Bio and Resume – Jose Antonio Ponce

Jose Antonio Ponce-A Quick Hit

Willis Alan Ramsey once trashed his hotel shower. Ice T admitted to him that he really didn’t like playing a cop. Eva Longoria asked him to teach her the lyrics to Las Manañitas.

Songwriter Jose Antonio Ponce began performing in clubs at age 16. When he wasn’t on stage, he had to stand outside the club to avoid breaking the law. He could work in a bar, he just couldn’t hang there.

At 17, he sold his first song for $500.00.

At 18, Jose was hired as a roadie for a Jefferson Airplane concert that was passing through town. By the time the concert was over, concert promoter Bill Graham had hired him for the rest of the tour. During tour off time, he swapped tunes with band members Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen.

In 1977, Jose became one of two road manage for what came to be Led Zeppelin’s last North American tour, setting up and taking down concert venues with one of two sound and lighting crews. He then went to road for the 1978 Outlaw tour with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. He ended his tour career as guitar tech for Hoyt Axton in 1980.

In his early 20s, Jose was introduced to jazz which changed his perspective. He stopped playing rock and folk music to concentrate on acoustic jazz. He played bass and guitar in small clubs around the country, and was introduced to jazz masters like Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Zoot Simms, Peter Appleyard, Lou Soloff, Howard Ellis, Art Pepper, Dexter Gordon and many more.

In 1980, he was cast as a “Mexican” in a TV mini-series filming in Santa Fe. He continues to to play a Mexican in film and television. His experience spurred Jose to write about the movies for a few national magazines.

In 1986, Jose took a job in radio as an on air personality and later, as a record promoter. In 1988, he volunteered for the newly formed New Mexico Music Industry Coalition, an organization dedicated to the promotion of New Mexico artists, producers, songwriters and engineers.

In 1990, he joined the national folk group the Windsor Creek Trio and continues to tour with the band.

In October, 2001 Jose married his love Kathy and in 2005, after the passing of NM MIC co-founder Eric Larson, Jose and Kathy took the reins of the awards program as owners and producers and re-branded it as the New Mexico Music Awards.

Jose has hundreds of stories from a lifetime in music and film, from breakfast with Brenda Russell to dinner with Barry White. With tons of songs in his repertoire, he can play anything; country, jazz, blues, folk and more. Jose’s shows are entertaining and crowd pleasing.

Jose continues to write and sell his music to national and international artists, film and TV. You can still see him in the occasional film or TV show. He has written six books and co-produced music documentaries and performance videos. Through the New Mexico Music Awards, he works to promote New Mexico musicians as artists and to film and television.

Contact info and resume

Jose Antonio Ponce

408 Phoenix Avenue NW Albuquerque, NM 87107

505-269-7777

writerjoseponce@gmail.com

http://joseantonioponce.com

http://newmexicomusicawards.com

http://jasonsmusicpublishing.com/

2005-present-Owner/Producer-New Mexico Music Awards

The program celebrated its 36th year in 2023. The program promotes and educates New Mexico musicians, producers, engineers and songwriters to a wider audience.

2005-2023 Free statewide music education workshops
2015-2023 Therapeutic Songwriting Workshops for Veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injuries.
2015-2020Free guitar lessons to veterans.
2005 Created the Eric Larson Endowment at the University of New Mexico granting an annual scholarship to a UNM music or recording student.

1985-Present-Owner Jason’s Music Publishing

Publishing services and education for songwriters, musicians and emerging authors.

7/1/2015-6/30/2018-Music Office Liaison-City of Albuquerque

As music liaison for the City of Albuquerque my job was to promote local musicians and the local music scene to a nationwide audience.

Produced and sponsored performances by local artists, assisted film and television casting directors as a resource for local music and musicians and promoted local live music venues, artists, producers, audio engineers, recording studios and songwriters through social media and local events.
Re-designed/re-branded city music office website and social media.
Produced free educational workshops for musicians and other music industry professionals.

1986-2012 Media

1986-Program/news director of 1310 AM KXAK radio, Albuquerque.

1987-Program director of public radio 89.1 FM KANW radio in Albuquerque. Supervised a staff of four full time on air and news staff. Training and supervision of volunteer on air and news staff.

1988-Marketing and promotion for Startrak records in Baltimore, MD and Gemini Records in Denver, CO for the western US. Artists included Phyllis Hyman, Lonnie Liston Smith, Marion Meadows, Jimmy McNeil, Mind, Body & Soul and Vanilla Ice.

1990-On-air personality/producer for 93.3 KKOB FM and 770 KOB AM and. Both stations were purchased by Citadel Broadcasting and eventually the media group included 99.5 KMGA, 92.3 KRST, 1050 KTBL, 103.3 KDRF, 610 KNML and 96.3 KTBL.

1992-2012 Producer of live talk, news and sports programming, on site event coordinator for sports and entertainment programming, marketing director, event coordinator, event tech, commercial sound production. Retired in 2012 as a broadcast/IT engineer.

Tech Specs

Class 1 FCC License. Broadcast engineer. IT Tech. Satellite engineering specialist. Knowledge of all FCC broadcast regulations.

Proficient in MS Office (Word, Excel, Money, Powerpoint), Skype, Zoom, Adobe Photoshop, Final Draft, Adobe Broadcast Systems and Google certified. Thoroughly versed in social media, can build and maintain creative and interesting websites.

Produced large and small-scale events for over 36 years. A working knowledge of budgeting, permitting, licensing, contracts, artist and talent fees.

Jose Antonio Ponce is a writer, actor and touring musician. He is the author of six books; Modern Catholic Prayers, Killing Coyote, work@home, Lunch Hour, From Father to Son and 53-Coming of Age in the 70s. He is associate producer of the documentaries, Mariachi Spectacular and Lewie Wickham-A New Mexico Original and numerous music videos including 2018’s Put My Mind at Ease.

Jose plays original music and Jazz, Blues, Americana, Pop and R&B standards as a solo artist and with the touring group, the Windsor Creek Trio.

Jose is producer of the New Mexico Music Awards, recognizing excellence in recorded music produced in New Mexico. Through his companies, the New Mexico Music Awards and Jason’s Music Publishing, he promotes NM music and musicians nationally to film and television and provides free music and therapeutic songwriting workshops. Jose is a member of New Mexico Arts & the Military and is a recent New Mexico Music Commissioner and past president of the New Mexico Jazz Workshop.

You can find more about Jose and links to his films and videos at http://joseantonioponce.com/ and http://www.newmexicomusicawards.com/

For a sample of my writing, go one of the following links:

Music Greats-Local Flavor Magazine http://www.localflavormagazine.com/music-greats/

The Transaction-The Right Price for Marketplace/American Public Media https://www.marketplace.org/2015/04/01/transaction-right-price/

You can also find samples of my writing style at http://joseantonioponce.com/todays-short-story/

References-Additional contact info upon request

Thom Eberhardt-Director & Christy Vasquez-Producer Sky City Films (Night of the Comet, Captain Ron, Without a Clue, Ratz) Santa Fe, NM

itzthom@me.com itzchristy@me.com

Col. TD Woodruff (USAF Ret.)-Gilbert, AZ

Windsor Creek Trio

windsorsoundpro@gmail.com

Bill Harris-Albuquerque, NM