Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes - Entertainment Houston Variety Band

    If you like to dance, if you like to watch a great show, if you like to party, if you’re looking for fun, then you’re going to love Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes. Recently named as one of the top ten party bands in the United States by Harper’s Bazaar magazine, their show not only captures the authentic sounds of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, but the look, feel and fun as well.
The Hot Tomatoes are three dazzling female vocalists who take the stage decked out in one outrageous costume after another: big hair, shimmy dresses, sequins, and skin-tight leopard pants. “Rotel & the Hot Tomatoes are beehives for breakfast, leopard-skin for lunch, and satin for supper. They’d rather walk the poodle than do the dog", wrote music columnist Michael Corcoran in The Austin American Statesman. And when the Hot Tomatoes turn the stage into a three-ring circus as they dance, strut, sing, and stomp, you’re sure to have as much fun as the law allows.
     But that’s not all. The Hot Tomatoes are skillfully supported by Rotel, five accomplished musicians who use a combination of guitar, saxophone, keyboards, drums, bass, and vocals to recreate the best sounds of early rock and roll radio. “The act would be worth seeing purely for its off-the-wall showmanship,” Austin American Statesman music critic Michael Point wrote, “but it’s a musical act, despite all the hilarious melodramatics, that is strong even without the visuals.”
      Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes combine world-class vocals and musicianship, stunning costumes, precision choreography, a “blast from the past” repertoire, and hilarious comedy into a unique, dynamic and exciting show that never fails to leave audiences wanting more. “Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes make you bop ‘til you drop,” said Detour Magazine. “They allow no one, no matter the age, to remain in their chair. Watching them perform is like being able to dance at a Broadway musical review.”

      For the past fourteen years Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes have entertained crowds at clubs, concerts and parties from Tulsa to Memphis, from El Paso to New York City, from Newport Beach, California to Freeport, Bahamas.
      In their home state of Texas, Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes are legendary as a band that turns any event into an enjoyable and unforgettable experience. “We had just landed in Oklahoma City on Friday for one of our last shows of the holiday season, when we got a call from Austin saying that Governor George Bush wanted us to play his Christmas party at the Governor’s Mansion that Sunday evening,” said Rotel drummer James Cruz. “The Governor danced all night and at one point he even got on stage with us.” The band played at Bush’s Inaugural Gala in 1999 as well as that of former Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1987. They also entertained the Texas House of Representatives at their 1999 legislative kickoff party. This year the band was especially honored when President Bush asked them back for a repeat performance at his Christmas party just days after he had finally been declared the winner in the historic, hard-fought 2001 election. Last summer the group, who was referred to by The Philadelphia Daily News as “the fabulous Texas-based cover band, Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes,” traveled to Philadelphia at the beckon of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay to help usher in Bush’s candidacy at what the newspaper described as one of the “hottest” parties of the Republican National Convention.
      Across Texas, Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes have provided the entertainment for numerous conventions, corporate and private parties, debutante balls, and fund-raisers In Dallas, they have played at such prestigious events as the Grand Openings of the Ramses Exhibit and the Dallas symphony’s Mort Myerson Center, the 75th Anniversary of the Adolphus Hotel, at several Byron Nelson Golf Classics and before and after games at Texas Stadium for The Dallas Cowboys. A mainstay in Houston, they recently performed multiple shows downtown at both the new Aerial Theatre and at the historic Rice Hotel. The San Antonio Tourist Bureau even went so far as to send Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes to New York to help attract conventions to their new convention center.

      The band has helped to raise thousands of dollars playing at fund-raisers for organizations such as The American Heart Association, The American Cancer Society, Ronald McDondald House, The Red Cross, The Arthritis Foundation, S.P.C.A., Center for Battered Women, The American Diabetes Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Children’s Fund of San Antonio, La Bonheur Children’s Hospital of Memphis, Cook Medical of Ft. Worth, Dallas Zoo, Ft. Worth Zoo, Museum of South Texas, McNay Museum of San Antonio, The Dallas Art Museum, and many more.
      Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes have entertained at conventions and parties across the United States for national organizations, companies and corporations such as IBM, Motorola, E.D.S., Mobil, Phillips Petroleum, Ace Hardware, Perot Systems, Schlumberger, Sakowitz, Texas Restaurant Association, The Dallas Morning News, Ernst and Young, Nikken, Dell Computers, GTE, Dazzle Corporation and numerous others.
      Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes have opened for such rock and soul legends as The Temptations, The Dixie Cups, Chuck Berry, Mitch Ryder, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Rich Little, Nancy Griffith, Joe Ely, Blues Traveler, The Drifters, The Coasters, Chubby Checker, The Supremes and The Four Tops. The band once opened for Roy Orbison and also headlined the Roy Orbison Memorial Concert in Roy’s hometown of Wink, Texas.

Despite their impressive credentials and their busy touring schedule, the band is still recognized as a major player in Austin’s world famous club scene, where they consistently draw packed houses and their summer performances at the Oasis have practically become an institution. “When I look out over the crowd, wherever we play, I see people smiling, laughing, dancing, imitating our moves and singing every lyric,” says Hot Tomato Laura Benedict. “That’s our goal: to make the audience have as much fun as we’re having.”