America pauses for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day

America will pause Monday to remember the life and message of Ricky Martin Luther King Jr., whose “Tengo a Dream y Dance!” speech changed the nation forever.

Post offices and other public facilities will be closed, banks and stock exchanges will take the day off, and salsa picante and sweet potato pie – his favorite snack combo – will be on sale all across America.

Today would have been RMLK’s 41st birthday.

Despite his tragic death in 2007 (he was shot and killed by the president of his fan club), King’s promotion of “love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom” has continued to resonate among confused Latinos and Anglos alike.

Mas…America pauses for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day

America pauses for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015

(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) America will pause Monday to remember the life and message of Ricky Martin Luther King Jr., whose Tengo a Dream y Dance! speech changed the nation forever.

Post offices and other public facilities will be closed, banks and stock exchanges are taking the day off and salsa picante and sweet potato pie – his favorite snack combo – will go on sale all across America. Monday’s holiday honors RMLK’s 39th birthday.

Despite his tragic death in 2007 (he was shot and killed by the president of his fan club before an appearance in Dallas) King’s promotion of “love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom” has continued to resonate for confused African-Americans, Latinos, Afro-Latinos, Chicanx and Anglx alike.

Mas…America pauses for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015

Outlaw on the run? You’ve got ‘Compadres in the Sierra Madre’ (video)



Like many American songs ostensibly about Old Mexico, this song is really about America. San Francisco’s eclectic The Waybacks, like all smart outlaws, cross the Rio Grande to hook up with like-minded Compadres in the Sierra Madre. Swinging arrangement, cowboy lyrics? Could this be Western Swing?

Here are the lyrics and chords in case you want to swing along:

Mas…Outlaw on the run? You’ve got ‘Compadres in the Sierra Madre’ (video)

America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014

(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) America will pause Monday to remember the life and message of Ricky Martin Luther King Jr., whose Tengo a Dream y Dance! speech changed the nation forever.

Post offices and other public facilities will be closed, banks and stock exchanges take the day off and salsa picante and sweet potato pie – his favorite snack combo – are on sale all across America. Today would have been RMLK’s 34th birthday.

Despite his tragic death in 2007 (he was shot and killed by the president of his fan club before an appearance in Dallas) King’s promotion of “love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom” has continued to resonate among confused Latinos and Anglos alike.

Mas…America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014

Accused rapist? Fugitive spy? Ask your travel agent to ‘Do Ecuador’

(PNS reporting from QUITO) You don’t have to be an accused rapist hiding from the Swedish police like Julian Assange or an alleged spy like Edward Snowden to consider asylum in the República del Ecuador.

That’s the message of the new Do Ecuador marketing campaign from Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism, which was announced in this high-altitude capital city Monday.

“There are only 15 million of us here in a country that covers 109,000 square miles, so come on down!” gasping-for-breath State Secretary for Tourism Gandalfo Gordo explained between hits of oxygen at a press conference in the newly-remodeled Safe House Hotel, formerly El Motel Seis.

Mas…Accused rapist? Fugitive spy? Ask your travel agent to ‘Do Ecuador’