Chicanonautica: Listening to American Sabor

by Ernest Hogan

Things have not been good for la Raza lately. I cringe whenever I check the news. Ese, what's the body count today? I'm tempted to get mad and do a diabolical surrealistic voodoo rant, but I think I'll save that for later.

We’ll probably need it . . . I've got this sickening, sinking feeling that the pendejadas are far from over.

Meanwhile, la Cultura marches on, looming larger and larger every day in the dream that is los Estados Unidos de America.

I recently ran across a book called American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in U.S. Popular Music by Marisol Berrios-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallan, translated by Angia Berrios-Miranda. It's a big, fat book. At first I mistook it for a cookbook, the title leading me astray, but no, it was about music. Flipping through it, I saw a lot of pictures, with familiar faces as well as ones I hadn't seen before, plus a lot of text. English and Spanish. It’s bilingual.

Later, I discovered that it was shelved in both the English and Spanish nonfiction sections of the library where I work. 

I had to read and review it.

American Sabor is based on a traveling museum exhibit, and surveys “Latin” music in the U.S. from the 1940s to the 2000s. That’s a lot of territory, musically, historically, geographically, and culturally. There’s New York/Carribbean (with the Afro influence), Texas/Tejano, and L.A./San Francisco/California. All three coasts. And a whole lot of identities.

There’s a lot of provincialism is the Global Barrio. Some folks get huffy when it ain’t the same stuff they grew up with in their barro. “That ain’t the Spanglish my nana talked, cabrón!”

But, we are a lot of peoples and cultures. We get around, cross borders, and plug into the latest media. Face it, rasquache/recomboculture are us. And it’s the crossovers that keep it fresh, while opening up new worlds

American Sabor shows how each place and time creates its own Latinoid identity, keeping up with the latest recording and communication technology.

The great things about living in the 21st century (since I’m an old vato, it’ll always seems like the future to me) is that they provide playlists for the songs on iTunes and Spotify. Looking them up on on YouTube works too. No more of the frustration of reading a book about music, writing down names and titles, and going around for years hoping to find and hear it.

Guess where I got the background music that I wrote this review to?

Nostalgia is there, along with the discovery of new things. I do have to work to be an expert on la Cultura, y’know.

What’s really impressive is that it never all blends into a bland, commercial sameness. The mix is too lively. New developments still happen, and we continue to cross borders and tear down walls.

This celebration of la Cultura will come in handy in the impending future.

Get them shaking their colitas, and their hearts and minds will follow.

Maybe we can get them to put down their guns for a while.

Ernest Hogan has been hard at work in the Metro Phoenix area for months. Soon he will be doing some vacationing in Aztlán, seeing what’s happening and what’s still there.

Chicanonautica: Radio Free Aztlán

 by Ernest Hogan

So here we are, 2018. 2017 was real desmadre. And everybody thought that 2016 was too much. I'm not making any New Year's predictions.

What I am doing is getting down to work, writing, drawing, and otherwise making Chicanonautica and Xicanxfuturisma. I'm watching what's going on, but I'm going to spend a lot of time in front of this here computer. Like a lot creative types, I like to have music to spark me along, and get it flowing.

I have a collection of CDs, and stuff I find on YouTube that are weird and eclectic, but these troubled days, I need something Latinoid to get focused.

Luckily, radio stations from all over the world have websites, and you can listen to them on your computer.

Here's a few of my favorites. Maybe they'll help you, too.

Radio Campesina is a network that grew out of the farm workers' movement back in the Sixties. They list César Chávez as their founder. They have eight over-the-air stations in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Washington, covering western Aztlán. I often listen to their Phoenix station while in my troque, wearing a baseball cap, going back and forth to work. At home I get on their website, where I can hear the current Norteño favorites that are mostly tuba-driven these days, as well as old favorites like Vicente Fernández, Los Tigres Del Nortes, and occasional narcotraficante ballads. They also do a good job with news for la comunidad local.

When I feel more like accordions than tubas, I click on Tejanos Best, where they play the Brown Sound from Texas—or should I say Tejas?--from their out-of-control room in Fort Worth (though DJ Peaches does her show from Phoenix). This is the place where your most likely to hear Flaco Jiménez and Steve/Estaban Jordan, plus new stuff from the Lone Star state. These days a lot of them rely a bit too much on the drum machine for my taste, but when they got the accordions rocking, I smile and start rocking, too.

Sometimes I feel like expanding my horizon beyond the border, and for that, La Poderosa—Sin Fronteras does the trick. That's right, Sin Fronteras! Without borders! Radio waves, the internet, music, all penetrate the walls that self-destructive societies try to build. La Poderosa is más Mexicana, and goes down south, getting into tropical sounds, cumbias, and often sounds I've never heard before, which is one of the wonderful things about radio. Especially, when you can discover something fantastic like Hechizeros Band. Welcome to the Global Barrio, cabrones!

Since, like the Cheech Marin song, I was born in East L.A., I enjoy the Chicano Radio Network. It's like cruising in a lowrider down Whittier Boulevard. Oldies mix with Norteño and what they used to call soul music. There's also a wide spectrum of Latin music, mixing with jazz, hip-hop/rap, reggae. They turned me on to the B Side Players and Dr. Loco's Rockin' Jalapeno Band. This is a place to discover new sounds, and rediscover old ones.

This all reminds me of when my dad used to tell me that back in his day the cops would pull you over if they heard old-school rhythm and blues (not to be confused with modern R&B) coming out of your car.

He and Grandpa also used to talk about shrunken heads being smuggled into Eastlos from South America, and guys hanging them on their rearview mirrors. Genuine tsantsas these days are hard to come by, and sell for big bucks. Could their story be true? Dad also claimed he used to have the “recipe” for making them somewhere. Where would he get it? Were there Jívaros in Eastlos back then? Are they there now?

Things to ponder while listening to Radio Free Aztlán.

Ernest Hogan has resolved to finish another novel, and to illustrate a lucha libre comic strip in 2018.

Art Is All We Need

Melinda Palacio

  

Panelists Stacey Balkun in flower dress, Maddie Stratton, Margie Perez (hidden), Christopher Romaguera, Francis Wong

Wednesday's panel, sponsored by One Book One New Orleans, featured four diverse artists, five if you count Clint Smith in asbsentia, whose book, Counting Descent, was meant to inform the panel. Counting Descent, an incredible book of poems, is this year's One Book One New Orleans read. If you don't know this poet, stop what you're doing and read one or more of his poems. The four panelists included painter and visual artist Francis Wong, aka the Asian Cajun, painter and sculptor Maddie Stratton, Singer and Songwriter Margie Perez, poet and writer Chris Romaguera, and moderator poet Stacey Balkun. 

One of the more common themes that kept circling back to the panelist was the question of how the creative process is so unique to each individual person. Maddie discussed the need to create in her studio. Sure she allowed herself access to her sketchbook and could carry that to different places, but when it came time to create her masterpiece, she needed to be in the space of her studio, with access to all of her tools, especially her blank canvas. She enjoyed the element of surprise a blank canvas gave her.

Whereas Francis, the Asian Cajun, sometimes prefers a muddied canvas. One of his favorite mediums was water damaged paper or canvas that he salvaged post Katrina. As an undergrad artist, he scavenged items and repurposed artifacts and materials from derelict houses that would have gone to the landfill. He found beauty in some of the water damaged paper that he found. Some of the items Francis scavenged  and turned to art were pieces of wood to paint on, as well as blueprints. He considered himself an "urban explorer." However, there are times when he prefers a blank slate, such as when he is doing his "rain paintings." He says he has to develop a relationship with the material first and have a dialogue and history with it. To get an idea of his range of art exploration, see his Instagram account: goodtimefrancis. 

Both artists shared their love for music playing in the background as they worked.

Personally, I cannot have music on while I work. The distraction is overwhelming for me. I have such a strong relationship with music. I find it difficult to concentrate on my own rhythm and story because I easily get caught up with a song's rhythm and story. This is why writing in coffee shops doesn't work for me. I end of observing and daydreaming rather than writing.

The panel took place at Peaches Record Shop, formerly a Woolworths. 

Something that all the panelists shared was how they replenished or fed their creative soul by delving into other forms of art. In other words, just as energy creates energy, art begets art, a concept that makes much sense to me. When I feel frustrated because a story or poem is not leading me to the last lines or words of the work, I try do something different. I'll take a walk and try to get outside my head.

Lately, I've returned to learning how to play the guitar. I am the shower singer's version of a guitar player and if it were possible, I would limit my guitar practice to the shower and spare Steve's musically attuned ears. I'm always impressed when poets are natural musicians, like panelist and poet Chris Romaguera. Chris wears a tiny silver four-hole harmonica around his wrist that I thought was a razor turned into a bracelet, but he played it for me and with the sampling of a few notes, I could tell he is a fine musician.

Speaking of musicians, the highlight of the panel was meeting New Orleans singer and song writer Margie Perez. She is a musician with a voice that cannot be boxed in. I first heard her four years ago at Cafe Istanbul. She channeled Grace Slick's "White Rabbit," in a rendition that blew the roof off the building. In addition to writing original songs, she has an amazing ability to cover songs and make them her own. She has one band dedicated to performing songs by Celia Cruz. I wasn't surprised when I learned that she also performs sets that cover songs by Madonna. She performs Blues, Pop, and Latin with a New Orleans funky touch, is the band leader of Muevelo, and performs with six other bands. It's no wonder she's hailed as one of the hardest working musicians in New Orleans by Offbeat Magazine. I enjoyed hearing about what motivated her work.

A happy fan moment with Margie Perez.

Margie mentioned she sometimes loses ideas in the great creative backburner. She told the story of visiting the homeland of her parents, Cuba, and being inspired to write a song. The lyrics and melody came to her so easily that she was she would remember it. However, when she returned to New Orleans that beautiful song sprung wings and flew away. A lesson to all creative people, keep pen and paper with you at all times.