Porfi Cantu manages the new Cantina in between requests for him to play and sing for the patrons. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
The Cantina is located between Fredericksburg and Stonewall. Open 7 days a week:
Monday - Thursday, 4 - 12 pm
Friday, 4 pm - 2 am
Saturday, 2 pm - 2 am
Sunday, 2 pm - 12 pm
Call 997-5649 for information.
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Canciones at the Cantina
by Phil Houseal
April 8, 2009
Porfirio "Porfi" Cantu manages the Cantina - the newest club in the county - when his patrons let him. Usually they are pushing him up on stage to play.
"People come from out of town because they've heard I am running the place," Cantu said. "Anytime of day or night somebody will show up and want me to sing for them. So I do."
The native of Luckenbach has been a professional musician all his life. He grew up playing drums in the family band, then switched to button accordion. He now has the perfect venue for his norteno style music. The Cantina, located on Grape Creek between Stonewall and Fredericksburg, had its grand opening at the end of March and is now a place to hear conjunto, norteno, tejano, and banda styles of music.
Bill and Lori Kilpatrick decided to open a club featuring tejano music because they saw a gap in the local music scene.
"We looked around and saw there was no club for this kind of music," Bill Kilpatrick said "It appeared to me there was a need for it. Who the heck wants to drive to the other side of San Antonio to party all night then drive home?"
Kilpatrick, who owns three patio furniture shops and used to work in the wholesale liquor business, spent the past year upgrading the lighting, parking, and sound system in the building. The club offers a full bar, and is open seven days a week.
The music starts Tuesday night with a local jam session from 7 to 10 p.m. ("That's our hairy-legged hillbilly happy hour," Kilpatrick said with a laugh. "Those old folks can't last much longer than 10 o' clock - they fossilize at midnight.")
Thursdays brings karaoke - in Spanish and English. Friday night and Sundays the club offers DJ music, and on Saturday night the club will be hosting live bands. Cantu will be fronting his own norteno group Los Cuatro Vientos. He also plans to feature groups playing conjunto, country, and "banda."
Bandas are traditonal Mexican bands that play brass-based dance music. Bandas play a wide variety of songs, including waltzes, cumbias, polkas, marches, foxtrots, rock ballads, rancheras, cumbias, and boleros. Cantu described them as a Mexican band with a German beat.
That music mix brings in "a little bit of everything," he noted. "We are seeing bikers, local farmers and ranchers, as well as Hispanics. They all appreciate that we have someplace where they can go and bring their families."
Cantu also sponsors dart tournaments and pool tournaments. But he is not shy about the reason folks are finding the Cantina.
"I'm a very well-known local musician," he said. "People like to come out to hear me play and sing."