by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
New Menudo
MENUDO LIVES: The most famous ever Latino boy band has been revived by a reality TV show that revealed its winners last week in a national broadcast.
The five new members of the band were announced on the Nov. 20 finale of MTV’s Making Menudo.
They made their official debut that same day on the network’s highly rated TRL daily show. The new Menu do began a bilingual publicity blitz that included scheduled appearances last week on such shows as Despierta America and Escándalo on Univisión and Telefutura, respectively, as well as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC.
Resulting from a series of national talent auditions and several weeks of reality~style eliminations, the fi ve members selected through Making Menudo are Carlos Olivero, Chris Moy, Emmanuel Vélez Pagan, José Bordonada Collazo and José (“Monti”) Montañez. Though it was not a requirement in the competition, all share Puerto Rican ancestry with the original members of Menudo.
The new band members have a recording contract with Epic, which will release a four-song EP in Target stores on Dec. 18. A full length CD is expected in the spring.
The original Menudo, which had several rosters in the 70s and 80s, cut 35 albums, sold over 40 million records and broke box offi ce ticket sales the world over.
Ricky Martin
The band launched the careers of several penformers, including Ricky Martin and Robby Rosa.
Robby Rosa
PRICEY ART: A day after the Virginia Supreme Court blocked the sale of a highly valued painting by Rufino Tamayo, another long-lost painting by the Mexican master was auctioned at just over $1 million Tres personajes, a colorful oil, was auctioned Nov 20 by Sotheby’s in New York.
The painting had been stolen from its owners and found four years ago in the trash by a New York woman. Its selling price of $1,049,000 was slightly below the record set in 1993 for one of Mexico’s most 20th century artists. Hispanic Link.
