The Life and times of a DC Salsero Earl Rush

Tonight I have the

privilege and  honor of interviewing the one and only Edwin Rivera

Rivera Rhythm aka Edwin Rivera is one of the most influential artist in today's Latin dance & music scene. With a career spanning over two decades, He has made quite the impact as a dancer, dj and music producer throughout the world. Born & raised in the Bronx NY of Puerto Rican decent, Rivera has geared his dance & music career in a way that has allowed him to perform at some of the biggest festivals throughout the world.

"I like to describe my dj sets as a unique experience that delivers pure authenticity to my roots” as described by Rivera himself. “Uniqueness”, “experience” and “authenticity” are the three things he's revolved his career around. Which is why Rivera's career continues to thrive in today's music & dance industry. Rivera specializes in Salsa/Mambo, Deep House, Latin, Salsa electronic dance fusion, Moombahton, Trap, Progressive house and Twerk music. When Rivera Rhythm arrives the place comes alive.

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Rivera works closely with Noel Lee of Monster Products creators of beats by Dre headphones as a director for MONSTER PRODUCTS Latin Initiative, "Monster The sound of Latin".

Rivera is the artistic director to some of today's premiere Latin dance festivals in the world, The New York International Salsa Congress, The Texas salsa congress, The Baltimore salsa & bachata congress, the Japan salsa congress, The Maui Salsa & Bachata Congress and The Mother City Latin dance festival in South Africa. He was the former producer of the 2nd longest running Latin dance festival in the world, "The Los Angeles salsa festival"  and the largest Latin dance dance competition the world, "The world Latin dance cup". He also produces the only youth Latin dance festival in the world, "The Children teen salsa congress" in San Juan Puerto Rico. Rivera became the first organizer to produce the first ever live stream latin dance & music festival on its own platform, "Sigue El Sol Fest".

Recently Edwin alongside his wife and dance partner Erika.S.Rivera became the first salsa dancers to work with the iconic Latin label, "Fania Records" for an instructional dance series, "We Love to see you Dance" on youtube.


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show no 19 


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show no 18 


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One on One with JJ Shaban 


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So excited that i will get to sit down and chat with my Latin Dance Events Mentor  Eileen Torres .



She was the first Edutainmnent Promoter I had ever met .  She would provide Education and entertainment  to all who wanted to learn and be entertained .



The DC Salsa Scene is what it is today because of her as she set the Blueprint for  all following promoters o how to have a real Salsa Party 



She taught thousands of people in DC their ON 2 foundation  and brought thousands  of people together for unforgettable evens with live music and  Kick ass djs 



She created Platforms for The dancers to perform and kick started many Dancers and Dance teams careers .

To this day I never knew how she convinced the club owners to bring Major artists to her events but she did and i got to meet all of them because of her. 



I shudder to think what the scene in DC would have been like without her .

 

BiO

EILEEN TORRES

Eileen Torres, a pioneer in the DC salsa community, built a career based on her knowledge of salsa music and dance.

She was responsible for creating the Tributes to Women, Men, and Choreographers in Salsa and an Old School Mambo Tribute that took place at Zanzibar over 10 years. She also brought the top salsa recording artists in the industry to Zanzibar Juste Lounge, and at VIP Club.

As a salsa historian she lectured at The Kennedy Center, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Museums, Artishphere , Congresional Hispanic Caucus Institute, numerous federal government agencies , and Salsa Congress in Puerto Rico, The Netherlands, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC in addition to numerous colleges and universities.

In 1998 Starbucks Coffee Company contracted her to write the liner notes and assist in the selection of the music for the CD titled Mambo Mio. Recently she wrote the liner notes for Gary Sosias, a well-known percussionist in the DMV. She served as ethnic dance instructor at the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, directed and choreo-  graphed for LPG comprised of Arlington County adolescents and teens. She also co-wrote and co-directed with Ted David the music and dance revue, Remembering the Palladium presented at Atlas Theater in Washington, DC in 2013.

She received Hollywood credits as Associate Producer for the short-film, MANO and Executive Producer for the feature film, SHINE.

After 28 years in Washington, DC Eileen relocated to Ohio to help care for her 90-year old mother. There she is involved in the Latino community.  She has presented video lectures on salsa, traditional Mexican music, and Latinos in Rock n Roll at Mexican Mutual Society- an organization in existence for 91 years. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Roberto Ocasio Foundation that hosts a summer Latin Jazz music camp for teenage musicians. Its musical director is Bobby Sanabria. In January she will serve a two year term as president of the Hispanic Fund- an affiliate fund of the Community Foundation of Lorain County. Their mission is to improve and promote socioeconomic and educational opportunities within the Hispanic Community.

Eileen’s book dealing with gender inequality, female empowerment, politics and sex will be published in 2021.

Eileen co-founded the University of Colorado's first Ballet Folklorico, choreographed for two Ohio dance groups, Alma de Mexico and Salseros Unlimited in the late 70s and  toured for two years with The National Chicano Dance Theater based in Denver, CO.



We have plenty to talk about !


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When we last left Helena had just been dropped by her lover Juan Carlos and her man Nick Johnson. In her office she fainted after receiving walking papers from Nick Johnson . Was it a case of her being pregnant and not knowing who the father is like on all soap operas? No Helena was a diabetic and had not taken her insulin or eaten all day. She was not pregnant.

She did not go to the SOS pool party because she wanted to get away so she went  down to Chris Soto's party in Miami. to hang out with J G J Renard Johnson Victor Perez and Burju and Ana and Joel

GoGo and Nick Johnson owner of Club 1 where they only dance LA Style On 1 used to be be great friends but when Nick refused to shut down his Club after GoGo Earl asked him to shut down for Shaka Brown's DC Salsa Congress, Earl caught feelings and has a Major problem and Beef with Nick.

Nick has asked Kelvin Harris to intervene but he was not  aware that Kelvin Rick or Tanya  , Soror Salsa , Maribel Soto and Sheila McNeil  the SOS Crew never get involved with Earl's drama , They all love him but know he is Notoriously Petty and it could years for GoGo to get over .the  Beef

Nobody throws  a Salsa Party like Kelvin Harris

Whether  Salsa Cruises or Poo Parties it is always first class ,

Salseros from all up and down the East came to Kelvin's Roof Top Pool Party .

Ii was a great time but everyone that did not have a life and the Gossip Mongereres  were watching the interactions between Nick Johnson and The Betcha Didn't know SOS correspondent Sheila Mc Neil;.

Lee El Gringuito and GoGo Earl discuss having a Bachata Congress with a Salsa Ballroom at the Pool Party .

Roberta  the mysterious  lady from Chicago had a great week in DC and promised to come back to DC  for the SOS two year anniversary party. She thought DC was a great salsa town, she loved Juan Carlos' dance studio in his house and though curious on why he never made a move she liked the fact that he treated  her with the utmost respect. She was beginning to like him and was starting to feel bad about why she really came to hang out with him. If you remember she had a meeting with a mysterious man  while in DC but we will get back to that later.

After the Party everyone went to Ramiro's Spot and partied until the Wee Hours

At 4 am Nick calls Sheila and tells her it is not a Booty call he just wanted to invite her as his date for the Stuckonsalsa Anniversary  party

HMMM will GoGo Earl get over the fact Nick did not shut down for the Congress or will it be a 7 years war ?

Will Sheila and Nick go to the SOS  anniversary together?

Will Helena start taking her insulin on a timely basis ?

Will GoGo tell Kelvin he ant messing with Nick Johnson any more ?

Stay tuned for the next episode of the  Life and Times of a DC Salsero


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