Feliz Navidad: A Christmas Playlist En Español

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photo by Marco Torres
Navidad en el Barrio
​We here at Rocks Off love our Christmas music, except when we don't. Seriously, big box retailer and car commercials? Why must you always try to force the Christmas spirit on us a full two weeks before Thanksgiving? But then, about a week before the big day, when it is totally appropriate to do so, we get really hooked.

Personally, this member of Rocks Off has been a bit of a grinch these last several years. But in an attempt to turn away from our Scrooge-like ways, we'd like to offer an alternative list of Christmas songs that you can play while visiting family, opening presents, or eating an unhealthy amount of tamales.

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Singing "Souleros" - A Conversation with Santana Band Frontman Andy Vargas

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Photos by Marco Torres
​Andy Vargas wears many hats. He is one of two lead singers for the The Carlos Santana Band. He is the son who followed in his father's footsteps by choosing music as a career. He is a dedicated dad to his 16-year-old son. He is part of an effort to replace music equipment and instruments for students in Bastrop County who lost them in the wildfires. He is a surprisingly skillful DJ. But most of all, he just wants to sing.

Rocks Off caught up with the Watsonville, California native at the House of Blues last night where we asked him about his upcoming solo album Souleros, how he got his start with Santana, and what inspires him.

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Friday Night: DJ Erick Rincón and 3BallMty at El Chaparral

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photos by Marco Torres
​As we walked up to the entrance of El Chaparral Houston on Friday night, we immediately felt out of place. The doorman gave us the "what the hell are you doing here?" look. We certainly could have blended in better had we not left our pointy boots, oversized belt buckle, and undersized cowboy hat at home. But we showed up that night to experience one thing and one thing only: Tribal Guarachero, also known as "Pointy Boot Music". And we were not to be deterred. (Actually, the PR group for the club was very gracious and accommodating, allowing us to enter "El Chapa" with minimal hassle).
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Saturday Night: Vicente Fernández At Toyota Center

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Photos by Marco Torres
Vicente Fernández, Edith Marquez
Toyota Center
October 1, 2011

If Aftermath were forced to assign Mexican equivalents to famous Anglo and/or American musicians, the list would go like this:

Los Tigres del Norte = The Beatles

Maná = The Rolling Stones

Vicente Fernández = Elvis, Frank Sinatra & Johnny Cash

Yes, Fernández is that big of a deal. His fans call him "Chente," and Saturday night at Toyota Center, a nearly three-hour set in front of a packed house further cemented his status as El Rey, the king of ranchera music.

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Twin Miami Sound Machines Drive HBO's Latino List

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Photos courtesy of Brown Beauty Productions/HBO
Pitbull (right) and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders talk angles during their Latino List photo shoot.
​Rocks Off is on the phone with perhaps one of the great photographers of this era, critically acclaimed and award-winning photojournalist Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. His brainchild, The Black List - a collection of intimate, up-close photos of the great black leaders and personalities of our time - came to life on HBO a few years ago when the photo subjects told heartfelt stories about the struggles and triumphs of being black in America. 

The Black List portrait exhibition premiered in July 2008 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Wu-Tang Clan mastermind/producer RZA, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Russell Simmons and Slash from Guns N' Roses were all part of the first or second volumes of The Black List in the portrait and film versions.  

It occurred to us after our chat that as much as we grew up alongside blacks and in black communities, and as much as we are immersed in the hip-hop pioneered and dominated by black artists, as a contributing writer to this music blog, we still learned something - many things - about being black in America.

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Last Night: Mango Punch! Celebrates 20 Years

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Photo by Cimela Kidonakis/Optix Studios
Mango Punch! 20th Anniversary Concert
Talento Bilingüe de Houston
September 28, 2011

If you felt the earth shake last night, it was because one of Houston's most popular performers, Walter Suhr, was on stage with the original members of Mango Punch! celebrating the group's 20th anniversary.

Coming together for a concert/party at Talento Bilingue de Houston, Brian Torres (vocals/drums), Oscar Larranaga (vocals/percussion) and Julio Céspedes (bass), along with Suhr (piano/guitar/percussion/vocals), were the first lineup of the Latin band, formed in 1991. Five CDs, dozens of awards - including a slew of Houston Press Music Awards and several prestigious songwriting honors - and thousands of performances later, Suhr's group has a different lineup but the same infectious party vibe.

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Last Night: Molotov At House Of Blues

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Photos by Liana Lopez
Molotov
House of Blues
September 27, 2011

The audience was already getting rowdy as we photographers claimed our spots in the soon-to-be drop zone for crowd surfers in front of the House of Blues stage. The concert hadn't even started and there were several 20-oz. Bud Light cans littering the floor in the photo pit.

This being Aftermath's first Molotov concert, we had no idea how hard the four-time Latin Grammy award winners were about to rock it.

When Tito, Miky, Paco and El Gringo Loco took the stage, our first observation was how unimpressive the light show was compared to bands like Café Tacuba or Los Amigos Invisibles. However, before we knew what was happening, our body was trying to figure out how to dance, take pictures and not trip over the metal barricade supports dripping with beer.

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Saturday Night: Santana & Spearhead At The Woodlands

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Photos by Marco Torres
Santana, Michael Franti & Spearhead
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
September 10, 2011

Timeless. Classic. Legend. OG - all classifications that tend to be distributed loosely in the music industry these days. Yet for Carlos Santana, the skinny Mexican kid who played at Woodstock and has since accumulated 10 Grammy Awards and several platinum albums, classifying him as anything less would be incongruous. (That vocabulary word-of-the-day calendar is really paying off!)

On a steamy yet breezy Saturday night in The Woodlands, a diverse crowd filed into the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion to witness the spiritual experience that is a Santana concert. Older rock and roll fans sat on the lawn next to low-riders, Harley owners and dread-locked hippies.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, aided by second-hand incense smoke - that was incense, right? - and booze. For $35, you can now buy a chilled bottle of White Zinfandel, delivered in a bucket of ice with a stack of plastic cups. Classy!

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Saturday Night: Ana Gabriel & Marco Antonio Solis At Toyota Center

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Photos by Marco Torres
Ana Gabriel, Marco Antonio Solis
Toyota Center
August 20, 2011

Ana Gabriel is the unrivaled queen of Mexican music. Rancheras, mariachi, torch songs, ballads - she does them all with a cry in her voice that breaks your heart. So when Gabriel shared the bill with Marco Antonio Solis Saturday night, Aftermath fully expected to be taken on a roller-coaster of emotions, and we weren't disappointed. Gabriel's "Soy Como Soy" especially won us over - again.

As did her story about her first gig in Houston. "How many memories I have of Houston," she said in Spanish, before going on to discuss her time at local restaurant Las Casuelas. (It's closed now, but years ago was a favorite late-night haunt on Houston's north side.)

Gabriel sang with Casuelas' house band, which, unfortunately for her, was a cumbia band with a couple of salsa musicians thrown in. "You can imagine my songs with a little salsa beat," she said. We kept thinking how strange it all was.

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Saturday Night: Maná At Toyota Center

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Photos by Marco Torres
Maná
Toyota Center
July 2, 2011

It takes a special combination of hype and talent to sell out a concert, let alone two in a row. In recent memory, only two other artists have been booked to perform on consecutive nights at Toyota Center: Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

Mexican Rock en Español band Maná accomplished the same achievement on Saturday night as they rocked, rolled, and serenaded the first of two capacity weekend crowds at the downtown arena.

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