View allAll Photos Tagged Con-Ed
Driver cited in hit and run crash that closed the intersection by knocking down Utility poles into the street and taken out the traffic control box. 3:10 PM. Wednesday Oct.17. Do you want the power poll here or take it to go?
I did some scouting tonight. I was looking a good vantage point to shoot the Con Edison plant on 14th Street as well as the Williamsburg Bridge. I didn't find a spot I liked for the Con Ed plant, but I did get some shots of the Williamsburg Bridge from East River Park. There are definitely more spots to explore there.
More photos like this one are in my set
Ravenswood Generating Station in Long Island City, commonly known as "Big Allis" after the million-kilowatt Allis-Chalmers generator inside, was opened in 1963 by Con Edison. At the time, it was the largest electrical generating unit in the world. Con Ed sold it to Keyspan Energy in 1999.
The Ravenswood Generating Station comprises three large steam-generating units, a 250 megawatt combined cycle generating unit and 17 gas turbine generators. pIt roduces 25% of New York City's power. As of 2005, the station had a summer capability of 2,401 megawatts, making it the 27th most powerful in the United States.
The buildings are made of lightning
Benjamin Franklin in eternal shock
Kite with key in hand after all these years
He's the ghost atop these towers
Jumping from peak to peak
Like Jack Fost or Sandman
Very light in the distance
Haggard & shell-shocked up close
His skin sags like muddy bags of rocks from the mine
His clothes tattered and singed
He glows from radiation
It has been so many years
Oblivious to praise in his honour
His chateau in history is vacant
Bored by paintings of make-believe negroes at ambivalent feet
He discarded letters and chess
For fire from clouds
Delving in the games of gods
Basking in new decadence
Beyond women in Paris and the death of Indians
Something supernatural
The harnessing of energy
Electricity Man
Thunderstroke junkie
Fiend for sky cracking
Circuits suffer illuminating home by home
At the speed
Philly, New York, beyond
Bringing to life toys in boys' bedrooms
Tinkerbell from hell
Rumpelstiltskin with weaponry
His knickers still smoking
In wasted glee he keeps us well lit
Live from syphillis caught from power
His eyes swirl like peppermints gone wrong
This deist defrocker of Jesus
Now frocked in Eurasia robes
A sucker for issue
Ogler of Ogun
Jockying for position with these gods
Stuck in second with Santa Claus
Demigod aspirations kept him alive all these years
General Electric is a loan shark
Its hounds in sunglasses
Racing Pontiacs to catch Ben
Jumping light to light in their line of fire
Old Glow they call him
Con Ed can't find him not even by satellite
They take our money with the ambivalence of vacuums
And we pay hoping for a glimmer
We drop checks in mail slots like teeth beneath pillows
Dance a little smile
And praise the crackhead running our appliance
Old Glow got us humming
Rubbing rather comfort clinging together
Ravaged by ecstatic
Searching for the kite
Grabbing at the key
One of the stars of my "Utility Grates of the World" set. The Bottle Cap Con Ed grate. Union St., Brooklyn, NY
U.S. New York Representative Pete King (Republican, Long Island) introduced a new bill in Congress this month H.R.414: "To require mobile phones containing digital cameras to make a sound when a photograph is taken. " The short title of the bill is simply, "Camera Phone Predator Alert Act."
From the bill:
" (a) Requirement- Beginning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, any mobile phone containing a digital camera that is manufactured for sale in the United States shall sound a tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera in such phone. A mobile phone manufactured after such date shall not be equipped with a means of disabling or silencing such tone or sound.
(b) Enforcement by Consumer Product Safety Commission- The requirement in subsection (a) shall be treated as a consumer product safety standard promulgated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission under section 7 of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2056). A violation of subsection (a) shall be enforced by the Commission under section 19 of such Act (15 U.S.C. 2068)."
Now I'm a father of four young children, and nobody wants to protect their children from predators more than I do, but this is just plain stupid.
First off there are many times that you don't want your camera to make audible noises. Let's say your shooting your own kid in the school play. Having a bunch of disruptive beeps going off every time someone takes a photo is annoying. There are many times when you want to shoot something being less disruptive not being more disruptive. There are certainly plenty of times and places where it is perfectly appropriate to try and be as quiet as you can while shooting.
Secondly, this bill only applies to cell phones. So if some predator wants to try to sneak photos of kids in the locker room all they would have to do is use a regular old point and shoot camera which this bill doesn't apply to. In fact, spy type cameras have been around for years and if someone really wants to try to take stealthy photos, they certainly can without the need to use their cell phone camera. The law also does nothing to address video.
Then of course there is the part of the bill that this would only apply to new phones. So let's see, a predator then could, theoretically, still use any old cell phone that they want to take silent phones while millions of law abiding users have to put up with noisy beeps going off whenever they shoot.
I have no idea what the cost of implementing this technology would be, but I'm sure AT&T would figure out some way to make the "enhancement" a reoccurable fee every month on your cell phone bill.
It seems to me like this bill is yet another example of really bad ideas coming from government. It would seem that this is not the first boneheaded idea that Rep. King has come up with by the way. Another of his winner ideas was responsible for funneling $3 million in taxpayer money to a campaign donor for custom manhole covers that Con Ed said could be dangerous in -- order to fight those pesky terrorists. At least that's the way the Daily News reported it. I thought Republicans were supposed to be for less government not for more.
C/U of NYPD police officer wearing respirator during Steam Explosion disaster. City and Con Ed said the air was safe. (Yeah? Then why are your guys in Haz-Mat suits?)) They werent taken any chances.
photo date: 26 July 2011
This thing is huge. It's a Guzzler NX "vacuum loader". This company (clean venture) also had a 12' box truck on site (not shown) filled with tools and equipment to help support this thing. I'm not sure why Con Edison hired this company to pump out a manhole as they have their own vacuum trucks; maybe they had too many jobs, not enough equipment?
..On JuLY 18th 2007 A stEaM maiN ExpLosioN OccUreD On LExinGTOn avE. In NYC At arOunD 6pM caUsinG AloT oF DamagE anD iNjuRY....
Source Wikipédia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Allis
Big Allis, formally known as Ravenswood No. 3, is a giant electric power generator originally commissioned by Consolidated Edison Company (ConEd) and built by the Allis-Chalmers Corporation in 1965. Currently owned by Transcanada Corp., it is located on 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard in western Queens, New York.
During 1963, Allis-Chalmers announced that ConEd had ordered the "world’s first MILLION-KILOWATT unit...big enough to serve 3,000,000 people." This sheer scale helped the plant become popularly known as "Big Allis".
At the time of its installation, it was the world's largest energy generating facility. It is located on the Ravenswood site, consisting of Units 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as several small Gas Turbines (GTs), and an oil depot. The site overall produces about 2,500 MW, or approximately 20% of New York City's current energy needs. The current installed capacity of Big Allis is around 980 MW.
The Ravenswood, Queens site also includes a steam generation plant consisting of four B&W boilers, commonly known as "The A House", currently owned and run by Con Edison, which helps in the supply of steam to the Manhattan steam system when needed, via a tunnel crossing under the East River.
Ravenswood was owned by Con Ed from the time it was built until 1999, when due to deregulation, Con Ed was forced to sell its in-city generating capacity. KeySpan bought the site for $600 million US dollars. In 2007, KeySpan merged with National Grid. Because of the possibility to influence in-city electrical costs due to National Grid's significant upstate electrical distribution, the New York State Public Service Commission forced National Grid to sell the site. In 2008, TransCanada Corp, based in Calgary, AB, Canada, bought the site for $2.9 billion US dollars.
5-image panorama taken from Roosevelt Island.
On the far left is the Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge. The brown building with the tall chimney is the Con Ed Plant (the Consolidated Edison Plant), one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the USA. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries. The Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., is a regulated utility providing electric, gas and steam service in New York City and Westchester County, New York.
On 28 June 1996, a fire at the plant spewed asbestos throughout the building and sent black smoke through much of the neighbourhood. No one was injured and officials said that no asbestos escaped from the plant. The fire started at 3:30 am and engulfed a 10-story boiler that creates steam to run generators for electricity. It quickly spread to the top floors of the building and was not brought under control until midday. Residents nearby reported hearing a loud explosion, but Con Ed officials said the noise was caused by steam that was released through pressure valves on the roof. The officials believed that the fire may have started in a wood and plastic bin that contained asbestos, but they were not certain what ignited the blaze. The bin, which encased the fourth-floor portion of the boiler, was designed to capture asbestos being stripped from three boilers inside the plant. Tests indicated that no outside contamination occurred and there was no threat to local residents, though fire-fighters leaving the building had to take decontamination showers.
Prolonged exposure to asbestos - a fire retardant used primarily for insulation - poses a risk of cancer and respiratory ailments. Carlos Garcia of the State Labor Department's Division of Safety and Health said that a large amount of asbestos had been spread throughout the plant by the accident and that the cleanup would be difficult and take weeks.
Con Edison plant at the eastern end of 14th Street near Avenue C, Stuyvesant Town/East Village, Manhattan.
[G1X-2338 acr(R)cs6]
See Frankie Morales live here (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
Later that night, Hurricane Sandy had me carrying my camera bag over my head like a Soldier carries their rifle accross a river. All clothes were destroyed
3-ph, 11kv 25hz current goes into building, through transformers & rotary converters to produce DC for the third rail. this old NYCRR sub went out of service in 1986 when Con Ed power using rectifiers took over. Taken 1984.
Back Row: Michael "Mickey" Perini; John Perini; John D'Angelo; Joseph Perini; Thomas Perine (né Perini); William Perine; Patrick Oropallo; Donald Perini
Middle Row: John "Jay" D. Perini; Rosemary "Cookie" Perini (later Casey); Carole Perine (later Medinian); Louis Perini
Seated: Helen Perini (née Battaglia); Mayme Perini (née Trubinski); Amelia "Millie" D'Angelo (née Perini); Marie Perini (née Cordero); Daniel Perini; Jenny Perini (née Cariello); Betty Perine (née ?); Marie "Nanny" Oropallo (née Perini); Maria/Marie Oropallo (later Daddino); Louis Perini
Mom: Uncle Joe [Perini] owned a garment business on 7th Avenue: he did high-end men's trousers. He was very successful. He used to sell to Saks, and I think Bergdorf's...Best & Co...B. Altman's. I was always so careful when I came to see him. If he saw me wearing something where the seams didn't match, he'd tell me.
Uncle Tom [Perine] scandalized the family. He couldn't get a job with Con Ed because they didn't hire Italian people, so he changed the "i" at the end of Perini to an "e". Everybody got mad at him for doing that. Aunt Betty—his wife—made damned good blintzes. They lived in a big house by Highland Park with a wraparound porch, like an old Victorian. The whole inside was furnished very ornately, but everything was covered in plastic. That's his son, Billy, and his daughter, Carole—Carole with an "e".
They said Aunt Marie [Perini (née Cordero)] was a model. They met at the Chillura Brothers Farm.
Maybe this was at the Hotel Granada. I remember me and Jay and Cookie were running around the lobby a lot.
Watch this Video live MAMBO COMBO LIVE (en VIvO) Here
"Oye como Va" www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNfpZNQLeDM&feature=channel_page
"Secret Love" www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJV0RWFuJs&feature=channel_page
PLAY TIME www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mns9bKW_s2M&feature=channel_page
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe1OlejW3Y&feature=channel_page
"Cachita" www.youtube.com/watch?v=de71KbxgPCo&feature=channel_page
"Pare Cochero" www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQDpP7jLVVc&feature=channel_page
MAMBO COMBO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4f5L8bRl2A&feature=channel_page
El Negrito Del Batay www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcGvoroTwYg&feature=channel_page
Mambo Combo at Habana Rest in Norwalk, CT or SONO
MAMBO INN www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-cDrz0liM
A MI QUE www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiORH3yEIfg
BILONGO www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y4vNE4nYHI
CACHITA www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qedns3I8gYA
COCHERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ04D1vMWAk
EL BODEGUERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M77ctC_V9e8
EL JAMAIQUINO www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2LsV3RpdA
EL NEGRITO DEL BATAY www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdD6q9CDb6M
EL TUNNEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZb0wpYrTmA
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPrr7J2bqsU
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
School of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Arts and Science, Faculty of Education (Participating programs: Aging and Health; Classics; Education; Epidemiology; Medieval Studies; Occupational Therapy; Physical Therapy; Public Health Sciences; Rehabilitation Science).
Photo by Madison Pincombe
Watch this Video live MAMBO COMBO LIVE (en VIvO) Here
"Oye como Va" www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNfpZNQLeDM&feature=channel_page
"Secret Love" www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJV0RWFuJs&feature=channel_page
PLAY TIME www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mns9bKW_s2M&feature=channel_page
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe1OlejW3Y&feature=channel_page
"Cachita" www.youtube.com/watch?v=de71KbxgPCo&feature=channel_page
"Pare Cochero" www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQDpP7jLVVc&feature=channel_page
MAMBO COMBO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4f5L8bRl2A&feature=channel_page
El Negrito Del Batay www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcGvoroTwYg&feature=channel_page
Mambo Combo at Habana Rest in Norwalk, CT or SONO
MAMBO INN www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-cDrz0liM
A MI QUE www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiORH3yEIfg
BILONGO www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y4vNE4nYHI
CACHITA www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qedns3I8gYA
COCHERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ04D1vMWAk
EL BODEGUERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M77ctC_V9e8
EL JAMAIQUINO www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2LsV3RpdA
EL NEGRITO DEL BATAY www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdD6q9CDb6M
EL TUNNEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZb0wpYrTmA
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPrr7J2bqsU
See Eddie Montalvo with Frankie Morales (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
Watch this Video live MAMBO COMBO LIVE (en VIvO) Here
"Oye como Va" www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNfpZNQLeDM&feature=channel_page
"Secret Love" www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEJV0RWFuJs&feature=channel_page
PLAY TIME www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mns9bKW_s2M&feature=channel_page
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe1OlejW3Y&feature=channel_page
"Cachita" www.youtube.com/watch?v=de71KbxgPCo&feature=channel_page
"Pare Cochero" www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQDpP7jLVVc&feature=channel_page
MAMBO COMBO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4f5L8bRl2A&feature=channel_page
El Negrito Del Batay www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcGvoroTwYg&feature=channel_page
Mambo Combo at Habana Rest in Norwalk, CT or SONO
MAMBO INN www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-cDrz0liM
A MI QUE www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiORH3yEIfg
BILONGO www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y4vNE4nYHI
CACHITA www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qedns3I8gYA
COCHERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ04D1vMWAk
EL BODEGUERO www.youtube.com/watch?v=M77ctC_V9e8
EL JAMAIQUINO www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq2LsV3RpdA
EL NEGRITO DEL BATAY www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdD6q9CDb6M
EL TUNNEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZb0wpYrTmA
TO BE WITH YOU www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPrr7J2bqsU
See Eddie Montalvo Frankie Morales live here (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
See Frankie Morales live here (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to
From www.1939nyworldsfair.com/worlds_fair/wf_tour/zone-5/con_e...
Con Ed’s “The City of Light” was the largest diorama up to that time. The fourteen-minute show presented the illusion of watching New York City through a twenty-four hour cycle. Originally designed to be continuous, a break of a few minutes was required as visitors tended to stay and watch the subway cars wiz by.
Walter Dorwin Teague designed the diorama which consisted of 4,000 buildings built to perspective, with the Empire State Building the tallest, taking up twenty-two feet to represent its 102 stories.
The diorama used enough electricity in a day to illuminate a 1,200 family apartment building, a village of 4,000 individuals or all of the street lights on 5th Avenue. Not all of the buildings, however, were “lit” during the night time sequence. Thousands of spots of fluorescent paint brightened by ultra violet lights helped create the illusion of light on the “distant” buildings.
Within the huge diorama, seven operating sub-dioramas highlighted the city at work. These included a newspaper printing room where the Brooklyn Eagle existed, a Brooklyn home with the family listening to the radio and an hospital operating room.
Six-car subway trains sped along the scale model to the equivalent of 30 mph. However, as in real life, accidents did happen. One set of cars crashed into another set, causing an hour’s delay while technicians corrected the situation. Also, the designers soon discovered that the viewing floor should have been sloped, as those attendees in the rear could not see the subway cars speeding by at the bottom of the diorama.
A couple of shots of my morning commute, the Metro North and Con Ed had a problem with the feeder line for power for the tracks so no Electric trains could run into the city added a couple of hours to my commute and a lot of standing
Apparently the backup power line was also down and it could take a few weeks to get it up and running again
on a side note I was briefly on TV at around this time, very small person at the end of the crowd taking a photo LOL
See Frankie Morales live here (EN VIvO)
DONDE ESTA MIGUEL www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvmXiJhji98
Yambrere www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9Oraa1x0Q
RAN KAN KAN www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SlBAPDwxTA
VAMOS AVER QUIEN DA MAS www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOqZLG2E1Y
Gandinga www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBwtfASnMQ
Que Locura www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rkCC1QRV0&eurl=http://www.y...
MY SPACE www.myspace.com/eddiemontalvo
About Eddie Montalvo www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_rCA9qhLg&feature=player_em...
Eddie & Friends www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6wf8mnnnU
content.congahead.com/galleries/eddielp/index.html
Eddie grew up on Jackson Avenue in the South Bronx. He was only five years old when he taught himself how to play the bongos by watching and listening to older, more knowledgeable guys play in the park. At the age of nine he began playing conga and was asked to jam with the older guys. At first he was only allowed to play tumbao. The "big guys" would never let him go to the quinto or solo drum "These guys would play for hours and if you couldn't hold that tumbao, you had to get up. You had to stay on tumbao until these guys were tired of playing quinto.
His joy and passion for music, rhythm, and drums compelled him to stay out late at night playing congas. He recalled an incident when the police confronted him and the older guys jamming on the roof. The cops reprimanded young Eddie for being up late on a school night and threatened to take him to jail. Running down the stairs with the officers he begged "Please don't take me to jail. My mother is going to hit me."
As a young kid, Eddie remembers working with small groups doing low-paid gigs such as weddings, clubs, and church affairs. When he was 17 years old, he played with Tony Pabon y La Protesta. Eddie's conga playing was recognized and he went on his first tour to Panama with Joey Pastrana.
While Eddie was playing with Joey Pastrana in Boston, Johnny Rodriguez, Jr. (Dandy) asked him to sit in with Ray Barretto's band. Johnny played tumbao, Eddie played secunda, Ray played quinto, and Orestes Vilato played clave with two sticks on top of the piano. It was a great group and from that moment on, the doors opened up for Eddie.
He loved to go to the Hunts Point Palace in the Bronx to look at all the big bands. Eddie dreamed of playing in these bands; reaching that status of stardom; and he did. In the beginning of his career he went to clubs and sat in with big bands like Pacheco and Willie Col..n and he was recognized for his conga playing. Eddie said that his most exciting moments on stage were playing with the big bands. One night Eddie got a call to play conga with Mario Ortiz's big band at the Village Gate."I didn't even want the money. It was an honor for me." I am happy to say that as a big fan of Mario Ortiz, I too was at the Village Gate that night.
Eddie is really a dance band drummer, who's style of playing is referred to as afinque or someone who plays the grooves. He thinks it is great to be versatile and play many new rhythms, but when you are playing the music that he has devoted his life to, it is for the dancers that you are performing. In contrast, there are several musicians who want to take a lot of solos, but they're not playing for the dancers. "If you really dance the right way, it's with the conga drum."
It's exciting when the rhythm section locks as one and the dancers are having a ball. "When you're playing tumbao, and you're playing strong, you lock. You lock when the timbale bell and the hand bell sound as one with conga. It's like the locomotive of a train. You are the engine of the train. "One person that Eddie says he shared these magical moments with is timbale great, Orestes Vilato.
Another one of Eddie's favorite bands is the Willie Rosario Band because the band locks. That is why they call Willie "Mr. Afinque." It is the lock. "The way they play it now," Eddie laments, "everybody takes a solo for the first tune." He believes that it is not about solos; it is about grooving. Willie Rosario learned a lot from Tito Rodriguez who came from that marcha (timekeeper) school.
Although Tito Rodriguez was a singer, he also played timbales. "Before you used to have a musician's market. You played an instrument and you were bandleader. It was very rare for a singer to be the bandleader." Eddie claims that the bandleaders today are not that demanding because it is a singer's market.
Unfortunately, you don't see the old bands anymore. Over the years the music changed from real fast salsa to "laid back" salsa. All those old timers, even though they were soloists, played tumbao, including Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Armando Peraza, Ray Barretto, and Machito.
It's a new generation but salsa will never die out. The tradition of salsa music was born in Cuba though the Cubans didn't call it salsa. The bands that now come here from Cuba have incorporated some of the Puerto Rican style. On the other hand, the Puerto Ricans kept the tradition of the Cuban music alive. Now, if you hear Cuban bands, they sound like they adapted to what's happening out here. In Cuba they listen to all the stuff from Puerto Rico, just like in Puerto Rico they listen to all the stuff from Cuba. It is a symbiotic relationship. "Nobody has a birthright. Like Puente says, 'Salsa Is Salsa; it's not hot sauce but it's salsa.'"
Eddie's life and career in salsa music was featured in City Arts on Public Television. It always amazed me the way Eddie was able to be a musician at night after working full-time during the day for the New York City power company, Con Edison. He started with Con Ed at age 21 in 1973 and continues doing this after 25 years. "It wasn't easy." Sometimes a musical gig ended 4:00 in the morning and at 7:00 in the morning that same day he would be in the Con Edison truck. In the old days there were more than 50 clubs for Eddie to play. He could play music seven nights a week, and he sometimes did just that, but he was moved to get a steady job because he was concerned with security and medical insurance. Eddie believes that if a person disciplines himself, he could do it. "I don't have bad habits and I can function on little sleep," he says.
Many musicians have moved into musical areas outside of Latin music to provide themselves with more work; however, Eddie always was a conga drummer in traditional Latin music. He neither compromised his music nor his excellence.
Eddie Montalvo plays
L.P. Accents,
Signature Series
Click this link;
To learn more about Eddie Montalvo, go to