By Rich Freedman/Times-Herald staff writer

Posted: 06/22/2009 12:59:01 AM PDT

Malo” is Spanish for “bad.” And that’s often the bottom line when record companies distributed profits to its artists. Or didn’t. Fact is, said Ron Sansoe, entertainers are often neglected when it comes time to paying up. It happened to the Latin rock band, “Malo,” said Sansoe, and that’s why he fought off lawyers and eventually recouped thousands of dollars for the band known mostly for its 1972 hit, “Suavecito.”

Sansoe, who relocated in April from San Francisco to Vallejo, remains actively responsible for the publishing rights for “Malo,” and heavily involved in the annual “Voices of Latin Rock” benefit in San Francisco that’s featured Carlos Santana, Pete Escovedo, Lenny Williams, Sheila E., Lydia Pense, Linda Tillery, Neal Schon, Jackie Greene, WAR and, of course, Malo.

Sitting at Napoli’s pizza with Green Valley promoter and long-time pal Jeff Trager, the animated Sansoe shared some eye-opening rock ‘n’ roll stories, many included in “Voices of Latin Rock,” a 300-page paperback he co-authored with Jim McCarthy. Santana wrote the foreword.

The book was going to be a Malo media guide celebrating the group’s 30 years, Sansoe said. But after a handful of interviews, the writers knew they were on to something bigger.

“We realized this was a piece of musical history, but American history tied to the Black Panthers, the United Farm Workers and other vital organizations of their time and we saw it as something special,” Sansoe said. More than 120 interviews were conducted for the book, released in 2004 and still selling well, Sansoe said. “It was a 61/2 year project,” he said. “Needless to say, you don’t make a lot of money in the book business.”

Sansoe and McCarthy’s devoted interest in Latin Rock “was the heartbeat of this whole project,” said Sansoe..

The book is now used in more than 40 colleges and universities as part of ethnic studies programs, Sanose said.

Little did the born-and-raised San Franciscan know he would ever have any part in a book. Though his brothers teach high school, Sansoe said his grades were never great.

“I wasn’t much in the education field,” he said.

Sansoe was in the bar business for about 12 years when, in 1985, he helped promote a concert. In 1990, he was asked to help resurrect some royalties for “Malo,” handling administration. Sansoe laughed that while “Sauvecito was a good song, I hated it.” Still, he joined the “Malo” team, helping promote a show with the group, Escovedo and Tower of Power at Fort Mason in The City. Though promoter Bill Graham was approached, he declined to do the show, Sansoe said. The show sold out. “Graham shows up and the security guy — an off-duty SFPD officer — didn’t recognize him and Graham couldn’t get back stage,” grinned Sansoe. “We made a chunk of dough that night.”

Sansoe said he only met the legendary Graham a few times before Graham died in a helicopter crash in 1991 near Vallejo. “I had nothing but respect for him,” Sansoe said. “I didn’t want to become a concert promoter. Nobody did with Bill around. If there was a show and it wasn’t his and he didn’t want it to happen, he would make it not happen. At the height of his career, he could stop anything from happening in Northern California.”

Sansoe got into the publishing end of the business as CDs emerged in the late 1980s.

“One smart thing Malo did was to keep their publishing rights,” Sansoe said. “That’s where the money is for the artist. And now, with the Internet, the artists are getting a better share than he ever got.”

Sansoe got into the ring battling lawyers in 1999 when “the heart” of “Suavecito” was used by another band. When Sansoe eventually got a nice check on behalf of the band, he doled out the money at a Christmas party.

“None of the guys knew this was happening,” Sansoe said, still gratified that “I beat an attorney. I told him, ‘I’m not getting off the Ferris wheel until we get our checks.”

Sansoe wasn’t done.

“I started seeing that artists were being taken advantage of,” Sansoe said, sifting through paperwork and realizing “where the bones are buried.”

Most entertainers are more creative musically than astute businessmen, said Sansoe.

“You get kids who are passionate about something and they’re thinking about the songs,” Sansoe said. “Then they get screwed and that’s when they lose their passion.”

Sansoe shakes his head.

“In what other business is the person who creates the product and the ability to create money the last one to get paid and never gets a fair share,” Sansoe said, blasting record companies. “That’s why the Internet is the best thing that ever happened. For an artist to make the same money selling 10,000 units independently, he’d have to sell 700,000 records by the record company. So you get your name out there and play.”

Because of Sansoe, Malo continues to accrue royalty payments.

“It’s like an old horse,” Sansoe said. “You keep riding it. It doesn’t always win, but it comes in place and show a lot.”

“The Voices of Latin Rock” benefit concerts were originally a book release party at Bimbo’s in San Francisco. It was so successful, Sansoe and the other promoters kept it going. Last year’s event included a letter from Mayor Gavin Newsom, praising Sansoe and McCarthy for “The Voices of Latin Rock” as “a dazzling document of modern American history.”

The shows, said Sansoe, “are never about the money. It’s about the feel of the ’70s. That’s a hard thing to recreate in today’s atmosphere. There’s something special here you don’t get in other cities.”

The same artists who initially feel they’re doing Sansoe a favor by doing the show, “are the ones who thank you at the end of the night,” he said.

The sixth annual concert, produced by Sansoe, Trager and Dr. Bernie Gonzalez, is set for January.

BY TONY WADE
DAILY REPUBLIC CORRESPONDENT

SAN FRANCISCO — The 5th annual Voices of Latin Rock Benefit concert for Autism Awareness returns Jan. 24 to the Warfield Theater in San Francisco. The concert raises funds for schools in the Bay Area who battle autism on a daily basis. During the last 5 years the show has grown and even expanded into a traveling tour, but the January annual event has become legendary.

The 2009 lineup includes 1970s funk/Latin/rock hit machine WAR (“Slippin’ into Darkness,” “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” and “Low Rider”), pioneering Latin/rock/jazz fusion group Azteca, an all-star revue featuring members of Malo, Santana, El Chicano, Cold Blood and many others. As a special treat, this year PBS is filming the show for later broadcast. It has become an annual tradition to give tribute to those who helped Latin rock flourish. This year women who helped craft the sound will be honored. Among the dignitaries are legendary promoter Bill Graham’s personal assistant Rita Gentry, vocalist Linda Tillery, Santana and Azteca pianist/ vocalist Wendy Haas, Cold Blood frontwoman Lydia Pense, and percussionist extraordinaire Sheila E.

Green Valley’s Jeff Trager has co-produced the show from the start. It’s grown from a one-time deal to an annual event and then into a traveling tribute which picks up local Latin legends as it trudges across the states.

Voices of Latin Rock sold out Bimbo’s in San Francisco for four straight years with no advertising. For their fifth go round, Trager and his associates have moved the soiree to the much larger and newly refurbished Warfield Theater. With the array of talent in this year’s lineup, in 2010 he’s sure to face a yearly problem once again.”Every year we say, ‘How are we going to top this?,’ ” Trager said. “Two years ago, we had Booker T. and the original Santana Band and Lenny Williams. Last year we honored Richie Valens and Los Lobos came up and played. “This year we have Azteca and we always wanted to have them because they were the first Latin Rock supergroup and this is their second appearance in 25 years. The band featured percussionist Pete Escovedo, drummer Lenny White who later went to Return to Forever and guitarist Neal Schon who was in-between Santana and Journey.”

In addition to the dream lineups of world class musicians on the bill, one of the hallmarks of the Voices of Latin Rock annual show are the  unannounced guests who show up and turn an already special evening into a magical one.Carlos Santana will be one of the presenters honoring the women of Latin Rock and while it’s not guaranteed he’ll strap on an axe and wow the Warfield crowd with his trademark tone, stranger things have happened.

“You never, never know who is going to walk on out on the stage,” Trager said. “At last year’s show out came Jackie Greene, Santana vocalist Tony Lindsay, the reclusive Sly Stone, and Funkadelic’s George Clinton. That kind of thing happens every year.”
_______________________
Reach freelance writer Tony Wade
over40rocker@sbcglobal.net

At a glance
Who: “Voices of Latin Rock” Autism Benefit
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 24
Where: The Warfield, 982 Market St., San Francisco
Info: www.ticketmaster.com
www.voicesoflatinrock.com

Napa Valley Register Wednesday, August 27, 2008

It began as a movement, born out of San Francisco’s barrio in the 1960s and ’70s. It evolved into a style, then a revolution and finally a musical genre of its own: Latin Rock.
Saturday, an all-star cast of artists who participated in the birth of the movement take the stage at Lincoln Theater Napa Valley for a one-night, special performance of “Voices of Latin Rock.”
The show was inspired by Jim McCarthy’s book of the same title, which traces the people and events that created the sound. According to producer Jeff Trager, “The book is the story of the birth of Latin Rock music as it became known in the 1960s and 1970s with groups like Santana, Malo, Azteca and Sapo.”
In the foreword, Carlos Santana writes, “I’m grateful this book was written, because it’s a chance to take us back and bring us forward. If our history can challenge the next wave of musicians to keep moving and changing, to keep spiritually hungry and horny, that’s what it’s all about.”
The artists performing Saturday have been part of Latin Rock groups such as Santana, Malo, Azteca, War, Tower of Power and Sly & The Family Stone.
“Basically, Latin Rock was born in the Bay Area out of the Mission District in San Francisco,” Trager said. “There was Richie Valens before that but the Latin Rock sound exploded out in the late ’60s with Santana and their performance at Woodstock. They went there as the only unsigned band onstage, and when they finished playing they were world famous.”
Santana’s success was followed by Malo — whose founding members included Jorge Santana, Arcelio Garcia and Richard Bean who will all perform in Yountville — and their 1972 Top Ten Hit “Suavecito” which became a Latin Rock anthem.
At least 20 artists will play on Saturday night including Jorge Santana, brother of Carlos Santana; Arcelio Garcia and Richard Bean, who wrote “Suavecito;” Tony Lindsay from Santana; Greg Errico, who performed with Sly & The Family Stone, Santana and the Grateful Dead; and Abel Sanchez from Abel and the Prophets.
Carlos Reyes will be the opening act. A harpist and violinist who plays in Latin and jazz styles, he currently plays with Steve Miller and had performed for four U.S. presidents and a pope.
Trager, who grew up in San Francisco with many of the artists in the show, produces the “Voices of Latin Rock” to benefit autism at Bimbo’s in San Francisco each January. The popularity of that event, which has raised thousands of dollars for autism awareness, was the catalyst for taking the show on the road.