Musicians Jam Out with Local Rock Heroes at Al Borde’s “Escuela de Rock”

Written by Maria Elena Aguilar Tuesday, 04 August 2009 14:25

Guillermo “Memo” Jimenez is an active member of LA’s  rock alternativo music scene, where he has been playing drums since 2006. And although his most recent gig is all of two months in the making, the Querétaro native sounds exceptionally hopeful about his latest endeavor as the drummer for the newly-minted pop/rock ensemble, Love Star. Like many budding musicians/rock groups, Memo’s primary interest is in getting his music into as many ears as possible, but given that the demand for rock en español has taken a nosedive since the Latin rock explosion boomed in the late 1990s, achieving this can be a challenge…. Especially with so few mainstream media outlets remaining that are interested in the once popular genre.

On Saturday afternoon, August 1st, Memo and dozens of other musicians looking to propel their musical careers and gain insights from seasoned music professionals gathered at El Gallo Plaza in East LA for Al Borde’s “Escuela de Rock”, a free music workshop designed for local musicians. The event featured a string of concurrent instructional workshops, each led by local rock superstars Moises Baqueiro formerly with Los Abandoned, Bugs Gonzalez of Jumbo, Oscar Loera of Chencha Berrinches, and Cesar Villa of Fatima.

A wide assortment of musicians and music students raging in ages from 6 to 30 took advantage of the unique opportunity to learn some of the local stars’ signature techniques and have their musical questions personally answered by some of the biggest and best talent in the local indie/alternativo music scene.

After an informal networking session where the attendees had a chance to interact with the invited panel, the audience was divided into small groups for the individual workshops led by Moises on bass, Bugs leading the drum workshop, Oscar instructing on guitar, and Cesar heading up the vocals seminar. The workshops were each held in a different room within the former mortuary.

Memo and a group of about 25 stayed in the main hall for Bugs’s drum workshop. “I was interested in picking up some of Bugs’s techniques, and hopefully tips on how to improve my playing,” commented Memo.

The drum session also inspired some of the younger attendees who were brought to the event by the Boys and Girls Club of the LA Harbor area. “When I grow up, I want to be a rockstar,” declared Melissa, one the young guests. “…Either a rock star or a teacher,” she modified.

With a sizable audience of about 60, Oscar’s guitar seminar held in the largest chapel room was without a doubt the most popular. The Chencha Berrinches guitarist made his workshop as interactive as possible, offering his guitar to some of the attendees in order to illustrate some of his points. To everyone’s delight, Oscar ended his workshop with a solo performance that eerily echoed all throughout the event hall.

Moises, who served as bassist for Los Abandoned during their existence, and who now co-produces Love Star, led a very instructional workshop on “bass”, and used much of his material as a “side project man” as an example.

One of the most surprising revelations took place in the upstairs meeting room, where Cesar confessed to his very intimate group of would-be vocalists the fact that he is painfully shy. The confession by the charming frontman for Fatima put the small group at ease, and led to a very insightful workshop where he shared tips on improving your vocal performance and, not surprisingly, overcoming stage fright.

After the individual workshops, all four musicians were joined by Christian Mejia of Intoroq Records and Arturo Hernandez and Melinda Torres of A&M Entertainment, for a panel discussion on breaking into the competitive music industry.

One of the highlights of the event came at the end when all four musicians came together for an historic All-Star jam session. The crowd was electrified by the “All-Stars’” renditions of all-time classics such as Foo Fighters’ “All My Life”, Bob Marley’s “Jamming”, Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”, Maceo Parker’s “Shake Everything You Got” and Caifanes’ “La Negra Tomasa”.

The All-Star jam session was capped off with a guest appearance by Alex “Manzana” Gonzalez, vocalist for a project called Delta Wave, who had recently arrived from a trip to Monterrey, Mexico. Straight out of the 60’s, according to Bugs, Alex plugged in his guitar and enthralled the crowd with two powerful songs, a cover of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Sweet Little Thing” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child”.

“I was very inspired to see such a wide ranging age group enjoying these amazing performances,” noted Memo. “I wish Al Borde’s example could be followed by other venues… I think because many clubs and venues are 18+ or 21+, many of the younger kids who are more open-minded and would be more receptive to the new music that we’re creating are unfortunately missing out on a lot because of the age restrictions for our live performances. So that’s definitely limiting the reach of our music.” 

Al Borde plans to continue its commitment to strengthening the local Latin alternative community by hosting and supporting more events geared at local musicians. Their next event, the “Acoustic Sessions” free concert series is set to take place on Friday, September 25th, also at El Gallo Plaza.

 

 

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