi linda Borinquen" y un conjunto de imágenes similares. En otras palabras, una versión especial de la Navidad como un tiempo de recuerdos de color rosado. (La evidente analogía no debe ser empujada demasiado lejos: isla-lindismo puede tener vínculos psicológicos con casa-en-la-nieve, pero el gran arte del cantante Jíbaro no es en modo alguno comparable a la "Blanca Navidad" norteamericana).
La importancia de la nostalgia navideña en la música se
refleja en el hecho de que la Fania Records y todas sus ramas han emitido sólo
siete álbumes de Navidad durante varios años. Y, de hecho, generalmente se ha
asumido que música jíbara sólo durará tanto tiempo como la actual generación de
sus devotos.
Pero hay señales de un resurgimiento del interés en música
Jíbara entre los jóvenes puertorriqueños en Nueva York. Incluso entre personas
que nunca han ido a la isla. Si esto es así, el aumento de conciencia cultural
entre los jóvenes puertorriqueños claramente tiene algo que ver con esto. Pero
también Willie Colón, y que es una agradable ironía.
Willie Colón es más que un director de orquesta y
trombonista. Para muchos puertorriqueños mayores (y no sólo músicos celosos),
él es el símbolo de lo malo que pasa con la juventud de hoy. Él parece más bien
arrogante y viste tipo de flash, y tiene una actitud irrespetuosa para la clave,
y lo peor de todo es joven y guapo y exitoso.
Así que cuando Colón se empeño en hacer un disco de
Navidad, rompe ese estereotipo. Pero era
completamente…
(Texto perdido)
…y la segunda muestra un montón de duendes con
automáticas robando una gasolinera.
El álbum navideño de Willie vendió fenomenalmente, por
supuesto. Como todos sus álbumes. Luego otra cosa comenzó a suceder.
Félix Costello, quien trabaja en la Discoteca en la
calle Smith- hijo de un cantante y músico-me contó. "La música de guitarra
está volviendo desde que Willie Colón la trajo de nuevo. Hace cinco años la
guitarra estaba muriendo. Todo era la banda. Ahora la guitarra está surgiendo
de nuevo." (Para guitarra leer también tres y cuatro)
Con el creciente interés en la música jíbara, Costello y sus amigos han iniciaron parrandas en los dos últimos años, en una zona de Brooklyn donde hasta entonces "la gente tenía el espíritu para hacerlo, pero nadie tenía el coraje." (Paréntesis para paranoicos: "el coraje" era necesario para hacer frente al frío, no lo que usted piensa.)
¿Por qué la música Puertorriqueña de la campiña, algo
asociado con la pobreza rural y abuela, de repente regresa a la ciudad de Nueva
York? ¿Porque los jóvenes puertorriqueños son cada vez más conscientes de su
patrimonio? Quizás. Pero si la música no habla a la condición de hoy, la gente
no la compra; por mucha labia que le puedan dar.
Willie Colón: "Es esta música es real. No ha sido
trasteado. Y tiene un montón de cosas que ofrecer. Tiene más progresiones de
acordes, y las líneas melódicas son más largas y más bonitas."
El retorno del jíbaro puede ser una moda pasajera.
Pero la gente sigue contando anécdotas del primo joven justo saliendo del
ejército que estaba metido con la música Jíbara aunque nunca había estado en
Puerto Rico, sobre jóvenes parrandeando por la calle Smith, y de otros niños
comprando discos de la Calandria y el Ramito.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Esos nobles blancos que defienden tus derechos es simplemente una mierda
Si Nada Cambia...Nada Cambia
Willie Colón
Willie Colón
Esos nobles blancos que defienden tus derechos es
simplemente una mierda. Psicológicamente, nos dicen que las cartas están en
contra de nosotros, y no podemos triunfar sin su ayuda. Esto nos hace más
dependientes. No quiero ayuda de nadie porque me tengan pena. Quiero competir.
Dejar que estas personas "hagan lo
correcto", abogar y sentir lástima por nosotros automáticamente los pone
por encima de nosotros. Los ennoblece y refuerza el mito de la superioridad
blanca.
En todas partes del mundo la gente se faja y luchan para
conseguir el éxito. No lloran; trabajan para ganar el juego y triunfar. En
EE.UU. Sutilmente nos inyectan la idea
que somos inferiores a los blancos. Incluso aquellos que supuestamente nos están
ayudando nos están diciendo que hay otros blancos que nos odian. Esto prende
nuestro motor de indignación y nos saca de quicio de nuestro mejor juego.
Tenemos que ayudarnos nosotros mismos. No necesitamos El Bwana blanco para proteger
la tribu.
Tenemos que dejar de permitir que usen nuestras emociones para
provocar la táctica de “tierra arrasada”. Porque eso es lo que obtendremos
cuando ganamos de esa manera; tierra quemada.
En este planeta Todo sucede pasa por una razón. Causa
y efecto, acción y reacción… Todo es una negociación desde el desayuno hasta el
sexo. Debe haber días lluviosos para crecer las cosechas y tener agua.
Es tiempo de poner a fin a la política de la
identidad, ese juego es un juego perdidoso. Debemos dejar de caer sobre
nuestras espadas como peones por dos partidos que realmente no les importa una mierda sobre
nosotros.
Tenemos las mentes, los recursos y los cuerpos para lograr
nuestro propio éxito. No necesitamos un tratamiento especial. Necesitamos plenamente, igualdad de trato.
Tenemos que hablar por nosotros mismos. A quien se le tenga hablar. A EL QUE SEA.
Quisiera haber nacido rico pero no fue así. Y Ud.
tampoco. Esto es lo que hay. Adelante al siguiente reto.
These noble white folk standing up for your rights is BS
If Nothing Changes...
Nothing Changes
Willie Colón
Those noble white folk standing up for your rights is just
bullshit. Psychologically, they’re telling us that the cards are
stacked against us and we can't make it without their help. This makes us more
dependent. I don't want anybody helping me because they feel sorry for me. I
want to compete.
Letting these folks “do the right thing,” advocate and feel
sorry for us automatically puts them above us. Makes them noble and reinforces
white superiority.
People all over the world fight and struggle to make it. You
don't cry. You work to win and succeed. In USA they subtly drill into you that you are
inferior to the whites. Even the ones that are supposedly helping you are
telling you that there are other whites out there ready to get you. That throws us
into our indignant gear and off our A game. We need to help ourselves.
We don’t need white Bwana protecting the tribe.
We need to stop getting amped up and taking the scorched
Earth attitude. Because that's what you get when you win that way; scorched earth.
Everything that happens on this planet happens for a reason. Cause and effect, Action and reaction… Everything is a negotiation from breakfast to sex. There must be rainy days for you to grow crops and have water.
Everything that happens on this planet happens for a reason. Cause and effect, Action and reaction… Everything is a negotiation from breakfast to sex. There must be rainy days for you to grow crops and have water.
It’s time to stop the identity politics game, it's a losing game. Time to stop
falling on our swords for two parties that really don’t give a crap about us.
We have the brains, the resources and the people to succeed
on our own. We don’t need special treatment. We need plain old equal treatment.
We need to talk for ourselves. To whoever needs talking to. Yeah, that's right EVERYBODY. We need to come back from the table with more than the self righteous high ground.
It is what it is.
Onward to the next challenge.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
Thursday, November 2, 2017
ESTOS CABRONES SE HACEN LOS PENDEJOS.
¡TERRORISTA MATA 8 PERSONAS CON CAMIÓN Y ESTOS CABRONES POLÍTICOS MONTAN EL TEMA QUE HAY IMPONER LEYES DE ARMAS MÁS FUERTES!
SE HACEN LOS PENDEJOS. NO TIENEN LAS BOLAS PARA DECIR QUE HAY QUE VETAR INMIGRANTES ISLÁMICOS
SE HACEN LOS PENDEJOS. NO TIENEN LAS BOLAS PARA DECIR QUE HAY QUE VETAR INMIGRANTES ISLÁMICOS
Así Es la manera de como @Cementos_Argos ASESINA toda la especie acuática (De lo que queda) en el Río Sinú.
Así Es la manera de como @Cementos_Argos ASESINA toda la especie acuática (De lo que queda) en el Río Sinú. pic.twitter.com/7MQ5YMccZY— Jose Larrarte Guzmán (@JoseRLarrarteG) August 18, 2017
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Friday, October 27, 2017
zacarese for sheriff
Larry Zacarese es casado con una bella Boricua-Dominicana y tiene un hijo y una hija que constan una importante inversión en el futuro de nuestra comunidad y cultura.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
"Coliseo Humacao Arena" está operando como "Hospital Militar".
Puertorriqueños del área este de Puerto Rico, sepan que en el "Coliseo Humacao Arena" de dicho municipio está operando como "Hospital Militar". Están asistiendo TODA clase de emergencia, con equipos sofisticados y médicos especialistas en todas las áreas.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Hurricane Maria Relief in Utuado, Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria Relief in Utuado, Puerto Rico: A convoy comprised of Coast Guard Investigative Service, Coast Guard TACLET South, Army Reserve personnel and Hacienda law enforcement officers traveled to the municipality of Utuado, Puerto Rico, located in the central mountainous region of the island, which had been heavily impacted by Hurricane Maria Oct. 12, 2017. Despite the land slides in the area and cut-off road ways, the joint team delivered FEMA relief supplies consisting of five pallets of food and three of water to local residents in the area. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 1st Class Jon-Paul Rios.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Hay q dejar la queja y levantarnos con fe!!
Hay q dejar la queja y levantarnos con fe!! Sabemos que hay gente que lo perdió todo pero el que tenga fuerza que salga a trabajar. Este video no es pal pueblo sino más que nada en respuesta a la prensa amarillista y a quien está utilizándola para política.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
SALSA PIONEERS, SCRIBES OF SOCIETY
By Willie Colón
Originally published July 3 1993
Three men died this summer.
Coincidentally, they were all in the arts, all musicians, all Latinos.
Originally published July 3 1993
 |
They were all pioneers of the
music we call Salsa today. The Latino community lost the creme de la creme of
three generations of Latin music. Within a months time Louie Ramirez, Hector
LaVoe and Mario Bauza were gone.
We expect our idols to be
here forever. People who have been a part of our lives for so long, albeit
through their musical work, can be gone tomorrow. In a way, their presence is
our presence. They protect us. They let
people know that we're here. Aside from the unexpected sense of mourning one
experiences, it's an unpleasant reminder of our own mortality.
LOUIE RAMIREZ:
When I first dreamed of
becoming a musician, Louie Ramirez was already an established accomplished
arranger, vibraharpist, pianist and percussionist. Louie would win people over
with his sense of humor. Charlie Palmieri and Louie Ramirez always had time for
young upcoming musicians like me. When I was in a jam, trying to put my group
together I could always count on Louie to help me locate players, even though
he studied at Julliard, Louie would come and sit in to cover the chair if
necessary. When I think about it now, this could have been pretty embarrassing
for him. We must have sounded like hell.
Louie was not
prejudiced. He treated everyone equally.
No one was safe from his "Grouchoesque" wit. Louie had few enemies in
the business because of his easy going ways.
His thing was playing,
creating, and just plain working hard. He was the arranger of choice. He
arranged for Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Tito Puente, and me, among others. He
made so many hits that it was unthinkable to do an album without Louie's work
on it. He arranged Fania Record's first hit for Johnny Pacheco, "El Guiro
De Macorina. In 1986, with his group called "Noche
Caliente" he officially kicked off the Romantic Salsa fad that is still
going strong. His career however was like a roller coaster ride.
A musician's life is risky in
every way. There's no economic security, not even a guarantee of professional
respect. The scene is always changing.
Its a never‑ending contest. Because of his talent,
Ramirez, would always get his moment of triumph and recognition. In bad times,
Louie would put on a good face with an honest philosophy of the streets and a
brilliant sense of humor.
In Louie's passing we have
lost another bold veteran who, armed with his cultural instinct and his love
for what we are, helped us shine with our own radiance and showed us a path we
could take to our find our tribal bliss. We shall each carry that torch in our
hearts and take it as far as we can; in honor of Louie Ramirez and all of our
fallen warriors. The struggle continues. Farewell my brother Louie, and please,
behave yourself!
HECTOR LAVOE, friend, my
partner and sidekick for eight years and over 20 albums. The hick from
Machuelito, by Ponce's cantera, who became our "Elvis. The spirit of Puerto Rico and of the poor barrios of
Latin America. That 90-pound "hayseed" who arrived at the big apple
ready to take on the baddest of the bad.
That boy who applied the
songs of Carlos Gardel, Felipe Pirela, Ramito and Odilio with the religious
songs of the cross while adding Cheo and Maelo's funk; giving that alien
desolate void that we on the mainland could never cross, a voice.
Hector Juan Perez was the
bridge between our past and future Latino culture. Hector Juan Perez
transformed himself into a persona called Hector LaVoe to accomplish a mission
that slowly changed from a pleasure cruise to a battle of life and death.
A graduate with honors of The
University of Proverbs and Anecdotes, Member of the Grand Circle of Improvisers
of Improvisers, poet of the streets, honorary wiseguy, hero and martyr of the
Cuchifrito Wars where he served courageously for many years.
The "captains of
swing" respected him. That's why they nicknamed him the "Improvisers
of Improvisers. The beginners feared him. When it came to words,
Hector LaVoe was a killer:
In business, love and
friendship, he was not. His fans are accomplices to this tragedy. Hector could
curse everybody's mama and they would laugh; they spoiled him.
Hector LaVoe's history was
filled with betrayal and disappointment. The good-looking country boy that
drove all the women crazy also wanted to be a barrio baddass. In time, his
shady friends "little presents" became thick heavy chains. This fault
resounded in a fatal series of events that finally took that boy, who sang to
The Almighty with all his heart, away from us.
The business world also
betrayed him; record moguls who live like Saudi princes selling his records and
reselling them as CD's without paying royalties as LaVoe languished in poverty;
promoters who would offer him crumbs so they might sell tickets to exhibit
"The Singer of Singers" in his agony; impersonators seeking to claim
the name and memory of Hector LaVoe as their personal property; the Latino
legal community also turned its back when asked to help protect him; and me, I
too betrayed Hector by not having the courage to face him in his condition.
Life was worth more than a
dollar to Hector. When the dirty water sharks learned this, they circled him as
if he were bleeding. God knows, those who go through life devouring others and
living for the buck wind up with few that will cry for them, and fewer still
that will remember them in their prayers.
Pioneer, maestro, companion,
today Latin America cries for you. Hero of the poor, victim of the forces that
are decimating our people, martyr of Salsa ‑ the monster you helped create.
Forgive us Hector.
MARIO BAUZA: The first thing
that really made me identify with Mario was that we had the same birthday, April
28th. Mario was born in the district of
Cayo Hueso, Havana in 1911.
He came to New York in 1930,
worked with bandleader‑drummer Chick Webb and Cab Calloway, and became his old
buddy from Cuba, Francisco "Machito" Grillo's first trumpet and MD
(musical director). For many, many years Machitos band was "the" top Latin band in New York.
With Machito, he set
standards for all groups to come. Their group called Machito and the AFRO
Cubans is the grandfather orchestra that all Latin big bands were to follow.
Thus, planting the seeds of what was to become the Afro‑Cuban/Jazz fusion
legacy and the roots of the Salsa music movement. Although was loath admit that the Salsa movement even
exists. Some veterans like Tito Puente still are. (That's another article. One
could state that there is no Tito Puente but wouldn't make necessarily so . . . )
Mario's collaborations with
the likes of Chico O'Farril, Clark Terry, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, Count Basie,
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, just to name a few, helped Latinos gain a
foothold in America. As if that wasnt
enough, Bauza is credited for discovering the young, then unknown, Ella
Fitzgerald.
God knows what his work did
to further the cause of Latinos and African Americans. The last time I saw
Mario Bauza was when we did the Bill Cosby show together. It was, one of Cosby's last episodes and
Mario's last TV appearance.
What I do know is that he was
a very descent man, who was polite but not servile, and intelligent enough to
treat others, even those with whom he disagreed, with respect. His coming to New York to become
part of that black movement out of Harlem, is the stuff that no‑nonsense, grass‑roots,
walk‑walking, activism is made of. He served us throughout his tireless work.
At 82 years old, he'd recently recorded two albums, was still doing club dates
and planning on doing a European tour. Our love, thanks and respect Maestro.
None of these men became rich
from becoming Latino stars, despite the weight of their contributions. Theirs
was a stronger, compelling cause. One that obliged them to continue
unwaveringly into the abyss of creativity, risking sometimes their own self
destruction.
The
artist is the scribe of our society, the one who records what is, and proposes
ideas that could be. Legislators of our social and spiritual laws. They came,
did their work, and left this world for reasons beyond our comprehension. They
recorded most of their work in Spanish but their legacy is part of the
universal search for our deepest identity where we are all one.
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