Huell Howser Visits a Lowrider Show

I’ve seen loads of Huell Howser episodes. But a friend recently mentioned this one that I had never seen. If I haven’t seen it, maybe you haven’t either. Huell visits the old Sports Arena (now the really nice home to the new Los Angeles Football Club) for a Super Show of Lowriders. It’s an awesome episode highlighting some aspects of Chicano culture. I really like the bike at the 14:00 minute mark, with the Jesucristo wheel, some fish in the bike seat, and a live scorpion to get some attention. Enjoy!

Click on this link to see the full episode.
https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1994/09/04/visiting-201-lowriders/

Undocumented Event, Friday December 2 in Boyle Heights

Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) of UCLA is holding its first “Undocumented Event”

In conjunction with the ongoing L.A. Xicano exhibitions, CSRC will hold “Undocumented Event No. 1” on Friday, December 2, 3:00–8:00 p.m., at the Boyle Heights Farmers Market. Coproduced by the Mobile Mural Lab, an art space on wheels created by Los Angeles-based artists to foster dialogue and engage the community around matters of public art, this free public event will focus on muralism in Los Angeles.  Artists will be on hand to discuss the history of muralism, its role in community development, and the L.A. City Council’s mural moratorium, which was instituted in 2002 but is currently under review. The Mobile Mural Lab will offer outdoor video screenings and a mini-exhibition, and attendees can record their comments on the truck’s exterior—a portable mural space. The Boyle Heights Farmers Market is located on Bailey Street at East 1st Street , near Mariachi Plaza .

The Undocumented Event series will continue with pop-up events and activities. Each will be different in nature, involving community members and Chicano artists in varied capacities and covering a range of themes, including paper fashion, music, muralism, and other visual arts. The events will take place at public sites throughout Los Angeles through February 26, 2012. 

Don’t miss the next Undocumented Event — Friend CSRC and L.A. Xicano on Facebook!

NEWS FLASH! “Quantifying Hate Speech on Commercial Talk Radio”

flyinureye 2010

The UCLA Chicano Studies Department has some very interesting presentations and programming during the week.  Wish I didn’t have to work–darn! For the price of parking and some gas, you are invited to join these important topics taking place (mostly) at the UCLA Chicano Studies Department. 

I just saw this week’s Discussion Panel and Press Conference—and you are in luck, it’s just downtown.  For those of us looking at ourselves, our actions and (especially) our speech critically, this dialogue is crucial.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011
12:30 p.m. (PST)
MALDEF
634 S. Spring Street
Edison Room, 1st floor
Los Angeles, CA 90014

In a groundbreaking pilot study conducted by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) in partnership with the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), a team of researchers have developed a replicable methodology to quantify hate speech in commercial broadcasting—i.e., speech that expresses prejudice against ethnic, racial, religious, and/or sexual minorities. At this event, the principal investigators will officially release the study report. A panel discussion will include two other scholars working in this area.

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Out the Window

L.A. Woman from Out the Window on Vimeo.

A while back, Victoria wrote about the Freewaves project, “Out the Window.” Well, the videos are finally up and running on Metro buses and they’re online for folks to check out as well. I hate riding the bus, so I’ve been checking them out online instead. Way easier and with none of the awkwardness that comes with public transportation.

Aside from VD’s “L.A. Woman” vid, other submissions that made the cut include a piece on the Maravilla Handball Courts,by Manuel Huerta, Raul Baltazar as Tochtli 7 (the Aztec Bunny) and his adventure at the Chinese New Year Parade and Boyle Heights, as seen by Allen Colombo.

There are 60 different artist participating in total and the videos will be featured from October to November. A different 2-minute video will play each day, appearing once per hour, every hour. Check out their website to stay up to date on the newest videos they feature, an interactive map of L.A. that highlights where some of these videos were produced and the subjects in them. The project was a collaboration between Freewaves and UCLA REMAP.

Ride-In to the Movies on August 20

This Saturday night, August 20, you are invited to take a bike, a skateboard, roller skates, a wheelchair, a grocery cart or scooter ride to the movies for a fun interactive double feature Eastside style.

Two cult classic R rated screenings of Hollywood’s interpretation of gang life–Eastside to Westside are the evenings offerings. (Note: Kids should be accompanied by their adult.)


The Warriors (1979, directed by Walter Hill) – A gang called The Warriors are framed for killing a gang leader who was trying to unite all the gangs in New York City. With other gangs gunning for them they must get back to the home turf of Coney Island-alive!  (Luther) “There he is! That’s him! That’s… the Warrior! He shot Cyrus!” (Cleon) “Man, you crazy! I din’t do nuthin’!”   Starring Michael Beck, James Remar and Dorsey Wright.



Boulevard Nights (1979, directed by Michael Pressman) – One night Raymond takes Chuco with him to pick up Raymond’s girlfriend, Denise “Shady” Landeros and cruise the “boulevard”: a main drag in East L.A. which becomes an impromptu car show every weekend where young Hispanics show off their lowriders . Shady lives in a housing project in East L.A. with her family and works as a secretary for a business office in downtown Los Angeles. Shady has dreams of upward mobility and, because of this, tries to disassociate herself from barrio life. She wants Raymond to do the same but Raymond loves lowriding and is proud of his barrio roots. Starring:  Richard Yniguez, Danny De La Paz, Carmen Zapata and Marta DuBois

Bring a blanket, pillow and/or lawn chair for these outdoor screenings.  Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. Starts at 8 pm and ends at 12 am. Price: donation

Self Help Graphics & Art
1300 East First Street
Boyle Heights, CA 90033

LA Weekly Knows LA


Sidesider cat knows the score.

Hats off to Dennis Romero of the LA Weekly for schooling fools on some sense of LA geography that isn’t limited to the past 10 years. Check out this link and the discussion that is happening in the comments section, there are a bunch of cop out explanations of fluidity and change aka “I’m here now so the world is different”. I want to throw in my worthless two cents but have to get back to the pinchi jale.

You all should have your say.

Resistance Is Fertile: The Right To (Be) Merry aka “Uh… Yeah, What He Said.”

politicians are full of shit. that is not up for debate. but, when one of those leeches gets a little tipsy or isn’t busy trying to fondle little boys or decides not to run for re-election, he can say the “darndest” things. last week, new york senator roy or ronald or whatever mcdonald, said he would vote against his party. he released this statement to the press:

“You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing . . . You might not like that.  You might be very cynical about that.  Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think.  I’m trying to do the right thing.  I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics.  They can take the job and shove it.  I come from a blue-collar background.  I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.”

if he had read that statement at a press conference, i’d still be laughing.
link

Intersecting Realities: Visions of Immigrant Narratives

Save the date for June 18th 6 p.m. for what will be one of many art shows that looks at the Dream Act movement from the point of view of the individuals who make it up. This is a show that has been a long time in the making and through a collective effort of individuals and artist, a space has been created in which the movement will be seen a little differently that the normal political context. Seen the way we see it ourselves everyday going to work, school, being activist, artist, brothers, sisters, daughters,sons … human beings making the best of what was given to us.People see us as the students, dreamers, activist and youth, but rarely do those same people get to see the other sides of our lives outside of these spaces. Truly, a persons personally is like a kaleidoscope, perpetualy changing, sometimes too fast to notice.

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Film Festival on the LA Metro!

Those of you who ride the metro to work and around town, you’re in for a unique treat this month. Starting June 13 there will be a continuous loop of short films created about Los Angeles and especially for those who ride the metro.  This collection of films is called “Out of the Window”.  The Los Angeles Weekly got the jump on the details of this event last week. If knowing whose idea this was and who is funding this film festival click here for all those details.

My 2 minute film “LA Woman” was selected to be a part of this first group of films created by 30 professional artists and teams of teen filmmaking students. The films will be shown on 2000 LA Metro buses over 4000 square miles of LA County—wow! I’ve never been in such a mega media blitz before. The buzz was that there were an overwhelming amount of ‘car culture’ themed entries. Well, hell LA is all about how you get around the city–whether it’s on the metro, bike or car—it’s one our our daily preoccupations. My film is all about cruising. This festival will be interactive too. Films will end with a question prompting metro riders to text their response. My film question is “Who is your favorite LA woman?”.  Simple, because I like to keep it easy-breezy-lemon-squeezy.

On Sunday, June 12, all the student entries will be screened followed by a reception at Inner City Arts, 3pm. This is such an exciting project for these young Cecil B. DeMilles in-the-making. [I’m more of a Godard.]
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