Sacramento and Its Riverside Tent City

Oddly, I came across this news report while channel flipping the other day, but flipped the channel before seeing that the report was about Sacramento, Califas. I remember seeing the people and assumed it was a community, say, in the South, a place that I associate with blight (I know that sounds awful, but it's true--I'm fed this by the mainstream media, it's a reaction that comes without any thought). Then Ricardo sent me the link to the NYTimes story.



I generally don't like to put up such depressing things on this blog, but this is so close to home. And i'd actually rather not comment on the content, but point out that the media, in general, has this incredible power to depress people these days. It's all doom and gloom. Not that this sort of thing shouldn't be reported. But it bothers me, how much power the media has to tax our existence.

For a New Generation, Kimchi Goes With Tacos

The food at Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go, the taco vendor that has overtaken Los Angeles, does not fit into any known culinary category. One man overheard on his cellphone as he waited in line on a recent night said it best: “It’s like this Korean Mexican fusion thing of crazy deliciousness.”

Read Full NYTimes Article

In Argentina, a Museum Unveils a Long-Frozen Maiden

All I know is that I've gotta get down to Peru/Chile/Argentina, to Latin America in general. Check out this article on the unveiling of the long frozen maiden, the boy and the girl of lightning.

Meta(l) Thrash

The Village Voice is presently running an article on the "comeback" of metal thrash led by Latino bands from California and Central/South America. It's a mildly interesting article, but it doesn't really pick up on a much more interesting topic, namely the political bent of many of these bands. Instead, the article idealizes the "original" thrash metal scene, led by bands like Megadeth and Slayer (recognizing, of course, that while Slayer's lead members are Cuban and Chilean, it is historically the mainstream white audiences that popularized them). In idealizing this original, American-based scene, it relegates the Latino Thrash/Punk/Metal scene to a regurgitation of mainstream, "white" culture, while anyone who has heard some of these bands knows they are also hell-bent on different agendas.

The band they feature, Fuled By Fire, is non-political if you check out their myspace. They don't seem too concerned with the borders, Indigenous Rights, or the Zapatistas. In theory, they're participating in some larger Thrash scene that doesn't pay attention to your skin color, or what you're thrashing about. It's the re-emergence of a "pure" Thrash. The article goes on to quote Latino band-members saying things like "'...But to tell you the truth, we don't really know why thrash is so popular with Latinos. We never really think about race when it comes to thrash, but we have noticed that there are a lot of Latinos in the thrash scene.'" And later: "'I don't think that race/ethnicity have something to do with this...Don't matter what is your race, [but] how much metal you have in your blood.'" In this mode, Thrash/Metal/Punk music is oblivious to where you are born, and thrashing has nothing to do with anything except, well, thrashing. Thrash becomes an elevated, universal concept, which people of any culture can take part in.

This may be true. Thrash Metal rocks!!!, afterall. But let's not overlook the fact that there is a Latino Thrash/Metal/Punk scene, and that there may be very concrete reasons for its existence. The article hints at these reasons, quoting Luis Jorge Saldarriaga of Bogota, Colombia's Death Hunter--"I think the interest comes from feelings of rage, and also unhappiness about certain things occurring in our countries that lead us to look for an aggressive type of music that we can identify ourselves with, and expresses something similar to what we feel..." The article doesn't follow up on this, however, and instead focuses on Latino bands' attempts to "revive" the good old days of the scene, making sure the entity of Thrash doesn't die out.

But there are reasons that Latinos identify with and re-create the Thrash/Metal/Punk scene.
Check for instance these bands-- MasAcrE, La Grita, and Eskapo, three Northern California bands not only doing their part in keeping the scene alive, but continuing another very important historical thread of political music. Connect to any of them and you'll see that they connect to other bands equally as political, many or most of them Latino Thrash/Metal/Punk bands. And let's not forget to look at their politics: Leftist, Anarchist, all for extreme change, expressing deep rage at the world. We listen to them not only because they rock, but because their music is driven by purpose.

The Latinos quoted in the Village Voice article may be interested in keeping the old "scene" alive, and may not have political lyrics. But their rage remains, their metal blood still boils. Thrash is inherently about expressing rage. Whether they realize it or not, they too are political.

-Juan Cicada

Our Town

An interesting article from NYTimes Mag profiling the effects of anti-immigrant business policies in a small town.

Media Against the Chinatown Express

A Chinatown bus flips, injuring 34 people on September 5, 2006. An article on the safety of the Chinatown bus lines is subsequently published later that month in the Washington Post. On May 20 of this year, an NYC bound bus crashed, killing two people and injuring 32.

The Washington Post talks about the language barrier. Are drivers competent, the article asks, do they speak English well enough to read signs and help out in an emergency.

Let's imagine a scenario:
A Fung-Wah bus driver tips over a bus. He is relatively unhurt—he is able to call for help, knowing that he may have injured people on his bus. But let's assume that he doesn't know much English, that he speaks Cantonese everyday. Does a person who doesn't know English in the US stand by his bus and wait for people who "understand" to make all the phone calls, the attempts for help? Is he devoid of awareness--there has been an accident, people are hurt--is he devoid of compassion?

The article seems to fall on the side of saying that the man with no understanding of English is incompetent and also does not have the ability--the humanity?--to seek out help.

driving/riding

landscape of a travelling mind:


1) Confessions of an Economic Hitman, John Perkins
2) Elizabeth Costello, J.M. Coetzee
3) Don Quixote

Also, Oaxaca

El Paso feels like Mexico, but it's not. Getting into Mexico is no problem. Within Mexico: 1 military checkpoint, 2 casetas (tolls). Holiday Inn Express Chihahua however may as well be Holiday Inn Express Yuba City, CA.

tiger mckenna is on the case today with some reports from the field:

1) explosions reported in Mexico city

2) Ortega headed for victory in Nicaragua

3)Oaxaca continues

This Is How One Half Lives

While the dutiful Sebastian Zargossa happily went about his work, bringing new friends into the fold, his alter ego Nigel K-FKA was in the bay-area, forcing observations from the other side, with that other half we must acknowledge, often live with, and especially, love. Here are some of Nigel's notes:

they(/we?) roil through life. roily f-ing polys. One big diahrrhea. a big burst PPPPHHHLLLLLaaaaaUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUrrrrrrtt in the middle:

http://www.fuh2.com/

they(/we?)speakEnglishgotocollegegetjobsStartpredatorylendingcompaniesthatkeep la gente del otro lado livingonthissideinpoverty,oppressionDriveBMWs...
and then its over: sss$$$ching. Retirement and Dia de los Muertos, if they(/we?) are lucky enough to be remembered.

award$$recogni$hn$ex
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=10&ItemID=11328

So: rat-race-brown flushed-down into the neat sewer pipes of silicon valley
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0691118469/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-9762342-7143945#reader-link

BUT! the blood comes through the pipes again: they(/we?) have children. and the children: beautiful brown, but what color's their blood?
hint:the color of their parents blue Hummer.
Martines, Rodriguess,. Box-checkers indeed, all of them, but how do they vote, and why are they racist.
who$ fault i$ it?
http://www.pocho.com/news/2000/gpbushexperiment/gpbushX080100.html
*********

Nigel also told of a dream where he and Seb are at the top of a giant bunk-bed party with about 15 other people. The bed falls 80 stories and crushes all of their cameras.
The outcome of the dream/what we can learn from it: 1) Nigel and Seb are completely unharmed 2) falling those 80 stories was quite fun 3) the girl throwing the party had insurance.

Luiseño Films y que?

Juan Cicada and Glue Dobbs outted live on the air?

Yes it is true. 90.1 fm KZFR dj Smiley introduced us the North Valley on his "Cultural Roots of Aztlan" radio program friday night. Despite the 80 thousand things on our minds; we had few words to say. But it was good being in the mix with the late night KZFR crew during the pledge drive, I even got a call from a fellow Grid-town native, sup Indiana Street Juan.

Besides that, as we started working on a commercial for the zeph' we managed to run into a few long-lost friends and random hippies at the KZFR costume crawl in Chico last night, for a few hundred moments, I felt like I was in Heaven, or Alaska ( I've yet to decide since I have not been to either).

Too good.

The next morning we found ourselves driving back up the historic 99 towards Chico again, on our way to the station again to introduce ourselves to Washington Quezada, host of "The Trip". Needless to say, he welcomed us in the station and on the air again. Since it is pledge drive time at the station we decided to offer as premiums, a set of portraits in the homes of the donor. We got three pledges within a few minutes and one call from another long lost friend and teacher who just happened to be mousing around on the lower edges of the fm spectrum. Too good, again.

As things begin to pick-up, we take more time to think and roam. Excuse the dust on our website, multi-tasking can be heartbreaking.

Being as this is our first official blog post, I would like to recognize a few of the new friends along the way;

The Walnut shakers and movers and sorters and fathers and sons and daughters and mothers and aunts and uncles, you make for fine human beings. The Kiwi pickers, if I can step in and do one thing besides follow you around with a camera I will.

RIP Bradley Will


~Glue Dobbs