First things first, I gotta give a shout-out to my girl LG for telling me about this place on Facebook. I knew having one would pay off one day. She posted up pics and said the place was awesome. Is it awesome ? Lets find out. Join me and we’ll find out together.
As some of you might have read in the L.A. Times, the taco truck wars continue to rage on, but on this fine day the Asociacion de Loncheros La Familia Unida de California had two reasons to celebrate. Not only did they get that BS over turned with the help of some UCLA grad students, but on June 11, 2008 the union embarked on a long journey that has resulted in an official union in the state of California. How freaking awesome is that ?!?!?!?! One year later and not only are they making progress, but they are making strides in bringing respect and dignity back to the lunch trucks, its workers and its owners.
Huevos Rancheros. I took a page from Chavo as I was feeling all bleh because I had to go to work. So I decided to get up an hour earlier and I made my way to Jim’s Burgers. I didn’t feel like pancakes that morning so I thought to myself, What would Chavo Do ? “Buenos dias muchacho, que le doy ? ” Buenos dias, deme uuuuunnnnnnnoooooossssssss huevos rancheros con un cafe grande por favor. Damn did they ever hit the spot. They may look like a nuclear accident, but don’t judge a book by its cover. These huevos were good. The tomato sauce and healthy helping of cheese made it a messy meal, but damn worth it. The rice and beans were fine and the tortillas as well. Nothing fancy there. But if you’re looking to get rid of that June gloom and eat something so wrong that it feels right, call me up and we’ll meet at Jim’s.
Ever since I first got word that there was a roller derby league in Los Angeles a few years back, I embarked on a quest to experience the awe inspiring, fast paced action that is the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. The derby dolls are some of the toughest women I have ever seen because this is a FULL CONTACT sport. They put themselves on the line every game and they give it everything they have with every jam.
~ Pan American Unity 1940 ~ City College of San Fransisco Click pic to enlarge.
This semester I have been taking a Chicano Studies class on modern Mexican art and muralism at ELAC. It is only after taking in soo much information about the art that preceded the work Diego, Orozco and Siquieros accomplished, that I am able to see how things were back then and the tremendous influence they’ve had on artist today Chicano or not. Knowing that the foundation for their work was layed out by artist such as Jose Maria Velasco and Jose Maria Obregon using the European style to show a sort of reimagining of how things might have been during precolonial times. This type of indigenismo continued on to the 19th century and peaked during the Mexican revolution when shit was going down. It wasn’t until the dust settled from the war that Diego returned to Mexico from Europe to do his thing.
With that being said, I cannot wait to see what his murals will look like when they’re projected to life size proportions Saturday at the Ford Amphitheatre. At the same time former Director of the Museum of Latin American Art, Gregorio Luke will be giving a lecture about Diegos life and his works. I looked it up and he’s being doing these lectures the last few years. There’s no way I’m letting this opportunity pass me up again, especially now that I have a better understanding of the art and Diego. I have a love for murals, which is pretty evident in some of my post, yet i still have soo much more to learn and take in as the history influences the future. The serious is going to start off with Diego then with Rufino Tamayo in July and finish it off with Miguel Covarrubias in August. An interesting fact that I learned in class was that Rosa Covarrubias, Miguels wife, inspired and mentored Frida. Rosa wore the tejuana dress and influenced Frida and her fashion choices. None the less, this is going to be an amazing experience to see the murals outside of a book or a computer screen.
Click on the link to see a you tube video.
~ Jose Guadalupe Posada ~
I just got this info literally handed to me five minutes ago. P3000 asked what it took for people to get angry, well students from ELAC and other community colleges are coming together to fight the class cancellations, Cal Grants and EOPS cut backs, health care for the lower income, health insurance and everything else that is going to make life unbearable for a lot of people. Here’s the message I got handed, “Due to the economic crisis all of Los Angeles Community Colleges are cancelling summer school and winter session! Come and support our students !!! Monday June 1, 2009 at 2:30 in Downtown Los Angeles. We will be protesting for our education. We need those classes to transfer to a four year university.” If you’re wondering if I’ll be there supporting my fellow students in fighting these injustices, no I will not. I’ll be at ELAC studying for my finals and taking care of business. We all do what we can with what resources we have at our disposal. There also getting students and supporters to sign a petition. This protest has nothing to do with the one going on at City Hall. FYI.
Staring at 3 a.m. this morning, P3000, a cute friend of P3000 and I rode through the marathon route on bikes. P3000 let me borrow an extra one he had. Let me tell you that this city is something else in the middle of the night and early morning. At first this bike ride started as a personal challenge because P3000 says that my generation is a bunch of lazy guevones. That we can’t hang like he does. I couldn’t let this injustice go unanswered, so I grabbed the bike and I peddled my ass through the streets of L.A. Here are some of the pictures I got.
When I first got word about “Always & Forever” I was hesitant about it. At best, I’m a casual fan of corridos and I don’t identify with it on any level other than it’s a life style for some and it has millions of fans. When Adan Sanchez died it was just another regular day for me, but to thousands here in L.A. it was the loss of a talented musician and a young man. I didn’t even know that the play first premiered in 2007 at the Ford Amphitheatre and it was originally conceived around 2004 at Casa 0101 by writer Michael Spillers in a writing workshop. Now coming full circle in 2009, the loss of Adan is still felt and his music is still being played by his fans. The play, inretro spect almost seems like on huge homage to Adan, his fans and everything else that is tied to Corridos and Bandas. “Always & Forever” revolves around a quinceañera as family traditions clash with a young girls passion and love for Banda music and Adan. The play follows the family dealing with their everyday drama and the quinceañera, ultimately culminating up to the day Adan died. Anyone who is a fan of Adan of Bandas will love “Always & Forever” and even people who don’t know anything about it can still relate to some of the antics the family gets into.
Chavo was so pressed for time that I didn’t even run into him after I got to the fiesta. I ran into everyone else and their mom, but not C. He’s sneaky like that. But yes I was able to get into the shul and get the quick 15 minute tour everyone was waiting for in the baking sun. I quickly sign a waiver and headed inside wanting to see the inside of the building I have live around and seen, from the outside all my life here in East Los.
Thanks to the help of Volunteers of East Los Angeles, Wenceslao Quiroz and members from the community got permission and some funding to paint a beautiful mural on the side of Belvedere Middle school. The majority of the mural was painted on a Saturday a few weeks ago, which I knew about, but was unable to attend because I was at work. Quiroz said that they had a great turn out and residents are loving the art. Quiroz, who is an East L.A. native said that he loved the energy people brought and the enthusiasm for wanting to get their hands dirty and paint, specially kids coming to help out after school.
Here it is, the newest issue of Brooklyn & Boyle fresh off the grill. So to speak. It was a long time coming, but the wait was worth it. The magazine keeps improving with each issue. AND YES I see the grammatical errors cabrones, mistakes like that can be easily remedied, but what can I, we just wanted to get this mag out and ready for your viewing pleasure. So enjoy. Ohh and click on the images to see a bigger, more readable version of it.