La Vida Yaya

November is Native American Heritage Month and what better way to appreciate a culture, or cultures rather, than through my favorite medium, MUSIC! The Native American Music Awards are tallying votes now in over 30 categories and it's open to the public.  Check out www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com for an introduction to some of the best Native American artists of today. The eclectic categories may surprise you such as rock, country, gospel, blues, and hip-hop. I'm rooting for our local homeboys Aztlan Underground who have been nominated in 4 categories: rock, group, world, and spoken word. These guys certainly deserve the recognition having been around for over 20 years working for free, bartering for corn, and the occasional bread. Click on the NAMA link and leave the home page open to hear a mix of the artists nominated. You're bound to hear more than a few songs that stir your soul. Most of these artists are independent, pouring their time, money, sweat, and tears t

Falling in love is a wonderful feeling that has been described in song after endless love song, poem, Shakespearean play, pantomime . . . you get the idea. Songs ask: What would you do for love? The answer is usually some unattainable feat such as bring you the moon, walk 5,000 miles, go through heaven and hell, even DIE! Oh the tragedy of it all! Real life, as you may know, is much more simpler. My dear friend's brother passed away recently, and watching her cope with her fiance by her side got me thinking about what one does for love. Here is a guy who a couple of years ago moved to LA for a job, was living the single life, and then fell in love. A natural progression from single status to being in a relationship, to being engaged, and now planning a wedding has unfolded in both their lives. She grew up in LA, dated plenty of toads, kissed a few frogs, and now found her prince charming. For as much as we (society in general) berate men (in general) as being male-chauvinists, wome

Summer at the Autry means it's salsa time and the music is in full eswing (swing in Spanglish)! It's been a fun season although the cool weather may have dampened a few of nights as the sun went down. Regardless, the bands were playing their hearts out and the dancers were in excellent form. It should have been another fun and easy promotion job for me and it was until we were faced with the passing of Francisco Aguabella. Yes, we knew he was sick but didn't want to face the possibility of him not making it to his gig date on August 5. I was really pulling for him until Joey (my musician husband) gave me the news that we were seeing his last days. The passing of a legend cast a cloud of melancholy over the circle of salsa musicians. You think everyone is going to last forever and then they're gone. That is when you begin sharing stories of your personal experience with that person. I heard a few great ones about Francisco. His driving skills came up a few times. I'

I moved to LA in 1993, to an whole new urban reality from a lush, green, laid back San Antonio. It is a very culturally Mexican city where cute little old white ladies wear chili pepper earrings and yellow Mexican dresses with ruffles and the Mexicans pack into George Straight concerts and eat polish sausage wrapped in tortillas (don't knock it til you try it). Cowboy hats and boots are bilingual yanno. Leaving the Riverwalk and the Guadalupe Culture Center, the mariachis, and the Battle of the Flowers for a new city was exciting and yet disappointing. LA didn't have that peaceful co-existence of cultures I was used to in SA. It was very much us vs them here in this ocean-lined metropolis. I expected LA to be bustling with Mexican pride and power. I was hoping to find Chicano leaders at the top of their game spearheading large festivals uniting the best mariachis, the best ballet folkloricos, and singers. Afterall, everyone who was anyone in the entertainment industry landed in

Amazing sunset shot above and dancers below by Abel Gutierrez . The sun is out and not a cloud in the city of angels. This is the season that California is known for. Might as well patent the sun because we have it. The past couple of days have been scorchers early in the morning and driving around in my trusty Saturn with no a/c has been a challenge. Nevertheless, I'm loving it. Break out the sandals (as if I ever put them away) and the SPF 99 because unless you hate people, now is the time to get the heck out of the house. What can I tell you about summertime in LA other than it's fun and fulfills the soul. I might as well list everything and the kitchen sink that you can go out and do. Regionally, by theme, by dress code, and parking rates, there are tons of events going on. Let's see . . .  Well, let's start with where I'll be this summer. Working at the Autry comes the perk of going to Sizzling Summer Nights every Thursday in July and August. Last night's

A Lyrical Quest for Unity Among Indigenous Peoples Aztlan Underground announces the launch of their third independent, self-titled album Aztlan Underground (2009); and up-coming "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges" Tour, inspired by the recent political distress in the southwestern state of Arizona. "The reality is that the earth is too small to ignore our interdependence and interconnection as a human family. To ignore this fact is to uphold archaic notions of superiority of one group of people over another," said lead vocalist Yaotl. The band is rehearsing and preparing for several important dates including an anti-drugs educational and music workshop for the Nuu chah nulth Nation in Canada in July. Reaching out to underprivileged Native youth is a priority for the band members who themselves faced many of the same struggles growing up around violence and poverty. “It’s about the language of expressing what we see in one another, helping give voice to the

Here are some beauty and fashion tips that I want to share with the ladies. Beauty comes from within and all that jazz. You know that part already. These are some solid ideas I made up along the way.  I try to keep them in mind when going about the day.  You may have your own take on what fits your personality. At least I hope you do! I know you do. But if you could use a little encouragement or advice on how to mix it up, read on. Glitter eye shadow is fun for work and play Fake eyelashes are worth trying and trying until you get it right Liquid eyeliner takes A L O T of practice but once you get the hang of it, watcha! With sparkly glitter eye shadow use lip gloss not lipstick With subdued eyes, go for the RED lips! Wear jewelry that makes you happy preferably big chunky rings Invest in a few pieces of nice jewelry and wear them everyday Mix your good jewelry with your fake jewelry Accessories are your friend but limit them to a few small pieces and one big wow piece.  Wea

I don't know if I was just born this way or if it was the way I was raised, but I have a secret fascination with talking to old people. I'm not talking mere card-carrying senior citizens. I love talking to people 70 and above.  I've yet to have the pleasure of chatting it up with a centenarian but I'd love to one day. The closest I got was in high school when I had to put in some volunteer hours in order to meet the requirements of a school club. While other kids were tutoring kids and helping at homeless shelters, I was wheeling sedated seniors around a local nursing home. There were no fun stories there. Just funny yet sad incidents of saggy old men walking around with their pants around their ankles or the little old lady that tried to make a run for it but instead got scared and started yelling from outside the emergency door. Fun times. Maybe it's the ache in my heart for my long gone grandfather whose memory brings me to tears on occasion. That doesn't q

(Click on the image to enlarge) You will want to bookmark this page for the day you are sitting around wondering what to do. This is especially great when you have family or friends visiting, the kids are restless, or you just want to get out of the house before cabin fever sets in. Well, this chart is here to save the day . . . and your pocketbook. It is a list of FREE DAYS offered by various museums in LA and Orange County. A few institutions are free every day they are open such as the California African American Museum, California Science Center, FIDM, Fowler, Getty, Getty Villa, Paley Center for Media, Santa Monica Museum of Art, and the Studio for Southern California History. What more do you want?? Free parking?? Some offer free parking like the Autry and MoLAA. Sometimes you can get lucky and find free street parking around Exposition Park to access Natural History Museum, Science Center, and the African-American Museum. This  is a good way to explore all of these wonderful

Alma Zamudio-Sanchez is a good friend of mine. In fact, she’s like the sister I never had. We met as first year students at the University of Southern California in the summer of 1993. We were the future generation fulfilling the promise of the American Dream we had so often heard about. We were Latinas who had achieved so much already by simply attending USC and basked in the glory of being accepted into this prestigious university. No one in our immediate families had attended college. For other more affluent students at school, attending USC was the first step in achieving their goals of becoming business moguls, doctors, and lawyers (because attending USC can make that happen). For us, we had already come a long way. Little did I know just how far my soon-to-be best friend had, in fact, already come or would go. She is the 3rd youngest of a family of 12 who grew up just south of the US/Mexico border in San Luis, Sonora. I figured hers was a typical Mexican immigrant story since I

Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes, Five hundred twenty-five thousand Moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights In cups of coffee In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes How do you measure A year in the life? I've never seen the Broadway play Rent but I couldn't help but have it's Seasons of Love stuck in my head today as we paid tribute and laid to rest a true legend in his own time, Francisco Aguabella.  Francisco had 84 five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes in his life and I can only imagine all that his eyes witnessed in his long life.  How do you measure a life, especially a life so long and well lived? Imagine doing something, being so good at it, and being able to do it every single day. Even if your time on earth was half of what Francisco lived,

It must be a great time to be gay because all around me, there are good gay things going on in the mainstream. I've never had first-hand knowledge of the gay community in general and never spent much time thinking about gays or their social/political issues. Yet lately I've been surrounded by a plethora of what is now positive stories of the LGBT community. I guess it all started last year with the installation of the Brokeback Mountain shirts in the Autry gallery. I quickly learned just how iconic those shirts are to the LGBT community. They're the "red ruby slippers of our time" said the owner of the shirts. We had a nice group of gay cowboys attend the installation opening. I didn't know what to expect when I heard they were attending. When I first saw them, they were lined up wearing their matching blue rodeo cowboy shirts and proceeded to march in to the event. It was a statement. They made such an impression. It was pretty cool. Following that came the