📄 Transcript [show]
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This poem will not change things. This poem needs to be changed. This poem is a rebirth of a people, a rising, a waking, understanding. This poem speaks, is speaking, has spoken. This poem shall continue even when poets have stopped writing. This poem shall survive, you, me. It shall linger in history, in your mind, in time, forever. This poem is time, only time will tell. This poem is still not written. This poem has no point. This poem is just a part of the story. This story, her story, our story. The story is still untold. This poem is now ringing, talking, irritating, making you want to stop it. But this poem will not stop. This poem is long, cannot be short. This poem cannot be tamed, cannot be blamed. The story is still not told about this poem. This poem is old, new. This poem was copied from the Bible, your prayer book, Playboy magazine, your newspaper. New York Times, Reader's Digest, the CIA files, the KGB files. This poem is no secret. This poem shall be called boring, stupid, senseless. This poem is watching you trying to make sense from this poem. This poem is messing up your brains, making you want to stop listening to this poem. But you shall not stop listening this poem. You need to know what will be said next in this poem. This poem shall disappoint you because this poem is to be continued in your mind. Ah, not that good. That money feels good, and your life, you like it well. But surely a time will come, as in heaven, as in hell. You see, he feels like Ivan, born under the Brixton sun. His game is called surviving, at the end of the heart of the tongue. You know it means no mercy, they caught him with a gun. No need for a blood Mariah, goodbye to the Brixton sun. You can crush us, you can bruise us, but you'll have to answer soon. Oh, because of Brixton. When they kick out your front door, how you gonna come? With your hands on your head, or on the trigger of your gun? You can crush us, you can bruise us, and even shoot us. But oh, because of Brixton. Shut down on the pavement, waiting in death row. His game was surviving, as in heaven, as in hell. You can crush us, you can bruise us, but you'll have to answer soon. Oh. Oh, because of Brixton. Oh, because of Brixton. Oh, because of Brixton. Oh, because of Brixton. The Clash, the only band that matters, that's Guns of Brixton off the London Colin record, 1979. My personal musical hero, Paul Simon on singing. Playing guitar on that one. Prior to that, we heard Muta Baruga and the Observers under tight wrap. Neat stiff poem from the Creation Rebel Trojan Remixed. Before that, we heard Bank Robber by Smooth Beans. And that's off an interesting compilation, The Clash Goes Jamaican. It's basically all reggae, ska. Covers of the Clash songs, that's out on Golden Singles, which is a Spanish label. That's a Spanish band, Smooth Beans, doing that tune. Started off with L.A. His own Chris Murray, Let There Be Peace. Also from a comp from Hellcat Records. It's a great compilation, including the Agrolytes, Mescaleros, and Rancid. Give them the boot, number four from Hellcat Records. All right. Well, just in the nick of time here, like Superman, Levi Ponce, what's going on there? Nothing much, man. Good to be back. Good, good. Welcome back. Thank you for coming in. Also, we got Michael. Hey, how's it going? Michael. I want to make sure to say this. Rivera? Yes, sir. Okay. I know it's a little bit of an Anglo pronunciation. How would you say it? It's fine. You just have to roll the R, and it's the same thing. I'm bad at my R's. Rivera. Rivera. And why are you guys hanging out? Other than, you know, studs kind of are attracted, you know, hanging out together all the time. But you guys got a project coming up this Sunday? Yeah, we got a mural coming up at Plaza de la Raza in Lincoln Heights. And, you know. Lincoln Park. It's going to be of Yenny Rivera. You want to talk a little bit about that, Mike? Yeah. It's part, well, it's really Levi just, you know, flexing and being able to, you know, doing me a favor. But I will be helping out. But it's part of my project called Project Paloma, which is really just a project just made to dedicate murals to her. And that's really what the goal is. And Jenny Rivera is my mother, and she's a regional. She's a Mexican singer that passed away a couple years ago. Yeah. But she has a pretty strong following. And she's very, especially with the Hispanic community and the women in the Hispanic community, because she's very empowering. She's not just a singer. She's an actress. And she kind of, she was kind of a renaissance woman, right? Yeah. She did a lot. And, you know, she persevered through a lot. And especially in that industry where, you know, it's very male dominated. Yeah. There was a TV show. There's a clothing line. Yeah. Yeah. Anything that she could touch, you know, and we're still carrying on her projects today. I don't know. I don't know a lot about it. And so I'm looking forward to getting educated a little bit. But I also know that she's done a lot to help more specifically like women. They were in a bad situation at home and stuff. Yeah. One of the main things, you know, people always come up to me and they just tell me, you know, your mom was such a big inspiration. She, you know, gave me the strength that I need. I needed to leave my husband who was abusive or she gave me, you know, the strength I needed to go through, you know, pressing charges on someone who had abused their daughter in certain ways and stuff. And just real powerful things like that, you know, and just beyond that, she's just an awesome entertainer. Even just as far as music goes, you know, there's not very many women in the industry that have the presentation that she did. Yeah. She broke down a lot of doors for people that are going to come after her. Yeah. If loved ones want to sort of research about the lady we're talking about, could you spell out the name for everybody so they can Google search it? Yeah. It's Jenny Rivera, J-E-N-N-I and Rivera, R-I-V-E-R-A. Excellent. And she has a website, JennyRiveraMusic.com. Okay. And, you know, they could get familiar with her on there and you just, you know, search like you would for any other artist. And forgive me, I'm not terribly aware, like when we talk about music, would she cover sort of some of the Mexican standards or? She kind of set a lot of standards, I think, for her specific industry, because there weren't a lot of women that excelled, you know, in regional Mexican music, just because there's so much machismo that runs it. It's a lot of, I mean, I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, but I do like some of the old, like some of the old mariachis and stuff. That There's a couple other ones. But it is sort of a masculine music, but it doesn't have to be. I'm just saying maybe it's just masculine because that's what I'm used to hearing. Yeah. You're Pedro Infantes. Yeah. And that's a cool thing because I guess you could describe her music as feminine, but I know plenty of men that are... I would go to concerts with her growing up all the time, and I would just trip out. There would be all kinds of guys that are all dressed up nice, out there looking for girls, and then you got the cholos all hugging each other, singing her songs all drunk in the crowd. It's awesome. She's music for everybody. That's cool. That's cool you got to be a part of that. Yeah. So let me see. We got a couple minutes, and we're going to play some more music, and then we're going to come back and talk. But briefly, what are we talking about on Sunday? What are you guys doing? Sunday, we got a wall over at Plaza de la Raza. Like I said, I did a mural there last year for Dia de los Muertos, of Selena, another Mexican singer. And yeah, so that was on the right side of the building. There's an adjacent wall. It's on an inlay. The building has a beautiful inlay. There's another inlay on the left side, so we're going to complement the left side of the building now with a Jenny Rivera mural. Which I think is really cool, because as far as, you know, Selena is a very different brand of music, but they both are very strong legacies and stuff. And, you know, it's beautiful. And we're going to be, you know, two very awesome legends that aren't with us anymore, you know, being paying homage to in the same place. Yeah. That's cool, because, I mean, as far as I'm concerned, like, I can't really speak on growing up anywhere else, you know, but as far as I'm concerned, because I'm a native Angeleno from Los Angeles, culturally speaking, I'm part Chicano. You know what I mean? It's just because, I mean, this was Mexico, before it was U.S. I mean, it's just ingrained. And so, like, I can definitely appreciate that. That's not a part of Mexican culture. That's more specifically a part of this part of the country's culture as well. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. And that's cool, man. That's cool that you're honoring your moms, and your mom did great things, and you're willing to recognize that. Yeah, which is awesome, because, you know, I feel like, you know, we show that we miss our mom in different ways. We give back to her in different ways. And this is my way of giving back. And Levi's just, you know, generous enough to be part of the team. And, you know, this is just going to be the first of many. And that's what, like what you said, going back to being this part of the country, I want to travel and put, you know, make her part of different cities everywhere. Because there's a strong presence of her in L.A. But, you know, she also has a lot of fans in, you know, in Texas. There's a lot of people in Chicago. And, you know, like, just have it part of different cities. And that's, you know, the best I can do, you know, to still connect with her. Could you describe, like, what specifically? What you guys are going to do, like, as far as how the piece will look? Or is it a little bit kind of... It's actually a very simple portrait. A very simple background to complement her. Just because the Selena one isn't too complex either. You know, so we want to balance that one. But it's, I just, I love this guy's portrait skills. So, you know, I wouldn't want to saturate it with too much in the back. And it's a picture that hasn't been used before, which is also a really, you know, cool thing. So, you know, we're just going to have a good time. Yeah. It's been a great experience being able to go through Mikey here and go through personal family pictures and portraits of Jenny, you know, and being able to pick out the ones that we thought would, you know, work best as opposed to, you know, Googling her. You feel like you know her a little bit better. Yeah, exactly. That's cool. All right. So, Jenny Rivera, J-E-N-N-I-R-I-V-E-R-A.com? Jenny Rivera Music.com. Music. Okay. And then, of course, the artist, Lelai Ponce, W-W-W-L-E-V-I. P-O-N-C-E.com. I got that right? That's right. Check it out. Yeah. Of course, you can find all this stuff on the Facebook and whatnot. Are you on Instagram, man? I am. Yeah. Check me out at Levi Ponce. All right. And let's see. We're going to get into a little bit more music. You guys can hang out for a little bit and we'll talk some more. Sounds good. Okay. Because it wouldn't be Neighborhood Love Radio unless we talked about food a little bit at some point. Yeah. We'll come back. Anyway, music. Oh, I'm going to start you guys off with a... Do you guys know who... Do you know who the Lions are? Local band? The Lions? I'm not familiar. Sort of a roots super group locally. They got a couple of guys from Hepcad. They got Black Shakespeare. It's a couple people from Oregon playing. And it's basically the best of like soul and funk and ska and reggae locally. And they all come together under the group name The Lions. They're on True Thoughts Records. This is a tune called This Generation. It's featuring Malik Moore and Black Shakespeare. Check it out. Hope you guys like it. Boom. Control the split for no MP3. A lot of noise. Sound is much better on MP3. Yes. Yes. This situation Make your sound system sound so nice This is gonna be lit Oh, inspiration, time to make a change Time to get your education down, take the truth away Unity, love, let me tell you what I say The truth will keep us down, but the truth is everything What do you say? Can't run a spliff on an MP3 Sound is much better on 33 Even nicer is the 12-inch sound The top is heavier than the bottom round This generation This generation eats herb over liquor This generation This generation grazes Kali thicker This generation Like the newer's not gonna talk Huge combination And the lovers for the lockers Play a song Get up, get ready, I'm coming, get up Get down, get up, get up Oh yeah Change your mind, change your mind I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming Move it, no, no Change your mind, change your mind I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming Let me down easy Give me time To get over you, baby Let me down easy Give me time To get over you, baby Break it to me gently Yeah If it's This is goodbye Baby, say it slow Cause you taught me to love you So come on, girl, and teach me not to love you Before you go All cause to fall From the top To the bottom Is such a sad drive To get over you, baby Let me down easy Give me time To get over you, baby Don't turn the lights out on me Let the feel of love Slowly fade away Let your sweet kisses turn me on And your loving arms A little tender Day by day All cause a fall From the top To the bottom Is such a sudden drop So let me down easy Let me down easy Give me time To get over you, baby Let me down easy Give me time To get over you, baby Take better better better better better better better better better So let me down easy Give me time To get over you baby Mmm Mmm better better better Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. planned out right after that mural, freeway mural. Yeah. That's cool. What else you got going on? I mean, like I said, I mean, that would be enough for your average man. But no, my buddy Levi, what else you got going on? Because I know you got like five things. At the moment, actually, PBS is working on a mini documentary. They're following me around. They'll be there on Sunday. They'll be following me and Mikey around on Sunday, actually, as we paint this mural and, you know, do it with the community that comes out. There'll be plenty of guests. I invite everybody to stop by. Again, Plaza de la Raza this Sunday. So PBS is doing that documentary as part of a larger series called Angelino. So they focus in on people of L.A. and, you know, the lives that we live here. Okay. Just relevant people, people that, well, I don't want to say relevant, you know, but... Let's say interesting. People that do stuff. Though I think I'm quite boring. I don't know. But I guess I made the cut. I guess if you're being followed around, somebody wants to follow you around with a camera. I mean, I guess that's a good argument against your opinion. Yeah, that's cool. I like that. I love those kind of documentaries and I actually try to reflect that with my show as well. Like I'll have, you know, maybe a chef, an artist, you know, I don't want to stick strictly to music. You know what I mean? I want to have people that create and communicate and leave the day with more than when they started. Right. Who are some of the other culturally relevant people you might come to mind? People that made an impression on you other than somebody specifically in your field? If we go with music? It could be anywhere. Like I said, it could be the culinary arts. It could be music. If I have to pick a hero, I always go with my dad. I mean, you know, you said different field though. I don't know. Mikey, you want to help me out on this one? You got somebody in a different field that's not music, let's say, or not art that you admire? Yeah, somebody that you'd rather, maybe not direct influence. I don't like saying, hey, who influenced you? Because it forces people to like, find somebody that's close to what they do specifically. But look, man, all us creative people, basically what you do is you're throwing a bunch of shit into a pot and it comes out a certain way, you know, or as somebody compared it to a Play-Doh fun factory, like you throw a bunch of stuff in a Play-Doh fun factory and you squeeze it and it comes out stars or something. So I guess that's what I'm asking, you know. Is there somebody you play on the headphones when you paint? No, no, no, down. Give me a field here. Who are you listening to on your headphones when you paint? When I paint? Yeah. Ooh, that's a good one. I had Miles Davis on there, the whole album, Kind of Blue. I think that's 1957 jazz. Yeah, that's the last thing I painted with. Before that, I had to have had a little bit of The Doors. I had a Freddy Fender, actually. The greatest list, believe it or not. That's awesome, yeah. Yeah, so it's pretty eclectic there. I like films, too, though. Films have a big impact. We've had Tarantino. Oh, definitely. Big admirer of the Tarantino, the Robert Rodriguez films. And again, that's rubbed off on my murals, right? I did Danny Trejo, Machete. That's right, you did, yeah. Yeah, I pushed that when I was promoting the show today. I picked that one to promote because that was probably the most eye-catching. He came out to see the mural, right? Yeah, yeah. He was there when we were painting it. It was good to have him. First day out, you know, that afternoon, as soon as you get the likeness of Danny Trejo, he stops by to regulate, you know, who are you and why are you painting me? How did you find the man? He found me. I mean, how did, how did, how, was he cool? Oh, how did I find him? Yeah, I found him to be a very pleasant human being. Nothing at all like his movies. Very friendly, but still has that rugged, you know, that hard edge to him when he talks to you. But great guy, very friendly. I think that, that specific mural was a little bit of a pivotal point for you, you know? Like, what made you choose Trejo for that one? It was actually my first mural, so it was definitely pivotal. Really? What's that? That was your first? Well, solo, right? That was my first mural, yeah. The first one I did out there on Mural Mile, the first one, I did on my own. Yeah, and you got a lot of attention for it, too. I did. It kind of just, it hit the ground running. That's cool, man, because pressure would have been on right after that, right? And so you didn't, you didn't let anybody down. I like that. I guess so. And how do you convince, you know, the neighborhood, like, to have this big, you know, threatening OG, you know, ex-convict, which, you know, he is, you know, guy on the wall, you know, how do you? You don't, you just do it. I rolled the dice on it, you know, I wanted to paint something that, you know, really reflected Pacoima and Pacoima's image. Now, you told me you didn't let him know before. You said, hey, I got some art. That I didn't let him know? Yeah, you had told me that. Yeah, I didn't let him know. I didn't ask. I just put it up, you know, and like I said, I rolled the dice on it and it paid off. I wanted to paint something that everybody could relate to, something that really reflected the neighborhood and when you walk around Pacoima streets, everybody's got this Pacoima stare on them, you know what I mean? And like, and I just, that's what I did out there. I wanted to capture that look, that presence of people that are standing on the corners out there on the streets and I guess I did it well. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I've been in the area. I've eaten in the area and yeah, there's a little bit of why are you talking to me kind of thing going on. There's a little bit of a wife-beater tan going on. Hey, but also, he's a very good example of how you can rise above, like, you know, very bleak. Precisely. Precisely why I painted him. He's like a people's champion. Yeah, for sure. And everybody I know that's talked to him says the same thing. Like, super nice guy, cordial, he looks at you and I heard the same thing about his kids too. Yeah, still hanging out on the block. That's why he knew I was painting him. That's all right, man. Thank you so much for coming down, guys. Can I ask what instrumental this is in the back? Right now? Yeah. This is Can Kick. Oh, I love that. Yeah. And this is from Arts Unknown. Oh, it is? So he's a great, I put him in back of like interviews and stuff like that. It's just perfect. It moves it along. It's a perfect, mellow feel. You ever, Danmu the Fudge Monk, have you ever heard of him? Whom? Danmu the Fudge Monk. No. He has, look him up. He's not, of course, not exactly like Can Kick, but, you know, they both have very mellow things. You know, you could just vibe out to whether someone wants to rap over it or you want to use it as, you know, back around B-roll. I will check that out. Yeah, I'm going to write that down. I'm going to put that on, I'm going to put that on Michael's pick to click. All right. Right up next, we're going to hear Cimarron's Legendary Trojan Record band and also a backup band. They backed up a lot of legends throughout their days, too. Anyway, the tune we're going to hear is Wake Up Ja Man Can. Ja Man Can, like Jamaican. And right after that, the legendary Joe Higgs. Man, pretty much an architect for ska and reggae. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy it. We're going to come back in a few minutes. Thank you. Love you. Wake up German girls Wake up roots, ma Get yourself together Try to know your brothers and sisters Capitalists got other plans By undermining the weaker mind With false hope Can't you see Capitalists using your name in vain Then use it in court as a job Then use it in church as a curse Then use it in a Yeah, wake up, German gods Shear up the land Let us be free To travesty land Instead of calling I, I, I, I, I Jam rocked on fear Jam rocked on will always be Props say what is true to you Is dreadful as to him Great sin of Babylon Ready to win now Jam rocked on fear So, wake up, German gods Wake up, roots mouth Wake up, German gods We're all on the rock, ya see We're all on the rock, ya see Yeah, we're all on the rock, ya see On the ride On the ride On the ride On the ride If you wanna live Treat me good I said If you wanna live Treat me good I'm like a walking razor Don't watch my side I'm dangerous Dangerous I'm like a walking razor Don't watch my side I'm dangerous Dangerous If you wanna live Treat me good I said If you wanna live Treat me good On the ride I'm like a walking razor Don't watch my side I'm dangerous Dangerous I'm like a walking razor Don't watch my side I'm dangerous Dangerous If you wanna live Look, look, look for me good If you wanna live Look for me good On the ride On the ride If you wanna live Feed me, girl If you wanna live, yes Feed me, girl All right I'm not gonna step in race I don't watch my ride No, no, no, no I'm not gonna step in race I don't watch my ride No, no, no, no Big one Look, look, look for me, girl Big one, yes Look for me, girl All right I'm not gonna step in race I'm dangerous Dangerous I'm not gonna step in race I don't watch my ride I Step and Razor. He wrote that tune in the late 60s. And most people know the Peter Tosh version. That's who made it famous. But it's actually his song. He wrote it. Anyway, the Wailers are backing him up on that tune. Step and Razor. From the Black Man Know Yourself album. 2005. Thanks so much, guys, for coming by. And once again, I want to make sure to, first of all, love to want you to know the websites. And we're talking about, for Levi's site, well, of course, you can find him on Instagram and Facebook. And all the social media. But you can go right to his website. Probably has the biggest concentration of work. At www.LeviPonce.com You can also check out Loved Ones Neighborhood-Love.com Because we did a little photo essay about a month or so ago. I forget. Yeah, it was great. Thank you so much for that. Oh, no problem. Thank you for putting it out there. And thanks. And Michael, also, what's the website? To get more familiar with my mom or, you know, to find where you can find her product or whatever, it's JennyRiveraMusic.com. And for me, you can find us at Culture Aspects Clothing. You know, that's my project, Culture Aspects Clothing on Instagram. And also, I'm part of Break Beats and Rhymes radio movement. And we have a hip-hop show running on Saturdays on 97 KPFK LA. From...
