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HomeMy WebLinkAbout"Golden Oldies" article in The EagleBrazos Li41 fe D Sunday, January 24, The F Eagle photos by Stuart Villarn From left, Roy Rodriguez, Ray Portales, George Ortega and Justice of the Peace Tommy Munoz were bandmates in the local band Bobby and the Hurricanes. A special exhibit on Hisp: heritage at the College Station Conference Center includes memorabilia from the group. Golden oldies Hispanic heritage exhibit features memorabilia from local band By JAY BRAKEFIELD Special to The Eagle The eight dark-haired young men look out from the photo with all the confidence and uncertainty of youth. The black-and-white image, on display in a Hispanic heritage exhibit at the College Station Con- ference Center, captures these men when they performed as Bobby and the Hurricanes, touring the state and opening for major acts. They never expected to become stars, but they earned good money, made some records and had good times and misadventures that they recall fondly. The man holding the drum sticks in the photo, Tommy Munoz, is a justice of the peace now. Several former Hurricanes are retired. One was recently hit by a tragedy that stunned his old friends. Talent show The band started in the early 1960s at Anson Jones Junior High, where Munoz, Roy Rodriguez and Ray Portales were in the school band. They jammed at the home of a friend, George Ortega. Those four, plus Robert Mendez, worked up three songs for a school talent show. When the emcee asked how he should introduce them, they came up with the band name on the spot. Bobby was Mendez, who played guitar and sang lead. They're not sure where the Hurricanes part came from, but it may have been a nod to a popular group of the day, Johnny and the Hurricanes. Memories differ.on how they did in the contest. Some of the guys say they won; Mendez is sure they came in second to a trumpet. player. ► If YGY • What: "Siempre! Otra Vez, Hispanic Culture in Brazos County" exhibit. • Where: College Station Conference Center, 1300 George Bush Drive. • When: Through the spring. • More information: 764-3491. After all this time, it hardly mat- ters. But they all remember clearly that, as a result of the contest, they appeared on a local midday TV show, Town Talk, on KBTX. They performed the same three songs they had played in the contest. A lot of kids skipped school that day. Moving up Rodriguez and Portales played tenor saxophones. Ortega played guitar, though he later switched to organ. Munoz, for that matter, had switched from sax because the group needed a drummer. After deciding to keep the band going, the Hurricanes added songs and members. Greg Rodriguez, no relation to Roy Rodriguez, joined as See BAND, Page D7 Bobby and the Hurricanes started as a talent-show act at Anson Jones Junior High in the 1960s and went on to record albums and tour the state performing concerts. Sunday, January 24, 2010 The Eagle . theeagle.com D7 Brazos Life BAND: Group members enjoyed community support and grew into leaders Continued from D1 a singer, emcee and booking agent. Agapito "Pete" Valadez played guitar. And Phillip Cornejo helped set the rhythm on bass. Soon they were working regularly on weekends, play- ing dances, parties, weddings and quinceaneras. As their popularity grew, they traveled to Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock and smaller towns. They played big ballrooms, opening for such popular acts as Little Joe and the Latinaires, Alfonso Ramos and Sunny and the Sunliners. They lugged the organ up stairs and coped with the sand that got in it in Lubbock. In far West Texas, they played at a converted bowling alley and a place that doubled as a wrestling arena. The ring was their stage at that gig, in Morton. "People danced all the way around it like Indians," Ortega recalled. "It was really weird, you know?" "There was nothing there" in the town, Munoz said. "Even the radio station looked like an outhouse." But crowds from the surrounding area packed the place. Good of days The Hurricanes covered popular tunes such as the Sunliners' Golly Gee and Talk to Me, Beatles songs, numbers by regional artists such as the Jokers and Gene Thomas, and even some soul material, including James Brown's Papa's Got a Brand New Bag. They sang in both English and Spanish and sometimes put a Hispanic spin on a standard tune; one of their recordings . is called El Jerk. They were making good money, often getting a guaran- tee and a share of ticket sales, called "the door. Roy Rodriguez's dad went along on the road to take the tickets and make sure they got their share. Memories vary on how much those gigs took in; Greg Rodriguez says they' made as much as $3,000 or $4,000 a night. Mendez recalls getting $2,500 from a club owner who had refused to guarantee them $1,000. , They bought a 1957 Plymouth station wagon with a push- button transmission and a trailer, which they describe as looking like a barbecue pit, to haul their equipment. "We made damn good The young men of Bobby and the Hurricanes were filling ven- ues on the road - enough to make a couple thousand dollars a night at their peak. Eagle photo by Stuart Villanueva money," recalled Greg Rodriguez, 66. "That money helped me go to college." Community support At a rough upstairs club in Dallas, gunfire broke out while they played. Returning from West Texas on a Sunday, with a wedding gig scheduled for that night, Portales fell asleep at the wheel outside Abilene and veered down an incline. No one was hurt, but the trailer pulled loose and the instruments were dam- aged. A couple of the guys hitchhiked into town and called family members, who came to ferry them home. The families, in fact, were very supportive, as was the larger Hispanic community. Munoz recalls that his dad, Ascencion Munoz, sat down one day and started playing his son's drums. Turned out he had once played with a. local band called the Bolero Kings. "I didn't know he could do that," Munoz said. "The only problem we had was trying to find a place to practice because we made too much noise," Portales said. The local LULAC chapter solved that by allowing the boys to use its facilities. Folks they met on the road were supportive, too. "People were just unbelievable," said Portales, 63. "They would pre- pare food and invite us into their homes. They'd say, `Y'all don't have to stay in a motel; you can stay here."' Most of the band's record- ings were cover versions of others' songs, but one, Georgie's Special, was an orig- inal. One of these days, they'll get those little 45-rpm discs transferred to a digital mode. There's also some music on reel-to-reel tapes and homes movies of the band, without sound. Some posters and jack- ets also survive, along with the memories. Catching up After a year or 18 months with the band, Valadez got married and left; he was replaced by Gilbert Ramirez. Trumpet player Henry "June- bug" Gongora also joined the group. Around 1967, as other members married or entered military service, the Hurri- canes broke up. Portales, Mendez, Valadez and Ortega played in other local bands. Roy Rodriguez played with Little Joe. Only Mendez became a full-time profession- al musician, but he tired of that after a couple of years and continued playing locally until a few years ago While holding down a regular job. He's still working as a driver for UPS Inc. These days, Roy Rodriguez likes to pull out his horn around Christmas and play carols. Portales would like to play more, but his sax needs work, and he's trying to decide whether to get it fixed or buy a secondhand instru- ment. Valadez, 71, who retired from driving a concrete truck in 2005, said, "I haven't touched a guitar for a while now; I'm rusty." The Hurricanes used to play reunion gigs now and again, but they haven't gotten togeth- er in a few years. "Maybe we'll do it again," said Portales, who's retired from H-E-B grocery stores and involved in running Garcia's, a family restaurant in Bedias, where he lives. Roy Rodriguez, 62, estab- lished his own business, Rodriguez Wheel Alignment & Auto Repair, sold it to his son and daughter-in-law a few years ago and continues to work there, free of the pres- sure of being the boss. Greg Rodriguez became a pioneer in Hispanic radio and still does a show six days a week on KTAM, 1240 AM, in Bryan. He also served on the Bryan City Council for several years' and continued his musical interests as a church choir director for 12 years. Munoz, 62, is the justice of the peace for Precinct 2, Place 2. Ortega, 63, retired from working with computers and other electronic equipment at A&M and now cares for his aged mother, who lives next door. "It's a job, but it doesn't pay anything," he says, but it's not a complaint. Phillip Cornejo, 63, moved to the Austin area, where he established a printing busi- ness, his old friends say. A few days before Christmas, while Cornejo and his wife were away, their son John Phillip Cornejo, 24, was shot to death at the home he shared with his parents and his brother Phillip, 45. The detaiN are unclear. The older brother has been charged with murder and remains in the Williamson County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Several of the band mem- bers have remained in touch with their former band mate, who returns to the area often to visit family. "I know what he's going through. I lost my youngest son back in 2003," Mendez said. Whatever the years have brought, though, the former Hurricanes share memories of being a tight group of young men who hung out together even when they weren't play- ing music. "We don't see each other anymore. We're good friends. We're grandpas now," said Greg Rodriguez. "We had some good old times. Those days will never come again."