April 17, 2017

Meet Cesar Rios Rico of Mariachi Ausente in Boyle Heights

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cesar Rios Rico.

Cesar, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started with middle school. I needed a class, decided to sign up for guitar class. From there Mr. Vasquez had an opening at San Fernando Middle School Mariachi Los Halcones. Our Parents decided to keep the mariachi from school and get private teachers after school. We started playing at family events. As we got better we started charging to play. By the time we reached High School, we were playing at concerts and competitions making on average $30 per hour. As my high school days came to an end I decided to attend UC Davis by Sacramento California.

Starting a new chapter in my life was hard. I moved to UC Davis the day after I turned 18yrs old. I always excel in Math and decided to study Electrical Engineering/Material Science. It was really difficult to leave home, city, and comfort and start a new life hundreds of miles away. I always turned to Mariachi when I was stressed. It was a part of me. During my middle school and high school days, it was uncool to be Mariachi. I realized in college that embracing one’s culture was cool. I was the only Mariachi on campus. With one problem, no Mariachi. Mariachi is a team, a band. I couldn’t be a Mariachi on my own.

I needed a sense of community. A home away from home. At that time, Nu Alpha Kappa was one of the leading Fraternities that excelled in community service. Decided to join and help out the community. During the pledging process the fraternity focus on thinking outside the box. It was drilled into our heads. How do we get bigger fundraisers? How do we get an official Latino NAK house? How do we help the community? We always focus on bigger and better. I guess that’s were my entrepreneurship started. Or how I would like to think about my reverse engineering thinking. Life was shaping me slowly. From Mariachi, I learned how to be social, interact with people, and at times deal with some ugly faces when you can’t sing good.

From college, I learned how to be on my own. Live away from your comfort. College is where you get your first break up, first realization that you can’t cook, do laundry, and manage your money, Well I speak for myself as a first-generation student. From Nu Alpha Kappa or NAK I learned how to follow, listen to advice from elders, help my community, talk to new recruits, but most importantly run an organization. Lots of bumping heads but as the years went on I started focusing on everyone strengths, including myself.

Had a good job at a Medical Lab with good pay but one day when I asked a Senior Engineer if I can help or just sit while he designs to learn. He referred to me as “Golfer” Go for this go for that. I was upset and angry. It was then that I decided I would focus on what makes me happy. I joined a cell phone retailer store. It satisfied my people skills. I was good at it too. Then decided start a Mariachi in Sacramento it started well but then fell apart after 2 years.

I had been away from my family living on my own for almost 10yrs. I got a called from my brother who had been living in Houston Texas with parents after my departure to college. He said he was moving back to LA and that it would be nice if we can start rebuilding our brotherhood after so many years apart. I decided to quit everything and move back to LA. Once again start fresh. Sold pretty much everything and started fresh. I was eager and I was hungry. I wanted to reach the stars of Hollywood. (corny) I told my brother that the only way to succeed is to be your own boss. He explained that there was good money to be made on SmogChecks so after my class that I taught of Robotics/Coding I would head over to Pierce College and I took an entire semester at night. I ended getting my certification along with my brother. I encouraged my brother to open his shop and I decided to move to downtown LA and leave my teaching job to focus on Music.

By this stage, I was already known by a few Mariachis. I was playing in TV and had done a Radio Award for Latin Music. But once again it was not enough I knew how to run a business, had held webmaster positions and Vice President among a few, I had to put it to use. At the same time an old friend from Chico State found out I was in LA and gave me a call. He wanted to expand his business to SoCal. The company is Interactive Tech Solutions and we manufacture and help support Printed Circuit Boards. Being a small company it meant I would have to go out and get new clients, manage some that we already had, and go meet with a few Engineers for prototypes. It was a challenge.

Here is where my reverse engineering thinking kicked in. I started applying it to my new Mariachi I have and my new career. For Mariachi, I started thinking of what I learned from NAK. How can I stand out in one of the capitals of the Mariachi world, Los Angeles. I started using my resources I called a Fraternity bro who does websites @MDesign or Memo Design. He asked me to email him ideas and layouts and he would take care of the rest. He did. I had a web presence and now need (exposure, exposure, exposure exposure/content/content/ and content) – Gary Vee It took some time but my advertising started to pay off. I would always get calls from agencies to optimize my page for a flat fee. I always asked how would they optimize or pretended not know. I would pick their brain. I would ask myself what type of services are they proving? Can I learned and do it on my own? The answer is always yes. Everything is online. Just need to put in the time.

As my Mariachi started growing I was becoming relevant. Our group had as much gigs as mariachi who have been in LA 10 or 20 plus years. I had only been in Los Angeles for 1 year and my mariachi for a few months. Advertisement was not the ticket. Sealing the contracts making sure the clients had every question or concerns answer was or is my bread and butter. People skills!!!

After several months of Mariachi and my new career in Tech Industry I finally was heading on the right direction. This is a brief summary what people don’t say is the days that you just wanted to quit. I did quit, several times. I wanted to quit when I got dropped from Davis but I learned to come back from that. No one tells you that at one point they were dead broke or that you were just depressed. Yet one had to keep putting that smile on and force yourself to outwork the other person. It’s still hard sometimes, I still can’t find the energy or motivation to get out of bed. I’ll be honest sometimes, I don’t. I moved out my parents’ house when I was 18 so did my two younger brothers. That doesn’t mean we had horrible parents. We didn’t. We were lucky we had immigrant parents who did their best to their ability, but we were Mexican-Americans and we had different views. Who doesn’t have family problems. But at times I just stop and say Thank You, I have come a longs way. Here I am playing mariachi at parties, bringing joy, and not to mention free tacos and tequila every weekend. But I’m also walking into meetings at Silicon Valley with the top Tech Companies working on prototypes. One advice I gave one of my two younger brothers is, do what you love. No matter what society thinks or others think. I’m hitting my 30s and have just started my path down the correct road. I encourage him and others to venture out. Not everyone is meant to go to college and get in debt. You can make decent money being a mechanic, painter, construction worker, or mariachi but you must be the best ad, have at least a certification to back it up. Learn from those in the industry and find out how to be better. Become the manger, become the CEO. Own your own business. Always know that someone who is also hungry is looking at you and saying I can do that and better.

Lastly if you ever want to talk about circuits, listens to mariachi, have a beer, and tacos. Mariachi Ausente plays at Bicycle Casino every Taco Tuesday 7-10pm. Visit our page at www.mariachiausente.com for future events. Saludos

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Mariachi Ausente – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Mariachi Ausente is a small mariachi band who focuses on private events. Our members have played in front of thousands of people, recorded CD, been on TV settings, played abroad, and many more recognition and milestones achievements. In the group, I’m known for my tech skills. My singing and musical abilities are nothing compared to the members in our group. They have dedicated their lives to art of Mariachi.

I am proud of the bond that we have started. Sometimes it’s hard to trust others specially co-workers so I always open up to them. Whenever they need something I always try to help them out. They see that and in return they trust me. I encourage my members to not only work as Mariachi but to get another income whether it’s in the Music industry or in a different industry.

Recently, I helped one of our members start his Mechanic Shop with his brother. Another member asked if I could teach him and help him start his own mariachi in San Fernando Valley. I told him I would help him out and encourage him to be better than me. I believe strongly in helping others.

I’ve been told my clients that they enjoy the professionalism and the process to hire our mariachi. I walked them step by step. Check in when the events are getting closer. Specially if it’s a wedding. I make myself available. We work the crowd. We have fun!!! We try our best. We bring art, the art of mariachi to parties. We must please the oldest of the family with a song that told his story but at the same time please the new generation. At times, it includes singing in English.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
NAK Fraternity helped me and taught me to help others. Taught me to get involve with the community. It brings joy to help others. Recently I attended clouds9 feed the homeless on a Sunday Morning (7am to be exact). No sleep from a long Saturday night of gigs and had a few gigs that Sunday but it was rewarding to help others who are less fortunate. One thing I want to do is bring joy to those that need it. I have told the organization that I would donate one hour of our Mariachis time to play for their next event. In the future, I would want to go play at a hospital or at school., bringing joy through music. Music is universal.

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