Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural – the renowned nonprofit cultural center and
independent bookstore from the Northeast San Fernando Valley – will be hosting
an Angelino all-star benefit concert, poetry reading, and art auction, to honor
and celebrate Los Angeles and its new Poet
Laureate, Luis Javier Rodriguez who
was recently appointed by Mayor Eric
Garcetti.
Sunday, June 28, 2015, 2-7PM at
the Pico House, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument, Olvera Street -
the birthplace of Los Angeles - 424 North Main Street, LA, CA 90012. The event
is in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, (MCI).
The iconic rainbow
cast and crew includes East LA’s Grammy winners Quetzal Flores and
Martha Gonzalez from the Chicano rock, Afro-Latin,
Mexican Son Jarocho band, Quetzal,
performing their stirring, politically charged anthems; LA rock legends John Densmore, founding member and drummer
for the Doors and East LA’s Rubén “Funkahuatl” Guevara, co-founder
with Frank Zappa of the second
incarnation of Ruben & The Jets,
will perform together in a spoken word/percussion duet; LA Japanese American
legendary performer, Nobuko Miyamoto,
founder of the multicultural performance group Great Leap will perform along with the dynamic “Atomic” Nancy Matoba formerly with Hiroshima and current long time singer with the First AME Gospel Choir. They will be
joined by Quetzal Flores and Martha Gonzalez for a new soulful fusion of Mexican
Son Jarocho and traditional Japanese folk music called FandangObon, along with Chicano “Demon Drummer” Maceo Hernández, formerly with the
highly acclaimed Japanese taiko group Za
Ondekoza, and founding member of East
L.A. Taiko. Plus, the Godfather of Latino Hip Hop, Mellow Man Ace, will make a special guest appearance for the finale
of the all-star concert.
A reading by
some of LA’s most powerful poets celebrating our City of Angels include:
Hometown
hero, Poet Laureate and award winning
author and life survivor, Luis J.
Rodriguez along with Luivette Resto,
traci kato-kiriyama, Mike the Poet, and Peter J. Harris.
World
renowned trailblazers of collectable LA Chican@ Art include: Carlos Almaraz,
Judithe Hernández, Margaret Garcia, Gilbert
“Magu” Luján, John Valadez, Wayne Alaniz Healy, David Botello, Willie F. Herrón
III, Ofelia Esparza, Eloy Torrez, Barbara Carrasco,
José Antonio Aguirre, and
Arturo Urista,
Other emerging giants including:
Sonia Romero, Shizu Saldamando, Sandy
Rodriguez, Jaime “Germs” Zacarias, Wenceslao Quiroz, Daniel Gonzalez, Raul Paulino Baltazar, José
Lozano, Emilia García, Rick Ortega, Mario Trillo, Lilia Ramirez, and
Gabriela Malinalxochitl Zapata;
Urban Contemporary Graffiti Art by:
Chaz Bojórquez, Man One, Vyal Reyes, and
Nuke One;
Fine Art Prints by: Richard
Duardo/Modern Multiples, Francesco X. Siquieros/El Nopal Press, and José Alpuche/Self Help Graphics & Art;
Photography by: George Rodriguez, Mike Murase, Rafael Cardenas, and Vicente Mercado.
Auctioneer will be Herbert Siguenza of Culture Clash.
Reception/Silent
Auction: 2-3:30
Poetry Reading: 3:30-4
Live Auction: 4-5:30
Concert: 5:30 6:30
$25 prepay, $30 day
of - includes 1 beverage and appetizers.
Tía Chucha's co-founders, Luis
& Trini Rodríguez, are life-long activists for community, youth, the arts,
and inner-core transformative work with disaffected and neglected communities.
A former gang member, drug addict & alcoholic, Luis changed his life to
contribute to a new imagination about relationships and how
to manage resources to achieve true equity, social
justice, and healthy lives on a healthy earth. His writings have
been widely acclaimed, including his best seller, Always Running, La Vida
Loca, Gang Days in LA and the highly recommended Hearts &
Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times. His wife Trini, grew up in a large Mexican working class
family in Pacoima, and through tapping
into the power of education, political and spiritual
development has become a dedicated community leader and mentor to many in the Northeast San Fernando Valley.
Tía
Chucha’s is a cultural
complex that includes a bookstore, art gallery internet, performance space, and
workshop center that has been in the community of Sylmar for more
than fourteen years. In that time, writers such as
Sandra Cisneros and Victor Villaseñor have
read there along
with performances by Culture Clash, Lalo Alcaraz, Quetzal, the late Lalo
Guerrero, and many other musicians, theater groups, comedians, artists, writers, and community
leaders. Tía
Chucha’s Centro Cultural is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.
