Jose Escamilla (March 25, 1951 – December 12, 2018) was born “Jose” Jesus Garza Escamilla. He was an American singer-songwriter and filmmaker. He is best known as the founder and owner of TBLN Film Company.

Early life

Escamilla was born in Roswell, New Mexico on March 25, 1951, to France Garza Solsberry and Jose Escamilla Sr. He has two sisters, Becky and Rose, and one brother Manuel.

thumb|Earning the Right to Represent the Crater Teen Club of Roswell, New Mexico

Career

Musician

Jose was 14 years old when he joined a Garage rock band called, Ye Court Jesters.thumb|These young students of Roswell High School are the first three members of Ye Court Jesters.He was their lead guitarist and vocalist until they disbanded in 1968. The members included: Phil Allison (guitar, vocals), Satty Chaves (bass, vocals), Walter Henandez (drums, vocals), Michael Jones (organ, vocals), and Wayne Rose (rhythm guitar, vocals).thumb|Ye Court Jesters playing in Roswell, New Mexico The group's 45 record (a.k.a. 45 vinyl) recording had Side A But I Still Love Her and Side B All I Want Is You. It was the band's topped chat songs in 1965.thumb|Ye Court Jesters were a Garage Rock band from Roswell, New Mexico.

Jose also performed with another Garage Rock band called The Crowns.

May 28, 1970 - Jose stated his solo career. Two songs were recorded on a single 45 disc, Poor Man's Children and Jan. The record sold 500 copies before being aired on Roswell's KBIM and KKAT radio stations. thumb|This is one of Jose Escamilla's solo career songs.

September 30, 1973 - Escamilla established a nine-week guitar lessons at Roswell's YMCA for members and non-Y members.

In 1974 the group Collection was formed with members Steve Ward - Lead Vocals, Richard Escobar - Bass Guitar, Steve Morales - Lead Guitar, Richard Lucero - Percussion, and Jose Escamilla - Piano & Guitar.

Bibliography

In 1981, Jose and his brother, Manuel Escamilla, wrote a series of books to include a children's reader:

  • The Guardian written by Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla) and Manuel Escamilla, June 9, 1981
  • The Jackie Coogan child star awards Author Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla), June 9, 1981
  • Secret of Mirror Lake written by Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla) and Manuel Escamilla, June 9, 1981
  • The Great Vegas Rip-Off written by Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla) and Manuel Escamilla, June 9, 1981
  • Fingers written by Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla), Del Zamora, and Manuel Escamilla, June 9, 1981
  • La Historia dedos hermanos - The Story of two brothers written by Jose Escamilla (Jesus Garza Escamilla) and Manuel Escamilla, June 9, 1981

Book illustration:

  • An unabridged digest of even more Roswell incidents: 1930 thru this morning! (oh, about 9:15) illustrated by Jose Escamilla, October 26, 1994

Co-authored:

  • Mystery Us Universe: Origin and Destiny co-author by Jose Escamilla, published in 2012

Vocalist

In 1985, Jose Escamilla composed and sang the title song, One Minutes of Peace in a concert of the same name to honor Samantha Smith, an American peace activist, at the Hollywood Bowl. The event was televised live in the United States, the United Kingdom, and in Russia. The song was re-recorded on a 45 record in 1986.

thumb|45 Record of Jose Escamilla's song "One Minute of Peace"

Film

In 1989, Jose Escamilla first filming experience started by being cast as a background actor in the film Up Your Alley. In the making of this film, Jose will meet Ruth Buzzi. In the following year, Jose established the Ultimate Dinosaur Productions Inc. in California and made a non-violent cartoon about a dinosaur called Donny Deinonychus. Ruth Buzzi and Richard Moll are voice actors in this cartoon series.

January 17, 1994 - The Northridge earthquake affected the Los Angeles area of California and destroyed Mr. Escamilla's small production studio. So, he decided to moved what was left of his studio to New Mexico. He set up shop near his sister and brother in Midway.

March 5, 1994 - In Midway, New Mexico, Jose's sister Becky was camping near Midway when she noticed some objects (straight up) in the sky above her. She called and asked Jose to come and film these objects stating that, "Five UFOs came out in broad daylight." Jose was reluctant to come at first thinking she was playing a trick on him. But when he arrived, he managed to tape 16 minutes of objects in the sky.

By June 1994, the Escamilla Family UFO sightings in Midway, New Mexico, had attracted national attention. It is reported, "UFO researchers have estimated the speed of some of the flying objects at 2,000 miles per hour", says Becky Escamilla, "There is no explanation as to why we don't hear them or how they can survive the G-force." The television programs Hard Copy (S3 E228, 22 min, Sep 23, 1994: UFO sightings) and Fox network Encounters were using footage recorded by the Escamillas. The Escamilla family were compensated a fee of $1,500 a day to conduct studies at the site.

The term RODS is Escamilla's way to categorized a new and/or never seen before living lifeform. Others in the film industries, have suggested that RODS are visual artifacts. Please see Rod (optical phenomenon) for more information.

July 3, 1994 - Roswell, New Mexico's mayor Tom Jennings had issued a proclamation declaring July is "UFO Awareness Month". John Price of the Outta Limits UFO Enigma Museum says this is timely because of the UFO sightings reported and that the museum is sponsoring Jose Escamilla's UFO research at Midway, N.M. Mr. Escamilla videotapes will be incorporated into a series called Ice Films - Unclassified hosted by various celebrities.

July 13, 1994 - A UFO theme park project idea was introduced by Jose to attraction tourist to the Roswell area. "It would be a special-effect theme park," Mr. Escamilla said to Roswell Daily Record's reporter, Sylvie D. Nelsen. To raise the $3 million needed to lay the groundwork, Jose contacted a California based company specializing in raising funds for entertainment-oriented business. "That funding will be done by marketing the tapes (that Escamilla recorded), expressed by Raysar Entertainment Present, Mr. Dave Watson.

Production Companies

With the viewing success of his first two documentaries, RODS: The Smoking Gun Evidence and UFO: The Greatest Story Ever Denied, Escamilla started his second production company, Jose Escamilla Media Works, later to become TBLN Films. He is the producer of ten films and directed seven of them. He also has many filming credits as a writer, editor, and in the music department.

Events

  • In 2007, Iowa State University's engineer students built and tested "flying rod" models and was documented on The History Channel's MonsterQuest. In a segment of the film, students made two models of the ROD, one with flimsy wings and the other with stiff wings. The flimsy winged model shows little aerodynamic qualities, but the stiffer wing model did show it was flyable. In another segment, Professor Robin Wootton, biologist at University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, demonstrated with his own ROD model the possibility of prehistoric bugs could look and have the same flight characteristics shown in the original Escamilla film. He stated that the items filmed were not flying but were projectiles. In the ending segment, two cameras (one regular, the other high speed) were used to question the RODs theory, (Monsterquest Season 1 Episode 11 - Unidentified Flying Creatures January 8, 2008).
  • Due to the nature of the MonsterQuest findings and after a public ridicure by Joe Rogan on July 6, 2013 during a Q&A at a UFC Fan Exposition, Escamilla suffered from "Verbal attacks and my business have been greatly affected". To help in his defense, he published a counter film called, Jose Escamilla vs Monster Quest. In this new film, Joes added the demonstration flights provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists of the flying Nano RODs built on campus. This evidence was left out by MonsterQuest.
  • With the help of his friends like Doctor Roger Leir, producer Tonia Madenford, fellow directors, and Ed Grimsley of the UFO Night Vision Skywatcher, Jose continued his filming career.
  • Sunday, April 26, 2015 - ASBURY PARK, New Jersey - The Stone Pony hosted a fund raiser for recently hospitalized Jose Escamilla (doctors had found a blockage in his heart and put stents in three arteries). Jose needed to raise $5,000 for treatments and therapy that his Medi-Cal doesn't cover. The music communities' participating bands were: Mikell's Plot; Broken Angels; Mike Walsh / Departure, Chris Seabasty, Bullet Train, Magical Voodoo Revue, Smoking Catfish, and the Dana Gaynor Band.

Notable Interviews

Because of Jose's growing popularity, he was invited to appeared on various radio and television shows, including Coast to Coast AM and MSNBC. Numerus newspaper articles, i.e. News 9 of Oklahoma City, OK or La Voz Hispana De Colorado (printed in a mixed of English and Spanish), were written about his findings. From December 17, 1996 to January 12, 2006 - Coast to Coast AM host's Art Bell and later George Noory, had many interviewed with Jose discussing his findings.

Newspaper Interviews

  • Lancashire Telegraph UFO'S spotted in Lytham published 3rd December 1999
  • LAist - Quotes from MSNBC News broadcast. Published February 26, 2017 11:00 PM.

Radio

  • March 5, 2002 with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM
  • October 23, 2002 with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM
  • July 7, 2003 with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM
  • September 27, 2003 with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM
  • January 11, 2006 with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM
  • March 23, 2009 with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM
  • May 12, 2010 with George Noory on Coast to Coast AM
  • April 27, 2011 with Chase Kloetzke on Inception Radio Network
  • September 17, 2011, August 26, 2017, and February 2022 rebroadcast of February 22, 2001 interview with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM

Television

  • News 9 - News 9 Investigates The Phenomenon Of RODS (part 1) November 20th 2014, Oklahoma City, OK 10:59 PM
  • July 18, 2015 with Heidi Hollis of The Outlander Pod Cast - Moon in Full Color
  • July 25, 2015 with Rena Barnett of Night Vision Radio Pod Cast - Moon Landscape Secrets

Guest Speaker

  • UFO Conference in Lytham, The Lowther Pavilion Theatre & Gardens, Lowther Terrace, Lytham Saint Annes FY8 5QQ, United Kingdom - December 4-5, 1999

Notable Mentions

Newspaper Mentions

  • Phoenix New Times - Rods: The Update published October 24, 1996
  • Banderas News - PRD Sparks UFO Rumors published June 2005

Social Media

  • Artwork by Sam Kalensky, "History: - "Rods as UFOs" became popular in 1995, One of the more outspoken proponents of "rods" as alien life forms was Jose Escamilla (1951~2018.)"
  • Anomalien.com, The Flying Rods phenomenon - By Jack Carter, "The Rods phenomenon began in March 1994 once Jose Escamilla, a film editor from New Mexico, caught some interesting footage of a UFO sighting." November 17, 2014 5:59PM
  • We Wont Back Down - YouTube Channel, "JOSE ESCAMILLA'S RODS SEEN IN BOURNE LEGACY MOVIE July 25, 2013, 3,360 views as of 27 January 2025

Books

  • Jose Escamilla is discussed/mentioned in the book UFOS AND ALIENS: shocking secrets, amazing encounters and complete cover-ups by UFO Guy.

Filmography

{|class="wikitable"

|+Directed features

! Year

! Title

! Distribution

|-

| 2016

| UFO: The Greatest Story Ever Denied III - UFOs from Outer Space

| TBLM Films

|-

| 2012

| Celestial

| TBLN Films

|-

| 2009

| Luna

| TBLN Films

|-

| 2009

| UFO: The Greatest Story Ever Denied II - Moon Rising

| Jose Escamilla Media Works

|-

| 2006

| UFO: The Greatest Story Ever Denied

| Jose Escamilla Media Works

|-

| 2004

| RODS: The Smoking Gun Evidence

| UFOTV (US)

|-

| 1998

| Solar Obliteration Method

| The Joseph Martin Company, Ultimate Dinosaur Productions

|}

Actor

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes

! scope="col" class="unsortable" |

|-

| 2013

| Watchers 7: Physical Evidence

| Self

| as Jose Escamilla

|

|-

| 2013

| Contacto Extraterrestre

| Self

| 1 episode, 2013

|

|-

| 1999

| You Asked for It!

| Guest

| unknown episode

|

|-

| 1989

| Up Your Alley

| Rudy

| as Jose Escamilla

|

|-

|}

Death

Jose Escamilla died of congestive heart disease on December 12, 2018.

Notes