Notice Served: No More Smoke Signals

RADIO SOMBRA’S FRIDAY FILM NIGHTS
FRIDAY May 14, 2010 7pm
NO MORE SMOKE SIGNALS

NO MORE SMOKE SIGNALS
(2008 U$A/Switzerland, 90 mins) English
Kili Radio – “Voice of the Lakota Nation” – is broadcast out of a small wooden house that sits isolated on a hill, lost in the vast countryside of South Dakota. It’s a place that’s long forgotten; lying at the crossroads between combat and hope, between the American dream and daily existence on America’s poorest reservation.
Yet we find people like Roxanne Two Bulls, who’s trying to start over again on the land of her ancestors; the young DJ Derrick who’s discovering his gift for music; Bruce, the white lawyer who for thirty years has been trying to free a militant who’s been fighting for American Indian rights; and finally John Trudell, an old AIM activist who’s made a career for himself as a musician in Hollywood.
Everything converges at Kili Radio. Instead of sending smoke signals the radio station transmits its own signals across a vast and magnificent landscape with a delightful combination of humor and melancholy. Native hip hop and broken windshields: pride has been restored – it really is OK to be Lakota(Kili = Lakota: awesome).

View Trailer

All community screenings held @ 7pm at

Centro Comunicacion Comunitaria
3806 E. Cesar Chavez Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90063
Boyle Heights- East Los Angeles
Just below Self Help Graphics

* Donations go towards keeping Centro Comunicacion Comunitaria operational and East L.A. Radio Sombra except if otherwise posted for a special presentation

K-12 Students Free!
Suggested donation: $3 adults – no one will be turned away

http://radiozombra.wordpress.com

THE GRAND CANYON STATE OF MIND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnvM5tK2_cw

Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds), a right on Chicano conjunto puts it down about the rogue state of Arizona.

With the new law in Arizona banning any ethnic study classes (aimed directly at the Tucson School District), and the direction by Tom Horne the Superintendent of the State of Arizona Dept of Education (who BTW is the Republican candidate for State Attorney General),  to fire any teachers who happen to have an “accent”,  I just wonder when this Arizona ethnic cleansing will run it’s course. My suspicion is it will take the Federal Govt to step in and stop the xenophobes  from trying to “out Mexican” each other while running for public office. We may witness even more draconian laws and enforcement like no speaking a language other than English in public places or no Spanish language TV or Radio, or mandates to force “Pollo Loco” joints to use English in thier advertising, hell they might become” Crazy Chickens” to go places in Arizona.

It’s going to get verrrry interesting. 

BOYCOTT ARIZONA!!

Low End Theory


Low End Theory at the Airliner
“What part of town is this? This is Lincoln Heights”

There’s been an under-the-radar, beat-thumping musical revolution going on right here in Lincoln Heights. More specifically, it’s been happening at The Airliner, a popular music venue on North Broadway. It’s where a collective of DJs, who favor beats over vocals, has been putting together shows for the past few years under the banner of “Low End Theory.”

As a frequent listener to NPR, I got a thrill out of them mentioning Lincoln Heights in a recent piece they put together about Flying Lotus, a Low End Theory DJ. Here’s an excerpt:

Ellison began creating new-school hip-hop in his bedroom. For years, he traded tracks with other budding DJs and played music in nightclub parking lots. Then the scene got organized, at a club in L.A.’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood.

“Eventually, there was this party started called Low End Theory, which was geared toward this sound,” he says. “It was more of a producer’s lounge, basically. If you got talent and you got tracks and you hang out enough at Low End Theory, eventually someone will hear something and you can do something.”

Visit the site to hear clips of the music and interview with the DJs.
Flying Lotus: ‘Beat Music’ And The Coltrane Family Tradition

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Mariscos 4 Vientos

Hey my people – I been on the food blog tip lately, and today I present a good spot for all you marisco lovers. Mariscos 4 Vientos is a food establishment located on the Eastside. This spot is interesting mainly because there are about five, 4 Vientos locations within  blocks of each other. Why? I am not sure, but I am guessing it is because the crowds of people that go get their marisco fix daily.

More after the jump

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Stream Dreams-Part One: Hazard Park

The title of this post is a nod to the informative and wonderful blog, LA Creek Freak. My discovery of this blog is fairly recently, if I only I had came across it sooner it might have saved me many hours of informal research. You see, for the past two years and a half I’ve been on a meandering quest to find the paths of old streams that once flowed through our urban areas.

When roaming through the city, I look for tell-tale signs: bridges, dips in the roads, large storm drains, stands of old trees, walls and houses made of river rock and street and neighborhood names with tell-tale monikers i.e. Brookside, Willowbrook, Arroyo Ave, River St, Evergreen, etc. Neighbors and long-time residents are also a great source of information. One of the more exciting clues are the actual streams themselves, they often pop up after heavy rains. The water remembers and will often follow it’s old course. It’s why some places in the city continually flood.

The search has been quite fun. Once I think I’ve found a spot, I’ll take photos, go home and check aerial views on Google maps. I’ll look at the way streets curve or sometimes I’ll notice a line of green trees marking the path of the old waterway. I often read through the Los Angeles Times archives and search for references to streams. For instance, I felt like the area around the Fourth Street Bridge and Lorena was a likely place for a stream and while doing research I found a notice by the city placed in the early 1900s, asking for contractors to bid on constructing a bridge over the “stream running at Fourth St.”

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15th Annual Northern Southern Winds Pow Wow


click for larger image

This one of my favorite events of the year, I always look forward to attending. The new location at Los Angeles State Park is the perfect venue. Head over today around sunset for a spectacular view and to enjoy the beautiful culture of our indigenous brothers and sisters!

The Fifteenth Annual Northern Southern Winds Pow-Wow, “Honoring Our
Mothers” & “Recognizing No Borders,” taking place this coming May 7th, 8th, & 9th, 2010.
By way of exhibition dancing, singing, and food, Indigenous cultures throughout North, Central, and South America
will be showcased.
The Powwow will be held once again at the beautiful Los Angeles State Historic Park 1245 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
The times are from 6pm to 10pm, Friday; 10am to 10pm, Saturday; and 10am to 6pm, Sunday

The new *Cool* for Eastside kids?

Yes, I ride a track bike. I have for 3 years now. I’d rather have a nice ten-speed these days but I don’t have the money for that kind of purchase right now.

But interestingly enough I have noticed a surge in “fixed-gear” bicycles (and bicycles in general) in the Eastside in general; and being that I live in El Sereno & work in Lincoln Heights, my perceptions arise from these neighborhoods. I have been a bicycle-commuter (& bus commuter) to get to work & school pretty steadily for almost 5 years now. As a young kid I used to get around by bicycle & bus too, but typcial of Los Angeles kids, I started driving as soon as could! Once I grew tired of driving and became aware of the social, environmental, health repurcussions due to car culture I sought to abandon it (though I am no anti-car evangelical!).

At work (a local high scool), I would often be asked why I did not drive a car; most students would see me walk onto the campus with my bicycle. I would say the usual environmental, social, political, and economic reasons: still most 16 years old are baffled when an adult doesn’t drive. I get the same response when I tell them I don’t have a TV at home. For them a car is equated with freedom of movement: anyone that has driven in Los Angeles for a few years knows that this myth slowly erodes…

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Fight Against a Rent Increase (your deadline is Friday morning)

I got a letter from CES telling me that a 4-month moratorium on rent increases is coming up for a vote of the City Council of Los Angeles. The vote is tomorrow, May 7th, 10:00 AM, and they’re asking people to show up.

Please contact your council representative (or all of them) explaining why you cannot handle a rent increase. The inflation rate has been effectively negative, and wages have declined. People need a reprieve. See the link above for full details and instructions on sending a letter.

24 hour vigil to save ethnic studies in AZ


Cultural and Ethnic studies classes are under attack by the same forces
behind the current immigration laws. HB 2281 has been passed and signed by
governor Jan Brewer and is intended to eliminate Ethnic Studies within
Arizona’s public schools. In opposition to HB 2281 the students are
organizing a 24 HOUR VIGIL and HUMAN CHAIN on May 6 – 7 from 4PM to 4PM. We
need all the support we can get from the community to counter these attacks
on culture and education. These are ways to help contribute:

– Food donations
– Candles
– White shirts
– Contribute Time shifts

Please Email   MEzology@gmail. com for more information Continue reading