• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Raul Colon - photographer, digital marketer & writer living on the beach in Puerto Rico.

I support causes by supporting individuals.

  • My Photography
  • Puerto Rico’s Beaches
  • Hire Me
  • Get to Know Me
  • Talk to Me

La Musica y El Independiente 2

September 27, 2012 by Raul Colon

IMG_1001-1024x682 La Musica y El Independiente 2
Las Acevedo @ El Independiente 2 | photo by Alfredo Richner

Last April my colleague blogger friend from Puerto Rico Alfredo Richner (from Puerto Rico Indie) invited me to the first of a series of events that he was going to create.

El Independiente is a músical collaboration of Independent Music Bands from outside of Puerto Rico playing with the local ones.

In the second version of el Independiente, Alfredo and his partners from Frecuencias Alternas Jose Pepe Pesante and Ezequiel Rodriguez, Rubén Arroyo from Mala Vida, Buena Musica curated a group of 4 independent musical entities.

Out of the 4 I became a fan of Alex Andwandter when this past July I read an interview via Puerto Rico Indie and quickly added him to my Spotify playlist.

When I arrived Hacienda (Puerto Rico’s) version of the IRS had stopped at La Respuesta to verify if all paperwork and permits where up to date. Sadly Hacienda decided to stop with musical ambassadors from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Chile proving once again that culture and arts is not a priority for our current government.

Once paperwork was squared away the door opened and the last tweaks where being made to make up for the time lost dealing with the unexpected visitors.

As I entered into la respuesta I bumped into Zuleyka ( @dr_zu) who was taking care of the door. I really don’t think anyone can be as sweet, strict, and patient at the same time while welcoming guests with a smile. I personally admire the patience Zuleyka had throughout the night; my patience would have worn down minutes after seeing some individuals attempting not to pay the very cover charge of $10.

Las Acevedo

Las Acevedo (@las_acevedo), twin sisters from the sister island Dominican Republican, started the night @Lucymfel identified a few charactertics of why I instantly enjoyed their music. I listened to them for the first time and I had to stop bandcamp to enjoy more of their work.

Juan Cirerol

The second performer was Juan Cirerol (@juancirerol )from Mexico. Juan’ lyrics full with the energy he displayed on stage had a mix of social awareness and criticism.

JuanCirerol-PedroLugo-RadioHuelga La Musica y El Independiente 2
Juan Cirerol @ El Independiente 2 | photo by Pedro Lugo

La Macha Colón y Los Okapi

It was getting late and I ended up wanting to leave just before la Macha Colón and los Okapi took the stage. When Macha got on stage I recognized her from earlier where she was dancing and emitting great energy enjoying the music that was being played before she took the stage.

MachaColon-PedroLugo-RadioHuelga La Musica y El Independiente 2
Macha Colon Y Los Okapi @ El Independiente 2 | photo by Pedro Lugo

Even on my two visits to Austin during SXSW I have never seen any band like Macha Colón and los Okapi. Since I like weird and I know I am also weird I was captured by her performance and decided I had to stay to watch her burlesque, dramatic, with a mix of Diva and Drag Queen Extravangance kind of show.

Macha’s music was fun but just watching her perform and mix a bunch of elements to keep the public entertained was something I really enjoyed and hope seeing la Macha Colón again.

Macha finished and set the tone for the last artist of the night Alex Anwandter ( @alexanwandter) that many where waiting for. Alex got up on stage and started singings to one of the songs I have played on spotify multiple times, I was captured by his energy and his dancing that I can’t recall which song it was.

Alex Anwandter

Some of Alex’s dancing was  similar to the voguing style of Benny Ninja. After watching one of his other videos the day after the Independiente I realized he might have been voguin.

IMG_1023-1024x682 La Musica y El Independiente 2
Alex Anwandter @ El Independiente 2 | photo by Alfredo Richner

I had already enjoyed his music but the fact that I saw him perform live made me become a bigger fan.

I left at about Alex’s 4 song. I thanked Alfredo for the invitation and I have to congratulate the complete team for a job well done.

I am also happy that two sponsors stepped up to the Plate the including Filler snacks and Buye.

Given the support they gave such an awesome event I have to make sure I give Filler Snacks that are vegan.

I can’t wait for the next Independiente.

What indie bands would you like to see?

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alfredo Richner, Frecuencias Alternas, Indie Music, Music, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Indie

Interview – Archipielago Puerto Rico Indie’s Alfredo Richner

April 1, 2012 by Raul Colon

Screen-Shot-2012-04-01-at-12.49.27-AM Interview - Archipielago Puerto Rico Indie's Alfredo Richner

I love listening to Music. For some reason I have never been very good at making music since when I was in Elementary School I only played the violin and did it longer than I wanted since I was bad enough to not make it to the band. I failed my musical diagnostic test and ended up in the Orchestra.

After moving back to Puerto Rico I don’t think I have ever played an instrument effectively. On the other side for that same reason I respect musicians so much. The practice and the dedication they commit themselves to make music for other to enjoy without knowing if they will get anything back is something I admire.

I would like to say creating music similar blogging from my perspective is about being committed and not knowing if you are getting anything in return (not even a listener or reader). There are many people that call themselves bloggers and in my point of view very few have the discipline to sacrifice their time week after week to inform you.

A fusion of two of my passions

Given that I love listening to Music and I have a passion for blogging I thought it would be great if I could interview once again Alfredo Richner from Puerto Rico Indie but this time using Video.

Archipiélago

Alfredo launched a mini documentary series covering Puerto Rico’s Local Indie bands giving me and the rest of his audience a full experience of audio, visual, and even behind the scenes into each band.

My Favorite Archipiélago Session Yet

I am fan of MIMA thanks to my friends at “Frecuencias Alternas” I have a few of her songs in my daily music playlist. Take a look at the great job I Alfredo has done featuring MIMA in this mini documentary.

PRI Archipiélago EP2: MIMA from Puerto Rico Indie on Vimeo.

 

Where can You Get more of Puerto Rico Indie:

  • PuertoRicoIndie.com
  • Youtube.com/puertoricoindie
  • @puertoricoindie | @redod
  • facebook.com/puertoricoindie

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alfredo Richner, Frecuencias Alternas, Indie Bands, Music, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Indie

Stay Alert! Stay Passionate!

May 15, 2011 by Raul Colon

2227370886_0e17af2886_z Stay Alert! Stay Passionate!

For the last year since I set up RaulColon.net I have become more aware of my surroundings. While being in the military one of the first phrases you learn in Basic Combat Training is

Stay Alert! Stay Alive!

This phrase would help me become aware of my surroundings in Bridgeport, CT where I lived for a part of my childhood. For those of you that are familiar with Bridgeport in the 1990’s, it was one of the cities with the highest crime rate. As a kid I saw gang fights, gun fire crossing in front of my eyes, and many other things people might see in movies. To this day  when I enter a restaurant or establishmet, the first thing I do is look for the exits. Of course Military training enhanced that to a certain extent but by that time it was part of my nature.

Getting back to blogging; I have ideas constantly running around in my head as the day goes by. It is a bit difficult to explain but I wish I had 48 hours a day to write about every idea that pops into my head.

I have never been able to explain this in another way until Thursday when (@danielalcolon, @lucymfel, and I) spent the day with two people we have connected with; @dr_zu and @joeprog.

I met @dr_zu thanks to @lucymfel and she introduced me to @joeprog her partner. Zuleyka, better known as @dr_zu, is a very compassionate and sweet person. She is always thinking of others and has given @lucymfel and my daughter @danielalcolon a lot of love (Which I am very grateful for). On the other side @joeprog is a big guy with a big heart. He is over 6 feet and can intimidate you just by giving you a mean look. Everytime I spend time with @joeprog I see how much of genuine guy he is. A person that projects positive energy but similar to me will stand up when he sees something is not fair.

I admire @joeprog for his knowledge of many things, but what really stands out from @joeprog is the passion he has for Music. On various occasions I have sat next to him and have presenced the level of awareness he has around the sounds that are in our proximity. I have seen him how he gets easily distracted when music catches his ear that he wants to analyze.

The other day I realized that the same way @joeprog goes to a happy place every time he hears music, he is also aware of disturbances in the force and I am sure many thoughts run through his head comprable that would happen to me.

We went to see Bridesmaids and I was enjoying the movie but I could not resist the urge to take notes so I could later create a blog post on the movie. This is a good example of how when I should be just watching the movie I decided to take notes because many ideas came to my head that moment.

In the presence of  @joeprog and other people that I consider successful because they are  passionate about the things they commit themselvess too are able to completely engage with one thing with the purpose of analyzing more than your average person.

I guess other than learning a lot of music history during the times I have had the privilege to sit down with @joeprog and during his weekly radio show @fralternas (Every Saturday from 9pm to midnight at radiouniversidad.pr), I have learned  we have many things in common.

Being passionate about something is an awesome trait. I am passionate about blogging and Pepe (@joeprog) is passionate about music.

What things are you passionate about?

What things Awaken you because you are passionate about them?

Any other reasons to Stay Alert and Stay Passionate!


So you can understand my admiration of Pepe (@joeprog) feel free to see some of his work here:

Vórtice | vorticeonline.com

Vortice-300x205 Stay Alert! Stay Passionate!


Photo Credit by Lite Speed Photography

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: Frecuencias Alternas

A celebration of Independent Expression @PuertoRicoIndie 1 of 2

April 25, 2011 by Raul Colon

Screen-shot-2011-04-25-at-7.20.33-AM A celebration of Independent Expression @PuertoRicoIndie 1 of 2

Puerto Rico Indie is a blog written and managed  from Puerto Rico. I have enjoyed reading this blog from time to time. This blog is an example to follow when compared with many local blogs since there content is refreshing and they put the spotlight on other local and global talent.

I have found a common interest in @PuertoRicoIndie and that is why I want to share with you a a few questions I asked @redod , the editor of @PuertoRicoIndie team.

I appreciate the time @redod took in answering my questions with a great amount of detail which allowed me to divide his interview in two posts. For those music lovers read along and don’t forget to visit PuertoRicoIndie.com , Follow @redod and @PuertoRicoIndie on twitter.

@PuertoRicoIndie Interview

“A celebration of Independent Expression” Puerto Rico Indie Part 1

 

@rj_c: Tells us a bit about your background related to establishing Puerto Rico Indie and what is your main function?

@redod: Well, first and foremost, I am very much so a music lover. My high school years were spent listening to the alt-rock classics – Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Weezer… Those types of big fuzzy guitar records I gravitated to.

I didn’t know many people then who shared my taste for this music but I was fortunate enough to be in a band with some classmates who did. These were people I could talk about the intricacies of The Cure’s melodies and the influence of 80’s british groups on Soda Stereo’s music. Having these conversations helped expand my sonic palette and music collection and sent me off in different paths of discovery that were much easier to traverse during my college years abroad thanks to the Internet, the digitizing of music, a large variety of concerts, and good old record shops in the States.

I came back to Puerto Rico missing some of that access to music. I wanted to connect with music on other levels besides listening to it and my career was taking me away towards the video production and web development end of the creative spectrum, leaving me with little time to join a band – let alone take a stab at writing and composing songs. But a friend of mine had joined a group called Recordando En Febrero and they requested my help designing their logos, t-shirts, and website. That was my way into the local independent music scene. After that band called it quits I had to find another way in, so when I heard that Startup Weekend (www.startupweekend.org) was coming to Puerto Rico back in summer 2009, I got a few friends together and decided to start this blog.

We wanted to make a splash, so I designed an iPhone app developed through Vaya Broqui (another one of my ventures) and released exclusively through the App Store a compilation of seventeen bands related to Puerto Rico’s “indie” or DIY scene. It didn’t sell well, at all – in retrospect, it was a crazy move – but it established PuertoRicoIndie.com as a serious project and gave us some credibility. We were new to the scene, but we wanted everyone to know we had good intentions and would strive for quality work.

All of this to say that starting PuertoRicoIndie.com just came naturally. I try to write about stuff that doesn’t get the coverage I think it deserves. The blog is “a celebration of independent expression” and that includes music, as well as the other arts and technology. And we love to share our opinions, ask questions, contribute, and collaborate with other creative people online.

@rj_c: Who else forms the Puerto Rico Indie Team?

@redod: As editor and head writer, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people through PuertoRicoIndie.com – and many of these new acquaintances have become collaborators and writers for the site. Damián Torres, Mercedes Carrillo, and Limari Colón are currently active as members of our writing team, and we’ve collaborated with over a dozen other contributors from other blogs and web projects. I am currently editing a post by a new collaborator to the site, and hopefully people will keep sending in their suggestions, essays, etc. Puerto Rico Indie’s extended family consists of fellow Puerto Rican projects Frecuencias Alternas, #EnProfundo, Esoez, Vórtice, UndoDigital, LaserEater, El Cassette Grabao, .Crudo, and others. There is mutual respect in the work being done to entertain, inform, and expose people to other things besides what they get from the traditional – and poorly lacking – local media channels.

@rj_c : What is the main function and main reason Puerto Rico Indie was created?

@redod: Its purpose was three-fold: I wanted to have a place for me to write about subjects I am passionate about and collaborate with others; I wanted to learn more about and get involved with Puerto Rico’s independent arts scene (otherwise I would have left the country from boredom); and I wanted to help spread the word about local art and entrepreneurial efforts. With that said, Puerto Rico Indie is less about reposting press releases and news found on other sites (we can easily do that through Twitter, no need to rewrite things), and more about creating original quality and in-depth content.

@rj_c : Which area of Puerto Rico Indie Do you recommend us to visit? Which one is a reader favorite?

@redod: Calle 13 (@calle13oficial)  have given us plenty to say over these past two years (as well as most Puerto Ricans). Posts commenting on the group’s work and the media’s perception of their music tend to be the most widely read on the site. This in part because the group has shared some of these posts with fans through official Twitter and Facebook channels.

Interviews with other Puerto Rican bloggers and content creators also tend to be really popular on the site. Some reader favorites include our interview with LCC (La Cabeza de Christian), a Youtube vlogger/talking-head that comments on the weekly news; the comedy duo known as Esoez and loved for the wicked and very NSFW humor; and anything with the popular underground band Los Niños Estelares.

I would also recommend opinion pieces such as “Nosotros somos el sector privado” by Alfonso Gómez-Arzola y “La violencia, el género y la doble vara” which I wrote after news broke out of someone having been gunned down at a bachata concert this past February.

@rj_c : Is there a specific post that is key for your guys?

@redod: I think the coverage we gave to last year’s Coors Light Indie Rock Fest is the perfect example of what Puerto Rico Indie is capable off as an online medium. We wrote posts before the event, informing our readers about each artist and directing them to their music online; we commented in the organizer’s odd choice for a headliner and wrote about the word “indie”. We posted two photo essays on the event, as well as two reviews – one being our “official” reviews, the other written by one of our Twitter followers who wanted to share a point of view of someone who knows little about the “indie” scene. And all of this led us to collaborating in other efforts surrounding the event, such as Frecuencias Alternas’s radio program dedicated to discussing the festival, and art collective Dos Trigresas y Un Caballito de Mar’s video interview series with artists who participated in it.

La Mesa Redonda – a series of posts that grouped music and film recommendations by our various collaborators – also captures well the spirit of our blog, one of collaboration, communication, and sharing.


Part 2 will be published tommorow. You can always come back or receive it directly by Subscribing to Raúl Colón’s Blog via Email.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Community, Featured, Featured Blog Tagged With: Blog, Frecuencias Alternas, Music, Puerto Rico, Radio

Passion & Dedication gives hope to Local Radio

January 23, 2011 by Raul Colon

1739298943_c0d23666fa Passion & Dedication gives hope to Local Radio
The last few days I have expressed my disappointed at hearing the news of losing one of the few decent radio programs that where left on Puerto Rico Radio.

Personally I don’t watch much TV so I end up listening to more music than anything during my long (but Awesome) work days.

Since I love what I do I always end up working into the late hours of the night and one of the favorite things I do during the week is at 9pm I tune my computer into alfarock.com and listen to Lounge by the Moon which allows me to relax and get good quality music.

For the last few months @lucymfel introduced me to a great program @fralternas on Saturday nights which is transmitted from radiouniversidad.pr . These 3 hours which on most occasions help me catch up on work on a Saturday Night they relax me and give me good working music.

The best thing of @fralternas is the music that is shared and thought provoking. The music is curated by a great group of individuals  who take their knowledge, love, and passion for music to new levels.

This talented group of individuals (@fralternas) really go above and beyond with music that  95% of the time I have never heard before. I invite you guys to tune in next Saturday at 8pm EST time and listen to the great experiences these individuals offer every saturday night.

It really makes me think that these few individuals that work without any economical benefit (to my understanding) bring a unique and educating experience to anyone that listens to them. I have personally met @joeprog who is one of the contributors of the @fralternas and he is an encyclopedia of music.

Other than these two programs on local radio I rather sit in silence rather than contaminate my mind with the nonsense most of the other local radio programming offers.

If you need a reminder next week so you don’t miss out on the experience  that @joeprog, @eldifusor, and the rest of the @fralternas contributors feel free to follow them on twitter or leave a comment on the comments area and I will make sure to remind you.

Is there any other good programming on local radio in Puerto Rico or online? If there are others feel free to share with us in the comments area?

Filed Under: Featured, Puerto Rico Tagged With: Frecuencias Alternas, Good Music, Puerto Rico, Radio

Search
  • Puerto Rico's Beaches

  • Privacy Policy

  • Puerto Rico's Revolution Photos

RAULCOLON.NET RUNS ON THE GENESIS FRAMEWORK & POWERED BY WP ENGINE
SQUEEZED & SWEETENED BY LIMONADE INC.

All Rights Reserved.

COPYRIGHT © 2019 Raúl Colón Photographer & Activist