Here it is January '98 - 25 days into the new year, where I find myself staring into the muddy waters of the Rio Grande River, across from Nuevo Laredo Mexico.

For the past year your rockin' royal majesty has been up to many mucho loco things. We've got the web site happening and started up a line of clothing and other items called "King Wear". Musically, the band and myself learned a bunch of new Tex-Mex rockin' songs which we hope to record asap. While I was in Mexico, looking for King Wear trinkets, I shot lots of video from songs off the "Dia de Los Muertos" cd and some new songs that haven't been released yet. We shot in San Miguel de Allende, Oaxaca, and in the jungles of The Yucatan. A lot of guerilla video, I call it this because you shoot and split before the wrong people find out and start asking questions about why you're wearing a crown and dancin' loco down the streets. I hope to edit all the footage and get it on our web site.

Speaking of the web, I hope you like www.joeking.com - It'll melt your chile and give you a jalepeno smile. It has given me the freedom to really blast out border rock n roll all over the world without the hassle of a big record company cutting in on the action!! We got mucho information including photos, music, and future stuff coming up. Bruce Warren, who runs la officino, put it up and is working real hard to give it that Tex-Mex touch of Royal perfecto.

If you go to the Mercado you can check out the "King Wear" merchandise. The storefront photo comes from Oaxaca Mexico. We've got so many cool things it's gonna be muy difficult for you to choose your favorito items. "King Wear" is worth having just for the patch alone. They are made from natural coconut fibers I scored las summer the Yucatan of Mexico, which is a whole other story in itself. The patches go on the pants, shorts, caps, hammocks and Mexico bags (subokans) and other neat stuff we are working on. We've also got Cd's, tapes and videos. Like I say "if it ain't King Wear, you ain't wearing. So please order fast so I can get back to Mexico for more cool stuff.

The band right now is Blazin'. We just played Florida recently, including Key West. We also played in Terlingua, which is down on the west Texas border with Mexico. La musica sounds muy bueno in the Carribean or in the Texas desert. In the band right now are Chuggy Hernandez on bass, Tony Puente on congas, Chris Gilsom - drums and T.P. on keyboards and guitar. T.P lives on a sailboat off of Galveston Island. I just did a reissue of the "Royal Loyal and Live" cd and are getting ready to reissue the "Bordertown" cd with about 18 songs on it.

Coming up this spring I'll be shooting scenes for a spanish language movie about a man called Zapata, who was Presidente of a short lived country called La Republica de la Rio Grande around the mid 1800's. It is to be directed by Efrain Gutierrez who was the first Chicano film director to bread out in the early 70's. In it I get to play a bad mercenary named Colonel Jordan..should be interesting. It also stars Jesse Borrego who has appeared in several films, the latest being "Con Air".

I really enjoy hearing from everybody out there so please let me know what you think of our web site and The Mercado. Your input helps keep us on our tacos.