Los Lobos at Dimitriou’s Alley in Seattle April 7, 2016

Los Lobos performed a solid set last night at their first appearance of a four night stand at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle. They played a cross-section of songs…current…past…and covers. The did a half-dozen Spanish language songs…”Mas Y Mas” from Colossal Head was a crowd pleaser and had many in attendance at this sit-down cocktail table venue up dancing at their tables and in the isles. Another favorite was “Kiko and The Lavender Moon” for the album Kiko. The band has a new album release titled “Gates of Gold” from which lead guitarist and vocalist, David Hidalgo sang “Made to Break Your Heart.” Covers included the Allman Brothers “One Way Out”…The Sly Stone version of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”…The Grateful Dead’s “Bertha”. They closed the show with a roaring medley of Richie Valens’ “La Bamba” and The Young Rascals’ “Good Lovin”.
It is so much fun watching bassist Conrad Lozano and Enrique “Bugs” González lay down the bottom end all the while smiling at each other and looking as if they are having the time of their life. Steve Berlin adds a lot of color to the set with his saxophones and keyboards…besides being in Los Lobos since 1973…Berlin has work with other bands as a session musician or producer. Original member Louie Pérez is a songwriter, percussionist and guitarist…he plays mostly guitar these days but last night he sat-in on the drums for several numbers while Bugs went off stage to deal with a glass of wine that was knocked over into his kitbag…word was he had a wad of cash he pulled out of his bag that was dripping in red wine. Cesar Rosas carried his share of the singing along with trading off with David Hidalgo. Rosas did the majority of the banter in-between songs and was encouraging the audience to sing along on several songs.
Hidalgo and Perez lived in Whittier California at the same time that Mrs Boom and I lived there. We used to see Hidalgo taking his kids to school in the morning on our way to work and at a favorite restaurant of his uptown Whittier. The band would perform an annual fund raiser for a child development program at Whittier College that we would attend…because of this shared background last year backstage at their show at the Triple Door in Seattle we swapped stories about a road that goes out of uptown Whittier into the hills called Turnbull Canyon. When bassist Conrad Lozano heard me mention Turnbull Canyon he jumped into the conversation and shared one of his Turnbull experiences…which leads me to a heartwarming experience I had last night. After the show I had the opportunity to go back stage again and visit with the band but something beyond my control became a priority which prevented me from hanging out after the show…so I caught Conrad in the hall to tell him I really enjoyed the show when a young Hispanic woman approached him to tell him her mother had recently died and one of the songs they performed was a favorite of her and her mother and she wanted Conrad to tell the other band members how much it meant to her…without a moment’s hesitation Conrad said to this young woman…why don’t you come back stage and tell them yourself. These guy are so down to earth and unpretentious…it makes the enjoyment of their music all the more rewarding knowing they relate strongly to their fans. Once again the road goes on forever and the party never ends for Los Lobos and their fans.