___busy week

___made two shows for Radio Tejano and one for Hot Town on Sunday and Monday evenings, gotta keep up with the demand, plus i have a "coro ranchero", a singing group of young lady students who have committed to sing the songs from the past and from Mexico and we have performed three times in the past two weeks at our school, they are getting good, we do it again tomorrow, three days is a row is a strain even for professional singers but we have to get ready for the BIG show in front of 1500 students plus Teachers and Guest at the BIG Drug Awareness rally next Monday, a ver como nos va ???

___time well spent

___spent practically the whole day recording, i shot all the high School bands at the Nixon Marching festival in the hot Laredo sun, which might make at least three shows if not more, than in the evening, i spent some quality time with the folks from the laredo "epoca de oro" social club at their old school dance, wow, recorded the band de Leo Martinez and they are good, yessenia Galaviz was the vocalist and i met her last May and she is the consumate orofessional singer,wow, se svienta la muchacha. those senior citizens sure know how to have a good time

___long time delayed

___it has been a long month and i apologize for not updating this site, now that the Month of the Latino is passed and as we prepared for another Dia de la Raza, it is time to get moving again with several exciting projects, first of all we continue with Hot Town and Radio Tejano but we did have to put a stop to Sportstown due to the fact that we simply could not keep up with the demand of devoting so much time to the taping and the work needed to do such a show. Hot Town is at show number 40 while Radio Tejano has 12 small segments under it's belt. Plans are in the works to do several specials on individuals who were influential in creating our musica tejana, relatives of both David Curiel and Beto Villa have been contacted and they help us created an homage program for these two fine and creative gentelmen, both gone to a better world. More details as they become available.

___getting it done

___taped tejano radio segment to be added to the other two and that makes three, that means that next weekend, we will have three different shows on three different days, no repetitions and no commercials, Norma and Luciano were in the studio helping out on Monday and so was Rolandis for a brief time, oh, and by the way, Sportstown made it's much awaited
debut with a few glitches but overall it came out well and i know it will be well received, coming up on Hot Town on Monday is the shooting of the puppet show, and not to forget, maybe a second Sportstown on Saturday, a ver quien va?

___today's the day

___gonna be in the studio today as we record some musical treats for Tejano Radio, coming up in a few days is the award-winning puppet show and the renewal of Sportstown, as such, gotta get in touch with quite a few individuals, and then there is the editing

___life goes on and so do our shows

___haven't updated in quite a while and for that i apologize, we are trying real hard to get on hot town thw award winning puppet show, a project that Norma is working diligently on, maybe next week, Radio Tejano sigue y i am trying to get three shows ahead so we can have a different show every day on the week to run for three weeks, but the best news is that the initial show of Sportstown will finally make it's debut this Tuesday, this means that we might get it rolling next saturday as we get into the Sports onda, i have a lot of people to contact and convince, and then there is the Rolando project, sort of an Oral History project for the veteranos and i get chills just thinking about how it will work out as we delve into local's History

___done for today

___editing job complete on the Nixon 65,66, and 67 reunion video, Norma did an especially good job, also completed the Martin Spring Band Concert which had been a long time waiting, Norma is suppose to be checking on the Puppet Show to see if we can get them, they were the winners of a national contest, we shall see what happens

___sunday is blue

___editing job today on the Normis 65,66 and 67 reunion video which will be shown the second week of September before the sept. 16 deadline, on hot town this week we have the fine talent of ranchero singer Esteban Gustavo and on tejano radio, i do my thing with the "no Sunny, no Joe" thingie, editing on tuesday and thursday, no shooting at all this week, it is the first week of school and it is always hectic, ji

___long overdue, but now i am back

___it has been a long week and i have been on a sort of emotional rollar coaster ride, af first on Monday everything was swell and we taped a show for Tejano Radio and i called it, "NO Sunny, No Joe" basically because it was totally recorded for one hour with not even one song by Sunny Ozuna or Little Joe Hernandez, solo other musicos pero de los 60's. Then came the big letdown, after we had worked so hard to produce show #1 for Sportstown and after the editing job and publicising it among the Coaches and even ran two articles in the local paper, Nada. It was not shown and i even asked the peron in charge to PLEASE run it and nada on wed and thurs, y sigue con nada, but then on mon, wed, and fri, the Mariachi bands from out of town made an appearance on Hot Town and Melissa did a spectacular job in introducing the musicians, meanwhile I finished editing Tejano Radio # 5, (no sunny, no joe) and i even did one on Soundtown with some old footage that i had in storage and it came out so good that i even like it lots, i had decided to quit the TV production business totally because of the disagreement but i managed to talk myself out of it, and even though i am upset, i will grind my lips and continue with Tejano Radio which i am beginning to really like and enjoy and Hot Town is so far ahead that we have tapes aligned up till the middle of November, gos bless and god speed

___all is well, sportstownn, laredo style

___the taping of the first Sportstown show went extremely well as we had a lot of help in the studio. Rolando and Norma showed up to help out and the results really showed. Coach Davis from Martin brought four of his players and did they talk well, so well we almost had to tell them not to reveal too much of their program. Later Coach Joe Sendejar from United South came by and also did a dynamite job in describing his program. We also had a short chat with Coach Idrogo from Martin. Above all i have to commend Dennis Silva 11 from the LMT who i am starting to believe is a heck of a Journalist. He does so much with so few words. Not to forget the excellent job that Louis does in the control room but we are so used to that

___coming up this week

___today we record show #1 of the Sportstown series in the studio, up next on Hot Town this week is the performance of several student Mariachi groups mainly from the Valley and DelRio which was recorded at the Martin High School Band Mariachi Fiesta, again Melissa does a masterful job in hosting this performance, on Monday we record Tejano Music #5 which will be Tejano Music del ayer with "no Sunny, no Joe" and then on Tuesday we visit and record the United South campus to see what the Panthers have this year, more material for the upcoming Sportstown segment, y despues, pues, edit, edit and more edit

___forgot to say . . .

___Norma and two guest, Beto Trevino and Johnny Chamberlain did a tremendous recording last night for a Hot Town show, their topic was the upcoming Nixon High School reunion of the classes of 65, 66 and 67, they passed out all the information and even remembered all the good time of their high school days. excellent show and it will prove to be very interesting

___looking good

___things look good for the initial taping of the first chapter of Sportstown, we have visitors in the studio such as Coach Davis from Martin and Coach Sendejar from United South, Coach Alaniz from Cigarroa and Coach Sanchez from United will appear on a pre-recorded session, also we have footage from the Martin Tiger preseason practice and a few shots from Alexander, the Tejano Radio segment on laredo music will also premiere tonight and this weekend, and so we continue . . .

___this week on Hot Town . . .

___airing this week is the performance by a young great singer, her name is Nidia Lizette Lopez and she is quite a talent, winner of a recording contract at a contest sponsored by the local TV media and dr. pepper, well she sings up a storm this week and not only that but she is accompanied by a talented grupo, and they are "los preferidos" and their featured instrument is a "trecillo",, great performances brought to you by Hot Town and she is barely 17 and a recent high school grad

___update, sort of (sorry but things are slow)

___psa, sort of, but informational, i think ___i've just put together a one hour program for "tejano radio" that will be on the air this coming friday, saturday, and sunday, what is noteworthy about this program and perhaps make it attractive is that i have included in it close to twenty songs all exclusively recorded by Laredo born musicians and singers, everything from Beto Villa to Mike Ornelas, Publio, Carlos Landin, a little Peppers, of course Rene, Sangre Mexicana y terminamos con Bernardo y sus Compadres. The negative is that none of my television personalities showed up on the recording date so i had to step in and get in front of the camera, this is not easy when you are also the man behind the camera, well, two of them, producer, director, idea man, artistic mogul, sound man, and main goffer. But who better to tall about these "musicos" and the story behind the music and so i did, i did get a haircut just to please el Ticitle. This is not a CD but a Video(DVD) and copies are availablle for those that would like to have a copy. Order from Norma for a nominal price if you so desire, so now i can devote the rest of the week to my other project, el "Sportstown" which will debut this coming week

___here comes the crunch . . .

___passed out informational pamphlets to all the people involved in our Sportstown program which is coming up this weekend, the "Manta" which will be our backdrop is all colored, coated and laminated, i had the artist include all the school colors for our local high school plus TAMIU, UT and Eagle Pass, just in case, and then of course it has the logos of the many sports we hope to cover, still to come, the Sportstown shirt, cap and the business card, we shall soon see who is who when it comes to standing up and saying "here i yam", . . .but in the meantime, we will also shoot and cut another version of tejano radio with an all Laredo guest list, recorded that is, es today

___rolling and picking up momentum . . .

___after the big goof-off on Friday, it is nice to report that "tejano radio" ran uninterupted for two days, saturday and sunday, but it was the second tape that i had turned in, i did go into the editing room today and spent a couple of hours remaking Tejano Radio Tape # 1 as best i could to the best of my memory which was mostly here all day, tomorrow we shoot Tejano # 3 which has an exciting format of all laredo bands and singers del pasado, well, some of them are not too pasados, that is they are still alive just like we are, ji

___"premee event"

______"premee" event ____"Tejano Radio" starring Luciano Duarte, Carlos Valle and your truly has it's premiere night this evening, same show will run Fri, Sat and Sun at 7:00 pm, tune in and listen to all that spectacular musica de los 60's, the music we grew up on, courted and fell in love with, you will probably breakout in a rem or two, that is on TV Cable Channel 3, Critics, don't be too harsh on us as it is only the first show, it is a little rough but it will get better

___continue, continue . . .

___finished editing on the second tejano radio show, i keep getting ideas for future shows but i know we need to get better organized, need a strong opening and also a list of credits at the end, on the other hand we keep moving forward on the Sportstown thingy, things are moving, a step back and then two forward, it will get done, purchased some needed things for the show and need to make some contacts with the involved personnel, especially the head Man

___new week, new take

___due this week is the premiere of Radio Tejano, Tejano Radio, the TV show where we will play all the music of the Tejano Pioneers of the sixties, a ver como nos va ? i have implemented new ideas as to the show's introduction and the sign-off but they gotta be done today, Hot Town continues to roll with Oscar Luis Jimenez due to appear all this week , and we seem to have a little time to launch el "Sportstown", mas o menos we are gonna tape the first show on the 11th that is a Saturday, and the season kicks off on the last week of August or is it the first week of September, either way, we is gonna be ready

___it's a start

___started the ball rolling on the Sportstown Project, the third series of programs under the laredomio productions umbrella, first of all, the program design is completed and a copy has been given to the PAC manager who must approve the project, then i met with Mr. Dennis Silva,, the LMT Sports Editor-to-be, maybe, and he is all go on the idea, went to the annual Coache's barbeque sponsored by the LMT and got to meet some of the district head Coaches, not all of them were there, but most important passed on the program information to the top dogs in the administration offices, the AD's or their subordinates and now we are awaiting their approval, but we carry on, also got to meet and chat with Mr. Bill Green, the LMT publisher and he is all receptive to the idea and even made an appointment to be on the show, also got an excellent opportunity to record on video tape the outgoing Sports Editor of 37 years, Mr. Salo Otero and two head coaches, David Sanchez of United and Ricardo Alaniz of Cigarroa, former NFL'er Tony Darden was in the house so he also said a few words for our cameras, not at all, a bad productive night and the meat was excellent but we did not get to taste the beer, maybe next time

___just git 'er done

___published and delivered the press release on Tejano Radio to both newspapers and the radio media, also delivered to the Lopez family de Nidia Lizette a copy of her recorded material, also discussed the Sportstown program with the LMT sports editor and it is all go, got invited to the Laredo Coaches Barbecue tomorrow, a traditional Laredo kick-off to the high school football season and since i will be there, why no film some interviews and so i have reserved recording equipment for tomorrow and that is all, tan tan y he dicho and all that

___all done for the week

___completed the editing on the Nidia Lizette Lopez musical video show and that young lady can really sing and communicate, and she wants to be an actress, i believe she has a great future and she will make it someday, Melissa Rodriguez, our Hostess did a masterful job on the interview also and also complete and finally edited is the presentation of the Musical trio plus bongos, el grupo "los Preferidos", a group that really sound good and Norma hosted them in the interview, next time you see her ask her what a "tricillo" is ? as she really got close to one, and not to delay but the pilot show for "Tejano Radio" is also complete with a lot of early 1960 music and the words of Carlos Valle and Luciano Duarte, believe me, it is quite a job to finish an hour long show, u seem to never finish but i did,, and now i have the rest of the week off, oh no, tomorrow i got to start pushing the "Sportstown" vehicle

___variety plus

___this week's programming has a lot of variety to it, the TV Hot Town for the week is the Nixon Band Honor Winds Spring Concert that we taped at TAMIU last May, unfortunately, the program is hosted by yours truly as i am on the air again for the second consecutive week, geee, and while we get to tape more musical segments for Tejano Radio tonight, and then tomorrow night we are honored to once again have the Quintero family as our guests, we will do a special show on their very talented daughter Alexia as she heads off to Denton and North Texas University to continue her studies, she was her band's drum major, lead voice with the Mariachi and a very talented oboe player, and she is a recent Grad from her high school

___new week, same old projects

___we begin a new week, two days in the studio as we continue to Produce, on Monday we will continue with our recording of "Tejano Radio" segments as we strive to complete our first show, maybe on this coming weekend, and on Tuesday, possibly some live people in the studio for another Hot Show for Hot Town, a ver quien juntamos pero todavia hay mucho material on the shelf, awaiting

___best ever, i shouldn't say that

___we had a very exciting recording session as we recorded first the musical group "Los Preferidos", a very exciting and talented bunch of musicians whose legacy will be preserved, Norma then did a very intensive interview especially with the young man who plays the trecillo, a three stringed guitar of cuban origin, no cualquiera toca ese instrumento and then we combined the beautiful voice of Nydia Lizette Lopez with the live musicians and they did two songs, on the spot with almost no rehearsal and they came out great, this young lady sings very difficult music, not the old standards, and still she does great. Melissa and her had a very good exchange and not to forget the Laredo moment with Norma and the rest of the cast

___we adjust, step back and do over

___last night was a night of experiment as we tried many things before finally coming up with what i expect will be the final product, Mr. Duarte was there and very gracious and Carlos Valle, so funny when he wants to be, and it ain't easy, talking, getting organied and curing and playing the music and all that management, but in the end we have found our niche, except it will take a little bit more recording, maybe next week, to finally finish one show, now for todays' schedule, we ill have in the studio to record tonight an acoustic quartet with a gentleman who plays a tricillo, a three string guitar and our other invitee is Nydia Lopez, a very talented young singer and recent grad from Alexander High School, she was the winner of the recent dr. pepper talent contest held at WalMart

___today's the day, again

___today's the day when we kick off the much anticipated second show of laredomio productions, our humble local TV production company. we will be in the PAC studios from six to nine getting organized and possibly making a one hour "pilot. again, the format is Tejano Music from the sixties as we play and chat about those golden times of our Youth, Laredo's Premier DJ de hoy, manana y ayer, Luciano Duarte will be there and so will mi Carnal el profe Carlos Valle de TAMIU who knows a lot of stuff about everything, believe me i know and also present will be Carlos Landin, aquel gran voz y compositor de los Rondels y la rola "eres casado", who can ever forget that song, the girls and ladies from Hot Town will be there to lend their valuable support and ideas, a ver quien mas shows up ???

___third man in

___i think we have a committment from the Third Man in the Booth for Tejano Radio and his name is el Profe Carlos Valle from TAMIU, yes Carlos attended elementary school conmigo but that is so far in the past and he is a very knowledgeable person about Laredo's history, las costumbres, los barrios y especialmente la musica, and that dude can dance, wow es un trompo y camarada de todos los artistas, Little Joe, Sunny y quien mas ????, it will be grand , now all we got to do is get it rolling

___over y aun hay mas !

___the much acclaimed interview show with the author Jose M. Pena ended it's run tonight and i will have copies on CD soon for Norma as there is some kind of demand out there for them especially outside of Laredo, so i guess our viewing audience is growing, up next next week is the presentation of Grupo Tekila which i myself hosted, so we shall see how it comes out, scheduled to be shoot (recorded) this coming Tuesday is grupo "Los Preferidos", and maybe a couple of female singers, quien sabe?, don't forget on Monday is the "pilot" shoot for Tejano Radio, a ver como nos va ?????

___little brother in town . . .

___announcing the birth of our big, little brother, yes, there is a new "pudnuh" in town and his name is "tejano town", we have officially begun the develpoment of the new show which will showcase only the music of the early days of tejano music and those artists who gave us such a thrill in our high school and college days. three adults,, me in the middle talking about those artists and spinning records, inserting cassettes, and even some cd's while the people on the airwaves phone in with their dedications and requests for music and we will even have couples dancing in the studio doing all their fancy dance moves, Luciano Duarte, el dean de los dj's de Laredo is on board and i know he will be doing all the right things, so now we have to set up the
stage from where we will broadcast, decorate the place, organize the materials we are gonna use, set up the visual and audio recording equipment, business cards, arrange for the phone we will use, and publize the darn thing, oh yeah !, and then we will shoot the pilot. wow, do we need a crew !

___latest update

___it has been a long time since we have updated this site and so here goes, we have a new program to go hand in hand with "Hot Town", the new show slated to premiere the latter part of July and it is a simulation of an old time radio show focusing on the golden days of Tejano Music or la Onda Chicana as it was known in those days, it will showcase the music of the Pioneers of tejano music, Sunny, littlejoe and augustine amongst others including several laredo bands, Luciano Duarte has agreed to co-host along with several other local personalities, we will have dedications, requests and even dancers in the studio, sort of an american bandstand, laredo style, stay tuned, it should be a Blast (Boooooooooooooooom !)

___surprised on the Fourth !

___attended the Fourth of July festivities at the local Civic Center which was for free and i was very pleasantlysurprised by the talent level of the performers, it took a while but when the Music finally started at about 7:30 pm the first band was a small tight Conjunto by the name of Canela which backs up their leader, a young lady by the name of Margarita, alas, her last name i believe is Canela. She has a strong voice and some very nice dance moves very much coordinated with her male dancer, she normally has two but only one was here yesterday, They together danced up a storm and kept the crowd in the palms of their hands, she should go far. They were followed by a group that uses the moniker "los bad boys del valle" and they too were a crows pleaser with a very dynamic show. THEY ARE ENTERTAINERS. Disappointment was the word for the main act David Lee Garza and los Musicales as he did not sound quite up to his normal level as i think he broke in yet another singer, a young man who just seemed out of place, His mike was turned down too low and the Band's sound overwhelmed his lyrics. People who are so fickle could not wait and started to leave in droves. A bright spot on stage was Yessenia Galaviz who added a lot of charm to a lackluster trio of MC's

___a short pause . . .

___a very happy independence day to all our readers, let us take a short pause and think about our hard earned Freedoms, free speech, freedom of religion, and all the others none any less important and how many lives it has cost to earn and keep them, let us continue to pay the price cause life without Freedom is not life

___no news is . . .

___no recording this week due to the Holidays, new show coming up maybe as soon as next week, watch for and read here for details

___easy done, easily done

___completed the Tricia/Selena video and it was a breeze given the professionalism of Tricia Cortez and our Norma, as they ran thru the interview in one take and of course Tricia's performance was also completely flawless, and the material recorded lasted exactly 30 minutos, no need to cut, clip, or add video, this week we celebrate our country's birthday so we will not do any recordings, just me, i still have two video's on the shelf to edit as we complete almost our whole calendar slots for September, still to be shot this summer, Alexia, the Galaviz/Gomez sisters and Nydia Lopez who won the Dr. Pepper talent contest today at the local Wal-Mart, she is sixteen and she can really sing, i heard her sing ans she is recently graduated from Alexander High School

___two sisters,

___established contact with two sisters who are quite talented, i witnessed their performances at the Memorial Day Conmemorative Celebration at the end of last month, besides their natural beauty, what struck me most was their versatility as they both sing "de todos los estilos", i heard them sing rancheras, romantic, international, in English and Spanish to really thrill the crowd. Their names are Yessenia Galaviz, (what a name) and Ludivina Gomez and we shall make every effort to record and present their music to the Laredo audience as soon as possible. It should be quite a treat.

___special Tricia visit

___recorded Tricia Cortez, from the LMT who recently did a terrific performance as Selena at the LCC and we have the recording so as part of the show, we did a short (14 minute) interview with her, Norma handled the interview in her won special way and it was very poignant as they spoke of Selena and about Mothers and other girl things, now comes the fun part, the editing part cause Tricia is so photogenic and she did look so nice

___'nother one"

___we had another very excellent presentation by the artist Gustavo Esteban at the recording late last night, this dude can really belt them out con mucha "voz y sentimiento", he did five ranchero canciones for us in full Charro costume and Melissa did an incredible interview job and Norma was there with "su un momento Laredense" (a Laredo Moment), we even had a sound system in the House provided by the guest, this is show number 35, didn't even know i could count that high, did you ?, on another note, ran into Noe Esparza, known as la Pilinga in his youth who was the original lead voice on the Original Rondels recording of "Lo Mucho Que Te Quiero" alongside Sammy Ibarra, Humberto Donovan, Joe Lee Vera, and Roberto Alonzo, qepd back in those old golden days and he is still singing with his own group known as "The Dells", well, he wants to be on our show of course and he is a definite link to the Class reunion for the NHS, make that Nixon, class of 65, 66, and 67, more later as we set up and get in gear to record the fabulous as she is Known, Tricia Cortez who will undoubtly let us know how it felt to be Selena if only for a brief moment, should be interesting

___weakly schedule

___short weak is forecasted as we take it easy, "it is summertime,, and the living is easy", on Tuesday the 26, we have scheduled the long awaited presentation by ranchero singer Esteban Gustavo who will be interviewed by Melissa, Norma will assist and standby and we hope to get her to do several intro's to shows awaiting trimming notably the Martin Band Spring Concert and maybe the VMT Showcase, I will try real hard to get Debbie and Tricia together some morning this week to complete her "Selena" show, it shouldn't take long as they are both very able to conduct an excellent presentation, on the air this week, is the two parter Reunion of the MHS class of 1957, remember, this is the class that is going to Heaven, i wonder where the rest of us are headed, no rest for the wicked ???

___finally, finally, finally

___the Piano students video is finally completed as Debbie came through with her usual charm and efficiency and now it is on the shelf, we will wait to see how the programming works out and it will probably not "air" till maybe September, Surprise !, the video that Norma introduced on the Fiesta de Mariachi turned out very well also and i completed another which still needs work and refinement, still to be completed, a show comprising all the great acts from the VMT Talent Showcase and the Spring Concert from the Martin High School Band

___two at a time . . .

___completed the Oscar Luis Jimenez video and the video on the Nixon Concert Band starring ME and the two Nixon Band Brothers, tomorrow with a little luck i should complete three more shows, two on the Mariachi Fiesta and maybe finally the show on the VMT piano students, that should put us ahead about ten weeks ahead of schedule, (ten shows are in the can and on the shelf) and i am seriously considering one more and then taking the rest of the summer off, or maybe i can get started on the Laredomio second show to be called Sportstown, but it will be difficult since both LISD and UISD have no AD in charge, did they plan to do this together ?????????, we shall prevail !!!!!!!!

___small stuff, pero con elegance

___recorded a spectacular ranchero show last night at the PAC studio's as Mr. Oscar Luis Jimenez and his charming wife Monserrat honored us with their presence, although we had a bit of a problem with the sound on the playback, the PAC's technical staff, namely Luis Garza, soon troubleshot the problem and wired the sound system to get us the sound we desired, Mr. Jimenez's reportoire consisted of a bunch of the old standards,, "la llaves de mi alma, la media vuelta, and concluded with el Rey", quite a strong voice to add to his stage presence. Debbie handled the interview as to her usual standard and she commented that the singer was an easy person to interview granted that he expressed himself very eloquently. Melissa and Norma were there to add their support and each recorded a small signet for future shows, meanwhile, gotta attend to a small problem we had last night with an intruder who mmanaged to get into the building without any speciific invitation or authorization

___two Oscar Luis's

___made a couple of copies for Oscar Luis Elizondo from his past show and some studio footage that he wanted to keep for his records, and we were pleasantly surprised to hear from Oscar Luis Jimenez, a fine singer we had met during the Paul Rodriguez show several months ago, and we made quick arrangements to record him today in the Studio, he sings two types of Music,, ranchera's e internacional, so maybe we will do two shows on him and his music

___happy Papa's day

___on Thursday evening, i on;y completed one of the Nixon Band tapes due to the fact that i didn't have a blank tape, i done the "Honor Winds" show and the other one will just have to wait, got the names of the Piano players from Dr. Carroll and notified Norma Quintero to get the material ready for her daughter's special video, we will proceed

___down-home style music

___completed the editing job on the "Grupo Tekila" video show, used all six songs and the thing ran almost 26 minutes, i was not bad as MC but i did keep interupting the speaker, gotta be more patient and listen to the words, tonight maybe i can complete the two Nixon Band shows, maybe i can and that will fill up our programming until the beginning of August, maybe if we do complete those shows, we can take a couple of week off, next week we record a ranchera singer and maybe finish the two out of town Student Mariachi's shows, geeeeeeee, el piano show is also a possibility,

___three down, ___ to go

___completed three shows in the studio as Grupo Tekila made a late date and showed up to record their down-to-earth, home-style music, those guys are natural life-long musicians who have a certain flair, muy apasionada, and the more they play, the better and better they sound, de veras, also i managed to get the Esparza brothers, Roel and Alexander to come down and represent the Nixon Band and talk about their experiences with the band, Roel is a recent graduate who plans to continue his musical training and perhaps become a Music Teacher while Alex has two more years left at Nixon, biggest surprise was that none of my "hostesses" showed up and i had no one to conduct the interviews so guess who stepped in and took over, well, you are right, i did it myself and we shall see how it turns out, anyhow, son tres shows and i get to edit and cut out all the ugly scenes, will we have enough to have a show?, i certainly hope so

___weekend is gone

___editing completed on the Jose M. Pena show and the long, long anticipated Class of 57 reunion program, so much material that the show had to be extended to two hours and it will not run until the week of June 25 and the first week of July, tsk, tsk, that's life in the big city

___edit, edit and more editing

___editing is complete on the trio/joe medina show, good info and good music, meanwhile i have started work on the author Jose M. Pena show conducted by Norma and that should go quickly, the Monumental task will be the footage compiled over two days on the class of 57 reunion, those two days and the footage,, over an hours' worth compiled in the studio means we will have tons of material to evaluate, met last night with a Group called Grupo Tekila and their music is real down to earth, they said they will call and maybe make it to the studio by next Tuesday, also received many compliments on the Matachines video which aired yesterday, especially from the people of the Ladrillera, yesterday Norma and i spread the word to them to be sure to tune in and they did

___nuttin from nuttin, leaves sumthing

___unable to edit tonight, recorder simply would not cooperate, but i did managed to convert the author and reunion tapes from Beta format to Super VHS, also my biggest coup was managing to capture a recording of the Selena concert performed by Tricia Cortez at the LCC recently, of course she has an open invitation to come make an appearance on Hot Town !, that will explain it all

___crowded, but a nice one , , ,

___finished this evening the editing job on the Mariachi Tigeres del Sur/Frank Sosa interview and performance, that makes 23 tapes completed to date since we started this operation, and this morning we were a little crowded in the small studio as we had eight members of the steering committee in the small PAC studio from the Class that went to heaven, of course that means the MHS Class of 57, Debbie came in just in time and did her usual masterful job of conducting the interviews, not that the senior folks needed too much prodding and we had a lot of laughs in the studio as the committee members sang "acapella" the Martin Fight Song in unisom, well almost. Amongst the Guests were Maya Guerra, Sylvia Bird, Ramiro and Mine Barrera, Dora Gonzales Wolfe, Elodia Villarreal Jimenez, Humberto Jimenez and Norma who sat in as a panel member, but before that Norma handled the whole 30 minute show with author Jose M. Pena and his tales of Revilla, that is Guerrero Viejo for the uninformed, that makes two straight show that Norma has handled by herself in two weeks, wow

___early to rise, morning shoot

___tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will have a studio shoot to wrap up several shows already half recorded, first and foremost, we will play host to Jose M. Pena, renowned author who is on a promotional tour having written his book about his experiences throughout the world as he did his duty to represent his country, i believe it is called, no, i won't even attempt to ascertain the title, and then the steering committee del class of 57 will come in to give us a review of their recent three day reunion, maybe some of the piano students from VMT will wrap-up their show also half finished and finally, Martin High school Mariachi and Band have to wrap up some, several shows, this is how we work to put it al together

___busy,, busy . . .hug, hug

___spent the last two day recording the happy folks at the Martin high class of 1957, the class that went to Heaven is their motto, at their Reunion, those folks know how to party, first it was the sign-up at the front entrance of the hallowed halls of Martin, and then the garden party at the house de Maya Guerra, music of those old day con mucho to drink and a very tasty mexican buffet was served, then on Saturday, the party continued at the Laredo Country Club, que elegante !? where it was also a time de mucho hugs and kisses for the old classmates, as the folks were starting their meal, who should strolled in but Pancho Sosa and his Mariachi Band playing the Martin Fight Song, gee, everyone stood up and cheered, and then the "serenata" continued with several songs to the several groups gathered at the LCC. finally, the
dance band started and again the first song was the martin Fight Song, some of the couple actually got up to dance, the music continued and i am sure the folks will have muchos memories if not on video then on DVD, we weill make both as well as a Hot Town Segment to be broadcast

___knowledges gained

___we had a terrific time and learned quite a bit from the Musical expert guests. Mr. Frank Sosa, he of the Martin Band and Matiachi Tigeres del Sur had much to share as he is very knowledgeable about his craft, especially the Mariachi history and development, and then there were the trio members and Joe Medina who seem to know it all about the "musica romantica de los trios del anteano", wow. and they can perform and will be back, Melissa Rodriguez did a very presentable job of filling in for Debbie and Norma carried the wholle trio show as the showed her versatility in interviewing the guest in both English and Spanish in the Trio special

___we doo it tomorrow

___big shooting day tomorrow as we return to the big studio in the PAC building, we have been on the road for the past couple of months, we have most of the Musical numbers from the various Spring Concerts, Mariachi Festivals, trio extravaganza, plus the VMT Showcase. so all we gotta record are the Human elements, the interviews to make a show, guest tomorrow include Joe Medina and Juan Garza, several Martin Mariachi Members and MHS Band Members, a trio or two, several piano students, maybe even the two girl singers who were invited but have not made contact, if we do it right, we can wrap up six or seven thirty minute shows, still to come, the Nixon band, mas trio's, mas mariachi's. y el book author

___scheduling conflicts

___due to measures beyond our control,, we had to change the shooting schedule for this week,, instead of Tuesday, the 29th, we will have to shoot in the studio on Wednesday, the 30th, june is getting near, guest scheduled so far are Joe Medina and Juan Garza, some of the members of the martin band and the Mariachi Tigeres del Sur, some trio members, maybe a couple of kids from the Piano program at VMT, and yesterday, i made contact with the Galaviz sisters, two beautiful young ladies who both really sing up a storm and deserve some local exposure, these ladies cantan de todos los estilos, rancheras, internacional, boleros and even in English

___Oscar goes

___the ballet special featuring Oscar Luis Elizondo aired this evening and it was very enlightning, once again Debbie created a spark as she seems to interact in such a special way and created electricity in dealing with our guest. At the risk of being redundant, there was a chemistry and Oscar is such a lively subject as he actively responds to any and all queries, in such a dramatic mode, definitely one of our better shows.

___end of the line

___Soundtown, the VMT's latest effort of bringing back the Music of the Past made it's final presentation of this academic school year as they entertained the crowd at the Salvation Army's Program held last night at the United Baptist Church. It was a sort of farewell adios for the talented Seniors who were playing for the last time with the big Band. What a nice way to end as they played and were served a delicious meal. Host for the evening, sort of, was the Reverend Mike Barrera who (whom?) i remember as a skinney blond sparkplug playing basketball at Martin and who later starred at Nixon. He recounted the old days including a stint in Vietnam. I guess you could say that vietnam was our "Iraq". I wonder how this nasty was will be perceived years from now and what kind of an effect it will have on our Society? An advanced warning, next year's Soundtown has been invited to play at the LEC at the start of the year for the big first Assembly of the LISD school staff. A big venue with a big crowd, i am already looking forward to it.

___over and done

___shot the ballet video featuring Oscar Luis Elizondo and finished the editing on it by ten o'clock last night,, that young man has a lot to say and he did, Debbie as usual was her usual brilliant self, can''t wait to see it ? , it will be shown this Friday, channel three on the cable, six-thirty pm on Hot Town !, of course

___ready, set, . . .go

___today we go into production mode as we get ready to record and finalize the Ballet Video with Mr. Oscar Luis Elizondo, it seems that the dance is a sort of tribute to his father, Doctor Elizondo, well known Laredo Physician who recently passed, we need to record, edit and finalize, no small project as this needs to be on the air this Friday

___planning ahead

___met last night with Norma and Oscar Luis Elizondo,, the subject of our next shoot, he is the extraordinaire ballet dancer who will soon be featured on Hot Town along with some of his pupils. We reviewed his scenes shot the day before and made plans for some additional taping tomorrow to complete the show, added news, el Carnal Carlos Landin appears ready, willing and able to do his second special, maybe at his home and we made plans to make use of the big Studio at the PAC for a really big shoot next Tuesday, the 29th, guests will be Joe Medina and Juan Garza, los Tigeres del Sur y su Director, Dr, Mary Grace Carrol, and some members of the Trio's that performed for our cameras recently

___dancing in the morn

___went by this morning early and shot a little bit of informational video from Mr. Oscar Luis Elizondo and his ballet students as they prepare for their recital next week, it was a totally new experiience for me not knowing much about the subject but we are learning, Norma was her usual jovial self at that hour as we planned an additional shoot at the Civic Center at their rehearsal on Wednesday, still to come, an extensive interview to find out all about this young man, stay tuned for the details

___heavy dose of editing

___got to get started tomorrow on the editing, i guess i have about ten hours of recorded material to edit into some semblance of shows, and then on sunday morn, we gonna go shoot a male ballet dancer real early in the morning, i don't remember how i got talked into this, but this is highly unusual

___band showtime again

___The Martin High School Band program put on quite a show last night with the band marching into the auditorium and then standing in the aisles to serenade us while the Flag Color Guard Dancers did their routine on stage. The Drumline, a percussion ensemble, los Mariachi Tigeres del Sur, (south texas that is) entertained us before the full band lined up on front facing the audience and doing a nostalgic "eighties music" routine. Band Members is their military uniforms, some in tuxedos, and fully dressed Mariachi's then did their Concert Music Program, Seniors were personally recognized by the Band Director and then of course the program culminated with the school's alma mater and then the great ending, the Martin Tigers Fight Song, i stopped recoording when the stage became full of students and parents and teachers hugging and kissing each other in farewell, in this the final performance for the Seniors

___done and start over

___recorded last night the Nixon band and it was an impressive show, both Bands sounded fine, tonight, we do it all over again, this time it will be the Martin band and Mariachi, this time at the Civic Center, last of the Spring Band Concerts

___showcase

___recorded on video, last night, the VMT spectacular Showcase 2007, at which they simply showcased everything and everyboody, singers, pianists, guitarists, vocalists, musicians, dancers, actors, and visual artists, in a two and a half hour show viewed at the LCC's Martinez Fine Art Theater, it will be quite a job to edit all this material, tonight, the Nixon Band has their Spring Concert and the Hot Town's cameras will be there. i guarantee it

___doing it up right

___the crowd was sparse but enthusiastic as the four mmusical groups put out their best and most memorable music from days past at the La-re-do Music Club Noche de Trio's en Mother's Day held at the nostalgic American Legion Post 59 of yesteryear's glory settled on the banks of the Rio Grande last night. Los Impala, Los Romanticos, Los Principes, y finalmente los Preferidos stirred memories and emotions drawing swoons and applause on every piece. Couples got up to dance when the beat was lively while other just sang along. For almost four hours the mood was pure joy and we have it all oon tape and dvd as we "estrenamos" our new recording gear, Norma says we will share . . .

___delayed Mother's day, sort of

___Joe Medina, a good friend, Laredo business man, and a classmate of Norma, well, class of 1958, is having a Special Dia de las Madres trio Festival tomorrow night at the historic American Legion open-air party place of yesteryear, several trio's, amongst them, "Los Romanticos", "Los Preferidos", "Los Impala" and others will perform, especially for the Madres de Laredenses who make an effort to attend. We will record the music and save it for future use on "Hot Town". Norma and I visited the historic party grounds which are now is disarray since their heyday when it was the preferred and most solicited place to host weddings, quinceaneras, y graduation parties. Remember, you use to be able to use the walkway and make your way to the edge of the river and remember there was an old Cannon on the edge of the dance floor pointed into Mexico, the view is still great in the evening as you can see the constant flow of cars going to and fro on the two International Bridges. it might prove to be a Memorable evening and which shall see who attends, Legion Commander and the man who greeted us as we planned our "shoot" tonight was none other than the former now much thinner former sherriff of Webb County el Juanito Garza, night before we attended a pre-event party hosted by Joe Medina at which we met most of the musicians who will entertain tomorrow night and special guest was none other than Luciano "Lucky" Duarte. we shared some carnitas i muchas cheladas, que vida !

___we are featured again . . .

___in the Media, a very nice gracious story about our show Hot Town camme out in the latest issue of the VMT Tribune. The Tribune is the student newspaper written and published by the photo-jounalism students of Mr. Mark Webber at the LISD Magnet School for Communication and Fine Arts, special thanks to the writer, Ms. Natalie Castillo who quoted me extensively, " i'd never been quoted before, i don't think". also, thanks for the nice pic which will immediately go into our "Hot Town" scrapbook, geee

___we are defined

___Hot Town, Summer In The City," the opening line of a 1966 hit song by the rock group The Lovin' Spoonful, describes a familiar condition to urban residents. To meteorologists, this condition is known as the urban heat island and distinguishes the city's climate from the surrounding rural areas through all seasons.

___better effort

___this evening, before i went to see and hear Soundtown, i made sure to watch the transmission of last week's dance video and it was obvious that they were making an effort to make an adjustment on the color of the video, this time it was a little reddish but acceptable, now to work on the sound which has too much "Hummmm" on it, . . ., i did not video tape tonight concert but i did take a lot of pictures, which will be on this site soon, i promise

___the rains came, after Soundtown

___Soundtown, the big band my son plays in performed for one solid hour at the Laredo Center for the Arts tonight as the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communicationa and Fine Arts presented their annual literay magazine very appropriately named "Tapestry". The magazine is quite beautiful in full color and the paper on which is it printed is of the very best quality. Poems, stories, anecdotes, even some songs are very creatively presented to chronicle the full year. Quite a crowd of old dignateries especially from the age and times of the school's founder MR, Vidal M. Trevino. i had the pleasure of greeting his widowed bride and her two grown sons both of which i had the pleasure of Coaching while in elementary basketball.
___The band played in the full hall with the second story roof so the Sound filled the ole building quite appropriately. The big band played all their reportoire (sic) with a little bit of the different rhythms that brighten our hearts. The cold drinks, non-alcoholic and the sandwichitos made the evening complete. But it is a school night and after the teacher''s banquet with the VMT steel drum band and the fact that we had a full "lockdown" due to a deranged man with a weapon in our neighborhood where the school is located and we got home just in time to avoid the cloudburst and very loud thunder and rayos which hit our town, A ver si no se nos apaga la luz !

___slow week

___little activity this week as we prepare for a really big week coming up after Mother''s Day, on Monday, it is all the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts as all the kids perform in one stage,, musical groups,, singer, dancers, poets, guitarist y quien sabe quien mas, on Wednesday it is the Martin High School Band Spring concert where all their groups and the Mariachi will perform, following day is the Nixon Mustang Band Spring concert, and we will tape all three

___yellow submarine

___Soundtown, part one was on the air tonight, or rather a yellow tainted version of it, something is not right, will start making people aware of what is going on today, i do believe

___not hot at all, just their spirit and devotion

___it wasn't that hot, temperature wise, only the spirit and devotion of the people of the Ladrillera who perform their indigenous dance all the way to the church as they accompanied their "holy cross" down Laredo's dusty streets. Los matachines performed their yearly ritual which has been done in Laredo since 1938 and before that in the mining town of Dolores to thank the patron above for the many things that they have received this and every year. We, Debbie, Norma and myself were there to find out what it is all about and pass on their message to our viewers. They are enthusiastic and their character and family bonding strong and admirable as whole families joined in the procession that culminated with a lively feast close to the riverbank from where the whole thing started. Los Matachines danced for hours at a time but mainly they ate and had a good time reconnecting with old friends who had traveled far to be part of the festivities, all this to honor "la santa cruz", en su dia

___the heat is on !

___the weather is getting hot in Laredo and our schedule is a little more hectic, the more we stir things up, the busier we get, on tap is the outdoor, make that hot and dusty, shooting of the video material for the show on the Laredo Ladrillera Matachines but also coming up is some additional footage for a show on the Laredo Martin High School "Tigeres del Sur" Mariachi Group, also due in is a special two show taping of the Laredo's Music Teacher's Mariachi group known as "Los Arrieros", Melissa says that to be teachers, they have to be "arrieros" just like we all are, but they are a very professional mature young group,, most graduates of the LISD music program and the various high school bands, pending is also el amigo Carlos Landin and his follow-up home recording and the Tricia as Selena show might make a stop also at Hot Town, in the near future, a follow-up comprehensive show on Alexis Quintero as she departs for college and a bright future as a musician.

___Super Selena, sigh Tricia

____angelmio
May 2, 07 - 9:48 PM
___eerie,wierd and uncanny ___the first part of the LCC ShowBand Concert was exciting but sort of a ho--hum atmosphere as the audience responded politely to the Jazz music played very well and very loud by the mix of old and young musicians but the auditorium became electrified as Tricia Cortez was introduced as Selena and everyone turned to see her make her grand entrance from the back of the musical hall. Yes, she was wearing a purple outfit very similar to the one that the fallen star wore for the last time at the Houston Astrodome and in the movie, and yes she had the voice after a rather weak first note, could she be nervous ? but then she got into gear and her voice became hauntingly similar as well as her moves became so smooth and familiar, she wore a long black wig and her lips, almost grossingly overdone, and face were done just right. As she climbed the stage, a hush fell over the audience for a moment before they rose to their feet en-masse to follow her as she danced across the stage. i got as close as i could using all the film in my camera as she did two fast dance numbers. When she started the soulful balada "no me queda mas" and the mood was slow enough, i got up the courage to approach her from the stage and offer her my little gift, a single white rose, a symbol of Selena after her death. She took it in her hand and continued to lead the audience especially the youngsters as she invited them to dance along with her




___afterwards we went backstage, norma and I, and she was so busy having her picture taken with a bevy of young girls all too young to have seen the real Selena. She was very receptive to us all and greeted us with her familiar hug. el profe chale valle was there and so was jerry and norma quintero and a lot of people i know but failed to recognize. Several commented as to when she would be on Hot Town. Sometimes, i wish . . .


___\>Angelmio, It would be good show to have Trish do just one number and then interview her on her interests and education. Laredo youth would enjoy that.

___excitement in the air

___there was a lot of excitement at our school when they kids realized that the cover picture on the LMT art of living featured not only one but two of their teachers, most whom we thought had never read a paper told us that they had indeed seen the picture and article in Sunday's newspaper, everyone seem to have a copy, some worn and tattered from much handling but still a piece of news everyone wanted to see and read, now, it it on to next month and the laredos' news story, never to forget that the VMT news journalism students are also putting together a story on US, Hot Town !

___three in one

___Soundtown video was edited by me today and i think it will make three shows, the material is great in sound and audio, lots of great music and singing in the old style of the fifties, the big band era. Director Robert Lopez and the kids did a great of in recreating the days of old, still to be edited is over five hours of Mariachi music, from the MHS Fiesta de Mariachi, held yesterday at the United Sac, don't forget, Tricia Cortez as Selena on Wednesday

___latest Newa tidbits

___our friend and first artist to be featured on Hot Town is now headlining with his acoustic guitar at a local sports bar, radio ads are inviting Laredoans to drop by and hear his music on Thursday evenings . . . , Judi Krew will be the featured artist on Hot Town TV this week, MW and Friday, six thirty on the cable, channel 3 . . ., looking forward to watching Tricia Cortez portray the dynamic Selena on Wednesday evening at the LCC, both are (were) very talented Latina Ladies . . ., this week is also the week when the Ladrillera "Matachines" carry their colorful cross to the local church, it will be interesting to see if we can record this event as well as Dr. Norma Cantu did on her award winning documentary several years ago, and then there are the upcoming Mother Day's Serenatas and specials to view and record

___five hours of Mariachi's

___Martin High School' s Festival de Mariachi was quite a treat as the Hot Town cameras recorded over five hours of quality Mmexican traditional music, Tigeres de Sur, of course de Martin were there, alongside groups from the valley, upper hill country and also from San Antonio. The sound was as rich as it could be as every musician had a microphone to play their instrument and sing into. The musical mood ranged from fast-paced sons and huapangos to soulful lamenting baladas. The performers pranced and danced to their own sound, quite a treat for the ears and eyes of a full house of appreciative fans.

___News on the Folkloric scene

___the spectacle was colorful, lively and full of sound at the TAMIU Paradise Fiesta as the students of this lively art put on their best performance to a full house, otra vez. The costumes and the dances of Colima, Queretaro, and Jalisco amongst others showed us a little view of their Culture and daily life. The Ballet Folklorico has come a long way since the days when they used to rehearse on the sidewalks of the Esplanade and performed in makeshift costumes. Kudos are certainly in order for Ms. Gabby Mendoza-Garcia and her Group. Equally impressive was the University's Mariachi Internacional, we recorded them last week at the Art Show, and their singers especially the one who did all the old standards, Guadalajara y mas, and showcased a big talented Voice. This afternoon we head to tha United SAC to view and film the Martin High School's Fiesta de Mariachi's, an effort being put on by Mr. Francisco Sosa, he of the Tiger band and el Barrio Guadalupe, to reunite and present all the local high school Mariachi Groups.

___days of Nostalgia and Old

___Apr 27, 07 - 4:38 AM
___Yes, it was a packed House ___the old walls of the erstwhile Laredo Public City Library rocked with the sweet music of the twenty-five or so students who made up Soundtown at their nostalgic Gala Dance last night to a full house, You could see on the faces of the mainly matured audience the delight as they heard that music of days of old, how could these young faces recreate the music that maybe not their parents but their Grandparents danced and fell in love with. Song after song invigorated the crowd as most of them managed to get out on the wooden dance floor where a lot of us read our first books so many years ago, Ballads, boleros, Mambo's and other rhythms (sic) emanated from the shiny brass instrumments and from their on-stage persona as they stepped up and stood up to do their solo or sing their piece. Julie Vera was there alongside her daughter and so was Carlos Valle escorting his sister. Hot Town made their presence known,, all in all, a very memorable evening for the young at heart and those not so young.

___media print

___Monday evening, Hot Town staff reunited at the PAC studios with Mr. Mike Mcilvain of Laredos News, a journal of the Borderlands, for a question and answer session, an interview if you may,, concerning a story to be published in the next issue, which should be,, maybe, is already out, and what i hope will be a very nice pic and then on Tuesday, we were notified via e-mail that the long ago promised story in the Laredo Morning Times will also be published this weekend on Sunday, keep your fingers crossed

___a little confused by it all

___we went to the Laredo Sound Art studio at the invitation of Artist Gil Rocha, a friend, to view experimental theater and it was a real strange experience, Melissa and I greeted and met Jason and Leslie and their GIANT friendly dogs, Melissa conducted a very proficient questioning session with each of them and then the people started arriving and participating. Each guest was asked to write a sample dialogue card which was to be incorporated into the new "movie", while the artists worked on developing their project, we saw a strange 20 minute movie which i will describe later, then the movie started and that is when the strangeness began.

___Laredo's Master Showman

___Rene Ornelas, now legally using the monicker Rene Rene put on quite a show last night to a medium-sized audiende at the Laredo Civic Center. Quite an effort for a seventy year old man to expand so much energy in doing a 90 minute show as he sang, joked, and even danced tohis music all the time sharing his love and committment for the Lord. He started by remeiniscing about the days of "gravy fries and cherry Pepsi's" all for twenty cents at the City Drug downtown". ___He sang all his old songs now reworded to sing his Praise of the Man above, he spoke of the old days at Martin High and even had some graphis of the 1954 Yearbook on the big screen. I spoke to him afterwards about appearing on Hot Town and we will have to see how that developes. Anyhow, he has another performance scheduled this weekend in Laredo and those of you who missed him would do well to make an effort to catch his act.

___big, big plans

___we are in the process of recording several Mother's Day Shows, all in honor of those women who bore us and carried us for so long, first and foremost, our own Special which we will record next Tuesday, we hope to get some special Mothers, maybe the Gold Star Mothers from Laredo and serenate them on the air with a special Trio de Musicos, second and foremost,, we hope to record Tricia Cortez and some friends as they all serenate the "madrecitas" de Retama Manor, South i believe,, i hope Rolando and Fernando join us in this endeavor which is being planned by Norma, thirdly, there is a man named Blanquez who with his son and a friend make it a tour and perform at four old folks' homes, this bears recording and we will make every effort to feature them on Hot Town, finally, we have become aware that a friend and former classmate of Norma will host a mother day's serenate by several trio and this concert will be on the actual Mother's Day at the American Legion on Zaragoza Street

___Lucky Day, Lucky Man

___Finally, today, we got to see the second part of the Luciano "Lucky" Duarte interviews, i don't like to mention my own accolades but Norma tells me that is is our best show so far, we are at number 14, and it was filmed in her own living room, also in the paper, a short notice that we can go see and hear the Laredo mastershowman of the past century tomorrow night at the Laredo Civic Center, he is now singing christian music but i feel it will be a good show anyway and it is Free, he has rewritten and reworded most of his love songs to now praises the lord, he goes by the name of Rene Rene but i feel and know he is one

___they forgot ???????

___last night's show was not shown because they forgot to put it on the schedule, instead they ran a mini video on the landfill, i was livid last night but when i went to seek an explanation, i found it a little funny cause no one would take the blame, was it the secretary who typed the schedule or the chief who ordered, also they had some confusion as to what tape is to be shown next, just because we have three shows on the shelf ready to run, is no reason for them to get jumpy and make another mistake, will they ever get it right ?

___guitars and flamenco

___four o'clock today at the TAMIU Performing Center, a guitar concert by university and high school students which will undoubtly feature Dr. Gilbert Soto and will include some flamenco dancers from the University troup, on the second floor exhibition halls there will be a show of artworks from the University, CAREFUL !, some of the artworks are rated RRRRRRRRRRR

___getting ready

___went down to the VMT recital hall to witness the "Soundtown" band getting ready for their big "Gala - Dance scheduled for the 26th at the Laredo Arts Center in the upstairs room which was formerly the City Library. The evening promises to have an "old school" feel to it as they are forming a reportoire of songs from days past. Sinatra's "I've got you under my skin" to Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink and Appler Blossom White" are on the playlist along with Ronstadt's "Perfidia" and even the melodic "Moonlight Serenade", a song sure to evoke some memories in young hearts. You can be there in person to witness it if you get your tickets in advance. It is a fundtaiser for the Music Department and the attire is semi-formal.

___Oh ! What a Night !

___the full crew was down at the Laredo Center for the Arts for three solid hours recording all three exhibits, first and foremost, there was Mr. Mark Webber and his photo-journalist kid and their display of fotos and the paper they put out, and then there was the delightful Judy Krew from Ohio with her paradoxical view of the american lifestyle, lots and lots of painting adorned the main hall of the center and Debbie and her had a long meaningful discussion on her works, in another hall, a painter from the capital of Mexico, el Df showed his viiewpoints of the Mexican Revolution and all it's heroes, wow, what a night

___what a lonnnnnnng day

___after a hard, long day in the classroom, Melissa and Myrah and myself went out and finished a wonderful recording of masterkeyboardist Jose Luis Pena, he played all the old romantic classics for us like "Solamente una vez", "La Mentira" and the most modern, "Tu de Que Vas" along with some instrumentals and Melissa did a very creditable job as an interviewer, then we headed home for some rest cause tomorrow we record another Art Show at the Laredo Art Center, this time, Norma and Debbie will come along, having fun now

___ready, set, . . .go

___all set, equipment has been reserved for Thursday as we tape Jose Luis Pena, master keyboardist and singer and his romantic music, Melissa will be the exclusive interviewer and hostess on this video but i know we will use Debbie and Norma as well on Friday when we take our cameras to the Laredo Art Center to cover the VMT photo journalist student's exhibition, our goal to interview whoever interesting shows up as well as some of the photos and paintings on the exhibit walls, should be fun as we do two shows this week and move further ahead of our weekly schedule

___immediate future plans

___today's transmission of the "Luciano Duarte" video show was without problems, it is a very accurate, historical piece that deserves to be seen and studied by all serious laredo historians, this man had a story to tell and i am glad we got to hear a little bit of it, it is not over, the first part will be repeated wednesday and friday, and part 2 is next week, M-W-and F, channel three on the cable, six thirty pm,, meantime we will try to record master keyboardist Jose Luis Pena on thursday and we will be at the Art show with the photo-journalist kids on Friday, still keeping Carlos Landin in mind for next week, as soon as the construction work on his house is done

___"a little bit of expla........"

___Soundtown, a VMT band formerly known as the VMT Combo is pictured on the laredomio spotblog as they will soon be having their Dance/Gala, a fundraiser for the VMT music program, musica de Sinatra, Perez Prado and a bit of "Piel Canela", wow, Hot Town will be there and so will our cameras, and my son and his trumpet are on the top row, extreme right

___"Lucky" is done

___the Luciano Duarte tapes are done and ready for transmission next week, two tapes almost an hour's worth of material on the "gran Senor de la radio de Laredo del pasado", it has to be said, Debbie Leija did a great job on the interview conducted mainly in Spanish, my wish is now that we could spread the word to get more people to see this shows which are really educational and so much a part of Laredo

___perfect . . .

____today's transmission of the Cigarroa Middle School "Honors" String Orchestra went amazingly well if not perfect, it was a short program not more than 22 minutes long but i feel it was my best edit job yet, Debbie and Melissa were "incredible" as usual and the kids, well, they just provided all the Talent, kudos to their Mentor, Ms. Alma Nayelli Garcia

___april is here and nobody's fool

___started editing the Luciano Duarte Video program and it is a labor of love, i really admire my buddy Luciano so i want this tape to be especially good and worthwhile,, it is a diffiicult task as there are so many facets to his life and the sequence of events are interwined but i will take my time and perservere, i can see the effort that Debbie puts into her part of the program and it is especially entertaining since it is almost totally exclusively in Spanish, but we need to get backk and do some more taping of Luciano, i am not sure who we are recording this week but we will get someone, maybe Carlos Landin is ready for a follow-up, hay que ver !!!!

___"do and redo"

___edited (again) for the second time, the video shot on the first of the Month, where did March go ?, it is all about the Cigarroa Middle School "Honors" Orchestra and i had credited the wrong title with the wrong song, but i am learning, i can almost distinguish an Irish jig from a Bach Classical Piece, what a musical legacy i have

___"aquellos ojos verdes"

___we had a delightful evening as we spent over three hours recording the Laredo and Musical legacy of Mr. Luciano Duarte and his wife Chelo. filming was done in the elegant living room of Ms. Norma Adamo and first indication are that the picture and the sound came out great. Mr. Duarte recounted his lengthy career as a musician and as a radio announcer for decades on the Laredo airwaves and his recreation of the "intro" and the "despedida" for the long running "Serenata Nocturna" was quite an emotion for those of us who grew up on those golden words. Next time he will perform for us with the trio and we will bring it to you, that is a promise.

___sort of an explanation

___we sort of got behind with the spring break and labor problems and that is why they are showing repeats of our shows this week, the Honors string program edited by me has major inaccuracies and that is why it is not being shown, the string orchestra director has not been able to come help me work out the kinks, so maybe it will be ready next week, ready willing and able to take it's rightful place for three showings, if not, i hope you enjoyed Paul Rodriguez on Monday and Carmen Salinas on Wednesday, i am not sure what is airing on Friday

___the beat goes on

___we are back on our "second career"" as we resume production of Hot Town tomorrow with the dean of Laredo DJ's, Mr. Luciano Duarte and his wife who will be our featured guests tomorrow night as we record for all posterity this man of "mucho many" experiences, things i didn't know, dept.: he received a "Bronze Star" as a result of his accomplishments with the US Army in Germany, he was part of a famous trio that was about to tour Cuba before the War broke out, he was on the Laredo Radio airwaves for over 40 years and he was a career bilingual educator with LISD, and he has the pictures and awards to prove it, he is in the Texas Musician Hall Of Fame in San Antonio and of course at the ROOTS museum in Alice, Texas, more later

___down, down, down we go, but for a short time

___the Hot Town staff, made up mainly of Teachers and Students has taken the week off to get some quality down time and hatch up new ideas for the continuation of our program, just before we started our hiatus, we shot one of the talented piano students from the VMT under the direction of Dr. Mary Grace Carroll and we will have to go back and record the second accomplished Pianist at a later time, it is proving to be inconvenient since they are both concurrently enrolled in college and high school classes but we will work it out , meanwhile our program continues to pick up new audience now that some of the glitches have been worked out but it is an ongoing activity, we have to continuous upgrade to make this a better program

___Paul done and completed

___completed the editing job on the long awaited Paul Rodriguez video, now let me explain that it was never our intention to start off by recording either Carmen Salinas nor Paul but since we were already there, hey !, their show just happened and believe me they were funny and a real experience, Paul fools around with the Music, he even attempt to sing but mainly he is funny, funny, funny, a real "relaje", also,, the mini interview with the aspiring journalist cut out and at just (6) minutes, that piece will have to be added to a short show, a ver que pasa, tonught we edit the String orchestra video y eso es puro "high brow" sophisticated stuff

___great time in Laredo town

___had a great time at Arnold's party as his friends, mainly Filipinos and some locals are a great bunch, the food was great as we delighted our palate with something else besides Mexican Cuisine, then it was Karaoke time as everyone else took a turn at the microphone, well not everyone but Debbie did while Melissa and i promised just watched, it was fun guiding Debbie by phone till she found the right house, and the kids, well, there were kids all over the place

___Happy Birthday, Arnold

___today is Arnold Villamero's birthday, Arnold was the first Musical guest of Hot Town !

___people all over the place

___it resembled Grand Central last night as the Laredo Office of Telecommunication Public Access Studios overflowed with visitors to our latest recrding session. First of all, there was Mayor Raul Salinas. always in a hurry, who very graciously stopped by to be interview by our budding journalist student interviewer, next in order were the reporter from the Laredo Morning Times Christina Rosales and their very capable cameraperson, a man we all know well and that is "Cuate" Santos. Now, he took a lot of pictures for the special which will run in "The Art of Living", a Sunday supplement magazine. Norma, Melissa, Debbie were all queried extensivly gather material for the story and we are anxiously looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Finally, but perhaps more spectacular due to their talent and passion for their music, we had eight members of the Cigarroa Middle School String Honors Orchestra under the very capable leadership of their Mentor Alma Garcia. Their Performance was nothing short of spectacular. Next week we record the outstanding Piano students trained at the VMT by Dr. Mary Grace Carrolll.

___good news on the way

___tonight we go into the studio to highlite and feature and meet the kids from the Cigarroa Middle School orchestra under the very capable direction of their Instructor Ms. Alma Garcia who is in fact a very capable violinist and Mariachi singer, these kids constantly rate well in musical competition and we shall see how they sound tonight. Not only that but, the editor of the Laredo Morning Times Entertainment weekly called and he said that he would send over a feature writer and a cameraman to do a "cover" story on our TV personalities. The Kids at the VMT newspaper who are being featured on tomorrow night's program have also announced that in the next issue of their Magnet Tribune they will do a feature story about "Hot Town !", how about them apples ? Their Valentine issue which just came out also has a nice picture of Melissa doing her Interview with them.

___no hitches

___tonight's program went off without a hitch as the control room finally got one right, this after both shows last week were "butchered" the Wednesday episode cut off by the automatic hour switch and the Friday episode ran almost ten minutes without sound until they threw the switch, the show ran almost flawlessly as we introduced the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts and their very talented kids, Mr. Cerda, the school Director almost made his message known and tomorrow all the "show" kids travel to our school, where Debbie, Melissa and I teach to recruit our eighth graders, should be quite a show but we will not tape it, we will be too busy minding the kids and enjoying the talent extravaganza

___blast at la pulga"

___we had a blast 'shooting" el Diablo aka David Morales,, a local airbrush artist" and viewing the beautiful artwork that he produces at his place of business at the Santa Fe Market, first of all we missed having Debbie Leija,, she was out due to a family illness, so Melissa and Norma had to step up and do the bulk of the on-camera time. Meli did the initial opening interview and then Norma had a lot of fun watching David paint a special personalized shirt for her with her name and a red,red rose on the front, then we showcased a few of the products he has done such as a helmet, some shoes and various other garments. Finally, we go and viewed his "low rider" car and the beautiful artwork he has done on it. Not only that, his auto hops up and down, up an down

___"fun, fun, fun"

___it was a blast listening to and recording the "Conjunto Extremo", a group of fine gentlemen students and a young lady from the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts, their sound and presentation is much improved and they are going places. They are very versatile featuring songs from "old school" Selena to Vallenato to even an upbeat Duranguense dandy. The director, Mr. Robert M. Lopez is also a first rate musician as well as a very classy gentleman. Afterward the crew enjoyed the post production event at Ravi's restaurant on San Bernardo but we sure missed Norma''s wit and humor not to mention her "chismitos". Norma was feeling a little under the weather which is beginning to get warm in Laredo, Melissa kept us entertained with her "impressions" of notable friends and Debbie sure has a contagious laughter. Eva, Melissa's sister and Louis, my main technician and son and Robert M. Lopez rounded out the group as we devoured plate after plate of "una gran parrilada", tomorrow we record the "airbrush artist" and next week it is the award winning Cigarroa Middle School Orchestra under the direction of Ms. Alma Garcia

___cudda been better

___not too pleased with the quality of the music and the production but the interviews were quite outstanding as the girls really came up with superb questions, i do believe that they are getting better at thinking during the interview process and following up with probing material. There was some repetition but under the circumstances,, it couldn''t be helped. tomorrow we shoot musical students at the VMT and on the weekend, we have a date with an airbrush artist who is very, very interesting, to say the least, also must never forget that we know have a backdrop to use in our studio scenes and this was painted by a talented Laredo artist which we will feature in the near future, his name is Gilberto Rocha

___schedule for the week

___editing is completed as promised on the Del-Peps video and also on the shortened video for Carmen Salinas, her tape ran 28 plus minutes while the guys had a 30 minute show, Del-Peps will "air"this week but not today since today is a Federal Holiday. Watch for it on Wednesday and Friday, next week it is time to see and hear and maybe admire the VMT kids, then the Salinas show as it has the mayor and Carmen material on it. We will "shoot" at the VMT recital hall on Thursday as it becomes "conjunto" time,

___rising conjunto band

___caught a young conjunto in Encinal that really plays the old style "puro conjunto" we all grew up with. They are conjunto "Los Bandidos", some os them from Encinal and a few from Laredo. What is impressed me most was their vast repotoire and command of the different styles of music all done in a very professional manner. They will be heard from and of course they are coming soon to "Hot Town", i guarantee it.

___so much, so soon

___we shot enough material last week on two occasions to make at least three shows, the show on the Del-Peppers will be a thirty minuter as they were cut short of time and they did not have time to do their full musical program, we will visit the home of Carlos Landin in the near future and present his trophies and awards to Laredo's Cable access audience and we will visit an actual rehearsal to record them in a better setting, likewise the material on Carmen Salinas might stretch to thirty minute as all that is is, is two interviews and her acceptance speech at the podium, but we have enough material on Paul Rodriguez to do a full hour plus, he is interviewed by both Debbie and Melissa, he talks on the air to Univision and then he clowns around, make a lot of silly jokes and even sings along in pantomine with the mariachi, but all that will come to pass as the editing process is done, by tomorrow, hopefully

___one step further

___it was us against univision as we were the first ones waiting in the Restaurant Private Dining area and as Paul Rodriguez walked in, my twin interviewers, Melissa and Debbie (we were unable to find Norma), got his attention and brought him over to our camera, they asked question after question from both sides and he responded with nothing but great jokes, that is until Debbie asked him where he was last night and he got serious and gave us a serious response, meanwhile, univision camera and interviewer, Juan Rodriguez waited and waited, then it was their turn as he responded with some anti-fence rethoric which we also recorded. Pictures were taken as Paul was very co-operative and patient and we got his autograph alongside that of Carmen Salinas which we got last nught. He sat at the head of the table and kept making faces and telling joke after joke. A full group of House Mariachi came in and serenaded him. He joked around, pantomined his singing and kept the house laughing, and our cameras kept on rolling, made contact with a real good Mariachi singer fron Nuevo Laredo who did "el rey" for Paul and also met the owners of el Rancho restaurant and also Javier Barroso from the Times "Que Pasa ?" fridays' entertainment magazine and he promised to send someone to do a feature story on "Hot Town", now we are not only covering the News but we are the news

___hot town goes big time !

___Our belles were the toast of the ball tonight, Debbie, Norma and Melissa, dressed totally in black were running all over the place getting interviews, Debbie and Melissa got one-on-one seated interviews with international comedienne Carmen Salinas, Debbie got some good words from the Mayor and of course all the leader-singers of the Del Peppers band gave us extensive material, our triple threats competed for interviews there alongside Pro 8 News and Telemundo and even Multimedios from Monterrey and our hostesses had the mostesses, being bilingual and bicultural, heck telemundo even offered to do a special news report on us, singer Ruben Ramos will return in two weeks and give us as much material and interviews as we want, the male interviewer did not want to stop talking to our Ladies of Hot Town, could it be that they have too much charm ? . . .and we made a lot of contacts with other singer, dancers and even tv producers

___ready, set, . . .go

___almost everything all set for the big shoot tomorrow, cameras and related equipment is all loaded in carrying bags, while we shoot at the Civic Center, the PAC crew will be downtown shooting the Youth Parade, almost all the equipment is out of the studio, we got the letter of authorization from the Lulacs and the Del-Peppers band and also received media badges from the publicity people, now all we got to do is study and go over our plans as to what we are going to do when the action starts, floor plan and action plan and then make sure we do it, the results of our effort will be viewable next week, you know where, Cable channel 3, MW and F at 6:30 pm

___naturally funny, love hurts

______Norma, our Normis stole the show tonight on the first broadcast of our Valentine-Love Special, the Hot Town ! production for the week, i had the three ladies of our show, Debbie,, Melissa and of course Normma discussing love, committment and sacrifice and since Norma is the most natural comedian of the three, she simply stole the show. Typical comments heard from her ranged from "I never had a high school date, my Dad was too strict" to when she retells of her throwing dishes in her kitchen, i presume at Ron. and you should have seen her twinkletoe red sparkly slippers. just like the ones Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz. Arnold had a couple of real sweet love songs from his endless supply and he gave an real detailed description as to what love means to him,, and not to forget the Cayanans, que aguante !, show will be repeated on Wed and Fri at 6:30 pm, channel three on the Laredo Cable

___editing, editing, and more , , ,

___finally, the VMT Promotional Tape is completely finished, Mr. Cerda, the flamenco couple dancers, and Fabiola were all great, also, the Valentine_Love Special is also in the can ready for broadcast just in time for Valentine Week, our three ladies of "Hot Town !" really express some hot opinions on what Love is and what makes it work, thanks much to the Cayanans, Hector and Lea Socorro, for such a great show, never forget Arnold and his collection of love songs, coming up next, we go on location to "shoot" the Del-Peppers at the Senor Internacional, hope to get some comments from Ruben Ramos. Paul Rodriguez and of course from "la corcholata", on the following week, it is the "Conjunto Extremo" from the VMT

___Valentine done

___two days of shooting gave us all the material we need to complete the Valentine Week Special. Norma, Arnold, Debbie, and Melissa will give us their feelings on True Love and Committment. Another couple, The Cayanans also gave us their input on what makes a Marriage work for so many years. Of course we will include music. A special thanks to Mr. Mares who gave us a recommendation on a fine band. We will make contact.

___weekly schedule

____editing on the Photo-Journalism Video featuring Mark Webber and his students is complete, by Tuesday night, we should complete editing on the VMT Promotional video with the Performers and Mr. Cerda, on Thursday, February 8th, we will "shoot" the Valentine Special with the musical trio and the romantic couples, programs to be run this week are part two of the Quintero Family Special on Monday and Friday and part one on Wednesday, don't forget, 6:30 pm on cable channel three (3)

___the hearts are next

___Valentine Special, a show dedicated al "amor" is our next recording, we got a dynamite trio de musicos all set to sing "su musica romantica", now all we need are some couples dedicated to revealing their secrets for finding and keeping their loved ones happy

___it is all a great deal of fun

___videotaped Mark Webber and his cast of intellectual, kids who practice Photography/Journalismm at the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts as they showed off their award winning newspaper and the fantastic photo's they not only take but also develop in their own darkroom. no music, no dance just more than forty minutes of talk between them and my two beautiful co-hostesses Debbie and Melissa, Olivia took some great photos no only of them but of the whole crew including Norma X 3 which will soon be available on our blog space

___good news, bad news

___taped the material for the informational video for VMT, Fabiola Rivera sang great on her two songs but she sure does like to warble strong emotional material, she did "Cu-cu-ru-cu-cu Paloma" and her signature song which is "Tata Dios" both interpreted with such emotion that at the end i feel as if i have a lump in my throat, the Flamenco duo of Mata and Longoria did a different dance number than that which won them top prize in Latin Arts, Mr Cerda, VMT Director was very patient in waiting to be taped and for that we cannot thank him enough, Debbie and Melissa were their usual great self in front of and in back of the camera, and Louis simply set up and took down the technical equipment needed to complete the shoot, two bad bits of News, Norma,, our Norma was not there and while we were taping, the Pac control center put out (transmitted) the wrong tape, instead of tape two which was a natural follow-up to tape one which was x-mitted last Monday, they repeated tape on, oh my, gotta make some calls, tonight we shoot the VMT photo-journalism kids, it should be a blast

___creme de la creme

___we are recording the best of the best in the musical department tomorrow from the Vidal M. Trevino School of Communication and Fine Arts, an award winning vocalist, dance winners in a National Contest, and several All State Musicians will all be interviewed and perform on the show to be recorded. Hostesses Debbie and Melissa will have their hands full recognizing this fine group of students, all products of LISD

___the show must go on !

___i regret the show was "butchered" as the show started late and as a result, when seven o'clock struck, the channel switched to a recording of the Air Force Band and then we were switched back to the final moments of Jerry and Norma's song, nevertheless, the music provided by Jerry on the piano and Norma's beautiful voice cast a different spell on what we are used to hearing in Laredo everyday, an instrumental version of "What a Wonderful World", vocal by Jerry of Little Joe's "Cuando salgo a los Campos", "Fly me to the Moon" and Rene Ornelas' "Hoy amaneci pendando en ti" en duo were just some of the pieces offered, Debbie was as usual grandiose and her charm and humor are incredible, Norma was her warm normal self turning everyone into an instant life long friend, Melissa Rodriguez made a suitable debut as a hostess/interviewer and the cinematography by my son Louis was just short of brillant, he shows a knack for focusing in right away on the proper focal point and this is just his second show.

___ready, set, . . .go

___we are "go" on the next show, two half hour shows on the Quintero Family and so much recorded material that it was a shame but i had to leave out so much good stuff, i almoost had it in mind to make three half hour show, but i bet you that there will be more talent and more shows to come, maybe even an update on the Quinteros

___hot time in this hot town

___it is indeed a pleasure to work with a young family that shows such warmth and camaraderie not to mention such professionalism as the Jerry Quintero Family. It was indeed delightful for the crew to work with them for hours on end trying to put their talent and their lifes on the tiny screen. The finished product will be a delight, informative and show the world what a treasure Laredo has in the Musical Quintero family

___we loved it also

___quintero family Inbox


Norma Quintero

To Roberto,
I want to send a big “thank you”to you, Debbie Leija,and all the crew at “Hot Town!” Jerry, Alexia, and I had such a great time taping your show. The memories you created for our family will be very valuable to us. My daughter especially liked working the camera.Please let us know if we can be of any service to your wonderful organization. I think Laredo is in for a huge treat with you guys. Congratulations and lots of luck! Thank you,\

La Familia Quintero"
);

___first show review

___received several calls after the showing, mainly favorable and very positive, the show was adequate and Debbie and Arnold were great, their chemistry and interaction was very favorable due to their personalities as they played off each other, still need work on the opening and closing, even Norma liked her scenes, Debbies suggests we get an artist to do us a backdrop, we will do some additional scenes with the Quintero family on Wednesday and "shoot" the VMT informational video Thursday night

___today's the day

___"Premiere" show featuring Arnold Villamero airs tonight on cable channel three at 6:30 pm. This week we start work on our third show. Who will it be ? Several Fine Arts individuals that's for sure.

___don't miss this

___i have become aware of a forthcoming event which might hold special interest to some of you. If you have a family background that included farmwork or simply you care for the plight of our brothers, then you might be interested in this.

http://www.mafofarmworker.com/

___laredo tejano legends

___laredo's own tejano legends on Hot Town !, parece que si and i hope

___editing, editing, and more editing

___i been really burning the midnight oil practicing the "art" of editing, i find it can be as creative and as fulfilling as writing, in effect, you are painting a picture live of an event, and much more visual

___la Familia Quintero de Laredo

___second show is in the can, one and one half hour of unbelieveable music from the Jerry Quintero Family of Laredo, he of course a former member of ""la familia" family of Musicians that played for Little Joe several years ago play the piano and sang, his wife Norma is a voice teacher and an incredible talent as a singer, and when their daughter Alexia joined her on stage, they looked and sounded like a mirror image of each other, i knew they were talented but i did not believe there could be so much talent in one household, it will require two show, a full hour, to showcase this much talent

___ummmm, happy birthday

___a very, very Happy Birthday today to Laredo Mio Board Member Norma Adamo, she turns a little over 21 again today, best wished from all of us, tomorrow is "shooting" day as we get together to film our "'guests"

___stirring up interest

___the show, as yet not even having it's Premiere, is stirring interest, the Public Access Board is interested and wants to meet these people who are involved in the planning of Hot Town !, it seems they sort of like the idea of a local production dealing with Laredo topics and wants to know who these people are, so Debbie, Louis, Chuck, Norma and I will do a small presentation on our plans and ideas before them on February 14th. ahhhh !, politics

___show is starting ro rock and roll

___started to get offers today and we have not yet even started the publicity push, we are recording and featuring a live tejano band on Thursday, and plans are in the works to do a "recruiting" show for the VMT Magnet School, meanwhile two show are on the shelf waiting to be edited, are you sure that Spielberg and Robert Rodriguez started this way ?

___guest on second show

___we have decided on the guest for our second show, or rather guests, it is Laredo's premier family of Musical talent, names will be announced as soon as the show is in the can

___accolades

This is in all sincerity. Roberto, I truly believe that what you are doing deserves a lot of credit. I feel that this is an endeavor which is a very positive image for our great "Hometown". It was about time someone brought up other new ideas which shall promote our youth's image and shall instill pride, not only in you for thinking about this wonderful project, but, I believe, also for those who shall be personally participating, and in all honesty, for the whole great city of Laredo, Texas. I commend you and all those who shall be involved in the hard work ahead because a project such as this, took a long time coming and requires a great deal of positive thinking as well as the hard work it shall entail. I believe in all of you and have nothing but great pride in, although being away, being a part of the city. All your hard work/thoughts, shall bring all of you and Laredo the great rewards which shall derive from such talent as we truly have in our great city. Again, I commend you and your group and wish you only the very best of luck. Knowing who shall be involved in such a project, I know that it can't go anywhere but to a great fulfillment and great achievements which come from those who do not fear challenges. Take care and may He guide you all to the forthcoming success. Respectfully, J.F. Segovia Sr.

___first show

_______it is done, after much anxiety on my part, and Norma, we completed the first thirty minutes of what shall be 26 hours of programming at year's end, now it can be announced, we have a hostess and she is Debbie Leija aka debbie spaghetti, Norma was nervous but still great and Arnold the guest did two Mclean songs, one from Croce and one from John Denver, dang he don't know any Jose Alfredo songs yet, Chuck Owen (nee -s) was there, so was Sal, alternate hostess is Melissa Rodriguez from my school, oh, before i forget i went and waited for about an hour at the Papagallo''s Club to greet and welcome Little Joe and his Familia Musicians, i liked Lalo's suggestion about his doing some PSA's for us and i asked and he said he could//would maybe after they set up their equipment and he did a sound check, i had to go start taping and i guess another TV crew came by and got him, well, maybe next time and thank you Lalo for your marvelous idea, anyhow, after the taping several of us went and actually got in to see the Tejano Living legend perform, he is still a great performer and as usual he started off his baile with a stirring rendition of "America, the beautiful" which cause a whole lot of us Senior citizens to stand proudly with our hands over our hearts for a long time

___first public announcement

______i'd like to take a little bit of your precious time to make the following announcement. I have formed an independent Television Production Company heretoforth known as LaredoMio Productions. We will begin shooting our "pilot" program this Thursday, January 11 at the PAC studio beginning at 6:00 pm.The purpose of this first new program is to showcase Laredo's talented artists in the Fine Arts. Program will air weekly on Cable Channel 3 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6:30 pm with the "Primiere" scheduled on January 22. Each weekly show will feature a Laredoan talented in the fields of Music, Dance, Vocal Presentation, (singers) Writers, Poets or Thespians. Norma Adamo and Chuck Owens are involved as founders in this endeavor and we expect to make contact with Teachers and individuals in the local community who will help us find the local talented individuals. We would like your input, ideas,suggestions and/or critique on this project. Please refer all comments to the following address now and in the future. E-mail is laredomio@gmail.com. Future programs might possibly include a Laredo Sports theme and a series of shows dealing with the Laredo de Ayer.

LaredoMio Television Productions

___welcome to our new Enterprise, we are here to "celebrate Laredo's Fine Arts"