Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, for example Mariachi Cabos vs Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In the Wall. Winner: MARIACHI CABOS!
mexico
In Paracho, Michoacan, they still make guitars by hand (video)
In Michoacan, Mexico, the town of Paracho de Verduzcoo has a unique claim to fame. Many in the town of 30,000 — known as the “Guitar Capital of Mexico” — make their living crafting guitars. The streets are lined with shops featuring some of the most beautiful guitars in the world. Director Andre Arevalo met a guitar maker from Paracho and asked him a few questions about the past, present and future of guitar making in his pueblo.
We’ve asked for his name and the name of his shop so we can give him props.
While we’re waiting for that info, and in celebration of the artisans of music, here’s an unsolicited plug for a POCHO amigo just like that who doesn’t know about this:
Mas…In Paracho, Michoacan, they still make guitars by hand (video)
LatinoUSA NPR Audio: The 1% and 99% of Mexico meet in NYC
LatinoUSA’s Antonia Cereijido writes the intro:
If you go to a high-end restaurant in New York City, there’s a good chance that you’re dining among some of the wealthiest Mexicans in the world and being served by some of the poorest. This story was produced in collaboration with Round Earth Media. Tyler Kelley is a co-reporter on the piece.
[Mariachi Restaurant in Astoria, Queens, NY, photographed by Aude. Some rights reserved.]
In Oaxaca, the Zapotecs include a third gender: Muxes (video)
In the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, the world is not divided simply into males and females. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, they call Muxes – men who consider themselves women and live in a socially-sanctioned limbo between the two genders. [Video by Ivan Olita.]
Mexico: FOR Liberty, AGAINST Nazis (WWII toons, video)
Seventy-some years ago, Mexico joined the Allies (AKA the United Nations) to fight against Nazi Germany. Contrast and compare with 2016 when the U.S.A. will soon be “led” by its very own homegrown fascist.
Back in the good old days, the U.S. Office of Inter-American Affairs produced and released the propaganda flick Mexican Moods praising our new World War II BFFs south of the border, the place where cheeto boy wants to build his wall.
BBC Video: Lucha libre — not just for hombres anymore
Lucha libre is no longer just for men, as Marcela and her friends explain to the BBC.
Tish Hinojosa: He was from ‘The West Side of Town’ (video, lyrics)
Folk/country singer songwriter Tish Hinojosa sings a song about a pilgrim’s progress in America — a Mexican pilgrim in Texas. Felipe, the father, lived in San Antonio, on The West Side of Town. That’s were Felipe met Maria…
Los lyrics:
Mas…Tish Hinojosa: He was from ‘The West Side of Town’ (video, lyrics)
Never forget! Aztlan was ‘Stolen at Gunpoint’ (NSFW video, lyrics)
In 1998, LA’s Kid Frost (Arturo Molina, Jr) and Mexican punk rappers Tijuana No teamed up for a history lesson about the so-called border imposed on Aztlan by the force of arms. SPOILER: We’re gonna get it back! [NSFW F-bombs.]
Mira los lyrics:
Mas…Never forget! Aztlan was ‘Stolen at Gunpoint’ (NSFW video, lyrics)
Mexicano collects 1000 pairs of sneakers, opens a sneaker store (video)
Roberto Pelayo aka El Niño is one of the world’s top sneakerheads, with a collection of over 1000 pairs. He started out as a collector is Mexico City; now he buys and sells for himself and his retail operations, Globstore.
De Nalgas: We’re here to help you stop ‘f-ing up’ (NSFW music video)
Mexican punks De Nalgas are the f*ckers that have come to wake you up. Although the song is ostensibly directed at music business posers, we think it has a wider application. 😉
[NSFW lyrics in Español, adult images.]
Mira los lyrics and [official] translation:
Mas…De Nalgas: We’re here to help you stop ‘f-ing up’ (NSFW music video)
Can you hear me now? ‘Te escucho!’ (video)
On a dark and stormy night, a pregnant woman stumbles and falls in the rain. What can a passing stranger do? Te escucho, a 2009 entry in a Mexican cell phone company video contest, has the answer. [Video by creator and artist Alexander Da Silva.]
Vote! Damian Lopez Rodriguez died to become a citizen (video)
Damian Lopez Rodriguez was brought to the USA without documents as a child — you know, one of those rapists and narcos from Mexico Donald Trump is going to deport.
Damian loved his new country so much he enlisted in the Army when he turned 18. After he died in Iraq, he was granted posthumous citizenship by President George Bush. Damian’s dad has faith his son in Heaven is voting in this election. Are you?
¡Viva Calaca! It’s the Day of the Dead! (Voltaire music video)
The dead not only CAN dance, but they DO dance in Viva Calaca, an animated short based on the Voltaire tune from 2007. [Video by Ritxi Ostáriz.]
You want a wall on the border? Let’s paint it pink! (photos)
Interns at Guadalajara architecture firm Estudio 3.14 came up a modern design for Donald Trump’s insane border wall.
They want to paint it pink in the style of famed Mexican architect Luis Barragán.
Mas…You want a wall on the border? Let’s paint it pink! (photos)
Good luck with the 1954 miles of the US-Mexico wall (video)
Best of Luck with the Wall takes the viewer on a hypnotic visual voyage across the length and breadth the U.S.-Mexico border, stitched together from 200,000 satellite images. [Directed and explained by Josh Begley.]
Calaveras y catrinas y skeletons parade in Mexico City (video)
Hundred paraded through the streets of Mexico City last weekend to celebrate Dia de Los Muertos, aka Day of the Dead.
All we are asking: ‘Who’s Gonna Build That Wall?’ (music video)
Donald Trumpendejo wants a wall on the border with Mexico. “Who’s Gonna Build That Wall?” ask singers and writers Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. [Video by Jeth Weinrich.] But who is Chip Taylor?
Can you show us, Salvador, how you make tacos al pastor? (video)
Salvador Santiago demonstrates how he makes tacos al pastor in a video by NOTIMEX, an official government propaganda agency. Still legit, though. PRO TIP: “Trompa” means “horn” and reflects the shape of the meat on the vertical rotisserie spit. The vertical spit — estimated birthdate 1950s — is either from Turkey or Greece or Arab countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, and that’s not an argument where POCHO wants to choose sides.
Border high school’s pep rally smells like quinceañera spirit (video)
When the kids at Eagle Pass Independent School District’s C.C. Winn High School — on the Mexico-US border west of San Antonio — planned a pep rally, they wanted it to reflect their heritage.
Internet is loving Texas school’s pep rally that looked, sounded more like a quinceañera
Mas…Border high school’s pep rally smells like quinceañera spirit (video)
This DF family has been making piñatas for generations (video)
Hugo Mena and his family make and sell piñatas in Mexico City, a family tradition for generations
Talk and Sing Like a Mexican Pirate Day: ‘Santy Anno’ (music video)
It’s International Talk Sing Like A Pirate Day and we’re please to present not only a “sea shanty” about being a pirate, but one about the Mexican-American war of the 1850s. It’s even in Wikipedia! This video of Santy Anno has music by Forebitter and Lord Cavendish manga-influenced artwork assembled by uploader LordDrakoArakis, probably not his real name.
Here’s the some of what Wikipedia says about this traditional song:
Mas…Talk and Sing Like a Mexican Pirate Day: ‘Santy Anno’ (music video)
From Michoacan to LA: ‘Chef Al Pastor’ and his American Dream (video)
His father wanted him to stay in Michoacan, work on the family farm, and do construction, but Raul Morales crossed over from Mexico at 17 to pursue his culinary dreams. Now, at 44, he’s his own boss, and a master of tacos al pastor. “Chef Al Pastor” was interviewed at his Los Angeles restaurant Taqueria Vista Hermosa.
In Tijuana, Javier is el super taquero recargado! (video)
In Tijuana, Chef Javier of Tacos El Poblano on Boulevard Diaz Ordaz las Huertas serves up tacos with style and flair. [Recargado (“recharged”) is slang for “kick-ass” or “awesome”.]
Why we fight for immigration reform and a ‘path to citizenship’ (video)
Donald Trump and the GOP haters want to split this beautiful family up and send the parents back to Mexico. We can’t let that happen. The President’s DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) initiative is now stalled because the Republicans won’t vote on the Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, a judge who could potentially end the body’s 4-4 deadlocks.
All about the ‘Maiz’ (video)
Corn — Maiz — is central in the Mexican food culture and was first cultivated over 100 centuries ago. Here is a short tribute to maiz, the golden gift of Mother Nature. [Video by Marysol.]
¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Emiliano Zapata! (music video)
Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata was born on this day in 1879. POCHO amigo Eric Holland tells one of Zapata’s stories in a song. Eric is on the Feisbuk.
Welcome to 2040 and life on ‘The Other Side’ (video)
Exterior, day: Destitute desert town in the year 2040. Audio: Spanish newsradio tells the story — unemployment is 86%, gangs are everywhere and food and water are getting scarce.
There’s only one thing a father can do — smuggle his family across the border to the prosperous country on The Other Side.
WANTED FOR MURDER! The notorious Pancho Villa (1950 comic book)
“Western” adventure comics, true crime comics, and gringo-written history all came together when publisher Avon gave birth to a Pancho Villa issue as part of their notorious outlaws series:
Mas…WANTED FOR MURDER! The notorious Pancho Villa (1950 comic book)
Watch: Pregnant mujer crossing border gives birth to ‘Alien’
Locked in the back of a van, desperate migrants must cross the Mexican border into the U.S. before one of them gives birth to an illegal alien. The Birth of an Alien (El Nacimiento de un Extranjero) is from Sumiko Braun.