Event Date: Friday, November 30, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Event
Location: Jan
Popper Theater - Room 1200, Schoenberg Music Building, UCLA
Rubén
Funkahuatl Guevara will present his newly published book, Confessions of a Radical
Chicano Doo-Wop Singer (University of California
Press, 2018), which is a memoir of his life and a counterhistory of the city of
Los Angeles. Guevara is a native Angeleno, a Chicano singer-songwriter, a
record producer of Chicano rock-and-roll and rock en español compilations, and
a performance artist, poet, short story writer, historian, journalist, and
activist.
Books
will be available for purchase at the event. A reception will follow.
Please
register via Eventbrite here.
Praise for Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer:
“I
relate to Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara not because he spent his early youth in
Santa Monica like me, not because we went through the ’60s side by side on the
Sunset Strip, but because he is obsessed with the creative process. It’s in his
blood. He gets sidetracked by constantly, impulsively, being caught under the
spell of the Goddess, but art is his lifeline as it is mine. Respect.” —John
Densmore, author of Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and
the Doors
“Hilarious and heartbreaking, Guevara’s memoir chronicles decades of artistic and spiritual fire. I cannot recommend this work highly enough as a wonderful and wonder-filled resource for students of multicultural Los Angeles, Chicano masculinities and identities, the music industry, performance art, and spiritual seekers in the Southwest. Since it is a treat to read and a joy to teach, I urge my colleagues to share Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer with their students.” —Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, author of Revelation in Aztlán: Scriptures, Utopias, and the Chicano Movement
“A man sings and in his singing he carries the grace, pains, missteps, and triumphs of his life. Guevara’s memoir is such a song—de aquellas y beyond. A con safosdefiance against systemic injustices and erasures of Chicanos and all oppressed people, Guevara’s book is also flesh and bone, blood and brains, beauty and truth. Sing on, brother, sing on.” —Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loca—Gang Days in L.A.
“Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara, polymath Azteca warrior and Chicano superhero—it is difficult to imagine that there was ever a Los Angeles without him. It was as if he rose with the first East Los Aztlán sun that gave creative light to the barrio. In this book, Guevara gives us the opportunity to grab hold of his belt loop and walk with him through his sometimes glad and sometimes sad but always-inspiring life. Hang on tight.” —Louie Pérez, musician, songwriter with Los Lobos
“Hilarious and heartbreaking, Guevara’s memoir chronicles decades of artistic and spiritual fire. I cannot recommend this work highly enough as a wonderful and wonder-filled resource for students of multicultural Los Angeles, Chicano masculinities and identities, the music industry, performance art, and spiritual seekers in the Southwest. Since it is a treat to read and a joy to teach, I urge my colleagues to share Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer with their students.” —Jacqueline M. Hidalgo, author of Revelation in Aztlán: Scriptures, Utopias, and the Chicano Movement
“A man sings and in his singing he carries the grace, pains, missteps, and triumphs of his life. Guevara’s memoir is such a song—de aquellas y beyond. A con safosdefiance against systemic injustices and erasures of Chicanos and all oppressed people, Guevara’s book is also flesh and bone, blood and brains, beauty and truth. Sing on, brother, sing on.” —Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loca—Gang Days in L.A.
“Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara, polymath Azteca warrior and Chicano superhero—it is difficult to imagine that there was ever a Los Angeles without him. It was as if he rose with the first East Los Aztlán sun that gave creative light to the barrio. In this book, Guevara gives us the opportunity to grab hold of his belt loop and walk with him through his sometimes glad and sometimes sad but always-inspiring life. Hang on tight.” —Louie Pérez, musician, songwriter with Los Lobos
This
event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music Center for
Latino Arts and the Chicano Studies Research Center. This event is free
and open to the public.
1 comment:
I just purchased the book Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer having been drawn to the creativeness of the writer/musician discovering him via other ancillary contacts and detours on Facebook of creatives and artists. The book, which took a bit of time to get delivered, has been sitting on my nightstand for a couple of weeks, and I've finally cracked it open and have thus far just gotten through a full read of the Introduction. I typically read in spits and spurts, given I've less time to do it than I would like. Intrigued by the intro, Fire and Flames of Funkahuatl by Josh Kun and George Lipsitz, the intro an interest grabber. I very much appreciate the heads up and insight in this Forward, which provides a preview of the Writer's body of life experiences as well as perspective one might need to remain open to style and content of the radical parts of the stories. Perhaps a good neutralizer of judgment that may follow in the raw memories; as well as some pre-insight into the Writer's morphed development as a person and creative force. The intro for me lays a good framework prepping the ride. I'm a reader who has to be jolted by curiosity in the first few pages in order to compel me to the invest time to turn all the pages. So far, thanks for a intro that reads like an interesting short biogaphy, I am committed to page turning, A good find, and looking forward to delving into the deep. Thanks. Nicki.ndn@aol.com
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