This Week in Palm Springs
| WAR and the Latin Legends |
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 With Special Guests: El Chicano and Tierra
El Chicano opened the evening, and they opened it with a bang. Within minutes, they brought the audience to a fevered pitch and kept them there through their entire set. Audience members came to their feet and were dancing in the isles, cheering, shouting and singing to the music. The crowd loved El Chicano, and El Chicano immediately responded showing that they loved the crowd back. They gave their performance everything they had, and the people loved them even more. Special guest singer Mark Guerrero, son of the late, great Lalo Guerrero, “The Father of Chicano Music,” came out and sang “Isn’t She Lovely” with El Chicano and the audience went crazy. The group dedicated their music to keyboard player Bobby Espinosa, one of founding members of El Chicano who unfortunately died recently.  Sitting next to me during the performance were two friends from Indio, Cathy Garcia and Rita Soriano. Cathy told me that El Chicano was one of her favorite groups and that she loved their music. After the set was over, she confided that she especially loved their rendition of “Sabor A Mi.” Rita told me that her favorite from the set was, “Isn’t She Lovely.” I agreed with both of them. Also in the audience were War fans Rick and Sylvia Sambrano and Carmen and Filipe Beccerra and dancing in the isles, were our old Laker Fan buddies, Bonggo and Jacqueline Beane. Next up was Tierra, and they took the stage like a line of musical assassins. They lined up across the stage and,like a firing squad, blasted out at the crowd already revved up and made ready to go by El Chicano. The crowd responded and once again took to their feet, dancing, singing, shouted and reveling in the isles. Tierra belted out a list of their greatest hits including, “Lady in the Moonlight,” “Memories,” “Together,” “Gonna Find Her” and “Zoot Suit Boogie.” The music and the energy they created were altogether shameless, brazen and marvelous. Their Zoot Suited drummer pranced across the stage and the crowd went wild. He loved the reaction and bowed and recognized the adoration of the crowd, and the music deepened and the crowd loosened up a bit more, and the world was about music.By the time War was declared and took the stage, the audience was ready to rumble and rumble they did when War opened with their blockbuster hit “Cisco Kid.” What had been an audience became a mob, and there was standing room only as a battalion of singing, dancing and merry makers moved forward, crowed the stage, danced, sang and simply had a great time. War showed they still had it as they played their “War Hit List!” No one was in the least bit unhappy that War had been unleashed upon the Coachella Valley. All in all, it was an amazing night. Groups come and go. Great groups have played at Spotlight 29 before, but tonight there was music nirvana as three great groups declared music on the residents and visitors to the Coachella Valley. There were no survivors, there were only revelers and the joyful as War, El Chicano and Tierra were never better. Thank you, Spotlight29! Just when it gets quiet in the Coachella Valley, you know how to loose the Dogs of War and bring our spirits up. I, for one, am looking forward to next month at 8 p.m., Friday, July 2, when Old School #5 takes to the stage and the music returns. For more Allen Lawrence photos of WAR and the Latin Legends, click here. For more information about War and to go to their official Web site, click here. For more information about El Chicano and to go to El Chicano Music, click here For more information about Tierra and to go to their Official Web site, click here. For more information about Mark Guerrero, click here. For more about Spotlight 29 Casino, click here.
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