Raul Campos, Music host

Another Latin Alternative Music Conference has come and gone.  It's hard to believe that next year they'll be celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary for this amazing conference.  I'm still trying to catch up from all the madness and networking that took place last week in the big apple!  Running around back and forth is becoming much more comfortable now that I've hosted this event the past 2 years.  It's a huge honor to be asked to handle the duties of introducing panels, concerts and events during the entire LAMC, but it does put one through the ringer.  So it's fair to say, sleep's a little over rated the few days of the conference.  I figured I could catch up on my zzzzz's when I'd return home... yeah right!  And here's a little tip if you're a thrill ride connoisseur.  Next time you're in the land of cabs and you happen to be in one of them, just tell the driver you're in a hurry and to step on it.  You'll see people running off the streets and leaping for safety onto sidewalks as the cabbies lay their hands on the horn constantly!  Magic Mountain ain't got anything on the thrill rides of Manhattan!  After a while I started telling all them, even if I wasn't in a hurry...what a blast!

I also really have to thank Nic Harcourt, Ariana Morgenstern and Andrew Mittleman at Sound Generation Studios for making it possible to broadcast my radio program from NYC.  It's a great facility to work at and the staff is on point.  I even had the honor of having a couple guests on my show.  On Thursday's edition of the program Francisca Valenzuela stopped by after her performance at the LAMC acoustic showcase, which took place at SOB's.  She is one took look out for in the future.  She knows how to rock it with a full band, but it really blew me away to see her perform her songs as stripped down versions with just a piano and her lovely voice.  On Friday, turntable wizard DJ Bitman stopped by after one of his many sets during the conference.  This guy can really tear things up on the one's and two's.

A couple of the many highlights for me were DJ'ing at Central Park between the sets of Julieta Venegas, Plastilina Mosh and DJ Bitman as part of the annual Summerstage Concert Series and spinning a set at the closing party later that night with Tony Touch, Toy Selectah, Bitman and others.   Central Park is always wonderful!  It's a free concert series that happens in the park every year.  During the conference they coordinate with LAMC and book some great Latin Alternative talent.  This year the weather was perfect on what normally is super hot and humid.  We were blessed with fairly dry mid 80's temp.  As you could imagine, this made it very easy for the 6000+ to fill the open air location.  DJ Bitman warmed things up with an electrifying set and then Plastilina Mosh rocked the house.  If there was a roof on the park, it would've been blown off!  But I could tell from the beginning of the afternoon, most were there to see the beautiful songstress Julieta Venegas.  As always, she was just amazing!  I'm totally looking forward to when she comes to LA in a few weeks.  And a little side note to Central Park, it's even crazier when immediately following the Summerstage concert, there's a Bon Jovi concert.  I heard the amount of people trying to get in to the concert was around 60,000...and those were just the ticket holders!

Congratulations go out to Rachel Reynolds, music publicist at KCRW, for coordinating a very cool showcase during the days of LAMC featuring Tally Hall, Little Jackie and Salt & Samovar.  It was a very cool and eclectic representation of some great up and coming bands.  Knitting Factory in New York has a slightly different vibe than the location in Hollywood, but both locations share the same kind of enthusiasm for fresh talent.  The audience gets it there.  Everybody stuck around for all 3 bands, eventhough all were quite different in styles.  It just goes to show the void and need for a station like KCRW to present shows of bands that wouldn't normally get the hype and promotion they truly deserve!  As always, you can check out www.kcrw.com to see the full list of shows that KCRW and KCRW.com is presenting in southern California and beyond. 

As much as I love Latin Alternative music, while I'm in New York I have to make some time to check out some of the great house clubs that pump the music til the wee hours of the morning.  On Friday night, after Brazilian Girls tore it up at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, I had to opportunity to meet up with DJ/Producer and long time friend, Jon Cutler.  We met up at his brownstone where DJ Smash was working on a remix in his basement studio.  Surreal, right?  We hung out and after a couple of beverages, hit a couple of hot spots.  We rolled up Cielo, Apt and The Sullivan Room.  It was a pleasure to see that Marques Wyatt (Deep, Los Angeles) was holding down his monthly residency at the same time LAMC was going on.  And on Saturday night, after the LAMC closing party, we hopped over to Los Amigos Invisibles member, DJ Afro's party. There we heard everything from House to Brazilian to classics from peeps like Michael Jackson and Magazine 60.  I gotta say, nightlife in NY is like no other.  Now I know why cabs rule the streets and people don't drive much.  After the club, long time road dawg Jose Jimenez and I went back to the hotel.  I packed my bags, took a shower, and went back downstairs where the cab was ready to take me to JFK airport!  Did I mention sleep's over rated?  See you next year in the city that never sleeps!       

So a couple weeks back, Moby was in town.  I got to hang with the guy during an interview he was doing on the rooftop of his hotel room.  He's definitely one of the most open and down to earth people around.  Understand that Moby's been very influential in the creation of my path and career, if one can call it that.  I remember the first time I saw him come into the basement for a performance on Morning Becomes Eclectic with Nic.  I was beside myself with excitement.  It was the first time I met him and had to chance to tell him thanks for everything that he's done, even back then.  Fast forward more than 5 years and I'm still his biggest fan!

Moby is coming to LA?  He's Latino?  Check out the video!

I look forward to the Angel gala each and every year since I've started at KCRW.  It's always a wonderful night of music, art and getting to meet many subscribers of the station.  This year was no different as it was at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles this past Wednesday.  It also gave me a reason to play dress up and get out of the jeans and t-shirts that I normally wear.  Every year, many of the station DJs provide the soundtrack to the night.  This time around I was asked to open up, which allowed me to hang out for the remainder of the evening to enjoy the exhibits inside the museum, eat, drink and hang out with my dates...my parents!  Here we are chillin' out with Nic Harcourt!

Nic Harcourt and my folks

Being the procrastinator that I am and always running late for everything, it was great to be first on the decks because I was forced to get there early and therefore had the chance to enjoy the sets of Chris Douridas, Nic Harcourt, Anne Litt, Tom Schnabel, Jason Bentley and Garth Trinidad.  It was a gorgeous night and the music sounded beautiful bouncing off the walls of MOCA's courtyard.  As you can see below, the party was pumping pretty much immediately!  I think I was playing Heaven by The Rolling Stones when I snapped this one...

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With everyone always being so busy, it's rare when we all get to come together to do an event.  And it's great to get the opportunity to give back to some of the people that give so generously to this wonderful station.  The gala is growing each and every year so hopefully we'll get to see you too if we've missed you in the past.  We're all here because of our extreme passion that we have for the programming whether it's music, news, entertainment or cultural commentary.  It's all one big happy family at KCRW. Special thanks go to all the people that make it all happen each and every year including Liz MacDonald, Candace Moyer, Connie Alvarez and the hundreds of volunteers that offer countless hours for such a great event.

Such a blast!!  It's always a beautiful time out at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio.  Congratulations go out to Goldenvoice for putting on another fantastic festival.  There are way too many highlights to mention, but a couple of them have to be Prince and Danny Tenaglia.  Here's a little flavor of Prince doing one of his classics.  He has to be one my biggest inspirations with his energy, song writing and wicked guitar playing!  Now Danny Tenaglia is by far my favorite DJ on the planet.  He's such a ball of energy when he's in the mix it's impossible not to like him.  I'd love to hear some of your favorite moments from the festival.  More to come....

It's Coachella weekend.  I'm really looking forward to seeing so many of the bands and DJs.  I can't wait to see some of my idols like Danny Tenaglia, Prince and Kraftwerk.  There's also Mark Ronson, Sia, Cafe Tacvba and many, many others.  I was bummed I had to miss the KCRW Sessions concert with Sia last night because of my on air shift, but I was lucky enough to get invited to Portishead's rehearsal performance at the Mayan.  Big ups to Jessica at Spectre for hooking it up!!  You rock girl and you'll be missed.  She's leaving us and headed to the big apple!  I was so excited that Portishead played early last night.  It gave me plenty of time to get to the station after the gig.  It was great to see them so relaxed and not really worried about anything else except the music.  If you're a fan of Portishead, as I am, you will not be disappointed by their set on Saturday night!  I was blown away, and that was just practice!  If you're heading out there don't forget the sun block and drink plenty of water!  It's gonna be a hot one.....

Vegas!

You ever feel like the commercial where they say "Wanna get away?"  That was me this past weekend.  It was the perfect time, as it was finally time for my weekend in Las Vegas.  I got the opportunity to DJ at the Mix Lounge inside THEHotel @ Mandalay Bay.  I think I might have mentioned once or twice on air that I enjoy going to Vegas...ok, well many times.  I loooooove Vegas!  

Thievery Corporation and the ESL family is programming the weekends at this swanky 64th floor hot spot.  This is definitely not the normal vibe for Las Vegas nightlife.  Mad props to the Drew Dixon and the entire crew at Mix for stepping it up and trying to create something a little different on the strip!  There are hundreds of clubs in the area that are playing top 40 and hip hop.  So if you are into the music heard on KCRW, then Mix is highly recommended.  They bring in acts like Nickodemus, Ursula 1000, Federico Aubele, Fort Knox Five and others including Jason Bentley and myself.

KCRW Winners with the gang in Vegas

During our past pledge drive in February they allowed us to offer a premium for a subscriber to join me in sin city, including a room at Mandalay Bay and entrance to the club on both nights.  Romulo Rivera is the wonderful listener who subscribed by making a very generous pledge to the station.  Thank you so much for the love!  He and his lovely wife, Fabiola hung out both nights to dance the night away.   It was a wonderful crew of Angelinos that cruised out to partake in the weekend that included friends, cousins and even Nocturna crew members Brent Gordon, Harold Cane, Daphne Bach and company, amongst others.  We even went out to an afterhours club where we hung out with NYC's house superstar Jon Cutler.  Sleep's definitely over rated in Vegas as you can suspect. Check out the video below shot early morning at a late night eatery.  A bit of advice from your friendly neighborhood DJ, stay away from the chicken fried steak breakfast special!
 

As always, Las Vegas was a blast and I look forward to making it out there again to rock the spot!

Another thing I've grown to be very passionate about is my pop's old school 1967 Pontiac Tempest station wagon.  It's been in the family over 40 years since the day he drove it off brand new from the Downey dealership.  Unfortunately, it's in need of a little TLC and restoration.  With a little help from kcrw audio engineer, Mario Diaz and mail guru, Jason Groman, we'll be bringing new life to this once beautiful land yacht.  I have so many fond memories of family vacations we'd take in that wagon.  I still remember vividly where I was on December 8, 1980.  We were fueling up at a gas station in Tucson, Arizona when I heard the DJ on the radio break the news that John Lennon had died!  We were on our way to my Aunt's wedding in the wonderful little town of Empalme, Sonora in Mexico.  I would always get tossed in the back along with the luggage... great times!  Being the youngest of seven, with three older brothers and sisters, they've each had a chance to use and abuse the wagon over the years.  For a brief period during my college years, it was my transportation to and from Cal Poly Pomona.  That could not go on too long.  Even back then gas was too expensive for a starving student driving a big engine V8 beast. Today, it's a different story.  Hopefully, we'll get to see the transformation over the next few months.  We'll be updating the blog with images of mechanical and aesthetic improvements to this rare and nostalgic vehicle that means so much to me.

All of us here at the station have many things that we're passionate about besides our programming.  I love to DJ at clubs and events around town.  2008 has started off to be a busy year for me behind the decks outside of the basement studios of KCRW.  I started a residency in Las Vegas at Mix Lounge, which is inside the Mandalay Bay's new tower, The Hotel.  It's a plush little spot on the 64th floor with a spectacular view of the strip and the city.  I always get a little wierded out with the scene in Vegas.  You never know what kind of crowd or vibe you're gonna get in a nightclub on the strip.  I was super excited to find out Thievery Corporation and the ESL Music crew started programming the DJs and the vibe for this club.  I was honored when they asked me to play the weekend of January 4th and 5th.  Turns out they enjoyed it as much as I did and have asked me back in the month of April.  I'm totally looking forward to that!  A little closer to home, I'll be opening up for one of my favorite DJs of all time, Dimitri from Paris.  It's gonna be at The Vanguard on Sunday, February 3rd for the house night called Deep along with the resident Marques Wyatt.  This is definitely my favorite club night in Los Angeles, so it's always a great pleasure to play at this Sunday night hot spot.  

We're gearing up for another winter subscription drive around here.  There's an energy and buzz around the basement that only comes twice a year!  I wanted to take the time out to let you know about a few things that are going on with me, as we're adding a bunch of new features to our wonderful website including blogs and a new media player.  And by the way, it's gonna be fantastic!  More details to come in the next couple weeks.    

First off, the most important thing around here is going on the air over the next few days where we  ask for your support.  We'll be offering great incentives to persuade you to reach in to your wallet and call in with a pledge of support.  Many great dinners, vacations, concert tickets, music cds and much, much more will be offered during the drive.  You can't forget about the fringe benefits card that will give you great discounts all over town, the sweepstakes for vacations, computers and even a couple Smart Cars!  It's a no brainer because you can't lose by supporting your favorite radio station, but do it for the most important reason, the fact that you appreciate what KCRW is all about.  We bring you quality programming of music, news and current affairs.  Listen as a supporter!!

Photo: Stefano Paltera for the LA Times

Click here to read the latest article about Raul in the Los Angeles Times. Raul talks with Agustin Gurza about DJ culture in LA, his new endeavors as a producer and staying true to his roots.  Check it out!