Latest news with #Latorre
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Juan Latorre III again seeks council seat in Springfield
Juan F. Latorre III of Springfield plans to kick off a campaign for an at-large City Council seat next week. In a statement, Latorre said that if elected, he would focus as a councilor on economic development, job creation, better school funding, environmental protection and improving the quality – and affordability – of life for city residents. 'Springfield is a city of boundless potential, but to realize it, new leadership is needed, and I believe I can deliver that leadership for our city,' he said in a statement. 'The issues our city faces – ensuring public safety, addressing the housing crisis, expanding economic opportunity, and maintaining city services – will require new ideas.' Latorre, an Eagle Scout and regular volunteer with community organizations, ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2021 and 2023. He is a graduate of Springfield public schools and earned degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Western New England University. Latorre works as an engineer in the telecommunications industry. The campaign event runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ciro's Restaurant, at 904 Main St. Latorre has led the City Council Young Professional Committee and helped promote Springfield Restaurant Week, among other civic activities. He said he wants to use his experience 'to serve the best interests of Springfield residents and create positive change.' 'The issues our city faces – ensuring public safety, addressing the housing crisis, expanding economic opportunity, and maintaining city services – will require new ideas,' he said in the statement. 'My two decades of community service have prepared me to meet this unique moment in Springfield's history.' Read the original article on MassLive.
Boston Globe
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
After 50 years, Haciendo Punto en Otro Son are still making their point with a different sound
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up From left: Alex Croatto, Josy Latorre, and Silverio Pérez. Vanessa Serra/Ágora Cultural Architects Advertisement The five original members of the band came from a variety of backgrounds. Latorre was singing classic boleros. Silverio Pérez was the host of a TV show that featured Puerto Rican folk music. Italian-born guitarist Tony Croatto had traveled throughout Latin America, soaking up its disparate musical sounds. Nano Cabrera had played Spanish rock. And singer-percussionist Irvin García, who Latorre calls 'the musical brains behind Haciendo Punto en Otro Son,' was a formally trained musician. Advertisement One thing they all shared was an allegiance to the Puerto Rican independence movement. 'At the time the pro-statehood government was in power,' explains Pérez, an author who still hosts motivational and satiric shows on Puerto Rican television. 'There was a sentiment in Puerto Rico that our culture, our identity may be in danger. So we had another powerful reason to be searching through our culture to express ourselves.' Just as nueva canción performers in other Latin American countries used their indigenous instruments and rhythms, Haciendo Punto en Otro Son based their sound on the stringed cuatro and the güiro, a notched wooden percussion instrument played with a scraper. The rhythms were drawn from jíbaro, bomba, and plena, the island's so-called 'musical newspaper.' The band also added bass, keyboards, and drums. 'The traditional purist musicians thought we were adulterating Puerto Rican music,' says Latorre, 'but we were really just trying to bring to a new generation this traditional music that at the time people often just listened to during Christmas.' The group was an immediate hit. 'We managed to sell over 100,000 records on this tiny island,' says Pérez. The 50th anniversary tour will feature several songs from the group's first two albums, like ' The original ensemble's constant touring included a performance in Western Mass. 'I immediately fell in love with Northampton, this tiny city with beautiful scenery,' remembers Latorre, who left the group in 1978 to study at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Haciendo Punto en Otro Son's local connection doesn't end there. Among the new members who joined in the late '70s was Advertisement 'Jorge is really special. He brought so much of his knowledge of plena and bomba to the group,' says Pérez. One of Haciendo Punto's trademark songs is ' Perez says that by 1980 all five original members had moved on, but the group continued. A 1986 'We always like to say that Haciendo Punto is a musical concept that goes beyond any particular person that has been in it,' says Latorre. 'Throughout the years, many different musicians have been part of the group. And now it is us again, so we've come full circle.' Advertisement HACIENDO PUNTO EN OTRO SON April 25, 7:30 p.m., at Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St. Tickets $40, available at Noah Schaffer can be reached at .
