In an attempt to bring his viewers back to high school science class, Glen Beck tried out the old frog in boiling water experiment on air–the one that says that a frog will jump out of a boiling pot if thrown in, but will just sit and cook to death if he gets used to the water slowly. Beck allegedly was trying to show viewers exactly why Obama’s plans are too startling for us delicate frogs to handle. Or something.
To me it looks like he didn’t really throw a frog. He’s just not that good of an actor. But that doesn’t mean that the dude hasn’t completely defied all laws of reality and good taste.
I continue to be amazed at how anyone could say that a country under curfew, with airports closed, is anything but a dictatorship, especially given that the self-proclaimed president in power took it via force. According to my dictionary, it fits the definition of a country after a coup. Comparing Honduras to what I know about other moments in Latin American history, it sure looks like a country under siege from within.
On Monday, democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras after being ousted in a coup. However, Zelaya is far from a free man. He is currently inside the Brazilian embassy. As soon as word came through that Zelaya was in the country, the first thing the government of Roberto Micheletti did was deny that fact as a way to maintain control or pretend to anyway. Once it was reveled where Zelaya was, and stil is, his supporters poured into the streets. At the same time Micheletti declared a curfew, which many Zelaya supporters ignored. Power to the Brazilian embassy was cut. Military forces surrounded the area and used tear gas against pro-Zelaya protesters. People were being pulled off the street.
Erika Lopez’s The Welfare Queen at BAAD!
Friday, October 2, 8pm/$15
The time has finally come for the unabashed, chick crazy, cartoonist, writer, performer, one-woman art sweatshop ERIKA LOPEZ to bring her fun, daring, sexy and irreverent show for the first time to her native New York providing comfort and cheeky glances to the recession-struck Bronx.
“When you’re on welfare and pushing your latest art project in an attempt to pay the rent, what it means to ‘have it all’ obviously require some redefinition.” – Eryn Loeb, blogger.
Click to reserve your seat or call 718-842-5223
About Us
Crowned “a funky and welcoming performance space” by The New York Times, BAAD! is an art, performance and cultural workshop space that presents cutting-edge and challenging works by established, evolving and emerging choreographers, playwrights, poets, musicians and visual and performing artists. BAAD! presents four annual festivals, BAAD! ASS WOMEN, THE BOOGIE DOWN DANCE SERIES, OUT LIKE THAT! and the BlakTino Performance Series. BAAD! celebrates the arts created by and featuring women, people of all colors and/or the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community.
COME TO BAAD! WHERE IT’S ALL GOOD.
email: crg_bx@yahoo.com
phone: 718-842-5223
Call me jaded, call me having been watching this Latino political/media game too long, pero there is little that surprises me or makes me gasp especially when it comes to hypocrisy that knows no party boundaries.
A second allegedly gasp inducing moment came when Newt Gingrich launched a website for Latinos err Hispanics. The site, called The Americano is a bilingual website run by Sylvia Garcia, his director of Hispanic outreach and the goal is, to lure Latinos to the GOP and to cash in on Latino Hispanic Heritage Month. I will restate the obvious. Yes, it’s a hypocritical move. You’ll remember that in 2007 Newt said that Spanish was the language of living in the ghetto and now he launched a site that has Spanish. Newt then apologized and now he has seen the light and is using Spanglish, the real language of the ghetto according to some of my detractors. I mean The Americano? Shouldn’t it be el Americano or the American? Pick a language carajo! Some peeps are all caught up on the title, The Americano which translates to the “American”. I guess my question is when Newt speaks of “Americanos” is he using it to mean just people from the U.S. or Latin Americans across the Americas? Maybe Obama can offer some clarification?
Seems like racist white people in the media are getting alot of attention this week from various organizations and websites and some of that negative attention is well deserved. But negative, reactive pressure against some of these crazy gringos is only as effective as the values and goals behind them.
As the first official Radio VL review, I thought the latest collaboration by Omar Sosa would be a perfect introduction. What better way to contribute to the 30 Days of Latino Heritage than with musicians that represent the complexity of Latinos?
If you are unfamiliar with Omar Sosa, in short, he’s been a part of the Afro-Cuban jazz genre and is one of the few who is pushing the genre of jazz in ways never heard before. His latest collaboration with flutist Mark Weinstein has resulted in Tales From The Earth, a remarkable 14 track cd that embraces and centers the multiple ways of creating, communicating and knowing among musicians. Artists from all over the world (Bénin, Cuba, Europe, Haiti, Ivory Coast and of Jewish and African-American heritage) have participated in the 2-day recording of this album and include Aly Keita (balafone), Jean Paul Bourelly (guitar), Stanislou Michalak (bass), Marque Gilmore (drums), Aho Luc Nicaise (lead vocals & percussion), and Mathias Agbokou (vocals & percussion).
The first track “Sunrise” instantly put a smile on my face. When I think of the sounds I would like to awake to in the morning, it is exactly what the artists created. Perhaps it is the vibrations that are made by the percussionists that so easily follow the rhythm of my breathing. Track two “Invocation” offers the first opportunity for Weinstein and his flute to be highlighted. This is also the song that each artist can be heard including the vocalists. If you have to wonder who or what they are summoning, keep listening. “Walking Song” follows the lead of “Invocation” and “Tea Break” creates a more picturesque image in my mind of the mechanics of creating a space to consume and engage in such rituals.
The height of improvisation for me was “River Crossing,” and for good reason. If I were to imagine what it is like to cross bodies of water, or were to put to sound the testimonios of people who had to move through water to migrate somewhere, this would be the soundtrack. It is uncomfortable at times, rough, and unexpected to listen to at first. Yet upon hearing it again, I noticed the unpredictability that made the sounds even more powerful. Towards the end of this song it is familiar, joyous, and celebratory.
“Children At Play” is the halfway mark of the album. I wonder if the artists were imagining their own childhoods, or those of their own children as they created this song together. I believe they give us a glimpse into the environment they wish to create for children to safely play and explore as they are doing together. Jean Paul Bourelly and Stanislou Michalak’s guitar’s are paramount in this song.
The longest track at over seven minutes is “Men’s Talk.” Although similar in structure to other songs that are based upon improvisation, “Men’s Talk” also has moments where one or two instruments (including vocals) have a moment to be highlighted. As someone who is not a musician, I’m always fascinated by how musicians interpret and communicate in ways that they all understand when it is their time to step up and their time to step back. This was also something I noticed on “Elders Speak” track number 13, where Weinstein’s flute, some percussion and a guitar were the only sounds for a majority of the track.
“Flirtation” and “Praise” offer more vocals than other songs and “Spirit Messenger” sounded the most to me like the Sosa songs I’ve heard in the past with communal chanting and vocals, heavy percussion, drumming, and up-tempo beats. Yet, I believe this is the appropriate sound for a conversation with the ancestors and spirits.
“Gratitude” is the last track and shares similar elements with the first track, “Sunrise,” it is a good way to conclude this album: reminding us there is so much to appreciate. Not only has this album been on heavy rotation in my home, but also it’s an amazing addition to the genres of jazz and world music. Tales Of The Earth comes just in time to expand those ideas of what “Latino” means and who is included. Sosa and Weinstein’s collaboration demonstrate that “Latino” is in Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean and is spiritual, ancestral, communal, and it is that which is honored in this album.
My family, my partner Margarita, and I are walking on October 3, 2009, to honor my Dad, to show him our support and our love and our gratitude for his spirit, his fight, his humor, and his heart. We are walking with the hope that he might still find a treatment that will help him feel better, get healthier, and have more time to spend here with us. My dad makes friends wherever he is and in whatever state he’s in, and he’s made many friends at his cancer center. We’re walking for them and their families too. Margarita and I are also walking for her friend and coworker, Yajaira Mercedes, a young mom of three who is also battling leukemia. We’re walking for all of the other MDS, leukemia, lymphoma and cancer patients and survivors out there; for their families and friends with whom we empathize. We’re walking in the hopes that with more research, there will be more survivors who will live better, longer, happier lives.
I’m asking all of you – my friends, colleagues, acquaintences – to donate whatever amount you can spare so that we can truly honor my Dad and his fellow cancer patients and survivors. I’d also encourage folks to sign up for the national bone marrow donor registry and to donate blood if you’re able to; both are very important and potentially life-saving things to people living with MDS, leukemia, and other blood cancers.
Obama gave an interview to David Letterman earlier–and the follow has a few preview clips of the interview. Among some of the questions Obama faces: how long have you been a black man? A funny quip–what gets me, however, is the answer. Which seems to be “coded” remarkably well.
He’s saying what we all know–99% of the screaming teabaggers at the town hall meetings are white folks. And that there’s pretty much nothing he personally can do about it. So he might as well just go on about his business.
I can’t help it. I know that Mamita and others have said that they’ve gone their separate ways with Obama. And that’s a position I respect–but maybe it’s because I never had any hope for Obama to begin with that he still has my interest. I don’t see him doing anything amazing, I don’t see him changing the world, hell, I don’t even see him fixing immigration. But it is really interesting to me how he is negotiating racism. And it makes me wonder if his negotiating (rather than his policies or legislation) will make a difference for average people of color.
Faced with a growing movement of communities demanding that CNN drop his program, Lou Dobbs responded Friday with one of his favorite postures: the victimized defender of American virtue. “They ask CNN to fire me because I oppose illegal immigration” said Dobbs, who added, “”The last thing they want is a first amendment, where people can express themselves… These are the most un-American, frightened people in the world because they won’t compete in the marketplace of ideas and facts.”
I think it’s a good sign that Lou felt that he needed to respond to the campaign. Keep passing the word, linking and signing–and who knows, after years of disgusting tirades, Lou Dobbs may actually be held accountable for his actions!
As 
Long time Latina blogger and much admired 
Roberto Lovato has got a good post up over at