Carlos Santana backstage at the Latin Grammys/ Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez
Is music really the universal language? There was no better place to test that ragged old saw than at Thursday’s Latin Grammys at Toyota Center.
As one of the few (if not the only) non-Spanish-speakers in the building, Aftermath had a unique opportunity to sample the best Latin music had to offer, at least according to Grammy voters. And thanks to a very nice Toyota Center security lady named Diane, a curtain on
Gloria Estefan meets the media/ Photo by Olivia Flores Alvarez
The woman of the hour Thursday night was unquestionably 2008 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Gloria Estefan, whose “Mi Tierra” was big, brassy, jazzy, horn-heavy and as Cuban as a fine Cohiba cigar. So was “Oye Mi Canto,” a sprightly cumbia marked by elastic piano and both horns and percussion going crazy.
“No Lloren” slowed things down just a little, all the better to accommodate Carlos Santana’s fluid
Fifty years ago today - February 3, 1959 - the world lost three of its early pioneering rock and rollers in a fiery plane crash over Clear Lake, Iowa. Texan Buddy Holly, Chicano rock godfather Ritchie Valens, and Sabine Pass-born disc jockey/songwriter J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson all lay dead along with inexperienced pilot Roger Peterson in a frozen cornfield.
They were on a Midwestern tour that had already suffered scheduling difficulties and bad weather at almost every turn. Half a
All this week, Rocks Off is previewing Saturday and Sunday's Westheimer Block Party by asking WBP performers to fill out a list from Lisa Nola's Music Listography book we're so fond of. It's not too late for your band to be up here, either; just email chris.gray@houstonpress.com by noon Thursday if you want to play.
Next up, rabid Tom Petty/Replacements fans and infrequent performers (though more frequently of late) Bright Men of Learning remember the music their parents loved.
Benjamin Davi
