Latin Grammys....ZZzzzzzZZzzzzz!

I was rushing home tonight to catch the 11th edition of the Latin Grammys on Univision. Well, when I finally got home I found that I had missed the first hour of the show (not to panic since it aired 3 hours earlier in the East Coast and people on twitter were already spoiling it for us West Coast folks.)

The Latin Grammys have been airing on Univision ever since the show started broadcasting in Spanish and every year I have high hopes that the whole show will be amazing and every year if falls short to impress me.

I won’t go into detail with ALL the winners (snooze fest) though it is worth mentioning some of the winners and what I think were the BEST moments.

Here are the winners who I THINK are worth mentioning

New Artist: Alex Cuba

Urban song: “No Pidas Perdon,” Mala Rodriguez

Alternative music album: “Hombre Invisible,” Ely Guerra

Alternative song: “De Donde Vengo Yo,” ChocQuib Town

Best Regional Mexican Song: “Amarte a La Antigua,” Pedro Fernández

Best Banda Album - TIE
Me Gusta Todo de Tí by Banda el Recodo
Soy Tu Maestro by La Original Banda El Limon De Salvador Lizarraga



The 3 BEST moments of the night


Marc Anthony singing with Spain legend Jose Luis Peralta the CLASSIC song Y Como Es El



Colombian Band ChocQuibTown, winners of the Alternative Song for De Donde Vengo Yo (it is not the actual clip but the song is crazy fantastic! They completely stole the show)





And last but not least, Ricky Martin presenting Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year honoree to Opera Icon Plácido Domingo






What was YOUR favorite part of the Latin Grammys?

Credits: Univision, Chocquibtown & fpvault's youtube page

But aye do me a favor call me jerk one more time!

Think you’ve got what it takes to be the next big jerk?

Myspace, in partnership with Electus and Sprite is releasing an exciting new 14-episode original series called Jerk All-Stars. This documentary style show will spotlight the jerk movement and chronicle the lives of the kids who live it.

Jerk All-Stars will feature a competition on Myspace to find the next big jerk crew. Starting today jerkers from across the country are encouraged to create videos that showcase their best jerk moves and flavor and submit those videos to Myspace. The best jerkin’ crews will be handpicked by a panel of judges from Myspace, Electus and Sprite to compete in the Jerk All-Stars series, airing exclusively on Myspace.
 

Jerk All-Stars will be hosted by the hottest talent in the jerkin’ world and will give fans an up close and personal look into the chosen jerk crews and their journey to achieve their dreams. Each week these crews will be narrowed down until only the best of the best remain and the final five crews will compete in an all out battle for the title and bragging rights, of Jerk All-Stars.

 

Here’s a teaser of what’s to come from Jerk All-Stars:

 
Jerk All-Stars Intro

Jerk All-Stars | Myspace Video




Credits: VPE Public Relations

HopPo! Brought Earthy Sounds To The Bay

How many bands do you know that take a sabbatical year and their members decide to embark on independent projects?  They usually do it to fulfill the creativity which they can’t express with the members of their band and that is how HopPo! was born.

Café Tacvba is currently taking some time off which was the perfect timing for one of the members of the band, Ruben Albarran  to start an independent project with fellow musicians Rodrigo Aros Gho,  Juan Pablo Villanueva, Alejandra Flores & k´kame. The result, a project called HopPo which means “let’s go.”

The band stopped by the Bay Area this past weekend and had two very successful shows, one at The New Parish in Oakland & also at the Red Devil Lounge.  I checked out the show at the Red Devil Lounge and I wasn’t very sure what to expect. I think Café Tacvba is one of the greatest Mexican bands ever and I know how creative Ruben Albarran is but I definitely had no idea what was in store for the show.

The opening acts were Cuevo (a musician from LA with a very melodic acoustic vibe) and Torreblanca ( a band from Mexico City whose sarcastic lyrics talk about issues like infidelity, parents relationships and other typical issues from your daily life.)

Once the opening acts were done, the crowd was ready to see Ruben, the expectation was building up since the people in attendance had never seen what this project HoPpo! was all about. The sound had such an earthy quality to it, the mix of sounds and the tone of his voice were different & refreshing, the show turned out to be quite magical.  Ruben interacted with the audience throughout the whole show.

 

He also talked about how a lot of the songs that HoPpo plays are covers of songs that have had many covers done in the past, but Ruben’s take of each song was very different.  My personal favorites were La Llorona and the very different version of Mercedes Sosa’s classic Gracias A La Vida.

Overall I was extremely pleased with the show and Ruben’s decision to do this side project was definitely a fantastic idea.

Credits: Club Mercy