Happy Ozomatli Day Los Angeles!

The City of Los Angeles officially declares April 23rd, 2010 as “Ozomatli Day” to celebrate and recognize the fifteenth year of the LA-based and Grammy-award winning band, Ozomatli. This celebration will include a special presentation of “Ozomatli Day” by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Los Angeles City Council members at the Los Angeles City Hall.
I have followed Ozo for years, since I moved to LA in the early 90s. My college roommate was Rocio Marron who played with Quetzal. Our group of friends at USC's Latino Floor (residential housing) would follow Rocio around to all her gigs, see Quetzal play with Ozo and other LA bands like Aztlan Underground, Quinto Sol, Lysa Flores and other groups no-longer in existence like Mazzy Star. All very talented group of musicians and friends.Although I will always be a die-hard Quetzal fan, I can't help but feel an immense amount of pride for the Ozo boys. I've gotten to know them a little more in recent years being an official Ozohead. Membership to this non-exclusive club requires attending Ozo concerts (or not) and hanging out with fellow Ozoheads (even if it's just on-line in chat). Now that the message board on the www.ozomatli.com board has been removed, we keep in touch through Facebook and are finding other ways of staying connected. Of great importance, however, is meeting new fans and converting them into Ozoheads. We can go to almost any city where Ozomatli is playing and find a friend to greet us, and even a place to stay . . . and that is the beauty of this group.
Their music is high-energy, inspiring, and FUN, FUN, FUN.  When I see them perform, I just want to dance, jump, and sing at the top of my lungs. It's a wonderfully cathartic experience. They inspire people to bear nothing but love for each other, reach out a helping hand, and help each other celebrate life. Through Ozomatli, I have made many life-long friends that are so great, you forget you met them *gasp* on the internet!! You know that place where evil people are out to get you. So today, I celebrate the hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and electrocutions the boys of Ozomatli have gone through to bring us all beautiful music, a sense of humanity, and love. When I'm down, I just remember one of my favorite songs and just add a coma to remind myself that "Yaya, ya viene el sol." and everything is going to be alright.  Thank you Ozo!

Get Ozo's new album Fire Away on Amazon.com
Visit www.Ozomatli.com


Comments

  1. Big PhilApril 23, 2010 at 10:43 AM

    Here here Yaya! Well said. You almost got me emo w/ Mazzy Star, Lol. I didn't know you roomed w/ rocio? I miss quetzal but those days were great for the music scene. Good times!

    ReplyDelete
  2. YayaApril 23, 2010 at 10:48 AM

    Hey Phil, Yeah member Mazzy Star?? You member! The music scene back then was really special. I remember seeing Black Eyed Peas OPEN UP for Ozo at Cal State Long Beach. Admission was cheap and the bands always hung out with the fans, something Ozo still does to this day. The celebrity doesn't get to their heads. Quetzal will be back though. They're still active.

    ReplyDelete
  3. VickyApril 23, 2010 at 11:07 AM

    Really proud of them!! Pa'lante OZO!!! And great post Yaya! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. YayaApril 23, 2010 at 11:13 AM

    Gracias Vicky!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Allow Me to Bragg About It

Image
I had a great opening line for this post but now I can't remember. Ah, aging. Ain't it great? One day you're fun, and young, and free and the next you've gained 50lbs of baby weight and insert-other-reasons-here. Then, instead of drinking the night away with all your carefree friends, you're stuck at home writing a blog about it. As with anyone, the past few years have been a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. I wound up with back problems that took about three years to figure out. During that time, I was scared to move for fear of re-injuring myself, at least that is what the doctors had me believe. This past December I got the news I wanted, needed, to hear. As most curvy girls can relate, this isn't my first attempt to lose weight. Countless Weight Watchers sessions, reading up on trendy diets, fasting, raw diet, 3-day diet, yoga, you name it, has led to temporary results. So what makes this time different? It is about pain management. The more weight
Read more

Thanksgiving, the dilemma

It's that time of year again when we stuff our bellies with tons of triptophan-laced turkey, stuffing, cranberry, rolls, papas and gravy. We get two days off of work and school to spend time with our friends and family and have few drinks, kick-back and relax. Yet, for those of us that know the history of this holiday, it is difficult to embrace the spirit of it with images of happy pilgrims and Indians permeating the grocery stores, office workspaces, and schools. During my hard-core activist days, we were angry at the Hollywood and Disney images of perfection that made anyone that didn't look that way feel like 2nd class citizens. Yet, now that we are parents, we're not so uptight about things. Even though my curly-haired, caramel, sun-kissed skin-toned daughter loves to watch the blonde, stick-thin Disney princesses I know that she can still enjoy watching those films and still have confidence in her own looks because, well, I'm her mom, and I won't let her think
Read more

Spider Sense

Image
I believe everyone has a story to tell. Some people are shy and reserved while others wear their past on their sleeves. My friend, George De Los Santos, aka Spider, aka Spiderflesh , not only wears his life on his tattoo sleeve, he shares his story with those that may benefit from learning about his past. He grew up in various cities south of LA from Bell Gardens to Compton and finally Huntington Park. " I’ve always known we were poor. That has been something I accepted and was humbled by. My mother has always been a worker. Not so much in a 'job' but more so in side-jobs that pay," said George as I asked about his childhood. " My 'real' dad was not around much and when he was it just lead to disappointment so I’ve not sought him out anymore. I have learned to appreciate my mother over the years as I became a parent but there were many years that I resented some of her actions as I was growing up. I later realized that she’s human and did t
Read more