Story and Photos by Vicente MercadoChicano Rock! The Sounds of East Los Angeles Documentary Premiere
Million Dollar Theater, Los Angeles, California October 9, 2008+ Larger Font | + Smaller Font
The premiere of Chicano Rock The Sounds of East Los Angeles, an upcoming PBS documentary, at Los Angeles’ Million Dollar theater was an important gathering of most of the important characters East Los Angeles’ musical scene of the last sixty years or so. There are rare occasions that bring everybody together, this event was one. All of the musicians and behind the scenes people who are still with us or could attend were there. The theater’s lobby was witness to the reunions before and after the show. When I was growing up, the Million Dollar theater was as uncool as uncool could be. Parents had to drag you by the ear to force you to go. No rock’n roll loving children wanted to go see Maria Victoria, Olga Gillot, or Pedro Vargas. Now looking back, a lot of culture happened there. The Million dollar theater has a lot of history. Today Mexican American can claim that it was at this theater where they connected with their Mexican roots and language through live music performances and movies. All the big name artist from Mexico and Latin America performed there. Like some areas of downtown Los Angeles, the Million Dollar became run down, but today is going through renewal and restoration.
It is an impressive building, but despite of a new carpet and fresh paint, it still has a certain stale smell. Almost everyone had an anecdote to share about this place. The documentary Chicano Rock! The Sounds of East Los Angeles, produced, written, directed and edited by Jon Wilkman, and narrated by Edward James Olmos, is a well researched story, with the support of well respected figures in the Chicano Rock field. The musical performances and interviews before the documentary’s screening were interesting. The sets were kept short and straight to the point. Pachuco Jose y Los Diamantes opened the show. This band plays authentic pachuco era music and wears zoot suits. Their two song set consisted of Lalo Guerrero’s "Chicas Patas Boogie" and "Tin Marin de do Pingue."
Los Angeles area veteran TV reporter Tony Valdez was the MC and did an excellent at keeping the audience entertained, by sharing anecdotes and interviewing musicians in between sets. Tony was an active participant of East L. A. nineteen sixties music scene. After Pachuco Jose’s show, Tony Valdez introduced Max Uballes, member of the pioneer and influential early sixties group The Romancers, and the early seventies Latin Rock group Macondo. Uballes produced the premiere’s live music segments. Lalo Guerrero’s son Mark Guerrero, backed by a sort of house band, opened with one of his father’s tunes, “Los Chucos Suaves.” He used the outro from Santana’s “Se Acabo” to end the song. Mark followed up with one of his one compositions, “I‘m Brown,” a single that he recorded for Capitol records in 1972. Mark has recorded a couple of albums and a few singles for major record labels. He is a well respected writer and Chicano Rock historian. Tony pulled Mark over to talk while the set changed. There was a lot of information shared between the two of them. They talked about halls and auditoriums that bands played in the sixties. Mark was active in the East Side Sound circuit as a thirteen year old in a band named Mark and The Escorts.
My two cents: no one talked about the CYO building on Brooklyn and Gage, which today houses Self Help Graphics. It was an important setting for this whole story. It was part of the circuit that bands played all over the eastern part of L. A. county. The Salas Brothers, backed by the house band were next. The Salas Brothers are Rudy and Steve Salas of Tierra. They got their start as a children singing duo playing the East Side Sound circuit. Rudy playing guitar and Steve bass, something that he has not done on stage since the early days of Tierra. Steve was Tierra’s original bass player, he was replaced by Conrad Lozano, who went on to play with Los Lobos. The Salas Brothers played a sort of jump blues, "My Babe" by the Righteous Brothers, that probably was part of their early days’ repertoire, and the old standard bolero "Gema." Santana validated Afro Cuban music for the younger generation in the late sixties. It was okay now to listen to the older generation's Tito Puente, Willie Bobo, and Cal Tjader records. El Chicano validated traditional Mexican music for the younger Mexican American generation when they covered "Savor a Mi." Tierra followed up by recording "Gema" in their first album. Los Lobos are the band that is better known for playing traditional Mexican music, but there was a precedent. The Salas Brothers used to warm up with "Gema" back in the East Side Sound era. Tony Valdez interviewed Rudy and Steve Salas, as he did with other performers during set changes. They talked about the sixties when they were two children performing in halls all over eastern Los Angeles county. They stated that Tierra was a band that came out of the Chicano Movement. Steve spoke about being part of the High School Blow Outs and the Chicano Moratorium. They also spoke about their experiences touring the country after their hit record "Together."
Cannibal and The Headhunters performed James Brown's "Out of Sight" and "Land of a Thousand Dances." You can't have a Chicano event without some pedo. The house band is one of two parties with a claim to the name Cannibal and The Headhunters. The drummer's name is Robert Zapata, and the lead singer is Charlie Muñoz of the Ambetones. Zapata has stated in the past that he inherited the name Cannibal and The Headhunters from the late Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia. Richard "Scar" Lopez and Robert “Rabbit” , both surviving original member, reportedly own the name's trade mark. Scar walked out at the beginning of this set. Both were invited to come on stage and join in for "Land of the Thousand Dances." The lead singer came down and took Rabbit Jaramillo by the hand. Rabbit graciously went up and did not make any pedo. David Castañeda, who performed with “Cannibal” in the seventies, and currently sings with Rabbit and Scar went on stage as well. You know Raza, I'm so glad that there were no chingazos. In fairness to all, it was pointed out to me that Richard “Scar” Lopez and Robert “Scar” Jaramillo have not performed in the last few years, and that offers to join forces have been made by Robert Zapata. After this set Tony Valdez interviewed Robert “Rabbit” Jaramillo.
He talked about the experiences from the 17 date tour as opening act for The Beatles. Another interesting fact is that the group was up north picking peaches as the “Land of the Thousand Dances” was climbing the charts. Chicano Rock! The Sounds of East L. A. will air on PBS December 14, 2008. I don’t want to give away the ending, so I’ll just write some thoughts. This documentary deals only with the East L. A. music scene, and not the entire Chicano Rock experience. Chicano Rock was an arbitrary label used by Mexican American activists for what is generally known as Latin Rock. The story begins in the nineteen forties, discussing and interviewing Lalo Guerrero and Don Tosti. Pachuco zoot suiters are important to this era because they influenced Guerrero and Tosti to write original material that reflected the realities of the day, the music, the fashion and the culture. The Ritchie Valens story takes care of the fifties. Ritchie wasn’t from East L. A., he was from Pacoima in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. But his story is significant because early East L. A. rock’n roll groups sought Bob Keane, Ritchie’s manager, for help.The sixties were the East Side Sound era. Cannibal and The Headhunters, Thee Midniters, and The Romancers are three groups highlighted. In the seventies the music takes a political twist.
El Chicano, with the Chicano Movement and Chicano Moratorium as a background describe this era. Here I noticed that music is played but not identified. Along with footage and commentaries about the Chicano political uprising, Yaqui’s “Tiempo Para Un Cambio” plays, but is not identified. In the next era Tierra scores the hit “Together,” contrasting and making the point that the band goes back to its rhythm and blues roots, away from politics. The Chicano punk rock scene happens simultaneously in the eighties. Members of Los Illegals and The Brat are interviewed. Los Lobos, rightfully so, take substantial space. They talk about their beginning, musical influences, the remake of “La Bamba” and the rebirth of Ritchie Valens. My two cents: The punk rock era was not only punk music, it included new wave and roots rock. Los Lobos took part of musical movement, it can be said that it was their springboard to international success. The documentary ends with present day bands, Ozomatli and Quetzal only. I thought it was kind of weak. There are more bands than that, Upground, Fabulocos, Cava and Tremoloco are just a few that come to mind. It appeared to me that each era in the documentary’s story revolved around a hit song and its performer.
It is amazing how East Los Angeles has churned out so many chart scoring bands. The graphics and the editing are excellent. As it progresses in chronological order, commentaries by musical experts and people who were there, Tony Valdez, Ruben Molina, Tom Waldman, Steven Loza, Billy Cardenas, Art Laboe, Kassey Kasem, and so on. Many rare and previously unseen photographs are included. It is impossible to cover almost six decades of music in one hour. Each era deserves its own two hour documentary. Many important and interesting points are made throughout, about the the music’s roots and what makes Chicano Rock. When the lights came on, Tony Valdez asked musicians in the audience who took part in the East L. A. music scene to stand up and be recognized. I spotted Lil Willie G., Larry Rendon and Jimmy Espinoza of Thee Midniters; Bobby Espinoza, Mickey Lespron, and Jerry Salas of El Chicano; “Scar” Lopez and “Rabbit” Jaramillo of Cannibal and The Headhunters; member of The Showcases, and many more. After the film’s screening, the house band came back on. A different version of the “Land of a Thousand Dances” was played, all musicians were invited to come on stage, some did.
