Buck Concho has been living his rock and roll dream all his life. He was influence at an early age, eight, by the bands he saw on Don Kirshner's Midnight Express TV show.

Concho recalled how he would make his mother laugh because he thought the band was playing inside the radio. Not knowing about electricity, yet, he would pick up the radio and try to shake the little people out.

Eventually, he chose drums as his instrument and started to beat on things, like shoeboxes, or a Styrofoam ice chest with aluminum foil, so it would make a snare drum noise. He was pretty creative, using an upside-down frying pan lid with the handle taken out so that he could use the hole to put a stick through, cover it with a little plastic and fill the pan with beads to sound like a cymbal.

But as his love of music became secure, young Concho knew he needed a real drum set. One Christmas, Santa brought him a drum set. He would play a few of his favorite rock bands from the day on his eight-track player, Black Sabbath, Kiss, the Yard birds, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, and drum to their songs.

“I used to get a big crowd outside the window, peaking in, watching me,” he said.

Then in 1976, he played the “dad, I really need this,” card. While shopping with his parents in Albuquerque, he saw the perfect drum kit. He remembers it cost $1100.

“That was a lot of money back then, but my parents broke down,” Concho remembered. “My summer job paid it off. That was my first real drum set and I still have it in storage.”

Music became a way of life for the drummer and in 1978, he joined with a few friends in Laguna to form Stilrock. Concho and his band mates, Ray Paul Lucero, Rob Graham Kent (Superman) Waconda, now deceased, played Civic Auditorium in Albuquerque and toured in Arizona before breaking up in 1982.

His current group, Goo-nee-nee's, got together in 1984. Concho manages Al Yepa, guitarist, and Mike Chino on drums, with a varying bass player.

The group still performs their original song, “Holding My Ground,” written in '84 when they were calling themselves the Troublemakers. The group changed to Goo-nee-nee's, the Keresan term for troublemaker, in 2006, because of a conflict with another group that was already under contract with that name.

Today the man is having a big influence on young musicians in Laguna Pueblo. Concho's first outdoor jam, the beginning of the annual Buck-Tober Fest event, was held in Encinal Canyon, with only about five bands.

This year the two-day show opened at the Villa de Cubero rodeo grounds with Governor's Band, a '60's rock n' roll band with Laguna Governor, John Antonio. The event had 22 entry bands and a crowd of over 1,000. He was turning bands away.

“It's all about exposure and fun,” said Concho.

Concho holds his annual events with the goal of helping young bands get experience of playing in front of a big crowd. His eldest daughter, Channing, takes time off from her own band, Suspended, to work with him and his co-producer wife, Ella, to organize the show each year.

Concho is now recruiting for the upcoming show in Spring 2009. He and his team are considering a jam with local sounds to include country, blues and southern rock.

With the eagerly anticipated shows, Concho may have started a new tradition.

Interested bands can call Buck Concho at (505) 552-7189, or email buck.fest@hotmail.com.

Who We Are is published on the third Friday of each month.