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Category Archives: East Los
Dia de los Muertos 09 at Self Help Graphics & Art
~click on flier for bigger version ~ Image: Deadly Stylish by Diane Gamboa, 2009
I remember last years Dia de los Muertos. I got my face painted, got a kiss from Leo Limon, ate tamales, rocked out to the bands on stage and hung out with Viki D. and P-3000 through-out the night. I can’t wait to see what this years celebration will bring. That’s why I’m excited about the workshops because it’s like a count down to the big night on Nov. 1 and 2. These workshops are kick ass because you spend an afternoon creating art, something I suck at because the calavera I painted looked like crap. Any who, the workshops are on Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. and they’re always a lot of fun. So check self helps site for UP TO DATE INFO and what’s going on and mark your calender. No one does Dia de los Muertos like SHG. I wonder how many M.J. altars I’ll see ?? Continue reading
Eastside 101: Tortas!
Can you get tortas outside of the Eastside? Probably. But can you get a proper and cheap torta outside of the Eastside? I fucking doubt it!
¡Sounds Like Burning: Play From Your Fucking Heart!
¡Sounds Like Burning is about psychos, angels and psychotic angels. Who else deserves mention?
Mister Bill Hicks introduces the series because he is… Bill Hicks. He condensed the first law of all the Arts: Play From Your Fucking Heart!
The performances to be aired here are rigodamnediculous. The biblical scholar Bon Scott once commanded: Let There Be Light. And There Was Light.
Bask in it.
Can one make the unknown known? Tune in and Trip out.
Bill Hicks “Burning Issues”
[audio:https://laeastside.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/flag.mp3]
Ron Shock remembers:
Other than the drunken orgies… we (Bill Hicks and I and the rest of the Comedy Outlaws) were pretty wild, we did a tremendous amount of drugs and we drank a tremendous amount of whiskey, and usually we did the drugs and the whiskey together. But there was one show we did… Hicks is on stage doing his impression of Elvis where he uses toilet paper instead of handkerchiefs and he would wipe his forehead with toilet paper and throw the toilet paper into the crowd. Jimmy Pineapple who was just drunk as a skunk comes running from side stage and tackles Bill, for no reason, just to do it, right in the middle of a show, in front of 900 people and tackles him and as Bill is laying on the ground without missing a beat, keeps on with his act, he’s still Elvis…
Lucha Libre in East Los
It’s no secret that I am a HUGE Lucha Libre fan. The sport of the working class folk. The little people that are the salt of the earth and make the world go round. This ballet of high flying, explosive acrobatics is some of the best entertainment on the face of the earth. I’m not talking about that stuff you see on American tv, even though it has its moments. No. Lucha Libre is beyond those theatrics of male soap opera and is an entity all of it’s own. Blue Demon Sr/Jr, El Santo & Hijo del Santo, El Perro Aguallo, Tinieblas, El Rayo de Jalisco, Atlantis, Octagon, Mascara Sagrada, Conan, Super Porki and Mil Mascaras are just some of the legends I grew up on because my father was a luchador in his day. I don’t care what anyone says about Lucha Libre. If you don’t have anything great to say about it then shut your pie hole !!! That goes out to all the mensos that don’t know better when they preach that it’s fake. OF COURSE IT’S FAKE !!!!! I can walk you through a whole match and explain the dynamics of this eloquent dance, but that’s not the point of it all. It’s a show. Entertainment. Escape from a weeks worth of busting your ass at some dead end job, trying to put food, clothes and a roof over your families head. It’s an escape from the realities of life because you don’t know where your next meal may come from. This is where families come to bond and share precious moments as they yell out profanities in Spanish and flip wrestlers off with great gusto. I almost lost my voice yelling my head off at the ref for cheating and helping Los Rudos win and you know what ? It’s all part of the show. The experience. The life style of the lower class. Horse racing may be the sport of kings, but Lucha Libre, that’s the sport of the working class. A class I’m proud to be a part of. All of the pics were taken by the GF who was a trooper and took one for the team because we ended up going to the show spontaneously. She has a great eye right ?For those of you interested in going to the next revancha, here’s the info. See ya there. Arriva los technichos !!!!!
M.F.W. Presents Goodrich Hall Lucha Libre
Every Sunday or every other Sunday at 5-5:30 p.m.
1239 Goodruch Blvd in the city of commerce. Entrance on Olympic and Union Pacific
Free parking. Tixs $7 Adults Kids $3
For more info (323) 812-8749 / (323) 812-8003
Hollenbeck Police Station party
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Did you ever want to see inside the NEW Hollenbeck Police Station as a vistor and not a guest !?! Well this Saturday there is going to be a public dedication ceremony. Tony V., Huizar, Reyes and Bratton are gonna be on hand kicking off this little shindig.
It’s from 6-9 p.m. and it’s free to the public. They are going to be giving station tours, food and have police exhibits on hand. So if you have nothing to do this Saturday check it out. You know you’re going to end up there anyway.
El Tropico on E. 1st
Memories, anyone?
American Social Problems
I attended an intro to sociology course called “American Social Problems†during the second week of school at ELAC and left questioning my academic, sociocultural, and career intentions with a shed of liberal light from an episode of Michael Moore’s “Awful Truth.†Why do I really want to go to school? Am I making a bad investment with hopes of an unreasonably better return that I probably don’t deserve? If I succumb to the system, will I turn into a capitalist-driven bloodsucker whose bottom line is money?
I think America is inflicted with an at-large social cancer that is slowly (or quickly, depending on how one interprets time and space) detiriorating the human spirit and his/her pursuit of true happiness. This cancer is so detectable, it’s undetectable. I cringe when I see my neighbor’s toddler children eating corporate-made candies with their silver capped teeth. My heart aches when I see jobless, injured, disabled people loitering around Downtown LA, in front of LA County Hospital, at Hollebeck Park.
Will I change in a semester? Where is the hope in a deteriorating society?
More American social problems:
– Prescription drug addiction
– Overprescribing people
– Overdiagnosing people
– Inhumane conditions in American city/county jails and state prisons
– Close-minded Americanism
– American greed
– American obesity
– Corporate takeover on food
– Lazy, apathetic government employees
– American apathy
– Under-representation of day laborers who live month-to-month
– Corporate education
LAEastside Goldline
For the last few weeks, ever since the Linia de Oro was making progress in its construction, I have been trying to take a pic of this lovely scene. Except my phone cam can’t get it. Lucky for me reader Sesosfritos got a screen shot of it and put it up on the blog flickr page. Thanks Sesos. I for one like that they named the Linia de Oro after the blog. I didn’t know Metro held us in such high regards. It warms my heart to see that all our work doesn’t go unnoticed. But naming an entire rail line after us ? We would have settled for free bus passes 🙂
Artists Not Paid by Villaraigosa’s Summer Night Lights Gang Reduction Program
I was copied on the following email by east-side artists who have been working on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Summer Night Lights project, now in its 2nd year. A week ago the Mayor visited the Jordan Downs housing Project (pictured above) for a press tour. Artists have worked diligently to provide what they could with their own resources to children who have no other summer alternative. I took this picture above and witnessed how crucial art is to inner city youth who are starving to learn and desperately need patient mentorship. –Victoria Delgadillo
FROM: Community Artist, Apprentices, and Master Artist/SNL 2009
RE:Â Summer Night Lights (SNL) Contract
DATE:Â September 2, 2009
To Whom May It Concern,
We the artists of the SNL Gang Reduction Program demand immediate payment for our services. Many of us turned down other work to be a part of this important effort. The SNL programs success is majorly due to the arts component that is present at all 16 parks. We all depend on this – this is our work, we have committed ourselves not only to our craft but to our community to provide the services they all deserve. Likewise we deserve to be treated as professionals in our field of expertise. The Arts community is one of the most effected groups from the current economic downturn and continue to be disregarded by this neglect on the part of the City of Los Angeles.
The experience working hands on with the community has been remarkable. Many of us artist have gone through various lengths and have over exceeded in order to sustain the art, music and dance workshops for Summer Night Lights. For example, asking our colleagues, friends and organizations to donate materials, paying directly from our pockets, swiping our credit cards, borrowed money for equipment and materials. Although we have been partially reimbersed for materials, we have not been paid for our time and professional experience. There has been a significant amount of preparation, time, planning and effort to make SNL a success. Our efforts have over exceeded our expectations and requirements. Continue reading
Plaque honors forgotten Chinese residents
The city has installed a plaque so current Boyle Heights residents can honor and pay their respects to Chinese residents who were not given equal burial treat meant back in the 1800’s. The plaque is in English, Spanish and Chinese and it gives a little history about Evergreen Cemetery, some history on some of the more prominent deceased Chinese residents resting in the cemetery and why the plaque was placed there. Which is to acknowledge the wrong doings of the past so that the bodies that were found during the Linia de Oro construction can also rest in peace as well. I came across it yesterday evening walking my dogs. They should be finished by today because the plaque still had pieces of wood holding it in place. As I stopped to read it most people didn’t bother to read was on the plaque and only guessed at what it was. Then there are those who just say stupid, racist things and choose to completely ignore the importance of such a plaque. None the less, it’s good to see that they’re getting the respect they deserve and that even though racism and classicism are still around, they’re not as bad as they use to be back in the day.
The educational pipe line
Outside
Inside