Juanse, a birthday party at Luna Park, to celebrate 60 years of rock and roll and theology

There are people who don’t like celebrating their birthdays. They hide, avoid calls and prefer not to meet many people. Others plan the event several weeks in advance and enjoy being together with family and friends from different walks of life.

Juanse makes sure she belongs to the second group and can prove it better than anyone else: This Friday, June 3, he turns 60 and celebrates it at the Lunas Park stadium, with all his fans and many friends who will take the stage.

He doesn’t give a lot of details, apart from the mention of Fabi Cantilo and Nito Mestre, but he says it will be a long show retracing the successes of Ratones Paranoicos and his solo stage. He will play alongside his current band, with Pablo Memi on bass, Ponch on guitars and Juan Colonna on drums.

Two first gifts

As an early gift, May 16 was recognized as Outstanding personality of culturea distinction from the legislature of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires.

And as a second gift before the date, in the middle of the meeting he receives the news that the show is already completely sold out.

Regarding the Luna Park, Juanse recalls the first one who went as an audience: “It was a Los Gatos recital in 1970, in a demolition show in which several bands were playing on one side. I was eight and I don’t remember who took me, maybe my cousin or my parents That evening I remember the theme Rock of the Lost Womanof which I first heard in a compilation of beat of the basement with colored vinyl, and I immediately bought it in a simple way. And in 1975 I went to Sui Generis’ farewell to the Moon.

-And what was your first moon with paranoid mice?

-I don’t remember the first Luna Park we did, but maybe it was in 2001. We had launched kids want more in 2000 a Luna Park was set up and we went on a tour of Spain. I remember calling on the phone and nothing happened – not many tickets were sold, but all of a sudden it started because they started pasting the new songs: dog, confused Y the little devilswhich I did with Scornik.

-That time they made two Moons.

-Yup. When we were returning there were 11,000 advance tickets, so we had to do two dates. It was a funfair that really surprised me and in fact we did a live album called I live paranoid, also a success. In those shows we met up with Pappo again, who appeared out of nowhere and walked over to play the last four songs.

“I like how old I am”

-Do you normally celebrate your birthdays or are you like those who do nothing?

I always party. I love how old I am and I love to party and walk openly. Everything that makes sense is amalgamated. What I really appreciate about what happened to me is that I have always saved the positive from all experiences, bad or good. and that stays with me.

– Have you always been like this?

-Yup. And long before that, what would have been the mystical aspect of conversion and all that. I have never had a grudge or resentment. Obviously there is one concrete thing: when I see that something is too toxic, even in spite of myself, I try to escape. In general, I think there is always something positive. You have to see the good. The most important thing is to value the moment, the moment. The present is essential.

-Sos from the Half Full Glass team.

-Yes, totally. I am a compulsive optimist. Even though I see everything is upside down, I see a way to sort things out. Then there are the imponderables, of course, which are also musical, technical and creative.

-As regards bad experiences, do you tend to forget them or turn them into a great anecdote?

Bad experiences are part of an anecdote, because over time, once they are overcome, they can be resumed with some humor, even if they weren’t funny at the time. I happen many times to be in the hotel room on tour and I realize that I am alone, even if there are many people around. And you have to have fun too. Back to the same. bring out the positive

-How long have you been doing this celebration?

-We went out on the pitch because we said that we are in an excellent moment to test and make decisions. Otherwise, you are always with one foot in the water and the other not. Ratones has fulfilled the function that he has performed and it is not excluded one day to return, but nobody wants to speculate on this. I already have this band, beyond the solo name because thank God I have a public presence that allows us to access many things.

-And what is this news of the exhausted Moon?

-The fact that tickets sold out two weeks ago is something I could mentally accept with Mice, but now as a soloist it surprises me. I’m not in the game of who gets the most people and I never have been.

-However, doing a Luna Park was a logical next step, after filling two Gran Rex as a solo artist and doing some good tours.

-Yup. Also, what I think has disproved yet again was the production of Andrew Oldham on the new album. Indirectly, behind this Moon there were many elements, and not just participation master chef. The album they found from ’92 with Pappo (Juanito and the Carposaurus), the edition of MTV disconnected on vinyl, and the two films: Diego Levy’s and rock and roll cowboy on Netflix. It all adds up.

-Do you intend to transfer that custom of celebrating birthdays to the stage? Will there be many guests?

-We will do a broad show, and with those drops of participation with people I really love, as dogmas of friendship. So yes, there will be guests. The whole first part of the show is very dynamic and the show has to be contained, because it’s no longer the time to be in that euphoria. Not anymore. It is a concert and everything is contemplated. And more than the guests, the list.

-A list that should please old fans as well as newer ones.

-Yup. For some reason, the audience has expanded and there are a lot of kids who asked their father who was on television, and the father played them a record. This is where factors that I have no idea come into play. Well, everything is attributed to God. Give it whatever name you want, but it is inevitable, because there is no other explanation.

“I play all the Ratones songs that I can”

-At this point you continue with the original Ratones bassist, Pablo Memi.

-Yup. What fills me the most, from the point of view of the repertoire, is being with Pablo Memi. We were the ones who made the decisions at the beginning of everything, when there were two of us, before the Ratones! And now he and I are in control of the matter. What is present is that spirit and we are on that frequency. Certainly other times will come, but today we are with the same enthusiasm we had when we rehearsed in Devoto.

-You have never been one of the artists who went solo and almost did not play the songs of their previous group.

-No not at all. I play all the mouse songs that I can. I love mice; It’s the band I like the most. And everyone in the current band chooses what to do and comes up with a list of songs. For this show I submitted 53 songs to the band’s whatsapp group, and each had a week to come up with their ideal list. With that I put together a list of 31 songs, where they could not miss Spinning, Cat Rock, Chunk Rock, Destroyed, Dirty Star, Link Y Charleswhich cannot be touched.

-How much remains of the obsession you had since you were a child to invent every detail in the career of the rock band you wanted to put together?

–Racing is the way. As a boy you dream of many things, and my attitude has always been to be careful to participate in everything and not be a protagonist. Time is pouring out everything, because you are in a place that generally no one wants to occupy, and that place sooner or later ends up turning into your place, because you are already there.

-What did you plan after the moon?

-There are commitments here, and in September there is a Spanish tour. It happened to us for having to perform in shows that we had pre-pandemic and this forced us to twist the agenda a bit. The rest is a matter of health.

-With so much musical activity, would you do something on television again?

-I don’t govern. There have been several opportunities of this type, but I think that being able to do what I can do is not to be excluded. When you do something that works and has worked, you have to think about it many times before you insist again. Even if I cook or can talk and tell anecdotes, it was never my intention to have a café-concert. But I adapt; You have to be prepared to survive whatever it is.

-Have you completed your theology studies?

-I completed them, but the bachelor’s degree includes catechism, which I didn’t intend to practice because subjects require attendance in areas such as schools and classrooms. I can’t make a monitor in a school because the kids will ask me about rock music or a recipe. Titles are useless to me, but I completed the part I needed. I did all the subjects of the historical and theological part, with monographs and reflections.

Did it make you rich?

-It enriches you a lot, bah, I live mentally now. All the free time I have is dedicated to that, because they are reading that never ends. St. Anselm says that theology is the faith that seeks to understand. Interpreting the Gospel well at this time is essential to understand so many things that happen. Everything is already written, thousands of years ago!

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