“Ethnic Studies 40 Years Later: Race, Resistance and Relevance,” a public conference about ethnic studies, marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. The College is the only institution in the world devoted entirely to the discipline.

The four-day conference will showcase more than 100 plenary and workshop sessions, including:

A review and discussion about a proposed K-12 ethnic studies curriculum in San Francisco public schools.

A session titled “Race, the Power of Illusion,” which will examine how an artificial construct has historically maintained such a powerful hold on human consciousness.

A discussion on how cultural conceptual frameworks inform our understanding of history, class, gender, religion and social justice in regard to Muslims.

Sessions on the strengths and weaknesses of ethnic studies and more traditional social sciences in the teaching of race and ethnicity in the U.S.

Approximately 3,000 scholars, sociologists, psychologists, historians, philosophers, artists, anthropologists, educators, civic leaders and other professionals as well as students from seven countries, 10 states and 35 universities.

At 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 7 through Friday, Oct. 9, 2009. San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave (at 19th Avenue), San Francisco.

Grand afternoon event with Eva Ayllón

Eva sings a Chabuca Grande and two other musical groups.

On Sunday, Oct. 11 at Roccapulco Super Club. 3140 San Francisco. For more info call 650-346-1861. $25 cover charge.

City College garage sale & flea market fundraiser

At the street-level parking area of The Balboa Reservoir across from the Science Hall on the Ocean Campus 50 Phelan Ave. SF, CA. Admission is free. Donations for the sale are needed as well as vendors.

Sat. Oct. 24, 2009 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Proceeds will go to City College. For more information visit www.ccsf.edu/saveccsf.

In The Heart of the Mission Gala

Celebrating 20th Anniversary of Clinic of Hope, at Elan Event Venue, 839 Howard Street, San Francisco.

Business & cocktail attire preferred. Parking accessible,Honoring Rafael Díaz, founding director and Virginia Scribner, clinic manager. Live entertainment by Mission Harp Ensemble & Dance performance by Salsamania. Begins at 6 p.m. with lavish reception. $125.00 per person. Thurs. Oct. 15, 2009 call 415-552-1013, ext 225.

2nd Annual Central American Cultural Celebration

“Festival de Los Volcanes. Sat. Oct. 18, 2009 at Horace Mann Middle School 3551 23rd St. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A family event! Admission is free!

Day of the Dead Celebration week Oct. 15 to Nov. 21, 2009, at Mission Cultural Center For Latino Arts, 2826 Mission Street. A call to all artists to contribute!

For more info. visit: missionculturalcenter.org Or call Maurizzio at 415-643-2797.

New book honors street art in San Francisco

October 11, 2009

by Jonathan Farrer

Susan Cervantes

Precita Eyes Muralists were ecstatic at their annual fundraising gala at SOMArts Cultural Center on Sept. 19, while founder Susan Cervantes and her staff had much to celebrate for, as the mood was festive as well as reflective. Their new book, Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo, has just been published.

“This book was over 12 years in the making and took over a year to get published,” said Cervantes, briefly mentioning how difficult it was to find a publisher.

With 600 stunning photographs, this comprehensive book showcases more than three decades of street art in the Mission District. Precita Eyes was responsible for raising about $50,000 to get the book together, Cervantes told El Reportero amid a full house crowd at the gala.

Despite difficulties and set backs the full-color hardbound book published by Abrams Press and edited by Annice Jacoby with a forward by award-winning musician Carlos Santana, is getting raving reviews.

“This book is fabulous,” said Mission Merchant Association member Jean Feilmoser. “Yet I just wish the locations of the murals featured were included.”

Feilmoser features the murals on walking tours of the Mission.

There are books out there that chronicle the history of murals. “But there is nothing really definitive about the mural art history of San Francisco,” said Cervantes.

In 1977 she and her late husband Luis founded Precita Eyes Muralists named after the park where they lived

“There were no community art projects (back then) as we know them today.” Cervantes said. “Where we lived near Precita Park in the Mission there was nothing,” she added.

“We didn’t know that what we founded initially for our own needs at the time would grow, going so far and lasting this long.” Details: http://www.abramsbooks.com.

Weighing in on Arturo Chávez Chávez

October 11, 2009

by Diana Washington Valdez

Chihuahua state native Arturo Chávez Chávez appears to be on his way to becoming Mexico’s federal attorney general.

His nomination by President Felipe Calderón provoked an outcry from human rights organizations, a member of the European Parliament and relatives of murdered and missing men and women in his home state.

Activists plan to conduct more protests next week when he is expected to meet with Mexico’s federal senators prior to his formal confirmation.

Chávez, who comes from a politically connected family, served in Chihuahua state as a deputy state attorney general, as the state attorney general and as a regional federal assistant attorney general. Most recently, he worked for the law firm of a powerful politician in Mexico City.

Calderón and his supporters in Chihuahua state said his previous experience makes him highly qualified for the post.

Chávez defended his record as one that addressed crime by putting people in jail, including several men suspected of killing the women.

However, critics contend Calderón should not gloss over some important and inconvenient facts about Chávez’s past performance.

For example, the notorious and brutal murders of girls and young women in Juárez began and grew under his watch. He and other Chihuahua state officials blamed the victims for their deaths: They were prostitutes, dressing provocatively and hanged out with a bad crowd.

In 1998, the Mexican National Commission for Human Rights, a federal government agency, issued a scathing report that recomended investigating and sanctioning the officials in charge of the women’s murder investigations.

Raul Romeva, a respected member of the European Parliament representing Spain, issued a statement criticizing Chávez’s nomination.

Romeva visited Mexico when he investigated the Juárez women’s murders, and continues to stay in touch with victims” relatives.

Hester Van Nierop, a citizen of the Netherlands, is among the murdered women whose cases are unsolved. As of this month, more than 600 girls and women have been killed in Juárez. Similar murders have occurred in other parts of Mexico where the drug cartels are active.

Another significant trend began while Chávez served as Chihuahua state’s top law enforcement official: the birth and explosive growth of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the cartel’s founder, lived in Juárez, where he owned several properties and his children attended schools. He was known for giving lavish parties that important business leaders and politicians attended.

During the mid-1990’s, the cartel disappeared hundreds of people (mostly men) in Juárez, including more than 50 U.S. citizens. No one was ever arrested or charged with these abductions.

El Paso businessman Jaime Hervella said Chávez gave families of the missing people misleading information about their fates. “He told them they were taken across the border and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration,” he said. The DEA scoffed at this allegation.

Hervella and others who are familiar with the early years of the Carrillo Fuentes cartel are not surprised at the present carnage in Juárez.

Judith Galarza, a human rights activist, heard Chávez say once that his staff knew organized crime was behind many of the crimes in Juárez but that his people were afraid to take them on.

This is the same man Calderón has selected to lead the Mexican country’s war against nationwide organized crime and the drug cartels. Hispanic Link.

Diana Washington Valdez is a journalist-author based in El Paso, Texas; dwvaldez@gmail.com.

latino ‘Dump Dobs’ movement gains traction

October 11, 2009

by Roberto Lovato

Who would have thought that CNN’s Lou Dobbs would be the person most responsible for pushing Latinos to build a civil and human rights movement for the media age?

After being attacked and beaten down day in and day out on CNN by Dobbs for so many years, Latinos across the country are starting literally to torch with their fingers and saying basta, enough is enough.

Far from abandoning the years of street actions protesting CNN’s unwillingness to heed our ongoing concerns about Dobbs’ anti-Latino fear-mongering disguised as nightly “news,” Latinos are now adding digitally-driven action to what is becoming a major online and offline political movement: thousands of English- and Spanish-language speakers have already signed our petition at www.bastadobbs.com.

Others are text messaging the words “ENOUGH” OR “BASTA” to 3-0-6-4-4 to demand that CNN dump Dobbs. Several other campaigns targeting Dobbs are growing rapidly. Armies of Twitterers are sending messages to Soledad O’Brien demanding she use her influence at CNN to take a stand against Dobbs.

Dobbs has started to feel the growing pressure coming from our movement. He fulminated and fumbled as he attacked our bastadobbs campaign and even called me a “left wing propagandist” and a “flea” during a more than 2-minute on-air rant last week. But instead of personalizing or reacting to Dobbs’ puerile ploys, we are focused to carry out an unprecedented national campaign that will bring about his media demise.

Presente.org and its partner organizations in the 25 U.S. cities with the largest Latino television audiences adding up to 75 percent of all Latino television viewing audiences are leading the charge not just against Lou Dobbs, but on CNN itself.

We hold CNN and its president, Jon Klein, ultimately responsible for keeping the media personality most committed to promoting anti-Latino hatred among millions on an almost daily basis. Using a combination of traditional and new media, we are informing ourselves about and mobilizing around the threat posed by CNN and Dobbs, whom many of us consider the Most Dangerous Man for Latinos in America.

Dobbs’ threat to Latinos and to the brand of the news organization claiming to have the “most trusted name in news” are rooted in the three pillars of Dobbs’ near-daily attacks: n obsession with Latinos and immigrants, n promotion of systematic myths about Latinos, and n immigrants and, most dangerously, providing a platform for leaders of the most radical and violent anti-Latino groups in the United States.

The media mud on the face of CNN president Jon Klein was on full display recently.

Without even blinking, Dobbs broadcast his radio show from a national lobbying conference sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), founded by a white nationalist and designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Such behavior by Dobbs has sparked Latino media activism like that found at www.bastadobbs.com and reported on in the Latino media.

Front page articles, spirited editorials and major television and radio reports about CNN and Dobbs are filling the Spanish-language media (all except CNN en Español, which does not translate or distribute Dobbs for its Spanish-speaking network) More than anyone else, Dobbs is helping English- and Spanish-language media and the larger Latino community make the connection in several recent reports: that there is a growing link between anti-immigrant hate speech on television and increased violence against Latinos in our hometowns. Thanks, in no small part to the threat posed by Dobbs and CNN, we are building a major civil and human rights movement of the media age. Hispanic Link.

Kansas court decision gives hope for millions facing foreclosure

October 11, 2009

by Marvin J. Ramirez

Marvin J. Ramírez

Despite of news media keep saying that thing are getting better and the economy is going on the right direction, million of people continue fighting for their right to keep their homes banksters, while the court continue ruling against home owners, with some excemptions. El Reportero brings you the following article gathered online for the benefit our readers.

In Landmark National Bank v. Kesler (full ruling), 2009 Kan. LEXIS 834, the Kansas Supreme Court held that a nominee company called MERS has no right or standing to bring an action for foreclosure. MERS is an acronym for Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a private company that registers mortgages electronically and tracks changes in ownership.

The significance of the holding is that if MERS has no standing to foreclose, then nobody has standing to foreclose – on 60 million mortgages.Ellen BrownAuthor, Attorney

by online wire services

Here it is. On August 28, 2009 the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas rendered an opinion based calmly on existing law and relentlessly applying it to the chagrin of all participants in the securitization scheme.

MERS was the appellant seeking to invoke due process rights which it said were violated when they failed to get notice of the fact that their “interest” was being wiped out. The Court said simply that MERS — or any nominee” didn’t have any interest and proves its point by reference to simple statements in the documents and the simplest of laws and interpretation of the role of MERS and the requirements of recordation. The splitting of the note and mortgage creates an immediate and fatal flaw in title.

Title carriers take notice — all previous foreclosures falling within the scope of this opinion are subject to either compensation to the homeowner or reinstatement of the homeowner as possessor and owner of the home, or both. The implications of this ruling cannot be overstated — but neither should it be overused.

This is one state, but it is likely to serve as the basis for most appellate opinions rendered on securitized loans. The tide has turned.

The moral of the story is that those encumbrances (mortgages) don’t exist in most cases, the foreclosures were all fatally flawed, the people who have been chased out of their homes, still own those homes, and the parties seeking to enforce the note can do so only as unsecured creditors and only if they prove that they lent the money that funded the loan and only if they are willing to be subject to counterclaims, cross claims, affirmative defenses and defenses of the borrower relating to predatory lending, appraisal fraud, securities fraud, rescission under all available theories of law, damages, treble damages, punitive damages, exemplary damages and consequential economic damages.

This is the start of what will be a long line of cases running through state courts and Federal Courts finding that MERS, the whole “Nominee” business plan, assignments from those without power to assign, splitting the note and mortgage making the mortgage unenforceable, necessary and indispensable parties, vacating judgments procured by fraud, and all the other basic black letter law flaws in the securitization of loans are exposed for what they are — a scheme that would and did wreak havoc on the notice and recording requirements of each and every state, a scheme whose execution created fatal flaws in title, and the intent to buy-pass the basic requirements of law in effect since at least the 17th century.

This case must be read multiple times and very carefully as it contains a succinct discussion of the decisions in other states. I will be referring to this case and analyzing it in the days ahead for our blog readers and for my clients who have retained me as an expert witness. I agree with every word in this opinion — a rarity and I am relying on it as corroboration for all my prior writing and expert opinions rendered in all cases across the country.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

A national sales tax is coming

October 11, 2009

by Jeff Harding

The “Center for American Progress” is the best example of an oxymoronish name that I can think of. This is a “progressive” (socialist) “think tank” (another misleading term) lead by John Podesta, a former Clinton Chief of Staff and Obama adviser.

They are coming out with a report on Wednesday that will recommend that:

[T]he administration should consider a tax on consumption, such as a value-added tax [VAT] system similar to that in use in the European Union. Podesta suggested that its impact should be limited to protect lower-income people, who otherwise might be hit particularly hard.

The center’s president and chief executive, John Podesta, who is an Obama adviser, said the administration should consider a tax on consumption, such as a value-added tax system similar to that in use in the European Union. Podesta suggested that its impact should be limited to protect lower-income people, who otherwise might be hit particularly hard.

“As progressives we need to debate the policy merits [of] a range of options, including designing a small and more progressive value-added tax,” Podesta said in a statement Tuesday.

Apparently even they recognize that you just can’t tax the rich enough to cover the Administration’s vast spending programs:

In order to pay for the national health care plan, the Democrats were already planning to impose a tax surcharge of between 1.0 percent and 1.5 percent on those whose income is $350,000 or more. I did the numbers on this and I came up with 300,000 lucky taxpayers who will be burdened with the privilege of paying for our health care (the Democrats say it’s more like 1,000,000 taxpayers, but I think I’m closer). Now it looks as if the regressives agree with me.

The report, which will be released on Wednesday, said the administration can’t rely on taxing richer Americans and companies to reduce the deficit to sustainable levels by 2014 because those groups would see 40 percent tax increases.

Guess what else is happening on Wednesday? Just a coincidence I’m sure, but the Volker Panel on How to Raise Taxes Without Anyone Noticing is meeting as well. The meeting will be streamed live starting at 12: 30 if you wish to tune in to their public deliberations.

I predicted in March of this year that the Administration would look to a VAT to raise taxes:

My guess is that it will include non-food retail sales and they will add services (information, professional, technical and scientific, administrative and support, waste management and remediation, but excluding medical services). The services aspect is important because this will skew the tax more to corporations and upper income taxpayers. … [Obama] will structure it so that low-income people will get a refund of taxes paid. The refund will be phased out as income increases. In 2008 retail sales (excluding food) were about $4 trillion. Services in 2007 were another $2 trillion.

Let’s say they need to raise $1 trillion over the next 4 fi scal years, or $250 billion a year. That would require a 4.5 percent national sales tax. In Europe they call this a value added tax (VAT) and the rate in the E.U. is about 15 percent.

Volker already said he thinks the VAT is a good idea. No surprise there; that’s why Obama chose him.

So, let’s see. They want to stimulate consumer spending to revive the economy. How do we get people to part with their money instead of socking it away in the bank? I know: let’s tax consumption. Brilliant.

Honduran resistence fractures

October 11, 2009

by the El Reportero’s news services

Roberto Micheletti

On 28 September cracks appeared in the de factoregime that has been in power since the 28 June coup d’etat against the elected president, Manuel Zelaya.

The de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, was yesterday forced to backpedal on his draconian measures to suspend civil liberties after congress, the supreme electoral court and the main presidential candidates for the scheduled general elections on 29 November protested.

The Micheletti regime is beginning to lose some support from within because of its intransigent refusal to negotiate a resolution and to agree on a compromise that would allow the elections to have international legitimacy.

The international community’s insistence, however, on Zelaya’s restitution to oversee that electoral process looks no closer to being fulfilled.

In other related news:

Honduran Resistance under Siege

The National Front against the coup d’Etat stated that demonstrations for restoring constitutional order will continue Tuesday in the country, despite the suspension of guarantees established by the Constitution.

The decision was confirmed in a release of that vast alliance from people’s organizations, which has reached today its 94th consecutive days against the June 28 military coup.

The de facto government decreed the state of siege this weekend, after authorizing the police and armed forces to disperse protests, practice detentions and close opposition mass media.

The Front agreed during an assembly held Sunday with leaders of the country to stage a march in the capital today, but when rallied they were besieged by riot police groups.

The coup government decreed the state of siege for 45 days in an attempt of impeding popular mobilization, but people also staged protests within the country, according to popular leaders’ reports.

De facto President Roberto Micheletti closed Monday Radio Globo station and the television’s channel 36 Cholusat Sur, the capital’s only two media covering anti-coup rallies.

The radio station managed to transmit signals again, through internet.

UN Ready to aid drought-hit Nicaragua

The United Nations readies efforts to aid Nicaragua suffering a drought caused by climate phenomenon El Nino, informed an offi cial source.

According to Alfredo Missair, resident coordinator of the United Nations System in Nicaragua, his agency will supply 20 million dollars of aid.

The official added that he evaluates a series of contingency plans to prevent a food crisis.

The UN intends to cooperate in future emergency situations although, he said, we never work only in cases of emergency but later participate in recovery and later development.

The work of the international agency will be to collaborate and complement actions of the government and later will have to receive support from the international community, indicated Missair.

Arias warns Honduran elections won’t be recognized

Costa Rica’s President Óscar Arias on Tuesday commended the interim president of Honduras for saying he will reverse an emergency decree suspending civil liberties in his country.

But he warned that the results of the Nov. 29 presidential election in Honduras would not be internationally recognized if it is held while interim President Robert Micheletti’s government is in charge.

Arias said Micheletti’s government “has not moved an inch” in negotiations to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya with limited authority.

He called the June 28 coup that propelled Micheletti to power a “dramatic, historical backward step” that needs to be corrected through free and transparent elections under Zelaya’s government.

The history of the U.S. Latino press

October 11, 2009

by Lauren Alicia Mendoza

As the year-long bicentennial celebration of Latino newspapers in the United States comes to a close, its legacy continues to grow and serve a community.

“The bicentennial is a significant event for journalism and we have a responsibility to document our history,” said Félix Gutiérrez, professor of journalism, communication and Mexican American studies at the University of Southern California. “We have deep roots, We should know them and others should know them.”

Even Gutiérrez was surprised by what he discovered in his research. Before the first U.S. Latino newspaper, the first printed news in the Americas was produced in a booklet, “hoja volante,” by Juan Rodriguez in 1541, nearly 150 years before the first English colony newspaper.

And in 1808 the first U.S. Latino newspaper, El Misisipí, was founded in New Orleans.

“I was surprised while digging into all this history,” Gutiérrez said. “Who would have thought the first U.S. Latino newspaper would be in New Orleans?”

Throughout the 200 years, U.S. Latino newspapers played multiple roles. They have been a voice for the people and to the people, whether they were students, women, labor unions or community organizations, said Gutiérrez.

They allowed a Cuban revolutionary leader, José Martí, to call for Cuban independence from Spain in his New York City newspaper Patria in 1892. They allowed people to voice their opinions during the Spanish American War in 1898 through various Latino publications.

During the U.S. war with Mexico in 1846, hundreds of Latino newspapers published stories that differed from what English newspapers were reporting, “reflected their own experiences,” Gutiérrez explained, “…history of America as reported by U.S. Latinos.”

In the late 1930s Latino newspapers emerged as a voice for Latino students, highlighting their achievements and their struggles in education. The Mexican Voice did it for students in Monrovia, Calif.

Then and today, they help immigrants adjust to life in a strange and sometimes

hostile land.

“They’re acquainting people to the U.S. who may not have been welcomed but have always wanted to be a part of American society,” said Gutiérrez.

What began more than 200 years ago in New Orleans has continued to flourish.

“Latino media in all forms, including newspapers, are growing at a time when others are suffering declines,” he said.

This influence was best portrayed in 2006 when Latino newspapers, including the influential Los Angeles daily La Opinión, encouraged readers to “hit the streets” to demonstrate for immigration reform. Nearly 500,000 people did so in Los Angeles.

Commemorating the bicentennial, the University of Southern California is recognizing this milestone of U.S. Latino newspapers on Sept. 30 with Voices for Justice, an event showcasing their legacy.

The opening event will be at 7p.m. at the USC Annenberg Auditorium and will feature a film preview of “Voices for Justice: The Enduring Legacy of the Latino Press in the U.S.” an exhibit presenting Latino newspapers and their stories, followed by a discussion on the future of U.S. Latinos and the media.

“We were looking for a theme that would translate 200 years. Voices for Justice seemed to fit. [Latino newspapers] were all looking for justice in a society that promises justice but doesn’t always give it,” said Gutiérrez.

The exhibit shows the role newspapers have played in advocating Latin American independence, adapting to U.S. conquest of the Southwest, acquainting newcomers with U.S. ways, serving as a voice for leaders, and using new technologies to reach larger audiences.

Adrianna Venegas, a member of the production team that designed the exhibit, observed, “Latinos are not sleeping giants. We have this strong history that can change the minds of people who still believe that we just started.”

“The exhibit shows that we’re a literate and vibrant community,” Gutiérrez echoed.

While much of its history has been forgotten because it has been recorded in Spanish.” its story is just beginning, he maintained. “There is a continuing fight for freedom of Latino press. Its history is still being made. It will never be done.” Hispanic Link.

Getting closer events celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

October 2, 2009

by the El Reportero’s staff

Mariachi Orgullo Mexicano

The San Francisco Bay Area prepares to celebrate the traditional Hispanic Heritage Month, and the San Francisco Public Library – Mission Branch, proudly presents an event that you won’t forget.

Dance and music from Mexico. Wear a traditional costume, play instruments, learn about Mexican culture, and dance! (Costumes will be provided.), Tango Argentino (1:00 – 2:30), the roots, history, and examples of Argentine tango dance and music will be presented.

Also in attendance will be Maria Medina Serafin (2:30 – 3:00), a bilingual poeta/percussionist and sonera of salsa music; Xiuhcoatl Danza Azteca (3:00 – 3:30), a traditional Aztec dance of ancient Mexico.

All this to happen on Oct. 3, from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 24th St. and Bartlett, SF.

Honoring the Maya in the International Year Of AstronomySiguenz

This event is part of the program “El Sol nos Une a Todos”, coordinated by the CSE in California with funding from NASA, with the goals of inspiring and engaging Latino/Hispanic families through community outreach activities and engaging and educating teacher leaders and teachers of Latino/Hispanic students in space and atmospheric sciences.

In celebration of 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy, the October 10th event will feature public talks by experts from NASA and Yucatán, México, dance performances from Mesoamerica, an exhibit and demonstration of traditional Maya textiles, educational activities and prize raffles for families, day and nighttime telescope viewing, a social dance, as well as traditional Yucatecan food for sale.

This event is sponsored by Community Maya Astronomy UC Berkeley, NASA and Casa de La Cultura Maya.

A free event with different themes covered through out the day from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10. For more informationcall 415-404-6982. Pickleweed Center, 50 Canal Street, San Rafael, CA 94901.

At the Pickleweed Center, 50 Canal Street, San Rafael, CA 94901.

More on Hispanic Heritage Month

In conjunction with 20th anniversary of the HIV Clinica Esperaza/Clinic of Hope and the Hispanic Heritage Month and National Latino AIDS Awareness Day, the San Francisco Neighborhood Health Center will also celebrate its own 41st anniversary by holding, “In the Heart of the Mission Gala. There will be lavish culinary reception, celebrity appearance, live auction, world class performance.

This event will take place on Oct. 15, at 6 p.m., at Elan Event Venue, 839 Howard Street, San Francisco.

For reservations please call 415 552-1013 ext. 225,. $125.00 Per Person. Business & Cocktail attire—parking accessible.

Culture Clash is performing its Greek adaptation classic, Peace

October 2, 2009

by Antonio Mejías-Rentas

3 de la Habana: How is it possible that the SF public wasn’t able to go see the “3 de la Havana” on Wed. Sept. 2 at Roccapulco? A talented, different, with gracious rhythm who arrived from Miami. But those who went, were glad they played only for them. (photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)

ON THE SO CALSTAGE: Two Los Angeles-based theater groups are having important premieres this month.

The Latino Theater Company is staging a world-premiere production of Evelina Fernández’s Solitude at its downtown base, while Culture Clash is performing its adaptation of the Greek classic comedy Peace at an outdoor amphitheater in Malibu.

Inspired by Octavio Paz’s El Laberinto de la Soledad, Fernández’s play is directed by José Luis Valenzuela and has original music by Semyon Kobialka. It is performed by film and TV actor Robert Beltrán and several members of the company, of which Fernández and Valenzuela’s husband-and-wife team—are founding members.

Solitude plays Sept. 9 through Oct. 4 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center—a downtown venue with long-time ties to both the Latino Theater Company and Culture Clash.

The comedy trio made up of writer/performers Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza adapted Aristophane’s Peace with author John Glore for a production commissioned by the Getty Museum. It is being presented at an outdoor theater at the institution’s Getty Villa in Malibu.

The members of Culture Clash play most of the characters in the modernday adaptation of the satirical look at society at war, butthey are joined on stage by actors John Fleck and Amy Hill and by a singing trio led by Mariachi Divas’ Suzanne Garcia. It opened Sept. 10 and runs through Oct. 3.

DOUBLE DUTY: Latin Grammy nominations are announced in Los Angeles the same day the A/ma Awards are given out.

Actors Jimmy Smits and Paul Rodriguez as well as performers Beto Cuevas, Luis Enrique and Luz Rios will be on hand early on Sept. 17 to announce nominees in various recording categories. The latter three are likely to be on the list. Smits and Rodriguez have musical ties, nevertheless: they are partners at the Los Angeles club Conga Room where nominations will be announced. Latin Grammys will be handed out Nov. 5 in Las Vegas. Hispanic Link.

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