Ensenada Carnaval 2013 Schedule

Ensenada Carnaval Website

Thursday, February 7
18:00 Hrs. Civic Plaza Main Stage
Home of the festivities in the area.
19:00 Hrs. Burning of Bad Humor and Testament reading. Main Stage.
20:00 Hrs. Kings Coronation Ceremony Adults and children 2013. Main Stage.
21:00 Hrs Presentation Show Group MA YI-Tijuana. Main stage.
22:00 Hrs Special presentation of Ballet Folklorico the Municipality of Ensenada. Main Stage
Continued variety, fireworks and dance music throughout the carnival area.
22:30 Hrs Scenario EXA with special presentation DELUX Rock Group. Main stage.
Continued music and festivities throughout the area.

Friday, February 8
16:00 Hrs. Music for dancing throughout the carnival area.
18:00 Hrs. Presentation of international Steeds Tijuana. Main Stage.
20:00 Hrs. Band Band Sinaloense with Palo Verde. Main stage.
22:00 Hrs. From Los Angeles CA. Rocío and Sonora. Main stage.
Continued variety and dance music throughout the carnival area.
24:00 Hrs. Sinaloense music with the band, the new Santa Cruz. Main stage.

Saturday, February 9
14:00 Hrs. First Carnival Parade.
(Home Ruíz Esq with Juarez, continuous Virgilio Uribe, Coastal Blvd, Coastal and finishes on Blvd Ave Sangines).
16:00 Hrs. Party Continues Carnival area.
18:00 Hrs. Presentation of international Steeds Tijuana.
20:00 Hrs. Sinaloense music with the band, the new Santa Cruz. Main stage.
21:00 Hrs. In coordination with came from Ensenada, Third Great Dance masks and costumes. Ex-Casino Riviera Hotel Pacific.
22:00 Hrs. From Los Angeles CA. Yesenia La Gitana and northerners.
24:00 Hrs. In Culiacan, Sinaloa, northern group “New Katrines”. Main stage.
Continued music and festivities throughout the area.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 10
14:00 Hrs. Second Carnival Parade
(Home Ruíz Esq with Juarez, continuous Virgilio Uribe, Coastal Blvd, Coastal and finishes on Blvd Ave Sangines).
From 16:00 to 24:00 Hrs. Musical variety special programming for the “BEST”, FM (Northern Effect, New Force Group, North Komando, The Bright Tijuana, Tijuana and the unmistakable DJ. Speed ​​and DJ Cowboy).
Continued music and festivities throughout the area.

MONDAY 11 FEBRUARY
16:00 Hrs. Music for dancing throughout the carnival area.
20:00 Hrs. From Mazatlan, Sinaloa the international “Whites Recordings” main stage.
21:00 Hrs. Enjoy the Sinaloa gang and traditional dance group in Northern Oppressed Husband, Bar Bay Hotel.
Continued music and festivities throughout the area.

TUESDAY 12 FEBRUARY
14:00 Hrs. Third and Last Carnival Parade.
(Start with Juarez Esq Ruiz continues Virgilio Uribe, Coastal Blvd, Coastal and finishes on Blvd Ave Sangines).
From 16:00 to 24:00 Hrs. Musical variety special programming for the “BEST”, FM (Br Vega Jr, Code and Color Cast Norteño Norteño).
Continued music and festivities throughout the area.
18:00 Hrs. Quiz and awards Comparsas, Living White House.
20:00 Hrs Burial of Juan Carnaval

Finishing ** festivities throughout the carnival area at 2:00 am

Cielito Lindo

Baja Music Scene

Hasta Sabado a Hotel La Mision con Miguel De Hoyos.  6 – 8:45PM

 

Miguel De Hoyos Baja Guitar

Miguel De Hoyos tuning up on time at 7pm

Sunday, 26 August 2012, my two guests and I had the pleasure of enjoying a solo guitar and vocal performance by Miguel De Hoyos at Hotel la Mision.

Many music fans in northern Baja have heard the duo of Alex Depue(violin) and Miguel De Hoyos(guitar) and their “Twisted Strings” repertoire of classical, latin, rock and folk music arrangements.  Tonight was my first to enjoy Miguel solo.

We timed our drive from dinner at Sano’s Restaurant/Ensenada(review later this week) to arrive exactly at 7PM, the advertised concert start time.  Hotel La Mision is located at KM58.5, 30 minutes north of downtown Ensenada.

Amazingly, Miguel was on stage and tuning up, when we were seated by the welcoming staff.  A musician performing at the appointed hour?   In Mexico?   QUE PASO???

I had no idea what a strong voice Miguel owns.  His rendition of Los Panchos “Sin Ti” found a few tears in the audience, including those singing along with him.   Miguel’s peaceful and melodic voice occasionally allows his pipes to punch out some deeply emotional power.

Miguel performs CuCu Rrucucu Paloma.  He also did this live for us this magical evening.

His first set lasted from 7PM until 8:45.  No 35 minute set followed by a 30 minute break that we usually experience from younger performers.   Second set lasted until almost 11PM.  Miguel is a true entrepreneur!

Miguel constantly asked for requests from the 2 dozen audience members.  The audience was quick to respond.  Miguel covered 97.9% of the requests and allowed the audience to sing out the 2 songs that were not readily available in his performance arsenal.   This guy does not allow an ego to get in the way of engaging his audience and allowing the evening to flow freely.

The music fans were a 50/50 mix of Mexicans and Americans for this concert.  I’m guessing that the room, including bar would seat about 70 with an additional 20 seats available on the west patio and another 70 or so on the south wing of the dining room.

One of my guests was off her normal dining schedule and only had a taste of food at Sano’s earlier.  That allowed her the opportunity to order some carne asada tacos from Hotel la Mision’s kitchen.  “Very good tacos” was the report from the native from Jalisco.  So it is good to know that you can dine while enjoying the music.

Also, room rates begin at around $50usd, so you can save the drive and enjoy an easy morning waking up to the waves, pelicans and dolphins.

I bought Miguel’s Sevilla Suite CD from his musical promoter,  Nuria Holly Bocanegra, this evening.  The CD includes Miguel’s own arrangement of the classic, “Concierto de Aranjuez”.   He played it this evening and it is one of my all-time favorites.

Greeting and meeting Miguel this night for the first time, I mentioned how impressed I was with his and Alex DePue’s rendition of Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” when I heard them live this February.   Miguel thanked me by playing it as his second song of the night.

The pelicans also love Miguel De Hoyos! Perfect Baja sunset.

Within 2 bars of beginning “Classical Gas”, Miguel noticed the gorgeous sunset on Hotel la Mision’s west deck.  He suggested a quick break from his act, so that the audience could enjoy a perfect Baja setting.  Gotta love a musician who notices a bigger picture than himself for a great evening.

Miguel lives in Rosarito Beach and plays many weekends at Hotel La Mision.  Check the Hotel’s facebook page for music dates, email hotel_lamisionbaja@hotmail.com or call 646-155-0333.

Miguel De Hoyos Biography

Love Miguel’s band…see fireplace mantle, left of speaker

Gabriela Anders

Heard this Argentina singer/pianist for first time this week.  ILIKEHERALOT!

http://gabrielaanders.com/

Jerry Krantz El Chapultepec, RIP

editor’s note:  The “pec” was a hangout for me since early 1980′s until my Denver exit in 2006.  Love it and will get back there this weekend.  Cheers and peace for Jerry’s family.

By Westword

Yesterday morning(May 29, 2012) El Chapultepec owner Jerry Krantz died at the age of 77. “The best of the best and the greatest of the greatest came through that place and played there because they could count on a great rhythm section and an open door policy to visiting jazz dignitaries that is very rare across the county,” says saxophonist Max Wagner, who spent more than three years heading up the house band at Krantz’s iconic jazz club.

Aside from jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and Eddie Harris, a host of other distinguished guests such as rockers like Bono and Mick Jagger and former president Bill Clinton have stopped by the ‘Pec since Krantz, who began as a bartender there, inherited the place from his brother-in-law Tony Romano in 1968.

Krantz appreciated swinging, musical, melodic, straight-ahead jazz players, Wagner says, and he was willing to put his money where is mouth was to bring the finest players into his intimate club. Aside from the steady stream of jazz heavies Krantz brought in, a formidable who’s who of jazz players would stop by to sit in, including most of the Marsalis family and members of the Tonight Show band.

“The ‘Pec is a unique and special thing,” says Wagner. “Across the whole country, it was one of the places that all the insider, hippest jazz artists knew about, the place where you could really blow and play the real stuff, and it wasn’t at all unusual for Vartan, for instance, to bring in heavyweight jazz cats, and as soon as they could get done over there they were right at the ‘Pec.”

Jerry and daughter Angela

Wagner says Krantz was a hard-nosed, no-nonsense guy who very much loved Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. “At one point he told me I could only let lady singers sit in if they didn’t sing anything by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald,” Wagner recalls. “I tried to point out that there wasn’t a whole lot of repertoire left over, if you think of everything those two singers sang or recorded. He said, ‘I don’t want to hear anything that those two did done by somebody else.’ He really loved Ella Fitzgerald. He had memories of hearing her sing and feeling as though she was singing right to him.”

Wagner says that Krantz knew a lot about jazz and fondly recalls one night, when the two of them were sitting in the club after it closed, when Krantz pulled out Leonard Feather’s Encyclopedia of Jazz from a drawer behind the bar and went through the entries and told Wagner about information that wasn’t in the book.

“He knew all the inside, detailed history on the great players,” Wagner says. “It was amazing of how the actual great depth of knowledge and understanding he had, which I don’t think people always realized because he wasn’t constantly shooting his mouth off.”

Aside from being a place to see jazz legends, the ‘Pec also became a proving ground for younger up and coming players like Javon Jackson and Brad Leali, who went on to play with a number of groups, including Harry Connick’s Big Band, which he later brought into the club when the band was in town.

For bassist Ken Walker, who went on to play with legends like Lew Soloff, Charles McPherson, Pete Christlieb, Grover Washington, Jr. and George Benson, the ‘Pec was essentially his university as he played there for twelve years, six of which playing seven nights a week during the late ’80s and ’90s. “People asked how I stayed there for so long,” Walker says. “It was like an education. I really learned how to play there. Playing there seven nights a week, you can’t find that kind of experience anywhere.”

Krantz is survived by his wife Alice, his daughters Anna and Angela and his son Ray. No word yet on when the memorial service will take place or whether it will be open to the public, but we’ll keep you posted.

Alex Depue, Miguel De Hoyos Summer Music

UltraMarino Oyster Bar Music

This past Wednesday, I spent a night enjoying the food and music of downtown Ensenada.

After dinner with friends at Cafe Arabiga,  I walked the half mile down Avenida Lopez Mateos(First Street) to UltraMarino Oyster Bar.

UltraMarino is located at First and Ruiz, one block west of Papas & Beer, Mango Mango & Hussongs.  see Ensenda Interactive Map, top left this site.

UM is a much smaller and more comfortable bar than those other tourist hangouts. UM has the same owner as Barra Azul in Ensenada.

You enter a narrow hall bar, that also serves tapas from their little kitchen.   I ordered up a Cucapa Obscura on my way to the music playing in the “garden” in the back.

The garden is a half-covered outdoor patio that seats about 70 people and will accommodate many more for standing room only.  I arrived in the middle of the first music set of Ensenada Jazz.

Ensenada Jazz is directed by keyboard player, Ernesto “Sixto” Rosas.  Ernesto Rosas Montoya is a musician, composer, teacher of the Bachelor of Music and Artistic Director of Musical Studies Center (CEM) at UABC.

Driving the soul of the group on Wednesday night was the fiery energy of drummer Esteban Hernández.  Esteban combines latin rhythms with old school bebop swings in speed, power and finesse to provide the foundation for the tune’s mood.

Luis Salazar is the bass player and his acoustic bass bumped the music along through the evening.  He also got out in front with his solos.

Isais Diaz guitar provided rhythm background and lead melodies on the Ensenada Jazz playlist that included American jazz standards and some pop/rock fun like the Doors.

I was fortunate to meet a local music promoter, Leroy Jose Amate.  Because I was taking photos and the OGITH(“only gringo in the house”), Jose and his wife chatted me up about my story, how I moved here and how I was enjoying living in Ensenada.  Leroy Jose also has a jazz program on 92.9FM on Sunday night, called Soul Street Radio.

Leroy Jose got up for a vocal performance of “Sumertine” for the gig with his Oakland Bay baritone.

These guys played well after the midnight scheduled ending and a late crowd came in to enjoy the last set.

I walked back to my hotel through a very quiet tourist district.  3AM bedtime is unsual for me, but, it was a very memorable night.  I plan on doing this at least once each month.

The Ensenada music scene is making a comeback and I’m excited to enjoy meeting new friends and enjoying the music.

Ultra Marino is a fine music venue with a variety of music styles Wednesday through Saturday.  Check out UM facebook page for the schedule.

   

Concierto De Aranjuez

April 1975: Jim Hall (guitar); Don Sebesky (conductor); Paul Desmond (alto saxophone); Chet Baker (trumpet); Roland Hanna (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Steve Gadd (drums).

A peaceful beginning to April.  Hope yours is grand.

Jean-Luc Ponty

Jean-Luc Ponty, Al Di Meolo, Stanley Clarke play LIVE, 1994, Rite of Strings.

This piece, “Renaissance”, is my favorite JLP song.  It was introduced to me via KADX 92.1 jazz Denver in late 1970′s, from Ponty’s album Aurora(1976).

I start every day in paradise listening to music with my coffee and checking out the morning scene on the waves.

Ponty’s creativity blasts away any attempt to fit his music into a genre.

I have never seem him live.  But, I do get to see a Baja Norte resident who plays the violin with the same soul and energy.

His name is Alex Depue.  You can enjoy his music live at Hotel la Mision, Sundays through April 8, with guitarist Miguel De Hoyos.