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Interview with Robert Casillas of Postcards From Buster!

August 17, 2023

Interviewed by Nicholas DeMarco

I recently talked with Robert Casillas from the Postcards from Buster Season 1 Episode “Buster and Beatrice”. The Episode chronicles Robert showing Buster his family, life and around San Antonio, where he lived. Before you read our interview, I encourage you to check out Robert’s episode or read the Postcards from Buster Blog! Robert was extremely nice and fascinating to interview, and I am so grateful to have him for the Frenksy Star’s first interview!

Now, the first question that I have to ask you Robert has to do with your location, since it is such an important part of Postcards from Buster. Are you still located in San Antonio or have you since moved away?

Robert: Currently I am in San Antonio, Texas. I went to college in Denison, Texas for about two and a half years, and then I moved to San Marcos. That’s where I finished up my degree at Texas State University. And then, after I finished my degree, I came back to San Antonio.

What field did you get your degree in?

Robert: I got my bachelor's in Music Education. I am currently not teaching, but I was for about five years. This is my first year that I'm not teaching. Previously I did four years of high school and one year of middle school.

A lot of your episode on Postcards from Buster features your interest in music and talent on the accordion. What year did you start playing the accordion and getting into music? (Question sent by Jennifer Hood Hemmings)

Robert: I think, I started playing the accordion when I was around six years old, but I already had an interest in music before. I was already playing drums and stuff, but started formally taking lessons around six.

What was your relationship with Arthur or PBS before you were on Postcards From Buster? Did you ever watch the show growing up as a kid?

Robert: Sure! I think I had this conversation with someone a couple weeks ago, talking about different shows we used to watch after school. But yeah, Arthur was definitely one of the shows and then, when I was asked to be on the show. I was like, wait, what? I thought Buster was on Arthur! So I said “Okay, cool, why not? Let's do it!”

But I can't remember too many other shows I watched on PBS. Wasn't there a show called Zoom? Yes I watched Zoom, but nothing comes to the top of my head right now.

What was the process like for being on Postcards from Buster? Was there an application or forms to fill out?

Robert: I was approached by somebody. I think one of the directors or somebody on the staff had heard about me and sent someone down to see me play or perform. Then, finally, they approached me. I believe it was a phone call, because I think they were based in Boston.

Nicholas: Oh, wow, that is very cool. I would have thought it’d be an application or something, but that is so cool that they approached you.

Robert: Yeah it was very cool, and then when I started seeing what the show was about, how Buster was going to different places and discovering the culture, the food and music. I thought it was really cool to be a part of the process.

Nicholas: Yeah that is awesome, and I think you were in the third episode too, so very early on in the series that you would have no clue what the show was about.

Robert: Yeah definitely, didn't really know anything about it.

Santiago Jimenez Jr. was your accordion teacher and he's a legend in conjunto music, and music in general. What was it like to learn how to play accordion from him? (From Frensky Star Columnist Guthrie Edson)

Robert: So Santiago wasn’t my teacher formerly, but at the time the organization that I was affiliated with was the Conjunto Heritage, which was featured on the show. Also at that time, Santiago was the accordion instructor there. He was actually my sister's (Christina Casillas) accordion instructor. My sister is featured on the show as well, and at the time she was performing and playing. While my sister was taking lessons with him, I would just kind of go and hang out… but me and Santiago go way back! I used to play bass with Flaco, his brother. That was in my teens, but I met Flaco when I was like 7 and then I met Santiago. He taught me some little tunes that his dad would play, and talked about the history of his dad and how he got started. He just has the wealth of knowledge and songs for days.

Nicholas: Very cool. Now Guthrie Edson, one of our Frensky Star writers, has a connection with Santiago. His mother produced a concert series in the 90’s featuring traditional music from the Americas, where Santiago Jimenez performed.

Robert: Nice! Where was that at?

Nicholas: At this venue called the Barns at Wolf Trap, I believe in the Washington D.C. area.

In the episode, you are featured performing with Rudy Lopez under the name Dos Generaciones. Do you still perform with Rudy?

Robert: No, I definitely keep in touch with Rudy though. We're always running into each other. Like, if I'm playing and I'm doing a gig somewhere, helping out a band, he and his wife will show up, just unexpectedly. And of course, whenever we see each other it is just like old times. I think it was probably once I was in high school and then kind of transitioning into college we stopped performing. I was kind of busy with school and the next step for me. Whenever we get a chance, we'll try to get together and jam out.

Nicholas: Then you guys were able to perform with each other for a long time then. Because you were, what, ten years old in the episode?

Robert: Yeah, I think it was probably like 10 or 11, maybe even 12. But yeah, I met Rudy when I was around 7 or 8. I was invited to a performance and I had never really worked with somebody who accompanied me. Rudy was contacted and told “Hey, You're going to accompany this student.” So he got in touch with my grandparents and said he’d like to rehearse before the performance. And yeah, he came over one night and we rehearsed. Ever since then we were performing together. We even recorded a CD (Dos Generaciones does…. Conjunto Tradiciónes).

Nicholas: Oh Wow.

Robert: Yeah, it was awesome. We traveled to different parts of the U.S., and went all over Mexico. It was a great time.

Who has been your favorite artist to collaborate, perform, or record with? And who is a dream artist you would like to collaborate with? (Question sent by RaygeMusic)

Robert: Sure, let's see. One of my favorite artists, his name is Joel Guzman, is actually an accordion player as well. At the time I was playing a bass guitar with him. I got to study with Joel for a little while, in my high school years, and college years. He is a phenomenal accordion player, keyboard player and producer. And anyway, I had a chance to collaborate with him on multiple instruments, such as accordion, bajo and bass. He's fun, energetic and versatile in many styles, like jazz, blues and Americana. Then of course, you know, he'll get right back into his roots doing conjunto and tejano stuff. He always keeps me on my toes, kind of throwing curve balls at me here and there, musically very fun.

A dream artist? I'd have to say… somebody like Carlos Santana, Luis Miguel or Arturo Sandoval. Man I’d love to collaborate with them or be part of their band.

Nicholas: I hope you someday get the chance to perform with the or jam out!

What are the coolest places that you have been to to perform? (Questsion sent by Grandpere Tiger)

Robert: Oh man, that's a hard one. Mexico was great. I think I was in Monterrey. Mexico, and I learned they accept all music. The audience is just very receptive there. When you have an audience like that you are given more energy, it makes you want to do a great performance for them.

But man, there has been too many. I had a great show and the Casino Del Sol in Arizona. I've also been to Washington with Joel. There, the place was packed and it was a sold-out show. These shows were where the audience was very receptive and with us, and this is important because as artists, we feed off the audience energy.

This was the most asked question from our readers. It is about the filming. How was the filming process for the episode? Was there a puppet that you were talking to? Or was it just the person behind the camera? Also was the episode scripted at all? (Question sent by Peeebs, 3eduardo, Alyssa XE, bottles4books, PSA League, myself and more!)

Robert: Nothing was scripted. All of it was just natural, very natural, and that's what they kind of told me. There wasn't a puppet. It was like a transparent figure of Buster right above the camera. They just kind of told me not to talk into the camera, and just talk to Buster. When you're that age, it was just kind of natural. We were just having fun and the staff were great. I can't remember the name of the staffer at the moment, but she was great. She knew exactly what Buster would say or what they were going to say. We just kind of fed off eachother's questions. Like I said, whenever you're that age, you don't think about what you say, then the team did their editing magic and put it all together.

During the recording process, did you ever get to meet Marc Brown or any of the other Arthur voice actors? (Question sent by CG Fanpage 06)

Robert: No I didn’t unfortunately, but I did hear that they were big fans of the episode after it came out. Which was pretty cool!

In the episode you have a big big collection of accordions, but you also have a big collection of cowboy hats! What is your favorite accordion? And what is your favorite cowboy hat? Is the black one from the episode still your favorite? (Question sent by Play Arthur Alabama)

Robert: animated-laughing-image-0107animated-laughing-image-0107animated-laughing-image-0107 So there is a really funny story about that hat! I can’t remember where I was, but I was performing somewhere. When I got off stage, this gentleman came up, and said can I have your autograph? So I signed whatever, and he ends up giving me like $400, right on the spot! I was wearing a cowboy hat that day, because that was the look I was going for at the time. Then he said “go get yourself, a nice hat.” Specifically, he told me to get one of the George Strait hats... And, you know, I wasn’t knowledgeable in hats and whatnot. But I went to a country western store, and asked for a George Strait hat . I said "What can $400 get me?" Sure enough, they fit me, and shaped it, gave me a fancy case. And yeah, every time I traveled with it, in that case and I took real good care of that hat. Really cool solid black hat, just classy and awesome.

Nicholas: Do you still have the hat or ever wear it to perform?

Robert: Nahh, my head kind of grew, buy my grandma still has it. I don't really wear any hats anymore. I found gel and I started combing my hair.

My favorite accordion… Man, there's nothing like Old Reliable, but you know, instruments wear and tear and, and need maintenance, right. I decided to retuire the accordion that I used on the show. That was my main accordion for years, and it was just little stuff that was kind of going on with it. I didn't really know anybody that would work on accordions or who would fix them, but at the same time, I was kind of like, maybe it's just time to retire this accordion. I went ahead and retired that one. I'm a big fan of Hohner accordions. I had the privilege of being endorsed by Horner, and with this model I’m just very free. It allows me to play how I want to play. It can handle what I want to do. People like Carlos Santana with his guitar, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, other drummers, know what they want in an instrument, or how they want to play their instruments. Hohner is that for me.

Do you play any instruments other than the accordion?

Robert: I do. I guess I would consider myself a multi-instrumentalist. I kind of picked up bajo sexto and guitar around the same time. I must have been around, I don't know, maybe a 12 or 13 when I kind of learned those instruments. I play the bass guitar, I picked up drums, and I learned piano when I was in college. When you're a voice major or like a choir director, you know, you learn piano so you can know how to direct a choir. When I got into mariachi in high school, I learned the traditional mariachi instruments, vihuela, which is a rhythm 5-string guitar, then also the classical guitar, which is the nylon string. Then I studied classical when I was in school as well. Also the Guitarrón, the bass mariachi guitar, the biggest one. My senior year of high school, I took up harp, and then I took some lessons with a harp instructor at University of North Texas. When I came back into San Antonio, I studied with a Paraguayan harp instructor named Juan Cabrera. Also I studied with a mariachi harpist, Julio Martinez, and a good friend of mine Adrian Perez from El Paso. The most recent is violin. When I started teaching, I was kind of doing orchestra & mariachis, so I learned violin. I'm still taking lessons today and I think I've been playing violin for about 6 or 7 years. Violin is very difficult, but I'm having a great time with it.

Nicholas: Wow that’s amazing, now is violin at all similar to guitar, except with no frets?

Robert: Yes, no frets on the violin, so it really tests your ear, and your ear training for intonation. But 95% is your right hand and learning how to hold the bow, because that's really your sound. Violin takes a lot of work. It's a lot of technique, and a lot of fundamentals. But you know, it's never-ending learning, which is the cool thing with instruments as you know, all of them are never again. I still practice accordion!

After you were on the show, did you ever get any comments from friends about it? And were you ever recognized in public because of it? (Question sent by Peeebs and Guthrie Edson)

Robert: Yeah man! My friends, they are funny man. I started playing with some friends of mine. Emilio Navaira, he's a famous, Tejano singer, and his brother Raulito Navaira. They had a band back in the day. Raulito has kids, Destiny and Rigo, shoutout to them. During my first performance with them, Rigo came up to me and said “Robert man, dude. I knew you were an amazing musician, but my first time seeing you was on Postcards from Buster!” I was like, oh my god. I haven't heard that in forever, and I'm 32 now, and I did that such a long time ago. So I feel like it's funny to still get recognized from Postcards from Buster. Then my Grandma, she's my biggest fan, and she's always promoting me and telling everybody in the world. People come up to me and say “my nephew watches it” or “my daughter watches it and we love it!” So it’s pretty cool, and I still get recognized from time to time.

Do you have any upcoming music projects or concerts that you're working on? And is there a place where we can connect with you on the web?

Robert: Sure. My Instagram is currently down and I'm working to get that up, but I’m still on Facebook. You can look me up under my name, Robert Casillas, and send me a message to connect with me. Musically, I'm still in the studio, I'm doing my solo project, and it’s coming along. I still do studio work for other people. I guess when you're a multi-instrumentalist, it's like I'm blessed that whatever instrument they need, I can do. Last project I did some music for a children's book (Updated: Title is Jovita Wore Pants), and I did maybe about 7 different instruments on there. I'm still performing live, I perform Latin jazz, I play with a salsa group and play Mariachi every week. If y'all are ever in San Antonio you can find me somewhere playing mariachi. I do accordion work with a Mexican Fusion group of Mexican music and country. Shout out to Vanessa del Fierro. I recorded her album and we're still doing gigs with her. I work at a violin shop right now, and I do their sales and their floor sales. I helped out schools if they need instruments or need to give repairs on their instruments. Now, I know a bunch of teachers, and still have that connection with them. When you're in a music community, we're all family. I'm blessed to be in very different music communities. You know, I have a mariachi community that I'm with, I have a salsa community, a country community. At some point all of us collaborate with each other and it's just a beautiful thing. It's been a great journey so far, and we'll see what’s to come in the future.

Nicholas: Thank you so much Robert for taking the time to speak with us!

Robert: Thank you, Nick.



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