Download this 8.5 x 11 inch 300 dpi JPG photo of La Cosa Nueva (C/N) Radio Collective.
Yes, we dressed like that in the mid-70s. You can make this photo your own by following these simple instructions. First, click on the photo of C/N to enlarge. Drag the letter-size photo to your desktop or a folder. Now you are ready to print. Share the photo with your prof, cousins and friends.
During the 70s, C/N offered unique music, news and views. C/N programming was featured not only on San José's KSJS but Cupertino's KKUP and Berkeley's KPFA. Shows were created by a cadre of more than a dozen members.
Music ranged from Latin-rockers Santana, Azteca, Malo and El Chicano. Salseros Tito Puente, El Gran Combo, Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nueva Yorkino and Willie Colon. Mexican and Tejano stars that included Little Joe, Beto Villa, Cornelio Reyna and Javier Solis.
The Chicano and Rican members of C/N produced conferences, dances, events and much more. These unique programs were created at a time when San José's Latino community was hungry for programming that reflected their culture and experience.
From left to right: Antonio Lopez Jr. is now a photographer at SJSU. My favorite salsa fan, Walter "Chico" Irizarry has passed away. Michael Mercado currently resides in beautiful Livermore, California. Ramon Pinero has moved back to the East Coast. This time he lives in Florida. I, Jesús Garza live and turn to toast in the desert community of Redlands, California.
[Click image of the printable PDF poster to enlarge. Copyright 2008 Jesus Manuel Mena Garza. All rights reserved.]
If you travel outside the Southwest, a strange phenomenon occurs. Chicanos* become invisible.
This ubiquitous phenomenon is most obvious on East Coast campuses. Chicano culture is not valued here. Chicanocentric art and history are dismissed with nary a thought.
They value traditional courses (you know what they are.) Occasionally they deliver a course on African-Americans or Afro-Latins. East Coasters know a bit (only a little bit) about the African Diaspora. Please don't ask them about Nepantla and Aztlan.
I am a strong proponent of more diversity. We need more classes on Asian-American, American-Indian, African-American and Chicano culture. Lord knows we are drowning in European culture, like it or not.
Here is an important fact. Today (2008), Chicanos are the largest minority group in the USA. Even with a new fence on the border, Chicanos will continue to expand their presence. Chicanos are migrating all across our country including Iowa, New York and Georgia. Yes, the Mexicano/Chicano Diaspora is changing the face of America. Some Americans don't appreciate the new paradigm. Do you?
The University of Minnesota understands what is taking place. Unlike those East Coast schools, they are hiring professors in Chicano Studies. Eventually, hopefully, some East Coast schools will consider expanding their knowledge base. In the interim, you can take classes on the Northern-Renaissance and the Crusades.
By the way you don’t have to be brown to teach Chicanocentric courses. In my opinion, all you need is a healthy respect and understanding of the cultural nuances. Admitting that Chicano culture is relevant in today's world is the first step towards creating a curriculum that effectively embraces the new American paradigm.
Documentary Photography Jesús Manuel Mena Garza ART X484.34
Learn the art of visual storytelling -- whether for a single editorial image, for feature stories or books or for creating a personal record of things observed. In this class, you explore ways to execute photos through a range of styles and subjects and create a story line from concept development to picture editing and sequencing.
You learn to take better images with strong, sensitive and effective visual qualities by producing several themed projects that can work as a portfolio. The class will take place at the University of California at Riverside's Palm Desert campus.
When: Saturday, October 04, 11, 18 and 25, 2008 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m
Where: University of California, Riverside - Palm Desert 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive Palm Desert, California 92211
Contact: Veronica Hernandez University of California at Riverside Extension (951) 827-2564 vhernandez@ucx.ucr.edu
First CD from Tortilla Factory after 23-year hiatus.
The legendary Tortilla Factory, the Texas Chicano supergroup, has released a new CD "All that Jazz" 23 years after their last release, and Bobby Butler's voice is as rich as ever. Known as "El Charro Negro" to his fans, he has the distinction of being the only African American who sings the "Homeland Texas Chicano" a term coined by the band's leader, Tony "Ham" Guerrero.
Joining the band is Tony's son Alfredo Guerrero, infusing a new note into the band's repertoire by singing songs with an urban flavor as well as the ballad "Hasta Que Te Conoci." Jerry Lopez (Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony) from Santa Fe and the Fat City Horns lends guitar and vocals to that track.
Lopez said, "I was honored and very flattered to work on this project. Tony has worked with some of the greats in our business, and I wanted to give back a little of what the Tortilla Factory gave me in my formative years. Just by being on their CD I have earned a 'badge' that I wanted for a long time."
Tony sings a particularly poignant standard, "What a Wonderful World," a song filled with the emotion of a man who has fought a battle for his health in the last two years, including dying twice on the operating table.
The recent submission of "All That Jazz" to the National Recording Academy for Grammy consideration was quite an arduous process, made difficult by the fact that the music is so hard to pigeonhole. For example, tracks from the CD fall into categories as diverse as Acid Jazz, to Spanish Ballads, to Jazz Standards, to Urban Contemporary, to traditional Tejano. About the closest description can be American World Music, a genre-defying melting pot of sound. There is a unique tone that weaves through all the songs, a definite sound that identifies it as true as Texas.
Bandleader Tony Guerrero, known as "Ham" to his audience, winces at the word "Tejano" and the stereotype it invokes. In 1963, when he was traveling the country with Johnny Long & His Orchestra, the other musicians (Italians and Jews from New York who were much older than the young Tony) were intrigued by the sound he was playing during a break in practice, and asked him to describe it. "They liked it and wanted to know what it was. About the only thing I could think to say was that it was Texas Chicano Homeland. That's when I came up with that description. "
Along the way, Tony has met and played with some of the legends of music. He went to San Francisco in 1964 and landed right in the middle of the flower-power scene. Tony relates "it was the start of the Haight-Ashbury flower power era, and we were all just a bunch of broke musicians living in the Mission District of San Francisco...it was more like the hood...Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, and Greg Rollie (Journey), we were all there at that time. "
Tony Guerrero was part of a very popular act called Little Joe Y Familia in the early '70s, they played rock three nights a week at the Orphanage Night Club in San Francisco. They recorded a Latin rock album called "La Familia Inc. Finally." Essentially, the "Familia" seceded to become "The Tortilla Factory." Tony, a gifted musician who was granted a scholarship to the Berkley College of Music, wanted to develop in a different direction. Now, Tortilla Factory's music is analyzed and study in music theory classes at Berkley, bringing events full circle.
The Tortilla Factory was "indie" before the term was coined. Drawing over a million dollars a year in the '70s without a record label, and subequently getting in trouble with the IRS because of it, the band was a successful touring act all over the United States, drawing crowds of thousands. That fan base is still there. "In only two performances we've done in the last two years our attendance was over 1,500 people both times," Guerrero said.
Tejano Music" is a much misused umbrella term that actually incorporates a lot of different types of music. "That's unfortunate, many of us don't fall into this stereotype because we don't all play accordions and wear cowboy hats." The genre has all but been ignored by the major record labels and even the spanish-speaking radio stations. Recently the hundreds of thousands of Tejano fans have been very active. The Austin Tejano Music Coalition, with the support of Senator Barrientos (D), Texas announced on August 28, 2008 the start of two new stations, one FM and one AM, that will play this music exclusively.
Arnold Garcia, Editor of the Austin American Statesman, said, "Guerrero and other Tejano troubadours were the connecting tissue of Chicano culture in their heyday. They provided the bilingual sound track of our lives not to mention all those memories of Saturday night dances that provided rhythmic relief from drab lives. Sociology aside, it was and is just damn good music."
For information and media contact email Christine Thompson, Publicist at christine@amfmstudios.com.
