• Madeline Lewis •
• Originally published July 27, 2008 at 11:25 p.m., updated July 27, 2008 at 11:25 p.m.

Victoria guitarist Ruben Alvarez loves the song “We Got the Beat.”

“I’m an ’80s fan,” he said. “I’m old school.”

Alvarez’s band, Slap Jesse, performed the Go-Go’s hit Sunday at the SlapFest III in Victoria’s Riverside Park. The music event also featured local groups Speed Limit 10, Dotado and AR-15. Slap Jesse organized the concert to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Victoria, which was burglarized last June.

“I think it’s great for them to step forward and do this for us,” said Boys & Girls Club Chief Executive Marc Vendl.

Vendl attended SlapFest with some children from the club, including 14-year-old Priscilla Garcia of Victoria. Garcia, who goes to the club five times a week, enjoyed the rhythms of opening act Speed Limit 10.

“It’s active and people can kind of dance,” she said.

Speed Limit 10 opened their performance with Armor for Sleep’s “The Truth About Heavan” because it gave 17-year-old lead singer Henry Salinas of Port Lavaca time to introduce the band. The group also includes Elliot Steele, 18, and Damon Dorsey, 14, both of Port Lavaca, and Pablo Trujillo, 18, of Victoria.

The concert was a family event for Speed Limit 10. Parents of the band’s members sat in lawn chairs and watched their children perform. A few even sported T-shirts that advertised the group.

Salina’s father, Henry, manages the sound at all group’s concerts.

He enjoys their renditions of modern teen rock songs, but he would like to see them expand into other decades.

“I wish they were doing Hotel California,” he said. “But they won’t step into the ’80s.”

Many of Sunday’s concert goers appreciated the event’s family atmosphere. Victoria resident April Hall attends many of Slap Jesse’s concerts because she dates the group’s drummer, Daniel Monroe.

She thought this event was pleasant because it was held in a venue appropriate for children.

“A lot of times they play in a bar setting,” she said. “But here, the whole family can come.’

The SlapFest is the third charitable concert hosted by Slap Jesse since 2006. Alvarez plans to put on more in the coming months.

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