ooohhh! so cute!! that's what i have to say about this love letter to oakland, a re-make of jay-z's empire state of mind. really, why have an empire state of mind? much better to have an oakland state of mind.
the lyrics pay tribute to the flatland neighborhoods and legacy of movement & struggle that lives there still. and for those taking notes there are a few historic black panther party sites shown in that video, alameda county courthouse, defremery park, etc. know your history! those young people do.
one fist in the air for the town ya'll everybody come together time to stand tall no place in the world that can compare, put ya fist up in the air, everybody say yeah
Durante momentos como ahorita, cuando el racismo estanca nuestras comunidades, mientras el capitalismo corre como agua podrida por la tierra, tengo que acordarme que el amor todavia existe. Ya sea amor por tu vecino, amor por tu familia, amor por tu comunidad, o amor por tu amante, nos hace sentir algo que nos obliga ver afuera de nosotros, de pensar en algo mas que nuestras propias necesidades o interes. Durante estos tiempos dificiles, tengo que acordarme que el amor existe y alomejor no literalmente mueve montanas, pero si cruza fronteras fisicas y mentales.
Asi que aqui estan, en ningun orden, algunas de mis favoritas canciones de amor.
oh man, everyone's favorite non-food octopus has bitten the dust! apparently life expectancy for psychic octopi is no better than for regular ones. pulpo, it was good while it lasted!!
better late than never here is the reggaeton tribute to paul the octopus...
just in case you missed it, this small anti-islamophobia act of solidarity speaks for itself. but why not let it speak again & again in a re-mixed club version?
I don't consider myself a Nationalist. I am very proud of being Mexicana, but will more often than not prefer to be in solidarity with someone, to find a common ground under which to build a movement, a friendship, a good conversation, a connection.
I would say that there are only a few exceptions to this rule: 1. The World Cup before Mexico inevitably get eliminated. After that I am game to support non-imperialist countries. 2. In the presence of a Mariachi or a Conjunto, especially when there is an accordion involved. 2. September 16, Dia de la Independencia de Mexico. On this day I am consumed for my love for Mexico, yelling "Viva Mexico" to anyone within earshot and will give more than a few "gritos" to vocalize my Mexicanismo.
So imagine my sheer joy and excitement when I found out that Jaguares was playing at the Fillmore on September 15. In Mexico people usually gather the night of September 15 to begin celebrating Mexico's Independence.
Within the frenzy of the mosh pit I was able to take a couple of videos of the show, especially of "La Martiniana", which I had never heard live before.
One of the best part of the show was when Saul (lead singer of Jaguares) talked about joining the struggle to make Mexico the country it needs to be for its people, and reminded everyone that California was part of Mexico, and in a way still is.
my camarada & recent compañero de trabajo/co-conspirator sergio is sort of a jack of all trades.
for one thing he's kind of a rock star. for reals. as in he's played shows all over the us, uk, continental europe, and japan. as in he's one-third of this band, from monument to masses which plays its last show ever tonight at the great american music hall in sf. what kind of music? ummmm... post-rock? i admit to not really knowing exactly what that means except that it's the kind of music like electrelane or stereolab... maybe?? like heavy on the instrumental, light on the vocals, structurally unorthodox. i think. and in the case of fmtm anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist. ok, good.
it's the last weekend of august. weddings, birthday parties, panteon rococo... all kinds of good places to be. but maybe you also need to be at gamh to see fmtm? i hear they put on a great show :)
from monument to masses the final show tonight! saturday, 28 august @ great american music hall, san francisco doors:8pm, show:9 $15
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the quiet before (thunderbirds are now! mix)
deafening
comrades & friends (loquat mix)
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wow. on defening that's a translation of victor jara's lastpoem, written just before his assassination in the estadio chile (audio here by his widow?). beautiful.
but suddenly my conscience awakes and i see that this tide has no heartbeat, only the pulse of machines and the military showing their midwives’ faces full of sweetness. ...
how hard it is to sing when i must sing of horror. ...
to see myself among so much and so many moments of infinity in which silence & screams are the end of my song.
what i see, i have never seen what i have felt and what i feel will give birth to the moment…...
looks like wyclef might be disqualified from the haitian presidential elections after all. i had been wanting to post about what utter mierda his candidacy is...
... Promising to be the country's Obama, he claims to represent the "voice of the youth". Well, we'll see about that. The election process is sufficiently corrupt that, while the most popular party (Famni Lavalas) is banned from participating, a non-resident may well be allowed to participate against election rules. Wyclef Jean is an ideal candidate for the Obama administration, because his record is one of outright support for American imperialism in Haiti. He attacked the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and supported the death squad 'rebels' that overthrew him. He has continued to support the brutal MINUSTAH occupation, on the grounds that it must contain the 'gangs' (there are gangs, but his associates are involved in them - he's referring to Lavalas). He has schmoozed with Bill Clinton and Ban Ki moon, and the usual array of corporate philanthropists and entrepreneurs. His charity, Yele Haiti, is crooked, though it has made him a small fortune in charges for services rendered.
The only election in Haiti that could possibly be legitimate would be one in which Famni Lavalas was a fully legal participant, and Jean-Bertrand Aristide their presidential candidate.
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and mykel archiealready drew it for me (thanks to kiilu for passing it along):
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nothing much else to say really, except that more than 6 months after the earthquake haiti is still under military occupation, and democratic popular forces there still need our solidarity! so let's give some please!!
As promised, here is some additional video from the festival, including more Aterciopelados (I mean, really, is there ever enough?) and Social Distortion!
I have a very soft spot in my punkera heart for Social Distortion, who like Bad Religion, have made it through so many obstacles as a band, including drugs, fame, more drugs, and the introduction of Hot Topic/suburbia faux punk such as Good Charlotte (only The Cure can pull off that much eyeliner, and they have earned it!). It was such a treat to get to see them at Outside Lands!
I loved sitting in the room I shared with my three sisters and listening to this song full blast. I realized later that our ball and chains that each dragged were very different and made of totally different issues and problems.
Social Distortion's version of "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash is one of the best covers ever.
After much negotiating with myself, I decided to go to the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. The compromise that I made with myself was that I would only go to one day. I am so glad for the times that I can bring myself to agreement!
This year's Sunday line-up did not disappoint, on the contrary, it rocked so much, I felt it on the Richter Scale!
Here is some of the video I shot from that day of Aterciopelados and Al Green. I will post part II later today with more Aterciopelados and Social Distortion.
One main highlight from the festival is that I got to meet the amazing Andrea Echeverria, lead singer of Aterciopelados! She stayed for a while after their set greeting people, giving hugs (including to me!), signing autographs, kissing babies (literally), and just being her ephemeral and chill self. She also signed my favorite Deporten a la Migra shirt, which I can now never wear again, but its a sacrifice I am more than happy to make. This gives me a chance to support Liberation Ink, who print the Deporten a la Migra shirt!
I was so excited to see Al Green on the line-up. Come on, its Al Green! That man's music is probably responsible for so many children being conceived over the last 40 or so years.
His songs are sexy, timeless, and have so much energy. Also, the man can still move!
in 1954, 34-year-old lolita lebrón & her comrades walked into the visitors' gallery at the u.s. capitol building, shouted que viva puerto rico libre, and opened fireon the house of representatives, wounding five congressmen. upon her release from prison 25 years later, she returned home to her island and proudly declared herself unrepentant, that it is the right of all people to fight for their freedom. in 2001 she was arrested for "trespassing" at the age of 81, in an action to oppose the bombing of vieques, and was sentenced to two months.
lolita lebrón is adored throughout the americas for her many beautiful acts of rebellion & defense of her homeland. she will be missed!
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here is a bit of audio from freedom archives where she speaks about the decision to take up arms in the fight against u.s. imperialism...
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and here's some archival newsreel from the time of the attack on the congress, including an interview with her & rafael cancel miranda shortly afterwards where they are asked if they are sorry for what they've done ;)
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and finally carlos puebla's lovely dedication written for her during her detention...
guajira por lolita lebrón
¡que viva puerto rico libre! ¡que viva lolita lebrón!
tomorrow is the day that sb1070, otherwise known as legalized racism & xenophobia in arizona, is scheduled to take effect. a judge has issued a partial injunction but it's not enough. and people know it's not enough. families have already started to flee. but immigrants are also fighting back, preparing to defend themselves, educating each other about their rights, and organizing neighborhood defense committees. after so many years of debate on watered-down reformist bullshit concessions, this wicked law and impending fascism has forced a different conversation. not we are not terrorists or we are not criminals. bleh! not please can we have access to the tiny crumbs of american dream you are making us beg for. more like fuck anti-immigrant racism and fuck the sheriffs & politicians & pigs and WE WILL NOT COMPLY. finally.
our beloved camarada marisa is there now, organizing on the ground in her hometown of phoenix.
The fact is that in the last 5 years, over 6,000 immigration related bills have been proposed in the State Legislature - that's more than one a day per session. Rather than finding solutions to problems of unemployment, foreclosures, and in the educational system, it seems as though the state capital has become a legislative laboratory to make the lives of migrants miserable. It has become the status quo to blame immigrants for virtually every problem the state faces. In southern Arizona, the Border Patrol's presence has become the norm, as has the death toll of people found in the desert.
...
Somehow, this law and what it represents has become a marker for the future of this place. A line has been drawn in the sand. Its for what kind of Arizona this will be now and in the future. And I don't know about you, but I don't think I want to place it all in the hands of a judge. We don't want half injunctions of an immoral law, we need full justice for our community.
we hear you, compañera. we'll be in the streets here tomorrow, in sf & oakland & san jose, like they will be in phoenix & tucson, and in cities all over!
** as i'm contemplating the inherent repressive nature of the imperialist state, the violence that always underlies private property and capitalist accumulation, i'm also appreciating a lot the myriadexpressions of popular resistance & solidarity that fight their way to the surface at moments like this...
So you could have expected Rage Against the Machine to join the artists' boycott of Arizona. And you could have even predicted Sweet Honey in the Rock, Calle 13, Cafe Tacvba, Los Tigres del Norte, and maybe even Juanes. But Joe Satriani! Yes!!! Way to keep the resistance movement rocking!
If you're in L.A. this weekend, don't miss this show (fundraiser for AZ groups working to defeat SB1070)...
Like I mentioned in my previous post, my little heart is broken that Ghana did not advance to the semi-finals. They just played so well and really deserved to win. The fact that Uruguay did a hand ball on what would have been their winning goal made their loss even harder to digest.
Ghana's team can be proud that they not only represented their country and their continent well, but that they also have inspired another generation of young Ghana soccer players.
Here is the theme for the Black Stars, the name of Ghana's national team, Jay Ghartey. Ghana si va a ganar el Mundial un dia!
In the midst of Ghana's heartbreaking loss to Uruguay in the World Cup and the oil spill disaster of the Gulf of Mexico that is barely being talked about here, there are the small moments of comedy and cleverness. Today I share with you one of those moments of cleverness in the form of a parody of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl"..." I Read Marx and I Liked it".
If my Marx Study Group had a soundtrack, this would have been one of the songs on the soundtrack. Here are the words:
I thought I just wanted to pass; Good grades were all I cared for. My college made me take the class More stuff for me to ignore! But then I found out that His theories weren't so bad: Labor and class combat, What a very clever man!
CHORUS I read some Marx, and I liked it; The friend of the proletariat. I read some Marx, just to try it; Hope Adam Smith don't mind it! It felt so wrong, It felt so right; Men of the working class, unite! I read some Marx, and I liked it; I liked it!
There is a spectre hanging o'er The face of Europe! 'Tis communism, and it's more Than just a social hiccup. A time will come soon when The masses rise as one To carve out their place in The brand new poetry to come!
CHORUS
Marx is the man, he's working for you; The bourgeoisie, they just ain't your crew. Alienation of labor is bad, Commodification is not a good fad. The capitalists are greedy you see; A shorter workday, now that's what we need! I'm reading some Marx, and I'm liking it; Rise up now, proletariat!
Gracias Silvio, por tu música alentadora y revolucionaria. Gracias por ser el motivo de una reunión prendida de latinoamericanos izquierdistas. Gracias por los gritos y las lágrimas que compartimos aquella noche. Y sobre todo en este momento te doy gracias por esta linda canción, con la cual duermo mi bebé todas las noches. (Aquí se les ofrezco en su versión original junta con un cover que me gusta.)
While still in the afterglow of seeing Silvio Rodriguez in Oakland last Saturday, here are a few pictures, audio clips, and additional observations.
One of my favorite moments of the concert was at the beginning when Silvio asked, "Hay Cubanos aqui?" and there was a long roar from the crowd. In modest yet sincere Silvio fashion, he waved to all the Cubanos in the theater just as if he was waving to a good friend down the street.
Ayer fue mi cita con Silvio Rodríguez la cual he esperado desde la primera vez que escuche una de sus canciones hace como 10 años. La verdad, pensé que los dos nunca íbamos a llegar para nuestra cita, viendo que yo tenia que ir a verlo a otra parte del mundo o el conseguir permiso del mismo gobierno que tiene un embargo de odio y miedo contra su país. Pero, finalmente se nos hizo que las condiciones materiales y políticas se aliñaron en cierta manera que me encontré con Silvio Rodríguez este Sábado pasado, 12 de Junio en el Paramount de Oakland.
Silvio no me decepciono, ni a mí no a las 3,000 personas que fueron a verlo en el Paramount en Oakland para su primer concierto en el Área de la Bahía. El escenario era una visión de serenidad, con solo los instrumentos, las personas tocándolos, y sillas para sentarse y mesitas para su agua. No había mas que enfocarse en la voz se Silvio y los music@s acompañándolo.
Este show era para todos quienes habían sonado con ver a Silvio y para los que habían sentido el dolor de su ausencia por tantos años. Al lado de donde estaba sentada, una pareja en sus 60's se abrazaban con felicidad y con lagrimas en sus ojos por este momento. Habían niños con sus padres, abuelitas con sus nietos, y personas con sus parejas o amigos, todos emocionados por introducir a un ser amado a una parte de su alma y corazón.
Silvio Rodriguez: Sueño con Serpientes
La verdad, mi encuentro con Silvio, que compartí con miles de personas, fue inolvidable. La música de Silvio Rodríguez ha tocado a muchas generaciones, y este concierto planto las semillas para el amor de las generaciones que vienen.
the weather's heating up now and so are the fights between the bosses and the workers! it's boycott season again for a string of sf hotels currently involved in labor disputes. you wouldn't want to sleep with the wrong people so make sure to keep up with hotel workers rising for the updated boycott list!
and for some excellent popaganda & agitation please see...
don't get caught in a bad hotel : brass liberation orchestra & sf pride at work (acknowledgments to lady gaga)
i like it so much.
thanks, lmhm & mv, for pointing me in the right (left!) direction.
The Pixies are the latest musical acts to join the boycott of Israel, which already includes Elvis Costello and Gil Scott-Heron.
The show was going to be the Pixies' first show in Israel ever, but they pulled out a few days before their June 9th show in Tel Aviv. In their statement they state, "We'd like to extend our deepest apologies to the fans, but events beyond all our control have conspired against us."
I commend the Pixies and all of the above artists for pulling out of Israel. The Israeli government's attack on the ship headed towards the Gaza strip killed over 9 people, and their continued attacks on the Palestinian people have killed thousands more.
Many say that the Israeli people cannot control their government's actions and that it is only the fans that are being punished by these artists boycotting Israel. I would disagree. Just as we here in the US have the responsibility to oppose the US government when it mistreats it own people and those abroad, including its own support of Israel, the people of Israel have the responsibility to oppose their government when it violently evicts an entire people and kills thousands in the name of occupation. Also, when big artists boycott Israel, it send a statement that these artist do not want to make money for themselves from or make money for the hosting government.
While others are calling for boycotts of the artists that are boycotting Israel, I say we support these artists now more than ever. So Pixies and Gil Scott-Heron, this is for you: The Pixies: Here Comes Your Man
Kim Deal played with The Breeders after The Pixies broke up in the early 90's. This is one of my favorite bands from the 90's.
Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Gil Scott-Heron: We Almost Lost Detroit
Talking about Detroit, the 2nd US Social Forum will be there from June 22-26, 2010. Although I won't be able to make it this year, don't let that stop you from going!
A second grader in Maryland called out Michelle Obama about Barack Obama's punitive and destructive approach towards immigration and lack of implemention of just and equitable Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). She asked Michelle Obama, "My mom ... she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn't have papers". Basically, this bright second grader pointed out what Obama is really doing instead of figuring out CIR; deporting immigrants who have committed no crime, but are criminalized by the existing immigration system.
The fact that Michelle Obama focused her answer on getting people the "right kind of papers", instead of decriminalizing immigration, did not get past this niña lista, who pointed out, "but my mom doesn't have any [papers]." A Second grader gets it, yet hundreds of politicians and millions of people across the US do not.
Check out the video:
Queremos una Reforma Inmigratoria Ahora!
Children at Immigration Rights March in Washington DC Picture by Dante Strobino
For a long time I resented, well, not Elvis Costello, but his aesthetic; you know the dark rimmed glasses with the hat or the pompadour hair that so many hipsters and rockabilly aficionados strive for. It just always seemed so unoriginal and so limited. Due to my counterculture angst, I had neglected the awesome original artist that is Elvis Costello.
My geek crush on Elvis Costello just blossomed after finding out that he canceled his concert in Israel in protest of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. "It is a matter of instinct and conscience", he wrote on his website, "One lives in hope that music is more than mere noise, filling up idle time, whether intending to elate or lament."
In a time when artist like Madonna and Elton John, and yes, sadly also Mercedes Sosa (que descanse en paz)are flocking to Israel, it is refreshing that Elvis Costello took a stand against occupation.
"There are occasions when merely having your name added to a concert schedule may be interpreted as a political act that resonates more than anything that might be sung and it may be assumed that one has no mind for the suffering of the innocent" - from Elvis Costello's website Elvis Costello: Shipbuilding
A really moving song about how war changes a town and how it uses its talents and gifts.
"With all the will in the world Diving for dear life When we could be diving for pearls"
Just got through watching Univisión’s debate about immigration laws. It was mostly a lot of people talking mierda about politicians and politicians talking mierda about each other. Use-less. Bor-ing.
I find much more engaging this little rola by El Tri. On certain topics, no one can say it like Alex Lora.
"'hora sí ya me voy ahí nos vemos / now I am going, see you later ahí les dejo mi reputación / I’m leaving you my reputation para que hagan pedazos con ella / for you all to break into pieces mientras yo les canto esta cancion / as I sing you this song el muro de la vergüenza / the wall of shame por el arco del triunfo / over the arc of triumph me lo voy a pasar / I’ll pass y ya cuando esté en el otro lado / and when I’m on the other side en su muro me voy a orinar / I am going to take a piss on their wall en su muro me voy a surrar / I am going to take a shit on their wall y con su muro me voy a limpiar / and I’m gonna wipe myself on their wall"
I can only imagine what Lora would have to say about Arizona’s latest move towards becoming a police state. The beautiful thing is witnessing all the acts of resistance that have been springing up around the country against SB 1070. The Phoenix Suns got new jerseys to play in. Even city governments have responded to the call to divest from the state. And on May 29, people from all over the nation will be converging on Arizona – just as the Freedom Riders did in the South – to stand in solidarity with the resistance movement there.
The first thing I noticed as I tried to push my way to the front of the beautifully renovated Fox Theater as Julieta Venegas came out to play was that 1. She was not carrying her accordion and 2. She was not carrying her accordion because her midsection was occupied...by a baby!! She played with so much energy and heart, which is expected, but the fact that she played such a show while six months pregnant has put Julieta in my super women list, like GG who had 2 children while working on her PhD and is graduating this May. Or La Cumbiambera, who came out to an Enanitos Verdes concert while Naya was doing somersaults in her belly. Like my mother and my mother's mother, neither of who had the luxury of maternity leave and had to work hard labor through their pregnancies.
Here are some pictures and video from the great show. Enjoy!
She has been featured time and again on this blog, but seriously, it is appropriate for me to give big shout outs to the new mother-to-be Julieta Venegas because it is because of her that I am a mother now. For those who don’t know the story, back when this blog first started I happened to be in New York for Julieta's free concert in Central Park. Standing next to me at the show was a cute boy. He had long-ish hair and was wearing a pair of blue beat-up Converse shoes. During the show he caught Julieta’s attention by shouting silly things at her (“¡Julieta dame trabajo! ¡Quiero trabajar contigo!”) I was hooked. The rest is herstory.
Much love, too, to my little mamas, Nayáhuari, who has been an awesome companion on this journey. May your life be blessed with creativity, wisdom, and lots of fans.
Julieta @ the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA, 5 de mayo 2010 (video courtesy of angram0)
jeje, the previous post amused me very much. and i have to agree with la cumbiambera: that is a very gay video, and i'm also surprised at the lack of notice taken by music press.
julieta, for her part, has long defied the mexi-pop star standards of hetero beauty & propriety, ever since she was a little roquera hanging out with tijuana no!. she of course continues to play the hell out of her accordion (very uncommon for a high-profile female musician in latin america as that is traditionally a masculine role, thank you patriarchy) and currently she's pregnant & refusing to answer questions about paternity. anda, julieta.
here she is in eres para mi, with anita tijoux, charming everyone in her path, from a nun to a construction worker, in a very switch-hitter kind of way ;)
It’s already been talked about on in both English and Spanish, but there is something that hasn’t yet been said about Julieta Venegas’ new video “Bien o Mal.” And that is that the video is oh-so-lesbo-erotic. Come on. Women in an (almost) all female world passionately devour flowers, lift their skirts for each other, and hover at Julieta’s side as if under a spell. All this, mind you, preceded by a reference to “chicas extrañas.” Can strange girls marry? Have kids? Be happy? How many straight parents have asked these same questions about their own niñas extrañas?
By the way, many a YouTube commentator has expressed disgust over the fart-butterflies. I'd suggest that their disgust is really a thinly masked discomfort at seeing a representation of female sensuality which exists outside of the male gaze. And in a music video no less! Once again Julieta reminds us that you don’t have to act like a loba to cause a buzz in the pop world. Love and patriarchy are separable after all.
oakland is getting ready to host its first marathon in 25 years. tomorrow!
in preparation, here is oakland's own mystic, from her first album, cuts for luck & scars for freedom, video featuring our beloved bay area city.
the life : mystic
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the life : mystic (remix)
but you know and i know it's all about survival this struggle of our people is like that unrivaled the politicans they was never in control it's deeper then that, a true battle for the soul what they want is to bring us to our knees so my people guard your life by any means
... recently my friend lost her family home in east oakland. some vicious real estate speculators stole it from her grandmother, the result of a sketchy foreclosure & auction at the alameda county courthouse, where they bought it for one-half its current market price and paid in cash. her family had been in that neighborhood, in that very home, for more than fifty years, ever since they immigrated from the philippines to one of the only areas in the city that at the time wasn't whites-only.
ugh, gentrifiers are sucking the life out of so many of our neighborhoods. que se vayan al infierno! and i hope it's really hot in there.
oakland fans & marathon spectators should support the team that's running for causa justa / just cause, because every day they work to defend this city for all of us, organizing resistance to vulture banks & developers, fighting to keep families in their rightful homes & communities.
...
¡oakland es del pueblo! el pueblo ¿dónde está? ¡¡el pueblo está en las calles exigiendo libertad!!
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