Video Footage of Mingo Saldivar and Mr. Villafranca at Club Weste

I love everything about Tejano and Conjunto music and especially the history. The other thing I love is local nostalgia This video puts those two things together and brings back such wonderful memories! The video which which is shown below can also be found on YouTube.

It is called "I Love My Freedom, I Love My Texas, On the Road with Mingo Saldivar Y Los Cuatro Espadas" and features a segment of one of his shows at the Club Westerner alongside Mr. Villafranca, may he rest in peace! I love EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS VIDEO. It brings back the memories of Sunday afternoon tardiadas, and just seeing Mr Villafranca interact with people is absolutely amazing. If you don't want to watch the entire 56-minute video, which is excellent. Just watch from the 21:31 minute mark to 27:30. Do you recognize anyone in the video?

If you grew up in Victoria, chances are you have been to many events at the Club Westerner. I have so many fond memories of going to events as a kid and remembering the 'voice' of the Club Westerner, Mr. John Manuel Villafranca! From an early age, I associated Mr. Villafranca and his voice with the Club Westerner and I still do to this day. In my opinion, he helped build the dancehall culture in Victoria with dances every single weekend at the Club Westerner catering to all genres.

Mr. Villafranca had so many close relationships with so many of the stars. Including a wonderful relationship with Little Joe which is captured in the picture below. Little Joe continues to have an awesome relationship with the Villafranca family. Little Joe even shot a TV documentary many years back at the Club Westerner.

Mr. Villafranca passed away on October 2nd,2007 but the Villafranca family continues the legacy of Mr. John Manuel Villafranca and the Club Westerner. The Villafranca family continues to run operations at the Club Westerner. Also, let us not forget Mr. Eloy, who kept those tables clean of beer bottles. What great memories. While the Westerner does not hold public dances every weekend it is booked almost every weekend for private events and is absolutely gorgeous inside.

Raplh Gonzalez and Debbie Escalante