“I’m a hang with white people.”

sgt. poke from Generation Kill
“From the creator of “The Wire”, HBO brings you “Generation Kill“, the true story of the highly trained Marines of First Recon Battalion; following them through the first 40 days of the Iraq war.”

Above is a photo of Sgt. Tony “Poke” Espera played by Jon Huertas.
STATS:
First Recon
Age: 30
Rank: Sgt., Assistant Team Leader
Humbee 2 Bravo: Passenger, Front
Hometown: Riverside, CA

I tried finding this clip on YouTube but no luck. In one episode, he’s talking to Evan Wright, writer for Rolling Stone and says, Continue reading

Where’s the gig @ ????

I feel old whenever I see kids coming out of gigs, dance parties and kick backs now adays. I remember when I was part of that scene. Hanging out with friends kicking back and getting crazy in the pit. I reframed from drinking 40s or getting high because its not my thing, but that didn’t stop everyone else. On a good night I would end up going home smelling of beer and weed still laughing at all the stupid shit we saw or did while at the show.

Continue reading

Memories of A Lost Boulevard- The Center Theater Part 2; A Date With Destiny

The Center Theater; A Date With Destiny. Commemorating the 38th Anniversary of the E.L.A. Chicano Moratorium Demonstrations and the Murder of Ruben Salazar on August 29th 1970.
It was a roasting, sweaty Saturday. I was on summer vacation from elementary school. Mom had been edgy all day with all that news coming over Canal 34 and KWKW radio about the “Chicano Riots” coming down Whittier Blvd…. Continue reading

Memories of a Lost Boulevard: The Center Theater

Memories of a Lost Boulevard Series, A Tribute to Whittier Boulevard
Whittier Boulevard Movie Theaters, Part 3.

THE CENTER THEATER
4762 Whittier Blvd.
East Los Angeles, CA

955 South Kern Avenue, just south of Whittier Blvd. is where I lived for most of my early childhood. It was a warm, kid friendly, suburban neighborhood where everything you needed was a skip away. I fondly remember living like a Mexican “Leave It To Beaver” episode on that sweet tree-shaded avenue. Continue reading

Lay Away Jewelry

I haven’t put anything on layaway in awhile, I think the last time was at the Kmart in Commerce back when they offered that program. (Maybe they still do?) But that was in the past when I just needed clean socks and maybe some school supplies. My needs are different now that I’m moving up in the world with my successful business of adding rocks to my recyclable cans and bottles: my profit margin is thru the roof! I haven’t decided on what kinda piece I’ll choose but at least I know this Highland Park shop has me covered!

Click ahead to see where I’ll go should I hit on hard times!

Continue reading

Spare Change

It is odd how things come to ones mind out of the blue.

Last week I met this homeless man who inspired a poem for really no reason, now I am no poet but the words just came to to me while text messaging with a friend.

He appeared in my sight after we got out of Bar 107 on so called “Reggae Night”. After calling it a night we headed out the joint towards Main st, no matter what if you in the area your most likely gonna get hit up for change by the homeless population left in the vicinity. One of my friends knew a few of them from working in the area so it was pretty normal. I myself never really been scared of homeless, I usually am real curious about their lives and many times I like to talk to them.

Photo from Google

Continue reading

A funny thing happened on my way to the internet.

I was going to go to the SiteLA’s (SiteLA is a Quicksilver marketing campaign) Heya party on Friday, August 22nd.

The transportation event sponsored by Toyota??!!!! I know. How could I NOT comment on that? How can I NOT make fun of SiteLA (I’ve got nothing to lose I’m not in Quicksilver’s demographic. Black girls don’t surf.) I think it’s fab that inspired people who are getting nonunion wages to make a very long commercial are doing inspiring things, but come on.

On Friday evening I was going there to make fun of the “random” coolness (and get free beer,) but then I got an email with a bit from Tina Dupuy.

Continue reading

ELAC Goes Solar

Yeah, I know, this is old news, but it’s new to me: one of the ELAC parking lots has been outfitted with a whole bunch of solar panels and is now producing about 45% of the electricity the school needs. That’s a pretty good idea. And I bet it helps keep cars cooler. But even better, us swapmeeteros can now rummage through the goods without roasting our necks! Click ahead for a few more pics.

Continue reading

back from Puerto Rico and right back in it…

I will write a trip review later, but this is for the now.

I will be on KPCC 89.3 FM today between 5 and 6 pm. Tune in! Below is info from their website.

Don’t forget our upcoming panels:

Saturday August 23rd Panel #5 at Adrian’s house 420 Boyle St. 6:30pm, ARTIST AS DJ

Wednesday August 27th Panel #6 at G727 6:30pm, POWER TOOLS mixshow Panel and 16 th Birthday Party

Web Resources

* KCET Web story “Backyard Parties: A Brief History of DJ Culture in Southern California”

from:
89.3 FM KPCC

Gallery Exhibit Explores East Los Angeles D.J. Culture
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
August 22, 2008

DJ culture, with its turntables, record scratching, and fashions, is ever-present in mainstream television, movies and advertising. An exhibit at a downtown L.A. gallery argues that East L.A. DJ’s as far back as 30 years ago and the Eastside parties where they played constitute an overlooked chapter of DJ culture. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports about the gallery’s efforts to unearth cultural history

Continue reading

Los Angeles bicycle master plan is being updated

A quick joke, What do bicyclist and skateboarders have in common ? They both hate people in unicycles…chirp…chirp… The City of Los Angeles is updating it’s bicycle routes through out the entire city and it’s asking for public comments and suggestions to make improvements. According to the site, “The following documents provide a summary of public input gathered from February through April of 2008.   This information is being analyzed and used as a reference as we conduct fieldwork and develop policies and programs for the draft plan.  Additional comments and suggestions will be accepted throughout the process.” There are links to lamp route suggestions, route suggestions, commuter routes, and a survey report of people willing to take their time to answer questions like, “Are you a bicycle rider ?” and “30. If you checked yes to question 8 or 9, please provide the following information…” I gave the site a quick run through and the Eastside is practically ignored. In the bike route list, there is a link that reads “Eastside,” but if you click on it, this is what your are linked to. I think that the Eastside bike club will have something to say about that. Anyone interested in the cities plans for adding and updating bike routes should go to the site and speak their mind and tell the city to improve and in our case add new bike routes.Â