"Hello. Thank you for visiting and I'm glad you're here. Explore the latest updates and the new links. Welcome to my home, my music corner of the internet. Enjoy your stay."
This is a Tejano Music site with a commonality line of balance.
Meaning ...
A music balance of Tejano awareness, logical/sound reasoning, and Tejano music issues/agendas ... plus music dialogue are the main principals of this site, and for all of you. Progress in the advocacy and infrastructure of our Tejano music industry you could say, again, 'is the heart and rhythm of TMDC.'
Let's talk less ... and do more.
Music like life itself - I believe - can take us through so many roads, so many different paths, so many changes, traveling through city after city, playing in other states and countries, but more importantly we also learn other things from so many people we meet along the way. That is the beauty of life itself. Plus, throughout my lifetime music has been right next to me, from Austin TX to San Jose CA, and now in Sun City West AZ. Retired.
I must admit all of this ...
Has been an exceptionally 'long music journey' since the good old days in Austin. Today, well, I am grateful for the many advances in the digital world and how it's used in our modern and present day.
It is a fast-paced world out there with social media platforms, better commerce and overall music markets, many turbo-driven music apps - and we live in a exhilarating and exciting modernistic society with new trends, exclusive choices, and exciting paradigm models of the future.
Welcome.
Biographical Notes
Ramon Hernandez
(Right) Ramon became an authority on Tejano music through his work as a journalist, photographer, publicist, collector, and musicologist. Hernández was born on the West Side of San Antonio.
He grew up loving music, and during his teenage years he formed a band with some classmates, but soon realized that his skills were better suited behind the scenes (the
band later became The Monsanto Band).
After he graduated from San Antonio’s Brackenridge High School in 1960, he joined the U.S. Navy, where he became a naval intelligence officer and learned to speak five languages. It was during his military career that he found his interest as a photographer and writer.
By 1968, while still in the Navy, he was freelancing as a photographer on the sets of the popular The Lawrence Welk Show and The Andy Williams Show. In 1983, he retired from the military and returned to San Antonio.
In 1985, Hernández was hired by the San Antonio Express-News to write about the local Tejano and conjunto scene. He soon began writing for other publications, including Full Tilt Boogie, La Prensa de San Antonio, and Billboard Magazine.
Johnny Hernandez
“Tejano takes original Mexican songs from Mexico, adds horns and a Polka beat, and sometimes even blends influence from blues, rock, and big bands,” said Hernandez.
The unique sound came about from the mix of cultures that swirled around Hernandez’s birthplace in Temple, Texas.
“The Polka beat came from German influences. We heard accordions and German music because we lived near Fredericksburg, a Texas town with a large German population.”
Music was in the Hernandez’s blood.
“My father was a musician who used to sing and play at local bars,” said Hernandez. “When we were little kids, he’d take us along and people sitting at the bar would throw nickels and dimes at us when we danced.”
The Hernandez family lived in a predominantly black neighborhood where the brothers were exposed to blues, gospel, soul music and some of the earliest versions of Rock and Roll.
In his autobiography, “The Cotton Picker,” Hernandez writes about picking cotton as a small child and hearing Chuck Willis sing “CC Rider” and Jimmy Clanton’s “Just a Dream,” two songs he would later cover.
“I was hearing the best 50’s music, top 40’s music, black and white music, Sinatra, the Platters - it all had an influence.”
Laura Canales
[La Reina]
Raised in Texas, Canales was a always strong vocalist throughout her youth.
And just like Selena, Canales’ father played a pivotal role in the early days of her career when he encouraged her to perform Tejano music, the hybrid style created along the Texas-Mexico border that was primarily sung by men at the time.
Canales first appeared on the scene in 1973, performing with the groups Los Unicos and Conjunto Bernal. Then in the 1970s, she helped form the band Snowball & Company, which went on to release several albums and had a hit with the song “Midnight Blue.”
But it was in the next decade that Canales truly found fame. In 1981, she and her new husband formed Laura Canales & Encanto. The band released several records throughout the decade and had a major hit with the track “Sí Viví Contigo.”
Soon she was dubbed “La Reina de la Onda Tejana” (“The Queen of the Tejano Wave”) and took home the Female Vocalist of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards from 1983 to 1985.
BTW, since I'm from Austin Texas, a Libra, well ...
"I love beauty in all forms" and in all kinds of art/abstract pictures, 'astronomy has been one of my favorite subjects since I was eight years old' ... Love to write and compose 'love ballads' and tejano music, originals and conjunto, group, and band music arrangements; also, I have written a few Latin and country charts.
I also play different kinds of music here, from super Tejano hits to light rock and new/old country, upload YouTube videos at times, and other music that I have in my music room, like salsa, oldies, Hawaiian, reggae, and classic hits. Other current interests are world history, United States history, photography, computers, and digital effects. I use Photoshop to layout my own pictures of the universe, creation, and astronomy together - FAV planet? - Saturn; and I luv, love the beautiful sound of the flute.
Finally, I look forward to a new day and a new site because ...
"It brings in a new life chapter, it opens another new path, and each day brings all of us another
window of opportunity for us to face the world all over again."
TEJANOmike is a passionate advocate for Tejano music, which is a genre that blends Mexican and US influences, often featuring instruments like the accordion and guitar. He runs a website called TEJANOmike.com ... where he shares his love for Tejano music, promotes its history, and encourages young musicians to excel in this genre. I would like to welcome all the new visitors from other states and countries, and much gratitude for long-time supporters of TM.
And try to remember my factoid from years ago: "For all our music industry failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, us tejanos and tejanas are capable of greatness. We are a courageous generation, but without imagination, without a business alliance, and without total unity, we will go nowhere with La Nueva Onda." TM 05/14/2022