“WHO’S RAMON ESPARZA?”

Who’s Ramon Esparza and if he’s so “hood famous” why haven’t we heard of him before?

Maybe you haven’t yet, or maybe you accidentally watched his YouTube channel. It’s quite possible you’ve seen his likeness embossed on a t-shirt of someone & thought, “who the heck is that, and how can I get one?”

As an attempt to thwart an internet troll from creating rude and slanderous meme’s, Ramón took the image that was intended to make him upset and turned it into a best selling accessory at his live performances. Shirts have made it to Argentina, Ireland and the U.K. For a more accurate idea of the fashion phenomenon that is Ramón, search the hashtag #LosRamonesChicago

Ask most of Chicago’s south side local musicians that shopped at Sam Ash Music in Burbank, IL in the past decade and you’ll probably hear,
“Big Ramón??? Yeah, that’s the guy. He’s my homie!”

Ramon, who is a single father to an amazing little boy, Benjamin, lives just south of Chicago in Blue Island, IL.

He’s no longer with the company as of May 2015, but his YouTube channel & Facebook account are still saturated with Sam Ash Music as the backdrop to his online instrument & accessory reviews. Bridging the generation gap, his presence there was mixed with harsh worded mayhem & occasional antics that made him a favorite amongst younger and older local musicians alike. Ramon is a Saxophone and music “enthusiast.” Meaning, when he started 4th grade band he never really intended to master the instrument, nor has he. To be fair, he’s also not horrible at it & is able to mentor fellow enthusiasts as well as up and coming players.

In the past two decades, he has appeared in live performances branching out to as far as the West coast. He has been a part of a number of different recordings of local bands either as a member of the group or as a guest artist. Most days of that time were spent within four walls of a large musical instrument retailer. It was there where he rivaled the top salespeople while working out of a department that had the lowest Foot traffic. This was done by gaining fellow players trust and keeping a solid following that were often easily alerted to new items, sales and special events and sometimes “Mextreme Randomness”. (Not a Typo)

In 2010, he lost his mentor to a wicked awful disease that came in and took his life like a thief in the night. Prior to his death, Raymond Esparza encouraged Ramon to take care of his health as he was beginning to gain weight almost as rapidly as his father was losing his life. On Dec 4th 2010, Raymond was laid to rest. But, the fire he started really began to burn inside Ramón. On the following Monday, Ramón sought help from Dr. Timothy Field, a pioneer in the Hyperbaric and Wound Care treatment and research. He diagnosed him with having a Lymphocele that was a larger abnormal growth on his leg, basically a parasite that was causing him to loose steam at work and in life.

With surgery slated for January of 2011, he was in good hands. It was successful, but in the area of Lymphatics, the doctor removed the abnormality, but also removed a number of the healthy lymph nodes compromising the functionality of Ramón’s ability to filter fluids from his body properly.

Now more than ever, diet is extremely important to him as the less weight on his body, the more his lymphatic system can begin to function properly.
After trying multiple plans with slight success, he is determined to seek out the best option for living a healthy life so that he may continue his days as a Musical Enthusiast, a mentor and a father.