Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos will come to Aurora’s Place

A group of local musicians will join a lone wolf (and founding member of the band Los Lobos) onstage in Aurora.

Cesar Rosas is a founding member of the iconic Grammy-winning band Los Lobos. He will perform with The Chi-Town Playboys at The Venue in Aurora on January 19 at 20:00. Chi-Town Playboys include Dave Herrero, Ari Seder, Gerald Dowd, Chuck Lacy, Dan Ingenthron and Scott Tipping.

Tipping, of Wheaton, plays guitar in the band and also works as a talent buyer for The Venue. He was in a car accident the day after Christmas, breaking his femur and humerus in his right leg and several ribs on his left side. Still, he’s determined to play the show with one of his favorite musicians from Los Lobos, one of his favorite bands of all time.

“A lot of us in Chicago have a connection to Los Lobos. I first sat in with them in 2009. The band I play with, Backyard Tire Fire, was opening for them, and me and the band leader Ed (Anderson) were asked to sit in with them at the end of the night.” aforementioned.

“That was something where we connected and started seeing each other more and doing sit-ins together. Other people in Chicago have a similar connection, including my partner in crime in this adventure, Dave Herrero.”

Last year, Herrero ran into Rosas and encouraged him to attend a local blues night.

“I had just gotten the talent-buying job at The Venue, and I said, ‘Hey, tell Cesar, if he wants to put on a proper show, I’ll book a room for 200 people and we can put together a band.’ Within a day, Cesar said, ‘Let’s do it,'” Tipping said.

“The first show we did as a group took place almost a year after the date of this (upcoming) show. “We had so much fun… Cesar said, ‘Let’s do some more.'”

Los Lobos is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but in between those gigs and whenever he’s in town (which is often), he calls on the Chi-Town Playboys.

“It was a magical thing that really happened organically,” Tipping said.

Los Lobos is originally from East Los Angeles, but has deep connections to Chicago through radio station WXRT 93.1-FM, he said. Longtime WXRT DJ Tom Marker said he actually introduced his shows last year.

“Their roots were always in Chicago and they loved being here,” he said, “It’s kind of a second home for them.”

He said the band was making a documentary and even had a film crew at their show at The Venue last year.

“I don’t know how much of it will end up on the cutting room floor… but it was pretty cool for us to see this little thing that we didn’t even know was going to happen create a little excitement,” he said.

Spinning said that singer and guitarist Rosas is “a special musician” because he knows most of the folkloric music that Los Lobos plays.

“Los Lobos can make a lot of traditional, folkloric music,” he said. “When they first started as a band, Cesar was known as their singer. When they first started, Lobos were an acoustic-based band that played all the traditional music their parents and grandparents grew up with. And Cesar was a balladeer. He has a very beautiful voice.

“The other side of Cesar is that he’s really into soul music and rock ‘n’ roll music. And it’s really exciting to play with him because, first of all, a lot of the soul music that he champions is something that I and we all admire. “There’s a folkloric side to it that we’ve all been fans of since we were Los Lobos fans, but to actually play that material and gain that insight is something really special.”

Tipping said people will hear a variety of things in the show.

“They’ll hear some of Cesar’s original music, they’ll hear traditional folk music, and they’ll hear classic blues and soul music,” he said. “It’s a really great set because… Cesar’s tastes are crazy. One of the things that I think is great is that we brought together this group of great musicians from Chicago and it really allowed us to go lay down and have fun. “This is truly a great experience.”

He said audiences will enjoy celebrating who Chicago musicians are.

“I think the real attraction, of course, is Cesar Rosas, who is part of a team in Los Lobos. And we are definitely a team, the Chi-Town Playboys,” he said. “This is a night where he can call the shots, pick all the songs he wants to play, sing the songs he wants to sing.” .

“Dave Herrero, a well-known blues artist, will also sing a song or two like me. A great night. Last year’s show was heralded as one of the best The Venue has ever presented. I’m a little biased because I was acting on that show. But I’ve seen that room a lot, and it was absolutely extraordinary. “There was great energy and everyone was dancing and having a great time.”

Tipping hopes he will be good enough to play; He had his Fender Stratocaster with him in the hospital during his recovery. He said it was a bit mind-blowing to share the stage with a musician he admired so much.

“After the show at The Venue last year, my mother came up to me and said: ‘Scott, when you were 18 you bought the ‘Kiko’ record and declared Los Lobos your favorite band. “And now you’re playing in a band with one of the founding members of Los Lobos,” he said.

“It is very difficult for me to put it into words. There are people I have admired since I was 18, that is, more than half of my life. It is a pure happiness to be on a contemporary level, to be friends and to make music together. It is truly a blessing.”

Cesar Rosas and the Chi-Town Playboys

When: 20:00 19 January

Where: Venue, 21 S. Broadway, Aurora

Tickets: $20-$50

Information: 331-212-8490; themusicvenue.org

Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Beacon-News.