DJ brings Latin Night to skating rink

published in the Daily Item, www.dailyitem.com, Thursday, July 23 2009. Pages D1 & D2.

In an effort to increase cultural awareness in the Central Susquehanna Valley, a Latin Night is being held 8-10:30 p.m. Friday at Sunset Skating Rink, Routes 11/15, Shamokin Dam.

Event host and organizer is Jose Rivera, 33, also known as DJ Cameo, of Selinsgrove, who deejays Latin Night as well his weekly Latin radio show Pulso Latino (“Latin Pulse”). The program airs Sunday afternoons during the summer from 2-6 p.m. and Sunday evenings during the fall from 5-6 p.m. on 88.9 FM WQSU.

This week’s Latin Night will be the second in what Rivera plans to be a monthly event, held the last Friday of each month, and everyone is encouraged to attend.

Admission is $5 per person. Roller skates are available to rent at an additional cost but, according to Rivera, the ability to skate is not needed to enjoy the evening.

“People don’t just go [to Latin Night] to skate. They can dance, play pool, have a snack, all while relaxing and listening to a different style of music,” Rivera said.

The first Latin Night went well but Rivera believes there is a lot of room for growth. He is already making plans for future Latin Nights, which may include “contests for various activities such as who can skate the fastest, who can dance the best or who knows the words of a particular song.”

Styles of Latin music featured at both Latin Night and on Pulso Latino include bachata, merengue, salsa, cumbia, musica Cristiana (Spanish Christian music), mariachi, reggeaton and baladas. Among the popular artists played are Marc Anthony and reggae musician Sean Paul, both of whom have had several mainstream radio hits over the past several years.

Rivera lives by the motto “unidos podemos” — “united we can” — and his Latin Night and Pulso Latino program are aimed at uniting Hispanics and other members of the community to ensure a more “culturally diverse, culturally educated and culturally liberated central Pennsylvania.”

However, these activities are “not only for Hispanics in our community, but for even those who do not know Spanish,” he said. Sometimes “people have resistance to opening themselves up to something new, which is normal,” but “once people understand our culture and our music, they will accept it.”

He hopes people will “get to know us by who we are inside, and not judge us by our exterior, or what they have heard through the grapevine.”

Rivera was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City in 2003. In 2005, Rivera and his wife, Marie, relocated to central Pennsylvania. He previously worked with the coordinators of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade of New York City and with musical artists such as Sean Paul, Daddy Yankee, and Exclusive, a Christian hip hop artist from Reading.

For more information, contact Rivera at djcameopro@gmail.com.