When three singer-composers presented the Bay Area's first tribute to great Mexican songwriter José Alfredo Jiménez (King of the Mariachis) Oct. 9, at Berkeley's La Peña Cultural Center, KDTV Univision 14 sent a team from SF to document the historic event.Reporter Hector Pizarro interviewed San Francisco's award-winning trovador Alfredo Gomez (http://www.myspace.com/alfredoguitarra), Oakland's soulful groove goddess Theresa Perez (http://www.myspace.com/theresaperez), and me for a report for the 11 o'clock news. Photographer Santiago Vides kept the camera rolling throughout the show.Fans of ranchera music – young and old – are familiar with Jiménez' life and work. He's a hero in his home country, where his standing could be compared to that of Hank Williams in the U.S. Each were great singer-songwriters whose work has been interpreted by countless other world-famous artists in genres ranging from punk to pop. I became familiar with Jiménez' music when, after graduating high school, I began working at the race track stables of California. Most of my fellow workers were, like my mother's family, immigrants from Mexico. We spent many a pleasant evening drinking tequila and enjoying the emotion and poetry of Jiménez' music. Songs such as 'Cuando Vivas Conmigo,' about an elderly man overjoyed at having found love, and 'Llego Borracho el Borracho' ('The Drunk Arrived Drunk') will stay with me forever. For an excellent article about Jiménez, please visit: http://www.ocweekly.com/music/music/if-they-allow-us/25839/%20rel=/. To hear some of his music, please visit: http://www.myspace.com/josealfredojimenezelrey.