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Just in case we might like the same kinds of music, here are a few new selections that have earned time on the ole' turntable.


PISTOLERA - EN ESTE CAMINO
Luchadora
The second CD from this New York-based group does not have a weak spot in any of the twelve tracks. From Nuevos Ojos to Arena the songs are tight, full-bore Latino progressive, including the rendition of Bob Marley's War (Guerra). The group consists of Sandra Lilia Velásquez on vocals and guitar, Maria Elena on accordion and piano, Inca B. Saiz on bajo, and Ani Cordero on drums and vocals. These four musicians manage to produce a powerful and very danceable sound. There is a lot going on here, from the selection of song formats and instruments to the politically-charged lyrics - check out Extranjero and Policía for examples. As I did my best to keep up to the music, I heard a little banda, a little tejano, a bit more of ranchera, a dose of indie-pop, and a great deal of something else that this band brings all on its own. Go here for a video interview with the entire band as part of its selection as the Clandestino Artist of the Month for Go TV Networks. The band's website is here.


CALEXICO - CARRIED TO DUST
Quarterstick Records
Tuscon residents Joey Burns and John Convertino (and several guest musicians, some of whom are now members of the band) have been recording as Calexico since 1996. Their latest effort, Carried to Dust, is a pleasing combination of musicianship, lyrical free expression, and a soaring, almost romantic ambiance. There's a country style to the music, but somehow jazz plays a part. According to the record label website, this collection is a concept piece about a Los Angeles writer, the 2007 writer's strike, and a mind-bending tour of stops along the inspirational highway. I confess I haven't got that deep into the CD yet, but the song Writer's Minor Holiday sure is in that territory. You can watch Burns and Convertino perform Two Silver Trees. Amparo Sanchez and Jacob Valenzuela carry the vocals on the beautiful and intriguing Inspiración. The video does not do justice to the CD version, but you can watch the full Calexico band perform Inspiración here at this link.


LOS FABULOCOS FEATURING KID RAMOS - LOS FABULOCOS
Delta Grove
I confess. I'm an old timer. I dig oldies, roots music, blues, conjunto, a little country. Give me some rockabilly or a speeding accordion, and it's all good. Through in some Tex-Mex and a soul cover, a few catchy lyrics, and it's even better. And there you have Los Fabulocos. Veteran Southern California musicians Jesus Cuevas (vocals and accordion), Mike Molina (drums), and James Barrios (bass and background vocals) have teamed up with blues star Kid Ramos (vocals, guitar, bajo sexto, Spanish guitar) to form a high-energy, kick-ass party band that challenges you to stay in your seat once they get started. Hey, this CD has Un Mojado Sin Licencia (the guy just wanted to see his Chencha) from Flaco Jimenez's playlist, the zydeco classic You Ain't Nothin' But Fine, and Cornelia Reyna's Como Un Perro. Included are bangin' versions of Lloyd Price's Just Because (one of the all-time pachuco broken-hearted tunes) and Dr. Loco's Mexico Americano. See what I mean? How can this be anything but great. And the original material is just as solid: If You Know, Day After Day, and You Keep Drinkin' . This CD gets my highest recommendation. There's plenty of video of these guys already on the Internet. Here's one.

CD release party on September, 12 2008, 9:00 PM, at The Doll Hut with guests The 44’s - 107 Adams Avenue, Anaheim, California. (714)533-1286.

AND ...
I've heard only samples of the new Indigenous effort, Broken Lands, but it's getting good press. Need to get my hands on a full copy. Los Lonely Boys have struck again with another winner, Forgiven. Accordion giant Steve Jordan produced this gig. And for something different - Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson? It works. Contrary to the CD's title, Two Men with the Blues, this is not downbeat. Stardust is splendid.


A BIT AND A PIECE
Rigoberto González reviews Manuel Peña's Where The Ox Does Not Plow (University of New Mexico Press) in the El Paso Times, which you can read here. González says that "Peña's memoir is an insightful study of one man's journey toward political and social consciousness, and of his discovery that value is not in wages and class comforts, but in self-respect and the appreciation for his imperfect family and community. Education, he tells us, is not limited to the confines of the classroom."


Finally, I had some fun with Elmore Leonard and his Ten Rules For Writing in a piece I did for the Colorado Authors' League. You can read it here. As my grandson says, "Just kidding."

Later.

Manuel Ramos

A review of the award-winning New Mexico novel, Cottonwood Saints, then a few bits and pieces of news, and a contest!

COTTONWOOD SAINTS
Gene Guerin
University of New Mexico Press, 2005



Gene Guerin's family saga has been awarded the 2006 Premio Aztlán and the 2007 Mountain & Plains Regional Book Award for Adult Fiction. The Denver-based author says in the book's Acknowledgments that Cottonwood Saints is a work of fiction but it is based on forty handwritten pages of reminiscences by his mother, Margaret Ortega Guerin. "Without her memories there would be no book." To add to the feeling of authenticity, the book's cover photo is labeled Margarita's first communion, courtesy of the author. Yet, Guerin confesses, also in his Acknowledgments, that he "assumed the novelist's prerogative of exaggeration, fabrication and manipulation for the sole purpose of a good story." And a good story it turned out to be.

Guerin takes his time with his tale. There is no hurried narrative, no clipped or abstract language to indirectly evoke a feeling or set a scene. The emotions and descriptions are spelled out, the details are abundant and the pace is leisurely, although there is plenty going on in these pages. The book covers the years from 1913, when Margarita Juana Galván is born, until the Epilogue in 1990. In other words, Margarita's life parallels the major ebbs and flows of the turbulent Twentieth Century.

In her early years she enjoys a bucolic, almost fairy-tale existence with her loving aunt, Adela, and devoted servant, Nasha, in a magical life close to nature and the spirituality of Nasha. But that existence is temporary and eventually she is thrust into the harsh reality of her hard-working but poor parents who struggle through difficult times in Las Vegas, New Mexico and Denver. Margarita's life becomes a series of encounters with hunger, racism, and illness, as well as a constant state of conflict because of her strained and distant relationship with her cold, bitter mother. Only when the family returns to Las Vegas where the father somewhat successfully operates a lumber business does Margarita start to come in to her own. Her intelligence, independence and ambition collide with her mother's dark view of life and her neighbors' resentment and jealousy. These are central themes in Margarita's life -- unfulfilled dreams and failures by those she trusts.

Married life brings with it more pain and disappointment. Her husband, Miguel Galván, is a dozen years older, an industrious, solemn man intimidated by his more flamboyant and reckless brothers. He is described as the victim of "bad timing" that began on his birth date, January 2, 1901, "a day late to bask in whatever celebrity was attendant to being a New Year's baby, and more significantly in this case, a New Century baby. ... Christmas and New Year are over. No one wants any more parties. No one wants to give any more presents. Who wants to celebrate anything on January 2." He works diligently and faithfully as a butcher in the business he owns with one of his brothers, but only Margarita sees that the brother takes advantage of Miguel. The brother and his wife live the good life with new cars and treasured refrigerators, while Miguel and Margarita can barely make ends meet. But the most tragic event in Margarita's life is the loss of her favored son, Miguelito. That death haunts her and clouds the rest of her life and the life of the son who was born after Miguelito, Michael.

The book finishes with the story of Michael's tortured years as an alcoholic priest and the final sad acts in the life of Margarita and her husband Miguel.

The tapestry of the Twentieth Century flaps in the background of Margarita's story, and Guerin appropriately touches on the integral role of the New Mexican Hispanos in such events: World War I and II, especially the heroism and sacrifices of the New Mexico National Guard when the Japanese overran the Philippines; the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic that killed forty million people worldwide including thousands in New Mexico; Ku Klux Klan marches in the streets of Denver, shouting hatred and hostility against all non-whites; a boxing match held in Las Vegas between Jack Johnson and a great white hope from Pueblo, Colorado; the economic and social devastation of the Great Depression. The history accurately frames the day-to-day plots and subplots in Margarita's life.

There are many sad and tragic events in this book -- betrayal, murder, fatal accidents and deadly diseases. A few lines from the book exemplify the sadness: "From the age of nine to the age of twelve, Margarita Juana had occasion to cry every day. The general cause of her misery was her exile to the lumber camp of her father, Leopoldo. The immediate instrument of her pain and sorrow was her mother, Tamar." But this is not a sad book. It is a very human book with all the drama and melodrama that humans require in their lives, and then some.

At its heart this book is about the essential strength and dignity of hard-working, unpretentious people. In that way this book compares favorably, in tone, depth and sweep, to Luis J. Rodriguez's family saga of steelworkers in Twentieth Century Los Angeles, Music of the Mill (Rayo, 2005). The New Mexican rural poor of Cottonwood Saints overcome hardship and tragedy; raise families and provide for their children against all obstacles, natural and man made; they love, hate and disappoint; they overcome or succumb, yet they manage to leave something to pass on, something to cherish, in the same ways as Rodriguez's urban working class characters also survived and endured. They lived stories that cried out to be told. Guerin has done that with this book that he dedicated to his mother. These are the stories that have to be preserved.


MARIO ACEVEDO AT THE TATTERED COVER
Wednesday, March 21, 7:30 pm, Historic LoDo
Mario Acevedo will read from and sign X-Rated Blood Suckers (Rayo), the sequel to his debut Felix the Vampire detective novel The Nymphos of Rocky Flats. Those of us in the Denver area are already planning to attend. See you there.


PISTOLERA
I pass on the following news about the Pistolera video from Daniela Capistrano, Director and Producer:

"The Pistolera video Cazador that I directed/produced will debut [February 28] on METV in Austin, TX on the show Sonido Boombox. They have it posted on their show calendar: http://www.myspace.com/sonidoboombox.

"The video will also be included in a DVD compilation about immigration marches around the country. The company is based in Vancouver, CA and is being spearheaded by Frank Lopez, formerly of Democracy Now! in NYC. It will be distributed to pro-immigrant groups in April around the country to get them amped about the marches that are to take place this May. I am very proud of this and hope it inspires many.

"The video has also been sent to: LA TV, Mun2, MTV Espanol, World Beats, and Democracy Now!, and New York Noise.

"Will keep you posted as we get more adds.