LOS FABULOCOS FEATURING KID RAMOS Source: Riverside Press-Enterprise Date: 04/2009 Writer: Fielding Buck

Music with a Latin Flair at UC Riverside

Imagine if Buddy Holly met up with Paco Jimenez and went over to Howlin' Wolf's house for a couple of drinks.

That's the way Kid Ramos described Los Fabulocos, one of eight acts on the bill this weekend at the Radio Aztlán Music Festival.

That kind of synergy is what the festival, now in its 13th year is about.

"We try to bring a different kind of voice," said Estella Acuna, director of Chicano Student Programs at UC Riverside.

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Los Fabulocos is one of the eight acts playing this weekend's Radio Aztlán Music Festival at UC Riverside. Los Fabulocos' sound has been described as Cali-Mex, "a West Coast cousin of Tex-Mex."

That department produces the festival and the weekly radio program on which it is based.

"It's like giving one of our radio shows live," she said in a phone interview.

The music ranges from oldies and rockabilly to rap.

El Chicano, a band that has been around since 1970 and has produced hits such as "Tell Her She's Lovely," will be spotlighted.

Also on the bill are Al Reyes, Vicky Tafoya, The Grind, Manuel Campos, The Big Beat and Little Jayz.

Acuna said she is looking forward to Reyes, who was raised in Riverside, performing the song "Vietnam Veterano" with his friend David "The Rod" Rodriguez. He is heard in the recording of the song included in a Smithsonian compilation called "Rolas de Aztlán: Songs of the Chicano Movement."

Los Fabulocos is a relatively new band featuring Ramos, known for his guitar work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

"It's a mixture of different styles, Mexican roots music as well as American music. It's kind of a melding of a bunch of different styles," Ramos said.

"It's a four-piece, but it's four people who like a lot of the same stuff but have their own influences."

Ramos said he has been a blues musician for most of his career and came on board through a friendship with Jesus Cuevas, the group's lead vocalist and accordion player.

"When he had this band going, he called me and said, 'Hey, do you know any guitar players that play bajo sexto,' which is an instrument that traditionally backs up the accordion ... It's really for traditional cajunto music, Tex-Mex style.

"I said, 'Hey, I'll do it.' Basically, it went from there."

Los Fabulocos recorded its debut CD live in two sessions last year for the Delta Groove label. Ramos takes the lead vocal on a cover of "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes."

"We just went in there and played what we would play on any given night," he said. "I think it captures that really well."

Ramos described Los Fabulocos' sound as roots music. Liner notes by Ruben Molina call it Cali-Mex, "a West Coast cousin of Tex-Mex."

Ramos said the band just got back from a gig in Texas, and that Southern California audiences are a little different.

"I think the accordion stuff, the traditional stuff, gets people dancing. 'Un Mojado Sin Licencia' -- that's on the CD -- that gets people dancing.