La Raza Radio - Thursday, June 11, 2026

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1. That is 1-877-KPFK-AUTO to get started.
2. Hi, this is the Corin Tucker Band and you're listening to KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7
3. FM Santa Barbara and all over the world at kpfk.org.
4. La Raza Radio with Matt Cedillo.
5. Welcome to La Raza Radio, ready for La Raza, La Casa, Redigente de Aztlan.
6. We at La Raza Radio believe in drawing understanding from the study of history and economics
7. and our sense of direction in advance of people and the movement.
8. Welcome to La Raza Radio.
9. this hour we are welcoming
10. Margaret Lisa Garcia who's coming back
11. from a trip from Cuba, a historic trip
12. to be at the Havana International Poetry
13. Festival as well as Ed Gomez to talk about
14. Mexican Bilenials
15. so this is very very exciting, we also have
16. a special guest interview with
17. Gary Baca so I'm very excited
18. to hear that and
19. without further ado, welcome to
20. Master Radio
21. And welcome back now to La Raza Radio.
22. We're now joined by Margaret Lisa Garcia.
23. Margaret Lisa Garcia is an author, a poet, an instructor, a professor, and many, many other things.
24. And so we're really excited to have her on.
25. She wears many hats.
26. And today we're going to be talking right now about a recent trip that she had to read at the Havana International Poetry Festival.
27. So, Margaret, let's just start off with that.
28. You just recently back from Cuba. What are your first impressions of both the country and the festival?
29. OK, well, separately and together. Hi. And thank you for having me on.
30. I had a great time at the festival, despite my complete lack of understanding of Cuban Spanish.
31. That was a good crash course. And you don't know as much as you think you do.
32. It's a lot quicker. It's a lot quicker.
33. I was like, oh my goodness.
34. But it was amazing.
35. And all the poets were gracious.
36. It was a humbling experience to see that many poets from that many places
37. and me trying to translate things in my little notebook.
38. And it was just overall an amazing experience.
39. And that is also how I feel about the experience of Cuba in general.
40. Like beforehand, I know I had family members going,
41. why are you going down there?
42. now there's aircraft carriers you know in the Caribbean with guns pointed
43. towards you know Havana why are you going and I was like well good question
44. but why not go now like maybe this is the perfect time to be going and you
45. know I found a lot of what we had heard about in the news to be not accurate
46. Surprise, surprise there. As a journalist, it also made me feel good firsthand being able to, you know, see things, talk to people and witness, if nothing else, what's going on right now.
47. So what do you think are some of the greatest misconceptions that people might have about Cuba?
48. Well it kind of twofold I know for like my older generations like my parents generation is very much or my grandparents generation is very much in that us and them sort of thing of oh Cuba is one of our enemies sort of thing And I don really feel like that holds true for my generation on down to my children
49. generation. Like we don't have that stark, blind patriotism towards the US of US good,
50. everywhere else bad, like none of us have that. So, you know, buying into any American propaganda
51. of what's going on over there.
52. It's just, you know,
53. it's not something I would have done anyway.
54. Other people might say that, you know,
55. that Cuba has a lack of freedom of speech.
56. They might have something of a police state,
57. you know, that there's like people on every corner
58. like looking to lock you up.
59. What was your experience
60. walking around the streets of Havana?
61. Well, it's funny you should ask it that way
62. because, you know, when I came home
63. and I'm telling my husband
64. about what an amazing time I had in Cuba,
65. and he's like well you know you were there by a guest of a
66. you know office of the government so they probably just
67. you know took you to all the places where you wouldn't see
68. anything negative and I'm thinking the amount of times
69. we missed the bus and had to walk
70. through various streets
71. that were unplanned I feel like we got a good
72. getting lost in havana was a good good uh overview of of seeing into like smaller neighborhoods that
73. travelers wouldn't necessarily have gone into and stuff like that and i came away
74. with uh you know is there trash on the corners not being picked up because of the blockade
75. Yes. Is it any different than any other major city in, you know, northern
76. hemisphere? I don't know. Have you been to downtown LA on like Julian Street or,
77. you know, Oakland under a bridge or the entire state of Mississippi and Indiana?
78. You know, it's... if you want to pick on Cuba for being like a developing nation
79. or a not developing nation, look within the U.S. first, because we've got plenty of examples of
80. that here. And that's not, you know, I'm sure the Trump administration is looking at this as a
81. failure of communism, you know, because look, they're not thriving well enough because they
82. don't have capitalism. And I'm like, is Indiana thriving? No, like none of these places,
83. especially your red belt states that complain about communism can say anything about capitalism
84. helping them out of anywhere i mean the only one who helps them is california
85. that's it so i in in looking at um it from that perspective like i saw a lot
86. i saw a lot there that you know potentially needed fixing but none of it was more egregious than
87. anything we have in our own country to fix and to throw it back on the communist party is the reason
88. all these things need fixing is just yeah well you know what well there it's very interesting
89. because havana is the capital it's the largest city and we think about the two largest cities
90. in the united states or even the three largest cities right we'll take we'll take that new york
91. chicago los angeles chicago all three have notorious notorious notorious police departments
92. known for their clear pieces. Whereas in Havana, I think the entire time I was there, I saw
93. maybe three police officers total over the course of a week. I don't know. How many did
94. you see?
95. I didn see any So yeah and I am used to like a bit of constant surveillance I live in Orange County So there you go with the surveillance But yeah I didn see that sort of surveillance And I didn get an overall sense of when I was talking to people that they were looking over their shoulder
96. so uh yeah so it's quite different uh quite a different picture than than people uh tend to
97. portray it here in the united states i don't even think they have the capacity to do with the with
98. they're being accused of the no probably probably not probably not um but uh yeah it's it's an
99. incredible country i mean i i really that's my second time reading at the havana international
100. poetry festival let's talk about the festival itself so you mentioned poets from around the
101. world can you name some of these other other places and countries where the poets were coming
102. Well, I can name off the ones where I had talks with poets, but Kenya, for one, his poems he read in Swahili, and they were translated into Spanish, and then his book had them translated in English.
103. I mean I just always think it's
104. I'm not someone who's ever been fearful
105. of languages or fearful that
106. I don't understand everything around me
107. like I kind of welcome that
108. and I felt like
109. the festival had that kind of spirit
110. that you know
111. welcoming poetry in all languages
112. and ways
113. we had poets there from Ecuador
114. Venezuela
115. Salvador
116. Honduras
117. a bunch from Mexico. Yeah, there seemed to be a wide range, you know, and then us from
118. the great Republic of California.
119. So while there, you kept drawing a great distinction between being from the United
120. States and from California. Explain to our audience why you made this distinction and
121. what that distinction means to you.
122. Yeah, well, I mean, typically, I would, you know, I understand, like, you, Matt, often
123. represent as Chicano and I felt like I often represent as Chicana but given
124. that my Spanish is so horrible especially overseas I didn't feel
125. anybody would buy that one. It's like I know it in my heart so I mean California is such a
126. great identifier for me as somebody who was born here raised partly here but in
127. in a military family where I went all over the place and then chose to come back here,
128. I've always felt like my choice to come back to California after a life of going all over the place
129. has kind of solidified my Californian identity and how much I realize I'm a Californian when I go other places.
130. So, you know, maybe 30 years ago, I wasn't quite sure, but now I am.
131. Like, I'm a Californian first.
132. What makes you a Californian as opposed to a United States-ian?
133. What are the distinctions?
134. An American?
135. Are you trying to say an American?
136. Well, an American.
137. But every time I say American, when I'm in Latin America, they get really upset.
138. And they're like, we're all Americans.
139. Todos somos latinos.
140. Todos somos americanos.
141. And it's like, yeah, okay.
142. And they say estudiantes is what they say.
143. But, you know, they say estadounidenses or something like that.
144. But, and so, but, you know, I don't really know how to say it in English, but United Statesian, I guess. United Statesman? I don't know. United States won? I don't really know exactly. But anyway, so.
145. Okay, it's twofold. I think conceptually, even my my sub stack is called dispatches
146. from the Republic of California. So I do feel strongly about like, should we leave tomorrow
147. and be our own country We could do it I am one of those people who are like you know California wants us to secede from the rest of the 49 So be it I here to fight for
148. California. But part of that is I love, and I lived in Northern California for over two decades.
149. And one of the things I love most about this state is generally, I mean, we have historical
150. things that push against this because we have racism here like we've had it everywhere else.
151. But historically, there is this component of a live and let live attitude that I did not find
152. when I lived in other places in the U.S. where other places in the U.S., like if it was the
153. East Coast, they wonder, you know, what family are you from? Are you old blood? Or you know,
154. what are you? And in that respect, and in the South, you know, there's racism on a whole other
155. level and really bad food. I feel like in California we do have a sense of like
156. you know what you want to do what you want to do I want to do what I want to
157. do maybe it'll go together maybe it won't but have at it as long as you
158. don't harm anyone we're good and if you're gonna have an ethos as to how to
159. govern you know that really should be it don't harm anyone we're good and yeah
160. Yeah, you know, there's a reason we're the most populous state, right?
161. We do offer things that no other state offers, like, you know, fruit and vegetables year round.
162. And our children being able to go to school and have like breakfast and lunch like that.
163. That is not possible in every state.
164. There's many things we take for granted here as much as we complain about California that are just not available to other people in other states.
165. So, you know, that's that's a good chunk of it.
166. Yeah. No, I like in general, we're not fearful of other languages. And I love being in LA and walking down the street and hearing like eight different languages. And that is comforting to me where you can go online and see, you know, a person in Alabama freaking out because somebody said, hola.
167. you know so you mentioned you mentioned uh that you were um that you read in english and that
168. there were people there to translate spanish you tell us a little about your the relationship you
169. developed with the translators there and um what that was like to hear your your work uh
170. translated spanish uh at an international uh poach festival yeah um that was pretty sweet
171. and some of the participants also spoke english so you know came up to me talking about like you
172. you know, the translations that they did for themselves.
173. My translator was this wonderful woman named Anna Elena,
174. and she had been an English teacher at one time
175. and did other things, and she actually just told me
176. that she really liked my poetry in English.
177. And what I happened to read for this is,
178. right now I'm working on a corona of sonnets,
179. So 14 sonnets that are interrelated on a theme.
180. And the theme right now is like, you know, just the onslaught of horrificness coming from the Trump administration.
181. And I couldn't do it all in one poem, so I spread it across 14 instead.
182. And she was very receptive to the style and the form of the sonnet.
183. It was something she recognized.
184. So she said it was easier for her to work within a recognized form to see what I was doing.
185. Yeah, so she said she really liked my work and was able to make translations of it that made sense to her within the form I had it in.
186. Now, while you're reading there, actually, in the closing session where most of the poets read,
187. or you were one of the poets selected to read in the closing session,
188. You had the opportunity to read alongside Nancy Morohone.
189. Can you tell us a little bit about what that was like for you?
190. Tell our audience who might be familiar exactly who is Nancy Morohone
191. and why is that so significant?
192. So, yeah, a couple of things.
193. First of all, not every poet was able to read at the end,
194. and I assumed I wouldn't be reading at the end,
195. so I was quite shocked when my name was called to read.
196. And I did get up and make a statement before the poem I read,
197. which was called Witness, and it was about, you know, witnessing, the importance of witnessing
198. atrocity and to catalog them and to speak about them. And my greetings to the Cuban people before
199. the poem were much about that as well, about, you know, standing united and that people remember
200. that, you know, governments may be one thing, but people are another, and that we have far more in
201. common as a people. I did not know much about Nancy beforehand and I'm kind of glad I didn't
202. because I get really bad imposter syndrome so the more I know about who I'm reading with the more
203. I feel like I'm going to have a frog in my throat when I actually go to read but her presence was
204. very I don't know how to say this but she just she walked in the room or on the stage she looks
205. like such a humble person and then when you look her up and you realize how accomplished she is
206. and how much is behind that sweet smile of hers it's very um everything about her is very
207. understated to the naked eye but she's done incredible work and to read with her within
208. the same hour was was a very much a humbling experience and uh afterwards of course I'm
209. looking at more of her work online. And as I'm doing that, I'm like, oh my goodness, I can't
210. believe I got to read next to, in the same hour, on the same stage as Nancy. So, yeah.
211. For audience, Nancy Marjone is essentially Cuba's greatest living poet, and is a poet who's
212. renowned throughout the world. She's spoken of in the same kind of breath as like a Nicholas
213. Guillen and various other in the great great great tradition of Cuban poetry you listen to KPFK La
214. Raza Radio we are now joined this hour by Margaret Alicia Garcia we're really honored to I just got
215. back Margaret and I had the opportunity to read it together at the Havana International Poetry
216. Festival and we're just talking about that right now yeah I mean uh any anything that people should
217. know about Cuba that you think that they do not know at this moment I think I had told you before
218. like, how do we get to Cuba? Like, I didn't even know the basics of, and as I've talked to people
219. since I've gotten back, they're like, can we still fly there? Can we, you know, there's so many things
220. that people don't know. Yes, you can fly there. Was not aware that it was going to be cash only
221. once we're there, which is another thing you should know before you go down. I guess not to be so
222. fearful of Cuba and of going. Everything about the experience was great. Like, you know, there was
223. really friendly people. And I think at one point, somebody from higher up, one of the higher ups,
224. I don't remember his title, had kind of acknowledged that there were Americans there
225. and thanking us for having come realizing how heavy the propaganda is right now about how dangerous it is And then other people reminding us that Cuba is one of probably the safest places in the Americas to be going to
226. And I did feel safe.
227. I didn't for one moment feel like, you know, my life was on the line or that, you know, my person or whatever I had with me was in danger.
228. Nothing.
229. That just never cropped up.
230. And that crops up all the time in the U.S. as a woman who likes to travel alone.
231. Even when I'm traveling the state, there are places I don't stop because I don't feel safe.
232. And they're all, you know, within the United States, within California.
233. So I just, you know, it's not, you know, whatever you see in the news, take it with a grain of salt.
234. and know that there's like a third of that that might be true to realize that we're just kind of
235. being fed a lot of fear about it do you have a poem do you like share with us uh i'll share when
236. i read um oh i love that um i'm working on this i hope to find a publisher for this um
237. this uh chat book of poems okay this is called this time four years ago and i did read it there
238. and it is a sonnet of sorts.
239. I remember when women's bodies were our own.
240. I remember when the fringe lined the edge,
241. when the roaches scurried in the light,
242. when the children and the grown could live in homes.
243. We thought as the new millennium approached
244. that we would want to save the planet, our home,
245. and we were beyond the pettiness of religion, sex, and skin,
246. that we could respect sovereignty and dignity of other lands and had
247. reconciled the colonization from within what is this now unrelenting comes
248. another slouching day the screams of families ripped from each other's arms
249. and a traffic children for which no one will pay cacophony of alarms to alert us
250. to all the harms instead we hide in head-down disarray how long till it all
251. implodes and the price for our complicit silence at last explodes so I haven't
252. been doing a lot of formal poems in the last five years so this has been a
253. challenge and kind of fun to take on you know a traditional form and also break
254. it open because for me it would get boring if it was actually 14 straight traditional sonnets so
255. there's a few traditional a few i'm breaking up when the line breaks and the rhymes going
256. internal instead of the end you're listening to kpk radio we are now joined by margaret lisa garcia
257. and we are talking about uh trip to havana and uh about the line breaks of sonnets now so like
258. i think that's actually a pretty good transition um let's talk a little bit about this you say that
259. you have a chapbook coming out or a collection you're working on which you're referring to as
260. a crown of sonnets and for audience who might not be familiar can you tell our audience just exactly
261. what is a sonnet well what composes on i think people who don't necessarily write poetry
262. are more familiar with the word than the actual structure of the sonic he tells
263. what makes a sonnet a sonnet so sauna has to have 14 lines and you have three uh verses that
264. um if you're a shakespearean sonnet which is what i'm writing uh the end rhyme of each line
265. is kind of ABAB for the first verse
266. and then CDCD for the second and so on.
267. And then it ends in a rhyming couplet So for my poem how long till it all Implodes and the Price for Our Complicit Silence at Last Explodes is the rhyming couplet At the end there should be some sort of
268. turn too. So about line 12, it should be going in one way to expect and then do another thing
269. instead. So my 13th and 14th line go from the poem, Remembering How Things Were Better
270. four years ago to hinting at revolution at the end. So that's one way to look at a sonnet. And
271. a crown of sonnets has to have, or a corona, has to have 14 sonnets all together. And each of them
272. has to have a line in there that gets repeated in the next one. What did I read you? I read you the
273. ninth poem in the series. So I have a repeated refrain,
274. What is this now? Which is the title of the collection. And
275. that line is repeated throughout the poem in a different
276. placement in each sonnet. Now, in previous conversations we've had about this
277. upcoming project of yours, you've mentioned there was this old legend about
278. a crown of sonnets that got buried or burned.
279. Can you share with our audience the story of this great
280. this great theory of a yeah sure so um i'm in a book club as many middle-aged person is and uh
281. but mine is kind of cool because it's run by an old professor who hates everything he reads
282. um so he's great because he's the one who picks the book and a lot of times it's things i never
283. would have read um this particular case uh the last novel by ian mckeown which is i think called
284. What We Can Know, and it's great. It's a story about a corona, a crown of sonnets,
285. that was never published, and there's only one copy of it, and somebody's, it's kind of like
286. an archaeological dig to find this one poem. And I don't want to give away the ending,
287. because the book was fantastic, but the main character of the entire novel is the crown of
288. sonnets more than it is any one other character, which is fascinating. So I learned a lot about it
289. and wanted to look up more about it from reading that book, which I think came out in 2025.
290. So that's how I got to that, wanting to try it. And I mentioned to a professor, I've just recently
291. got my MFA from Chapman University. And one of my professors, I had mentioned that I was interested
292. in looking at sonnets.
293. And so then she handed me a stack of publications
294. of various people trying to do contemporary sonnets
295. and contemporary crowns.
296. So it's a form still used.
297. So you actually recently got your MFA, right,
298. from Chapman University.
299. And you were actually at the ceremony presenting an award.
300. Can you tell our audience a little bit about that award
301. and what the significance of the award was?
302. It was the James L. Doty Award
303. for outstanding achievement by a graduate student.
304. So it's our highest honor at Chapman, and it was given to me.
305. But I think primarily it was given to me because I tried to get as much out of the MFA as possible.
306. So two years, four semesters, you know, I signed on to do research.
307. I developed two theses instead of one.
308. I had publications come out while I was in school and I did a lot to try to help my fellow
309. students navigate towards finding internships and all sorts of other stuff So that is what solidified it At least that what I was told No I was fascinated because even in the speech
310. when you were given the award,
311. they actually mentioned the salons that you,
312. that you host.
313. That was,
314. that was very,
315. that was very interesting.
316. That was,
317. well,
318. they were like,
319. are there any community events you're doing on the regular?
320. And I was like,
321. well,
322. I do host these things at my house.
323. They're like,
324. excellent.
325. And that,
326. that speaks to Chapman really wanting,
327. students have a sense of community, which is usually harder for graduate students.
328. They typically don't live at a college.
329. So the idea of helping foster community amongst writers, that is complimentary and not competitive.
330. And I feel our department is very much that way, where we didn't, you know, we raise each
331. other up and celebrate each other's achievements instead of, you know, being jealous.
332. Yeah.
333. along with the Havana International Poetry Festival, you also were like a fellow or you were part of the Disquiet in Portugal.
334. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So in 2024, I actually got in in 2023, but I went in 2024. In 2024, I went on Disquiet International, which is, as it is in the title, an international like writers retreat slash conference that takes place in Lisbon every year.
335. highly highly recommend it for writers to go to if you have even an ounce of Portuguese background
336. you could probably lobby Disquiet International has there's funding put out by the Portuguese
337. government to fund Portuguese Americans who want to go to it so anyone out there with a Portuguese
338. grandfather apply you too can get in for free I mean I got in without any Portuguese but
339. the Portuguese go free. It's a great event. You get to spend two weeks in Lisbon. I stayed at a
340. youth hostel there and I got to read with people from all over the place. We did a lot of cultural
341. exchange with writers writing in Portuguese. So there were readings by Brazilian writers,
342. writers from Mozambique, Angola, you know, as well as Portugal, Cape Verde. So it was really
343. a great crash course in you know the influence of Portugal obviously imperialism from back in the
344. day and colonization but also a good sense of like where are we now as far as identity within
345. language and yeah it was it was really remarkable uh for that and the Portuguese especially Lisbon
346. like they're all about their writers and it's always refreshing.
347. I found this way in Cuba as well.
348. You know, when you're from Southern California and people either, you know,
349. come at you with evangelical stuff or, you know, just crash,
350. crash consumerism, like let's go to the mall.
351. You know, it's really both Disquiet International
352. and the Poetry Festival in Cuba were refreshing because, you know,
353. you had people just being happy to have writers in your country.
354. Like we treat writers so badly here and, and to see people like, you know,
355. oh my goodness, like, that's amazing.
356. That's great that you're a part of this poetry festival or this writing
357. festival and that you're sharing your talent with us or you're sharing your
358. gift with us or whatever that is so lacking here in the United States that
359. it's a stark and refreshing
360. contrast once you get
361. there and realize like, oh, not all countries are willfully ignorant and willfully illiterate.
362. Some actually think it's a great thing that people write.
363. Now, while you were there in Portugal, you were rooming with Alison Hedgecock. So for our audience,
364. can you tell us a little bit about Alison Hedgecock? Can you tell us a little bit,
365. audience, of who Alison is and why she's significant and what kind of relationship
366. was developed out of that well again is one of these people where uh i'm so glad i didn't know
367. as much about her going in because you know i would have been like i'm not worthy i can't breathe
368. the same space um she's a phenomenal poet and um her last book uh look at this blue was a finalist
369. for the american book award um it just goes up and down the state of california um with history
370. in every little pocket of that book-length poem.
371. She reminds me a lot of how referential your pieces get, Matt,
372. with Chicano history, hers got with indigenous history
373. and Mexican history and U.S. history within California.
374. And it's just great work.
375. So we've bonded over our work,
376. And also she's been very gracious and generous when it comes, in my mind, to my work, especially my work around fire.
377. She's also a fire survivor, and we've talked a lot about what that means.
378. A lot of her work addresses climate change, addresses the geography of the state, and what we go through with fires.
379. So we wound up having a lot in common and I'll forever be thankful that and humbled that she's taken me under her wing because I looked her up after I got home and I was like, I'm so glad I didn't know all this before because I would have been like the little Warner Brothers frog in the cartoon, not able to open my mouth had I known how great she was before.
380. Before, you know, snoring in front of her since we were roommates.
381. okay so final question you have an upcoming collection sometime later this year with
382. El Martillo Press Chicano Noir we're gonna have you on again obviously when the book is closer to
383. its release date but for audience give us a little like a little teaser what is this
384. next collection all about yeah so Chicano Noir and other stories I hope the Taibin is my last
385. venture into my homeland of Whittier, North Orange County, for stories. And it follows up on my first
386. short story collection in that the geography itself is a character, not just the setting.
387. But I kind of wanted to delve into horror in a different way. I was never a big fan of horror
388. movies or anything, and my children both are. And I was like, well, what tropes actually scare me
389. from horror. And I realized like, you know, the random slasher business of horror or the,
390. you know, supernatural issues of horror, those aren't horrifying to me. So I wanted to write
391. a book of short stories that, you know, had other things that were horrifying, like the lack of
392. health insurance being horrifying, or a misconception about who you are being horrifying, or, you know,
393. the lack of housing here being horrifying and like you know how can we much like you know the idea of how we were talking about earlier with Cuba and like how do we define freedom and how do we define this and that
394. like it's it's from how you want to look at it right and the same goes for horror like to me a
395. lot of our horror is actually internal and it doesn't get counted as horror therefore we wind
396. up voiceless because we're not able to acknowledge, hey, you know what? Living in the U.S. without
397. health insurance, without secured housing is horrific. Like these things, this is messed up.
398. And this is scarier than something jumping out with a pretend knife out of the closet. This is
399. way scarier. And so a lot of the stories, you know, center themselves around like everyday
400. people, working class people, and what's both driving them and scaring them at the same time.
401. Excellent. Final question, where can people find out about your work and keep up with what you're
402. up to? So two things. One, I have a website, margaliciagarcia.com, and that has all the books
403. and that has links to any interviews and whatnot that I have going.
404. The other is my sub stack, which is called Dispatches from the Republic of California.
405. You can just look up Margaritia Garcia and it pops up there right now.
406. It's most of the pieces on there right now cover the California governor's election.
407. I'm going to post another piece in a little bit about that.
408. and yeah those are the two easiest places to find me online and you can find me on the l martio
409. website and you also have another uh writing gig that's that's starting soon can you talk
410. about that yet or not i don't know that i can talk about that yet but uh we'll have you back
411. we'll talk all about it okay well thank you margaret for your time and uh we'll have you on
412. all right thanks matt
413. Thank you.
414. Thank you.
415. I just smoke
416. And I'm faded
417. I don't know
418. Which way to go
419. I just smoke
420. Too shady
421. But I know
422. This is where I meant to green turned to purple yellow to red
423. My mind is a circus, yeah, but the smoke clears my head.
424. Time, it's switched.
425. I still don't know what I am doing here.
426. This love, love is.
427. It sure is the light that reflects off my tears.
428. I can feel it crawling up my hair.
429. Purple everywhere
430. I just fall
431. And I'm fading
432. I don't know
433. Which way to go
434. I just fall
435. Too shady
436. But I know
437. This is where I'm meant to go
438. Born in water
439. Raised in waves
440. Put out my own fires
441. To keep others safe
442. My tide will rise
443. As the moon pulls my soul to the shore
444. I feel so, so alive
445. Feeling my heartbeat going back and forth
446. I can feel the thickness in my feet
447. Blue trees rippling
448. I just hope
449. And I am fading
450. I don't know
451. Which way to go
452. I just want
453. To say this
454. But I know this is where I'm meant to go.
455. Oh, yes.
456. Small, small.
457. Clouds upstairs.
458. I just want, want, want, want.
459. Oh, come with me.
460. I just want, want, want, want.
461. clouds upstairs
462. you might not want to
463. go there
464. come with me
465. me
466. come with me
467. feel all the things
468. I just found innovative I don know which way to go
469. I just smoked two shades, but now I know
470. This is where I am meant to grow
471. Oh, that the clouds have set
472. You might not want to go there
473. Green is the purple purpose
474. Yellow is the red
475. Oh, my eyes
476. My mind is a circus
477. Circus
478. We just heard the music of Rhythm Tribe
479. right here on La Raza Radio.
480. I'm Gary Baca along with Matt Cedillo and we are talking about the show happening this Saturday, June 13th at Harold and Bell's Creole Courtyard.
481. And when I mean Creole, I mean food. It's going to be an interesting event, live music with great food.
482. And we have Tomas Guzman Sanchez right here in the studios. How are you doing, Tomas?
483. Incredible, Gary Baca.
484. Yeah, this show.
485. Thank you so much for having us on.
486. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We got to talk about the show. Of course, you have a neo-soul Latin fusion sound. Would you say that's correct? Or you really can't categorize the music, right? It's a little bit of everything.
487. No, I would say that is what has been kind of put on us as a moniker for the style from the different magazines that have written about bombasica, huaracha, these type of things.
488. And then we also include Mexican rhythms, huapango.
489. And so we bring all that together into this neo-soul kind of a rap.
490. It's real eclectic, like you said, but it is so exciting when people respond to the music.
491. Now, how long has Rhythm Tribe been around?
492. Well, we started this project eight years ago, and it was quite simply to record together with my son and my...
493. And lo and behold, it went to number 28 on Smooth Jazz Billboard Chart, and that's when we realized we have something special.
494. And so over COVID, we did the next album and that was called Next Level.
495. And now we're coming out this year with our third album called T for Five.
496. And we're going to be premiering some of these tracks here right now.
497. Well, we have played one and we're going to play another as we go out.
498. But yes, dinner at seven, showtime at eight.
499. And now tell me about the menu because the menu is this incredible, right?
500. Gumbo, jambalaya.
501. Well, but it's authentic.
502. This is a real Creole cuisine.
503. It's not Cajun.
504. This is real Creole cuisine.
505. And you have etouffee, jambalaya, red beans and rice, catfish, po'boys.
506. I mean, these people, I mean, they even have charbroiled oysters.
507. I mean, it's really an incredible experience.
508. experience. So if you come early, because early gets you a taste.
509. people, seven o'clock is when the doors open, and the show starts at eight.
510. And the whole idea is you come in, have some great food, and then this new area in their
511. facility, it's an outdoor theater, very intimate.
512. The stage, lighting, sound, it's going to be really an amazing experience with great
513. food.
514. That's right.
515. And you guys have been practicing, rehearsing, as they say.
516. How's rehearsal been?
517. I mean, do you guys, when you rehearse, do you guys find new songs when you rehearse?
518. Do you guys get into a groove?
519. You know, what's rehearsal like for you guys?
520. What's real, the exciting thing is to be able to play with each other in the sense where you're hearing what the other person is doing.
521. And that always stimulates some kind of creativity.
522. We're Brisa on vocals and Mason on guitar and vocals and Nisao on drums and Karthik on bass.
523. You know, as we're playing and you start to hear things and ideas come, and that's where so much of the creativity happens is in that interaction as real musicians.
524. Your drummer, he's like raw.
525. He plays with his hands, his feet, everything.
526. Will he be using drumsticks on this show?
527. Now, it's interesting.
528. He's developed his hybrid style and incorporating more of a kit.
529. So, yeah, he actually has acoustic drums coming in where he's working with hands and stick and then feet also.
530. It's something to experience.
531. It's like no one else in the business.
532. Along with the bass player, he makes these upright basses sound like, you know, OB-8s, you know, like synthesizers.
533. It's really an amazing experience.
534. Now, your daughter and son are in this group.
535. You have an amazing family history.
536. with your own grandfather and your own history during the late 70s, 80s.
537. Well, I figure my grandfather's from 1910,
538. and then my father from the 40s, and then me from the 90s.
539. All musicians?
540. All guitar players and singers, and then now with my son and my daughter.
541. so we're doing what
542. 110 years
543. of family musical legacy
544. pretty wild right?
545. and that was from Puerto Rico
546. in Corazal
547. as a quartista and a guitarist
548. and with my dad
549. it's amazing how
550. you look back and you go oh my god
551. it's been so long but when I picked up
552. I was 5 years old and it just made sense
553. and same thing with my kids
554. so to be able to do this
555. with my son and my daughter
556. is a true blessing.
557. I want to thank you for coming down
558. and inviting everybody to get your tickets now.
559. Limited seating, Rhythm Tribe,
560. in concert, live at Harold and Bell's
561. Creole Courtyard.
562. This is June 13th, coming up this Saturday.
563. Doors open for dinner at 7 p.m.,
564. showtime at 8.
565. All ages welcome.
566. This is located at 2920 West Jefferson Boulevard
567. in Los Angeles.
568. So the tickets are really, really reasonable.
569. You know, you get in,
570. and then you can more than afford the food.
571. So, you know, get yourself in there and get yourself a drink and chill,
572. kick back with this great food, this Creole food with music, live music,
573. under the stars.
574. That'll be a great thing.
575. So come celebrate at Harold and Bell's this Saturday, June 13th.
576. And you have anything to say to Southern California?
577. Just to everybody we love to see you Come be a part of you know our friends our family and have a great time All this is available on DanceMaster
578. All right.
579. Thanks a lot, Tomas Guzman Sanchez.
580. My pleasure, Gary Baca.
581. There was a time when I would stay silent
582. This love is hard, emotional and violent
583. Oh, my heart can't take the awkward silence
584. The time it takes to make me feel safe, it ain't easy
585. So you better, better, better
586. Give me the powers
587. Been waiting here for hours
588. Swear to God, time is up
589. Give me my flowers
590. Before my sweet turns sour
591. I got that secret weapon
592. Turning heads left and right
593. Don't you know I walk away
594. If you don't treat me right
595. No, no, no, no, no
596. All the time you take
597. No room for more mistakes
598. Oh, don't make me say it again
599. Baby, now give me my flowers
600. Been waiting here for hours
601. Swear to God, time is up
602. Give me my flowers
603. But for my sweet and sour
604. Yeah
605. No, I'm done
606. I swear to God, I'm done
607. Wasting my time
608. No, I've been trying
609. Think I am blind and blind
610. Bad when you ain't mine
611. Oh, my God.
612. Give me my flowers, been waiting here for hours.
613. Give me my flowers, before my sweet time's over.
614. Give me my
615. Give me my
616. Give me my
617. Give me my Give me my Give me my Give me my Give my Give me my Give me my
618. Thank you.
619. And welcome back to La Raza Radio.
620. We're now joined by Ed Gomez.
621. Ed Gomez is an artist, a curator, an educator,
622. professor at Cal State San Bernardino.
623. He's also the co-founder and current director of Mexicali Bilenio.
624. So for those who are not as familiar with our audience, can you tell us a little bit about the founding of Mexicali Biennial?
625. Yeah, so the Mexicali Biennial is really a platform for artists to come together and create opportunities at a time that we didn't have opportunities.
626. It started back in 2006, and it became really like a DIY project for collaboration to create opportunities for artists to exhibit.
627. The first exhibition happened in Mexicali, Mexico, so we used that as a ready-made so that the idea that it's a portmanteau, right?
628. So the idea is that we work and activate spaces between Mexico and California.
629. And now we're on our 20th anniversary, and we just created a publication that chronicles the last 20 years of art actions and exchanges.
630. Can you tell us a little about the book, Art Actions and Exchanges?
631. Yeah, so I'm co-editor along with Rosalia Romero, who's an art history professor at Pomona College.
632. And the book itself really is an anthology.
633. It covers the last 20 years of art exhibitions from the beginning at Casa La Teatina in 2006 to our different iterations, including museum exhibitions.
634. Our current partner for the Paranormal Borders Project, which we're working on currently, is the Chichamarin Center for Chicano Art and Culture.
635. So the book functions as a resource for the classroom.
636. It's a visual read, and it kind of tells a story from the baño, from its inception, its exhibitions,
637. and some of the border activations that we've done sometimes simultaneously along the U.S.-Mexico border.
638. That's incredible. Can you tell us a little bit more about this project?
639. You're talking about how you mentioned a little bit about the border
640. and our current experiences with the border in this moment
641. and how this latest work really expresses that.
642. Yeah, so the project started in Mexicali, which is right along the border.
643. So we've always done exhibitions in Mexico and also California and Calexico, California.
644. So it's very much a binational platform.
645. We always do iterations on each side of the border and throughout California.
646. Our book itself chronicles the last 20 years of art exhibitions.
647. And our current exhibition program that we're working on is titled Paranormal Borders.
648. It's looking at the border as a paranormal site, looking at this like history and hauntings.
649. The border itself as a liminal space, as a portal, and really rethinking what borders are.
650. And I think from our recent collective experience of the ice
651. raids that have happened we really seen firsthand how the borders come to us This 100 border has extended past you know these international lines and has really affected communities all across the country
652. You're listening to KPFK, La Raza Radio. We are now joined by Edward Gomez.
653. I'm very, very interested in where are some of the places that you have exhibited the work
654. in Baja? Yeah, so the project itself is very nomadic. We kind of, we always talk about where
655. we go where the love is, where the opportunities are. So throughout California, we've exhibited
656. at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art History, VPAM, the Vincent Price Art Museum. Our current partner is
657. the Cheech Money Center for Chicano Art and Culture. And we have exhibition spaces in
658. Calexico at the Stepling Gallery at San Diego State University there in Calexico, including
659. venues in Mexicali, Mexico, in Baja California. We've done projects in Tijuana, Casa del Tunel.
660. And for our Mexicali sites, we use Arista, which is an alternative art space there, including
661. in Planta Libre Galeria Experimental, which is another art space there in Mexicali.
662. Sometimes also activating the border itself.
663. Tell us about your latest project with the Cheech.
664. So the latest project with Cheech was started back in 2023 when we did the Land of Milk and Honey exhibition there,
665. which was really looking at California as an Eden, but also a corrupted Eden,
666. looking at agriculture through these lenses of labor, migration, and foodways.
667. And that's when we started our partnership back in 2023.
668. our next round of partnerships and exhibitions with the Cheech Money Center for Chicano Art and
669. Culture will happen in March of 2027 where we exhibit Paranormal Borders which is going to be
670. probably the last phase of the Paranormal Borders project which will start at the border this fall
671. and it'll include somewhere around 50 artists at the Cheech Money Center for Chicano Art and
672. Culture in Riverside. Something to really look forward to. Well thank you so much Edward for
673. your time we're going to get you all back on when we're nearer to the to the event and anytime
674. there's anything that you want to tell us more about, please, please don't hesitate to reach out.
675. One last time for our listeners, can you tell us a little bit more about this book that has come out
676. and where they can find it? Yeah, so the book is called Mexicali Biennial Art
677. Actions and Exchanges since 2006. It can be found
678. throughout all over online, but you can check out our website at mexicalibainial.org
679. where there's a link to purchase directly from us. It's also available at the
680. Tiendita at the Chichamarin Center for Chicano Art and Culture. Thanks so much for your time.
681. thank you and with that we want to thank all our wonderful guests we want to thank you the listener
682. and i want to thank gary baca without whom the show is not possible thank you gary and as always
683. give me a lot of
684. Thank you.
685. context, history, and insight from the best-informed guests closest to the scene
686. who offer analysis and details often overlooked by the soundbite-driven media
687. more and more controlled by Trump-friendly oligarchs.
688. So if you want facts and information to inform a motivated majority
689. to save our democracy before it's stolen next November,
690. tune in Mondays to Thursdays at 5 p.m. and on Sundays at 11 a.m.
691. for your background briefing here on KPOK 90.7 FM Los Angeles
692. and worldwide at kpfk.org.
693. 아