Youth mariachi, promoters to be inducted into Tucson hall of fame

The Tucson Musicians Museum will induct a renowned youth mariachi group, a Tucson promoter, a music education advocate and a dominant figure in the city's 1980s garage rock scene into its Hall of Fame.

In ceremonies Sunday at El Casino Ballroom, Mariachi Los Changuitos Feos, Gene Ruley, Ray Vidal, Jim Travis, Leslie Stirm and Brent Kort will join nearly 200 Tucson musicians who have been inducted since the first class in 2017. 

The ceremony, which includes live performances, runs from 2 to 8 p.m. at El Casino, 437 E. 26th St. Tickets are $20 in advance through tucsonmusiciansmuseum.org or at the door. 

About the inductees:

• Mariachi Los Changuitos Feos youth mariachi formed in 1964 and famously performed with Johnny Cash, Tito Guizar, the King Family, Fess Parker, Gary Puckett, Andy Williams, Lawrence Welk, Linda Ronstadt, Edward James Olmos, Lola Beltran and Vikki Carr.

The group toured widely, including in Mexico, California, Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and Texas, as well as throughout rural Arizona. It was the subject of the 2024 documentary "Ugly Little Monkeys — A True American Story," documenting the seminal youth mariachi's rise from the basement of All Saints Catholic Church on South Sixth Avenue to touring nationally and internationally and performing before American and Mexican presidents, to its dark underbelly of abuse and neglect from its founder and leader, Father Charles Rourke.

• New Orleans native Gene Ruley landed in Tucson in the early 1980s and formed one of Tucson's best-known garage bands, The New Drakes. Ruley, a driving force in the city's garage band scene alongside Howe Gelb, Al Perry and Rainer Ptacek, cowrote songs for the band's albums between 1995-2006.

Ruley, featured in the 2023 Tucson music documentary "A Tale of Two Houses," died in August 2018 at the age of 54.

• Tucson native Ray Vidal played drums in Bucky Steele's Tucson High Marching 100 before going on to play drums and timbales in his grandfather Filiberto Quintero's Quintero Orchestra. He also played with a number of local groups and musicians, including the Mickey Greco Trio, Dixie Cats, Armen Dirtadian, Cass Preston and Ken Novak, as well as big stars Hank Williams Jr. and Diane Schuur.

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Vidal taught drums and recorded a drum instruction album before retiring due to health issues. 

• Classically trained percussionist Jim Travis stumbled onto jazz in the 1970s, but the performance side of the music industry got so frustrating that he switched to promoting. Travis brought jazz to Tucson in the 1970s and eventually joined the Tucson Jazz Society. In the 1980s, he launched the New Music Series at St. Philip’s Plaza, which he later entrusted to the Jazz Society.

His résumé includes opening the pioneering CD store Soundscapes, which was the first in the country to offer listening stations so you could hear the CD before you bought it. He also worked with record companies, did advertising and promoted and booked music events from festivals, tributes and music series to memorial concerts for legendary musicians. His online social site called Vībz Arizona supports musicians by promoting artists, venues and live performances. 

• Leslie Stirm has shaped her Instrumental Music Center store into a vital hub for musicians, educators and families since 1999. The shop offers rentals, sales, repairs and lessons for all types of instruments, but it also offers support for musicians and young people through her “Join the Music” campaign, which provides materials to Arizona schools. The program won the 2024 National Association of Music Merchants award for Best Sales and Marketing Promotion.

NAMM has included the center on its list of the world’s "Top 100 Music Stores" for over a decade.

• Kansas City transplant Brent Kort began collaborating with Tucson musicians and bands soon after arriving here for college in 1989, which could explain his motivation for launching Local Love Presents a dozen years ago to book up-and-coming local bands into the historic Rialto Theatre and its sister 191 Toole. Kort performed in several Tucson bands, including being a founding member of Funky Bonz in 1993 and playing with Bad Tourist, Hillbilly Bo, Love Boat and most recently, Saguaroville.

Saguaroville is among the acts performing at Sunday's induction ceremony. The Jack headlines with Amo & Co., The River Roses, Znora and Los Changuitos Feos.