Los Lobos, Just another band from East LA, and a VARIETY band

Doctor Strange said:

I've been following Los Lobos for over twenty years - they are one of the most hardworking bands out there, and their music is a potent gumbo of a whole bunch of fascinating styles. David Hidalgo is a great singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter: his tunes have such sympathy for the disenfranchised and downtrodden - I find many of them very moving. (I like Cesar Rosas' simple hard-rocking tunes too, but Hidalgo's more deeply felt songs just slay me.) I have seen them live several times...

The first time was the most interesting. NYC-area loungers may recall the summer "pier concerts" held under a variety of umbrella titles back in the late 80s, after they had stopped doing shows at Central Park's Wollman Rink. On an unused pier at around 43rd or 44th Street (between the Circle Line pier and the USS Interpid Museum), there was a stage facing out to the river and seating for about four or five thousand people: it was a great set-up, and the ticket prices were reasonable. I saw a bunch of great shows there in the summers of '87 and '88 - the Kinks, the Neville Brothers, John Hiatt, Robert Cray...

Anyway, my sister was an early fan of Los Lobos, and she had roped me in with repeated listenings to their "How Will the Wolf Survive" and "By the Light of the Moon" albums (which are still pretty much my favorites). Los Lobos was only a cult band at the time - they were getting a fair amount of radio play and great reviews, but their record sales were unimpressive - so we scored tickets a few weeks before the show, no problem. However, between when we got tickets and the day of the show, the movie of "La Bamba" came out and was a big hit. Suddenly, Los Lobos was huge - by the day of the show, their cover of "La Bamba" was the number one hit on the charts!

With that success and vindication, the show was *epic* - both the band and the crowd was mega-psyched that night. The energy level was amazing... it remains one of the best rock shows I've ever seen. Afterwards, I was sure that Los Lobos was going to go on to be *huge*...

But it was not to be. Aside from that one brush with mainstream success, they never became a household name, and they have remained pretty much a cult band. Maybe it's because they play in so many styles and can't be easily pigeonholed (the public *hates* that), or because they have continued to evolve through so many different sounds and approaches on each subsequent album... This means that they don't play the largest venues, and it's still pretty easy to get tickets for their shows. Of coruse, this is great for their dedicated fans, and I believe the band is successful enough to be comfortable... but I still wish that they were a bit better known.

Following are the lyrics to my favorite David Hidalgo song, "One Time, One Night" (which are set to an up-tempo, all-American blend driven by pedal steel guitar and accordian):

A wise man was telling stories to me
About the places he had been to
And the things that he had seen:

A quiet voice is singing something to me -
An age-old song about the home of the brave
In this land here of the free:
One time, one night, in America

A lady dressed in white with the man she loved
Standing along the side of their pickup truck -
A shot rang out in the night
Just when everything seemed right:
Another headline written down in America

The guy that lived next door in #305
Took the kids to the park and disappeared
About half past nine -
Who will ever know
How much she loved them so?:
That dark night alone in America

A quiet voice is singing something to me -
An age-old song about the home of the brave
In this land here of the free:
One time, one night, in America

Four small boys playing ball in a parking lot -
A preacher, a teacher, and the other became a cop -
A car skidded into the rain
Making the last little one a saint:
One more light goes out in America

A young girl tosses a coin in the wishing well
She hopes for a heaven while for her
There's just this hell -
She gave away her life,
To become somebody's wife:
Another wish unanswered in America

<bridge:>

People having so much faith,
Die too soon while all the rest come late -
We write a song that no one sings
On a cold black stone
Where a lasting peace will finally break...

<instrumental break>

Sunlight plays upon my windowpane,
I wake up to a world that's still the same -
My father said to be strong,
And that a good man could never do wrong:
In a dream I had last night in America

A wise man was telling stories to me
About the places he had been to
And the things that he had seen:

A quiet voice is singing something to me -
An age-old song about the home of the brave
In this land here of the free:
One time, one night, in America
One time, one night, in America
One time, one night, in America!

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