exclusive interview con tony ham guerrero 2005

Cchwnn: exclusive interview con Tony "Ham" Guerrero 2005
Now for somewhere in cyber space here is david duran.
Heveano raza y como estan. Today I am very privilege and honor to interview a legend in his own time Tony Ham Guerrero. So lets get started:
Dd; como estan mr. guerrero and welcome to our cchwnn news network center?
Tg:Thanks for calling me David,I am doing Ok overall, just dealing with this damnable Diabetes to the best of my ability.Otherwise I'm fine.
Dd: after visiting your website what else can a person say about the things you have accomplished in your long music carreer?
Tg: Thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ I have endured a long and wonderful career and I'm still active produ cing my son Alfredo with his R&B and Salsa projects.I have been very fortunate to have worked with the best musical minds in the business and I continue to do so to this day.There are a couple of things that I have always wanted to do and that is to get the real architects of our Texas/Tejano music recognized.By this I mean that the singers always get all the credit for the accomplishments they achieve as Top Entertainers.........which is OK..................they, however were not responsible for the beautiful arrangements and the style and the sound that their Orchestras created.The People I'm Talking about are People Like Chuy Compean who arranged for Beto Villa,Rudy Guerra who did the same thing for the Sunliners and the Latin Breed,Pepe Compean who was Isidro's architect.Joe Gallardo who arranged Las Nubes and Viajera for La Familia.I am currently writing a book about my life in La Onda and talk about this oversight at length.
Dd: Tony in august 3 of 2002 you were inducted into the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame, what were your feelings on that?
Tg; Well, I'm hardly ever at a loss for words but that night I forgot to recognize Fred Soto who was playing Sax with us at the time and he had written the music for the show.When I gave props to every one except Fred I felt so very bad.Being inducted into the TRHOF was very touching and rewarding and it made me realize that a lot of the contributions that I made for la onda as a sideman as well as a bandleader were appreciated by many people.
Dd: in preparing for this interview tony, I really wasn?t sure where to start in terms of your musical carreer, but I did read que age of 18 you traveled all over the U.S. and Canada with Johnny Long and his Orchestra from New York. In your expernice can you share your thoughts on how it feels having and still jamming con the best in the world?
Tg:I actually started taking lessons at the age of eight years old from Tio Pablo in Houston Texas.My Grandparents would put me on a Bus every summer with a note on my shirt that said Houston Texas.It was a wonderful time of my life because my tio pablo had a masters in music and he tutored some of Houston's finest which translates to people like Luis and Sammy Gasca,Larry martinez a cousin of mine who became a world class trumpet player and played with perez prado Isidro and Luis Alcaraz.Kenny Rogers was also a student of my Tio and he is a great vato that can not only sing but plays a great Jazz bass.Those were some great times.

Dd: In 1987 you and your family moved to Austin, Texas where you have been playing Latin Jazz and Salsa. One of your latest album that you recorded in 2002 with your son and 2 daughters, called "the new generation" was your first salsa/Latino international album on Hacienda Records. Can you share your feeling on how it felt to record with your children?
Tg:Recording with my kids was very moving and emotional.During the recording of that album many things didn't go like we planned.I did not have time to work with the vocals,........ as a consquence they did not sound up to par.I also found out that my son was more dedicated to to the art of music than my daughters so I have concentrated with him on his development and he is becoming a vey good singer.During the the concert last week in San Angelo both Johnny hernandez and Sunny had nothing but good things to say about his performance.I will at some po int on time go back to work with my daughters but right now Alfredo is on the verge of breaking out and I have to be careful with his career as this is such a brutal business.
Dd: just yesterday I read a posting on one of many tejano web sites que you are going to bring back LaTortilla Factory. I know que in 2002 you had recorded the new tortilla factory CD, which by the way has been released. Can you please tell us about the re establishing of la tortilla factory and the members you think on bring in this project?
Tg:I truly believe that La Onda is about to kick some Royal Ass again in the near future.After hearing the Latin Express from Ft. Worth this past weekend I was very impressed with their performance.Leo and Carlos Saenz are top flight professionals and their children are super talented.The Latin Express right now is more than likely the Top Tejano band in the entire U.S.of A.Bobby Butler and I have decided to come back and bring Tortilla musi c to our fans all over the country.I never really thought I would do this again but la Onda needs a shot of soul and it needs some exciting shows with a lot of fire and I think that Charro ,myself,and Alfredo will be able to help in this direction.I know it is time for the pioneers to get together again and light the fire in a big way.Just Imagine,Sunny Ozuna,Johnny Hernandez,Bobby Butler,The Latin Express,Tortilla Factory and Avizo from Houston putting on some shows on the same bill across the country.The people in San Angelo went crazy with Sunny,Johnny,Alfredo,and Charro.They said they were hungry for the music and the excitement that such a show generates.San Angelo fell in love with the latin Express.
Dd: an interesting factor always come up when one talks about la tortilla factory, and your years con little joe. Bobby (El Charro Negro) Buttler, can you share your expernice con this man?
Tg:Playing trumpet for Little Joe and the Latinaires was an incredible fun time.I remember getting ready to perform on the same show with the Sunliners and that meant a lot of rehearsing,up to 10 hours a day so we could be ready to perform at our very best.Sunny told me they did the very same thing the other night in San Angelo.Those were also the days when we were constantly creating new shows for the people to keep them wondering what we would do the next time they saw us.I loved playing on the same show con El Conjunto Bernal,these guys were the classiest and best conjunto of all time.We also partied hard in those days,staying up and drinking and partying all night was the norm in thise times.That's how we became such great friends drinking,singing,and me p laying the trumpet with Eloy and Juan Sifuentes till six in the morning and sharing our life stories.Little Joe< Johnny, and Charro and all the rest of the latinaires were playing the music for the heart and the soul.That's what made it so much fun.
Dd: looking at some old picture of you and your bands, man there was a real radical look to you guys . did you guys ever get an beef on the way you all looked with your long hair so forth?
Tg:When we stopped using the suits and ties and classy look of the 60s it was only after having spent a year living in Kalifas and changing with the times.My good friend Luis gasca was playing trumpet with Janis Joplin and on a tour to the west coast I ran into him at the airport in Los Angeles and I told him I wanted him to meet La Palomia from the latinaires.I introduced him to Little Joe and the guys and soon after I got him to get us involved in the big shows in Kalifas with people like Santana,.Malo, Azteca, Jerry Garcia and the grateful Dead and all the San Francisco bands that were happening at that time.That's when we did a metamorphisis and went to the contemporary look which was muscle shirts,bell bottom jeans,and the weird look so prevalent in th 60 s and 70s.We caught some flack in small towns form los perros because we just looked like we were high and carryng mota with us.
dd: i read a letter that you send to a local radio station in san anglo, KIXY and your comments on their radio programing. can you share with us the view on that letter and the points that you were trying to make?
tg: > But basically I am telling the people at this station to play the music that we already have here in Texas because it's the music we love and should have.Playing immigrant music is a total turnoff...........tejanos don't like it and shouldn't have to listen to it if they don't want to.On the other hand , it is Texas we live in and it's not the immigrants that run the communities in Texas it's us the Tejanos.From lawyers to doctors to teachers etc.The letter is self explanatory and I'm hoping the people in San Angelo speak up and set things right
Dd: I hope I didn’t to take too much of your time tony, what are your future plans for tony guerrero y su musical carreer?
Tg:At this time I am trying to deal with my diabetes as well as I can and I will do all I can to keep working.Music is the best therapy for me.I'm excited again about working with Bobby and it should be a lot of fun.I will soon have to go to Los Angeles and finish the R&B project with my son,that will be great because he's working in the studio with the same background vocalists that record Beyonce Knowles,Justin Timberlake,and Christina Aguilera.Thre are many things I still want to do and one is to record a new Tortilla Factory album with mostly original songs.As long as the good Lord gives me life and energy I will be very active and I will represent los Tejanos/Texas people with dignity,pride,and the best music I can bri ng to them everywhere we may go.
Dd: well tony it has really been a pleasure meeting you and having this chat. I am more that sure que thousands of your fans can not wait to hear the new sounds of tony ham guerrero?
Tg:I am surprised and happy that so many people from all over the country want to see us And it's time to pull out all of Charro's songs from the Tortilla factory library and make some great music again.I hope that I can still sing "Andando En La Parranda" with Bobby again that was one of our biggest hits.Thank you so much for this interview.God bless you and your Staff......................."Ham"
Dd; well raza there you have it the legend in his own time tony ham guerrero. La onda tejana has been here for a long time and mr guerrero has surfed this wave for many years and still doing. For cchwnn, I am david duran. Good day.