Ritchie Valens Fan Forum

by **turkishtown3** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:35 am

OpEd piece Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel refused to print...
Their editor thought that staffer Dave Tienen's piece about 2/3/59 in which he labeled Holly "a probably country star," Ritchie, "just a singer with a bunch of hit songs," and The Bopper a 1-hit wonder, had more validity than the piece I submitted. She was very snooty and acted as though I were a novice writer just because I didn't work for a newspaper,
( small wonder newspapers lag behind the blogosphere), and suggewsted I send this to a "Spanish paper."
Basically my contention is that as prolific a songwriter as Buddy Holly was, Ritchie had more of an impact culturally, and particularly on future generations...Let me know what you think...
*********************************************************************************************************************************************** Out of the Wreckage of Feb., 1959, a Phoenix Rose for Latinos

By BG Rhule

Over the span of 50 years that have passed since the infamous plane crash that took the lives of young rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, who are currently being commemorated with a reprisal of that nefarious Winter Dance Party Tour, a great majority of what has been written seems to either focus on the iconic Buddy Holly or on the plane crash itself. Little is written of the fact that Ritchie Valens was the first Latino to break through to pop music, the first successful local LA star whose band was comprised of the first multi-racial and multi ethnic musicians--Hispanic, black, Asian and white--and the first to successfully record a Mexican folk song and create a mega hit. He was first a star at Pacoima Junior High, north of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, where he entertained classmates at lunchtime dances. At San Fernando High School, he came to be known as The Little Richard of the San Fernando Valley, which drew the attention of former bandleader-turned record-producer Bob Keane, who had catapulted Sam Cooke's career with "You Send Me."

Undoubtedly, Holly had the larger catalog of songs, recording with The Crickets since 1957, and ultimately thriving for years in Great Britain, where the Beatles' musical infatuation with Holly grew faster than a chia pet in a sauna. Holly was, of course, also the bigger star. After all, Valens only began recording back in July, 1958 with "C'mon, Let's Go." Yet, Valens was enormously successful on a vastly different level: He was, as mentioned, the first Latino Rock Star, and, since the release of the two-sided single Donna and La Bamba, ultimately had more universal success than Holly, who remains a bigger name in England than in many parts of the U.S.

Holly, who along with Eddie ("Summertime Blues")Cochrane, was wildly more popular in England, ignited the British invasion with the Beatles being inspired by him, but Valens has continuously opened doors for Latinos in the music business from Chris Montes ("Let's Dance") to Los Lobos, to Selena, whose father was influenced by Valens, and taught her his songs as a child.

Holly also derived from a middle class family, whereas Valens lived as a teen in the basement below his mother's cramped rental home in Pacoima. She was, after his father's death from diabetes, a single working mother with four children. Valens was so poor that his aunt and uncle bought him suits to wear at concerts until he could afford to buy them himself. All Holly wanted was for people to buy and listen to his music. Valens wanted the same, but was motivated by a gnawing sense of responsibility to help his family, buy his mother a house and allow her to quit working, while staying home to raise her family.

Valens may have changed his name to get his music played on mainstream stations instead of Spanish-speaking ones, but he did not change who he essentially was. When following R & B singer Jackie Wilson at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, the audience, racially mixed, was stunned because Valens did not physically appear as he sounded. Many black teens thought he was black, whites thought he was white, so when he launched into "La Bamba," Hispanic teens were delirious to hear Spanish infused into a rock song for the first time.

He was a fan of Bo Diddley and Bo Diddley was a fan of his, as was Chuck Berry, with whom he appeared in the 50s teen flick, "Go Johnny Go." Ritchie Valens transcended race and nationality. Kids today watch "La Bamba," try to play the guitar chords, or simply are motivated to live their teenage dreams.

Each year in May, his surviving family members, sisters Irma and Connie, brothers Bob and Mario, (the latter of whom plays a mean blues harp in a band, and sings with a voice that bears an eerie similarity to his late brother), celebrate Ritchie's birthday with a weekend of rock music at a San Fernando park with the facilities bearing his name, The Ritchie Vales Recreation Center. There is a beautiful mural of Ritchie at nearby Pacoima Junior High, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Gibson has recreated his guitar, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, along with a commemorative stamp Ritchie Valens issued. The Los Angeles Unified School District also has a music scholarship in his name.

Today, one cannot go to a Quincenera, a wedding, a birthday party or a church fiesta without La Bamba being played. Ritchie was immortalized in the acclaimed film La Bamba for generations to come. Most importantly, his dreams and visions of success, never swayed by race or nationality, serve to inspire musicians and teens alike.

As we mark this 50th anniversary of that sad and mournful day in the Clear Lake, Iowa cornfield, and as The Winter Dance Party Tour has been reprised (with J.P. Richardson Jr. performing as The Big Bopper, John Mueller, well-known Buddy Holly impersonator, and Ritche’s brother Mario and cousin Ernie, who both sound eerily like him), we will do well to celebrate the musical joy of Ritchie’s young life, not his premature death. That is inherently the magnificence of his life’s message; the striving of dreams in our lives is to be cheered, and not mourned for their lack of duration. I can think of no more intrinsic theme for any more volatile and pernicious time in our history than this remembrance of simple dreams from a simpler time.

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Ritchie Valens Fan Forum

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