He shoots, he scores!
DARK BRANDON and the Malarkeys promised to drop a big one to start the year, and here it is: Chinese Spy Balloon!
Audio
L.A. OGs WAR (the ORIGINAL band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)
This 1981 single from WAR was the first time many non-Latinos heard of Cinco de Mayo. This photo shows the original guys at the Sunset Grill (7439 Sunset, next to their offices (Far Out Productions) at 7417 Sunset. The Guitar Center swallowed up 7417 a while back.
L-R: Charles Miller (sax, RIP), Lonnie Jordan (keyboards, the only original member in the new WAR), Howard Scott (guitar, Lowrider Band), Harold Brown (drums, Lowrider Band), B.B. Dickerson (bass, RIP), Lee Oskar (harmonica, Lowrider Band). Not pictured, Papa Dee Allen (RIP, percussion).
- DISCLOSURE: I was WAR’s National Director of Album Promotion for a while and ate so often at the Sunset Grill (like in the Eagles song) I could run a tab.
Mas…L.A. OGs WAR (the ORIGINAL band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)
Tia Lencha’s Cocina Podcast: Valentime’s Day Aphrodisiac Salsa
Hello pochos y pochas! Guess gwhat? Tia Lencha has a special surprise for ju for Valentimes Day! A new podcast! Yes! Now ju can hear Tia Lencha on the google! (Actually m’ijo says it’s Tia Lencha’s Cocina on iTunes and Spotify podcasts).
Anygways, I haf so mush to tell ju!
Gwhy did I make the podcast? Ju may gwonder. I gwas tire of ladies writing to me saying that I make so mush grammatical mistakes when I talk. I no make grammatical mistakes! They just don know how to read Espanglish.
How did I make the podcast? Ju may gwonder. M’ijo stopped playing video games long enough to put Tia Lencha’s voice on the google. (He say it’s not the google, but ju know what I mean, verdad?).
Who is in the podcast? Ju may gwonder. Is me, and M’ijo’s Daddy (played by actor David Acosta). M’ijo’s Daddy got dump by the Eskeleton Lady and now he hang around Tia Lencha’s house eberyday like one of those flies that get in the house and ju can’t get out.
Mas…Tia Lencha’s Cocina Podcast: Valentime’s Day Aphrodisiac Salsa
NPR Audio: La Linda (Ronstadt) reflects on her Mexican Heritage
Linda Ronstadt‘s family is from the Sonora Desert — on both sides of the border.
Mas…NPR Audio: La Linda (Ronstadt) reflects on her Mexican Heritage
Punk pocha pioneer Alice Bag presents: ‘No Xmas gifts for Nazis’ (NSFW video)
Punk pocha pioneer Alice Bag has a NSFW message for the haters: You will Nazi any gifts under your tree this year.
Mas…Punk pocha pioneer Alice Bag presents: ‘No Xmas gifts for Nazis’ (NSFW video)
NPR Audio: Talking about Spanglish at this college – chingon or nah?
Some people speak English, others speak Spanish. But we speak Spanglish. How about you?
Yes, they say “Latinx” in this news feature. Don’t @ me.
Mas…NPR Audio: Talking about Spanglish at this college – chingon or nah?
The Honey Drippers get the funk out: ‘Impeach the President’
The Honey Drippers, high school students from Jamaica, Queens, Long Island (strangely, this was Donald Trump’s home town), recorded Impeach the President in 1973.
Mas…The Honey Drippers get the funk out: ‘Impeach the President’
Taco Tuesday Nightmare: No avocados in the guacamole (NPR audio)
Food writer Javier Cabral — AKA THE GLUTSTER — goes behind the scenes at your local taqueria to find out what’s in the guacamole.
Mas…Taco Tuesday Nightmare: No avocados in the guacamole (NPR audio)
POCHO Jefe @LaloAlcaraz: Melania is welcome at my house! (podcast)
It’s POCHO Jefe Lalo Alcaraz, guesting on the Only in America podcast with Ali Noorani. Here’s how they describe the episode:
Mas…POCHO Jefe @LaloAlcaraz: Melania is welcome at my house! (podcast)
Chicana punk icon Alice Bag: ‘I Believe Her, Do You?’ (new music, lyrics)
East Los pocha Alice Bag aka Alicia “Alice” Armendariz (formerly of the The Bags) just released this track in support of Professor Christine Blasey Ford, Ph.D.’s testimony about rapey Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
MIRA LOS LYRICS:
Mas…Chicana punk icon Alice Bag: ‘I Believe Her, Do You?’ (new music, lyrics)
‘Carmelita’ by Warren Zevon: Life, death, mariachis, and heroin in Echo Park (live video, lyrics)
The late musical genius Warren Zevon was in Ensendada, no maybe he was in Echo Park. And maybe he OD’d on heroin, or not. He did hear “mariachi static on his radio,” however. The live video is from 1977.
Mira los lyrics:
Menudo Pops: This delicious popsicle is abuela-approved! (audio)
Raza Comida is your source for traditional cuisine with a modern flair, like the new and delicious Sunday morning menudo pops. [Audio via our friends @ Librotraficante.. Check out Tony and friends tonight on the radiola!]
LatinoUSA Audio: “How I Made It” is Yesika Salgado’s love poem to L.A.
Yesika Salgado dissects “What I Know,” a poem from her book about family, love and loss, and the city she calls home. [Audio from our friends at NPR’s Latino USA.]
Mas…LatinoUSA Audio: “How I Made It” is Yesika Salgado’s love poem to L.A.
Chillest music vid ever: Mexican national anthem on ICE 45 RPM record
During the 1990s, when Luis Echeverría Álvarez was president of Mexico, technicians recorded a presentation of Mexicanos, al grito de guerra, the Mexican national anthem. In 2014, artist Iván Abreu “pressed” the anthem onto a 7-inch 45-RPM record made of ice. Listen before it melts! Or maybe listen WHILE it melts, starting about two minutes in.
Everyone sing along now and ask for ‘Uno Mas Cerveza’ (audio)
When he taught ESL, POCHO amigo Eric Holland learned that a song is a great way to teach students a new language. He wrote this song to teach English-speaking [adult] gabachos a few useful words en Español.
PREVIOUSLY ON ERIC HOLLAND:
Mas…Everyone sing along now and ask for ‘Uno Mas Cerveza’ (audio)
$8 tacos? Sure–with micro-cilantro, uni, and legit masa (audio)
POCHO amigo Javier Cabral, aka freelance food writer TheGlutster, talked to Southern California Public Radio’s Larry Mantle about why $8 tacos may be worth it. Cabral wrote about this for our compas at L.A. Taco. Frankly, you had me at the uni.
LISTEN: All you want for Christmas: ‘Buñuelos a monton’
É Arenas, bass player for Chicano Batman, cooks up some cumbia for Christmas in this new song
Buñuelos a Monton, and he includes all your favorite fiesta Mexmas specialties:
(NPR Audio) Racism can literally make you sick, studies show
He had just left a fancy restaurant, celebrating a big achievement, a Ph. D. degree, when he encountered racism, racism that can hurt your health.
Mas…(NPR Audio) Racism can literally make you sick, studies show
POCHO’s Lalo Alcaraz: From Disney critic to COCO consultant (NPR audio)
This is how they begin the story about POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and the Disney/Pixar film COCO over at NPR’s LatinoUSA:
Mas…POCHO’s Lalo Alcaraz: From Disney critic to COCO consultant (NPR audio)
Before America went crazy, Uncle Sam welcomed immigrants (audio)
Before World War II, the American government cranked up the propaganda machine to WELCOME immigrants with a Sunday afternoon radio program from the INS called I’m An American. Sara Laskow reports for NPR’s All Things Considered.
Here’s the show with immigration posterboy and refugee from the Nazis Albert Einstein:
Mas…Before America went crazy, Uncle Sam welcomed immigrants (audio)
#TBT ThrowBackThursday: When Yugo-Mex ruled (audio, video)
In the mid-’60s, Mexican mariachi music ruled the airwaves in Yugoslavia. Singers sported charro suits and sombreros, typical mariachi garb, with typically Slavic names. Public Radio International has the story:
Here’s a video example:
Mas…#TBT ThrowBackThursday: When Yugo-Mex ruled (audio, video)
Manic Hispanic: ‘The I.N.S. took my novia away!’ (NSFW video)
“She left Santana in a Chevrolet, to visit her tia in East L.A. — but she never got there!” [F-bomb.]
SoCal punks Manic Hispanic’s 2003 version of a Ramones tune takes on new relevance with Trump’s DACA threats. The I.N.S. Took My Novia Away is from the CD/album Mijo Goes to Jr. College.
‘When Mexican Joe Met Jole Blon’ (1953 YouTube music, lyrics)
A story of cross-border romance — a mojado and a Cajun queen — are the stars of country singer’s Hank Snow’s Mexican Joe and Joli Blon, released on 78 RPM disk in 1953.
Here are the lyrics and guitar chords (via Genius Lyrics) so you can sing and play along!
Mas…‘When Mexican Joe Met Jole Blon’ (1953 YouTube music, lyrics)
POCHO History 101: Lalo Guerrero’s ‘Ballad of Pancho Lopez’ (video)
A true life story from the Mexican Revolution and a mojado’s migration from Chihuahua to Califas come alive as our Chicano musical hero Lalo Guerrero shares The Ballad of Pancho Lopez.
Mas…POCHO History 101: Lalo Guerrero’s ‘Ballad of Pancho Lopez’ (video)
The Firesign Theatre: Join the Free Mexican Air Force (1973 PSA)
In 1973, comedy group The Firesign Theatre unleashed this public service announcement — distributed to “underground” rock radio stations on a 45 RPM disk — for the Free Mexican Air Force.
Latino USA: If You Give a Toddler a Tortilla (NPR audio)
She just wants to prepare some home made flour tortillas with her baby girl just like she did with her own mom. What’s the big deal?
April Salazar longs to make her Grandma Alice’s tortillas with her daughter. It is the same tortilla recipe her grandmother’s mother made in Baja California and later in Tucson, Arizona, after she fled the Mexican Revolution. There’s just one problem: she needs the stars to align… and the cooperation of her two-year-old daughter.
Mas…Latino USA: If You Give a Toddler a Tortilla (NPR audio)
Mezcal: It’s not just for Mexicans anymore (NPR audio)
More and more Americans are getting into mezcal, and that’s good news for a new generation of artisanal farmers and producers.
Nancy Sanchez y Marisa Ronstadt: Love as big as the ‘Ocean’ (audio)
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Nancy Sanchez’ new album release American Novio includes this perky love song, Ocean, which features sweet harmonies from (Linda’s cousin) Marisa Ronstadt. Check it out.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti: Hey, Trump! Not in my backyard! (NPR audio)
Maria Hinojosa of NPR’s LatinoUSA talks with Los Angeles Alcalde Eric Garcetti.
The mayor’s message for President Trump? YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!
Mas…L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti: Hey, Trump! Not in my backyard! (NPR audio)
Little Pedro and the Street Singers explain ‘Spanish America’ (video)
In “Spanish America”, supposed kid singers explain how tortillas are corn bread and frijoles are what’s for lunch:
From the Children’s Record Guild 78, released circa early 1950s. With David Pfeffer as Pedro, also with Sally Sweetland, Earl Rogers, Lee Sweetland, Denise Alexander and David Anderson. Music by Miguel Sandoval. Story by L. Paris.
‘Trumpon Sangron’ Version II by Partners ‘N Crime (audio and lyrics)
Singing, songwriting Partners ‘N Crime explain:
Mas…‘Trumpon Sangron’ Version II by Partners ‘N Crime (audio and lyrics)