Los Lobos, not just another bucket list show.

I have loved anything to do with good music for as long as I can remember. Movies, documentaries, TV shows, anything at all that highlighted, to me, what good music was and who was doing it. The standout film and soundtrack for me, much of which was done by Los Lobos, was La Bamba and it has stayed with me until today.

The story of Ritchie Steven Valenzuela and the film La Bamba hit when I was 13 in 1987. I was starting to play guitar and my dad, John, was starting to tell me more and more about certain musicians, Hendrix, Clapton, and Jim Croce. Then came a film about a kid learning to play guitar, playing authentic music from his heart, fighting for his dreams, and how his passion for what he loved immortalized him, his music, and the culture he represented, and I was hooked

Skip ahead 37 years and after a lifetime of striving for those same goals, I finally have the opportunity to not only see the musicians that started that fire, but also photograph their show in May of 2024. My write-up and some photographs are available at Ink19.com and suffice it to say that they did not disappoint. Los Lobos and the music they create reflect their own cultural roots, the best rock and roll has to offer, and how all of that reached across the airwaves and affected a suburban white kid in Iowa looking for a way to express his own dreams.