Ritchie Valens Tribute

As hard as it is to believe, Rock-n-Roll legend Ritchie Valens would have turned 80 years old this past Thursday.

He was born Richard Steven Valenzuela on May 13, 1941, in Pacoima, CA. Among his peers, Sunny & the Sunglows, The Sir Douglas Quintet, and Thee Midniters, Ritchie Valens created themes heavily based on 1950s R&B music.

Ritchie is considered a forefather of the Chicano rock movement and modern Latino rock music. And one of the pioneers of contemporary rock-n-roll music.

As a young man, Ritchie Valens was a gifted guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Among his most recognized hits, Come on Lets Go, Donna, We Belong Together, and La Bamba, to name a few. He made his national debut on American Band Stand hosted by Dick Clark on October 6, 1958, in Philadelphia.

Sadly, Ritchie Valens' career was too short. His recording career lasted eight months, professionally active from 1957 through 1959.

Along with Buddy Holly and J. P. Richardson, "The Big Bopper," Ritchie was killed in a tragic plane crash on February 3, 1959, in Clear Lake, Iowa. He was just 17.

However, his music lives on. As I began to learn guitar, his melodies inspired me to learn to play. Readers of this blog may remember the post titled, What the Cat Heard from Sept. of 2016.

Despite his brief career, Ritchie Valens' lasting impact on rock-n-roll music affected many distinguished artists including, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Los Lobos, Ricky Martin, and Brian Wilson have credited Ritchie as influencing their careers.

Ritchie Valens was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and enshrined in the Rock' n Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Happy birthday, Ritchie, your music lives on!

"Won't you be my virtual neighbor?" If you enjoy our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.

This is Patrick Ball; thanks so much for listening. I'll see you in the next episode.

Comments

A Mother’s Day Reflection

With Mother’s Day here and the world bustling with cards, brunches, and busy schedules, I find myself reflecting on something a bit simpler: taking a moment to remember the person who helped shape my earliest sense of home. Mauricette Elaine (Bontemps) Ball. My Mom. We arrived in Cuba after leaving La Rochelle, France, in 1959—a transition whose enormity I only fully appreciate now. My mother, barely in her mid-twenties, stepped into Midwestern life with remarkable courage. Her smile could warm the coldest Illinois morning, and her hugs lingered long after she let go—quiet reminders that you were deeply loved. Born February 16, 1934, the third of four children, she grew up in Nazi-occupied La Rochelle. As kids, we listened wide-eyed to stories of soldiers patrolling her streets and fear shadowing everyday life. Yet she carried none of that darkness forward. What endured was resilience and an unwavering devotion to family—qualities she carried across the Atlantic and planted firmly in C...

Time Travel, Roving Mics, and Muscle Memory

In this episode, the 2026 Sinkankas Symposium. Let’s get one thing straight: I didn’t arrive in a DeLorean. No flux capacitor, no dramatic lightning strike—just a Saturday parking pass and a name badge. And yet, somewhere between the rotunda doors and the first handshake, it happened anyway. This past Saturday, April 25th, I was transported—effortlessly and completely—back in time at the 20th Annual Sinkankas Symposium on the GIA campus in Carlsbad. Walking into that magnificent main campus rotunda early with my colleagues, Paul Mattlin and Glenn Wargo, felt like wrapping myself in a familiar, gem-encrusted blanket. It was less a building, more a family living room where nobody ever really forgets your name. The halls were quiet (a rare and beautiful thing), and the soft echo of our footsteps on the polished floors sounded exactly as I remembered it. For a moment, it wasn’t 2026—it was April 1997, my first time walking onto the beautiful, brand-new GIA campus as Director of Alumni. Som...

Freedom 7 - 65th Anniversary

Podcast - Freedom 7; 65th Anniversary . "Man must rise above the Earth - to the top of the atmosphere and beyond - for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives." - Socrates, 500 B.C. May 5, 2026, marks the 65th anniversary of Freedom 7's launch. Commander Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American in space. A 15-minute sub-orbital flight, a day for the history books; the entire world was watching. NASA and the world had witnessed many trial runs explode violently on the launch pad. The space program was in its infancy. Unlike today, there were far too many unknowns. This prompted me to pull out one of my favorite books from my office library, Light This Candle , by Neal Thompson, copyright 2004. Light This Candle is a biography of Alan Shepard, Jr., you won't be able to put down. It's - "Story-telling at its best . . . every page is alive," says David Hartman, U.S Naval Institute. In the opening pages, you read endorsements fr...

That Fateful Four-Letter Word

In this episode, A Masterclass in Efficiency. For nearly four months, the western border of our property has stood as a living monument to determination, dubious planning, and forensic-level lumber acquisition. Since February, our neighbor Steve has been conducting what can only be described as a masterclass in deliberate calculation. This was never going to be one of those slick home-improvement shows where a cheerful pair of men installs a fence between commercial breaks, sipping lemonade. No. This was real life in retirement. We scaled the vertical wilderness of our hillside. We mixed concrete with the precision of medieval alchemists. We bled, we sweated, and we fought hand-to-hand with a buried tree stump that had the structural integrity of a Cold War bunker. By this week—May 16th, for those keeping score—the glorious end was finally within reach. The fence stood proudly, the line was straight, and victory practically hummed in the air. Only one major task remained: installing t...

On The Fly

Search This Blog