lowrider

WAR (the original band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)

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warcincoThis 1981 single from WAR was the first time many non-Latinos heard of Cinco de Mayo. This photo shows the original guys at the Sunset Grill (7439 Sunset, next to their offices (Far Out Productions) at 7417 Sunset. The Guitar Center swallowed up 7417 a while back.

L-R: Charles Miller (sax, RIP), Lonnie Jordan (keyboards, the only original member in the new so-called WAR), Howard Scott (guitar, Lowrider Band), Harold Brown (drums, Lowrider Band), BB Dickerson (bass, Lowrider Band), Lee Oskar (harmonica, Lowrider Band). Not pictured, Papa Dee (RIP, percussion).

[DISCLOSURE: I was WAR’s National Director of Album Promotion for a while and ate so often at the Sunset Grill (like in the Eagles song) I had credit.]

Mas…WAR (the original band): ‘Cinco de Mayo’ (1981 complete)

It’s ‘Christmastime for the Jews’ (Darlene Love SNL music video)

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Diva Darlene Love’s classic rock operatic anthropological study of how non-Christians deal with/avoid/cope with the biggest (second biggest?) Christian holy day of the year.

Mas…It’s ‘Christmastime for the Jews’ (Darlene Love SNL music video)

‘Tokyo: Living La Vida Lowrider’ by Luis J. Rodríguez

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luisnewA row of bald-headed, broad-shouldered young men stand together in the middle of a small smoky dance club called Sound Base. They wear well pressed Dickies pants, Locs (wrap-around shades), extra-long flannel shirts or long cotton athletic shirts in black and gray. A few had T-shirts with images of lowrider cars as well as cholas and cholos. In the club’s parking lot, adjacent to a lumberyard, several lowered 1950s and 1960s Detroit-built cars display airbrushed murals and shiny chrome, the one exception being a caramel brown 1941 Chevy truck.

Click here for POCHO’s review of Lowriting, from which this special sneak preview is excerpted.

On the stage are two members of Quetzal, one of East Los Angeles’ most popular bands: Quetzal Flores and his long-time companion, Martha Gonzalez. Flores strums a jarana, a traditional stringed instrument from the Mexican Gulf port state of Veracruz. Gonzalez is seated astride a cajon, also used extensively in the Son Jarocho tradition of that state, and thumps with her hands and fingers a driving cadenced beat as she sings in Spanish and English, words heavily tinged with Mexican/Xicano cultural and political significance.

Mas…‘Tokyo: Living La Vida Lowrider’ by Luis J. Rodríguez

Survey says? Pocho Ocho top Chipster New Year’s Resolutions

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cucahipstersTo be a Chipster (Chicano + Hipster) is not a destination, but a journey, and seekers must never rest. These are the Pocho Ocho Chipster New Year’s Resolutions our readers shared with us:

8. Despite the Indio heritage that gives me a sparse Fu Manchu facial hair configuration, I resolve to grow a Chente-strength bigote in 2014.

7. Nopalitos every day keeps the doctor away.

6. Repeat after me: Tenochtitlan, not panocha flan.

Mas…Survey says? Pocho Ocho top Chipster New Year’s Resolutions

Pocho Ocho ways to tell you’re watching ‘Latino ñews’

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twocastersIt’s no surprise to us Pochodores — it’s why we started POCHO.COM:

Actual research reveals more and more U.S. Latinos are getting their ñews in Ingles — ñews from respected journalists like brothers Jorge Cooper-Ramos (right), and Anderson Ramos-Cooper (left.)

OK, sometimes Latinos get their ñews from Gustavo Almadovar live in the O.C., but not lately.

Meanwhile, Univision is leading in the July ratings wars with the most viewers under 50, the first time a Spanish-language network topped the charts.

Mas…Pocho Ocho ways to tell you’re watching ‘Latino ñews’

@Chicano_Soul’s photographs ride lower and slower

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I don’t consider myself a photographer but I do enjoy walking through car shows, up and down the aisles admiring the bombs, lowriders and classics and snapping a few pix while I’m there.

I photograph the rides and sometimes their owners standing beside them. I started off using the camera on my Samsung phone but it’s 3.15 megapixels proved to fall way short when I decided to try to print the images.

Compliments from friends family and Instagram followers convinced me it was time to upgrade to a real camera and take my hobby to the next level.

I began dragging my wife and kids to as many car shows as I could find and then getting home, going through the camera roll to see that day’s catch.

Mas…@Chicano_Soul’s photographs ride lower and slower

eBay ‘sniper’ outbids local man for ‘Chola Low Riders’ pulp magazine

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(PNS reporting from PDX) Area collector Reynaldo “Ronnie” Morales’ heart was broken Sunday night when a last-minute auction bid from an eBay “sniper” pushed the coveted September 1953 issue of Amazing Future Tales out of his grasp and into the arms of another.

The sniper killed Morale’s chances with a $37.83 winning bid.

Mas…eBay ‘sniper’ outbids local man for ‘Chola Low Riders’ pulp magazine

Huell Howser is classic in this ‘Lowrider Magazine’ car show video

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I am sad about yesterday’s passing of a California treasure, the extremely upbeat public TV host Huell Howser.

He was the longtime host of California Gold, a show that covered the nuggets of Cali history in a hilarious and charming way.

If you don’t understand the fuss, watch this classic video of Huell cheerily interviewing participants at a Lowrider Magazine Car Club show in L.A. in the early 90s. Enjoy!

Konichi-wa, homie, from Japan’s cholos, lowriders y Chicano rappers

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Invasion, “Asia graffiti & lifestyle magazine,” writes:

Two parts of Chicano hip-hop culture in particular have become popular in Japan:
the music, and the cars. When the Japanese do Chicano rap, they still rap in Japanese
instead of English, Spanish, or some mixture of the two. But the beat, the clothes
and the look are quite matched.

Peep this short video of Japanese lowrider hydraulics:

Mas…Konichi-wa, homie, from Japan’s cholos, lowriders y Chicano rappers

Kids, lowrider bikes, culture and history in Tucson 1996: ‘Low y Cool’

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When a French filmmaker shoots Chicano Tucson, the result is fascinating and maybe a little bit foreign — in a good way. Low y Cool documents the lives of the Camaradas Lowrider Bike Club in South Tucson, AZ in 1996. The 52-minute video was directed by Tucson resident and transplanted Frenchie Marianne Dissard with funding from French TV channel Planête Cable. The film has been seen regularly since 1997 on Planête.

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