exclusvie interview con roy el viejito ramos, 2012

Exclusive interview con Roy "El Viejito" Ramos, con  Tejano Music Network Forum which was held on Saturday morning at Cattleman's Square March 17, 2012.

Cchwnn.

Somewhere between Premont and Alice Texas on hwy 281. Hello again, I am Santa Cecilia la que te canta, con a follow up interview with Roy Ramos, a good friend and his views on the Tejano Forum held Saturday march 17, 2012, en san anto. Let us get to that interview.

Sc; hello, Mr. V. can you give me a hand off this bicycle sir?

Rr: Qvole Santy, here allow me to lift this leg and ...WOW ..opps sorry. Ok there you go.

Sc; easy boy that a little too much help, you know Roy, this interview is going to be tuff on you and your network position on several matters?

Rr; Oh ? Hey listen, I am proud to say that I own no one in this genre anything and this genre owes me nothing except for a internet radio station in Houston that I loan money to to get them back on the air.

Without me lending Bnut the money he would not of had been able to boardcast for I don't know how long. By the way, that loan happened back in 2008 and to this day not a penny has been repaid , just a phone call from him saying that I was a man of no class and that the Tejano Music Network was doing more harm to Tejano music than helping, go fiqure...

The last forum he attended was in 2009 when in front of other people he quranteed repayment..So with this out ask me anything and I will not sugar coat any answer.

Sc: We do listen to that station once an a while, and now you make us wonder  why you have not been on station lately like before?

Rr: I will only add this to what I just said, I have my bank statement as to how many hundreds I paid to their  phone company and it's not under 600.00. There are people that will post how dare you post that kind of information. Well I lost the money they didn't and just last year on the journal people were wanting to name all the crooked promoters and managers and others hurting la onda, well I just gave a reason why I sometime distrust people en la onda.  Let's move on, it will only get uglier

Sc: OK, let us start off on how organized do you think fanfare was compared to prevents years?

Rr; I have been attending TTMA Fan Fair for over 25 years. I thoughts are that this event should of had been moved away from Market Square years ago. I believe that the prices for the food is way over priced.

 Listen when a vendor is offering one taco with two ounces of trips with a hint of hot sauce for 5.00 each. The price of the tripa is $.10 retail price and the tortilla is 10.5 cents figure the markup. The drinks, look at the cost and mark up, if this event was being held at Cowboy stadium than I can understand the price goughing, but if I am having to walk through paddles of piss and beer and water and playing bumper people as I get to one end to another and the band schedule changes on the day that the bands are to perform than this is not the event for me.

The sound enginneers and the so call professional stage managers need to go. I keep hearing that the TTMA is being run as a 501c organization, if this is the case where does all the monies go to and why do the two gentlemen running this organization have a problem with opening the books, and who makes up the board of directors?

In my opinion, and yes Santy we all have opinions as we all have a butt. I for one say bring back Rudy Trevino and lets elect a real board of directors open up the financial books, and  have open door meetings and not only one meeting at the Mariachi Bar, and let's get this event back to it's glory days. Again, if it's a 501c organization then run it as such.

Sc; I noticed a posting you did on Tejano journal about an article on the Amercian Stateman by Juan Castillo on Tejano, do you think his article did any justice to la onda tejana?

Rr: Did it do Justice, Why hell yeah it did justice. Listen I say kudos to the organizers of this event Crossroads Events for putting Tejano in the limelight during one of the biggest music festival in the world. I don't remember hearing of any San Antonio city official taking the stage at the TTMA Fan Fair. The only involvement I saw from the city of San Antonio was from the SAPD handing out parking tickets.

Sc; let us talk about the Tejano forum you were involved with, first off all how do you guys select panel members and who has the final say?

Rr: Every year I first select a moderator with some help and input from staff members, we then get the selected moderator involved in selecting the panelist. This year our panelist was Manny El Picante Garcia with www.Picanteradio.com this was Manny’s second time around as a moderator. It was not hard for us to pick Manny; he is one of the most professional Mc's and on-air personalities in our genre.

The panelist are selected by their involvement in la onda Tejana and what each brings to the table as Mel Mad Dawg Duran with Bnetradio, after having shared a conversation with him one day and me not knowing he came from Califas and liking what he was saying I decided he had to be a panelist we asked he accepted and we go on and continue our selections.

SC: do you think this year’s panel addressed issues, besides the main topic that was selected “ internet radio” and were they able to set any goals for la onda years to come?

Rr; Every year we discuss the top issues that burden our onda and every year’s goal are set  and believe it or not some goals are met.

 Listen if you ask anyone and not any borracho with a tear in their beer, that is really passionate about nuestra onda they will share their thoughts on their views as to how nuestra onda is or isn't progressing.

Goals, I have seen more internet radio station programming, I see more Tejano events taking place throughout the United States, and I see more of our brothers across the Rio Grande being involved with our music.

Look at this year’s forum we www.allstarradio.com broadcast our forum without asking us if they could we were blessed to have them Juan Carlos is a Mexican national with more knowledge than some of us....Go Figure...

Sc; I am one of a few that address this topic but in our own satire matter, is there an animosity towards our news  cchwnn on the way we cover such events now and maybe in the future?

Rr; None what so ever.. dale gas to all at CCHWNN.......To me you guys are the chicano looney tunes.

Sc: that is funny, we sometime find ourselves on opposites sides on issues with a few Tejano leaders, do you think it’s fair to say que some of our so called leaders aren’t address issues that should we have, such as but not limited to security for bands, more benefits for band members, life insurances, etcc?

Rr; Why are you asking me these questions ? These are the questions that should be addressed by TTMA and The Tejano Academy. I understand that the Academy was set up to benefit our artist.

Here again, just my inside thoughts, Wouldn't it be nice to have a organization that would help our artist in time of need like sickness and death? How many artist have deceased and gone to music heaven broke leaving there families to ponder how they are going pay for hospital bills and funeral services ? All these promoters having these festivals and concerts claiming monies is going for scholarships. Questions how many scholarships have been given out?

Sc; in your observation do you think the panel were asked questions by the audiences that might have immediate solutions and what were some concerns brought up?

Rr: The major concern again was directed toward the TTMA , why does the TTMA limit the involvement of other internetradio stations and Tejano organization's from participating at Fan Fair. This year with the help of our friend Margo Morones he was able to get a commitment from Robert and Frank w/ TTMA to allow other dj's to introduce bands.

I thought that Pete Arias w/ www.bestonlineradio.com made the most impact when addressing corporate advertising dollars. We came out agreeing that we make corporate VP's aware that we Tejano's are the ones buying the new Fords, Chevy's, Chrysler, and Cadilacs and so on, and our main products. None of my money I make and spend is going back into Mexico. So why is it so hard for corporate to see that we Tejano's want our music heard on the FM dail other then in San Antonio and the valley and pan handle.

Wake up Mexican Americans !

Sc; that was very interesting, I think I can do a followup on that, it seems that at  last year  Tejano convention  a slogan was created “ the wheel is broken”, do you think that things have made some improvement from last year’s discussions?

Rr; Some might say yes. In reality we still have a long way to go .

Sc; as you mention before about internet radio involvement,  was there a live broadcasting on the panel discussion?

Rr:  YUPP,  Gracias to our friends at www.allstarradio.com in the valley for stepping up to the plate and hitting a homerun for us. 

Sc; did the event in Austin have any kind of positive impact on this year’s fanfare, and its programming/

Rr; nope....NADA.......Gotta remember about  70% of the people attending fan fair are from San Antonio and surrounding towns. And if they tell you different they speak with fork tongue. There were no hotels in San Antonio due to spring break and SXSW. If anyone took time to go down the river walk you saw nothing but spring breakers that decided not to go down to the border .

Sc; we feel that there is more going on for la onda than ever before, in your opinion do you think la onda is recording more and producing more than before? And if you do, can you give us a few examples?

Rr; Yes there are more recording being done some very good recording this year came from Jesse Lopez - Raices, Elida Reyna y Avante( this girl is close to going international watch for this artist to get us back on the charts) Johnny Hernandez, Joe Bravo, I'm sure there are more but did not catch my attention, but again who am I ?

Sc: gee roy you are getting to sound like us,  on line radio station are on the increase, plus lots of Tejano websites have either add music to them, or are doing their own thing now, do you think we are move away from the stalemate we have found ourselves in a few years ago ?

Rr: Absolutly, I say "Keep our Music Playing "

Sc; i had a very interesting interview with Frank Salazar about fanfare and its programming. I am sure you know Frank, if you read that interview, what was your opinion on franks position on certain matters that we addressed?

Rr; I thought the interview was lame, he should have been asked questions I brought up in my interview. You should have had me or the Chicano interviewer by the name of "El Masqulero" conduct the interview.

Sc;  hey that is something we can work on EL MASQUELERO, do you think there is a power struggle within la onda tejana?

Rr; Power struggle?  Listen, what's to struggle for ? Make the next forum in Austin. Since Cattleman's is going away next year we are moving the forums to Austin. We're hoping for one this summer.

SC: and finally Mr. Ramos, what was your overall view about fanfare and this year’s panel discuss?

RR: Fan Fair I give it a D- , The forum I'd give it a B-.......Your getting repeatitive..... Wake up !

Sc;  yes its way past my  bed time,again thanks pal and can you give me a hand back on this bicycle?

Rr: There you go, at least you do not have a long way to go. Just down that farm to market road y ay estas. Adios amiga mia.....

Sc; , again its always an honor to discuss Tejano matters con our friend Roy Ramos, one of a handful en  la onda that has taken the bull by its horn, I am Santa Cecilia la que canta?