mexican

¿Qué Onda With The Funny Rims?

May 16, 2013

Picture by classicimpalas.

So y’all know I don’t know much about lowriders and rims, spinners, spokes, etc. My brother did have an Impala back in the day that well, pretty much qualified as a lowrider. Although in those days we kind of stopped seeing eye to eye and I had purposely decided not to ride in the Impala with him and all his friends. I instead preferred the comfort of the big old yellow school bus that would pick me up and drop me off at home from high school every day.

¿Qué les puedo decir? I was socially awkward even back then.

The last couple of weeks though I’ve been noticing that there are more and more cars – not necessarily only lowriders – driving around with hubcap spinners on their rims that look to be at least 12 inches protruded from the actual rim. They look kind of funny and have really started to bother me really. The main reason: because I want to know WHAT IS THE PURPOSE of them? Why do they have to protrude so far away from the rim? And most importantly, what would possess someone to want hubcap spinners that are so protruded?

Every time I see them I imagine them getting too close next to the car driving beside them and giving them a flat tire. Pa mi gusto como que están hideous.

I’ve tried my best to find a decent picture of these spinners, but so far I just haven’t been successful. On this post I opted for a more generic lowrider picture.

Bueno pues keep an eye out for these spinning hubcaps in a barrio near you and send me a pic if you happen to snap one. I’ll try to remember to do the same when I see these things again.

Until then, just say no to protruded spinning hubcaps! ¡Por favor!

The Sound Was Brown At Pachanga Fest in Texas!

May 15, 2013

FROM JUAN: Friends, today I’m welcoming another amiga to the Juan of Words familia. I know you will embrace Byrdie Franco as a contributing writer and a fresh new voice on Juan of Words. This past weekend Byrdie attended Pachanga Fest in Austin for us (I know what a sacrifice, jaja!) and here is what she had to report on the very unique and very Texas event.

If you search the word pachanga on your search engine right now you’ll find that this single word can mean several different things. For some it might mean a genre of Cuban music. To others an ex-friend or even a traitor. Es más in some cases the word could also be interpreted to mean a cat… yes, as in a gato. Some definitions refer to the breed of cat pachanga! Now there’s a unique breed of cats and a name for your furry friends. I like cats, so yeah, that was pretty exciting information for me!

The one definition that probably applies best today, however, is also the one we are most familiar with anyway. I am referring to pachanga defined as “a Spanish slang word meaning to party hard, normally with many people; to rage.”

Yup, I’d say that’s pretty accurate. Which is also a pretty good explanation of what happened during part of my weekend this past finde. I attended Pachanga Fest in Austin on behalf of Juan of Words and well, let’s just say there was some pachanga fun had by all!

Pachanga Fest is the brainchild of Austin native Rich Garcia and this year marked the sixth anniversary of the event. The music festival was headlined by Tejano-Norteño group Intocable.

“The Pachanga lineup includes rock, alternative, Tejano, Mariachi, cumbia, salsa, electronic, funk, hip-hop and indie rock with one singular theme, the sound is brown,” says Garcia.

The sound is brown indeed!

In fact, it wasn’t just the sound that was brown at Pachanga Fest. The food and art were pretty Latino-centric too. Here is one example of authentic jewelry from Jalisco. The designers were on-site displaying their artwork. Some of these pieces may take as little as 30 minutes or as long as one week to complete.

While surfing through the vendor booths I came across an artist that we are all probably more used to seeing on the stage rather than in the merchant space. I’m talking about rapper, comedian and actor Chingo Bling of course. Chingo was there promoting his own clothing line Cancun Life. He also sold tamales from his very own food truck. Now that’s an entrepreneur for you! Chingo has performed at Pachanga Fest in the past.

Rain or Shine, There will be MUSICA!

What was disappointing about Pachanga Fest this year was the weather. It rained. And it poured! At one point, I wasn’t sure if la gente, including myself, were going to stick around. We did and more Tejanos actually showed up. By the end of the event it was a packed house! Here are some of my pictures and video from Pachanga Fest:

Byrdie Franco-Rocha AKA @ByrdieFranco is a marketer and entrepreneur and recently launched her personal blog www.BSoFly.com. Follow Bydie on Twitter at @ByrdieFranco.

When Something Goes Wrong ¡Nomás Echale La Culpa A Pancho!

May 14, 2013

FROM JUAN: Today I’m really quite excited to introduce the first of many friends who have signed on to give Juan of Words a breath of fresh air by sharing their own unique and very personal perspectives as contributing writers. My friend Isabel Martinez is a fourth generation Mexican American who is currently working towards her Master’s degree in Theology. I know you’ll enjoy her writing as much as I do. Let’s give her a big old BIENVENIDA like only you all know how to do. Gracias.

Sandia by Carmen Lomas Garza.

Just like any Mexicana, I love family dinners! Because I’m usually off on Mondays our Sunday dinners happen on Monday. Today was no different. What made today extra special was that my grandma and mom were here to spend it with us. All weekend the guys were bugging me to make lasagna, so what did I make…pues ya sabes.

Mostly I love family dinners because of all the laughs and memories we create. Today, we were picking on my brother’s best friend Pancho. We’ve known this guy for about 13 years, and well he’s a big boy, just like my brother. When he would go to Mexico with us my dad would call him and my brother his guarda espaldas because they’re both about six feet tall. Anyway Pancho is always the scapegoat for everything bad that happens here at the house.

Even though he doesn’t live with us, he spends about 75 percent of his time here at the house. So when something happens we blame Pancho.

“Who ate all the rice?”

¡Pancho!

“Who broke the remote?”

¡Pancho!

“Who finished the toilet paper?”

¡Pancho!

Pobre Pancho. He never catches a break. Even when he’s not here we still end up blaming him for something. My grandma, who always looks for the good in people, finally asked us tonight why we were blaming everything on poor Pancho. He just smirked while stabbing his fork into a giant piece of lasagna and responded: “It’s cause they know me. And I’m usually the one who does all that.”

So there it was! He finally confessed! All it took was my sweet grandma to coax it out of him. So now you know, if anything ends up missing, or you find an empty quart of juice in the fridge, nomás echale la culpa a Pancho.

Isabel Martinez is getting her Master’s degree in Theology. When she’s not working or studying she loves cooking, and discovering new things to do in Houston. Follow her on Twitter @shilohgirl_mop.

Modesty Above All Else Means Saying No In Order To Say Yes

May 13, 2013

¡¿Pero para que van a gastar tanto dinero?!

Pero si aquí hay comida.

Acabo de poner un arroz y frijoles.

Nombre van a gastar bastante y a mi ni me gusta la comida en esos restaurantes.

El arroz siempre esta bien seco.

¿Para que vamos a comer arroz seco?

Para comer arroz seco mejor aqui ponemos una olla de frijoles.

Con unos nopalitos y un hevito.

Yo me voy a echar unos nopalitos bien ricos.

¡Ay! Pero van a gastar mucho dinero.

Bueno… pero yo no voy a comer.

It’s not that my mother doesn’t appreciate the gestures. She does. Only that she’s from a generation that was taught modesty is better than arrogance. That it is always better to give than to receive. That when there is only one last tortilla left and more than one mouth to feed you always say you’re not hungry no matter how much your tripas may be gruñendo-ing. That’s what she has always done. Always putting all of us ahead of her own needs and/or desires.

Eventually though we always convince her. One other thing you should know about my mother, you see, is that she can’t ever say no to her children… much less to her grandchildren.

Because My Mexican Mother Said So: Ballet Folklórico Is Beautiful!

May 7, 2013

So this weekend we got to see the Leyenda Dance Company perform in Houston for Cinco de Mayo. It was really quite a treat because the whole thing felt more like a production instead of just an expression of culture in dance. There were high kicks and body movements reminiscent of ballet. And even more impressive there were humourous story lines built into the plot. It was all really beautiful. Which reminded me again why I’m such a huge fan of this style of dance.

They were so memorable I thought you all should meet them too. Here’s one of their performances I found online:

Musica De Vara – The Music Of My Mexico!

May 6, 2013

Actually it’s called a huapango arribeño. In my neck of the serros in Mexico – El Sauz to be precise – my parents just called it música de vara. It came back to me this weekend for whatever reason all of the sudden. I remember my brothers and I used to hate it when the plazita in the middle of the rancho would get full of drunks, muchachos, muchachas, señoras selling chocolate and tacos rojos, more borrachos, kids running around like crazy, and those musicians that sounded more like they were talking instead of singing.

They annoyed me, I’ll admit. Every single song sounded just like the last one to me in those days. And there was really no avoiding the sound since their music could be heard throughout the entire serro so that even if you chose not to go to the baile you couldn’t help but listen to the music coming from the center of El Sauz right above the arroyos. I didn’t understand or care to listen to the lyrics back then. They didn’t resonate with me the way they do now.

Musica de huapango arribeño you see is music that is almost exclusively heard only in Guanajuato, Queretaro, and San Luis Potosi. And it really isn’t only music. It is poetry verses set to music. The songs usually tell a story, a funny one at that. Or they are conversations between two people set to music. I can’t explain it exactly. You just have to listen.

The irony you see, is that now I would give anything to take a step back in time to one of those live bailes in the middle of the pista, in the middle of El Sauz, in the middle of that serro that taught us so much about ourselves and our cultura.