Thanks To All Our Faithful Listeners and Supporters

Hello friends and fans. It’s been a long couple of weeks since I posted anything. It’s been a weird couple of weeks. First, I was uneasy about how people would take my last post. I think I had really given my readers a piece of my heart and soul and often considered deleting the whole blog entirely. Obviously, I didn’t do that. I think that it was a good thing to get some of this off my chest and out in the open. If you all even know half the crap that I go through in my daily life, I think that many jaws would drop. There are very few people who really know. Either way, in the past couple of weeks, I went through the tension filled, and dysfunctional baptism of my son. The ceremony itself was beautiful but there were certain members of my family and extended family who were not very respectful of this sacred event. Either way, we made the most of it and had a good time anyway listening to music at the reception. Later that week, a major backlash occurred in the family in which I am caught in the middle of. All of that leads up to the show we had tonight. It was our third anniversary celebration, but it was also the fifth anniversary of the Sept 11th tragedy. I get very depressed this time of year. One of my good friends, Ron Hememway, was killed during the attack on the Pentagon. What bothers me the most is the fact that I didn’t find out until about a year after the fact when I ran into his brother. The last time I saw him is when Ron, his siblings, and a couple of close friends went to the Phil Collins concert at the Sandstone (now Verizon Wireless) . We had a hell of a time, probably too good of a time if you know what I mean. Shortly after that, he was shipped off because he had joined the navy. I kept in touch as much as possible and the last thing that I knew was that he was stationed on the USS La Salle in Italy. When I ran into his brother Paul at Officemax, I asked him about Ron and he gave me a puzzled look. He replied with “you don’t know” then went on the tell me about his moving to the states to be closer to the family and that he was working as a tech in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. I immediately had to excuse myself and went into the stockroom and brokedown in tears. I just could not believe that he was gone. Then the feeling of guilt came over me because I was feeling as if I was not as good of a friend as I could have been. I will never forget him and will always love my bro. I will never forget the times that we spent together at work, hanging out and taking care of his horses. He will continue to serve as an inspiration to me and each year around this time, I will continue to dedicate our show to his memory. That put me in a kind of somber mood for our anniversary show, but will still managed to pull it off. I want to take this time to thank all of our listeners whether its online or on air. Thank you all for allowing us to bring our noise into your home, your cars, and your computers for the past three years. Here’s to three more. I was really happy to see our surprise guests stop by. Viviana, once again thank you for paving the road for Tejano on KKFI. I know that we may be controversial at times, but when it comes down to it, we all have one common goal and that is to preserve our culture and our music. Hopefully one day, we will be able to pave the road for the next generation. PS Thanks for the Nachos…Yummy Yummy!!! Manny, I really enjoyed our conversation on the phone, I really appreciate all the support that you have shown me personally. Thanks so much for everything. Patty, thanks for helping us off and on with the phones. Also thanks for keeping me in line when I go off the deep end. Thanks for everything and thanks for being an inspiration to and supporting Dan with the show. It’s not easy to produce this show every week. Thanks for the Cake and the Pistachio salad too (my favorite!!!). Greg, what can I say cuz, I know that I can always count on you. I think we share a lot of the same ideas and visions. Thanks for being a professional and always being there for us through thick and thin. I will never forget that and I want you to know that I will always be behind any project that you have in the works. It was great to hang out with you after the show. Thanks for being a good sport about my sidekick’s ranting and raving. IV, you have been with me from day one. Thank you for all the insight that you bring to the show. Nobody know music as well as you do. It has been a pleasure to work with you and to continue to work with you. I know that a lot of times you work behind the shadows but you too have contributed lots to the show. In fact, our most popular segment, the CD of the Week, was your idea after telling us about what the DJ’s were doing in Michigan. We have had so much good feedback about this segment. To my wife Liz, thanks for putting up with me for the past three years. I know that you understand how important the show is to me. It takes a very special person to put up with Ritmo’s late night calls, cd’s all over the place, frequent travel and getting home late. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you. To Ritmo’s wife Nicki (I hope I spelled it right), thanks for welcoming me into your home for our recording sessions, DJ gigs and Fiesta, and taking some time away from your husband. I hope you don’t hate me. I don’t mean to create any tension if I do. Thanks for supporting him in his efforts for the show. He’s a big part of our Monday night madness and I really appreciate your understanding for what he is doing. To Ritmo, what else can I say..”*&&@&@**&*@^*&!*&^$#^*%$*^!*!!!!” I’m just playing bro, I love you like the big brother I never had. You have been there for me and I will always be there for you. I wish I would have met you several years ago. When I brought you on in January, I didn’t know what to expect. I think the very second you opened your mouth, some controversy got started. I stayed behind you through it all and you are still here almost 10 months later. You have contributed to much to the show and helped us evolve into what we are today. Thank you for all of that. I see us continuing to move forward in the next three years. Thank you for all the advice and understanding that you have shown me personally. Thanks again for coming into the show and giving 1000% of your effort into our volunteer show. I know that you have spent lots of money to perfect what we bring to the air each week. Thanks again bro. To Dan The Man, what can I say? Thank you, thank you , thank you!!! You have been my on air partner from the start, but I really want to thank you for putting up with the changes that I have made to the format. Also thank you for accepting Robert as our peer and allowing him to come onto the show every other week. I know that I just kind of sprung him on to you but you didn’t complain, it was business as usual to you. I think that our show will continue to evolve and we will continue to rock the Tejano market. Our listeners love you, in fact, I would have to say that you are the most popular and most recognized member our crew. Thank you for creating that attention and don’t forget if you need a good Eddie G imitator, Dan Is Your Man!!! Well, gotta go for now, but until next time take care and God Bless, TOMAS

Guess I Better Post Something

Hello friends, fans, and foes. It’s another week already and I have been busy trying to update some things on the website and check out some field recording gear. Balancing that and my household duties have been a little bit of a chore at times. First off I want to say that my heart and prayers go out to the Murillo and Reyes families for their loss. It is always sad when someone close to me loses a loved one. My prayers are with you bro. I also have to send some prayers to my friends in the NITCS (Northern Illinois Tejano Cultural Society). They lost one of their founding members. This group is devoted to preserving our culture and our music. My prayers are with you all as well. This weekend was fun although it started stressful. Well, the 25th anniversary festival for the Dos Mundos newspaper happened this weekend. Invicto came from San Antonio to play. Unfortunately, we were not able to publicize it because we did not receive the information until later in the week. Then to be honest, it was still speculation because our sources were some posts on the internet that were listed as pending. I went ahead and wrote an article for our news you can abuse section of our website, knowing that my reputation was on the line if I was giving some false info. We made attempts to contact the band, and the promoters of the event, but were left out in the cold. Fortunately, Invicto did play and I have heard a good response from the people who were there. I truly believe that the turnout would have been even better if we would have been able to publicize it on the air, on our website, on our myspace site, and through the internet. We did have Dan the Man as an MC at the event along with Manny and Viviana from Taste of Tejano. This is the second event this month that Ritmo, IV, or myself were not specifically invited to be a part of. In a way, I feel like as if we are intentionally being left out of the spotlight. I know that we may have made some critiques that have offended some people. Ritmo is known as the Howard Stern of Tejano radio. He is a colorful character that speaks his mine. I tend to be the Rodney King of the radio dial, the peacekeeper. My motto is “Why Can’t we all just get along” Dan is the party animal. IV is laid back and doesn’t like to be in the spotlight but still contributes a lot to the show. I know that I may have made some comments that have burnt some bridges with my local colleagues. My post on our message board suggesting that I was drugged really is the truth. I have been fighting a dependency to Vicodin, a pain killer. It was prescribed to me to help relieve the pain from my back injury. I was taking it along with an anti-depressant (Wellbutrin) regularly. I was still able to function when it comes to waking up in the morning, working when work was available etc. But it quickly became an escape to help me sleep at night without succumbing to the pain. The deadly mixture of these drugs really caused me to act irrationally especially at night when I am usually updating this website. I am not trying to make excuses, but this is the truth. The birth of my son, really changed my life. I decided that he is the driving force in my life and with that I stop taking the pain meds. Since then I have learned to cope in other ways. Right now he is the number one in my life and I come to realize the value of my life and the value of me in his life. The problems in my back cause me severe pain in my lower back and along my sides on my legs, and sciatic nerve but I am willing sacrifice that. I hate depending on a pill to make it through the day and for that reason, I stopped taking them and flushed the remaining stock that I had. I could easily go to the doctor and get a refill but that would be a punk move. I have many better things to do than that. If I have burnt down some bridges, I do ask that my peers realize what I have been through and accept me back as an equal. If you don’t do this for me, at least do it for the sake of the industry. We really need to all work together to make sure that our music is still alive and strong for future generations. Anyway, I really just wanted to come clean to my dear friends and fans. I know that some of you who read this will probably use this against me and to those people, I give you the Cousin Stevie single finger salute!!!! I hope you enjoyed our show this past Monday. If you didn’t hear it, you missed a good one. We had one of my favorites of all time, Jimmy Edward, as our special guest. I have to say that this is probably my favorite show of all time. Jimmy has always been an inspiration to me and it was great to be able to talk to him live on air. Some haters called us and complained that he was too religious. My response is that you must understand that his faith is a big part of who is today. To ignore that would be a big disrespect to him. Plus once and artist finds God and praises Him in their music it is not easy to come back to secular music. That is what I was trying to present. We only got two calls complaining from people that I do not give too much merit to. Jimmy called his interview with us one his favorites. If you missed it, be sure to check out our guests page. Well gotta go for now, until next time take care and God bless TOMAS

Who Really Reads This?

Hello Friends, Fans & Enemies,
Another week, another show, more friends, more haters. What’s a guy to do. I am only human. Although I am on a personal quest toward perfection, I do make mistakes. I have often thought about axing this section of the sight. I don’t know. Hope you all enjoyed our show this week. It was another one of our music only shows. We are looking at ways to revamp the show and try to please everyone. Although it is not entirely possible we have decided to limit the length of our interview segments or incorporate music into them if it is an interview that will last longer than our projected timeframe. We have also incorporated a new feature last week called the CD of the week. This concept has been welcome with open arms by our listeners so far. This gives us the awesome opportunity of spinning some music from these artists other than the current single that is in rotation. This will in turn hopefully generate some sales for the artists who are chosen by presenting a little more of the CD. So far, it seems like this segment is hear to stay. Next week IV Garza will have his pick, so you’ll have to tune in to see what it is. Our phone lines have been heavy for the last few weeks. This is always a good thing. We try to accommodate all requests when possible. Sometimes it’s a little frustrating when people call up with a “list” of requests. It’s an on going thing and it’s only from a small majority of our callers but it does tie up a lot of the valuable airtime that we do have. I hope you remember all we have done for you when fundraising time comes around, if not then we will have to look at the way we handle requests. The sad part of it is that certain groups of people seem to think that the show is to cater solely to them, then call and give us shit when we aren’t able to please them. This has to stop. On the other hand, I am greatful for all the new friends that we have made. My Space, has really helped us to reach a more youthful audience. It’s great to see that many of our requests are coming from people under 20. I’d love to believe that it is because of our good looks but the reality is that we have broken down the barriers and have been able to bring Tejano to a younger crowd. I will go out on a limb and say that we are the only show in the country to do this. This goes totally against the trend in Tejano Music. Thanks again, for your luv!!! Well, I didn’t have a whole lot to say this week. Until next time take care and God Bless. TOMAS

No Title, Just My Thoughts

Hello Friends, Fans, & Enemies,
Hope you all enjoyed the show tonight. If you missed it, we talked to a group called Pochimex. I’ll be honest, when I first heard them, I didn’t know quite what to think. The music was a little different than I was used to. A little more on the norteno side, but then I gave the cd another listen and actually listened to the words to the music and then realized what these guys are all about. The entire cd is very social conscious and each song has a very distinct message to get across to the audience. They touch on a lot of issues which may be deemed controversial by some. Everything from immigration to social reform in Mexico is discussed on their cd “Somos Iguales”. I think that its about time that someone has the cojones to bring these issues out in song. Some of my favorite cuts from the CD were “Pobre Juan”, “Otra Historia”, and “Que Bonito Sueno”. Each of these songs are top notch and do a good job getting the point that the band is trying to make across. I think that they really clicked with me especially since I grew up a fan of socially conscious hip hop. I used to listen to groups such as Public Enemy, KRS-One, X-Clan, Funky Aztecs, and Brown Pride. All of those had a very distinct message that came through in their music. Aside from that, we started a new segment where we showcase our cd of the week. This is our way of playing some addition music from some of the latest cd’s aside from the current single in our current rotation. In an ideal world, this should help generate some additional sales for the artists by presenting our audience with a true taste of what the have to offer on the current product. I think this will be one of our most popular segments. This week, was Dan The Man’s pick and he chose the latest Garcia Brothers CD. Next week, Ritmo will give his pick so be sure to tune in for that. Other than that, I am thankful that the people here in Kansas City have allowed us to bring our brand of Chicano music to the airwaves for a period of nearly 3 years. Our anniversary is coming up in September. We have many surprises in the horizon so be sure to tune in to find out what is crawling up our sleeves. Also Mica, I know I need to return your Tupperware container otherwise I may not get a piece of my own anniversary cake. That makes me a sad panda. South Park episode 37. Sorry too much South Park!!! Be sure to check out Manny, Viviana, Dan The Man, and DJ Nutz at the Guadalupe Parish fiesta this coming Sunday. Manny and Viviana will MC on the main stage and Dan the Man and DJ Nutz will be spinning in the basement. Ritmo & I were asked later on to be a part of this event but due to a scheduling conflict for us, we had to decline. We will probably still try to make an appearance to show support for our fellow KKFI DJ’s, plus I have to be there to show support for Greg and the Diamante band as this will be their farewell performance together. It will be sad to see them go especially since they have big supporters of our show since day one. Whenever I needed anything, I knew that Greg and the rest of the band would be there for me. I truly understand where they are coming from and wish them much luck in their future endeavors. Although, they will not be performing together, be on the lookout for some solo cds from the band members as Greg concentrates more on the production side of the industry. In my personal life, things have been the same. The same crap over and over again, but that’s cool. I have my Faith in the man above who will help me and give me strength when I think that I am down. Sometimes I feel like the 4 wheels of a car except the wheels are spinning in different directions so I am getting nowhere. It’s been over a year since my back injury and if the doctors are right by next year I could be back to normal. That would be the best news ever. I am tired of relying on pain killers and alcohol for some relief from all this pain that I am in. Well, gotta go for now, until next time, take care and God Bless. TOMAS

Hot As Hell!!!…well maybe not quite.

Hello Friends and Fans. It’s another week again and its still the same old same old all over again. I’m not complaining. Right now, I’m just chilling in the office listening to Family Guy on the Cartoon Network. I’ll probably take some time out to kick back and watch Boondocks. DJ Ritmo got me into that show. It is great to hear from a lot of the people who have visited our websites. It’s been a wide range of people from listeners like yourselves, to people in the Tejano industry, to Porn Stars, Rock and Hip Hop Bands and Comedians. A lot of them have contacted me about getting some airplay or publicity on our show or some of the other shows on KKFI. I am always down to help out fellow entertainers. It reminds me of trying to promote my rap music back in the days. I was basically a walking press release and any opportunity for publicity that came my way was graciously accepted. I was doing everything from radio jingles and drops, to Aid and Drug Awareness songs, to talk radio. The timing was perfect because it was in the middle of all 2 Live Crew obscenity controversies so I was able to get myself booked on a lot of radio talk shows throughout the country as an “industry expert”. That’s how I eventually broke into talk radio. For those of you who say that I talk to much (and that’s fine, I respect all opinions) that’s probably why. LOL!!! Other than that things haven’t been too exciting. I have a couple of projects in the works which may include my first attempt at film making. Right now it’s just an idea and like many of my ideas and dreams, they quickly become unattainable. We’ll see. Actually a couple of exciting things did happen to me this past weekend. My good friend Monico Perez was in town this past weekend. If that name sounds familiar that’s because he is a drummer in the industry, he’s played with Dee Burleson among others and is currently playing with La Diva De Kumbia which you can hear on Fiesta Musical. How about that for a shameless plug? I had not talked to him since fan fair and before that we kept in touch through email but I had not actually seen him since my wedding. Now here’s that sad part…I didn’t get to see him. L Our schedules just didn’t allow it. He was in town on business and was doing some presentations at the Hyatt. He told me that he wasn’t able to leave the hotel except for a meal with his boss. I on the other hand had some things to do as well…Baby Duty. That sucks. The cool thing is that he will be back next month and will stay a little longer so he can have some time to hang out. He will come to the studio and do a guest dj spot with us on the show. And he also told me that the band just got signed by Freddie Records and will be finally releasing their debut cd. Way to go bro!!! The other cool thing is that since I was home alone, I got hooked on the Game Show Network (I am easily amused can you tell) and in particular a show called Playmania that comes on late Thurs-Saturday nights at midnight our time (Channel 116 on Dish Network). Playmania is an interactive game show with a red hot hostess named Mel Peachy. You can text to a message to a premium text number or register online to become a contestant. I always use the internet because I don’t want to pay 99 cents per text to enter. They play several games during the two hour show and you must re-register after every game. That’s what can get expensive if you use the text feature. When you text or register online, it may put you in a pool of contestants. If you get a message back that says you have not been selected, then you can try again or sit the game out. Often you may get a message that says to stay by the phone because they may call you back. That means you are in the pool. From that pull, the computer selects people at random that they call to play the game. By playing the games you can win cash prizes anywhere from $5 to $200 sometimes more. For the first time, in the three weeks that I have been watching the show, I was called to be a live contestant. I was hella surprised when the phone rang, especially since I have had a few false alarms. A couple of times the phone rang it was my parents or friends while I was waiting to be called. That sucked. I wasn’t very friendly to them at that time. The game that I played was pretty simple and I was playing for about $100 or so. Not a whole lot but not bad for just sitting at home doing nothing. You had to figure out the word by filling in the missing letters. There are many possibilities but you have to guess the one that they are looking for. The word on screen was “- - O U T” The first thing that came to my mind was TROUT. Hell, I like to fish and seafood is one of my favorite foods so I tried trout. That was not the right answer. Damn, I wanted the $$$. The answer they were looking for was SCOUT. Oh well, it was fun anyway and I got to talk to the super hot hostess. I’ll keep trying. I did save my “moment of fame” on my DVR. I’ll try to post the video or at least the audio from it in the near future. Well, I guess that’s all for now. I’ll keep you informed with anything else if it develops. Until next time take care and God Bless. TOMAS

Wow another week already!

Hello friends and fans,
Thanks for taking time out to hear what I have to say. It’s been I weird week. My birthday was this past Saturday July 22. Damn, I’m a year older. It’s all good though because I still feel the same. Weird thing is that I seem to get depressed around my birthday. Don’t know really what it is. Maybe it’s the fear of change, but lots has been changing rapidly in my life and at times yes I have been having a hard time dealing with it. I want to personally thank all of my friends who have stayed true through my time of need. I hope you enjoyed our show tonight. We talked to a 13 year old sensation named Candace Vargas. She is full of so much talent at such a young age. This is the future of our Onda. It was a pleasure to feature her on the show. I know that she is a little shy and that’s okay because I am very shy myself. I’ve been on the radio for years and I’ve performed in front of huge audiences as a rap artist but if you get me in a one on one conversation I tend to shy away. Don’t know why. I will try to have that interview up by tomorrow and fix the link to the Lumbre interview which is not working. I’ve done a few updates to the sight tonight. I’ve wiped out the poll and started all over with a lot of new songs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorites. I’ve included our current chart and finally updated our calendar of events page. Sometimes, I feel like I have neglected the website but its hard to balance my time to get these things done. It is good to know that our listeners are embracing and paying attention to the new music that we have been playing. We took a couple of calls asking about the new single from Los Amables. This will actually be their second cd when it is released. I’m looking forward to it. We debuted “Tracionera” last week and the reception has been good. I hope they vote for it in our poll. We also took a couple of calls from Mexico from people enjoying our show on the internet. I know that DJ Ritmo has been in contact with some new listeners down South and it’s great that they are embracing the Tejano sound. There are several Tejano bands that are doing very well in Mexico and I love it. Feel free to call anytime. Well, I really don’t have much to say tonight. Get ready because our 3rd anniversary is coming up in September. We are planning a huge show for you to celebrate as well as a special limited edition cd which we will give away. Thanks again for all of your continued support. See ya next week. TOMAS

It's Hot!!! & I'm Not Talking About The Music!!!

Hello friends and fans,
Wow!!! Two posts in one week, what's wrong with me. First off I want to say that I am sorry that I was not able to make the meeting that was scheduled for this past Tuesday. There is a newly formed Hispanic Programming Committee which meets the third Tuesday of each month. As soon as I get the 411 from Dan, Manny or Viviana, our leader, I will pass on any info of interest. I took the time out to see off the youth group from my Church as they had their fairwell mass to depart to their conference in Colorado. I have worked closely with many of these great teens and felt like I owed them to at least send them off. My prayers are with them. They have been somewhat of an inspiration to me too. I wish I was just as focused at that age instead of partying and smoking pot. The weather here in the KC metro area has been well over 100 degrees. I know my air conditioner can barely keep up with the heat. That brings me to my next subject. Please be sure to check on your loved ones who may not have air conditioning. I have lived in houses without air and know just how miserable it can be. It is especially hard on older people and very young children. If you have any people like this in your family, I ask that you check on them and offer them to stay with you until it cools down a little. I think that very often we take the luxuries that we enjoy daily for granted. I just don't want to hear about any heat related deaths. I have playing songs for people who have died when I know that something could have been done to help them. Anyway take care and God Bless. TOMAS