Besame Baby!! A TRIP Through The Musical Barrio

Randy and Scott Rodarte of Ollin at their August 30th show in honor of the journalist Ruben Salazar(RIP) at the Airliner in Lincoln Heights. These boys played a smokin’ set that took us from 40’s Big Band Lalo Guerrero bluesy corridos, to swingin’ Richie Valens songs, to Cumbias, Pogues covers. (Ollin is the Chicano Pogues!) and ending the set with their punk “Tale of Two Cities”. They can seamlessly move across musical time, space and geography with mad musical skills and a true punk fire that ignites rather than tames the musical style they’re playing. I first saw Ollin when we all had moved back from Berkeley soon after the riots. They were learning to play Jarocho music. At that time I was going through some growing pains trying to find, create a space back home where I fit after wrestling with the world of academia for 5 years, witnessing my generation decimated by Iran-Contra imported crack, and experiencing the pocha in Mexico dilemma during a year of studying and traveling in Mexico. It was healing to go to Ollin gigs at 50 bucks, backyard parties in CT, Al’s Bar, the Clubhouse, Aztlan Cultural Arts Foundation, and the Peace and Justice Center where they sonically fused these different worlds that at that time seemed irreconcilable. Looking back, I am proud of my generation and I can very humbly see the vibrant marks that we have left on the political, cultural and social landscape of this city. So, it is affirming and grounding to go to an Ollin gig 13 years later, having witnessed their evolution and see them today still at it (even if they don’t get the recognition that they deserve) and pushing the work in many directions.
http://myspace.com/eastlosollin