Press Clippings:  

  *    Vibrant festival a sign of the city's Latin beat
Michael Olesker  July 1, 2003 
Copyright (c) 2003, The Baltimore Sun
Link to the article

THE LADY in red's flouncing her way across her own private emotional ZIP
code. Oblivious to the big crowd behind her, and absent all sense of inhibition, she's dancing in front of the bandstand in Patterson Park all by herself, with a bottle of water in one hand and a diet soda in the other, while a group called Patrick Alban y Noche Latina plays acoustic rock with a Latin beat.

The lady's beautiful to behold. Outfitted in bright red minidress, bright red hat, high black boots and black bloomers that unfortunately begin to appear beneath her abbreviated hem line, she's shaking everything in her considerable frame under a relentless Saturday afternoon sun at LatinoFest 2003.

"Gracias, amigos, gracias," Noche Latina's lead singer cries out to a round of applause between numbers.

Then, inspired either by the lady in red's clear sense of fun or the marimba beat, others join her on the grassy dance floor. They're marching out two at a time. There's a fellow in a T-shirt swaying with a lady in a tight black dress. There's a Valentino undulating with his lady, who twinkles back at him. There's a boy laughing out loud who's coaxing a reluctant 14-year-old girl into the dance. She's wearing glasses and a baseball cap and she's adorable, but she hasn't figured it out yet.

And you notice, in all this crowd, the same thing spreading across everyone's face: delight with themselves, and with this lovely summer moment in Southeast Baltimore.

What made the weekend's Latino festival remarkable wasn't just the sizable crowds - an estimated 35,000 people - or the near-impossibility of finding parking anywhere in the surrounding neighborhood, but the ethnic and racial blend. We are a city with a shakiness about such things. There are times when we've been afraid to take delight in each other, when we've considered all "outsiders" threatening. In the weekend's crowds, there didn't seem to be an ounce of such history.

"What this says to me," said Bill Villaneuva, owner of the WHS of Maryland medical supply company who was chairman of the Hispanic Business Conference in the Baltimore area, "is that we're here, we're a part of Baltimore."

He puffed contentedly on a fragrant cigar. "We're a vibrant, exuberant community that's part of the growth of Baltimore, and part of its fabric," he said.

According to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau figures, there are about 11,000 Hispanics in the city. But that's only part of the story - and, according to some, an understated part. In Baltimore County, the 2000 Latino population was nearly 14,000. In Anne Arundel County, about 13,000. In Howard County, about 7,500. In Harford County, 4,000. (In the D.C. suburbs, an estimated 100,000 in Montgomery and 57,000 in Prince George's counties.) Across the state, about 228,000 identify themselves as Latino or Hispanic.

"But these figures are old," says Miguel Beluda, outreach coordinator for the Governor's Hispanic Commission. "In the last two years, the numbers have probably doubled. From Mexico alone, the figures are huge."

"When they say 11,000 in the city of Baltimore, I have to laugh," said Jose Ruiz, Hispanic liaison for the mayor's office who founded the Latino festival 20 years ago. "I can find 11,000 Latinos on Broadway between Gough and Lombard."

He said this with much good cheer, and a sense of historical perspective. America has always invigorated itself with each new wave of immigrants - but only in recent years have large numbers of the long-since arrived figured this out, instead of backing away from it.

In Southeast Baltimore, there are estimates that perhaps 20 percent of the population has a Latino background, though their voting registration is considerably lower. In this summer's Democratic primary, there is a 1st District Latino candidate for City Council, Angelo Solera. He was there over the weekend in Patterson Park.

"This is a time to feel good about ourselves," Solera said, "and good about our place in Baltimore."

In this sense, the Patterson Park gathering falls into the nice tradition of all ethnic festivals of the last quarter-century or so. It celebrates a heritage, but implicitly reaches out to the wider community. It says: Look what we bring to the mix.

It was there over the weekend, in the foods and the clothing and the music, and a lady in a red dress danced her way across her own emotional ZIP code. But she also declared: Look what fun I bring to this whole community.

*        Café Baltimore, The Mayor’s Office of Cable and Communications (January 2002) Baltimore, MD. This was a show from the Mayor of Baltimore’s office which featured Patrick Alban and Noche Latina.

*        The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. This was a live concert, which is available on their website; find the link on www.gabirecords.com

*        Review of Patrick’s 1997 “No More 22’s” album written in the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper, which is also available on www.gabirecords.com

   
(Click to read review)

*    Patrick's comments to the review:   " Although I    appreciate the compliments, I could never touch Jose Feliciano's voice and guitar skills. But I thank you anyway... "  Patrick