Amor en la Mente

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.

♥
La Pachuquita

Johnny Cash::Ring of Fire


Ramon Ayala::Un Rinconcito en el Cielo


PJ Harvey::This is Love


The Danleers::One Summer Night


Stone Temple Pilots::Still Remains


Julieta Venegas::Limon y Sal


Enanitos Verdes::Luz de Dia

¡¡Puras Covers!! Only Covers!!

Algo que siempre me ha gustado es la habilidad de un artista de tomar una canción de otra artista y cantarla en su estilo único. No estoy hablando de esos artistas que solo toman partes de otras canciones sin dar creadito al artista original. Estoy hablando acerca de bandas que solo por el puro amor a la música "cover" canciones que nos transportan a otro tiempo o a otro tipo de música.

Me gustaría compartir con ustedes algunas de mis "covers" favoritas y otras que he encontrado recientemente y me han encantado. ¡Déjenme saber que les parece!

Something I have always liked is a band’s ability to take another artist’s song and sing it in their own unique style. I am not talking about those bands that sample parts of other songs without even giving credit to the original artist. I am talking about bands that out of their pure love of music cover songs that can transport us to another time or to another genre of music.

I would like to share with you all some of my favorite covers and others that I have found recently and I loved. Let me know what you think!


Jaula de Oro: Julieta Venegas (Original: Los Tigres del Norte)


La Negra Tomasa: Caifanes (Original: Compay Segundo)


Dancing Days: Stone Temple Pilots (Original:Led Zeppelin)


Hotel California: Panteon Rococo (Original: The Eagles)


La Bamba: Ska-P (Original: Cancion Tradicional de Veracruz)


Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Ska-P (Original: Cindy Lauper)


Ring of Fire: Social Distortion (Original: Johnny Cash)


Hurt: Johnny Cash (Original: Nine Inch Nails)


Rock el Casbah: Rachid Taha (Original: The Clash)

Dime, Jaguar

In order to catch los Jaguares on their 45 tour—the album so named for the 45 million people living in poverty in Mexico—I found myself once again at the Nokia Theater in Times Square (doesn’t anybody in New York ever book anywhere else???). The first bit of news, which those of you who have been watching TV know, is that Saúl has cut his hair. It makes him look, um, old, and as some audience members suggested, fresa. But he is still the same Saúl with that same entrancing voice which deftly sneaks in poetic quotes and political observations between songs in order to encourage audience members to get off their asses and do something to improve the world (that is, after they recover from their hangovers). As usual, there was a mix of responses from the audience. One guy next to me shouted out, “¡Que no se olviden de los compadritos del ’68!” and others just made their annoying “culero” calls while demanding particular songs.

* The Set *

Mostly Caifanes and early Jaguares songs and just a few from the new album, which nobody sang along to, although according to a People en Español interview with Saúl, the day after its release 45 made the “no 1 spot on I-tunes,” whatever that means. The encore consisted of a wonderful Caifanes set of 4 songs that ended with “No Dejes Que,” which may have been meant to slow things down, although if that was the intent the locos in the mosh pit didn’t seem to notice.


“Me salvé del mundo y de su furia pero no de ti…”

* The Mosh Pit *

Let’s begin by saying that the venue was so crowded that it took a good half a dozen songs for the moshing to even get started. There was simply no room. But when it did get going, it was, well, crazy. I was one of maybe, maybe, four women in there. I can’t remember the last time I was in a mosh pit that was so overwhelmingly male. The gender imbalance made for some interesting near-death experiences. After a certain point, it seemed like the slower the song tempo, the harder the moshers worked to keep things riled up. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I spent most of my time on the sidelines, but considering the overrepresentation of shirtless moshing dudes, I feel justified in my self-preservation tactics.

* The Verdict *

The show was awesome. The popularity of the 80’s and 90’s compositions, it seems, will never die. They just get better with time, and the band still performs them with all the love and electrified energy they deserve. And while the merits of the new songs is a subject of debate among fans, nearly all the songs on the new album are composed by Saúl, which is to say, they can never really be bad.

* P.S. *

The chisme mill here in Brooklyn has it that the new 4th member of the band is a paisa who used to work at a restaurant in Manhattan. The band used to invite him to play live with them whenever they came to town until they finally picked him up and gave him a new (and presumably better paying) job.

chula

i spent this past weekend in chula vista, my beloved hometown. i do like it up here, but certain things from there i really miss when i'm away. like seeing the lights that dot the tijuana hillsides from my family's house at night. like riding through san ysidro during the day, that gigantic flag waving hello to me from the mexico side of the línea the entire time. like eating ice cream from oasis: pepino con chile, sweet rice, piña. oh man, riquísimo.

the little pocket of chula vista where my father grew up, and where countless primos still live, is otay (not to be confused with otay lakes or otay ranch). and right there on 4th & main, around the corner from our lady of guadalupe church and close to the house where my father was raised, is the old palomino bar. formerly a vaquero hangout, it's now a rock en español club.



over the border
3008 main street (@ 4th avenue), otay-chula vista

it's tiny, holds at most 300 people, but panteón rococo, gustavo cerati, andrea echeverri, bersuit, and el gran silencio have all played there. most saturday nights you will find the house band, los ingratoz, playing some of their vast collection of rock en español covers. this weekend there was a lot of taking it back to the old school with songs like déjenos bailar, tren al sur, oye mi amor and el chico de la calle. they are good musicians those guys, and the crowd loves them! especially during the requisite shout-outs to tj, df, and guadalajara. the djs usually do well too, with some of the more innovative mixes i've heard... rancheras + reggaeton, anyone? this weekend there was not quite enough cumbia, and too much techno but i won't hold it against them.

for a straight club on a saturday night, it's pretty cool. the boy-girl ratio is not oppressive, the pick-up action isn't either, and the cocktails are served by boys with poky hair, not girls in miniskirt-uniforms. also, the young woman at the door was wearing heavy eyeliner and a man's suit. chulita.



here's a song the band covered in their first set, excellent for a spin on the rock en español dance floor if you ask me...



la negra tomasa : caifanes