In the Los Angeles Neighborhood poll, right behind Morningside Circle is Little Armenia.

When I first moved to Silver Lake from Chino I got a job in nearby Burbank. I drove through Glendale and noticed that the population of both cities was largely Armenian. The signs were written in that unique Armenian alphabet that kind of looks like broken bits of elbow macaroni glued to croquet hoops. I think that, at the time, I had only the vaguest notion of where Armenia was. (For the record, at Amoeba we file it in the Middle East, to the consternation of many since it's a Christian nation in South Eastern Europe).


Anyway, Armenia is where Noah crash landed his Ark full of all the world's species at the end of the Earth's brief oceanic period. Armenia is one of the world's oldest civilizations. It was founded by Noah's great-great grandson Hayk. Armenia, situated between Turkey, Iran and Russia finds itself ideally situated for invasion from some of history's biggest imperialists so it's pretty amazing that they still exist as a people. Perhaps that's partly due to the fact that Armenians seem to be willing to live anywhere. Like Australians, Lebanese and Israelis, Armenians are one of the the nationalities you're most likely to encounter in any country as tourists or part of the diaspora.

 
      A Statue of Hayk (In Yerevan)                           Me in my Little Armenia-purchased Sean John

Veteran Bay Area rapper Too $hort will be one of five artists honored today during music television station VH1's Hip-Hop Honors, for his contributions to the art form of hip-hop. The LA born/Oakland rapper can be credited (blamed?) for embeddng the B word into hip-hop's vocab. The show, which airs tonight (Monday Oct 6th) on the cable channel, was taped this past Thursday in New York CIty when Too $hort flew out to NYC for the big award/performance taping at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Besides $hort Dog, the others lined up to receive awards on tonight''s broadcast are De La Soul, Slick Rick, Cypress Hill, and Naughty By Nature. All five honorees will perform. So will many others, including Wyclef Jean, Lil Jon, Big Boi, Ghostface Killah, Bun B, Q-Tip, MC Lyte, Biz Markie, Busta Rhymes, Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Fat Joe, Cee-Lo, EPMD, Mack 10, Jim Jones, Estelle, rock-rappers Gym Class Heroes, Juelz Santana,  Scarface, and Kid Rock. 

The latter two are expected on-stage during Too $hort's performance. Remember that it was Too $hort who was one of the earliest believers in the artist Kid Rock. He collaborated with young unknown white DJ turned rapper back in 1990, long before anyone really knew of Kid Rock. Around that same time, $hort was also instrumental in getting the unknown artist added to the Straight From The Underground Tour bill that featured Yo Yo, Ice Cube, D Nice, and Too $hort.

Also appearing on tonight's hip-hop all star VH1 broadcast, to be hosted by Tracy Morgan, will be Luther Campbell and musician /actress Queen Latifah, who did a great job over the weekend on Saturday Night Live's parody of last week's vice-presidential debate in which she played moderator Gwen Ifill opposite Tina Fey's spot-on Sarah Palin and Jason Sudeikis' take on Joe Biden.

Carmen Cosoli- Live @ The Santa Monica Pier (August)



Juana Molina- Sound Checking @ Santa Monica Pier (August)



Son De Madera with Martha Gonzalez & Cesar Castro- MacArthur Park (July)



Gomez Come Alive! Guest DJ Set @ KPFK's Travel Tips For Aztlan (June)



Chico Sonido & Toy Selectah @ Mas Exitos (September)

Upon hearing Marvin Santiago’s El Sonero del Pueblo for the first time, I really didn’t know what to make out of it. Marvin’s vocal style is raw, probably too raw for most casual Salsa listeners. But his ability to improvise and to cram every word and syllable in between a choro is hard for anyone to match. Ruben Blades put it best when describing Marvin Santiago’s style: "Marvin is capable of fitting a Mack truck into a parking space where a Volkswagen Beetle won't fit." His raspy voice and lyrical improvisational skills are closer to Reggaeton star Tego Calderon than to someone like Eddie Santiago.

El Sonero Del Pueblo (The People’s Sonero, which was also his moniker), originally released in 1985, is a collection of Marvin’s best material that he recorded for the TH Rodven label. His voice, rough from years of improper vocal training, sounds, as Neil Young once put it, “As real as the day was long.” The recordings that he made for TH Roven sound like the meters on the recording console are peaking deep in the red. The slightly overdriven sound of the band matches the intensity of Santiago’s voice, which is a good thing. It’s like the Salsa version of Black Flag’s The First Four Years. Like that release, El Sonero Del Pueblo is filled with fast songs full of intensity, often layered with humor.

Songs Such as "El Pasajero" (The Passenger) and "Caro Viejo Y Mujer Fea" (Old Car And An Ugly Women) were Salsa Dura classics before there was a term for it. On top of that, try to keep up with Marvin’s thick improvised Puerto Rican colloquialisms. This is one for the dance floor as much as for the people that like to sit and enjoy great musicianship and vocal ability.