Mexicans Love Morrissey

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Last night I was part of part of the first official planning meeting for Mexicans Love Morrissey a party/event/art exhibit centering around Morrissey, the Smiths, and Los Angeles nostalgia. The inner-circle of this event include myself, Elena White, and my podcasting partner in crime Katynka Martinez. More info on this event and future Mexicans Love Morrissey parties coming soon! Until then listen to this behind the scenes audio interview with Elena and Katynka on Morrissey and Los Angeles in the 80’s.

Mexicans Love Morrissey Meeting

Peace,

Rio

Decolonializing Donuts?

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Yesterday Sarah and I went took shelter from the rain inside of Colonial Donuts. It was my first time there and I partook in a delicious apple fritter. Amidst the the 70’s wallpaper and cheap woodpaneling of the place I began to question if I was betraying my Chicano political conscience by consuming a colonial donut with such glee. I mean, it’s not like there’s an Aztec Donuts out there, right? Is a neo-colonial donut better or worse than a colonial donut? Am I reading too much into this in an attempt to maintain my Chicano credibility?

Maybe I’m just craving a donut.

Rio

What’s new these days?

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I am back on tumblr with http://hellamoz.com/ follow me and my Morrissey related antics there…If you dare!

The Great Tortilla Conspiracy recently made an appearance at a Guillermo Gomez-Pena’s performance art party where we made:

Huey Fig Newtons! They were delicious. All power to the people!

Planning a possible collaboration with my all-time favorite painter Ana Teresa Fernandez. Stay tuned for more news about it!

Just a reminder, I have work up at Pueblo Nuevo Gallery in a show called Suavecito. It’s curated by…

The one and only Mayra Ramirez, breeziest curator in the western art world.

Will I ever shoot another photograph as cool as the one above or have I reached my apex?

Still going strong with my excursions into animated gifs. I’m beginning to experiment with more cinematic techniques.

That’s it for now,  stay tuned!

Rio

Olmos Famous Episode 2

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Katynka Martinez and I are back with the latest episode of our podcast Olmos Famous. In this episode we take a look at season 22, episode 16 of The Simpsons featuring Cheech and Chong. What happens when Cheech Marin tries to educate Homer on Chicano art? Does Springfield’s Latino population live in East-Springfield? What inspired the psychedelic sequence in the episode? Listen and find out!

Olmos Famous Episode 2

Extra bonus: Here’s the Olmos Famous *exclusive* side-by-side comparison of the Simpsons’ version of Xavier Viramontes’ Boycott Grapes print and the original.

Stay tuned for more Latino media commentary and witty banter!

Rio

Ballad of the Chicano Nerd

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Being a Chicano nerd can be a lonely affair of puzzled looks and references that no one else gets. For instance, there are plenty of Chicanos out there and Mass Effect 2 is one of best selling games of 2010 and 2011 yet I wonder how many culturally engaged Chicanos play Mass Effect 2. With that question looming over me I created the artwork above.

I LOVE Mass Effect 2 and recently finished my second playthrough (with a Chicana Shephard, natch). Indulging my inner Chicano nerd I drew an encounter between Frida and I complete with Mass Effect 2’s dialogue tree. The original renegade speech option was simply Let’s fuck but I figured it was too abrasive.

I wonder if anyone out there will relate to both a Frida joke and a Mass Effect 2 joke? In the meantime I’m taking solace in this photo of Tupac and Suge Knight playing a Sonic the Hedgehog game on the Genesis.

Peace,

Rio

Bad Chicano Poetry

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Note: In no way is this writing meant to imply that ALL Chicano poetry is bad. By bad Chicano poetry I’m talking about Chicano poetry with exhausted cliches spoken in the most hoariest and obvious patterns masquerading as urban and contemporary speech.

Did you know that there are literally no search results if you search for “bad Chicano poetry” via Google? Yet countless Chicanos I know clown on our bad poetry. So why is it that we can talk a lot of shit in person but chicken out when it comes to committing our critiques to written form on the internet? Are we afraid of airing our dirty laundry to the outside world? Offending our elders? It is one of the greatest mysteries of our complex identities.

In my lifetime I’ve know some amazing Chicano poets. Yet suffering through utterly terrible and cliche poetry is one of the most common experiences for culturally engaged Chicanos. ‘Nuff said!

I’m going to leave you with this clip from a Chris Rock comedy album in which Rock is  being interrogated and subjected to various torture techniques. Although it doesn’t specifically address bad Chicano poetry I’ll forever curse the day I heard the sketch because it meant that I couldn’t use the same idea to critique it. Warning: Contains salty language. Enjoy!

Black Poet

Peace,

Rio

The Greatest Line Ever Spoken

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The setup: I’m listening to The Jade Pyramid, the latest Doctor Who audio book read by Matt Smith himself (natch). About 20 minutes into the story I hear Matt Smith speak perhaps what will go down as the greatest line ever:

…he reminded her faintly of A.A. Milne’s Eeyore or Morrissey with a lethally sharp sword.

06 The Jade Pyramid-Track

That’s right, Doctor Who himself namechecks Moz and Eeyore when describing a brooding Japanese warrior. Aside from giving me an epic Chicano nerd boner it inspired the artwork above. How could I resist the siren song of a Morrissey reference in a Doctor Who story, let alone Eeyore? If you want to hear the rest of the story you can buy The Jade Pyramid as either a Digital Download or Physical CD via Amazon.

Bowties are cool,

Rio