Monday, Feb. 8, 1999

Brevitos From staff reports and Billboard

The American Chemical Society and the PPG Scholars Program are accepting applications for minority scholarships.
   Scholarships are awarded to high school seniors planning to enroll in a four-year chemistry or chemical engineering undergraduate program. Scholarships are based on merit, financial need and geographic location based on the requirements of the ACS/PPG Scholars Program.
   Deadline to apply for the 1999-2000 school year is Feb. 15. Visit their Web site at www.acs.org/pafgen/minority/maintro.htm or by calling (800) 227-5558.

The League of United Latin American Citizens will hold its annual banquet, "Outstanding Community Leaders Awards for 1999."
   The event is held to honor individuals who have demonstrated a willingness to serve and give of themselves unselfishly for the betterment of the community.
   This year's recipients are Judge Rose Vela, 148th district court; Arnold Gonzales, Sr. at-large councilman; Connie Munoz, president of Hispanic Women's Network; Dan Alfaro, attorney; and Rene Rodriguez, attorney.
   The event will begin with a reception from 5:30 to 6:30 and dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at the Omni Bayfront Hotel, 900 N. Shoreline. Dr. Jose Angel Gutierrez will be the keynote speaker.
   Tickets are $25 and reservation deadline is Feb. 12. For more information, call 241-4535 or 857-7108.

The Texas Cactus Council has announced the date of their annual conference.
   It will be April 11 through 13 in Kingsville. For those interested, call (512) 256-3378.

A publicist for Intocable said the future of the band is still uncertain.
   "It's really not definite right now if the band will continue or not," Lori Lousararian, publicist for Rogers and Cowan in Century City, said Friday afternoon.
   "The accident just happened and they are trying to recover and to see where they are at. So, there's no new news yet."
   Three members of the platinum-selling Tejano music group were killed and six injured Jan. 31 when their station wagon skidded off a highway and crashed in northern Mexico. Two of the musicians, Jose Angel "Pepe" Farias, 23, of Monterrey, the band's on-stage master of ceremonies; and Silvestre Rodriguez Jr., 28, of McAllen, died instantly. A third, Jose Angel Gonzalez of Houston, the band's road manager, died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, said Jesus Garcia Flores, regional commander of the Federal Highway Police.
   Intocable was travelling from its home base in Zapata, Texas, to Monterrey, where they planned to give a series of concerts, Garcia said. The crash occurred on a stretch of highway between the border city of Reynosa and Monterrey, the capital of the northern Nuevo Leon state.
   Intocable has sold more than a million albums and played to packed houses throughout Mexico and the border region, including venues in Las Vegas and California.
   The group performed at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo last year - a venue largely acknowledged as a barometer of who's hot in Tejano.

Selena finale?
   On March 9, EMI Latin is rolling out what may be the final Selena release, at least for this millennium. The single-CD set is titled "All My Hits: Todos Mis Exitos," and it boasts all of Selena's Spanish- and English-language hits.
   Label president/CEO Jose Behar said that a limited number of copies will be shipped - probably between 500,000 and 700,000 units - and that each copy will contain a commemorative Selena pin.
   Part of the promotion thrust for the album will include a rare direct-marketing push through spots on English-language TV.

Conference doings
    Billboard's 10th annual International Latin Music Conference, set to take place April 20-22 at Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Hilton, is starting to kick into gear, as panelists and artists are beginning to be confirmed for the confab.
   Slated to attend the retail panel are Anamaria Cesena, marketing director for Ritmo Latino; Randi Mayrent, music buyer for Borders; and Mark Woodard, Latin buyer for Camelot/Spec's.
   Caiman Records' Lazaro is scheduled to perform April 20 at the opening-day reception.
   The venue for the April 21 showcase is Shadow Lounge in South Beach. The party following the sixth annual Latin Music Awards, being held April 22, will be at Starfish Restaurant, also in South Beach.
   For information on conference registration, contact Michele Jacangelo Quigley, Billboard's special events director, at (212) 536-5002.
   Getting caught up
   

Sony Discos' Grammy nominee Ricky Martin is confirmed to perform a bilingual version of "La Copa De La Vida" Feb. 24 during the Grammy Awards program."

Live entertainment company CIE has named Phil Ernst VP of OCESA Presents Inc., which is owned by CIE. Ernst most recently was a booking agent at International Creative Management. Informed sources say that in the coming weeks CIE should be making a blockbuster acquisition of a stateside promoter.

Roberto Roena Aponte, son of MP's famed percussionist Roberto Roena, was arrested Jan. 13, along with two Colombians and a Dominican, by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials on charges of conspiring to traffic heroin. The younger Roena was convicted in 1987 on cocaine-trafficking charges.

Sony Discos' resurgent salsero Jerry Rivera is booked to headline El Concierto Del Amor, slated to take place Feb. 14 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. Produced by RMM prez Ralph Mercado, the annual multi-artist tropical music fest features Rivera's hot labelmate Elvis Crespo, WEA Latina upstart salsa singer Frankie Negron, and RMM salsa stars Tito Nieves and Michael Stuart.

Argentina's critically lauded music and theater group De La Guarda is back in Buenos Aires after turning in 150 performances over a six-month stint at New York's off-Broadway Daryl Roth Theatre. Due to the ensemble's success, the producers of the hit production "Rent" asked the group to form a parallel company to remain touring and performing in the U.S. while the troupe was on hiatus.

Mexico notas
   Fonovisa's noted singer/songwriter/producer Marco Antonio Solis is slated to bow his new album, "Trozos De Mi Alma," with two shows Feb. 13-14 at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional. Solis' disc was dropped Jan. 26 in the U.S.
   Another Fonovisa act is playing in Mexico City that weekend: Los Temerarios are booked to play Feb. 14 at the 50,000-seat Plaza De Toros. The show already is nearly sold out.
   In a bid to successfully fill the 11 p.m.-midnight weekday slot on its Canal De Las Estrellas channel, Televisa debuted "Mucho Gusto" on Jan. 27. The Televisa-produced variety program already has bowed on U.S. Hispanic TV network Univision. "Mucho Gusto" is hosted by actress Laura Zapata, and the first show featured a guest appearance from her superstar sister, EMI's actress/singer Thalia.
   Speaking of Thalia, her new telenovela, "Rosalinda," bows Feb. 22 on Televisa. Her next album, to be produced by Emilio Estefan Jr., is due in April.
   Sony Mexico's pop vocal troupe Onda Vaselina is scheduled to celebrate its 10th anniversary with two shows, the dates for which are not confirmed yet, at the Auditorio Nacional.
   

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