Soledad en masa

This past week has had some good spring weather. I’m now wearing shorts and sleeping with the windows open! Alas, I fear it will get hotter. Hotter in Boston means more humid, which blows. :\

Today I woke up listening to the Tom Tom Club, in particular, “Woody Rappinghood” and “Genius of Love.” I have to admit, before my mariachi concert this past Saturday, I played “Genius of Love” for a few minutes, just mouthing the words. I had no idea its video was so… cartoonish. Listening to it reminds of old school hip hop.

I’ve listened to this song at least once an hour since Sunday, after our mariachi concert. El falsete del Rey del Falsete es casi inigualable, pero creo que hay alguien quien es igual a él. Eso será para otro día.

Por ahorita, disfruta de esta canción, arreglada por Rubén Fuentes, claro.

This past Saturday was the Mariachi Veritas de Harvard Spring 2008 Concert at Lowell Lecture Hall, a venue that seats 352. We packed the lecture hall on the first day of Passover! Our concert was spectacular, impeccable, simply electrifying. Everything and everyone was on cue, even the audience knew when to fill the gaps with their cheers!

We practiced everyday the week before the concert. The only respite we had was on Friday, when we held our film screening of Compañeras, with co-director/producer Elizabeth Massie as our guest. On Saturday, we started our day at 2 p.m., preparing Lowell Lecture Hall with our decorations throughout the lecture hall. We went through our sound check and practiced a few songs until around 7:30, when we went downstairs and changed for our concert. The concert was to begin at 8 p.m., so we were running a bit late, which is not bad for concerts. We dressed and walked up backstage, ready to go in. When I looked in, I could not believe it was full of people. Seeing the seats was a great experience, one that I did not expect or had experienced, namely because most of my performances were in parties.

We walked in to an enormous roar of cheers from the crowd and began our concert. Here’s the set list with links to YouTube recordings of the songs that exist. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, April 19th, is the 42nd anniversary of Javier Solís’ death. His voice is one of my favorites. Enjoy him singing this song by Tomás Méndez Sosa.

We’re in the Crimson! Mariachi Veritas also has a new, updated website!

To find the location of Lowell Lecture Hall, click on the poster and it has the address of Lowell Lecture Hall. I hope to see there! Make sure to say hi to me!

I’m posting this song by Las Voces del Rancho so you can enjoy listening to them. I might write an analysis of their songs for L.A. Eastside soon.

Whatever happened to them? I haven’t heard of them in a while. I LOVED their music. And they’re from Bell!

I’m now contributing over at the new blog site L.A. Eastside. You can follow my blog posts by going to my author’s page.

I think I can now say I am an official blogger.

UPDATED APRIL 15, 2008, 5:50 p.m.: My post was featured on Curbed L.A.’s “Morning Linkage.” Sweet, thanks!

Si quieres leer este artículo en español, haz click aquí.

Today, April 11th, 2008, is the tenth anniversary of the death of one of the more famous singers from Los Ángeles, Saúl Viera. He was killed in the parking lot of a Denny’s in Bellflower by an unknown assailant; his girlfriend, who was with him at the time, was not harmed.

Chalino in 1992, Saúl in 1998… Both became inmortales for La Que Buena, the only station that plays their songs in L.A. To this day, you still hear La Que Buena playing their music. Go to Huntington Park, South Gate, Bell, or any of the cities nearby, and you’ll hear at least one car blasting their music.

Before reading any further, go to this MySpace page and listen to Viera’s “Los 3 compitas de L.A.” while reading the rest of the blog entry. It should be titled “Los 3 compitas de South Gate” since the only city named is South Gate, but then again, that’s just my own personal bias towards South Gate.

Saúl Viera’s music is as much a part of Los Ángeles as Toddy Tee and Los Lobos: they’re all music created by those who are not part of the American culture. Once they hit it big, the mainstream doesn’t notice. The mainstream didn’t notice Chalino and Saúl filling El Parral or El Farallon, selling cassettes like crazy in swap meets, but to the other “fringe” cultures that exist in Los Ángeles, they were the best, the top draws, the ultimate señores. Read the rest of this entry »

Not in print form, which ticks me off, but at least they write about South Gate and Huntington Park (and Cudahy, too). In this week’s edition of the L.A. Weekly, there is a food review of restaurants sure to make my bro happy. Read the review here.