{"id":437144,"date":"2026-08-19T08:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437144\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:52:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:52:15","slug":"ritchie-valens-at-85-chicano-rockers-are-hosting-a-free-tribute-show-in-l-a-on-aug-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437144\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritchie Valens at 85: Chicano rockers are hosting a free tribute show in L.A. on Aug. 22"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At just 17 years old, San Fernando Valley native and son of Sonoran immigrants Richard Valenzuela \u2014 better known as Ritchie Valens \u2014 changed the course of rock and roll with the release of breakout 1958 hits \u201cLa Bamba,\u201d \u201cDonna\u201d and \u201cCome On Let\u2019s Go.\u201d <\/p>\n

Just eight months later, he died in a plane accident.<\/p>\n

Nearly 70 years after Valens\u2019 death, his siblings Irma, Connie and Mario Valens \u2014 who all adopted their brother\u2019s stage name \u2014 partnered with East L.A. musician Hector Flores to create \u201cRitchie Forever: An Ode to an American Dreamer.<\/a>\u201d Hosted by Grand Performances in DTLA, the Aug. 22 tribute night will feature archival footage and conversations with family members to discuss the teenage star\u2019s identity and belonging in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll history.<\/p>\n

In addition, Valens\u2019 music will be reinterpreted live by Chicano performers from Thee Sinseers, The Altons, Shannon and the Clams and The McCharmlys, among others.<\/p>\n

Irma Valens was nearly seven years old when she was picked up from school to find out that her older brother, Ritchie, wouldn\u2019t be coming home. She and her family have dedicated years since to talking about the teen who played her favorite song, \u201cPaddiwack,\u201d in the grape fields in Pacoima, and who let her watch from the family couch as he wrote his future classics on guitar.<\/p>\n

\"Ritchie <\/p>\n

Ritchie Valens was 17 years old in 1958.<\/p>\n

(C3 Entertainment\/C3 Entertainment)<\/p>\n

\u201cI just never want people to forget about his music. That\u2019s for sure. His voice was just amazing,\u201d said Irma, who will be speaking at Saturday\u2019s event. \u201cWe can\u2019t say the music died. It never did. It just keeps getting better as long as people keep remembering his story in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Irma met Hector Flores, artistic director for \u201cRitchie Forever\u201d and founding member of L.A. Chicano rock group Las Cafeteras, at the 2024 Winter Dance Party \u2014 an Iowa music festival dedicated to Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper, who played their final show there in 1959. <\/p>\n

Flores went to the festival with the mission of pitching Irma his concept for \u201cRitchie Forever,\u201d which he developed after diving into the cultural legacy of \u201cLa Bamba.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people don\u2019t know that La Bamba is a 400-year-old Afro-Mexican song\u2026 this song that survived colonialism and. slavery,\u201d Flores explained. \u201cIt was passed down to the point where Ritchie Valens found it. Ritchie was born into a segregated time and made a song that crossed that border. To understand myself and this time in a divided America, I thought, \u2018Let me look back to those who lived it before me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, Irma and her sister Connie were hesitant; after receiving hundreds of pitches to tribute their brother, which never amounted to anything, they wanted to make sure Flores was the real deal. He came back to Iowa to meet them again a year later, this time with a date, a venue and a flyer he could hand to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to move forward without her blessing,\u201d said Flores. \u201cWhen [she] finally said okay, I knew it was the right time. What really mattered to me was to emphasize that he was revolutionary. Singing about interracial love, singing in Spanish on the radio, playing at desegregated dance halls like El Monte Legion Hall here in L.A. He played music to unite people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores describes \u201cRitchie Forever\u201d as a \u201cmultimedia experience, going back in time with sound and immersing in the history.\u201d As the live narrator of the event, he also connects to Valens\u2019 L.A. legacy, as the star recorded his big hits in L.A. label Del-Fi Records\u2019 Silver Lake studio.<\/p>\n

\"Members <\/p>\n

Las Cafeteras members Hector Flores and Denise Carlos, pictured above, will perform at the upcoming Ritchie Valens tribute show, \u201cRitchie Forever: An Ode to an American Dreamer.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

While looking for a host venue, Flores approached his old colleague Rafael Gonzalez, the CEO of Grand Performances<\/a>, an arts organization dedicated to organizing free concerts and events in Downtown L.A.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been wanting to do something on Ritchie Valens\u2019 story for years, because I want him to be remembered,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cAs a kid, I was always fascinated by the way Ritchie claimed space at a time when Mexican Americans were not represented [in mainstream rock and roll].\u201d<\/p>\n

As Gonzalez says, when it comes to Chicano music history, \u201cyou can\u2019t deny Ritchie\u2019s influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCannibal and the Headhunters, The Premiers, [Santana], even Led Zeppelin<\/a>, all those guys and others were influenced by him, who at only 17 was mixing Mexican folk with simplified rock and roll chords,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cIn performing his music again, 70 years later, these artists are interpreting how his work impacts the music we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angie Monroy, a Mexican American musician hailing from Santa Ana, is performing Sunday evening with her romantic rock \u2018n\u2019 roll group, The McCharmlys. For Monroy, playing Valens\u2019 music on Saturday will represent a \u201cfull circle\u201d moment in her musical journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Ritchie to come from nothing and become such a big figure, that we still play his music today inspires me so much,\u201d Monroy said. \u201cHe made music that made people want to come together and dance. I\u2019m excited to continue that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Valens family, watching young performers like Monroy continue to be inspired by Ritchie\u2019s work is a solace after his tragic loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat day [we lost him] was horrible,\u201d recounted Irma. You can never forget it. My mom heard the news on the radio\u2026 They listed off the names from the crash, and when they said Ritchie, she just broke down. She couldn\u2019t stop saying, \u2018My hijo is dead.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEven as much as people think of Ritchie as a rock \u2018n\u2019 roll star, at the end of the day, he was my mother\u2019s son,\u201d added Irma. \u201cHe was only 17 years old. He was my older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spirit of \u201cLa Bamba,\u201d Saturday\u2019s show aims to be a Latino celebration of life for a musical pioneer whose impact continues long after his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is gonna be a hard show, but it\u2019s going to be a good one. Hector means it with his heart and soul. He means something to our family and this is Ritchie\u2019s 85th birthday year, and it feels like a real celebration,\u201d said Irma. \u201cFor Ritchie, we just keep going and keeping the music alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At just 17 years old, San Fernando Valley native and son of Sonoran immigrants Richard Valenzuela \u2014 better…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-437144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}