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To all the mothers, Happy  Mother's Day!  And to all those (including mothers) who might feel that this day,  one when flower sales and brunch reservations go through the roof, is way overly commercialized  - you will appreciate the informative story below titled Mother's Day founder Anna Jarvis opposed to holiday's commercialism. The story was written by John Horton in today's Plain Dealer Reporter and was spotted by Amoeba Marc.
 
Anna Jarvis (left) mothered Mother's Day a century ago. To see what her baby grew into . .. oh, how it would break her heart.  Jarvis despised attempts to commercialize the "holy day" that she launched in 1908
in memory of her mother, Ann. She fought tenaciously until her death to shield Mother's Day from "the hordes of money-schemers" that were hawking flowers, cards and candy.

She didn't exactly hold 'em off. Mother's Day spending on the 100th anniversary of the holiday is expected to reach  $15.8 billion in the United States, according to the National Retail Federation. Consumers will spend an average of $138.63 doting on dear old mom during her special day.

Jarvis "is probably spinning in her grave," said Katharine Antolini, a board member and historian for the International Mother's Day Shrine, the church in Grafton, W.Va. That is where the first celebration took place. "What we have today," said Antolini, who grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, "is not what Anna wanted."  Not even close.  Jarvis envisioned a day marked by hymns and prayers. She called for intimate family gatherings to "revive the dormant love and filial gratitude we owe to those who gave us birth." She wanted the focus     and attention on a mother's devotion and sacrifice. It didn't take long, however, before some merchant got the idea of tossing up a SALE sign.  Cha-ching!

If you have read my blogs in the past, you probably noticed I'm a big fan of Cumbia. So low and behold, bubbling in the city of Norwalk of all places, comes a band that sounds like they came straight from Magdalena, Colombia. They are called Buyepongo. Most of the band is very young yet they have a sound that rivals Cumbia legends such as Andres Landero, Lisadro Meza and Aniceto Molina.

There are many things I love about this band. They are descendants and citizens from Guatamala, El Salvador, Bolivia and Mexico. Still, it seems these guys have Cumbia running through their veins just by the way they play it. It would be easy to mistake Buyepongo for a Colombian band three times their age.

Another thing is that they are a great live band and they write their own songs. I saw them for the first time in a bar in Pasadena on Monday and I could of sworn they were playing obscure Cumbia covers.

And lastly...Finally, there is another local Vallenato group that isn't Very Be Careful! I love the VBC, but it's good to have variety and more than one group in L.A. playing this type of music.

I think I mentioned before that I had the fortune of meeting Joe Strummer a few times. On those occasions we talk about Cumbia and his love for it. I remember turning him on to Very Be Careful and he went gaga over them, so much so that he had VBC open for him during his last L.A. shows. I wish he was around for Buyepongo, he would have dug these guys.

Buyepongo  have nothing released yet but you can go to their myspace page to hear some live tracks.
 

Last week it was Eric's (also known as Majix to some) birthday. You might know him as the guy who works in Amoeba Hollywood's Reggae & Soul sections.  A few of us got together to celebrate on a Tuesday night at his pad to celebrate the birth of very righteous gentleman. We had turntables, courtesy of DJ Doleak who works in our Hip-Hop section. Doleak just destroyed it on the turntables for most of the night while Ray Ricky Rivera, Eric and myself jumped in from time to time to give Doleak a breather. Some members of local bands Aztlan Underground and Buyepongo (more on this amazing group later) showed up as well.

Being a gracious host, Eric supplied a great spread & there were plenty of spirits. It was a Tuesday night that felt like a Friday night. Some of us (well..not me) even started a little freestyle session. Can't say anyone was that inspired at four in the morning, but it was fun nonetheless.

Wednesday, however...was a little rough on some of us who had to work the next day.

Check out some photos that I took at the party:

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