Latin Jazz Festival Closes with A Bang at the Crescent Moon

 

by Jim Barton on Monday, October 17, 2011 at 2:25am

    
     Condense the Latin Jazz Festival into the echo chamber that is the Crescent Moon.  Add The Brew, Dr. Tom Nevill, Robert Stone, Frank Morris, David Lopez,  Hector "Hawk" Hernandez,  Ben Neece and various bands to the mix and you have the flavor of the festival after party that converged on the Moon.  Before I realized we couldn't hear each other, I told Juan Montoya of El Rrun Rrun that this was an historic night for The Moon.  Montoya rambled a bit about Brownsville music history, but I couldn't hear what he was saying either.  When Neece lowered the house lights, added his psychedelic mix to the walls and ceiling, the college and post college girls began to gyrate to the jazz turned blues turned rock.  150 year old bricks love new sounds, sometimes making the conscious decision to exist another one and a half centuries.  Ear to ear doesn't adequately describe the smile on club owner Neece's face, as music, not profit, is the focus of this establishment.  The confluence of musical energy at the Crescent Moon was briefly interrupted by Harley-Davidson non-muffling mufflers.  Of course,  firefighters Rigo, George and Marco are welcomed at this and any Brownsville venue. 
     The day started at the Latin Jazz Festival on Levee Street in front of the skeletal remains of the once proud El Jardin Hotel.  The old hotel suffered the indignity of a plastic banner offering "owner financing for 65,000 square feet".  The crumbling El Jardin stands as a monument to Brownsville's current and former leadership vacuum.  The jazz festival shows us what Brownsville can be in spite of Tony Martinez ineptitude, Ernie Hernandez corruption and violence south of the border.
     We had found Mary Helen selling festival t-shirts inside the shell of the old Capitol Theatre, received a complimentary bottle of hand sanitizer from justice of the peace candidate Yolanda Begum and watched former Crescent Moon bouncer Panther as he ran back and forth working his new gig.  George Ramirez, as festival emcee provided historical and other background for each act from jazz bands to salsa dancers from Oaxaca.  At closing the crowd quickly dispersed, most walking to their cars, some to their closeby houses.  Key players went to the Crescent Moon filling the small building with power and performance.
  

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