WEBVTT - Willie Colón: El Día de Mi Suerte 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.840 There are some icons who shine on both sides of 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:06.280 the curtain. 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:08.520 Mm hmm, your prains, you're Pharrell. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:11.200 The ones who know how to make a track sound 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.080 just right, who can transform a song into a hit 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:17.760 just by adding the perfect hook. 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.240 The icons behind the icons, the ones who go from 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.360 supporting players to center stage slowly. 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:30.440 But Shirt and Today's icon, well, without him, some of 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:35.479 the most important salsa artists and records might never have existed. 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.600 They'd be regulated to deep cuts, footnotes, stuff that a 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:42.360 hipster friend might tell you about but you can't remember 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:44.839 because he gives you a twenty minute lecture about it 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:46.080 with no PowerPoint. 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.319 You hear that, Brian from cobble Hill. Next time, make 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.040 it a PowerPoint party. 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.520 Yeah, Brian, Wait, PowerPoint party. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.080 Whatever our producer said it was a thing. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:58.520 We don't do that around here, but we get how 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.000 it could be really funny. Luckily, Brian's genre of choice 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.920 will remain Eastern European disco because Salza had a Wheelie 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:09.199 Colonne for a hit. 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:17.039 Maker, trombonist, vocalist, arranger, producer and certified New yor Rican Royalty. 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:20.640 As a New Yorker, Golan is deeply tied to the 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:25.959 city's roughest and some would say most artistically explosive years. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.760 Fun fact, he also ran to be New York Congressman. 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:30.880 He lost them. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.440 As in Bourriqua, he uplifted the music of his fellow Garibagios, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.160 empowering a whole generation of salsa artists to bridge gaps 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:39.520 within the Latino community. 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:44.320 We bah, it's weird to hear you say that. I mean, 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:45.319 I like it. Listen. 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.760 We accept all we except all onto the island anyway. 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.600 As a American and a New Yorker, Golan has been 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.560 an outspoken critic of dictatorship and a voice for the 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:57.440 marginalized people he grew up with. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.400 Except these days where I'm not so crazy about the 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.000 things Willie's been saying. 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.480 Yeah, we're gonna get there, I promise. 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.000 And like him or not agree or disagree with him, 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:15.239 there is one thing that we can agree on. Willie 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.880 Colonne is an irreplaceable part of Latin music. 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:21.720 He paid the way for some of our favorites, from 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:23.560 Sela Cruz to Mark Anthony. 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.240 And it all started in the South Bronx. 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:28.720 We off to the Pooky Down. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:36.800 I'm your host, Lilianavosquez and I'm Joseph Carrio and This 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.079 is Becoming an Icon a weekly podcast where we give 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.520 you the rundown on how today's most famous LATINX stars 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.360 have shaped pop culture. 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.440 And given the world some extra. 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.239 Level Sit back and get comfortable. 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.320 Because we are going in the only way we know how. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:03:01.240 With buenasas, buenasriesas, and a lot of opinions as we 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.560 relive their greatest achievements on our journey to find out 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:18.160 what makes them so iconic. Loyal listeners know when it 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.240 comes to its importance in the world of Latin music, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.960 New York City can just about go toe to toe 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.519 with any city in Latino America, from. 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:28.840 The King of Reggaeton Darayenki to Laina de la Salsa 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.640 Cela Cruz. Everybody from Nicaribe comes through sooner or later. 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.880 Caribbean Latinos all have a unique. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.640 Relationship with New York and that New York Caribbean connection 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:41.560 is over a century old. 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.520 Cubans traced their New York ties back as far back 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.080 as the late eighteen hundreds when Jose Marti organized the 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.480 independence movement while he was in exile. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.600 And that independence movement came to a head when after 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.760 Cuba was years deep into its War of Independence, the 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.839 US stepped in at the eleventh hour and declared war 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:05.720 on Spain, an intervention with consequences spanning more than a century. 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.160 Including Puerto Rico status as a United States territory aka 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.360 the stuff many podcasts and many arguments at Puerto Rican 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.080 dinner tables over statehood versus independence. 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.440 And the reason for the huge Puerto Rican community in 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.080 New York City. In nineteen seventeen, Puerto Ricans were granted 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:28.120 US citizenship, making it far easier for Bordiquas to come stateside. 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.600 And so thousands of Puerto Ricans did just that. Known 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.039 as Los Bionetros or the Pioneers. The first wave of 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.320 Bodiquas turned to New Yorkers, or. 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:40.919 In my dad's case, Bodigua's turned Texans. 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:44.279 The Bionetto settled down in Brooklyn, East Harlem, the Lower 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.560 East Side shout out Losaida and the Bronx. 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.480 And it's there in the South Bronx where Willi Colon's 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.800 grandparents settled down in the nineteen tens with that first 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.360 wave of bion Neros, and over the next forty five years, 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.680 that Puerto Rican community grew, an grew, and grew. 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.760 With both new arrivals and New Aurekans. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.680 Bourriqua was born off the island, and among those New 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:12.920 Yorrekans was Willi Colonne born April twenty eighth, nineteen fifty. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.320 Okay, Joseph, what do you got for Willy? 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.640 A Taurus just like me? 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:24.800 A Taurus' son, hardworking and patient in model, thrives in 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.520 situations where he is in control, just like me, Let's 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.840 say the recording studio. He would do best to embrace 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.440 his sense of authority, but also be careful not to 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.159 let himself become too narrow minded. When he learns a 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.880 lesson in life, he doesn't forget it, and the streets 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:42.520 are a hard teacher. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.240 Mi hau Truer words have never been spoken. 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.680 Willi's mom had him at just sixteen years old. 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.320 And Mama was dealt a tough hand. 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.600 She grew up first generation New yor Rican way back 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.280 when New Yorkers called bodegas corner stores. 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.640 It was based sickly the Stone Age. All this environment 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.120 was not kind to foreigners like us. So it's no 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.559 wonder when he's mom lost her Spanish, making matters worse. 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:13.120 Daddy wasn't in the picture. So of course that meant 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.160 Abuela picked up the slack. Shout out to all the Aboilas, 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:20.039 picking up the slack for dead bee dads right, shout 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:24.039 out to the Abolitas. Anyway, Willi Colan's grandmother, Antonia, was 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:27.200 his guiding light. She taught him Spanish and instilled in 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.320 him that Bourriqua pride. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.560 Which was important because remember this was corner Story days, 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:34.880 and then white kids were circling. 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.680 Cologne was shorter and had darker skin than the mostly 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.680 Irish American white kids. He found himself at odds with 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.560 day to day. He went to a school with segregated 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:49.800 bathrooms and water fountains, there was no hiding who he was. Still, 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:53.440 the insults only made him double down on his pride. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.760 No grandchild of Antonio Goa had who he. 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:01.360 Is, Gracia. 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.360 But there was one more thing weely would get bullied over, 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:06.840 and this one it stung deep. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.160 Willie's abuela used to show her grandson a photo of 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.560 his dad dressed as a soldier. She would tell him 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.800 about the reason he wasn't around was that he was 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:18.440 off fighting, but in reality. 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.040 Willi's father was in and out of prison and was 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.240 often arrested publicly for robbery and other violent offenses. In 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.120 one interview, Wily even seems to imply that he himself 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:29.480 witnessed his father's arrest. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:33.120 Willie's classmates knew about all of this, and they bullied 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.560 him relentlessly for it. But Willie, being a tourus, wasn't 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.480 taking that shit laying down. He was throwing elbows, getting 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:41.920 in fight after fight. 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:45.240 Still with his father gone, Willi was the man of 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.200 the house. That meant that he felt responsible for looking 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:50.520 after his sister out on the streets. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.760 And he looked after her the only way he knew how, 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.760 by fighting with anyone who looked at her own. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.720 Remember this was the South Bronx in the nineteen fifties 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.760 and sixties, and while this was far from the Bronx's 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.600 burning days of the seventies, times were tough in the 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:07.720 Batrio right after World War Two. 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:10.559 Families like Willi's used to be able to get jobs 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.440 at the factory, but now those factories were closing up. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.760 Lower paying, lower status service jobs took their place, making 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:18.440 matters worse. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.360 Heroin use was on the rise. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.120 More and more, it felt like you didn't know who 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.240 or what was around the next street corner. That meant 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.760 Willy had to learn to defend himself in his own words. 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:32.200 Everyone else had brothers or dads to back them up. 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:37.200 I didn't, So Willie toughened up quick, and soon he 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.240 earned a nickname, El Marlo. 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.880 It's hard not to assume that the nickname has some 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:44.760 like father like sun vibes. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:46.679 But WILLI would come to wear that. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.360 Nickname like armor and eventually carry it into his career 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:51.520 as a salsettle. 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:54.880 So he had the nickname, he had the attitude. There's 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:56.440 just one thing missing. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.960 The music, of course, And of all of the gift 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:03.320 if Abuela Antonia would be still upon Willi, this was 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.400 perhaps the most important. 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.960 At eleven years old, Willie received a trumpet as a 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.280 gift from his grandmother. This was obviously her way of 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.200 keeping Willy off the streets. 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.280 But it wasn't for lack of love of music either. 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.320 Antonia had enrolled Willy in music lessons and would have 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.280 him sing for all of her friends. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:25.839 But this wasn't just about proving te tiacuncita that you 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.079 had the most talented grandkid. Antonia really cared about Willy's passions. 0:09:30.360 --> 0:09:35.120 A plus plus for parenting y'all and Antonia's nurturing and 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.360 her sacrifices would sit Willy on a course to change 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:52.960 Latin music forever. It's nineteen sixty four and Willie Colonne, 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:56.160 at fourteen years old, has formed his very first band, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.480 the Latin Jazz All Stars. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.559 All Stars is some big talk for a bunch of sweaty. 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.560 Teens, especially in New York, which had long since earned 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.840 its reputation as one of the great American jazz cities, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.600 and in the nineteen sixties Latin jazz in particular was 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:13.319 taking off. 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.760 The last decade was ruled by legends like Miles Davis, 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.679 Charlie Parker, and Solonius Monk. In the sixties they were 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:24.520 still royalty no shade, but something else was. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:30.880 Bruin rumba, mambo and merengue exploded out of dance halls Throughound, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.839 Manhattan and the Bronx. Meanwhile, groups like Machito and his 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.920 Afro Cuban Boys experimented with weaving these styles into classic 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:40.000 jazz arrangements. 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.040 An artist like Tito Puente and Lorena se La Cruz 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:47.160 brought the og styles up from Las Islas to clubs 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.600 like the Gongan Health Kitchen, Park Plaza in East Harlem 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.199 and most importantly the Palladium in the East Village. 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.559 It was during this golden age of Latin Jazz that 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:02.240 Williicolon saw his idol, the trombonis Mont Rivera live in concert, 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.880 and then he basically looked at Rivera playing the trombone, 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:09.480 then looked at his trumpet and looked up with sad 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:10.760 little kid eyes. 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:15.560 And so Abuela Antonia La Santa saved about two weeks 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.440 worth of living expenses to buy him a trombone. 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.720 Real talk, if you are lucky enough to have an 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:27.480 Abuela Antonia in your life, you are set, like set, set, 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:28.400 set for life. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.920 So at the height of Mambo Mania, not. 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:36.240 To be confused with the Latin explosion. 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.320 I Hate you, Willie Colonne was playing wherever he could 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:41.800 with the Latin Jazz All Stars at night and in 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:44.360 the daytime he was working at a small record store. 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.400 Now, sometimes you want to keep your moonlighting and your 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.720 day job separate, but this wasn't the case for Willie 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.439 because the owner of the record store owned a small 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:55.280 record label. 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.000 Willy invited the store manager to one of the Latin 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.199 Jazz All Stars gigs, and the manager said yes, because 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:02.280 what are you going to do? 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.880 Not go and then have to talk to Willie at 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:05.720 work every day? 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.400 Seriously bad news. So the store manager dragged his ass 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.160 onto the floor train and over to East Harlem, and 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:19.559 to his surprise, Willie could rip. He was impressed, very impressed. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.400 So impressed that he gassed up Willy Colone's band to 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:25.480 the store owner, convincing him to sign the band to 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.520 his label. So at fourteen, Willy and his band recorded 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.760 an entire LP on the end. 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.160 But if you know anything about Willy Colonne, you already 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:37.920 know this isn't a big break. 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:39.640 By the way, if you know anything about our podcast, 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:40.440 you know that it. 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:44.360 Takes like eight label signings and thirteen records to hit 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.840 it big. And same thing happened with Willy the label. 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.839 It ended up going bankrupt. The store owner lost everything, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:54.760 including the rights to the LP Willy and the band 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:55.720 had recorded. 0:12:55.960 --> 0:13:00.200 Rule number one, read the contract, Rule number two. The 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:03.400 repomen don't give no fuck about that contract. 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:08.040 So Real, however, really struck a deal with the store owner. 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.400 If he could raise enough money to buy the rights back, 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.760 the tapes would be his. So El Malo hustled and 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:17.760 scraped and got his music back. 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.440 Meanwhile, across town, another independent record label was on the 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.000 up and up, and. 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:25.520 Now we're getting to the good stuff. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.200 In nineteen sixty four, an unlikely duo decided to found 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.160 a record label. That duel was Johnny Pacheko, the legendary 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:38.920 Dominican multi instrumentalist, and his divorce lawyer Jerry Mesucci. 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:42.520 Wait, really, we did not cover that in the Celia 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:43.800 episodes because. 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:45.480 Some details you got to say for later. Otherwise we 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:50.440 wouldn't have a podcast anyway. Jerry Mesucci, the cop turned 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.120 divorce lawyer turned and presario, had spent some time in 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.440 Cuba and had developed a love of Latin music. So 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.800 when he learned that his client was selling records out 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.400 of the trunk of his car, he decided to help 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:03.000 a brother out. 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.679 Bacheco, as we mentioned earlier in the season, was sped 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.880 up with getting a measly cut from record sales. Neither 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.520 he nor Masucci could have predicted that their little operation 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:17.120 would become a springboard for a whole generation of Latin 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.680 musicians and a globally known brand. 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:24.680 We are, of course, talking about Fanya Records, and Willie 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.040 Colonne was about to get in on the ground floor. 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.840 In nineteen sixty seven, a few years after the label 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:33.000 got itself a proper office, really showed up to Fanya 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.840 with his Latin Jazz All Stars LP in hand. 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.480 Always make sure you own your work, kids, because that 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:41.800 record got really signed. 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:43.680 But Willy still had work to do. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.240 He had won Masucci over, but when he met Johnny Pacheco, 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:50.240 the Dominican luminary had one thing to say. 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:51.240 To him, find a singer. 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.080 Paranto pronto you mean prono. 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:57.920 Yeah. 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.280 Luckily for Willie, it wouldn't take him long to find 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.520 a singer, a singer who would become one of his 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.760 closest collaborators and. 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.360 Fuel one of his biggest beefs. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:23.080 Joseph, let's take a little beat as fellow New Yorkers. Okay, fine, 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:28.160 one current New Yorker and one former New Yorker. I'm 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.680 probably lucky if you even let me back on the island. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.840 Well, real talk, have you changed your driver's license to California? 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:37.920 Negative? A massive negative? 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:38.200 No? 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:40.440 Never, I am holding out forever. 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:43.440 Okay, keep it that way and we'll let you back 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.280 in every time. Anyway, we're taking a beat. 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.200 Yes, As you can tell from this episode, New York's 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.960 music scene as it once was is legendary for a reason. 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.480 Dance halls, discos, scrappy little DIY venues. 0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:59.400 Are we about to get sentimental up in this bitch? 0:15:59.680 --> 0:16:00.600 You know it? 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.080 I have to ask you, because I know you used 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.080 to spend your nights at your club. Is there any 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:13.080 club that no longer exists in New York that used 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.760 to like your stomping. 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:16.600 In this club? 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:21.640 Yes, it no longer exists. It was called Splash and 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.000 it was also the very very first gay bar I 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:25.840 ever been to in New York. 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:27.360 And when you. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.880 Moved from Texas and I moved around the Paso, Texas 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:32.920 and oh my god, made it so special. 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.400 You know? It was like, well, I would there used 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.520 to be a show on HBO called Queer's Folk, and 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:41.880 it was it looks like the gay guys would go 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.320 into the huge warehouses with go go boys and just 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:48.400 everyone was beautiful and people were like blah blah blah, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.200 and it just like, I don't know, it was exactly 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.360 that what I walked into. So it was just such 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.680 a core memory of like going into a huge, massive club, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:01.040 although now looking back at it wasn't that big, but 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.360 it just felt like it because I had never been 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:08.399 into anything like that. What about your first club or venue, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:09.800 because I know you like music. 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:14.679 Actually, okay, so the clubs that I remember were like 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.600 I mean, it was like late nineties, early two thousand's heyday. 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.880 So I god, I'm so embarrassed. Like the Tunnel, I'm 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:26.720 like dating myself right now. I don't know if people 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.160 know what that is, but like that was a club 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:30.840 that I went to when I was sixteen years old, 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.359 living in New York going to Columbia University for the summer. 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.840 I had no business being at the Tunnel when I 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:41.000 was sixteen years old. And then I'm trying to think, 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.679 like there was another one that was kind of like that, 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.320 and I'm like blanking on the name right now, but 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:47.359 I feel like I loved all of Like I loved 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:51.000 all of those places. And then from when I finally 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:55.600 moved to New York post college, Bungalow eight that like 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.000 defined an entire Like I mean, I used to not 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:00.000 get into Bungalow. 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:01.400 Let's be very. 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.880 Clear, like club or was it like a music venue? 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:06.359 No, bungalowight was a club. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:08.679 It was like it was like the heyday of like 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.359 models and bottles, right, And I am not a model, 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.080 nor can I affid a four, nor can I afford 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:17.000 to buy a bottle, which is why I was never 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.000 getting into Bungalow eight. But I finally got in. I 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.200 cracked the code, and yeah, I had too much fun 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.440 at those places. And then in terms of like music venues, 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.199 trying to think of like classic, what was that there 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.080 was a place that closed. 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:31.040 Because I was going to say, you know, it just 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:32.880 hit me like I remember that was my first club. 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:35.200 But then I at my actual first club that I 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.240 ever went to was called Don Quinine, and it was 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.680 a quads and it was a club until maybe like midnight, 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.160 and then at twelve o'clock a live band would come 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:49.399 on and play stuff like and Manna and but they 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.000 were like a cover band and they would come from 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.240 Argentina and it would turn into them when you could 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.240 still dance live music because they would play it like 0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:01.000 the song it was just live that's sod. Just I 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:01.720 just remembered that. 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:03.840 Right now, I'm trying to think of like a Latin 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:05.760 there was. It wasn't a Latin club, but there was 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.119 this place. It was downtown. I think it closed, it 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:09.679 like became other things. 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:15.520 It was sob sounds of Brazil, and I remember going 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.080 there like with my friends and like having way too 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:22.960 much fun. But listen, old nineties and two thousands clubs 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.840 in New York were just a vibe man like, I 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:29.639 feel sorry for kids today. 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:35.000 Well, I mean, it'll never be like it was now. 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:39.879 It's everything true, true, true, And you know, it's easy 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.200 to romanticize the good old days of New York live 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.600 music venues and clubs. But for as long as there's 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.480 been music, musicians in cities like New York have had 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.919 to work their way up to big venues like the 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:53.280 Palladium in the city. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:54.960 Right, don't get it twisted. 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.240 Musicians on the come up in New York will still 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.240 play at European Insanet. 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.159 Or, in Willie Colon's case, the American Legion Club on 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.120 one hundred and sixty second and Prospect in the Bronx. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.720 Wait, so they played salsa for World War two veterans. 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.800 Hey, Latinos did serve in both World wars. Okay, the 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.240 more you know, so, yes, these teenagers are playing for 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.280 war vets and God bless the troops. But in terms 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:27.040 of crowd size the Palladium this was not Willie and 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.840 his band had a shiny new label contract, but he 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.480 still needed fans. He just needed someone to listen to 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:33.080 his music. 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:37.280 So to get that, he needed hits, and to get hits, 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.040 he needed a singer, and. 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.159 He would find one right upstairs at the Bonset Social Club, 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:46.280 where another Latin jazz orchestra happened to be playing. 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.480 I'm picturing one of those buildings in k Town where 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:53.199 there's like twelve floors, the karaoke bars and like a nightclub. 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:55.240 I love those places. 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:58.040 And a salsa band is crowded enough with just the 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.840 percussion section, right, But if any place is going to 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.439 make room for the band, it's the Boncees Social Club, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.560 one of many social clubs for Latinos that existed for 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.040 decades throughout the city. 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.879 These were gathering places for expats to safely be themselves, 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.720 speak Spanish freely, and discussed politics so locally and over in. 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.680 La Patria, and to dance, of course, and at Bonce 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.600 they moved to the sounds of a Latin jazz orchestra 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:26.280