Street Talk article -"Go-Cart Carlos" and KXTN 107.5 FM
It's the month of April and I just picked up a copy of Street Talk from Janies Record Shop. There is an article (pretty big one) about me and my time at KXTN and the record label deal that happened to me. Makes for some pretty good reading for those who remember the mid 90's and Tejano musics first swelling. I say first because, just like almost everything else, I believe It's coming back stronger than ever. Here's the article in it's entirety (maybe with extra pics) and thanks to Street Talk for their support.
Remember “Go-Cart Carlos”?...
It was 1993 and Carlos Taboada had grown tired of doing small local acting jobs in TV commercials (manager for H.E.B.- parts salesman for NAPA auto parts - Lawnmower salesman for Tractor Supply Company). His best friend Eddie had been working with KXTN Tejano 107.5 as a helper to the transmitting engineer and asked Carlos if he needed some extra spending money. He said that KXTN was looking for someone to change reels on six automated reel to reel machines. KXTN had just acquired an FM station (Star 93, I believe) and were in the middle of building a studio for the jocks.
For now, the music being heard on “La Romantica” was being played by 6 reel machines controlled by a computer that would start one song after another. Genius, but they still needed a human to change out reels once each reel ran out of audio tape. When Carlos heard the job went from 6am to 12pm, he almost didn’t take it. Early in the morning was not really his forte (being a musician), but at $10 an hour, it was something else he could do to pursue his musical endeavors. He took the job.
Showing up that early in the morning, he made friends with several of KXTNs on-air personalities, including GQ, the morning jock at KXTN at that time. Almost into his third week, GQ left and Jonny Ramirez took over the morning mike.
“I sat on a very comfortable chair and my reel to reel machines were just outside the KXTN control room. GQ would close his door during his whole morning show, but Jonny left it open, allowing me to see the man at work. It was very cool.” Carlos recollects.
After several weeks there, Carlos, who’s shift was over at the same time Jonnys’ show was done, started going to breakfast with Jonny and some of the other employees.
“I can be pretty funny if I have a receptive crowd, pretty funny.” said Carlos.
The way it played out, Jonny noticed Carlos humor during all the lunches and kept it filed away mentally. Then one day Jonny approached Carlos and told him that he wanted to get him on as a side kick on the morning show doing traffic. Carlos immediately said NO!
As Carlos recalled, “I had always wanted to do radio, but my nerves took over and my knee jerk answer was negative”. Then Jonny made Carlos an offer he couldn’t refuse. He told Carlos that if he didn’t do it, KXTN was going to let him go. Turns out “La Romantica” was going live within the next 2 weeks; the second studio was finished and Carlos’ reel changing service was not going to be needed anymore. “Well, since you put it that way, yes” Carlos said, ”I WILL go on the air”.
The next 2 years were like a whirlwind. The combination of Jonny Ramirez in the morning and Go-Cart Carlos was a real success. Of course, there was also Speedy Petey and Alex Cruz doing news. The team was a real winner; so much so that KXTN took several “No 1 Morning show” awards from Arbitron. The team had a great thing going.
“I wrote allot of the comedy bits and did some voices (Hung Solo, Mr Heimlich, Tyrone) and Jonny was just an all around funny guy as well. He allowed me to cultivate all my characters. He really mentored my talents.” said Carlos.
The combination worked and worked well. KXTN had acquired so many listeners, that even other tejano stations around Texas were copying their top ten play list.
Now, here’s where the problems started. Carlos, sticking to his original goal, recorded a version of Monsantos “A Mover El Bote”, a song he’d always liked since childhood. His plan was to record a whole album with the money he was now making, try to get on a label and eventually go into his music full time. He brought his “Bote” to Jonny for him to hear and almost immediately Jonny put it on the air.
“From what I can remember, I didn’t really want Jonny to play it because I didn’t have a whole CD yet, but I guess Jonny wanted more fuel behind the morning show and what better way than to feature a song by Go-Cart Carlos, one of the morning team. Jonny was pretty smart that way. He was thinking about the big picture”.
Once the cat (song) was out of the bag, Carlos had to scramble to get on with a label. The worse thing that could happen was that, if the song was a success, there would be no follow up song. The song itself was doing very well and was soon included on most playlist across Texas. So well, in fact, that some of the major labels were showing interest. Carlos received a letter of intent from Capital Records and Arista was also interested.
“I really wanted to be on Arista because so many of my favorite english artists were on Arista. Alan Parsons, Al Stewart. etc”.
Arista, though interested in Carlos, was also interested in another act and they were taking their time choosing. Meanwhile, KXTN began to notice the popularity of “Bote” and how that popularity might be the reason they would lose Go-Cart Carlos to the Tejano band road circuit in the future. They stopped playing the song.
Soon after, other stations followed suit. Things got pretty tense for Carlos around the station for a while. “I felt that they were trying to stop my dream from happening; trying to stop me from becoming known as a singing artist, and while that may be good business, there is still such a thing as RIGHT and WRONG. That just felt WRONG”.
Even Jonny tried to keep Carlos song on the air, but the station had made up their mind. Meanwhile, a representative for Capital records found out that the reason Carlos had not signed with them yet was because he was waiting on Arista. Capital withdrew their contract. After this blow, Carlos had to put all his hope into Arista who was still trying to decide between him and another act. The final blow came in the form of a phone call. It was a rep for Arista. They said they were sorry but they decided to go with the other act, La Differencia. Carlos realized the whole thing was over.
It was after this that things got so tension filled at the station that he and Jonny started arguing all the time. “Jonny and I usually got along well, but I couldn’t but feel I had been abandoned by this radio station and it came out in an ugly way. Things had changed and I didn’t see the point anymore. I left KXTN shortly after that. They’ve since changed owners”.
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| Ram Herrera, Bo and Go-Cart Carlos - Halloween on stage T-Town |
I asked Carlos about his current relationship with his old partner, Jonny Ramirez. “I see Jonny every once in a while. We get along great. I was younger then and, now, thinking back I realize he’s a very wise man. He took up for me allot, especially when one of our comedy bits went WAY over the edge and sponsors would get angry. Jonny had a great If it’s funny, we’re doing it atittude. I learned allot from him. It was fun working there.”
It was years before Carlos visited the music thing again. By the time he came back, the major labels had taken all their tejano money and split. Starting a self made label to get an artists or music out there had become the way to go. This was when Carlos started Sylvester Strange Records, an imprint label for his own music.
His latest release is a collection of 50’s tunes rocked up to satisfy even the most modern tastes. “The thing I liked most about Arista Records is that they were going to use Michael and Ron Morales at Studio M to do their recordings. I said to heck with it! I’ll use Studio M myself. I’ve always liked their productions and the talent behind those Grammys doesn’t hurt either”.
The result is 10 songs done to perfection with special guests such as Ram Herrera, Ernie Garibay, Rudy Tee, Joe Posada, Ronny T, Chente Barrera, Emilio and Diego Navaira, Henry Rivas and Hector Saldana to name a few. “I think I’m going to be known as the odd-ball of Tejano music only because I tend to flavor each Tejano CD project with whatever direction is calling me at that time. I may not appeal to the purists, but I have to do it the way it comes out of ME or what’s the point”. The new CD entitled “Tex-Bop Deluxe” contains such 50’s tunes as “Shake Rattle and Roll”, “Never Let Me Go”, “I Love You So” and “I Hear You Knocking” to name a few. “There’s some major label production experience behind these tunes and they definitely reflect it”. Facebook: Sylvester Strange (Karloz) - Email: Sylvesterstrange@hotmail.com
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