THE EASTSIDE REVUE: 1932-2002 SHOWCASES LEGENDARY MUSICIANS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE IN A FREE CONCERT ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12 AT THE JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

LOS ANGELES, CA—A free public concert celebrating the music and history of Boyle Heights will be held outdoors on the Japanese American National Museum Plaza from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, 2002. The Eastside Revue honors over half a century of musical history with the legendary artists of the past and present that have placed their community and their music on top of the world’s musical map.

The rich and glorious tradition of Boyle Heights’ music is a metaphor and microcosm of the elusive American dream for an autonomous and harmonious multicultural society. Mexican, African, Asian, Jewish, Anglo, and Cuban American music organically took root and meshed in the fertile multiethnic community creating a rich musical and cultural legacy that continues to inspire and flourish.

The Eastside Revue will feature such internationally acclaimed artists as the Godfather of Chicano music, Lalo Guerrero, 60’s icons Cannibal & The Headhunters, and premiere Latin R&B pioneers, Tierra. The Eastside Revue will also include performances by Los Illegals, Las Tres with Marisela Norte, East L.A. Taiko with George Yoshida, The East L.A. Revue All-Stars, Cuauhtémoc Danza Azteca, Skip Heller Ensemble, and many others.

In addition to music and dance performances by internationally acclaimed artists, the concert will feature a historical narrative provided by master of ceremonies and guest curator, Rubén “Funkhuátl” Guevara, which will guide the audience through the concert describing and highlighting the decades, artists, and impact of their music on the community, Los Angeles, and the world.

PROGRAM AND PERFORMERS

Cuauhtémoc Danza Azteca will open the concert by performing an indigenous ceremonial blessing with a message and prayer from a Tongva/Gabrielino elder. Next on the program will be the band East L.A. Taiko, led by Maceo Hernandez whose performance will demonstrate the power of cross-cultural fusion. Joining them will be Roosevelt High 1940 graduate, musician and poet George Yoshida, who will perform a poem he composed about growing up in Boyle Heights, with a blues guitar accompaniment by the Reverend Brian Qualls. Upstarts and icons in the making will be next on the program including the jarocho-corrido-punk of the Rodarte Brothers (Ollin) and the silky crooning of Gus Avina (The Blues Experiment).

Las Tres, who specialize in Chicana feminist folk punk, will be joined in performance by noted Boyle Heights poet, Marisela Norte. Next on the concert will be Los Illegals, the important 1980s East L.A punk band who wrote anthemic songs of Chicano alienation. The band will be joined by the Reverend Brian Qualls, an influential guitarist for many Eastside musicians and third generation pastor for the Mount Carmel Baptist church in Boyle Heights, founded by his grandfather in 1911. He will perform an original blues song about growing up African American in Boyle Heights.

A highlight of the concert will be icon and Godfather of Chicano music Lalo Guerrero. With a musical career spanning over half a century, Lalo Guerrero has been proclaimed a National Treasure by the Smithsonian Institution. His mixing of 1940s swing and boogie woogie with Spanish lyrics and Afro-Cuban rhythms was elemental in the creation of Chicano rock and helped pave the way for the current global rock en español movement. Backing Lalo will be The Skip Heller Ensemble which will also perform a commissioned piece of klezmer and Mexican folk music reflecting a popular 1930s Los Angeles radio station that featured ethnic programming.

Next on the concert line-up will be The East L.A. Revue All-Stars, which is made up of members from several classic Eastside bands performing all-time Eastside favorites. Next will be a performance by 1960s icons Cannibal & The Headhunters. One of several groups that helped to create the “Golden Age” on L.A.’s eastside in the mid-1960s, the Headhunters charted nationally in 1965 and their dynamic stage shows earned them the invitation to open for the Beatles 1965 U.S. tour with stops that included Shea Stadium and the Hollywood Bowl. In this concert, two of the original Headhunters will be joined by new members performing an exciting a capella doo wop set.

Closing the show will be perennial favorites, Tierra, the premiere Latin-R&B-Jazz fusionists who will be joined by The Salas Brothers and members of the 1970s Frank Zappa-inspired, Ruben & The Jets for the grand finale jam.

THE BOYLE HEIGHTS PROJECT

The Eastside Revue is one of the major components of a project exploring issues of multiculturalism and community building in one of the most significant neighborhoods in the history of Los Angeles. The Boyle Heights Project is a multi-year collaboration that has researched and documented the diverse histories and experiences of a community that has been described as the Ellis Island of the West Coast. The project is spearheaded by the Japanese American National Museum and includes the International Institute of Los Angeles (IILA), the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, Self-Help Graphics & Art, Inc., and Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The Boyle Heights Project also features two exhibitions—including Boyle Heights: The Power of Place on view at the Japanese American National Museum from September 8, 2002 through February 23, 2003 and About, By, From: Boyle Heights at Self-Help Graphics from September 8 through October 13, 2002—and a broad array of public programming that will examine the changing social landscape of this dynamic Los Angeles neighborhood.

The history of Boyle Heights is the history of Los Angeles and the United States. It is a history that grows out of the everyday interactions among neighbors who may come from different places, have different beliefs, and speak different languages. In the late 1880s, Boyle Heights was an affluent suburb beyond the Los Angeles River, one of the first residential areas outside of the old Pueblo. By the 1930s it had grown into a working-class neighborhood with a thriving population of Jewish, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, Russian, Armenian, and African-American residents. More than 70 years later, Boyle Heights is still a major focal point and anchor for Los Angeles’ immigrant communities. The changes and continuities in Boyle Heights provide insights that are relevant to understanding today’s pluralistic social landscape.
 

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Eastside Revue is free and open to the public. For more information, call (213) 625-0414. The Japanese American National Museum is located at 369 East First Street in the historic Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles.