The other day at La Parilla in BH, Y ordered her usual tamarindo and I my usual horchata.
As she left me to wash her hands I had an epiphany as I sneaked a sip of her drink. It was so sweet! Too sweet in fact.
In my head I flashbacked to all the times I have ordered horchata as other friends ordered tamarindo. As I ran in my head through all those moments I realized that my fellow US born pocho pals usually ordered horchata (or jaimaica) while my non- US born pals usually order tamarindo.
Is this true?
So please answer me this you Pachucoville cruisers: DO US born Chicano/as prefer Horchata to Tamarindo and non US born Chicanoa/s prefer Tamarindo to Horchata.
And why?
8/17/07
La Buena Vida...
Maybe it is the remaining shards of Catholic guilt that have me feeling a lil guilty for having it so good these days.
Then the other lil voice says "you manifested this, the universe provides."
Then the other lil voice says, "well you know, after the good comes the bad, enjoy it now."
And finally the last of my schizophrenia based vocies chimes in with "Only a person with lil imagination lives within their means, and homes you got an imagination!"
Its been one non stop party since last week.
Friday we wrapped up Summer Bridge with few tears but lots of love and hope. Had a beer with the other profs after we sent the kids home. Got hm, got the Q and dug into two days of Wii.
By Saturday I was almost pro level in tennis and boxing. Q wants to train more and then go toe to toe again.
Sunday I hosted a lil party on the Queen Mary for my radio show. Y and I got there about 1:30pm, got our room, met with the sound peeps, and Nina, one of our good friends and performers. Y and I ran off to pick up supplies for our room and a day's length of partying. Got back in time to drop my set and run the system for Nina. After that. Party time. I took most of my DJs down to the room, set them up and got them on the decks on time. Pics and vids at here, here
and there. Beautiful people, great music, all love for the radio show, great friends, absolutely dope! That night crashed in the room and was visited by various sounds, feelings and scares, that place is freaking haunted!!!
(We'll be having another party on 9/16 come out if you think you can handle)
Monday, I woke up stiff. My back was all messed up. Either way made it to the famous El Rodeo and then had day one of luxurious lounging. Picked up "Reno 911" and some Thai film that was long and dissapointing.
Tuesday: Ragin Waters. The hottest day of the week and I'm at a water park. What? Don't hate.
Wednesday: Pretty much chilled out with good peeps, and more good music all day, into the night, in different spaces.
It's called vacation.
Thursday: Glen Ivy Hot Springs for Y's b-day!!!! WOW. We took an ice chest full of great munchies. Met up with some great friends. Word of the day: MUD. ahhhh. Later came home to dig into more munchies and homie MP brought by the Baskin Robbins Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake.
Today: hey, I hope you are feeling it like I'm feeling it.
Yes shit is bad around the world, in the back yard even, but you need to appreciate the days with the great friends you are given.
Thanks! All love.
Then the other lil voice says "you manifested this, the universe provides."
Then the other lil voice says, "well you know, after the good comes the bad, enjoy it now."
And finally the last of my schizophrenia based vocies chimes in with "Only a person with lil imagination lives within their means, and homes you got an imagination!"
Its been one non stop party since last week.
Friday we wrapped up Summer Bridge with few tears but lots of love and hope. Had a beer with the other profs after we sent the kids home. Got hm, got the Q and dug into two days of Wii.
By Saturday I was almost pro level in tennis and boxing. Q wants to train more and then go toe to toe again.
Sunday I hosted a lil party on the Queen Mary for my radio show. Y and I got there about 1:30pm, got our room, met with the sound peeps, and Nina, one of our good friends and performers. Y and I ran off to pick up supplies for our room and a day's length of partying. Got back in time to drop my set and run the system for Nina. After that. Party time. I took most of my DJs down to the room, set them up and got them on the decks on time. Pics and vids at here, here
and there. Beautiful people, great music, all love for the radio show, great friends, absolutely dope! That night crashed in the room and was visited by various sounds, feelings and scares, that place is freaking haunted!!!
(We'll be having another party on 9/16 come out if you think you can handle)
Monday, I woke up stiff. My back was all messed up. Either way made it to the famous El Rodeo and then had day one of luxurious lounging. Picked up "Reno 911" and some Thai film that was long and dissapointing.
Tuesday: Ragin Waters. The hottest day of the week and I'm at a water park. What? Don't hate.
Wednesday: Pretty much chilled out with good peeps, and more good music all day, into the night, in different spaces.
It's called vacation.
Thursday: Glen Ivy Hot Springs for Y's b-day!!!! WOW. We took an ice chest full of great munchies. Met up with some great friends. Word of the day: MUD. ahhhh. Later came home to dig into more munchies and homie MP brought by the Baskin Robbins Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake.
Today: hey, I hope you are feeling it like I'm feeling it.
Yes shit is bad around the world, in the back yard even, but you need to appreciate the days with the great friends you are given.
Thanks! All love.
8/9/07
Summer Bridge '07
This is what has kept me from writing in my blog.
It is the Education Opportuniy Program Summer Bridge where we bring in 120 students who are first generation college studets, are members of an underepresented group or something like that.
I got a great group of 27 students. They all commute here everyday, some as far as Watts, getting up at 4 am in those cases to hop on buses & trains to get here by 8:30am. I've had very little absences and few tardies. This alone is impressive for students who had just been in high school hearing bells and dodging tardy cops.
Tommorrow is the last day of the program. Today was their final exam, pot luck and we watched "Idiocracy" by Mike Judge.
I will have them in the Fall semester which starts in about two weeks.
These 6 weeks were all warm up to being a college student. They just had one professor, all day in one room, one tutor per room, computer labs open just for them, they were fed every week after watching a film and discussing it, and sometimes they got more food on Wednesdays after pitching in $2 to learn about collective shopping. They basically had the campus to themselves. What happens to them after the first week of seeing the other 35,000 students will be the real test if their little community will keep together. I hope so.
They are all very bright and hopeful. They want to help each other succeed. I really hope they live this the next 4-6 yrs some may be here.
It is the Education Opportuniy Program Summer Bridge where we bring in 120 students who are first generation college studets, are members of an underepresented group or something like that.
I got a great group of 27 students. They all commute here everyday, some as far as Watts, getting up at 4 am in those cases to hop on buses & trains to get here by 8:30am. I've had very little absences and few tardies. This alone is impressive for students who had just been in high school hearing bells and dodging tardy cops.
Tommorrow is the last day of the program. Today was their final exam, pot luck and we watched "Idiocracy" by Mike Judge.
I will have them in the Fall semester which starts in about two weeks.
These 6 weeks were all warm up to being a college student. They just had one professor, all day in one room, one tutor per room, computer labs open just for them, they were fed every week after watching a film and discussing it, and sometimes they got more food on Wednesdays after pitching in $2 to learn about collective shopping. They basically had the campus to themselves. What happens to them after the first week of seeing the other 35,000 students will be the real test if their little community will keep together. I hope so.
They are all very bright and hopeful. They want to help each other succeed. I really hope they live this the next 4-6 yrs some may be here.
7/12/07
T.M.
Many years ago, after I devoured most of Carlos Castaneda's books, went through the Tao Te Ching, various Buddhist writings, attempts at meditation, consumed various psychotropic gifts of the gods -among other safe and not so safe journey's to find the meaning of life, I still feel like a piece of pollen flying on the body of a bee, falling on a flower or two only to be swept up again on another journey.
At first I learned the path to Nirvana was a solo journey that required me to leave this world and all its trappings behind.
I also learned I needed to dream my way out of here by creating a dream double and learning to will myself into the various layers of reality.
These were both 'small vehicle' views of the purpose of life. Save your ass, leave the rest behind.
Next I learned I needed to share knowledge and experiences, connect and reflect, to be able to purify myself and the world of its problems in my miniscule way. I had to pick my piece of the rock and chip away at it. Eventually all of us who are chipping away would make a break through to the other side and help lead others to Nirvana.
This was the 'large vehicle' view of the purpose of life. Helping others will help you, for you are the others as much as you are you.
The answer of course is always somewhere in the middle.
It is never easy to find that middle ground.
My homeboy and fellow traveler, Eli Star, was a DJ who I admired for his spirituall grounding and mixing of dope ass tripped out music. I took him up to the mountains one time to share in a sacred sweat ceremony. As I have learned, the sweat makes us one, we return to the Earth womb, and we are all united. At the same time we are there to deal with our own demons and pains and let them out. Also we are there to give thanks and praise for all the gifts we have. Helping/celebrating each other through songs, the drums, 'ah hos' and medicine we helped/healed each other and ourselves. At the time I actually wasn't as clear about the purpose of the sweat as I am now. I couldn't have written the above back then. I took Eli up there because at the time he was about the small vehicle and I wanted to show him the big vehicle. We would argue about activism and aestheticism. I would say "We need to change the world." He would say "We need to leave the world." I hope we have come a long way from there.
I thought of him recently because times are looking like we need to really just save ourselves. In a head stand earlier, I was imagining lifting off. I thought about my dream practices and I heard another one of my secret master's voice, "Learn to move alone."
I am surrounded by good people. I love and cherish them. They are also looking for that door to the other side. I feel I need to practice with them whatever they feel good about practicing. At the same time I don't want to teach this, I don't know what I am really doing, so how can I teach? We can get caught up in ritual and forget the reasons we do what we do.
Awareness, questions, mental strectching is happening all around us. The middle road is getting clearer. Maybe a little ride in the big vehicle and a lil ride in the little vehicle will get us/me there.
Movie directorDavid Lynch has been promoting Transcendental Meditation. He even has a Myspace for it. I like what it says, but unfortunately all I have found ends with a big ole price tag. ?!?!? Anyone got the hook up?
At first I learned the path to Nirvana was a solo journey that required me to leave this world and all its trappings behind.
I also learned I needed to dream my way out of here by creating a dream double and learning to will myself into the various layers of reality.
These were both 'small vehicle' views of the purpose of life. Save your ass, leave the rest behind.
Next I learned I needed to share knowledge and experiences, connect and reflect, to be able to purify myself and the world of its problems in my miniscule way. I had to pick my piece of the rock and chip away at it. Eventually all of us who are chipping away would make a break through to the other side and help lead others to Nirvana.
This was the 'large vehicle' view of the purpose of life. Helping others will help you, for you are the others as much as you are you.
The answer of course is always somewhere in the middle.
It is never easy to find that middle ground.
My homeboy and fellow traveler, Eli Star, was a DJ who I admired for his spirituall grounding and mixing of dope ass tripped out music. I took him up to the mountains one time to share in a sacred sweat ceremony. As I have learned, the sweat makes us one, we return to the Earth womb, and we are all united. At the same time we are there to deal with our own demons and pains and let them out. Also we are there to give thanks and praise for all the gifts we have. Helping/celebrating each other through songs, the drums, 'ah hos' and medicine we helped/healed each other and ourselves. At the time I actually wasn't as clear about the purpose of the sweat as I am now. I couldn't have written the above back then. I took Eli up there because at the time he was about the small vehicle and I wanted to show him the big vehicle. We would argue about activism and aestheticism. I would say "We need to change the world." He would say "We need to leave the world." I hope we have come a long way from there.
I thought of him recently because times are looking like we need to really just save ourselves. In a head stand earlier, I was imagining lifting off. I thought about my dream practices and I heard another one of my secret master's voice, "Learn to move alone."
I am surrounded by good people. I love and cherish them. They are also looking for that door to the other side. I feel I need to practice with them whatever they feel good about practicing. At the same time I don't want to teach this, I don't know what I am really doing, so how can I teach? We can get caught up in ritual and forget the reasons we do what we do.
Awareness, questions, mental strectching is happening all around us. The middle road is getting clearer. Maybe a little ride in the big vehicle and a lil ride in the little vehicle will get us/me there.
Movie directorDavid Lynch has been promoting Transcendental Meditation. He even has a Myspace for it. I like what it says, but unfortunately all I have found ends with a big ole price tag. ?!?!? Anyone got the hook up?
7/10/07
Pedo, blog: four letter words
Is blogging robbing me of the time to be writing something more significant?
Before I went on my very brief summer vacation, my mentor, homeboy Harry G. told me "You need to publish at least two things before you come back to teaching. It is the only thing that really seperates you in your job searches." I have a couple of things out but not of any big big value. I always take his words to heart. I admire his writing and manipulation of language as he said many years ago, more or less: "To turn the english lanuage into shards of glass and weapons to use against them."
At the beginning of my break I got offered a book review for the "LA Times," but because I had exchanged some emails with the writer of the book I was supposed to review, I couldn't be ojective, so they retracted their offer.
I have sat at my computer and thought of deep things to write about. Nada came to me. As you can read I've thrown up some things on here. Argued on others blogs. But I have done nothing to seperate me in the job searches.
Harry G. has told me many stories of writers and artists who came into their own later in life. He also told me about Chicano time, not that we are always late to things, but that we do function at a different pace in life, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. We get married and have kids too young sometimes. Take a vacation and see the world too late in life. We find our muse or cause and blow it up, only to be perceived as that is all we have to say for the rest of our life. We don't find our real muse or cause until we can only use our last breaths to get it out.
Is blogging like the silent farts that no one knows about? Only a few make a stink for those near. Gee I'd hate to be remembered for that one, but fuck it.
Another homeboy, Ese Rudy! (only I can call him that!) said this in an interview with Harry G.
So this makes me keep thinking about what good thing should I be trying to leave behind. hmmm
Let me get off this machine and keep looking. Keep making some footprints.
I'll be back
Before I went on my very brief summer vacation, my mentor, homeboy Harry G. told me "You need to publish at least two things before you come back to teaching. It is the only thing that really seperates you in your job searches." I have a couple of things out but not of any big big value. I always take his words to heart. I admire his writing and manipulation of language as he said many years ago, more or less: "To turn the english lanuage into shards of glass and weapons to use against them."
At the beginning of my break I got offered a book review for the "LA Times," but because I had exchanged some emails with the writer of the book I was supposed to review, I couldn't be ojective, so they retracted their offer.
I have sat at my computer and thought of deep things to write about. Nada came to me. As you can read I've thrown up some things on here. Argued on others blogs. But I have done nothing to seperate me in the job searches.
Harry G. has told me many stories of writers and artists who came into their own later in life. He also told me about Chicano time, not that we are always late to things, but that we do function at a different pace in life, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. We get married and have kids too young sometimes. Take a vacation and see the world too late in life. We find our muse or cause and blow it up, only to be perceived as that is all we have to say for the rest of our life. We don't find our real muse or cause until we can only use our last breaths to get it out.
Is blogging like the silent farts that no one knows about? Only a few make a stink for those near. Gee I'd hate to be remembered for that one, but fuck it.
Another homeboy, Ese Rudy! (only I can call him that!) said this in an interview with Harry G.
So this makes me keep thinking about what good thing should I be trying to leave behind. hmmm
Let me get off this machine and keep looking. Keep making some footprints.
I'll be back
7/5/07
The scariest film out now is...
"SICKO" by Micheal (you media sluts love to hate) Moore.
I've seen "Hostel" and other contemporary 'horror' movies, but none left me as scared as SICKO, because it is real and could happen to me or someone I care about.
It left me almost shaking in fear. I was also depressed. This is not to say you shouldn't go because it is scary and depressing, it means you have to go because you need to see it.
Sure we know our health care system is screwed up, but this documentary puts faces to the story and compares our system to England's, France's and Cuba's. It really lets you know that in this country, if you cannot afford health care you are totally at the mercy of your insurance company's whims (if you are insured). Our capitalistic system is immoral. Our current health care system, which is a reflection of our capitalist bent, is also immoral on the same grounds. This leads to my second must see film
"THE CORPORATION"
This explains it all. Corporate mentality which functions as a psychopath does, has infected most of us and is leading us down an unsustatainable path to death.
Scary stuff. View with caution. Makes "Hostel" look tame.
I've seen "Hostel" and other contemporary 'horror' movies, but none left me as scared as SICKO, because it is real and could happen to me or someone I care about.
It left me almost shaking in fear. I was also depressed. This is not to say you shouldn't go because it is scary and depressing, it means you have to go because you need to see it.
Sure we know our health care system is screwed up, but this documentary puts faces to the story and compares our system to England's, France's and Cuba's. It really lets you know that in this country, if you cannot afford health care you are totally at the mercy of your insurance company's whims (if you are insured). Our capitalistic system is immoral. Our current health care system, which is a reflection of our capitalist bent, is also immoral on the same grounds. This leads to my second must see film
"THE CORPORATION"
This explains it all. Corporate mentality which functions as a psychopath does, has infected most of us and is leading us down an unsustatainable path to death.
Scary stuff. View with caution. Makes "Hostel" look tame.
6/26/07
Acid House
This week Doc Martin is bringing the creator of Acid House DJ Pierre to a warehouse somewhere in the city. They will be celebrating 20 years of Acid house.
In 1987 I heard my first Acid House at a party called "Sexpress" at a bar on 7th, just east of the LA River in Boyle Heights, the real Eastside. The DJ/promoter was DJ Adrian who had been a part of the Awesome Foursome DJ crew which included: Mark 'Danger,' Willie 'Guilty, & Danny 'Debonair.' From El Sereno house parties, to Hollywood established and floating parties like/at: Details, Red Zone, Florentine Gardens, Ukranian Hall and Rosie's these guys played out a lot in mid to late 80's. By 1987, Adrian was doing his own thing and focusing on the new House music coming from Chicago and New York.
At "Sexpress" you would walk into a dark room lit by black lights and televisions that were set upside down playing porn. The walls were covered in black plastic with day glo doodles and splattering all over. The beats were relentless, instrumental and mind blowing.
In the other room, the bar to be exact, Eddie Ayala, Johhny Vatos and John Avila of Oingo Boingo played East L.A. rock classics to give you a break from the new sonic experience that was Acid house.
Here is the link to a mix I made using some of the earliest Acid House I could find. It aired on my radio show. Here it is in it's entirety. Enjoy. PT Acid House mix
I don't usually think of promoting parties on here, but being that classic rocks stations and the print media are spending so much time on the 1967 Summer of Love, I think this is important to recognize our own cultural creations such as Rave culture which was bigger and still very much alive. In the UK their Summer of Love was in 1988, here in L.A. 1992 saw the crest of the large illegal raves. Today we have larger events at the Sports Arena, Orange show and other venues all based on those early models of raving.
I hope you come out and experience this music as it was meant to be experienced, in a warehouse, with great DJs, open minded music lovers and dancing like no one is watching.
In 1987 I heard my first Acid House at a party called "Sexpress" at a bar on 7th, just east of the LA River in Boyle Heights, the real Eastside. The DJ/promoter was DJ Adrian who had been a part of the Awesome Foursome DJ crew which included: Mark 'Danger,' Willie 'Guilty, & Danny 'Debonair.' From El Sereno house parties, to Hollywood established and floating parties like/at: Details, Red Zone, Florentine Gardens, Ukranian Hall and Rosie's these guys played out a lot in mid to late 80's. By 1987, Adrian was doing his own thing and focusing on the new House music coming from Chicago and New York.
At "Sexpress" you would walk into a dark room lit by black lights and televisions that were set upside down playing porn. The walls were covered in black plastic with day glo doodles and splattering all over. The beats were relentless, instrumental and mind blowing.
In the other room, the bar to be exact, Eddie Ayala, Johhny Vatos and John Avila of Oingo Boingo played East L.A. rock classics to give you a break from the new sonic experience that was Acid house.
Here is the link to a mix I made using some of the earliest Acid House I could find. It aired on my radio show. Here it is in it's entirety. Enjoy. PT Acid House mix
I don't usually think of promoting parties on here, but being that classic rocks stations and the print media are spending so much time on the 1967 Summer of Love, I think this is important to recognize our own cultural creations such as Rave culture which was bigger and still very much alive. In the UK their Summer of Love was in 1988, here in L.A. 1992 saw the crest of the large illegal raves. Today we have larger events at the Sports Arena, Orange show and other venues all based on those early models of raving.
I hope you come out and experience this music as it was meant to be experienced, in a warehouse, with great DJs, open minded music lovers and dancing like no one is watching.
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