September Round-Up

This week, we're going to have a round-up of some of the most anticipated Tejano, conjunto, and cultural events of the month of September.

--Two of the biggest stars in Tejano orquesta music will be returning to the Rio Grande Valley on September 9, Saturday night. “The Legend Dance of the Year” will be headlined by Little Joe y La Familia and Ruben Ramos. Joe and Ramos are two of the very few Tejano orquesta leaders from the glory days of the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s that are still consistently working. The event will be taking place at the Catholic War Veterans dance hall in Weslaco, and entrance is $25.00 for the first 300 people, and $30.00 for anyone that arrives after the initial 300. For more information, call 956-522-5962.

--The great Sunny Ozuna and Big Crown Records teamed up for ‘Mr. Brown Eyed Soul’, a compilation of Ozuna’s beautiful songs from 1966 to 1972. I plan to have a full review up in the coming weeks, but to give y’all a preview right now, it’s strongly recommended. Amazing track selection of what made Ozuna such a special voice in Chicano Soul music. This is being released in several different formats including MP3, CD, LP, and a limited edition special colored vinyl LP. To pre-order, go to https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/

--La Lomita Park will be back in action in September, and they start things off this Sunday night, September 3, with Los Fantasmas del Valle. Pepe Maldonado is still working on the rest of the acts for this month, but we will have more information as soon as the rest of the bands for September are confirmed.  Entry fee is $10.00, and the music starts at 6 PM every Sunday night. For more information on these upcoming events, you can visit https://www.facebook.com/lalomitapark?fref=ts or call La Lomita Park owner and promoter Pepe Maldonado at 956-867-8783.

--Tomorrow, on September 2, the 7th annual Freddie Gomez Memorial Conjunto Concert will be taking place in the Historic Brownsville Downtown District, between the Capitol Theater and El Jardin Hotel. The theme of the event is “Sons of Conjunto Legends”, and will feature performances from Gilberto Perez Jr. y su conjunto, Ricardo Guzman Jr. y Los 3 Aces, and Santiago Jimenez Jr. y su conjunto. There will also be a “So You Think You Can Dance Conjunto” competition, a 20-plus minute dance marathon where participants will dance in different conjunto styles and rhythms like vals, bolero, redova, shotiz, cumbia, polka, and finally, a huapango. The event is open and free to the public, and is being organized by the South Texas Conjunto Association (STCA) Brownsville Chapter.

--If you’re looking for something to do before the big boxing showdown between Saúl ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin, his years September 16's Fiestas Patrias at the State Farm Arena will feature the iconic cumbia hit maker Fito Olivares, and lucha libre that includes the legendary brawler Pirata Morgan, who used to be announced as “El mejor luchador en el mundo” (“The best wrestler in the world”) during his heyday in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s. For more information visit http://cityofhidalgo.net/events/.