| Lalo
& Mark Page
A Brief Synopsis
of My Musical History with My Father
by MarkGuerrero
The following pages contain
information, photos, programs, and flyers relating to my musical
relationship with my father, Lalo Guerrero. In the 60s,
as a teenager I played on many of his records, usually with
my band, Mark & the Escorts. Some highlights were
a rocker called "Los Grenudos," his 60s remake of
"Pancho Claus," and his big hit "La Minifalda
de Reynalda," on which I played lead guitar on a 12-string
Rickenbacher. Mark & the Escorts also played some
out of town gigs opening for my dad's orchestra in the early
60s. In our early teens, we traveled with him and his
band and played in Indio, Bakersfield, Stockton, and San Jose,
California, as well as Yuma, Chandler, and Tucson, Arizona.
In the 70s and 80s, I put bands together to back him on many
of his children's records, "Las Ardillitas de Lalo Guerrero."
I also wrote the music to about a dozen of those recordings,
with my dad writing the Spanish lyric. I would also
sometimes be one of the Ardillita singing voices. Many
of the vocal sessions took place in Mexico City so my dad
and I had some great times recording and hanging out down
there in the early 80s. On the songwriting front, he
also wrote a full Spanish lyric to my song "On the Boulevard."
We also wrote a beautiful ballad together called "Receta
de Amor," on which I wrote the music and he the lyric.
In 1981, during the Fernando Valenzuela phenomenon, my dad
recorded a single containing two songs about the Dodger pitcher,
who had brought such pride to the Latino community in Southern
California. I wrote one of the songs, "Fernando,
El Toro," my dad wrote the other, "Ole Fernando."
The record sold at Dodger Stadium at the concession stands.
In 2001, both songs were also included on an ESPN television
show called "Fernandomania," on which my dad and
I were also interviewed about Fernando. The songs were
also sent to the baseball hall of fame. My dad and I
did numerous other television and radio shows together, mostly
local shows in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Other than a handful of "live" shows we did together
in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, it never occurred to us to
create a show and perform together with a band. It wasn't
until my dad was offered an opportunity to play in Paris,
France in 1998, that he thought to ask me to lead a small
group to perform with him. That group consisted of yours
truly on lead guitar, a guitarrón player, and a drummer.
I also sang a couple of my songs on the show. The show
in Paris was a big hit so when we returned home we kept
it going. Our next opportunity was to perform at the
Getty Museum in Los Angeles for which the band grew to to
six pieces. I eventually came up with the name "The
Second Generation Band" because its members were of my
generation, which is second generation Mexican-American, my
dad being first generation with his parents having been born
in Mexico. The one exception was Alex Armstrong, who
is of my generation, but of Scottish, not Mexican descent.
Lalo Guerrero with Mark Guerrero & the Second Generation
Band played eleven shows in the period between 1998 and 2000.
After 2000, I formed my own band called Mark Guerrero &
Radio Aztlán. On several occasions we did shows on the
bill with my dad on which we would back him. This and
the following pages on this "Lalo & Mark" section
of this website contain information, photos, flyers, programs,
and videos of the Lalo & Mark Band. It also has
some flyers and programs from pre and post Lalo Guerrero with
Mark Guerrero & the Second Generation Band. The
video pages of this section has performances of that band
from many of the shows we did, including Paris, France and
the Getty Museum.
Click
here for the Lalo & Mark Band Page
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