I took a walk through this beautiful world felt the cool rain on my shoulder found something good in this beautiful world i felt the rain getting colder sha la la la la sha la la la la la sha la la la la sha la la la la la la anthony los angeles, maybe the mostfilmed, mosttelevised, mostlookedat place on earth. Its the landscape of our collective dreams. But what if we look at l. A. From the point of view of the largely unphotographed . The 47 of angelinos who dont show up so much on idiot sitcoms and superhero films. The people doing much if not most of the hard work of getting things done in this town. One in ten angelinos are undocumented. One in ten. Think about that number for a while. Thats whos here now. Contemplate if you will what would happen if anywhere near 10 of the workforce were no longer here. Particularly since theyre rather overrepresented in those fields that most of us are in no hurry to enter. Los angeles, like much of california, used to be part of mexico. Now mex
there has been since the beginning a tradition of mexican rock n roll with its own unique sound. ritchie valens, sam the sham and the pharaohs, cannibal and the headhunters, los cruzados, and question mark and the mysterians. it should come as no surprise that rockabilly is enjoining a resurgence of sorts in the chicano community. no one ever taught you to go, baby. someone else is always to blame, baby. chasing you is always a chase. so you played me now. there is a long and glorious tradition of chicano rock, garage and punk boiling away under and over the surface for years, and egregiously over looked.
but what is it with the morrissey thing? what is it about morrissey, the irish singer via england that sang melancholic, pathos-filled ballads that were a backdrop for a million post-breakups during the 80 s that so speaks to the chicano soul? i asked musicians and concert promoters oscar arguello and albert gambea. oscar thrives in the rockabilly world, while albert is all things punk. what s up with the morrissey thing? apparently in the chicano community, morrissey is like huge. it s a matter of the heart. it s a matter of the heart, man. why, of all the bands in the world, did morrissey and the smiths resonate in this community? there was a convergence of music and people that did not connect to what was being said. he connected with his lyrics,