Rockeros

The Chicano rock tribes gathered at East L.A. College's gym last week. There in the bleachers sat sax player Larry Rendon of Thee Midniters and keyboardist Bobby Espinosa of El Chicano. Eddie Ayala of the Odd Squad and a couple of members of early 1980s East L.A. punk rockers Los Illegals walked around among fans, signing pages from the new edition of Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock 'N Roll from Southern California.On stage, Mark Guerrero (who as a teenager in the mid 1960s led Mark and the Escorts) tore it up with his band Tango. Mean guitar player Lysa Flores rounded up a few of her friends to perform: Dr. Dre bass player Daniel Seef, Jaguares bass player Marco Renteria and Beastie Boys drummer Alfredo Ortiz. Later, Martha Gonzalez stomped a fusion of jarocho and Chicano beats on the cajon as she led the East L.A. fusion band Quetzal.

Jesus Velo, co-founder and bass player for Los Illegals, asked me to come down to record a chat he wanted to have with the musicians he'd admired as a teenager in East L.A. We pulled aside Larry Rendon and Jesus told him how much he looked up to him. In the mid 1960s Larry and his band rehearsed at an East L.A. theater and there was Jesus as a teenager waiting for his idols to walk in with their shiny boots, European amplifiers, and knockout girls in tow.

In 1970 El Chicano scored a national hit with the instrumental song "Viva Tirado" that took them to the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Bobby Espinoza told Jesus the Apollo audience thought El Chicano was a black act and was surprised when these Chicano indios, as Espinosa put it, took the stage. They brought down the house. Jesus, as other Eastsiders, was proud that a Chicano rock band had made it in New York City.

The co-authors of Land of a Thousand Dances, the organizers of this East L.A. College concert, argue that in the last fifty years rock bands from East L.A. have created songs in a myriad of styles very aware of what the older generation has done. That domino effect of musicians inspiring teens is obvious with Jesus as he talked to the musicians who are a little less than a decade older than him. And the younger generation's searching out the elders too. Chris Conde and Israel Ramirez had a great time at the concert. The East L.A.-raised twenty-somethings who started the band Regime Noir searched out Jesus and Los Illegals because, like the early 80s punk band, Chris and Israel felt like they were hitting their heads on a wall trying and failing to break into the Westside club scene. They believe the Eastside scene needs a shot in the arm, a Red Bull, anything to return to the halcyon days of the 1960s when Chicano rock bands seemed to sprout like weeds.

The spirit of the punk movement has led Chris and Israel to start their own tribe in Boyle Heights, a storefront venue with a recording studio for them and any other musicians who want to be part of the movement.

Photo: Mark Guerrero playing with his band Tango.