~by Dena Burroughs

THE L.A. LATIN SALSA FEST AT THE HOLLYWOOD PARK CASINO, WITH ANDY MONTANEZ, AND MORE - Sept 30, 2007

The L.A. Latin Salsa Fest was a nine hour long party that began around noon on Sunday.  It had the performances of two of L.A.'s local bands, the Susie Hansen Latin Band and The Echo Park project.  Also the participation of two, at least to us, new artists, Ommy Cardona and Joe Lopez.  The headliner was "El nino de Trastalleres", Andy Montanez.

I made it in shortly before 7 pm, towards the last part of Ommy Cardona's performance, but in perfect timing for Andy Montanez.

Let me say, today, in my mind, I've catalogued Andy Montanez as the coolest guy out of the classic Salseros.  Andy's interaction with his audience was the best I have seen from an Salsa artist lately.  He paid attention to the crowd, shook hands with them, autographed CD covers, read greetings out loud, picked up kids to the stage, and jumped down into the dance floor to dance with the ladies.  On top of that, the connection he has up on stage with his sons, Andy Montanez Jr., and Harold Montanez, who sing "coros", is fun to watch.  And boy! in that "En mi puertorro" number, which I loaded to YouTube, Andy gets down!!  That was so cool.

There is something about Andy Montanez that makes him different.  Haven't figured out exactly what it is yet, but I like it!

[The pictures below are actually slides, give them a few seconds and a new picture will appear]

ANDY MONTANEZ ON STAGE

From Puerto Rico, Giovanni Crespo Medina, on stage with Andy Montanez

"EN MI PUERTORRO" - ANDY MONTANEZ, with ANDY MONTANEZ JR. AND HAROLD MONTANEZ
[This song originally recorded with Julio Voltio for Andy's CD "Salsa con Reggaeton"]

OMMY CARDONA ON STAGE, with ORQUESTA FUEGO LATINO

SHORT VIDEO CLIP OF OMMY CARDONA AND ORQUESTA FUEGO LATINO

LA GENTE / THE DANCERS / AND DJ PEDRO EL SABROSO

The pictures below were provided by the promoter of the event, J.C. Ospina, of Latin Fire Productions, with a request to be posted.  They were taken by his photographer, Ramon Pena Cabrera.  In the pictures:  Ommy Cardona, Andy Montanez, Joe Lopez and J.C. Ospina.