Audio

WAR (the original band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)

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warcincoThis 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 so-called WAR), Howard Scott (guitar, Lowrider Band), Harold Brown (drums, Lowrider Band), BB Dickerson (bass, Lowrider Band), Lee Oskar (harmonica, Lowrider Band). Not pictured, Papa Dee (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 had credit.]

Mas…WAR (the original band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)

Listen: Why does Mexican music have polkas, waltzes and accordions?

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bigflacoHappy birthday, Texas accordion star Flaco Jimenez! (DOB: March 11, 1939.)

Why is Mexican music filled with polkas and waltzes and accordions? It’s about immigration, according to Felix Contreras of NPR’s Alt.Latino and Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records on Morning Edition:

 

PREVIOUSLY ON FLACO JIMENEZ:

Mas…Listen: Why does Mexican music have polkas, waltzes and accordions?

In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)

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Leftist loonies like Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela don’t much like criticism or mockery (i.e., reality) so they throttle creative freedom.

Israel Centeno, who fled the Venezuelan Bolivarian socialist paradise, is among the exiled writers who have found a safe place to live and write in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Latino USA’s Erika Beras brings us the writers’ stories:

Mas…In Pittsburgh, PA writers from Venezuela, El Salvador are free (audio)

Diversity sells, but Hollywood is overwhelmingly white, male (audio)

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hollywoodpromo300b“If you want an accurate picture of ethnic and gender diversity in the United States, don’t look to Hollywood,” says NPR.

That’s the conclusion of the “2015 Hollywood Diversity Report” conducted by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

The report quantifies the striking — if not surprising — racial and gender imbalances in film and television, both behind and in front of the camera, by comparing the representation of minorities to their actual proportions of the population.

“At every level, in every arena, women and minorities are under-represented in the industry,” says Darnell Hunt, the study’s co-author and director of the Bunche Center. “And the only question really is how serious, how egregious that level of under-representation is.”

Mas…Diversity sells, but Hollywood is overwhelmingly white, male (audio)

Spanglish is no Juan E. Come Lately to California (audio)

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ranchosWhen Los Angeles was a still a little pueblo in the northern part of Mexico known as Alta California, Spanglish was born.

Public Radio International’s Global Nation explains:

…living in the a rancho just north of the pueblo was a young Scottish adventurer named Hugh Reid. In the 1830s he left the old world for the new — Mexico. And in his adopted home he was rechristened with an additional Spanish name, Perfecto Hugo Reid. Reid would eventually settle down on a ranch in southern California near the San Gabriel mission in what’s now Arcadia, a suburb of Los Angeles, where he married a local woman, Doña Victoria.

Robert Train has been obsessed with Hugo Reid’s backstory for the last few years. Train is a professor of Spanish at Sonoma State University. We met recently at the Huntington Library archives in Pasadena, to read Reid’s extremely yellowed letters.

Mas…Spanglish is no Juan E. Come Lately to California (audio)

What does the farmworker see at the supermarket? (audio)

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produceaisleYou say tomato, I say tomahto, and when a migrant farmworker visits the produce aisle at a local supermarket he sees an entirely different picture.

PRI’s Monica Campbell reports:

In the produce aisle of a supermarket in Madera, in California’s rural Central Valley, Francisco surveys the fruits and vegetables on display in the produce aisle. He’s 40 years old and stocky. He’s also undocumented, and he asks to use his first name only.

 

 

Produce photo by Jaskam Dhatt

The sad true story behind ‘Spare Parts’ (videos, audio)

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In 2004, an Arizona high school team beat the odds by topping M.I.T in an underwater robotics competition. The undocumented team members’ stories inspired a book, a documentary, and now a feature film produced by and starring George Lopez. Spare Parts (trailer, above) is in theaters now.

This interview with two original team members by Antonia Cereijido for LatinoUSA explains what REALLY happened before and after the events dramatized in the film. Is it our imagination, or does one of the guys almost break into tears at the end?

Mas…The sad true story behind ‘Spare Parts’ (videos, audio)

#TBT Throwback Thursday Frank Zappa ‘Cucaracha’ (1970s audio)

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zappaESTRANGE BUT TRUE:

It was the tail end of the 1960s and Frank Zappa of the Mothers of Invention was making Public Service Announcements for “underground radio.” Few examples survive, but this short audio segment warns impressionable young people about a popular Chicano-themed cartoon that had not even been invented yet — a subversive cartoon that could “rot your mind!” Let’s listen in to see what Zappa has to say…

 

 

DJ for Juárez Catholic radio massages migrants’ feet (audio)

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juarezdjMigrants seeking a better life in El Norte often pause on the border across from El Paso — in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua — before they cross to El Otro Lado.

Jorge Gutierrez, a host on Radio Guadalupana, a religious station run by the Catholic Diocese of Juárez, is there for them. More than just a radio talker, he has put his faith (and hands) to work easing migrants’ pain. Public Radio International reports:

Feet are a symbolic part of practically every migrant’s story: They literally carry their owner’s weight along the length of an exhausting journey. And in the Mexican border city of Juárez, one man has made it his mission to care for this particular body part.

Here’s the radio report from Monica Oritz Uribe:

Mas…DJ for Juárez Catholic radio massages migrants’ feet (audio)

Grand OM: ‘FOR THOSE’ who protested, for those they arrested (video)

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This song and video is FOR THOSE, for those 43 kids who were “disappeared” in Mexico. It was filmed at their college, Rural Normal School Ayotzinapa, in Guerrero. Participants in the project, organized by graphic artists Grand OM, were musicians Lengualerta (México), Wally Warning (Aruba-Alemania), Ana Sol (Argentina), Dj Saeg (México) and Eduardo Morris (Argentina-Suiza). There’s more on their YouTube page.

There’s an audio version, too:

Mas…Grand OM: ‘FOR THOSE’ who protested, for those they arrested (video)

RATM’s Tom Morello: ‘Marching On Ferguson’ (NSFW audio)

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Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine) writes:

I’ve witnessed countless incidents of racially motivated police brutality in my lifetime and it’s time to say ‘Enough!’ in the name of all those wrongfully killed and abused. For all the courageous men and women raising their voices against injustice in ‪#‎Ferguson‬, and beyond, give ’em hell. This song is for you. [NSFW adult language.]

PREVIOUSLY ON RATM:

Mas…RATM’s Tom Morello: ‘Marching On Ferguson’ (NSFW audio)

Behind closed doors: Obama’s REAL anti-Ebola strategy (NSFW audio)

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obamamov(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON) While Republicans and FOX News have been quick to attack President Barack Obama’s anti-Ebola strategy, they didn’t hear this behind-the-scenes recording of the President’s remarks to health workers Wednesday. An un-named aide leaked this recording to POCHO this morning. [NSFW adult language.]

 

POCHO ÑEWS SERVICE PNS IS A WHOLLY-FICTITIOUS SUBSIDIARY OF POCHISMO INC., A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION, WHO IS A PERSON ACCORDING TO THE SUPREME COURT. DON’T ASK US, WE JUST WORK HERE.

NPR Audio: ‘The Book of Life’ is spooky fun for whole familia

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bol150The Book Of Life movie premiere was this weekend, and POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz was there. He thinks it is a beautiful, lush and fun familia film.

Lalo spoke to National Public Radio’s national reporter Mandalit del Barco after the film.

Check out this brilliant report that explains the origins of the pelicula and features writer and director Jorge Gutierrez, executive producer Guillermo del Toro and Lalo at the end, talking about the whole Disney/Pixar Day of the Dead trademark flap.

 

Viva Muerto Mouse!

Mas…NPR Audio: ‘The Book of Life’ is spooky fun for whole familia

Felipe Esparza: The Seven Spanish Cuss Words (LatinoUSA audio)

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“There are some words, not many, just a few — that we decided, we won’t use them all the time,” said the late comedian George Carlin in his famous routine about the “seven dirty words.” If you aren’t familiar with it –– the skit tries to pinpoint a definitive list of words you can never say on radio and television [See NSFW video below.]

Mas…Felipe Esparza: The Seven Spanish Cuss Words (LatinoUSA audio)

Musical pochos: The Premiers rock ‘Farmer John’ (audio,videos)

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thepremieresFifty years ago the biggest summer radio record was Farmer John, a cover of the Don and Dewey R&B hit by The Premiers, a group of pochos from East Los suburb San Gabriel. [Editor’s note: If you cannot access the NPR audio, blame NPR which is still using an outmoded, incompatible Flash-based media player.]

NPR reports:

In the summer of 1964, Beatlemania was sweeping the United States, young men were burning their draft cards and race riots were raging in cities across the country — and wrapped up in all of it was the biggest hit of the summer in Los Angeles.

Mas…Musical pochos: The Premiers rock ‘Farmer John’ (audio,videos)

Rosa Diaz goes ‘method’ on Charles Bukowski project (audio, video)

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rosadiazPhilly singer-songwriter Rosa Diaz started a Charles Bukowski-themed project, and to make it authentic, she became a Method Actor — actually living the writer’s hard-drinking life style until it almost killed her.

LatinoUSA’s Nadia Reiman reports:

In this recent a capella music video, Diaz sings about Pain:

Mas…Rosa Diaz goes ‘method’ on Charles Bukowski project (audio, video)

NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)

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Researcher Elizabeth Kennedy interviewed a 12-year-old boy who returned to El Salvador barefoot; he had been robbed of everything he owned.

"I asked him if he was going to try again," says Kennedy, "and he just burst into tears and said, 'What would you do if you were me? I haven't seen my mom or my dad in 10 years ... and no one here loves me.'"

NPR/Parallels writes:

Since October, a staggering 57,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been apprehended at the southwestern U.S. border. Sometimes, they’ve been welcomed into the country by activists; other times they’ve been turned away by protesters.

Mas…NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)

Did you know? U.S. ‘interned’ Peruvians of Japanese descent (audio)

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Japanese-Peruvian_Credit_MiaWarren-300x200Not only did Uncle Sam lock up Japanese-Americans in “internment camps” during World II, but a 1942 regional security pact also became the legal cover for shipping 1800 Peruvians of Japanese descent to the very same camps. Carmen Utako Tochio Villanueva (photo), who was born into one of those families in a Texas internment camp, tells her story to LatinoUSA’s Mia Warren:

Mas…Did you know? U.S. ‘interned’ Peruvians of Japanese descent (audio)

Latinos y gringos in Buenos Aires? Eat tacos, watch futbol here (video)

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Attention assorted Latinos and gringos: Are you stuck in Buenos Aires far away from home when you’d rather be watching the World Cup with your amigos? Come on down to La Fábrica del Taco (LFDT) at either Gorriti 5062 Palermo or Baez 246 Cañitas for comida, cerveza and futbol! Maybe you’ll miss home a little less. [“La Fábrica del Taco,” they write on their SoundCloud page, “es una taqueria bien chingona en Buenos Aires, Argentina. La única y autentica taqueria al sur de la frontera. Invitamos a todos los melo.”]

Does your Argentinan taqueria have a SoundCloud page? The Taco Factory does:

Mas…Latinos y gringos in Buenos Aires? Eat tacos, watch futbol here (video)

American Jews: Maybe your grandparents were ‘illegals’ too (audio)

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illegals
In my family, they say that Abuelo Abraham Saenz, wearing his WWI U.S. Army uniform, “smuggled” one of his sisters (photo, above) into the country via the Port of Philadelphia, wrapping the girl up in a fur coat so she looked like a rich lady.

The scheme was “dress to impress” so the MIGRA wouldn’t think to question her bonafides. She was illiterate, the story goes, and that wasn’t kosher for poor Jewish would-be immigrants from Ukraine in the early 1900s. The rich bitch trick worked, my great aunt got through immigration and everyone lived happily ever after.

Our family story, it turns out, isn’t unique. There were poor Jews who sneaked across the Mexican border near El Paso, and families smuggled in the cargo holds of ships packed with illegal Cuban rum during Prohibition.

Tablet Magazine explains:

Mas…American Jews: Maybe your grandparents were ‘illegals’ too (audio)

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