Welcome to jramirez.website!

About me, the Author, J.R. Ramirez Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself. I was born in McAllen, Texas, and have three sisters. Two older, Lindabel and Melissa, and one younger, Clarissa. I am the only boy, and my full name is Arnaldo Ramirez III, but I am known as J.R. My dad is Arnaldo Ramirez Jr. But they call him Nano. My grandfather was Arnaldo Ramirez Senior, and they called him Chief. When I was born, everybody kept calling me Junior. Everyone would say, “Ah, Junior”, but as you know, I am not a junior. My dad is a junior. So, it was decided just to start calling me J.R. That’s what I was told. I think my grandpa, my dad’s dad, decided. Primarily because he also came up with a nickname for my older sister. Her name is Dalinda, just like our mom. But, if you combine the names Dalinda, with our grandmother’s name Isabel (dad’s mom), you get Lindabel. So, my sisters’ names are Lindabel, Melissa, and younger sister Clarissa. My mom was a schoolteacher and was vital for getting me prepared for my education. She also was good at the piano. I grew up listening to her play the piano. My father also started out playing the piano but settled on the guitar. I tried the piano and the guitar but settled on the drums. Music is a family business. It started with my grandad opening a recording studio. He also owned his own music publishing and would distribute records all over the world. The record label was known as Falcon records, and the music distribution was ARV Music. That stood for Arnaldo Ramirez Villarreal. My dad eventually oversaw the music distribution. My grandad’s brother Rafael Ramirez was a world-renowned international music composer. He wrote hundreds of songs and ballads. Plus, countless music compositions. Unfortunately, I don’t remember meeting him. He died when I was three, in 1976. He left his music royalties to my father and his brother. They still get checks to this day. Before Rafael passed away, he tried to play cupid and get my mom and dad together. When my parents were in high school, my mom and her friend, went to the studio to record a duet. While they were singing, my great Uncle Rafael was playing the piano. He tried to get more out of my mom while my dad happened to be there. Rafael told her, “Look into his eyes”, referring to my dad. Rafael was hoping she would feel something. She felt nothing. But my dad persisted, and he would become the apple of her eye. The feeling was mutual, and that would be evident according to my grandfather. They would end up going steady for 2 1/2 years. He then served in the Navy, but my dad would keep his parents informed of his stops. One of his stops was going to be in Acapulco, Mexico. My grandfather wrote to my dad saying that he was going to take his mom and sisters to visit with him in Acapulco. He ended up surprising my dad by also taking my mom. Surprise! While there, they all had dinner with the captain on board the ship. What an honor. While in the Navy, my dad proposed to my mom. It only took my father 3 times to ask her dad for her hand in marriage, before he finally said yes. My dad wrote a book for the family about those years. From growing up and helping his dad re-cord bands in their living room, to having his own band and having a record. He was on his way and getting ready to go on tour with his band, but he had to cancel the tour because of his obligation to the Navy. No more deferments, he had to serve. He was deployed to Central America. While he was there, he would look at music charts in music magazines. One day, he saw his band on the chart. His band was originally called The Unknown’s, but would change the name to The Chapala Beach Boys, and they had a hit record. After serving in the Navy, my dad returned home, got married, and started a family. He was also hard at work with the family studio and record label. He would also promote the bands in concert at the McAllen International Civic Center. For six years he was paying rent and competing for rentals. But the city would make it difficult for him. So, he decided to build his own venue. In December 1977, he finally opened his own music venue. It would be called La Villa Real (pronounced La Villa Re Al) Special Events Center, the real road to entertainment. Some of the biggest bands in the world would grace its stage. Consider La Villa Re al, the very popular Star Wars franchise, and my dad, the iconic Dark Vader. I was the Mandalorian. What’s the Mandalorian? A Star Wars spinoff. After graduating college in 1996, I moved home and dove straight into the concert business. Hell, I was born in it, and I loved it. I already wrote those concert stories and might put them in another book. 1 concert story I wrote is in this book. Story 3 - Cheap Trick. This book is a prequel. Me growing up, and what was happening in my life. # Jackson Elementary # Morris Junior High # McAllen Memorial High School # Texas Tech University