Gilbert Guzman - Constant Force The Pegasus Story - Part 1
Frank Del Rio Dj Pebo Marty Guzman (Cirkis)
Gilbert Guzman - Constant Force
Most of you are very familiar with Gilbert Guzman of Constant Force. For those of you that aren't, here is a little info on him.
Gilbert Guzman was first introduced to the art of DJ'ing through his friend, Steve Garcia, who was a member of local LA based mobile DJ who went by the name of "Risque". Risque, at the time, consisted of 3 members, brothers Steve & Ed Beltran, & friend Steve Garcia. When Risque was looking to expand, Gilbert Guzman came quick to mind. Gilbert had always expressed an interest in becoming a DJ. So when he was confronted by Steve Garcia of Risque, he was quick to accept and became an equal partner. For the next couple of years, Risque played at many successful parties and became very popular in the local disco scene.
During the peak of their success, due to internal friction among members, Risque disbanded. Gilbert wasn't going to let this stop him, so together with his long time friend Ralph Rivera they formed another Mobile DJ and called themselves "Constant Force".
Gilbert was known as being a perfectionist, his sound system was usually flawless, their light show was phenomenal to say the least, at the time, it was state of the art. His crisp sounding mobile system became the talk of the town. He was known by his peers as having one of the most powerful, thumping, crisp, sounding systems of the time.
Together with his partner Ralph's light show, they became a force to be reckoned with. Gilbert's friend, Danny Esparza of Double Exposure, had built speaker cabinets at a furniture factory that was owned by Dino Corella of the 21 & over DJ "Ooh La La" and when Gilbert heard Danny's sound system at one of the "Rock Of The Eighties", he decided to purchase some JBL speakers and cabinets from Danny. They later joined forces and combined systems at a couple of other "Rock Of The Eighties" where things went great as they both had the same type of systems. Danny was doing sound for the charreadas at Pico Rivera Sports Arena and was ready to start working with Vicented Fernandez so Danny asked Gilbert if he could hire him to help him out and Gilbert replied "Why dont we just become partners, get a warehouse and build up the system to an an even larger and professional audio system". Danny accepted and they became 50/50 partners.
Gilbert decided on a new name which Danny agreed with. A combination of both old names Constant Force and Double Exposure. Constant became Constant Exposure Audio, aka CEA. Gilbert dedicated himself to the upkeep and upgrades to the entire sound system as Danny was in charge of getting the contracts with various Latin artists and promoters. Gilbert was so meticulous on the upkeep and cleanliness of the system that may of the artist's technicians and engineers would ask for CEA as part of their "tech rider" requirements.
They toured in California, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Texas with such artists as Vicente Fernandez, Antonio Aguilar y familia, Luis Miguel, Juan Gabriel, Ana Gabriel, Jose Jose and many others. Many of those artists would tell their techs that they would want the same equipment the next time they came.
In the picture below, Gilbert is barely visible as he holds his speakers so they don't move as Juan Gabriel dances on them and does not knock them over.
Constant Force's sound system became so famous, that the one and only "Vincente Fernandez" himself, asked Gilbert to reinforce his sound system while in concert in Southern California. Anytime Vincente was in town, he wanted no one else but Gilbert himself, to reinforce his sound system while in concert. As the demand for Gilberts sound reinforcement talents grew as part of CEA, he no longer had time for his passion, in 1987, Constant Force was no more. Gilbert continued to tour with Vincente until 1993 when he was succumbed to complications of an illness.
Gilbert loved working with the many Latin artists at the Pico Rivera so much that he had his parents promise to have him buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park as his eternal resting place because it overlooks the Pico Rivera Sports Arena.
On Aug 19th, we were honored Gilbert Guzman, along with his friends and family, for all of his contributions to the disco community. Accepting his award was his life long friend and partner, Mr Ralph Rivera. Gilbert’s contributions to our disco community will not be forgotten. The retro light show for this event was provided none other than Ralph Rivera of the original "Constant Force"
