Summer is almost here, which means Los Angeles will have a barrage of outdoor concerts. Venues Like The Greek Theater and The Hollywood Bowl have already kicked into gear. Nothing is better than seeing a show outside of a dank, dark club that smells like fifteen years of spilled alcohol and overflowed toilets. My picks center around World Music because that's what I like. Some of the artists are folkloric but most are modern musicians pushing the envelope of modern music beyond what we can see right now. On top of that, most of these shows are free.

Here are my picks for June:






Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
June 20 2008
8:00 PM @ Grand Performances
Free

Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Fela Kuti. Much like his father, his lyrics are politically charged and the Afro-Beat rhythms the band creates are just as infectious as they were in pop's days. His highly anticipated release, Many Things, is due out in June.









Quetzal
Jun 28, 2008
8:00 PM @ Levitt Pavilion (Pasadena)

Los Angeles suffered a major blow late last year when Quetzal moved to Vera Cruz. However, they are back in Los Angeles for the summer and this show promises to be a great welcome home. Their mixture of Son Jarocho, Cuban Son and rock is coupled with one of the best singers ever, Martha Gonzalez. If you haven't bought their last album, Die Cowboy Die, you're missing out. It's the best album to come out of East L.A. since Los Lobos' Kiko.

This is our opening night. Ray and I will be spinning selections from the Discos Fuentes, Fania, Tico, SAR, and Allegre labels. Also we will play some great music from obscure South American, Mexican & Central American groups from the 70's & 80's.

We will have a performance by the best Cumbia/Vallenato group in L.A. right now, Buyepongo. On top of all that, there is no cover charge.

We hope to have that dance floor moving. I think we should enforce the Midnight Star "No Parking On The Dance Floor" rule that night. Maybe we could have someone in a cop uniform go up to someone who's not dancing and say:

Excuse me, madam
You’re standing still in a no parking zone
You don’t get a move on that body
I’ll be forced to give you a ticket
So get with it

Wednesday, June 4th
Mal's Bar
2331 S. Hill Street
Los Angeles, Ca. 90007
213-746-2177
Starts @ 9 p.m.
21 and over
FREEE!!!!

I thought that Maria Daniela would be the first Fresa to go mainstream with her blend of Electro-Cumbia. I guess she got trumped by Amandititita --the daughter of infamous Mexican rockero Rockdrigo Gonzalez has a hit with "Metrosexual," a song about a too-cute boyfriend that is obsessed with his looks. The lyrics are both catchy and kitchy. For instance:

Tengo un novio metrosexual, usa extensiones, no se deja de peinar,
en todos los espejos se tiene que mirar.Va al gimnasio hasta en navidad.

which roughly translates to:

My boyfriend is metrosexual, He uses extensions and never stops combing his hair. He always has to look in mirror and he works out until Christmas.

and of course, my favorite line:

una vez estuvo en prisión, lo arrestaron por robar productos de avon.
one time he went to prison, they arrested him for stealing Avon Products

Like my mom used to tell me, "It sounds much better is Spanish."



I love the music behind her, it bumps! It sounds like Sonidero Nacional produced the track but I do not have the info to back that up. Mix it all together with that retro 80's cheerleader chorus and you got another big Fresa hit. Maria Daniela might have been just a little too late.
 
Amandititita's album, La Reina De La Anarcumbia (The Queen Of Cumbia Anarchy), hits stores June 10th.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ron Coleman when I was nineteen. I took my band's demo to SST Records where he worked. Greg Ginn blew me off, but Ron was nice enough to sit with me and talk to me about the demo and what the band was up to. Needless to say, the band was never signed, but Ron and I remained friends. Much later I was working at Epitaph Records and Ron got a job there. We worked together for several years before he left for better future with his better half, Yvonne. I love Ron. He is a New Yorker to the core. He's honest, which most laid back Southern Cali types can't stand, and which makes me like him more. His wife Yvonne grew up in the Pomona/Claremont area, so Ron moved from L.A. to settle down in the city of master's degrees.

My girlfriend and I ran into Ron & Yvonne at the Vexing Exhibit. It had been a few years since I've seen them. After hanging out at the exhibit for a bit, we went out  for a drink at the hotel across the street which soon turned into an impromptu tour of Claremont.

Most of the images shown were the same as a show that I was fortunate to catch at the original Tia Chucha’s Café about a year and a half ago. There were also many interesting new displays that caught my eye. One was a piece that took an entire wall that was a blown up Thomas Guide map of Los Angeles from West L.A. to East L.A. On the map were key points of interests from that era, such as the rehearsal space where the East Los punk bands used to practice, and the location of the backyard party where the members of the band X first saw all the East L.A. bands. It showed all the punk rock hangouts and all the clubs from that era that are now long gone. I also enjoyed looking at the original Fatima Records promotional and gig posters. The other day at Amoeba I saw someone about to buy The Plugz Better Luck for $3.99!  What a steal! Coincidently, you can still buy the original Fatima Records issue of The Brat E.P. Attitudes from the band whenever they play a show, which has been more frequent over the last couple of years.