Jorge Saenz, owner of Kave Stage Bar in Mission.

Jorge Saenz had a good night. No, make that a great night.

The 30-year-old concert promoter and bar owner, who has booked many international acts such as Jumbo, Zoé and Moderatto for his own venue and for the annual music fest Yuju! Music Fest, expected the Spanish pop show to do well last week, and he’s sure he sold about 1,500 tickets.

In the midst of increasing border violence in Northern Mexico, entrepreneurs in the Rio Grande Valley like Saenz are doing quite well for themselves.

“The Mexican franchises, the Reynosa franchises, you have all these businesses that are coming over here, and people that you know … they’re already living here,” he said. “You don’t actually have to go (to Mexico). People have stopped going there.”

Since 2006, when Mexican President Felipe Calderón launched a military campaign against drug cartels in the country, there have been nearly 35,000 deaths due to drug-related violence, according to Mexican officials.

As a result, fewer and fewer people seem to be traveling to nearby Mexican border towns for shopping and entertainment.

Julieta Venegas performs at the Icehouse in McAllen Wednesday night January 27, 2011.

“When I was a teenager, 16, 17, I went to Mexico every weekend,” Saenz said. “When I was 20, I would go to Mexico very often – that was the thing to do. It has been probably five or six years since I (went regularly) … just because the life that we used to have in Mexico is now here.”

About five years ago, smaller music acts that drew less than 3,000 people would still play at clubs in small northern border towns in Mexico, Saenz said.

The writing on the wall, for Saenz, came when the Feria de Guadalupe in Monterrey (“what the Borderfest is to Hidalgo,” he said) was canceled last year after a gunshot fired sent crowds frantically rushing for exits. Five people were trampled to death and 17 others were injured.

Now it appears that most entertainment has migrated to the Valley, which is like a beacon for those working in the industry along the border, like Saenz.

“I think after what happened in Mexico, like when all the violence started exploding, there was (also) an explosion of promoters and events going on (in) the Valley,” he said.

In 2009, Saenz opened Kave Stage Bar in Mission. The venue is still dealing with fallout from a recent shooting in the parking lot, but Saenz’s business is still going strong.

Julieta Venegas performs at the Icehouse in McAllen Wednesday night January 27, 2011.

“It had nothing to do with cartels … everybody these days, not only in Mexico, but here, carries a gun. Why? Because they don’t feel safe,” he said.

Saenz said his regular clientele understands that the incident was isolated and had nothing do with the ongoing cartel violence. He still gets questions from people who don’t visit Kave often, but he assures them that it’s not a regular issue.

Though most of the artists from Mexico, like Venegas, that Saenz books travel to McAllen by air, some continue to make the drive from nearby cities like Matamoros or Monterrey – such as Alex Castillo, the lead singer of Spanish rock band Jumbo.

“Bands who come from Monterrey, they usually drive,” Saenz said. “…Monterrey is one of the cities that’s being attacked by violence, so I don’t want to say that they’re used to it, because it sounds really bad to say that someone could get used to violence.”

The reality, Saenz said, is that people have to continue living their lives. They haven’t stopped going out or going to work because they’re afraid, he said.

Saenz has had to cancel one show last year because of the border violence.

“Volovan sent a press release saying that they were canceling the show because of inseguridad (insecurity) in Mexico, so they were afraid of driving,” he said.

A few setbacks are bound to happen, but in the end, Saenz sees entertainment in the Valley, and specifically McAllen, growing exponentially, in part, because of the violence in Mexico.

“There are so many people that want to invest … this is just the beginning,” he said. “(McAllen) is a baby compared to what’s going to happen.”

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