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Baila where you still can

Yesterday, Manuel Ramos's post ended with a small poster about the Denver Valentine's Day Dance at Rick's Tavern. Last year, Sec. of the Interior Ken Salazar and two-time Grammy award winner Ruben Ramos recognized Rick Garcia for his contribution to Tejano and New Mexico music. The inscription on the award reads: "in recognition of keeping Tejano and New Mexico music alive in Denver."

The Mambo Club, The Doghouse, The Keg are long gone from North Denver's nightlife, places where you could swing a samba or toss your chanclas about the dance floor to the beat of mexicano accordion music or unas rancheras, whether or not the place had a license for dancing. Those and other Chicano clubs were replaced by gentry joints filled with those who invest in neighborhood homes because of their charm, much of which comes from its being an ethnic neighborhood. The entrance of the gentry of course razes a community, whitewashing its unique identity. In the end, there's nowhere for us to go for a baile on a Friday or Saturday night.

If you're a Chicano or something similarly latino, you know what such places mean, how la música mexicana can carry your body and alma to another place--one where spirits soar and prides swell with self-awareness. It makes you "feel like a Mexican." Maybe it reminds you of your Tío Ramón who would let out with a grito of "ay-yay-yay" whenever the band played Puño de Tierra. Or maybe after you had enough cerveza in you, you found you could actually sway your hips almost as sensuously as your Tía Consuelo seemed to be able to do so supernaturally.

That was all a thousand years ago. Yes, there are new mexicano clubs opening across the country--thanks to the influx of gente fleeing the societal plagues of Mexico--but at least in Denver most of those are relegated to the outskirts of town, where housing for the lowest-paid classes is almost affordable.

Things may be different in San Anto or Albu or East Los. But like Rick Garcia's plaque states, his tavern (it's actually a little north of North Denver) is one of the last "keeping Tejano and New Mexico music alive in Denver." Who knows for how long.

So, whenever you're in the Denver area, if you're looking for a place where gritos can still be shouted as politically correct, a club where everybody else dances better than you--like they were raised on bottled cumbia--make sure to hit Rick's Tavern, before the gentry discover the area. And maybe we'll bump hips at the Valentine's baile.

The Valentine's dance: Sunday, Feb. 12, 6–10:00pm, 6762 Lowell Blvd. (north of North Denver)

About the band: "The Rick Garcia Band performs a signature blend of Tejano, New