April 2009 Archives
Rockeros
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
April 30, 2009
The Chicano rock tribes gathered at East L.A. College's gym last week. There in the bleachers sat sax player Larry Rendon of Thee Midniters and keyboardist Bobby Espinosa of El Chicano. Eddie Ayala of the Odd Squad and a couple of members of early 1980s East L.A. punk rockers Los Illegals walked around among fans, signing pages from the new edition of Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock 'N Roll from Southern California.
On stage, Mark Guerrero (who as a teenager in the mid 1960s led Mark and the Escorts) tore it up with his band Tango. Mean guitar player Lysa Flores rounded up a few of her friends to perform: Dr. Dre bass player Daniel Seef, Jaguares bass player Marco Renteria and Beastie Boys drummer Alfredo Ortiz. Later, Martha Gonzalez stomped a fusion of jarocho and Chicano beats on the cajon as she led the East L.A. fusion band Quetzal.
Permalink Discuss (5 Comments)Salonen
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
April 23, 2009
A dead Mexican modernist helped me appreciate Esa Pekka Salonen. The first time I'd interviewed the now former L.A. Philharmonic conductor was for a story about Silvestre Revueltas when Salonen featured the composer in a festival of Latin American classical music six years ago.
A couple of weeks ago Larry Mantle and I sat down with Salonen for an exit interview at his Disney Hall conductor's suite. Our chat ranged from funny stuff like missing concerts because of traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway and a 1994 article in the 'zine Ben is Dead that reads in part, "Girls are fainting, young men fanning themselves and squirming in their tweed jackets." (Salonen blushed and dismissed it) to serious topics like his future plans in L.A. and London and the paradigm shift Salonen's been pushing for as conductor and music director.
Permalink DiscussChile
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
April 13, 2009
As a Mexican food town Los Angeles has taken me on the highest highs and the lowest lows. You know, like a personal relationship with its share of cuddles and door slamming goodbyes.
My expectations ran a little high when I moved here eight years ago. Since my first visits in the early 1990s I'd marveled with an archeologist's interest at those old restaurant signs advertising "Spanish" and "Mexican-American" food, remnants of a time when Mexican was a derogatory term west of Central Avenue.
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