The Tejano Industry. What's going on?

As Marvin Gaye would say "What's Going On?"

Tejano pipeline

Tony "Ham" Guerrero is currently rehearsing the Tortilla Factory to prepare the band for any forthcoming bookings. I learned that Charile T from Houston is not going to book the band afterall. Skeeter (formerly of Ruben Ramos) is handling the bookings as well as JV who runs JayVee Entertainment.

I spoke with Joe Posada earlier this week. I was giving him feedback on David Marez's new cd which is recorded on Joe's label Baby Dude Records. Joe is really cool to talk to. Leslie Lugo's cd has been pushed back. She sings Salsa and Latin music in the San Antonio area and performs quite frequently on a weekly basis. Leslie has been working on a solo Tejano cd project and I have been eagerly awaiting her cd release. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer. Joe is working on another cd and hopes to release it in a few months.

Rebecca Valadez called the studio this past Monday. Thank you Aur Marc management for setting that up. Fiesta Musical has been interviewing Grammy nominees in the Tejano category in the weeks leading up to the Feb. 11th broadcast of the Grammys on CBS at 7:00 pm CST. We kicked off our Grammy interview series with Chente Barrera right before the new year. Then we interviewed the legendary Jimmy Edward and the talented Rebecca Valadez. And I just got off the phone with Jay Perez and he is a go for this coming Monday's show 2-5-07.

Rebecca has been an artist we have been chasing for a long time. I felt it was important to talk to her because she can definitely hold her own in mainstream music. She has been to Hollywood and back. But Tejano is her first love and now she wants to make her own music her own way. And she is working on another Tejano cd and I am looking forward to it. Our Onda is very lucky to have that caliber of talent in the industry.

How to be fair?

I've struggled with this for some time. My first priority, which some people forget, is Tejano music. Of course, growing up in Topeka, I try to support local Tejano related events as much as I can. Sometimes, though, supporting events in Topeka may conflict with other Tejano events in other cities. I want to make clear that I support all Tejano events, first, so that's why I'll speak of other Tejano events in KC, Lawrence or Emporia or somewhere else close by. I guess my conflict this month is the Pan American Golf Association (PAGA) in Kansas City who are hosting Sunny Sauceda the same night as the LULAC Sweethearts dance in Topeka featuring Las Estrellas. Both are excellent fundraisers supporting worthy causes. Maybe my mention of the PAGA event may take away some potential business from LULAC or vice versa. Although that's not my intent, some people may see it that way. My higher purpose is to continue promoting (and at times it feels like preserving) a portion of our culture which has seen some pretty bad days, lately. And my hope is that both events do well because if they do, then Tejano music succeeds as well.

The business

The business is rolling along pretty good. As for the mobile dj business, I am booking as far in advance as November with May looking pretty busy again. And with Tomas and Luis helping out, we have plenty of djs to handle several jobs. So, I thank those of you for calling and booking in advance which makes the business run a little smoother.

The consignment agreement I worked out with 419 Designs is slow like I expected because there haven't been too many new releases. But I've made some sales and I can already see a trend. People have come in to purchase David Marez, Joe Posada, Little Joe and Jimmy Edward. Eddie Gonzalez, surprisingly, has not sold at all. But the trend seems to be toward quality and the old school. I only have a couple of conjunto titles and I wonder how well conjunto will sell around here. But right now it looks like the classier and jazzier sounds are beating out the accordion.

And as far as the production studio is concerned, I have nearly run out of space on my internal hard drive. I think I have maybe 5 GB left and I have begun to lose some functionality. My computer no longer recognizes my external DVD/CD drives but it still recognizes my external hard drive. And I have trouble saving my large audio production files onto my external hard drive so I am forced to leave it on my internal drive which is taking up more of my precious space. I have put a complete stop on large music production projects but I still do little jobs from time to time.

I have been dragging my feet on this but I am going to take my eMachine in for an upgrade. I should be able to upgrade it if it is one of the newer models. I need to find out. If it is upgradable, then I am going for the dual core processors which I can get done at half the price of a dual core processor desktop off the shelf. So, it sounds like the upgrade fits my budget if I can get it done.

Tejanos for a better tomorrow

A new discussion has been brought up on a message board I frequent. An idea has come up on the creation of an organization to help promote Tejano music. I have been having some fun kicking the tires on the concept. The problem I have is the basic assumption this idea is based on. I get the impression that Tejanos in Texas think that Tejano business people outside of Texas don't have a proper network in place. I keep hearing phrases like "you'll get more access to artists and cds", "you'll get more control of music programming on radio", etc. Dude! I already have all that. The problem is not access or control. The problem is the industry is doing nothing to promote themselves. One example is that more often than not, cds get released with no publicity, no fanfare. This is why it's so important that we do the "CD pick of the week" feature on Fiesta Musical. And then there is a mention of pooling money and kicking back to a governing body in Texas. I don't think so. But, the idea is in it's infancy stage. I guess I'll see where it goes. Of course, one of the businesses in Texas is all behind it. It's a management business who stands to make a lot of money off of potential bookings. And, hey, if we helped finance the marketing and promotions budget as well, well shoot, it sounds like a sweet deal to me, too.

That's it for now
-DJ Ritmo