On Sunday, July 24, Sonido Clasico held a concert at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church playing the music of the Latin big band era of the ’50s and ’60s. It was a true community event as over 190 guests filled the chairs on the church’s back lawn and overflowed onto the hill. A special guest was the Rollin’ Cubans food truck, providing authentic Latin food.
This was the fourth time that Sonido Clasico played at St. Stephen’s and the most successful yet. Proceeds from the event are being donated to the food pantry at Hicksville United Methodist Church. HUMC’s food pantry opened in 2007 and now serves a few hundred client families in the eastern Nassau County area.
The band leader, Carlos Castillo, is a native of Puerto Rico and played bass for Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Joe Cuba, Hector Rivera and just about every name in the Latin music scene. Carlos had a dream of founding a Latin workshop from which he could share his musical experiences with a new generation. In 1999, Carlos fulfilled that dream by forming his Latin big band, and on July 24 he shared his music, to the delight of the Hicksville community.
Special thanks this year goes to Dotworks, who donated the street banner, and to the Hicksville Fire Department for hanging it over Old Country Road.
—Submitted by Rick Mosebach
