QEPD Johnny Canales

After an online death rumor a few weeks ago forced him to appear on social media to say he was doing OK, though one could tell he wasn’t in the best health, “El Dinamico” Johnny Canales, TV host, Tejano musician, humanitarian, veteran, and a whole bunch of other things, passed away yesterday.

For me, it brought up a lot of memories as I grew up watching his show every weekend as he introduced up and coming and regionally popular Tejano and Regional Mexican bands. He was our Dick Clark! Most times, the bands were promoting their newest albums, other times, it was about keeping the fans informed of major concerts. The interviews were informative and funny. For the viewers, it was a time to see the bands in action on a big stage, rather than at a local ballroom or bar. (Later, I’d figure out that most times the bands were lip-syncing to a playback of the original recording, unless he recorded a live concert at other venues.)

When I was 8 or 9, as Canales was becoming a regional thing, he MC’d our Catholic Church’s Jamaica, introducing the bands. Knowing how much the crowd enjoyed him, he’d visit all the vendor booths, including my cousin’s Coca Cola booth. It wasn’t often that a South Texas kid could meet a celebrity. The man knew how to please a crowd, which is why his popularity put his face on TV ads for other companies in South Texas.

As his show grew, he went from MC’ing to taking the show on the road. He took la Onda Chicana to wherever there were brown folks, especially areas in which migrant farm workers would settle: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Wisconsin. And he’d record those live concerts for public consumption on his TV show. Among his best concerts were these huge music festivals at San Antonio’s SeaWorld, which he’d record for his show. For those of us who couldn’t afford to go to dances often, this was quite the treat. I even experienced a Johnny Canales Show concert when he brought Jaime y Los Chamacos and La Sombra to the now demolished Frank Erwin Center in the hey-day of the 90s.

The Johnny Canales Show was also the first time that I saw Selena y Los Dinos perform when she was 13. As a fellow 13 year-old, I must say I was in love! A month later, when my sisters visited from college, they even took me to the Crystal Ballroom to enjoy a dance featuring Houston’s La Mafia. Little did I know the opening band was Selena y Los Dinos. Let’s just say I knew she was going places then and Johnny Canales helped!

I was proud of the local news stations for running some good stories on Johnny. My favorite was ABC-13 because they showed footage of Canales speaking in front of the Alamo at a 1992 Bill Clinton rally (Esai Morales was there, too!). Later as the Clinton bus made its way to Austin, a good crowd of Young Dems from SWT and area Dems were able to hold a roadside rally, stopping the bus for a few minutes before getting to the 20,000 supporters at UT.

So, yeah, Johnny hit various aspects of my life. But the memories of watching the show with my mom and dad during Sunday breakfast is the one that hit me hard. Memories of my dad softening to the more modern Tejano music of the time after having grown up with Pedro Infante, Los Alegres de Teran and others was quite the sight. My family wasn’t a musical one, but we sure have loved music.

Thanks to Johnny Canales for all of the memories he helped create for a lot of Chicanos in South Texas.