Tejano music to take over Ag Hall

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 31, 2002 by Bill Blankenship Capital-Journal

Tickets

Project Pride Tejano Legends Concert with Alfonso Ramos and Johnny Hernandez performing with Latin Express will be from 7 p.m. to midnight Sunday in Agricultural Hall at the Kansas Expocentre. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. Advance tickets are on sale at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church offices, 134 N.E. Lake. For more information, call 232-5088.

By Bill Blankenship

The Capital-Journal

The Kansas Expocentre's Agricultural Hall will be the venue Sunday for two members of the Tejano Music Awards Hall of Fame.

Alfonso Ramos and Johnny Hernandez will perform with the Fort Worth, Texas,-based band, Latin Express, at a dance staged as a fund- raiser for Project Pride, the capital campaign at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

Project Pride is an ongoing effort to upgrade and add to the facilities of the Oakland neighborhood church and the elementary school it operates. Project Pride already has completed a $260,000 renovation of the church and is well on its way to raising the $1.6 million needed to build an activity center that will include a full- size gymnasium, a modern kitchen, meeting rooms and a basement.

Ramos was born into a musical family. All nine of his uncles performed in a big band in Texas, which Ramos joined and became its leader in the 1950s. Eventually, Ramos, his sister and four brothers became part of the Alfonso Ramos Orchestra.

One of Ramos' younger brothers, Ruben, went on to establish his own group, Ruben Ramos and the Texas Revolution, which played at this year's Topeka Fiesta Mexicana. Alfonso and Ruben Ramos also have teamed up on recordings in recent years.

Hernandez, who performed at the fiesta's Coronation Ball with a different band, also has relatives in the business. He said he sang for a number of years in the band fronted by his older brother, Jose, who is better known as Little Joe. His band, Little Joe y La Familia performed at this year's fiesta, the same night Ruben Ramos and the Texas Revolution played.

Carlos Gomez, the volunteer who books the entertainment for the Fiesta, is billing Sunday's dance as a "Tejano legends" concert. Gomez said Latin Express, a popular family band in its own right, has worked with both singers many times.

Latin Express also has performed with two other veteran Tejano singers, Joe Bravo and Sunny Ozuna. If Sunday's dance is a success, Gomez said Project Pride may try to stage another dance featuring one or both of the other greats of Tejano music.

Bill Blankenship can be reached at

(785) 295-1284 or bblankenship@cjonline.com.

Johnny Hernandez