Latest news with #LosLobos
Al Jazeera
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
At least 17 killed after gunmen storm small-town bar in Ecuador
Gunmen in Ecuador have killed at least 17 people, including a child, in an attack on a bar, the latest incident to underscore the South American nation's challenges with rising violent crime. The country's attorney general said on Monday that more than 40 pieces of ballistic evidence were recovered from the bar in the small town of El Empalme, located about 160 kilometres [100 miles] north of the city of Guayaquil in the coastal province of Guayas. Images shared by Ecuadorian media show bodies and pools of blood across the floor of the bar. Ecuador has reeled from a surge in violent crime over the last several years, which experts say is largely driven by criminal groups sparring over territory and lucrative drug trafficking routes. Police said that groups of gunmen in two trucks opened fire on the bar with pistols and rifles on Sunday night in an attack that also injured at least 11 people, with other reports putting the number as high as 14. One minor hit in the attack ran more than a kilometre before collapsing in the street and dying from his wounds. The news agency AFP reported that the trucks full of men also shot and killed two more people at a different location, and that the men shouted 'Active Wolves!' during the attack on the bar. El Empalme police chief Oscar Valencia said the term was a possible reference to the criminal group Los Lobos, which competes with another group, Los Choneros, for control of drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and illegal mining operations. Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa has pushed for expanded powers for the executive and state security forces in the name of addressing crime, measures that have mostly won over public support despite concerns over potential abuses.
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Concert review: Rain doesn't stop the party as Cake close Calgary Folk Music Festival
The rain returned to Prince's Island Park Sunday evening just as headliners Cake broke into Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle, the 1993 single from the California band that began their journey as unlikely rock stars. Article content Roughly half-a-dozen or more songs into the evening, lead vocalist John McCrea looked out into a sea of bopping, sloshing fans in rain-slicked ponchos and asked 'Is it sorta raining out there?' Article content Article content Three days of wet weather had turned much of Prince's Island Park into a muddy mess on Sunday evening, but it would be hard to find anyone in attendance who wasn't wearing a smile during Cake's set. It might be one of the most entertaining, f finales of any folk festival in recent memory. Thirty years after the band hit the mainstream with its unique brand of 'quirk-rock,' McCrea remains one of the most unusual frontmen since David Byrne. These days, he gives off a vibe that suggests a goofy, near-retirement grade-school science teacher letting his hair down on a field trip. But there is no denying his magnetic appeal. Article content Article content After a comically long and epic intro of piped-in triumphant music, the band appeared on stage and eventually kicked off the set with the clever Frank Sinatra and Sheep Go the Heaven. The latter became the first of many endearingly odd singalongs. It happened again with an extended run through the catchy Sick of You and Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps, their 1996 English-language cover of the Cuban favourite. McCrea even managed to turn the 2024 single Billionaire in Space, the first new music Cake has released in more than seven years, into a singalong despite the fact that it likely has not be widely heard yet. Steve Berlin, saxophonist for one of Saturday night's headliners, Los Lobos, joined the band for their 2007 cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and audience enthusiasm hit a frenzied peak when the band played hits such as The Distance and Short Skirt/Long Jacket. On the surface, the band seems like an unlikely stadium act. But those disco bass lines, blasts of trumpet and catchy hooks remain endlessly endearing. Article content Article content It was a nice send-off for audiences after a mucky few days of inclement weather. Article content The festival survived what artistic director Kerry Clarke called 'the soggiest event we've had in years if not decades,' with a sudden thunder storm and downpour halting the music temporarily on the main stage on Saturday. Article content But the show otherwise went on Saturday, with main stage acts Madeleine Peyroux, Le Mamans du Congo X Rrobin, Los Lobos and Steve Earle shaving five to 10 minutes from their sets to accommodate the delay. In the end, the evening came to an end only half-hour after the planned 11:30 p.m. finish. Article content 'We've had bad rain, but probably the worst was 25 years ago where it poured all day,' says Clarke. 'There's always rumours of rain at our festival. In the afternoon the skies open up for half an hour and then it's clear. It's my fault, last year I was complaining about how dry the site was and how there was no grass.'
Calgary Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Concert review: Eclectic lineup livens soggy Saturday at the Calgary Folk Music Festival
Article content 'It's not a folk festival until someone comes along with an electric guitar and (expletive) it all up' said Steve Earle on Saturday night at the Calgary Folk Music Festival before launching into a lively version of The Week of Living Dangerously, his scorching 1987 honky-tonk cautionary tale. Article content It was nice reminder of Earle's wild youth and his 50-year genre-fuzzy career that has always placed him on outer limits of country music. It was also, presumably, a reference to one of the most infamous folk-fest moments in music history: Bob Dylan's performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where he went 'electric' and received boos and hostility from the folk purists in the crowd. Article content Article content After 46 years of adventurous music, it should be clear to anyone who has been paying attention that the Calgary Folk Fest has never been a festival for folk purists. Saturday's festivities at Prince's Island Park nevertheless offered a nice mix of what we have come to expect from a folk fest lineup: There was some straight-ahead folk from Scotland's Langan Band, some progressive politics and jazz-folk from U.S. singer-songwriter Madeleine Peyroux, some world-music from the lively Les Mamans du Congo X Rrobin and two roots-rock icons in Earle and veteran genre-hoppers Los Lobos. Article content Article content Article content Earle, who recently celebrated a half-century in the music industry, offered a good deal of nostalgia for long-term fans. He didn't leave the 1980s for his first five songs. Backed by Austin, Tx. country-rock act Reckless Kelly, Earle kicked things off with three songs from his 1986 debut Guitar Town that included the title track, the yearning Someday and haunting My Old Friend the Blues. It was followed by the singalong gem I Ain't Ever Satisfied from his 1987 sophomore record Exit 0 and the Devil's Right Hand from his 1989 breakthrough Copperhead Road. There were a few surprises. It was nice to hear his 1995 ballad Goodbye. It is one of his most beautiful and mournful melodies and the first song Earle penned when kicking a nasty drug habit. Bad Girls, a song literally released last week as a duet between Earle and Reckless Kelly, fit in nicely, as did the stinging title track and howling Fixin' To Die from 2017's So You Wanna Be An Outlaw. One of the highlights was It's About Blood, a harrowing obscurity from Earle's 2020 album Ghosts of West Virginia and the off-Broadway musical Coal Country, which is about the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster that killed 29 people. Article content Article content But, for the most part, Saturday's closing set offered a handful of crowd-pleasing favourites, including suitably charged takes on Copperhead Road, Hard-Core Troubadour, The Galway Girl and the Celtic-flavoured encore Johnny Come Lately, which Earle recorded with The Pogues in London in the 1980s (He dedicated the song to that band's late frontman Shane MacGowan, who died in 2023.) Article content Article content These days, the bearded 70-year-old Earle has a stage presence that suggests a somewhat weary elder statesmen, but having a band like Reckless Kelly behind him gave the songs an extra kick to end the evening. Article content The day was not without its speed bumps. A thunder storm and early evening downpour temporarily halted the music few minutes after the Langan Band finished their opening set, topping off a day of grey clouds on Prince's Island Park. The weather teetered on the edge of uncooperative on both Friday and Saturday afternoon during the four-day festival, with rain and unusually cold temperatures putting a damper on things and turning the park into a soggy, muddy mess. Just before Peyroux was about the hit the stage, the crowd was told that the performances would halt in hopes it would blow over. It delayed things for about an hour before the sun broke through the clouds, which may have gotten the loudest cheer from the soaked audience up until that point in the day.
Calgary Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
The wolves have survived: How Los Lobos became one of the last bands standing from the '70s L.A. music scene
While it may not be what Los Lobos fans want to hear, the veteran band from East L.A. has no plans of returning to the studio anytime soon. Article content The five-piece act has not released new material since 2021's Native Sons, which was mostly a covers album that paid tribute to the Los Angeles music that inspired it. It may be hard to fathom, but the band that penned masterful tunes such as Angels with Dirty Faces, Will the Wolf Survive?, Little John of God, One Time One Night and dozens of others does not see songwriting as a priority at the moment. It is not a band that stockpiles songs. Article content Article content 'I thought we owed our record company another record, but our manager pointed out to me that we don't,' says saxophonist and keyboardist Steve Berlin. 'At this moment, we don't really have any plans to record. With the last one, we had this idea: What if we did this tribute to California? With whatever we do next, we'd have to have a similar sense. I don't think it's enough to just make another record. The hardest thing to do these days is to get anybody to pay attention, full stop. I'm not saying we have to have as specific a concept as a tribute to California music, but I think we should have a reason to go back in. We should have something we want to express. Right now, it's not in our purview.' Article content Article content Suffice to say, Los Lobos has seen a lot of changes in the music industry since breaking out of the L.A. scene with a unique mix of R&B, garage-rock, Tex-Mex, Latin and Chicano styles. There was certainly a time when a new Los Lobos album would have been considered a major event among devotees. The group hit the mainstream in 1987 thanks to its lively cover of Richie Valens' La Bamba for the soundtrack of a film with the same name, but a consistent output of adventurous and challenging music over the past 47 years has made the band cult favourites and critics' darlings. Still, Berlin — who joined the band as a full-time member in the mid-1980s after producing some of their early albums — admits he didn't predict they would have the longevity. While Los Lobos will be playing the main stage of the Calgary Folk Music Festival on Saturday, they are also in the midst of co-headlining with L.A.-punk pioneers X on The 99 Years of Rock n' Roll Tour. X are considered one of the godfathers of L.A. punk, having formed in 1977. Article content 'They were foundational to the L.A. scene,' says Berlin. 'Even before they were my friends, I considered them royalty among the hierarchy of L.A. bands. I'm pretty sure everybody who was there would say the same thing. That's the story of the tour; it's really the last two bands standing with original members from that era. It was a pretty magical time for all of us. We were young and innocent and having a blast every day. I mean, had anybody asked me 40-whatever years ago if I thought Lobos and X would be the last bands standing, I would have said there is absolutely no way that could happen, but here we all are.' Article content Berlin, who also had stints with The Blasters and The Flesh Eaters in the 1970s, has also built a career as an in-demand producer. He has been at the helm for albums by The Tragically Hip, Rickie Lee Jones and the Blind Boys of Alabama, among others. He says Los Lobos has kept his interest for decades with its artistic restlessness and constant reinvention. Article content The longevity may have something to do with the humble beginnings of the band. It was around for years, often playing numerous times a week in East L.A., before the wider world began to take notice, Berlin says. Article content 'One of the things that made us built to last was the fact that, unlike X and really any band I can think of since the early sixties and seventies …, the guys were able to work out the music but grow up around each other, learn how to tolerate each other and be humans together. It was seven years before anybody outside of East L.A. had any idea who they were. The band formed in 1973. Most people would say their arrival was the night that I met them, which is when they opened up for the Blasters, even though they had been together for seven solid years playing at least three or four times a week. Article content Article content 'It's like the story of the Beatles going to Hamburg and playing every night for two years, more or less off the radar, and it's how they turned into the Beatles. I'm not saying that Los Lobos is the Beatles by any stretch of the imagination, but being able to basically grow up and learn not just music but life skills without the pressure of the spotlight is invaluable. I don't think anyone can do that anymore. Most people have their very first work on the Internet being critiqued. I don't think that's a healthy thing at all.'
Los Angeles Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
New music exhibit ‘A Great Day in East L.A.' explores the Eastside's cultural impact
Piero F. Giunti had been describing his striking black-and-white portraits of some of East L.A.'s most prominent musicians — such as Alice Bag, Aztlan Underground and Los Lobos — when suddenly, he stepped away to receive an update about heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descending on MacArthur Park. Upon reading the news, the San Fernando Valley native and photographer-filmmaker shook his head and redirected his focus. In that moment, surrounded by historic photographs of political agitators and artists he had taken over the years, he was reminded of just how critical their voices remain today. 'This is exactly what this project is: Aquí estamos, y no nos vamos,' Giunti said, evoking the a phrase that is commonly used by Chicano activists to assert their place in the U.S. The entirety of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes' newest exhibition, 'A Great Day in East L.A.,' where Giunti's portraits are on display, lives at the intersection of art, Latinx identity and political revolution. Walking through the heart of the exhibit, visitors can see photos of Linda Ronstadt, the Black Eyed Peas, Little Willie G, Trini Lopez, Maya Jupiter, Danilo Lozano, Yolanda Ferrer of Fatima Recordz and many more. The exhibit debuted on June 28 at the Downtown L.A. museum and cultural center, where it will remain until Aug. 23, 2026. The venue's Main Street location places it across the street from La Placita Olvera and indelibly ties it toward the shared project of uplifting stories from the Latinx community in the city. 'A Great Day in East L.A.' is co-curated by Giunti, as well as musician and historian Mark Guerrero, UC Riverside professor Jorge N. Leal and the LA Plaza curatorial team, which is headed by the organization's director of exhibitions Karen Crews Hendon. 'Giunti and Guerrero have been working together on this project, which is to find East L.A. musicians, photograph them and record their stories,' Hendon told The Times as she stood in front of the entrance to the exhibit, which features a collage of all 170 of Giunti's portraits. 'Aside from just photography, it's an oral history project.' The duo worked on the project for over 10 years, with Guerrero leveraging his access to East L.A. music icons made available through his music career. It's also worth noting the legacy of his father, Lalo Guerrero, the pioneering Mexican American singer who is locally recognized as the father of Chicano music. 'Guerrero's website is where he has all of those oral histories. You can literally just go to and pick your poison,' Hendon said. 'He interviews all these musicians. No one does that. So that's why we were super attracted to this project.' The idea for the exhibit came to Giunti after he dreamed about Art Kane's renowned photograph in a 1958 issue of Esquire, titled 'A Great Day in Harlem.' The photo shows 57 jazz musicians — including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Mary Lou Williams — posing on the steps of a Harlem brownstone while dressed in their finest attire. 'For two weeks straight I saw [the photo] everywhere,' Giunti said — and that's when he cold called Guerrero to gauge his interest in hosting an exhibit. Guerrero agreed. But 'A Great Day in East L.A.' is more than photographs and stories; it's an homage to the artists' staunchly DIY spirit. Elaborate onstage outfits, hand-drawn fliers, homemade recording machines, used instruments, local zines and eccentric band merchandise are also on display. 'It was a lot of community calls, broadcasting out to the community,' Hendon explained. 'We wanted to show what people have and to get to know those stories. Piero, Jorge and Mark made a million phone calls, went to people's houses, went to people's garages. I joined them and we were digging out of people's garages, asking, for example: 'What do you think tells the story of your late husband's band?' And so it took about two years to get [all that.]' Leal was consulted on the project due to his work specializing in Southern California culture in the 20th century — particularly his knowledge of Chicano rock and the East L.A. sound. His expertise lead him to create the Rock Archivo LA, an online public history treasure trove that collects, examines and shares youth culture memorabilia and other assorted curios. 'One of the things for me as a historian is to highlight and honor people that are no longer alive and that for some reason in their time were not as written about, as celebrated, but that were instrumental for the East L.A. sound,' Leal said. 'Being able to share this subject in conversation with Piero's photos in such a dignified way that honors and highlights for visitors that, if this is the first time they come across this music and this history, that they learn more from this — it's something we think we accomplished well.' One of Leal's favorite aspects of the exhibit is that does away with the notion that history is strictly linear and stuffy. The 'kinetic' nature of the showcase presents history through six themed galleries that together weave a holistic portrait of East L.A. The first emulates a show venue, with ornate blue velvet curtains draping the walls and framing the personality-laden stage outfits and instruments of East L.A. musicians including Brenton Wood's zoot suit, Lupita Infante's traje de charro, a bass guitar and drum from the punk-folk collective Ollin and Chicano rock band Quetzal's lead singer Martha Gonzalez's Grammy dress — to name a few. The second gallery is modeled after a rockero store and is filled with posters, records, merchandise and other assorted ephemera. A key aspect of the installation is its interactive component. Patrons are invited to play songs from a jukebox that has a bank of 40 records to chose from and projects each disc's album art. Visitors can also watch archived videos of East L.A. bands' live performances in the rockero section. The interactivity and tactility of the exhibit reaches its zenith in the garage-themed section of the museum that attempts to recreate the aura of many people's first rehearsal place. Residing in the center of the gallery are an acoustic guitar, an acoustic bass, a ukelele, a mandolin, a cajón and a keyboard — all of which guests are encouraged to pick up and play. 'We are aware that music is cut in schools. People don't have access to instruments,' Hendon noted. 'We really want people to jam out.' The subsequent gallery explores the political activism of East L.A., an aspect Giunti fervently connects to. His personal Rage Against the Machine shirt, graced with signatures from all the band's members, is framed in this section alongside benefit concert posters, May Day March fliers and photos of artists who embraced and displayed their Indigenous heritage. As he grew more political throughout the years, Giunti found inspiration from the political movements in East L.A., such as the Chicano Moratorium and the East L.A. walkouts. 'I was always a rebel. Then when I found RATM, I was a rebel with a cause. And I found Ozomatli, and I found all these bands one night after another, and those floodgates of questions opened,' Giunti explained. 'Having that political mindset behind everything, I said, 'East L.A. is an act of rebellion, just for it existing.'' The transition from the bright and colorful radically political section of the exhibit to the centerpiece gallery filled with Giunti's portraits is perhaps the most visually shocking jump in the showcase, but there remains a thematic throughline. 'I wanted to make sure that everybody was represented as best as we could,' Giunti said. 'With gentrification and all these things happening, we're losing everything. ... We've seen this in the past, that we lost everything because of destruction and conquering. If we're seeing gentrification as being conquered again, we have to tell our stories and make sure that these people are remembered.' Giunti is especially proud of the women and LGBTQ+ representation that his work was able to capture — a unique and necessary component of fully capturing the essence of East L.A. 'We didn't do it because it was the cool thing to do at the time. We did it because it was the right thing to do,' Giunti said. 'So not only are we rewriting history, we're correcting it as well. So I made it a point that I wanted to find the women and LGBTQ+ people of East L.A.' The last portion of the showcase is a room dedicated to East L.A. legends Los Lobos, one of the first acts to agree to be a part of and approve of Giunti's vision for the exhibit. Included in the space is one of the group's Grammys, an MTV Video Music Award, handwritten lyrics, a script for the 1987 film 'La Bamba,' concert ticket stubs and some of the band members' outfits and instruments. Giunti got so in the weeds with collecting Los Lobos ephemera and the band's history that he has a documentary about the group scheduled to come out in 2026. Looking at the entirety of the showcase, Giunti smiled as special guests of the museum, including members of Ozomatli, got a tour of his work and marveled at it. Seeing Black and brown people feel represented and entertained by their history is exactly what Giunti wanted. 'The project is called 'A Great Day in East L.A.' because also when Black and brown people weren't allowed to play the Sunset Strip or the clubs in L.A., East L.A. had its open doors,' he said. 'East L.A. not only embraced the artists of all generations and genres — it also embraces people like me.'
