INTERVIEW : AUTHOR MICHELLE ARBEAU
BUREAU Editor Joshua Triliegi Interviews Michelle Arbeau on The Ancient Art of Numerology
JT: Numerology is a rather ancient and esoteric art, but anybody who has spent time with a good Numerologist and had a reading would be hard pressed to deny the accuracy. Would you explain the history of this particular science and explain what attracted you to it ?
MA: Numerology is the language of the universe. Everything in existence can be counted, sorted or measured using numbers. It was originally discovered by the Greek Mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras who of course is famous for the Pythagorean Theorem. Unlike other esoteric arts like tarot and astrology, numerology is highly accurate because it's more quantum physics than metaphysics. Numbers are patterns and the world is made up of patterns. It's black and white, right or wrong. I fell in love with numbers and numerology about 12 years ago when I began dreaming in numbers out of the blue. I was a typical corporate stiff at the time, working unhappily in the field of banking for a major bank in Canada doing HR work (interviews/hiring). These dreams totally caught me off guard but in hindsight I realized numerology was my calling because I always had a photographic memory for numbers. My dreams would have numbers show up on things like doors, license plates and street signs – everywhere and on everything. The dreams lasted for about 3 weeks until I began to research the number codes and stumbled upon numerology. They number meanings were exact answers to the challenges I was facing in my life at the time. I was astounded and was immediately hooked on the ancient system. To this day (knock on wood) I have not had anyone not resonate with their numerical code. I often refer to our date of birth as spiritual DNA.
BUREAU:Many people see numbers and numerals as un-living entities with no significance, though others understand that everything has a vibe, a rhythm, a pulse and tone. I think musicians that compose understand that significance, would you help our readers comprehend the concept of numerology.
MA: Numbers are absolutely entities to me. I'm a very practical person who likes a great deal of fact with my faith but I can tell you without a doubt that numerology is a way to see the unseen world of energy. Quantum physics has really given a lot of validity to numerology over the past several years with the new string theory concept. The essence behind this theory is that at the base of an atom, which was once thought to be solid matter is actually frozen light particles (aka energy). Numerology is a tool to see the unseen, recognize the patterns that make up all things. Math is either right or wrong, there is no grey area. They are the mathematical framework of creation. Numbers appear even in biblical scriptures and in the Mayan history. Each number is building block and can be likened to a musical note within a song. Each note makes a piece of the entire melody. To know someone' s numerical makeup is to have a looking glass into what makes them tick – who they are and how to relate to them. As a numerologist, I'm always curious to find out the numbers of the people I meet because it allows me to adjust how I communicate and interact with them. I can be found scribbling numbers on a napkin at a restaurant. I know immediately what that person is all about and we have a deeper, strong connection because of it. Life boils down to the relationships we have with others and if we have a tool like numerology that can help us connect better, that's a win-win to me.
JT: I was recently moving and had to pick and choose which books I would leave behind and which to keep, one of the books was a rare early numerology handbook form decades past: I kept it. Walk us through a small numerology exercise as an example. Utilize my birthday if you like.
MA: It sounds like you're a numbers person if you felt drawn to keep the numerology book. I find that certain kinds of people are drawn more to the numbers than others. The mind plane dominate folks are usually the ones that are keen on the numbers while the more soul-centered people don't jive as much. Life is about perception. I find that it depends on whether you're predominately a thinker, feeler or doer. Spirit will speak to us and get the message across in the way we'll most pay attention and for me it's numerical patterns. Your date of birth is an interesting one because your base energy (sum of your date of birth) is a physical-based number (4) but your chart energy is very top heavy in the emotional and mental realms. Essentially you're the practical doer but you're lacking grounding energy which means you spend a good deal of your time in lost in thought or sorting through the emotional realm. If you could envision our energy as being this huge head/heart with a little, tiny stick body – that would be your energetic body. You have the Arrow of Emotional Balance which makes you the natural counselor for others but not necessarily great at navigating through your own emotional waters. You express yourself much better in writing than you do verbally because you have a single 1 (verbal self-expression number). This isn't to say you can't kick butt public speaking but when it comes to sharing of your more intimate self, that's where the disconnect happens. You are much more open and present on paper (don't close up). You also have the gift of the communication number so anything you do will center around communication and getting the message across. If you add your month and day it shows you what your gift is. It's a 10 for you, the earth guide who leads through casual conversation. This is a big year for you, a year of opportunities falling into your lap. It's starting a high change cycle for the next 3 years. You're also in an outer, longer cycle centered around career/career shifting (Peak cycle of 5). I left the corporate world to do what I do now under a double whammy 5 energy (personal year of 5, peak cycle of 5). 5 is always related to seeing more clearly our path and purpose.
JT: Could you give us an example of how numerology could transform or improve a particular situation ?
Numerology has been such an incredible tool for me to understand the difficult relationships in my life. Often relationship challenges are a result of miscommunication or misunderstanding. Think of the classic nagging wife and tuned out husband who says “Yes, dear.” They are simply a case of being misunderstood. If you were to examine their situation, you would discover that the wife is simply a predominately mental or intellectual based person who tends to over-think or over-analyze. The husband on the other hand is a physical based person who doesn't put much thought into what he does, he just does it. Each thinks the other doesn't understand them or is directly trying to hurt them in some way. The truth is, it's just a matter of not speaking each others' language. Once the husband knows the wife gets caught up in her own thoughts, he can offer to go for a walk with her to help her get out of her head. Likewise, the wife, knowing the husband isn't ignoring her, he just tunes out when she gets into over-thinking mode can appreciate he feels overwhelmed by her chaotic thinking. Each has much more patience and understanding for each other once they know their inner workings by examining their spiritual DNA.
JT: There have been some stigmas attached to certain ancient arts, sometimes because they have been
misused, other times simply out of fear or misunderstanding the purpose of these arts. Could you talk
a bit about how you see the self empowerment aspect of this ancient art ?
MA: The best thing I ever did for my platform to take the science of numerology mainstream in the media is to keep it practical and in the realm of science. I was able to get onto national Canadian media such as CTV Morning Live and Breakfast Television which are huge conservative media outlets. They typically wouldn't even consider having someone like me on air but I was able to bridge the gap between science and spirituality. I call it practical spirituality. We live real lives and don't have time to meditate on a mountaintop. Numerology is a quick and easy way to see the unseen. I always approach numerology from the practical, scientific and logical point of view. I think I'm giving a new voice to this ancient art because people aren't afraid of how I present the numbers. I had a near death experience when I was 4 and although I'm a really practical person, I've seen both sides of life and I know without a doubt there is an energetic component to our existence. I use this knowledge and apply it to how I share the art of numerology. Most people automatically know what astrology is but when you say numerology, not everyone knows what that is. Numbers have become a hot item these days with so many people seeing random repeating number sequences. It's a phenomenon and I'm so excited to be the one to share the ancient art of numerology with the world. To be able to show them how incredibly accurate and truth-revealing it can be is very rewarding. My job is to give ah-ha moments. I'm a truth-revealer at my core. A natural scientist. The timing couldn't be more perfect for me to embrace my calling.
Visit with Michelle Arbeau and check out her books and workshops currently available at her site.
The LITERATURE INTERVIEW
LUIS VALDEZ: WRITER
By Joshua TRILIEGI
Luis VALDEZ changed The Entire Literature Landscape with his Fierce Hit Play, "ZOOT SUIT". Here in Southern California, The Play is much more than words. It is a personal and positive Idea that gave many people the inspiration to do something with the things they saw, not only in their homes and neighborhoods , but to reclaim what was happening in the media, to own the stories that they were being told and to simply reclaim what was rightfully theirs to begin with: Their Own Family Stories. In This Interview Bureau Editor Joshua TRILIEGI and Luis VALDEZ discuss his career, his working process and the development of a powerful force that continues to inspire millions of Indigenous People around the World and teaches everybody else.Mr Valdez went on to create The Film "LA BAMBA", which told the very important story of Latin Musician & Songwriter, Ritchie Valens. Fueled by the proliferation of 1950's Retro Nostalgic Films such as American Graffiti and its follow up Happy Days, as well as The Musical Biographical genre's popularity of projects like The Buddy Holly Story, Elvis and the like: LA BAMBA was the perfect project that entirely launched the energy and force of ZOOT SUIT into the stratosphere of popular media and culture, finally a story that rightfully claimed, explained and honored The Latino Experience, or as Luis Valdez might put it, "The Chicano Experience" in popular music history. The film itself touches on the family paradigm in both mythical and real circumstances. A beautiful & entertaining film that holds up today just as it originally did upon its creation. In the same way that Zoot Suit gave us the career of Edward James Olmos, 'The Chicano Bogart', La Bamba gave us a multitude of talent in front of and behind the scenes: Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Los Lobos & Others. Since then, Mr Valdez has continued his influence as The Worlds Leading Latino and Chicano Playwright traveling everywhere, all the time, sharing his great wealth of knowledge and experience with a world thirsty for truth, experience & entertainment. We are proud to bring you Luis VALDEZ, unexpurgated, uninhibited and unbeaten.
Joshua TRILIEGI: First of all, It is a pleasure to share your experience with our readers. We attended the Los Angeles Anniversary screening of Zoot Suit and later bought and re read the play. There is so much in it: reality, folklore and a fierce power as well as a genuinely hip musical element, could you share with us how that piece originally formed in your mind and how you developed it into the groundbreaking Broadway play ?
Luis VALDEZ: In the Fall of 1977, I was commissioned by Gordon Davidson, artistic director of the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum in LA, to write a play based on an infamous chapter of Los Angeles history, specifically the Sleepy Lagoon Case of 1942 and the subsequent Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. Although hardly forgotten in the Chicano barrios, the Pachuco Era had been buried in the dust bins of oblivion by Anglo officialdom which preferred not to commemorate painful past embarrassments. An entire new generation born after World War II hardly knew anything about thepachucos, though inevitably, in the mid 60s, young Mexican Americans began to call themselves Chicanos, as the legacy of their zoot-suited barrio forbearers kicked in, inheriting their racial pride, urban slang and cultural defiance.
The generational difference was that many of these Chicano(a)s were now speaking their patois in colleges or universities. But the painful sting of the Zoot Suit Riots and the Sleepy Lagoon Case still persisted in the barrios, like an old suppurating wound that was taking decades to heal. My play thus inadvertently became a way to deal directly with the psychic damage inflicted on the East LA barrios by the Zoot Suit Riots by opening up the old racist wound and airing it in the public arena of the theater. The truth of this became evident when the play sold out at the Mark Taper even before it opened, and when the public followed the play to the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood. It ran there for eleven months, and in the end, more than 400,000 people came to see it. Half of them were Chicanos, most of whom had never seen a play before. This then motivated the move to the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City in 1979, where Zoot Suit became the first Chicano play to make it to Broadway.
The roots of the play, however, lie far from the Great White Way. I was born in a farm labor camp in Delano, California in 1940. In those days Delano was a hot spot in the San Joaquin Valley, and we had our own pachucos in the “Chinatown” barrio on the westside. One of them was my cousin Billy; another was his running partner C.C.. Billy spoke a fluid pachuco patois, so he taught me to call myself “Chicano” even thought I was only six. I learned a lot about the pachucos, including their slang and style of being, in this most intimate and familial way. Tragically, Billy died a violent death in Phoenix, eighteen knife wounds to the chest. But his running partner C.C. survived, joined the Navy and came home one day to marry and settle down. In 1965, when I told my mother in San Jose that I was returning to Delano to form a farm workers theater with the grape strikers, my Mom said: “Oh, you’re going to work with C.C.?” “C.C.?” I said, “Is that vato still around?” “Mijo,” my mother responded, “Don’t you know who C.C. is? He’s Cesar Chavez.”
In 1970, El Teatro Campesino, the Farm Workers Theater born on the picket lines of the Great Delano Grape Strike, produced my first full length play since college. It was called “Bernabe,” with a character called “La Luna” appearing in a bit part as a mythical Pachuco in a suit of lights. The character was so intriguing, I knew right away that he deserved a play of his own. Seven years later, when Gordon Davidson asked me to write about the Sleepy Lagoon, I chose to make El Pachuco the mythical central figure, both as master of ceremonies and alter ego of Henry “Hank” Reyna, the protagonist and leader of the 38 Street Gang. Above all, El Pachuco became the guide, the storyteller, so that the history of the Sleepy Lagoon Case and the Zoot Suit Riots could be told through a Chicano POV. The rest, as the saying goes, is American theater history.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Something about your work is so very true, genuine and original, at the same time, you speak for a good many individuals in the community. Would you talk a bit about staying true to one's vision and at the same time tapping into a larger truth, for not only our own communities, but for the world.
Luis VALDEZ: I wrote my first plays at San Jose State, graduating in ’64 with a BA in English with an emphasis in playwriting. It was not the most practical choice for a son of migrant farm workers, much less a Chicano, but I was determined to follow my heart. I had gotten hooked on theatre in the first grade in 1946, when I was cast in the Christmas school play. I was to play a monkey wearing a mask my teacher made, turning my brown taco bag into paper maché. I was exhilarated. Then the week of my great debut, my migrant family was evicted from the labor camp where we had overstayed our welcome. I was never in the play. A great hole of despair opened up in my chest. It could have destroyed me. But I learned early on that negatives can always be turned into positives. I took with me two things: one, the secret of paper maché, which allowed to make my own masks and puppets; and two, a deep, residual anger for my family’s eviction from the labor camp. Twenty years later, I went to Cesar Chavez and pitched him my idea for a theater of, by and for farm workers. And so the hole in my chest became the hungry mouth of my creativity, into which I have been pouring plays, poems, essays, screenplays, books, etc. for almost 70 years.
Joshua TRILIEGI: The Los Angeles and California scene has changed, grown and developed into a much stronger unification than ever before, [ Since the 1970's ] when ZOOT SUIT made it's initial impression. Your work is a big part of that growth.Tell us about your humble beginnings making plays and skits locally, before unveiling some of your opus masterworks.
Luis VALDEZ: The challenge of creating theater with striking campesinos was a humbling experience. Cesar had warned me from the start: “There’s no money to do theatre in Delano,” he told me. “There’s no actors, no stage, no time even to rehearse. We’re on the picket line night day. Do you still want to take a crack at it?” “Absolutely, Cesar!” I responded. “What an opportunity!” I was, of course, thinking about spirit of the movement he had started. But he was absolutely right. By necessity, El Teatro Campesino was born on the picket line. In time, we began to perform at the NFWA’S Friday night meetings. The National Farm Workers Association may have been rich in spirit but it was dead broke. After college, I had joined the San Francisco Mime Troupe for a year, performing in city parks, learning the improvisational techniques of Commedia dell Arte. This knowledge proved to be more useful in Delano than all the theater history I had learned at SJS. But my greatest revelation came from the campesinos themselves. As actors and audience, they taught me to stay down to earth; to stay away from all the pretentious artsy crap and to get to the point with actos that were clear and hard hitting. Above all, to stay positive and hopeful. “Don’t talk about it, do it!” became an essential Teatro precept. Later when we began to stage Actos about the Chicano Movement, the Vietnam War and racism in the schools, we found our audiences in LA, Chicano and New York no less responsive to our basic simplicity than the original grape strikers. “Zoot Suit” came about a dozen years after the birth of El Teatro, but the roots of my musical play like those of the original pachucos reach deep into the barrio earth.
Joshua TRILIEGI: I attended the auditions for LA BAMBA at Los Angeles Theater Complex in the Nineteen - Eighties. The excitement around the project was, and still is, very much alive and entirely current. Tell us a bit about that experience.
Luis VALDEZ: Before it was a film, LA BAMBA was originally going to be a stage musical by me and my brother Daniel. It was actually conceived on the Opening Night of Zoot Suit in New York. We were at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, and as I made my final rounds before curtain time, I dropped into my brother’s dressing room on the second floor. As the lead actor in the play with Edward James Olmos, Daniel was in high spirits. We both were. We had came a long way from Delano. Celebrating our success, we pledged that now that we had brought the 40s to Broadway, we should bring the 50s. But how, with what? At that exact moment, we heard mariachi music. Looking out the dressing room window, down toward Seventh Avenue, we spotted a gilded, fully suited band of mariachis playing up toward us. We didn’t know it at that moment but the President of Mexico had sent mariachis to serenade us on opening night. Daniel and I recognized the tune immediately. It was the answer to the question we had just posed to each other about our next musical. We simultaneously
laughed and said the words to each other: LA BAMBA!
It took five years to bring the project to fruition. The biggest problem turned out to be the lack of biographical material about Ritchie Valens, born Richard Valenzuela, in 1941 Los Angeles. There were a few articles in old magazines, but no published book or biography. What’s worse, Daniel had no success at all in finding surviving members of Ritchie’s family. They were long gone from Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley, where they lived in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and in the early 80s, before the internet, there was no social network to tap into. Without direct contact with the family, LA BAMBA was turning into a pipe dream. Somewhat dispirited, Daniel came back from Los Angeles to San Juan Bautista, home base of El Teatro Campesino, vowing nonetheless to keep on searching. Then one night, as life’s ironies would have it, he finally met Ritchie’s older half brother, Bob Morales. He met him in San Juan Bautista in Daisy’s Saloon! It turned out that Bob and most of Ritchie’s family now lived fifteen miles away in Watsonville, and he occasionally frequented Daisy’s with his biker friends. One thing quickly led to another. Bob took Daniel to meet Connie Valenzuela,Ritchie’s mom, then Daniel took me to meet the entire family. Within days, we took the story to our old friend Taylor Hackford in Hollywood, who agreed to option Ritchie’s story as a biopic for the big screen with Columbia Pictures. I wrote the screenplay over the winter and once we got a green light, I directed the picture the following summer, with my brother as associate producer. In the end, our biopic ended up grossing more than 100 million world wide. Very few movies come into being quite so precipitously. But there were twists of fate. We had originally intended the part of Ritchie Valens as a vehicle for my bro, But by the time we got the green light, Daniel graciously conceded that at 37 he could no longer pass as 17. So for all of his efforts, he generously created an opportunity to make a star out of Lou Diamond Phillips.
Joshua TRILIEGI: A writers experience with his or her collaborators is rather important, in your case: Los Lobos, Edward James Olmos, Lou Diamond Phillips to name a few. Will you talk about how much input you had at the time these projects were in development in choosing these fellow artists.
Luis VALDEZ: During the casting of Zoot Suit at the Mark Taper Forum in ’78, our greatest dilemma turned out to be the part of El Pachuco. I wrote the script with my brother Daniel in mind, though I saw him as both Henry Reyna and El Pachuco. The issue of nepotism aside, we had been collaborating within El Teatro Campesino for a dozen years before Zoot Suit came along. So it was only natural for him to serve as my unique role model for the play. Unfortunately,unlike film, he could not play two roles onstage simultaneously. So we set out on our quest to find one or the other. After an exhausting two weeks in LA, unable to find an alternate Henry or Pachuco among hundreds of actors, I took the weekend to be with my wife Lupe back in San Juan, where she was recuperating after giving birth to our third son Lakin on the very day I finished the script. Daniel continued with the auditions. A day or so later, he called me with subdued excitement: “Guess what?” he said, “I found El Pachuco!”
It turned out that after another disappointing day in LA, my bro met a a trim Chicano actor with a Bogart face strolling down the halls of the Mark Taper Annex across from the Music Center. Daniel asked him if he was there for the auditions. The Chicano Bogie responded: “What auditions?” Apparently, he knew nothing about Zoot Suit, but he was willing to read for a part. So Daniel read him. I had given my brother the option to play either of the two leads, but once he saw and heard Edward James Olmos read, he knew he had found El Pachuco.
A spirit of creative collaboration is always a necessity in the theater, but given my experience with El Teatro, “Zoot Suit” could not have come about any other way. Eddie Olmos created El Pachuco, as surely as El Pachuco helped to create Edward James Olmos the movie star. The fierce intensity of his stage presence no doubt came from his very being, but Eddie had a “killer instinct” that captured the essence of the pachuco phenomenon in the 40s. Oddly, in a similar way, Lou Diamond Phillips captured the killer instinct that made Ritchie Valens a rock star; though in Ritchie’s case, it was mixed with the residual innocence of a 17 year old. This innocence is the key to the enduring poignancy of “Donna,” a classic teenage lament of long lost love if there ever was one. Finding this mix of guilelessness with ferocity was the challenge in casting the star of LA BAMBA. We literally auditioned over 600 actors from Los Angeles to New York. Finally in Dallas, Texas, we found an actor who had been making Christian films. He came in with a certain intensity to read for Bob, the role he obviously coveted. But under all that bravado was an unmistakably poignant heart. So Lou Diamond Phillips became Ritchie Valens, and Ritchie became Lou, with all the innocent ferocity that made him reach for the stars.
None of this, of course, would have been possible without my musical collaborators. In the case of “Zoot Suit,” I owe a debt of gratitude to Lalo Guerrero, the Godfather and Gran Maestro de la Musica Chicana. With his permission, I tapped directly into five of his classics from the 1940s to turn my play into a kick-ass form of cabaret theater, if not into a full fledged musical. Lalo’s music is unquestionably the Pachuco soul of “Zoot Suit.” Similarly, Ritchie’s music is the soul of LA BAMBA, but it could never have come back to life without Los Lobos. We were friends long before their first album, “Just Another Band from East LA”launched their remarkable career. But working on the film’s sound track with Los Lobos, featuring the voice of David Hidalgo as Ritchie’s, was a collaborative joy. LA BAMBA took them to the top of the charts for the first time, but they’ve been up there many times since then. So has the great Carlos Santana, another of my collaborators on the movie. It is his subtle, penetrating guitar solos that follow Ritchie’s emotional trajectory throughout the film. Let’s face it. Genius in the barrio is genius everywhere. ¡Ajua!
Joshua TRILIEGI: In the neighborhood that I grew up in, at that time, there were several different camps and schools of thought that became represented by imagery and eventually posters in the rooms of our friends: Farah Fawcett, Bruce Lee, Led Zeppelin, Gerry Lopez, David Partridge and of course the Incredible Image of Artist IGNACIO GOMEZ who designed the image for ZOOT SUIT. That particular Image always has and always will mean something very special to many of us. Talk with us about IMAGE and TEXT and that very important relationship between artist and writer.
Luis VALDEZ: The first poster for ZOOT SUIT was created from a drawing by José Montoya, the late great Chicano poet, muralista, and maestro from the Sacramento barrios. With both paint and ink, José had been capturing the Pachuco Image for decades, in poems, lithographs and silk screen posters. In 1973, he and his homies at the R.C.A.F. (the Rebel Chicano Artists Front that playfully dubbed themselves the Royal Chicano Air Force ) even staged a piece at the Third Teatro Festival in San José called “Recuerdos del Palomar.” Decked out as pachucos in zoot suits with their huisas in mini skirts, José and his cronies did not pretend to present a play as much as offer a form of performance art. Characteristically, José’s pachuco images were always imbued with a tinge of self-deprecating humor; which was exactly the quality of the first ZOOT SUIT poster. This image represented the play in its first draft, a two week workshop production run as part of the “New Theatre For Now” series at the Taper in Spring ‘78.
When I rewrote the play to open the main season that Fall, the Center Theatre Group hired Ignacio Gomez to create a new image more in concert with the growing impact of the production. More or less styled on Edward James Olmos’ interpretation of the role, El Pachuco now became a towering figure straddling City Hall. More in line with the mythical dimensions of the lead character in my play, the image was elegant, stark and grand. Almost immediately, thanks to Nacho’s brilliant skill as an artist, El Pachuco became iconic. As seen in newspapers, magazines and on the sides of municipal buses, the image seemed to burrow its way into the public’s consciousness, especially in the Chicano community. With all due respect and modesty, it remains a perfect example of how an artist and a playwright coming together can create a powerful symbol that speaks across multiple generations, perhaps even helping to heal some old psychic wounds in the City of the Angels.
Joshua TRILIEGI: The trajectory of a career has its own pulse and arc. You have continued to stay busy with collaborations of all sorts: El Teatro Campesino, San Diego Repertory Projects, PBS great Performances and so on. Tell us about the recent Ancient Goddess Project and the role that Kinan Valdez has taken on since 2006.
Luis VALDEZ: El Teatro Campesino will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2015. After a half century of uninterrupted artistic and cultural activism, we are proud to declare ourselves a multi-generational theater family. We could not have survived any other way. My beloved wife, Lupe Trujillo Valdez, joined El Teatro in 1968. As an activist at Fresno State University, she was the daughter of campesinos, a supporter of the United Farm Workers, and the first college-educated Chicana to “run away with the circus.” We were married in ’69, as much for love as for our shared political beliefs. We have three sons – Anahuac (’71), Kinan (’73) and Lakin (’78) – all born into the Teatro family, all artists and activists in their own right, all devoted to the betterment of the world around them through social justice and the arts. Other 40 year plus members and founders of the Teatro, such as my biological brother Daniel and spiritual brother Phil Esparza, have also raised their children and grandchildren within our family of families.
Cesar Chavez died in 1993, signaling the beginning of an organizational change in the Chicano Movement that El Teatro Campesino began to naturally undergo in the mid nineties. It was nothing more or less than the passing of leadership from one generation to the next. The older generation continued to serve on the Board of Directors, but the younger Generation took the reins of day to day operations. In this regard, my son Anahuac was the first the serve as the new General Manager of the company. In due time both Kinan and Lakin became associate artistic directors, until Kinan assumed full leadership as Producing Artistic Director in 2007. During all this time, they continued to write, direct, produce and act in new plays of their own creation. They staged Teatro classics such as “La Gran Carpa de los Rasquachis” and took full responsibility for the Christmas plays in Mission San Juan Bautista. Working with other young artists in the company, they staged world theater classics like Alfred Jarry’s “Ubu Roi” and Bertolt Brecht’s “The Measures Taken.” Experimenting with musical forms, Kinan also wrote and directed a goddess play called “The Fascinatrix” and another quasi-satirical work called “I Love You, Sam Burguesa.” Their objective was obviously to expand the range of El Teatro’s work, but with other works they consciously stuck to the political core. To wit, in 2010 Lakin wrote and directed a piece called “Victor in Shadow,” about the martyred Chilean folksinger Victor Jara. The three brothers then collaborated on three plays based on Mayan CreationMyths, including “Popul Vuh – Parts One and Two” written and directed by Kinan; and “Popul Vuh – Part Three, the Magic Twins” written and directed by Lakin. More recently, this summer in 2014, Kinan and Lakin collaborated with the La Jolla Playhouse/San Diego REP, playing the leads in “El Henry,” Herbert Siguenza’s raucous adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV part one.
Joshua TRILIEGI: You are considered The Godfather of Latin Theater Worldwide. Has there been pressure to create a certain type of work with that mantle attached ? And how do we as writers, as artists, as performers retain that same vitality and spontaneity in our work, after the fame and notoriety ?
Luis VALDEZ: In 2010, I was invited to Mexico City by the CNT ( Compania Nacional de Teatro) to translate and direct the world premiere of ZOOT SUIT in Spanish. As far as I know, no other Chicano playwright/director had ever been offered such an honor, so I accepted with the humility of a long lost orphan given the chance to finally come home. Ironically, I was not born in Mexico. Neither were my Mom and Dad, who were born in Arizona early in the Twentieth century. The real immigrants in my family were my abuelos – my grandparents and great grandparents - who crossed the border from the northern state of Sonora before the Mexican Revolution over a century ago. Why then did I feel like an orphan? Because all my life, despite myAmerican birth, I had been treated like a Mexican. Here then is another example of how negatives can always be turned into positives. As an indio-looking, hyphenated Mexican American, I had no choice but to declare myself a Chicano; which if you see it my way is a Twenty-first century New American with a hemispheric identity. I did not buy into that fictitious line drawn in the desert called the border that separates rich from impoverished, white from brown, “America” from “Latin” America. So despite all the fame and notoriety my career has brought me, I remain brown and indio-looking. I feel no more pressure to remain Latino than to be an Anglo. I just am who I am, and that’s all there is to it. In the final analysis, assimilation is hardly a one way street. The world’s cultures have been assimilating each other for centuries. Sooner or later, most people in this hemisphere will realize that we are all New Americans. Until then, I rely on the struggle for social justice to keep my work spontaneous and vital.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Your public appearances are totally off the cuff, unrehearsed and down right bold. I love that about you, there is no lie. Not unlike The Zoot Suiter finding his power once he actually takes off the suit and finds himself underneath the costume. To whom would you attribute that particular trait in your earliest influences ?
Luis VALDEZ: My earliest influences no doubt came from my immediate family – my parent, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and their compadres. They were a vital, crusty, earthy lot. But as a kid I couldn’t help but notice right away that something was not right. Life was rigged somehow. Despite all our sweat and back breaking labor in the fields, we were always jodidos, poor as hell and out of gas, with nothing to do but move on to the next menial job. I hated stoop labor, not because it was unbearably hard but because it was humiliating. All the more because wages were dirt cheap. My folks kept their spirits up by developing a wicked sense of ironic humor, but I quickly realized that this was the only way they could tolerate the shit pies in the face that fate was giving them. Despite the constant looming despair, they kept me and my siblings in school, knowing it was our only way out. In due time I discovered that working with my hands did not prevent me from using my imagination. So even though I was picking cotton, potatoes, cherries, prunes and apricots as fast as I could, my mind was automatically running riot with ideas for bilingual stories, jokes and songs. With this kind of daily mental exercise, my school lessons became easy, a way to prove my worth to my teachers and myself in the face of discrimination. Like my uncles and cousins, I learned to defend myself with stinging ironic humor using the Pachuco slang of the barrio, but I also developed a proficiency in English.Mentally code-switching back and forth between Spanish and English, I eventually developed a spontaneous fluidity of expression that can only come from a well-exercised brain. Like I say, any negative can always be turned into a positive. I won a scholarship to attend San Jose State College in 1958, as a Math and Physics major my first year. By my second year, I knew what I really had to do. I had to set my imagination free by releasing all those stories, jokes and songs still zinging in my head. I had to admit to myself that I was an actor and a playwright, despite the fact that a career in the theater was totally impractical. So I switched majors to English, and never looked back. I became what I always wanted to be – a Chicano playwright.
Joshua TRILIEGI: Thank You so much for taking the time to share your experience with our readers. How can the public support current and developing projects and productions by ETC ?
Luis VALDEZ: This summer El Teatro Campesino is producing my latest full-length play, VALLEY OF THE HEART, in our playhouse in San Juan Bautista. It runs from August thru September, before moving on to other venues as part of our Fiftieth Anniversary celebration. If you come on Labor Day weekend, you can see both VALLEY in our theater and POPUL VUH outdoors in the park. If you can’t make it to San Juan, you can help us by donating online through our website at elteatrocampesino.com. But please support any of the Latino theater productions in your area. We fervently continue to believe that “Theater is the Creator of Community, and Community is the Creator of Theater.” For as our ancient Mayan ancestors believed: CREER ES CREAR. ¡Si Se Puede!
Visit El TEATRO Campesino Current Projects at: http://www.elteatrocampesino.com/
BOOKS: DENNIS WILLS
Dennis Wills runs D.G.Wills Books in La Jolla CA USA which is having it's 35th Anniversary this year. Guest readers through the years include: Norman Mailer, Russel Means, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Ted Joans, Mary Woronov, Michael McClure, Mort Sahl, Ralph Nader, Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Gore Vidal. Bureau spoke to Dennis about his storied history and this local literary landmark.
Bureau: Your bookstore has a story straight out of literature history. Tell our readers a bit about the store.
DW: I opened the original D. G. Wills Books at 7527 La Jolla Blvd. in late 1979, on an outdoor wooden deck between two buildings, with a tiny adjacent office. While I eventually installed a fiberglass roof over this wooden deck, our first few poetry readings were under the open sky. Artist Francoise Gilot asked us to convert a space adjacent to the bookshop into her artist studio in the late 1980s, as the bookshop reminded her of Paris. But in l991 we moved the bookshop to 7461 Girard Avenue, where my carpenter friends and I remodeled the building and installed the redwood cathedral ceiling and spruce floor.
DW: Thanks for the kind words. We were lucky that George Whitman of Shakespeare and Company spoke at the old shop on La Jolla Blvd. years ago. Then Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights read poetry at the new shop on Girard Avenue. We have kept it going by working seven days a week, not minding being in constant debt, and enjoying the company of our many friends within the confines of the bookshop.
DW: When poet Gary Snyder read poetry here in l992, he had such a good time that he gave us Allen Ginsberg's telephone and told us to call him. Then Allen appeared here in 1994 and drew our largest crowd, 100 people crammed inside and over 400 outside. Later Michael McClure was mystical; Lawrence Ferlinghetti was funny and wise; former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins absolutely charming and hilarious; and playwright Edward Albee brilliantly engaging with the audience. Four different TV station satellite trucks, and a police car, showed up for Oliver Stone. We set up a bar in the back with four different kinds of whiskey for Norman Mailer, who then talked about his book on Lee Harvey Oswald. For Christopher Hitchens we happily provided Canadian Rothman Blue cigarettes and especially a fifth of his beloved Johnny Walker Black whiskey, which a group of us somehow finished. Gore Vidal, brilliant and witty, brought down the house with his wickedly funny impersonation of Truman Capote. Nobel Laureate Francis Crick was eloquently patrician discussing the wonders of science. Francoise Gilot most eloquently shared her first-hand recollections of Picasso and Matisse. Pulitzer Prize journalist Maureen Dowd and Jill Abramson, Executive Editor of the "New York Times," appeared together and shared their insider perspective on Washington politics.
Bureau: What are you currently reading ?
DW: I continue to research material pertaining to Somerset Maugham's work as a British Red Cross ambulance driver attached to the French Second Army in late 1914 during World War I, in Northern France along the Picardy Front, then later in Ypres, Belgium.
Bureau: Tell readers about your community and the organizations that support the store.
DW: We are most fortunate in the San Diego area to be surrounded by such universities as UCSD, SDSU and USD as well as a number of biomedical research facilities such as the Salk Institute. Thus students and faculty have enjoyed our academic and scholarly books here for thirty-five years.
DW: My beloved mother and father passed away years ago. But it could indeed be argued that the bookshop, the books within and all of our beloved customers and friends have always served as my family.
Bureau: Literature, like any art form, gains popularity, wanes and then gains popularity again, where are we now in that ebb & flow ?
DW: Difficult to say; iconic works of literature which have passed the test of time continued to be studied, while new talent continues to emerge. Some new works enjoy a hot spell, then fade; others endure which only the passage of time may determine.
Bureau: Who else has read at the store and what will be your upcoming events ?
USD Literature Professor Halina Duraj will read from her new short story collection "The Family Cannon" on Saturday at 7 P.M., 10 May. Otherwise we have nothing yet scheduled thereafter. Other events will probably pop up for the Fall.
Bureau: Are you a writer, if so, tell us about that process. if not tell us something about the ART of Reading .
DW: I tend to write letters to authors, especially if we seek their appearance here. Otherwise I continue to work on a project involving ambulance drivers in World War I.
Bureau: Its been a pleasure to talk with you. Would you provide a list of suggested reading for this season that people can purchase at the store ?
DW: We buy a lot of single copies of this and that. Though at this point in time I would suggest:
1) The Torrey Pines Gliderport, Gary Fogel, Arcadia
2) Selected Essays of Erich Auerbach, Ed. by James I. Porter, Princeton
3) My Sister Rosalind Franklin, Jenifer Glynn, Oxford
4) Essays and Reviews, Bernard Williams, Princeton
5) In Paradise, Peter Matthiessen, Riverhead
6) The Withering Storm, Sandor Marai, Alma Classics
7) The Letters of William Gaddis, Ed. by Steven Moore, Dalkey Archive
8) A Broken Heritage: Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen, Liel Leibovitz
9) Patrick Leigh Fermor, Artemis Cooper, New York Review of Books Press
10) The Circle, Dave Eggers, McSweeney's Books
7461 Girard Avenue, La Jolla, Ca. 92037 (858) 456-1800 Mon - Sat 10am - 7pm Sun 11am - 5pm
MAGAZINES AND WEEKLIES THAT REGULARLY COVER SAN DIEGO :
SAN DIEGO BOOK STORES, BOOK SIGNINGS AND LITERARY EVENTS:
OSCAR HIJUELOS : An Appreciation
The Pulitzer prize winning Author of
Mambo Kings Sings Songs of Love
has completed his last Conga Solo
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI
The day that I first came across a copy of Oscar Hijuelos 's
Novel " Mambo King's Sing Song's of Love " was the day I
had decided that I wanted to be a novelist. I had published
poems, written songs, created short stories and had a
screenplay considered as a finalist at the Sundance Writers
workshop. I had never written a novel, but upon reading
Mambo Kings, there was a passion, an honesty, a raw
intensity that described a world, an experience, a view
into a private and personal experience that, to me, was
perfect. It was as if his story about latin jazz musicians
from Cuba, spoke directly to me. It said, this is a world
of men and women , music and silence, love and hate ,
loss and gain, pain and pleasure, rejection and acceptance,
power and peasants, talent and ownership, life and death.
I changed the direction of my entire life because of Oscar
Hijuelos. While working comfortably as an artist, furniture
designer, interior designer and sometime art department
assistant for film, I left it all behind and moved to Milwaukee
Wisconsin to research my own novel based on real life events
in my own family heritage. I had been conducting interviews
with family members for over a decade, but until I had found
Mambo Kings, I had no idea ' how ' to go about compiling,
expressing and telling the stories I was being told. Mr Hijuelos'
broad, colorful, expansive and passionate storytelling style
became a road map for me. I must have read and re read
his novel several times a year for several years. Whenever,
I got stuck, lost inspiration or needed that extra boost, it
always brought me back into the fold.
In Nineteen Ninety-nine, while living in and researching the
city of Milwaukee and the Italian immigrant experience,
Mr Hijuelos was being interviewed on national public radio.
I called into the show and we spoke about his book and how
it had inspired me. I was elated to speak publicly to one of
my mentors. The show moderator asked me what it was that
I liked about Mr Hijuelos' work and I tried my best to describe
it. Mr Hijuelos, upon hearing that I too had a story in current
development, wanted to know what it was that made my own
story so special and we talked at length about our families.
It was a pinnacle moment for me and I recorded it for future
posterity. Now, sadly, we have lost Oscar Hijuelos to the other
world. The world where people go when they leave this one.
In the Mambo Kings novel, the loss and death of a brother
stings the life of another, leaving a giant absence, where
there once was partnership, friendship, collaboration, union.
For an entire page and a half, Oscar describes a drum solo
that precedes the death of his character's heart beat ending.
It is a fabulous description of a crucial moment in a man's
life that is indulgent, detailed, imaginative and glorious.
Mr Hijuelos' s prose style is so in tune with his culture, that
of the cuban immigrant experience: the food, the music,
the fashion, the passion, the way of talking, walking, thinking.
His sentences are way beyond what writing school teachers
would describe as ' run - ons '. He breaks all the rules and it
works. Like a drum solo that goes on and on and on, he had
a way of keeping us on the dance floor late into the night.
I would often stay up late into the early hours reading the
Mambo Kings. I am still working on my novel about the
early italian immigrants of the mid west and am still in
debt to Mr Hijuelos. He would have been the perfect author
to provide the proverbial jacket cover commentary. Am I
sad that he is gone from this world ? No. Why not ? Well,
when a man reaches his goals, stretches beyond his wildest
imagination and achieves a certain level of professionalism,
we can only know that through that expression, that work,
that craft, that art, that, all is well, in this world and the next.
Mr Hijuelos went on to write about other situations, but for
me and for many, his masterpiece, with which he received
a Pulitzer prize in the early Nineteen - Eighties, was absolute.
It describes the life of Cubans, the life of musicians, the inner
lives of men, passion and growing old in such a way that it
is a living document of a time and a place. That is what a
writer needs to do: tell it to us in a way that we can see,
hear, feel, taste, smell, touch. Take us there, bring us back,
help us understand where you are and get us to join you there.
Mr Hijuelos and the Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love is indeed
a classic novel that achieve's all of this and more. His style is
detailed, abundant and even indulgent, as if he is sitting at the
table and can't help but heap upon his plate more of the great
cuban food and rum, or play the album one more time or tell
the story of a long lost love just one more time. It is a painful
story of leaving those you love behind you, to, ' Make it ' in
America. The price we pay for love, success, expression. An
aching world of yearning for possibilities in the big city and
finding that the politics of success are just as important as
the talent it takes to get you there. There is a major motion
picture that hints at the characters & may help to familiarize
the situations, but it should lead you directly to the prose.
I recently interviewed Miles Perlich, a radio host and aficionado
of latin jazz and couldn't help but mention Oscar Hijuelos and
Mambo Kings during the interview, as it is a great reference to
the period, the art, the world of latin jazz. If you have not read
Mambo Kings, put it on your list. Mr Hijuelos's employment of
the asterisk is used so often and so indulgently, that it probably
surprised his publishers and his readers. Not unlike the way that
Cubans, in a heated conversation, will often digress into an
explanation of a term, an idea or a phrase. The asterisk does
just that, with a side story peperred here and there throughout.
I found the device to be clever, funny and spot-on regarding
the immigrant experience, where, just about every cultural
detail needs a bit of explaining to whoever is listening.
I have learned directly from my contemporary mentors in
literature: Raymond Carver for honesty, Richard Russo for
overall structure, Joyce Carol Oates for descriptive detail,
Jack Kerouac for spiritual inspiration, George Sand for a
sort of defiance, Hunter S. Thompson for insanity, Sherman
Alexie for honing heritage, Jane Hamilton for painful portraiture,
Charles Bukowski for simplicity, Alice Walker for patient plotting,
but no one artist has taught me more about passion on the
page, than Mr. Hijuelos & Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love.
As a writer, as a reader, I can honestly say that I love the
afore mentioned writers. There is a long list of performers,
writers, directors, artists, architects, photographers and
philosophers that I could compose, but these are the writers
that come to mind. While recently creating a new novel, by
simply writing a chapter a day for three weeks straight and
publishing each chapter, each day, these were the writers
that came to mind. The project is entitled, " They Call it
The City of Angels ". I owe a simple thank you to them all.
As for my longterm project, inspired by Mr Hijuelos, that
is an altogether different type of work and indeed there will
be a thank you printed somewhere within the pages of its
publication. Until then, Thank You Oscar Hijuelos. Thank You.
Joshua Triliegi for
BUREAU of Arts and Culture Magazine
BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE: BOOK Reviews
1. The Healing Power of TREES
2. The House That TRANE Built
3. Serge GAINSBOURG : Biography
THE HEALING POWER OF TREES
By SHARLYN HIDALGO / LLEWELLYN PUBLICATIONS
Reviewed By Joshua A. TRILIEGI / BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine
Steeped in mythology, visually suggestive imagery & prayers
of a previous time and place. An interesting anthology of Celtic
symbols, storytelling and original seasonal rituals that harken
back to the early centuries when trees were considered sacred.
A sort of Calendar of Astrology as seen through the eyes of an
Irish Shaman with the trees instead of the planets, telling the
story . With a twinkle in her eye and a hand on the bark, Hidalgo
tells the origin stores like a mystic priestess with respect and
awe for the power of plants, vines, shrubs and trees. The Irish
have always had a deep respect for nature, its basic symbolic
phenomena and the reasons and seasons that bring these signs
to earth . Rainbows, lightening, shillelaghs, runes and the mystic
power they represent are but a few of the examples sited here.
In this extremely thorough and imaginative book, we are treated
to a series of stories, visualizations and a compendium of dates
which represent the changing of the seasons and which trees and
plants they represent. With explanations of holiday rituals such as
Christmas, Halloween, The Day of Bread, May Day, Summer and
Winter Solstice, Easter, The Day of The Dead, Harvest and Mabon.
As well as a Lunar Calendar connecting the animals, plants and
strengths of the moon.
For instance, January 24th is the beginning of The Time of Willow:
honoring the Bee, the Goddess, the Maiden, the Dove . Ms. Hidalgo
goes deep into interpretation of each symbol and how and why it
represents this particular season, ritual and the ideas behind it.
Equally intellectual & elementary, it’ s a good read for youngsters
as well as the curious and well educated on the healing and mystic
arts . For those on the ecological side, it’ s a great reminder of how
important trees are and a good tool for helping to teach others the
need for preservation. This book honors the earth and it’ s hidden
healing qualities locked within the ancient powers that many believe
reside within each and every living plant. Most common medicines
originate from plants and trees. Herbs for cooking such as ‘ ... parsley,
sage rosemary and thyme ... ‘ all retain healing ingredients which also
carry strong stories that reflect issues pertaining to seasons that
challenge humans, be it, common colds or even some forms of cancer.
With informative illustrations of trees, descriptions of their branches & leaves. Guided meditations, healing imagery and little know facts such as there are actually thirteen moon cycles in a year. In writing this workbook, Ms Hidalgo discovered that she was able to heal,
teach and provide a knowledge that was beyond anything she had
experienced prior to this time in her life. Perhaps you too will discover
some hidden quality within . Meanwhile, you will surely learn a bundle of new facts about trees and their mythology. An easy read that can be reviewed on a monthly basis & used almost as a calendar of learning,
if not an interesting viewpoint that suggests that humans and trees have
had a much deeper relationship than us moderns have been recently led
to believe . www.Llewellyn.com
THE HOUSE THAT TRAIN BUILT:
THE STORY OF IMPULSE RECORDSBy ASHLEY KAHN on W.W. NORTON PUBLICATIONS
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI / BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine
Most music fans know who John Coltrane is and what he did for jazz music,
for saxophone players and new music spirituality . What you may not be aware
of is that John Coltrane & his version of ‘ My Favorite Things ‘ in 1960’s helped
to create an entire label that went onto reinvent and support a bevy of new jazz artists . The impulse label, which was originally fueled by funds from ABC and
hits by Ray Charles such as, One Mint Julep, went on to become a leading label with an original look, style and feel. Album covers that opened up and told a story with extended liner notes, helping to create a dialogue and intellectual take on a lot of great new music that helped to fuel new jazz movements.
The story of Impulse records is an interesting one. Ashley Kahn’ s research, his writing style, with a flash-back / flash-forward motif, suits the subject well. Plenty of photographs, samples of albums and an incredibly thorough discography with
just about every album, release date & important phase the label went through.
Mr. Kahn has written extensively on Jazz with his other books on Miles Davis &
Coltrane’ s infamous ‘ Love Supreme ’ . Sonny Rollins, Chico Hamilton, Yusuf
Lateef, Elvin Jones, Tom Scott, Charlie Mingus, Coleman Hawkins and Pharoah
Sanders are just a few of the artists that followed Coltrane on Impulse. Often
honoring him, his massive influence, musically, technically and often naming
songs after some type of John Coltrane motif.
Kahn is like a cool daddy professor who simply loves the music, the vibe, the history of jazz so much, that the reader, his students,
soon find themselves steeped in fun facts that make up what we call
jazz. From the inception of tunes, recording, players, dates and places,
all bases are covered in this comprehensive jazz companion . From the
time John Coltrane came to the label and into his leaving the planet.
The story reveals itself.
You got that right. John Coltrane left. But with Impulse, his legacy, his
fans, his family and books such as this one as well as Kahn’ s other works,
the Coltrane legend is indeed alive and well. Highly suggested for those
who wish to learn more about this great contributor to the jazz music and
vocabulary of great American Arts. With titles such as A Love Supreme,
Ascension, Om and Cosmic Music, Coltrane completely transformed jazz
into a totally spiritual idea . From 1962 until his untimely passing , Coltrane
recorded albums and songs that have yet to be resolved, understood or
entirely digested by any particular critic, audience or movement. He was
exorcising his demons, inviting in his angels and taking what we considered
as a pastime into a full on religious experience. The jazz solo is never the
same after John Coltrane, neither are we. This is a good companion to that
legacy and to an important Jazz Music Label.
Important and informative . Alice Coltrane
picks up the mantle and carries it into the present time. As the book
reveals in Chapter six, “ Died “ is not in Alice Coltrane’ s vocabulary .
www.wwnorton.com
GAINSBOURG: THE BIOGRAPHY
By GILLES VERLANT on TAM TAM BOOKS
Reviewed By Joshua A. TRILIEGI / BUREAU of ARTS and CULTURE Magazine
Excessive . Provocative . Tempestuous . Serge Gainsbourg was a sort of
every man rockstar poet who thumbed his nose at everything he could.
One thinks of Marlon Brando in The Wild One. Question : What are you
rebelling against ? Answer : What’ ya Got ? This is a thoroughly detailed
and exhaustedly researched Bio on French singer and songwriter, Serge
Gainsbourg . The Publisher, Tosh Berman, handed me a copy while riding
on the bus last summer. I promised him we would give it an official review.
Interviews, mixed with original song lyrics, anecdotal stories, timelines and
some rare, little known early biographical influences, such as Gainsbourg’ s
troubling childhood i e : the nazi invasion of France. Commentary by friend’ s
of his parents, family members, co-workers and collaborators as well as people
he created some of his best works with, around and about. Such as the Bonny
and Clyde track, created after a drunken dinner with french actress and model,
Bridget Bardot . She requested for Serge to, “ Write me the most beautiful love
song you can imagine. “ The tune created an international stir and the film, by
Warren Beatty, released just months after Serge wrote it, assured a healthy
dose of timing, that to this day has sustained a hip, savvy, sexy pop style that
remains at the very top of strange interludes between poets and pop icons.
Not unlike Madonna visiting with Charles Bukowski in the Harbor Area of L A .
Hank’ s little girl neighbor would later ask him, “ Why would Madonna want to
visit you ? ” Later, Madonna would pen the now famous Lyric, “ I fell in love
with San Pedro ...” Obviously written about her visits to Buk, with her then
lover, Sean Penn . Gainbourg is, in many ways, the French version of Bukowski.
Throw in a piano and guitar and ‘ viola ! ’ . To this day, Gainsbourg is still one of
the top composers, when it comes to royalties generated from his work .
There are three things you learn about from Parisians within the first week of your
visit : 1 - Smoking hashish rolled up into a cigarette. 2 - Eating croissants stuffed
with chocolate. 3 - Listening to the music of Serge Gainsbourg . Anyone who tells
you different is either a liar, a coward or was just not hanging out with the right
French persons . France is a lovely country full of contradictions. A socialistic
society that outsiders adore and bores abhor . There is a comfort with sexuality,
eccentricity and revolutionary ideas . Music, art, politics, conversation and a bit of
the old debauchery here and there is fine with your average Frenchman and woman
too, for that matter. Serge Gainsbourg came around at just the right time. A sort of
French Leonard Cohen meets Charles Bukowski. With a touch of that same strange
cocktail of intellect and artistry that gave us the likes of David Byrne & Talking Heads.
Of course, this was decades earlier. The Nineteen Sixties anti-hero reflecting on film,
politics, the sexual revolution and a new voice for the youth. The guy unwilling to lie
about truths, though, more than willing to truth about lies. Copping styles of musical
influence from British pop, Jamaican reggae, American Jazz and good old Rock & Roll.
Born in 1928, to Jewish Russian parents, both artistically inclined, visually as well as musically . His Dad’ s a pianist, his mom’ s a singer. They land in France with some 100,000 other Russian - immigrants . And so the story begins. Engaging from the get - go . Finely crafted. A good introductory read for those unfamiliar as well as anyone who is a tried & true fan. Although, for those hearing about
the artist for the first time, we highly suggest you purchase a musical companion
to this thoroughly engaging biography of one of Frances greatest pop phenomena . Famous for cussing on television talk shows, telling the scathingly naughty truths that average citizen’s lie about publicly. He was a hot button artist with his finger always on the trigger. He had a free thinking father who played piano daily from the time Serge was born ‘till age twenty. Born with a twin sister in a seriously dangerous time for Jewish peoples. Serge finds his way through music, wit and charm. Knowing that at any minute one might be taken away in cars, trucks & trains, never to return again . He literally is pulled out of school and told by teachers to, “ Take this axe and go hide in the woods .” Somehow, with the help of others, he makes it through and never forgets his past.
Famous for cussing on television talk shows, telling the scathingly naughty truths
that average citizen’s lie about publicly. He was a hot button artist with his finger
always on the trigger. He had a free thinking father who played piano daily from the
time Serge was born ‘till age twenty. Born with a twin sister in a seriously dangerous
time for Jewish peoples. Serge finds his way through music, wit and charm. Knowing
that at any minute one might be taken away in cars, trucks & trains, never to return
again . He literally is pulled out of school and told by teachers to, “ Take this axe and
go hide in the woods .” Somehow, with the help of others, he makes it through and
never forgets his past.
For those music fans who simply like his songs, this is a complete eye
opener, historically and politically speaking. No wonder he was such a
bastard. No wonder he spoke his mind so freely. No wonder he adored
life’ s freedoms. I would not be surprised if someone were to option this
Bio for future production into a fine film. With fans on every continent &
a roster of supporters including Johnny Depp, Isabelle Adjani, Catherine
Deneuve and most hip film makers, it’d be a great piece of cinema.
Tosh Berman, this Books publisher, formerly worked at the Book Soup
Annex on Sunset Strip as a cashier . Some years ago, I was about to
purchase a rare french girlie magazine with 3-D Glasses attached, he,
uhm , sorta attempted to halt the sale. Realizing the rarity if the item.
I relented & recently used it to create a tribute work to Jack Kerouac’ s
On The Road. Tosh probably doesn’t recall. In any event, Tam Tam Books
is his new empire & with this new Serge Gainsbourg biography, he’ s done
well. I can see now why he wanted the french girly mag as much as I did.
Guess we all have a touch of Serge Gainsbourg in us. Fellow Francophiles.
We suggest this Biography, which was ten years in the making. With explicit
instructions to also purchase : The Bonnie and Clyde Album with Bridget
Bardot. As well as compilation Records and Discs. One thing that may have
been missing from this version is a complete discography with Titles, Dates,
etc... Maybe in the reprinting, ‘ Eh Tosh ? Bonjour Mon Amie!
Translated from
the French By Paul Knobloch
www.TamTamBooks.com www.ARTBOOK.com
Our Main Site : www.BUREAUofARTSandCULTURE.com
