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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
2007: Year of the Fantasma
My prediction for 2007’s great Austin music success story? Grupo Fantasma, the little cumbia band that could, blows onto the international music stage in a very big way. Back in November, I told y’all about how Austin’s favorite border-town funk outfit had picked up a residency gig at Prince’s glitzy Vegas nightclub, 3121, as the Thursday night house band. Well, not only has that residency been extended through March, but apparently the Purple One has taken to sitting in on the band’s sessions, astounding the bandmates at their most recent Thursday gig.
“He just grabbed a guitar, jumped on stage and played a song,” guitarist Adrian Quesada said, understandably awestruck.
And in the freshest piece of “local Latino dance faves hanging out with international supercelebrities” news, the band played at Prince’s Golden Globes afterparty to a packed audience of Tinseltown A-listers. Thrown together at the last minute, the shindig (which took over the top two floors of the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills) was essentially a high-powered house party with Grupo Fantasma functioning as Prince’s backup band.
“We were just improvising, and Prince would lean over every so often to ask what key we were playing in,” says Quesada, trying to describe the surreal scene. Mary J. Blige, Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and Talib Kweli all took turns sitting in on the set. Meanwhile, out in the audience the band peeped P.Diddy and Justin Timberlake breaking it down while the likes of Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise milled about. When J-Lo walked in, the Latina diva marched directly to the front of the stage and spent a good part of the Grupo’s set shaking her famous derriere a few feet from the band. Her hubby Marc Anthony jumped on stage. Cuba Gooding Jr. reportedly “lost his (mind),” and climbed on top of a speaker whooping before the party was over.
Whaaa … ?!
2007: Grupo Fantasma is in the MIX!
To celebrate the band’s success, 360SoundCheck is hosting a Grupo Fantasma listening party. Comprising 13 tracks from all three of the band’s releases, we invite you to settle in, turn the music up and get ready to groove with Grupo Fantasma.
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