LA Eastside » soledadenmasa

Bone-shaking volume

soledadenmasa — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:37:39 +0000

Photo: Eric Grigorian for The New York Times

This past weekend, the N.Y. Times‘ Travel section revisited Los Angeles, focusing on narcocorridos and venues that play an important part in its spread throughout Los Angeles. It went better this time than the last time they visited L.A.

Narcocorridos, and by extension, any form of Mexican music that is born and nourished in Los Angeles, are not covered much in the United States. Almost every time narcocorridos are mentioned in media, it’s tied with the current Mexican Drug war fiasco and spoken about negatively. I once sat in on a discussion with a well-known Mexican journalist at a university and she all but blamed the whole situation in Mexico & the Americas on narcocorridos. The whole time I sat there, I shook my head, unable to comprehend how someone could explicitly blame corridos for the “drug war” in México.

Coverage of narcocorridos in the U.S. is much different than in México. The United States is much less subjective than México in its coverage of narcocorridos. Mexican journalists have bought the Mexican government’s argument that narcocorridos are to blame for the drug trade and must be banned from radio play. American journalists have gone further into narcocorridos, documenting its rise and popularity among Mexicans in the United States and the constant airplay in radio. It’s a musical form that allows the children of Mexican immigrants to become immensely popular, though the singing is sometimes sub-par.

The N.Y. Times did a good job with this article, going around to small bars locations around mostly South-Central & Southeast L.A., the origins of most forms of Mexican music & artists that have emerged from L.A. (Voces del Rancho, Chalino Sanchez, Adan “Chalino” Sanchez, Saúl Viera “El gavilancillo,” Pedro, Lupillo, & Jenni Rivera, etc.). Of course, no article about contemporary Mexican music in Los Angeles can ignore Chalino Sánchez and this article is not the exception.

I don’t know what more to say about the article. I think it’s a good primer on Mexican music in Los Angeles, as good as can be expected from any Travel section. While most Travel sections stay the hell away from any area between Downtown L.A. and the beaches of southern Los Angeles county, this article treated them better than I’ve heard some people in L.A. talk about these areas.

¿Qué piensan?

DISCLOSURE: The owners of El Farallon & El Dorado Night Club are relatives of mine. Additionally, many workers at these establishments, past and present, are relatives or family friends.

Image at the top of the post is taken from the article’s accompanying slideshow. Crossposted at my site.

New Parks Where Barren Land Once Was

soledadenmasa — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:23:26 +0000

Unfinished portion of Chavez Park, Phase II, taken Sep. 2008

For as long as I can remember, South Gate has had a bike path along Southern Ave. It begins near Alameda, passes South Gate Park and reaches the Los Angeles River bike path via an entrance at Tweedy & Burtis, at the edge of abandoned industrial lots. As you can tell by the pictures, the bike path runs under the DWP’s transmission towers and often intersects residential streets far from the corner, creating a hazard whenever bicyclist and driver fail to look for oncoming travelers. LACMTA classifies it as a Class I bike path [pdf] until it reaches South Gate Park, at which point there are bike lanes on both sides of Southern.

That being said, I still cyclists riding on the sidewalk on the other side of the street or bicyclists on the street itself, though the bike path is just across the street. What gets into people’s heads to ride so unsafely when they have the option the ride safely, separate from cars, across the three-lane street? It’s bothered me every time I’ve seen it, both as a pedestrian and a driver. I’m not disturbed that asshole cyclists shut down the street (they don’t), it’s that riders do not take advantage of the opportunity to ride safely. Children’s races along the bike path are a welcome common sight, but I’d like to see more of the cyclists going in South Gate on the bike path. More (including images) after the jump.

As a kid, I rode on the bike path often, sometimes racing friends from one end of the block to the other. It’s a great bike path and it would be a better path to walk along if something was done about the weed-filled lots surrounding the bike path. I’ve always considered the DWP right of way along Southern a prime area to create a sort of Emerald Necklace through the middle of South Gate. South Gate & Hollydale parks are the only large parks in South Gate, each on separate sides of the L.A. River. Stanford Ave. & State St. parks are small lots of land, the former having a few slides, the latter being little more than a field on the northeast corner of State & Southern.

Playground at Chavez Park Phase I, taken Sep. 2008.

Around ten years ago, a portion of the DWP right-of-way was converted into Cesar Chavez Park, with slides, picnic areas, and shade at Southern & Santa Fe, a part of South Gate lacking in green space and far from South Gate Park. Stanford Ave. Park is two blocks south of Chavez Park, but it doesn’t provide the large space for a soccer game or a good water balloon fight.

The surrounding environment, Long Beach & Southern. Taken Sep. 2008.

Chavez Park may not have many trees, but it’s a good example of turning an existing empty lot of dirt & rocks into a green space that the community around enjoys. Sometime last year, South Gate finished Phase II of the Cesar Chavez Park project and turned the empty land along between Long Beach & State into a chain of parks. They are much better than the barren land I biked along when I was younger and they’re perfect small parks for the communities around Southern Ave.

The future for South Gate. Doesn't that look better than barren land?

The bike lane provides an opportunity for the city to improve the quality of life of its citizens (and possibly real estate values) by taking the completing the chain of parks. Currently, the General Plan of the city of South Gate is in the process of being updated and the park along Southern is one of the proposals for the new General Plan. To read the draft of the General Plan, click here [pdf]. You can also read the Parks and Recreation Master Plan here [pdf]. And please, instead of calling it Cesar Chavez Park, can we call it Southern Park? Not everything has to be named after Cesar Chavez.

I took all the photographs used in this post. Crossposted over at my site.

If you want to see how the barren lots look now & how Phase II looked during construction, mess around with the Google Street View.

VIII Encuentro de Jaraneros, 27 June, Lynwood!

soledadenmasa — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:00:41 +0000

This coming Saturday, June 27th, the 8th Annual Encuentro de Jaraneros is taking place at Plaza México in Lynwood! It’s not common for events like this one to get much publicity outside of Spanish-language media, and that’s where LAEastside.com comes in!

El Encuentro starts at noon and is scheduled to end after 9 p.m. The full list of performers is available at the website. The Masters of Ceremonies are Radio-Mas Veracruz’s Rafael Figueroa & KPFK’s Betto Arcos.

What is son jarocho? More info & music after the jump!

A definition of son jarocho from the Encuentro de Jaraneros website:

The Son Jarocho of southern,Veracruz is one of the most dynamic variations of the musical/dance genre known as the Son Mexicano. The “folk music” of Mexico, the Son Mexicano emerged during the colonial period as a mix in between Spanish, Indigenous, and African, music and dance. As early as the 16th century, the Spanish introduced the native indigenous population to stringed instruments such as the violin, harp, and various guitar-types. These three instruments thus became an “instrumental core” and for the next 300 years natives and Mestizos developed their own regional stringed instruments on the European models. Some of these instruments are the vihuela of the west coast, the jarana huasteca of the eastern-central regions, and the jarana jarocha of Southern Veracruz. As a distinct regional instrumentation developed so did a distinct regional music/dance tradition. Just as the Son Huasteco from east-central Mexico and the west coast Son de Mariachi have their own characteristics the Son Jarocho can be distinguished by its percussive rhythms, syncopation, vocal style, and improvisation in its harmonic and rhythmic framework and verse.

Readily accessible via public transportation (Long Beach Green Line Station, Buses 60/760/251/121/612) & free!

VIII ENCUENTRO DE JARANEROS DE CALIFORNIA
Plaza Mexico
3100 E. Imperial Hwy. (Between State & Long Beach)
Lynwood, CA 90262

Summer’s here! Any plans?

soledadenmasa — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:30:54 +0000

If you can’t see the video posted, let me know.

No related posts.

Núñez’s back, tell a friend

soledadenmasa — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:11:56 +0000

Less than three months after being termed out of his Assembly seat, former Speaker Fabián Núñez has filed paperwork to run for office in 2010, if not sooner.

The Sacramento Bee reports that Núñez filed paperwork to return to Sacramento as a state Senator, running to replace current state Senator Gil Cedillo, who intends to run for Hilda Solis’ Congressional seat once she is confirmed as Secretary of Labor.

Who knows if he will actually run for office or if this just an action to store his reported $5 million war chest. I hope not to see him in office.

Photo taken from cindylu’s Flickr page.

Even in other parts of the nation…

soledadenmasa — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:10:28 +0000

Anyone know what WSP stands for? I’ve been looking for an answer but have not found one. Not the Eastside, but still worth posting here.

Seen on the Blue Line, Boston, Massachusetts, January 24, 2009.

The calm before the storm

soledadenmasa — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:04:13 +0000

Before the Gold Line extension opens, we must ensure we have transportation to infiltrate the enemy. We have expertly placed troops throughout various points in the Westside, always vigilant. However, we need more troops in the Westside to relieve some of the stress on our exiled troops. The Eastside and allied neighborhoods are some of the densest in the United States and we can afford to send more out west. Let’s call it Manifest Destiny.

We can encircle Silver Lake (two words, cabrones! If you live in the neighborhood, learn to spell it! I’ve seen way too many write it as Silverlake), but we have to move people over the Westside as quickly as possible. With no direct train out west past Western (unless you go northwest to Hollywood) and the 20/720/920 packed as ever on Wilshire, we must use our horseless carriages, especially for reconnaisance. If you’re not a member of Midnight Ridazz 2 or a paisa on a bici to work, you shouldn’t be on a bike over there for fear of being followed by the Neighborhood Jura. Even if you’re a paisa on your bici to work, ¡aguas!

I present to you the avant garde and fastest way to transport large numbers of people: the car trunk kept down with rope. Riding in trunks is no longer something you do when you’re drunk/high/desmadroso or to make it past Oceanside to Orange County. with this new technology, it will be a snap to release those in the trunk, just use a scissor or knife to cut the rope and BAM! you’re out! With a number of old Lincoln Town Cars/Ford Crown Victorias/Chevy Caprice, the Eastside will infiltrate the Westside with relative ease.

With enough Eastsiders/sympathizers in the Westside, we could hotwire their Prius’s GPS to talk like this:

This post was an excuse to use that picture. With La Crisis on us, people just can’t afford to drive to a junkyard and get a lock for their car. Sometimes the easiest way out is the best way out.

The cityhood train marches on

soledadenmasa — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 06:16:25 +0000

One hurdle on East L.A.’s path to incorporation was cleared on Friday. The County registrar certified the signatures on the cityhood petition, all 11,000-plus. What’s next? The fiscal study on the feasibility of cityhood, which should be complete by September 2009, according to the timeline in the official cityhood website. An initial study conducted in 2007 showed the possible City of East Los Angeles would be economically feasible.

If the new study finds East Los Angeles to be economically feasible, a cityhood vote would be held in 2010 and the city would be incorporated in 2011. If anything, the Gold Line will work in East L.A.’s favor.

My favorite part of this drive for cityhood is explained in this statement by Oscar Gonzales, the President of the East Los Angeles Residents Association:

Gonzales says the 140,000 residents are represented by a county supervisor whose district covers 2 million people.

State Senator Gloria Romero currently supports this process and Supervisor Gloria Molina has stayed quiet. I wonder when she’ll speak or abstain. Very interesting…

I know we got urban planners/awesome people who read this blog. Please, give your insight into East Los.

Image above taken from Cityhood for East L.A.’s Flickr. To learn more, visit their official website.

Mariachiando: Me miro en el espejo

soledadenmasa — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:00:15 +0000

In this issue of Mariachiando we jump from 1999 (last post) to Nochebuena 2006…

In high school, I was part of a mariachi group with other high school friends. We formed it sometime before the beginning of high school in 2003 (we were all in the same year at school) and we performed at private parties, etc., throughout Southern California. Though it was a (tax-free) source of income for many of us, we always hesitated about taking gigs after December 15th because members traveled with their families or had very packed calendars. In 2006, however, almost all our members stayed in South Gate for Christmas and we accepted a gig on Nochebuena only because it was a one-hour performance in South Gate.

We only had one replacement for that night, another mariachi musician from South Gate and a friend of ours (always up to substitute in our group). I arrived at the house about half-an-hour early and warmed up with other the mariachis outside. It was a really cold night, notwithstanding the fact that we were wearing mariachi trajes (not the best protection for legs), but looking forward to a quick performance where there wouldn’t be anyone drunk.

We went in and performed in their backyard. Though they had hired us, they did not seem too much into the songs. Maybe because it was Christmastime, who knows. They had a fire going and all the embers and smoke were blowing toward us, messing up our singing and choking us throughout the performance. When our hour was done, we bowed and started to take our leave. One of the men stopped us and said (in Spanish), “Stay for one more hour.”

“Can’t, it’s Nochebuena and we agreed to only one hour. We have to go with our families.”

“I’ll pay 500 dollars for the second hour.” “Sorry, we really have to go.” “$700?” “Look, we must…” “$1,000?” “We’ll talk about it with the rest of the members.”

One hour of our time in Nochebuena was worth $1,000 to him. Our first hour went for $300.

We thought he was bluffing about the money. He gave us $500 at the beginning of the hour and said he would give us the rest at the end of the hour. He kept his word.

We started our second hour, happy we were each getting over $100 for that night. He was happy to have us at the family reunion for one more hour, a bit more cheer for the house.

About twenty minutes into the hour, a woman of the house came to us and asked, “Can you come inside and play a song for us?” We agreed, thinking the song would be for people inside the house for warmth.

As we filed into the house through the kitchen, I noticed everyone outside the house followed us inside. None of us knew who were playing for. In a few seconds, it was all too clear.

In their living room, between the Christmas tree and gifts and above the mantelpiece, was a large framed picture of a child, no more than ten years old. On a stool, there was his backpack and some toys. On the mantelpiece, an unwrapped tamal, a glass of milk and two cookies.

I knew what song they would request, secretly hoping they would prove me wrong and request another song.

“We want you… to play Amor eterno for our son…”

We looked at each other. Our singer for Amor eterno was sick at the time. Luckily, another of the singers knew the lyrics and could sing in range. We were saved from the embarrassment of not being able to play the song.

We mariachis stood in a semicircle behind the couches. The family sat on the couches or in the doorways. Everybody in the room was looking at his visage.

Inside, I was worried about when family members would start crying. After playing “Amor eterno” (a song we vowed years earlier to play only when requested) many times, it was always new to me when people started crying to the song. For some, it was soon as the song started. Other erupt at “Como quisiera, ay…”

Too many people started crying at different times that I stopped paying attention to who cried when. Everyone in the room started singing to their son, their nephew. His mother broke down in tears in a couch, comforted by his madrina. His father stood against a wall, stone-quiet.

I have never liked to play Amor eterno because there is always at least one person who starts crying. I’m fine with one or two people singing, but when more start singing and crying to the song, I feel bad for them and either want to start crying or hang my head down. I’ve spoken with other mariachis and we all feel the same way. Our detachment from performing can only go so far.

Once the song was over, the family was still sobbing. We filed out and finished our hour outside the house, colder than before we entered.

The man who paid us $1000 for the extra hour was in the street, burning rubber in his truck, drunk. Family had to drag him out of the truck.

Within an hour, we were all home with our families. I went straight to sleep.

I wonder what moves people to allow complete strangers to be part of their private grieving. I’ve thought about that family every Nochebuena since then.

Crossposted at my blog.

Mariachiando: La raíz

soledadenmasa — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:58:44 +0000

Mariachiando will be an ongoing series of posts at L.A. Eastside and my blog about my experience as a mariachi musician throughout Los Angeles. The posts will not be in chronological order in order to fully document these experiences and create a narrative. To follow these posts here at L.A. Eastside, visit the Mariachiando category.

My paternal grandfather was a mariachi musician in México. in the weekends, my grandfather often left for a whole day or a weekend with his violin, guitar, or vihuela, to play with compadres in other pueblos around los Altos de Jalisco. Often, he’d be in the plazas, playing and singing with friends. When he came to the United States to work in the 1970s, he spent time working, but eventually quit and spent the rest of his time in East L.A., playing throughout the area with other mariachis and friends.

Meanwhile, my dad and siblings grew up listening to my grandfather’s music and the music that filtered to their pueblo’s radios from Guadalajara. When they had some time to themselves, either when they walked from their rancho to the pueblo, they played games or sang. While none of my grandfather’s children became mariachis themselves, they all sang, a few of them very, very well and my dad learned to play the guitar.

My dad is the third-oldest male and the fourth-oldest child. The eldest three males immigrated first to the United States in the late-1970s. They originally lived in East L.A. & Boyle Heights, but moved to South Gate in the early-1980s. All the siblings eventually moved out to the Bay Area, the last one, the oldest male of the family, leaving South Gate in 1989 and his stove to my dad (which is still in operation today). One of my uncles, my future padrino de bautizo, lived in the Bay Area and married someone he met over there. My grandfather stayed with him and other uncles during that time, and with him he had his violin. Mi padrino hired a mariachi to play at the cena after the misa, and of course it was time for my grandfather to bring out his instrument and perform along with the mariachi. The mariachi mi padrino hired was the mariachi that Carlos Santana’s father was a member. I was only a few months old.

I didn’t see my grandfather again until 1993. I don’t remember that trip at all. I went again in 1995 and re-met my grandfather. I was five years old and what I most remembered of him was the he spent a lot of time playing and singing music.

In the U.S., my dad had a guitar in our apartment that he used sometimes to accompany himself as he sang. It hung in a corner of the living room, collecting dust and hanging from a single neon-green shoelace tied through the headstock. I always wanted to learn the guitar, but because of my dad’s limited knowledge and little contact with my grandfather, I was not able to start learning an instrument.

Between 1995 and 1999, I saw my grandfather a few times in Tijuana, when he visited his sister. In 1999, my uncles in the Bay Area were able to bring him into the United States. Then, my uncles had a party to welcome him to the United States and my family went up to the Bay Area. My padrino hired a grupo huasteco and my grandfather started playing and singing with them.

In elementary school, I was told that because I was in the Gifted Program, I had the opportunity to take music classes. Immediately, I told my parents I wanted to learn the guitar. My dad obliged and bought me my first guitar, a cheap, $20 guitar we bought at La Barata in South Gate (the store also supplied most of the furniture and appliances in our apartment in the 1990s).

I never sensed any pressure from my family to become a mariachi like my grandfather. I just wanted to be a part of my grandfather’s, uncles, and father’s performances at family gatherings.