On Tuesday, August 18, Guillermo Brown will celebrate nine years on the air with Fiesta Musical. The show will feature the music of Jimmy Bosch and Gilberto Santa Rosa, as well as a few Venezuelan salsa artists.
Fiesta Musical Airs Tuesdays from 8-11:00 pm
Reflecting on his time with Fiesta Musical, Guillermo remembers José Ruíz:
In July of 2006, just after Latino Fest, José Ruíz proposed we go out to lunch to discuss a few things. José was the founder of Fiesta Musical and Education Based Latino Outreach (EBLO), and the organizer of Latino Fest. At the time I had just finished emceeing my third Latino Fest. I had been collaborating with EBLO in different activities and was also giving the Spanish classes in their newly acquired building in Fells Point.
The first thing José asked was if I was interested in helping him out on the program, doing bios and background information on the artists. I said that I was very interested. "Are you serious about this?" he asked. I told him I was.
Then he said he had more news to share with me. "I have been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and I'm going to start treatment soon." This hit me like a ton of bricks.
He told me that I could start in August. Jimmy Bosch would be the featured artist on the first night I came.
As it turned out, I would do that program with him and one more. He had started chemotherapy and it was tiring him out. He urged me to do the program by myself. I said that I believed I could but I wasn't familiar with all the details of the board. The engineer would be there that night, he assured me.
By ten that night I had been shown some of the details of the board, punching in the PSA's and other details. Zack, the engineer, said to me, "You got it, I have to leave." And he left. I was alone, in the old studio, until the midnight host arrived. I was thrown into the deep end of the pool and somehow I didn't drown.
José's treatment and the cancer continued to weaken his body and he was never able to return to the studio. But it did not weaken his spirit, and I would stop by his house to pick up the music that he wanted to feature. Until one week he called and said he was too weak to pick out music, and could I do it.
José passed away in December of 2006, but his passion, dedication, and commitment continue with the work he started in EBLO as well as his passion for salsa music. Huge shoes to try to fill, tremendous footsteps to follow.
