FREE EVENT: Local Writers Showcased

Our friends at House of Writers / Casa de Escritores invite you to participate in a literary and cultural event that will take place this Friday, Dec 5, from 6-9 p.m. at the Taqueria del Rio on 10230 16th Ave SW, White Center, WA. There you'll enjoy a variety of readings, music and food.

This is a FREE event for the community, so please spread the word! See the organization's blog for more on House of Writers / Casa de Escritores: http://houseofwriters.blogspot.com/

Announcing another addition to the Conexión Marketing team!

A warm welcome to Mauricio Ayón, Development Director for Conexión Marketing. Mauricio's a well-connected guy who has joined our team to help us strategize our approach. You may know him from the King County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce or other local organizations--Mauricio knows how to bring people together in great ways.

Of course there are a lot of businesses that we can provide value to with our Hispanic marketing, communications and research services, but with Mauricio's assistance we're focusing on specific industries that have yet to get into the business of truly serving Latinos--and in which these companies will see a tremendous ROI.

¡Bienvenido, Mauricio! Why don't you welcome Mauricio personally? Feel free to do so at mauricio@conexion-marketing.com.

p.s. I took this picture of him today at the delicious Salvadorean Bakery! mm mm good!

How U.S. Hispanics are celebrating Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all - I wanted to introduce you to a relatively new site called Mi Apogeo http://miapogeo.com/. No, it's not a Seattle-specific site, but it's a very cool interactive Latino community I thought you should know about. And it's in English, likely based on the fact that Latino youth in the U.S. are typically English-dominant and also that the majority of Hispanics online are somewhat bilingual and accustomed to English-language sites.

I was particularly interested to see submissions on Latinos and their Thanksgiving celebrations http://miapogeo.com/main/content/view/480/1051/. It's fun to see how people with different cultural backgrounds are managing to meld those into a very American celebration.

Check it out! And be it Turkey Day--or Ham 'n' Clove Day, or Tamale Day--enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday, safely and happily!

Welcome, Raul!

His name is Raul Villalobos, Jr., and he started recently as our marketing intern at Conexión Marketing. He's completing his bachelor's degree at the UW, and he's on the home stretch! He helps us with all kinds of stuff--today he's doing preliminary research on L.A. Hispanics and what percentage of that group travel by air and how they get to the airport.

Raul's family is from Peru, and both his parents are good cooks. He shared a description of a traditional dish with us that is definitely a detour from American cuisine.

I'll call it Shish-ka-hearts. The actual term for it is anticuchos. It's basically delicate fillets of heart, skewered. Raul says he doesn't like eating most organs that are typically eaten in Peru and other Latin American countries (is tongue an organ? he doesn't like that, either), but he does like him some anticuchos!

After the Peruvian cuisine conversation, Gigi took it upon herself to visit the Latin tienda at Pike Place Market to pick up some Inca Cola, originally from Peru. Of course, in Peru they use cane sugar to sweeten it; in the New Jersey production we learned high fructose corn syrup is substituted.

Smells like bubble gum, looks like Mountain Dew, tastes like heaven in a cup.

NAVIDAD: Christmas in the New World

We're working with Seattle Pro Música to help this choral ensemble promote its upcoming events, which are right up our alley!

Enjoy the lively rhythms of Latin America and Spain as Seattle Pro Musica presents NAVIDAD: Christmas in the New World. The concert features a majestic candlelight processional and captivating Baroque villancicos for voices, guitars, and percussion, blending indigenous music from Spain, Africa, and Latin America. The unique percussion for this vivacious music, ranging from log drums and rain sticks to river stones and deer antlers, is sure to be a highlight of our annual holiday concert. Seattle Pro Musica performs this joyful music from the Baroque era by composers from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia.

Also featured on these concerts are new works by contemporary Latin American composers from Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Aruba. Some of these new works incorporate fascinating vocal techniques, with singers imitating the sounds of the Amazonian jungle, Latin American folk instruments and vocal percussion. In addition to singing in Spanish, Seattle Pro Musica will also perform works in Quechua (the language of the Incas, still spoken in Ecuador today), Nahautal (the language of the Aztecs) and Papamiento (the language spoken in Aruba and Bonaire), and Hausa (one of the main languages of the African Sahel.

Performances also include a free pre-concert talk by conductor Karen P. Thomas one hour prior to all performances except Family Matinee. Learn more about the intriguing history of Latin American music, as well as the latest developments in choral music in Central and South America.

Sunday, December 7, 2008 3:00 pm & 7:30 pm
(Pre-Concert Lecture at 6:30 pm only)
Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle
Family Matinee at 3 pm. Music and fun at this shorter performance for children and families, which includes stories and a sing-along of favorite carols. Children twelve and under free with advance purchase.

Saturday, December 13, 2008 3:00 pm & 7:30 pm
(Pre-Concert Lectures at 2:00pm and 6:30 pm)
Chapel at Bastyr University, 14500 Juanita Drive NE, Bothell

General admission is $22. For more details, please see their site: http://www.seattlepromusica.org/

Please join us for a very special cultural celebration this holiday season!

Give to a child or elder through Seattle University

It's that time of year again! The Giving Tree – sponsored by the Seattle U Center for Service and Community Engagement – is a great way to help grant the holiday wish of a child or an elder in our community. They make it easy for us to step up and help.

Starting Tuesday, November 25th, please stop by the Seattle University Student Center Pavilion, Room 124, to take a tag from our tree and buy a gift for a child at Childhaven or Treehouse and/or an elder at Elderhealth Northwest.

Please return UNWRAPPED gifts with the tag attached by December 11th for delivery. If you have any questions, please contact David Henry, SJ at 206-296-2326 or henrytd@seattleu.edu. Thank you for helping them reach their goal of 100 gifts for the holidays!

IT'S OFFICIAL - Ke Buena goes local!

THIS JUST IN: Jaime Méndez and Mario Rodriguez (aka Zuper Mario), both longtime on-air talent over at the former Radio Sol, have been snatched up by Bustos Media's Ke Buena station on 1210 AM. This marks the first local venture of Bustos Media in our market that I'm aware of, and I am glad to see they're stepping up to the challenge! For so long, these stations have delivered music--and audiences--but their true presence in our market was lacking. This will give their AM station a big boost.

So Jaime's beloved La Voz de Washington community program will resume on Ke Buena, M-F 3-4pm. Zuper Mario will bring back his show including music, entertainment and community interaction (including a unique brand of radio classifieds) from 4-8 each evening.

ON THAT NOTE: Rebecca Lambert of Bustos Media is looking to hire! They're looking for one or two new account executives to support what should be some serious interest from advertisers. Contact her if you'd like more info on this opportunity at rlambert@bustosmedia.com.