Promotores Unidos, USA, is a legitimate outfit, says Federico, who sits on the group's board of directors. It's incorporated. It charges membership dues. The individual promoters had dealt with each other for years -- he first got involved when the Galindos had Flamingo's -- and finally decided to formalize the organization out of a simple need to coordinate concerts, eliminate confusion, settle disputes and ensure that big-name tours proceed smoothly from state to state. "It's not illegal," says Federico.
There's a very simple reason why Empresa Union books the big names and why bands like La Fantasia, Federico says: "They make money with us.
Anthony Camera
Los Terribles del Norte rock the Denver Coliseum.
Anthony Camera
Federico and Olga Galindo
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"God knows I do the right thing," he says. "I work hard. Let them say what they want."
Consolidation is the trend in radio, and Spanish-language radio is no exception.
Two years ago, the Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation, the nation's largest Spanish-language radio network, purchased KXPK-FM (the Peak), but the Federal Communications Commission disallowed the sale because Clear Channel owned a significant stake in the company. After that, KXPK was purchased by another radio conglomerate, Emmis, which this past February sold it to the Los Angeles-based Entravision Communication Corporation for $47 million.
That raised the number of Entravision's Spanish-language holdings in Colorado to four: It already had two stations in Denver -- KMXA-AM, which plays an oldies regional-Mexican format, and KJMN-FM, which plays romántica -- as well as an outlet in Aspen.
Entravision operates 56 radio stations and thirty television outlets across the U.S. When it first came to Colorado, it hosted focus groups and introduced high-powered sales strategies to what had been a laid-back scene ruled by "a cobweb of alliances," says Entravision's Rob Quinn. "We have a distinct market advantage because we have a sophisticated and proven system."
And Entravision isn't the only corporate giant interested in regional-Mexican music.
In June, Univision Communications Inc., the nation's largest Spanish-language TV network, bought the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Two months before that, Univision had purchased Fonovisa Records, the world's leader in regional Mexican music. Now there's talk of Univision entering the concert business by building Hispanic venues in cities such as Denver and booking its own acts.
Clear Channel, which owns eight radio stations in the Denver area as well as the Fillmore, has also made a few moves into the Mexican market. In April, Clear Channel and Grupo Televisa, the world's largest Spanish-language media company, bought the remaining shares of Chicago's Cardenas-Fernandez & Associates, Inc., the nation's top Hispanic-event producer. In Denver, however, Clear Channel has focused mostly on Latin rock, pop and solo artists such Enrique Iglesias, who has a concert at the Pepsi Center October 25. But some people involved in the local scene think it's only a matter of time before Clear Channel moves into regional-Mexican music.
If and when it does, independents like the Galindos could be shoved to the sidelines.
But if Federico and Olga are concerned, they don't show it. They lounge in their office at La Fantasia sorting mail, fielding phone calls, swatting errant flies. Corporations might conquer Denver and they might not, they say. And if they do, they must first learn the music, the fans and the intricacies of the local market. And even if they do that, there will still be local nightclubs, rodeos and dances.
"If it would happen," Federico says, "it would happen."
The Galindos aren't just waiting to see what happens, either. They've just bought a nightclub in Greeley and the Colorado Music Hall in Colorado Springs, where they had been promoting regional-Mexican events with Nobody in Particular Presents, the prominent Denver promoter. The Albertsons in the Thornton strip mall that holds La Fantasia is expanding, so they'll soon close that club -- perhaps as early as the end of this month -- but they plan to open another club in the area
It will be bigger and better, they say, but the site is a secret until the deal is done. And in the meantime, they'll be working hard to promote concerts (they have three more scheduled for this year) -- harder than ever given the recent economic downturn. Empresa Union may undergo a few unspecified changes, but you can't stop the music.
"Things might be a little different, but better," Olga says. "We're not going anywhere. We'll always be involved."
As midnight arrives at the Coliseum, the dance floor is packed. Los Temerarios are supposed to take the stage any moment, and still a line gathers outside of the box office. For the thousands of men and women here, the night is just beginning.
One couple dances belly to belly beside the stage. She wears his tejano hat, and he warms his hands in her back pockets. They ignore the whistles and jeers and gently sway.
Christina Castaneda gets up to head to the concession line, hesitates, stops. She's waited ten years see Los Temerarios. Now she's reluctant to leave her chair. When someone jokes, "They've canceled!" Christina stomps her spiked heels.
"No!" she laughs. "No!"
Connie Nuñez has been listening to regional-Mexican music since she was three. She's glad to finally be able to see bands like Pancho Barraza and Los Terribles del Norte in a mainstream venue like the Coliseum.
