Intersections

Paisa love by Espinoza Paz

Here is Espinoza Paz in his video for "¿Lo Intentamos?" a popular norteño ballad that is just beyond sentimental, almost uncomfortably so -- which is what makes it so, so good. Come on, carressing a wall in loving agony? This is high drama we're talking here.

More than a year since its release, "¿Lo Intentamos?" is still on loop outside my window in downtown Mexico City, demonstrating once more the level of influence that the northern Mexican diaspora has in the cultural heart of the nation. The downtown D.F./tepiteño scene may not be immediately identified with vaquero hats or ostrich-skin boots, but we can definitely get down here or there with the music from El Norte.

Paz, a native of Sinaloa and former fieldworker in California, is a bonafide breakthrough artist in the "Mexican regional" super-genre, a true and proud "paisa." Here he is performing a bit of "¿Lo Intentamos?" live on Mun2, and man, the song holds up so well acoustically. He says he's written more than a thousand songs. Hot.

Mun2 also offers a song vs. song match-up between "¿Lo Intentamos?" and my other soul-wrencher favorite this year, "Ya Es Muy Tarde," by La Arrolladora Banda Limon. Seriously, I'm so torn. (So torn!)

The battle for Mexico City, on water

The top floor of the Palacio de Correos de Mexico, the grand central post office in downtown Mexico City, is home to the Naval Museum, also known as the Museo Histórico Naval de la Ciudad de México. It's not the sort of place that you'd plan a day-trip around, but if the neatly dressed male and female naval officers grab your attention near enough to the postal palace's pastiche-drowning glass elevators, in a whisk, you're upstairs.

"It's free," they prod helpfully.

As the museum's site reminds you up front, "Mexico's history is tied to the seas that surround it," and this museum certainly makes the case for a refreshing of historical memory. Exhibits mark in meticulously detail (models, paintings, maps, artifacts) the integral role that Mexico's ports and coasts have played in just about every defining chapter in the country's history.

Take the model seen in close-up above, depicting the final decisive battle that saw Cortés and his Indian allies defeat the Triple Alliance, leading to the fall of Tenochtitlán. A little-known footnote to the event is that a major theater of combat took place directly on the Lago de Texcoco. In their retreat to Tlaxcala, the Spaniards had re-grouped and built boats by which to lay seige on the watery Aztec capital, and the Aztecs defended using their well-worn canoe systems.

The rest, of course, is history.

Two more photos of the Texcoco lake battle model are here and here. Pretty astounding to see, even in the form of tiny clay men in boats holding shields, bows, and lances. Had they only known what was to come ...

Guerrero and Mosqueta

After a couple hours at El Chopo -- and a couple of liters of pulque -- we went east on Mosqueta till we hit Guerrero, above the metro Guerrero transfer station. Then we had to take a rest on the sidewalk, right in front of a Michoacana.

It's Saturday, 22 May 2010. And yup, it's still hot.

Heading down Guerrero, we met a friend walking an awfully friendly pit bull (pulque spilled on the jeans, teeth marks on the forearm) and some curious kids sniffing mona in front of the Panteon de San Fernando. In all, a good day.

At Chopo I got my copy of "Ciudad Rap," a collection of interviews with Mexican MCs. The MySpace page lists locations selling the independently published book, by Alan R. Ramirez.

* Stay tuned for updates on the upcoming Postópolis DF,  and a piece I'll have out soon in a new media outlet in Los Angeles.

Excavations: 'Pobre de Ti,' mi querida Tijuana

* Above, crossing over, round the clock, into TJ.

Oh, Tijuana. A lot of signals lately from TJ. An incredible video documenting TJ 90s rock bands pops up on Facebook. A journalist publishes a nice site on TJ's recent transformations. And I finally catch "Sleep Dealer," but that's another post entirely.

As I type, I'm having visions of landing here again, seeing Mom or Dad smiling on the other side of the glass as usual, then crossing that pesky border, butterflies in the stomach every time. I can never get Tijuana out of my head, yet I remain unsure on where TJ fits in my story, or where I fit in its.

In celebration of this ambiguity, tonight, "Pobre de ti," which in my book is the most significant jam ever generated by the Mexican ska-punk movement, by the legendary Tijuana NO! Here, the band reunites with singer Ceci Bastida and fellow TJ native Julieta Venegas to reignite "Pobre de ti" before the slamming masses at Vive Latino 2010. La Jornada reported the "rola" generated festival's "mayor slam." Without question.

But go back to the original and take another good listen. For years now, this song still defines a city, a sound, and -- dare I say -- a generation.

The work: Still no sign of 'Diego the Boss'

Here's a recent post at La Plaza, the L.A. Times Latin America news blog, on the disappearance of one of the most powerful men in Mexico, Diego Fernandez de Ceballos. The former presidential candidate for the PAN went missing on Friday night on his ranch in Querétaro.

Five days later, pretty much the entire security and law enforcement apparatus of the center of the country has been mobilized to find him, but still no sign of the man they call Jefe Diego. Tracy Wilkinson updates the story today: "Fernandez de Cevallos was more feared than beloved, and if he was the victim of kidnapping, as the evidence suggests, the list of suspects is a long one."

Other recent posts I have up at La Plaza:

• On attacks against in journalists in Honduras.
• A critique on the obsession in the U.S. with Cinco de Mayo.
• From Haiti, on the question of where to place the displaced.
• A look at a report on the struggle for balance in Mexico's narco war.
• On UNAM canceling an exchange program with Arizona.
• On the rise of 'Chavez fatigue' in Venezuela.
• On Costa Rica's first female president.
• On a less smoggy Mexico City.
• On Tijuana's reawakening -- question-mark.
• On a controversial port plan in Colombia.
• Placing some mapable context over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
• Surprise! Mexico keeps a corporate-friendly tax structure.
• And, Brazil's Lula takes a win on nuclear talks with Iran.

As always, I appreciate the link-ups, the feedback, the tips, and the comments! Posting here at Intersections remains light while I finish final edits on the final draft of my book manuscript.

* Photo above, Diego Fernandez de Ceballos, by European Pressphoto, via LAT.

Postopolis, coming soon to D.F.

* Above, outside the San Hipólito chapel on Palm Sunday, 2010.

I'm excited to announce my participation as a co-curating invited blogger for the upcoming Postópolis DF, June 8-12, at the El Eco Experimental Museum in the Colonia San Rafael. The event is free, open to the public, and promises to be a fun and enriching time.

What is Postopolis?

The multidisciplinary "encuentro" (as I've been describing it to friends here) originated with the Storefront group in New York, as a way for designers, architects, urbanists, artists, and bloggers to meet and discuss trends, movements, and issues in the lived environment and culture of a specific city. Postopolis New York was followed by Postopolis L.A., and now the event arrives in Mexico D.F. It is co-sponsored with Tomo, the cultural supplement in the daily Excelsior, and Domus magazine. 

So how does it work?

Storefront asks local and international bloggers to join the event as co-curators. Each blogger in turn invites up to five local figures -- artists, designers, architects, etc. -- for 15-minute interviews. Then there is food, screenings, and events at night. For Postopolis DF, the invited bloggers are myself, representing Intersections, Wayne Marshall of Wayne & Wax, Cassim Shepard of Urban Omnibus, Nicola Twilley of Edible Geography, Ethel Barona Pohl of DPR Barcelona, Regine Debatty of We Make Money Not Art, Gabriella Gomez-Mont of Toxico Cultura, Guillermo Ruiz de Teresa of Tomo, Sam Jacob of Strange Harvest, and Jace Clayton a.k.a. DJ Rupture.

Take a look at some of the announcements each blogger has made, referring to the guests they've invited to be interviewed. I'll be announcing mine in a future post.

The whole affair is being organized collectively -- entirely on email, in fact, which has led to some animated discussions and an occasional overlapping of contacts. The way I see it, the organic quality of this process is a sign that Postópolis DF is going to be one-of-a-kind, interesting for anyone who stops by.

So stop by!

* Here's the Facebook page ... More later.

An imaginary bridge at the border

Above, a rendering of a proposed border bridge museum by Mexican architect Fernando Romero. The museum, designed by Romero's firm LAR in 2000, would link El Paso and Ciudad Juarez over the Rio Bravo. Take a good look at the structure and the scale of imaginary humans besides it ... and imagine.

With the U.S.-Mexico border looking more and more these days like a locus of hate and division rather anything else, Romero's museum vision feels like it landed from another planet. There's a discussion of it here in Metropolis magazine.

Romero's new Soumaya museum design, however, will see the light of day soon in Mexico City. The new Soumaya will house the art holdings of Carlos Slim, world's richest man, and, Business Week notes, the architect's father-in-law.

* LAR had an exhibition last year at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.

The heat

Man, it's been hot.

Mexico City feels like the inside of a rice cooker, a thick hot. Late last week reports surfaced of temperatures reaching up to 50 degrees Celsius in some metro stations (Hidalgo, specifically, with its many heat-producing fast food establishments).

That's 122 degrees Fahrenheit. I find it hard to believe myself.

The heat blurs lines and flattens perception. You can almost reach out and grab thick handfuls of automobile exhaust and noise pollution. Body odors are more concentrated and pungent. One ice cube provides a precious minute of cooling pleasure. Alcohol and nicotine taste like candy.

And then on Sunday, the afternoon church bells in Centro mark their notes. A mean wind bore down the concrete. Thunder rolled.

And the rains started.

Excavations: Salem nightmares

This is an excavations post not into the archive, but into a dark and lurid future, as projected by the New York musicians known as Salem. Above, Salem live in New York City, June 2009. Click and immerse yourself; it's a nasty ass ride no matter how you absorb it.

Salem digs below all known comfort levels, spatially, aurally, morally.

In the video for their track "Dirt" (audio doesn't begin until more than a minute into the track, and embedding is disabled), a tormented woman appears to be attempting suicide in a closed garage with her car engine running. Then, in the twist straight out of Hell, a naked female (or female-like) figure appears on the hood of the car, dancing suggestively.

Fucked up.

The attraction here is the sheer transgression, the bending, the channeling of the terrors we all know are just around any corner. The group's sound itself is difficult to describe, but it's been called "foggy, distorted," "muddy," "surreal and uncomfortable," and "goth/electro/juke." You can find plenty of tracks and remixes by Salem at The Fader, including discussion of their apparently poorly received performance at this year's SXSW. The We Make It Good Mix is especially good.

Salem singer John Holland is interviewed in a recent issue of Butt magazine (NSFW -- or for young children), where he talks about previous stints as a male prostitute and offers details of his drug use. Of the band's label aversion, Holland says, "I don't really know why everyone thinks it's 'Goth.'"

Burlesque in Mexico City: The clown bears all *

Above, the burlesque performer Islandia doing the number "Mi verdadera vocaccion," at the old-school Centro cantina La Faena, on Friday, April 30. Islandia, born Carina Guzman in Mexico City, is part of a small burlesque troupe in D.F. known as the Burlesquineras.

Along with Islandia, two other Burlesquineras members performed -- Chichis Glam and Lupe Tequila del Sagrado Corazon -- in honor of a birthday, for troupe member Glitter, who is male. Yes, males doing burlesque. "It's all queer, post-feminist, post-everything, post-punk, especially," Islandia explains.

The troupe formed in 2007 after a visit and workshop in D.F. by a New York burlesque performer, Old Ma Femme. The Burlesquineras produce their own shows, Islandia points out. Here's coverage of one such performance in 2008 at the Hotel Virreyes, by David Lida.

Regarding the photo above, it's all about documentary accuracy. And, Islandia adds, "If you ask me, I can never resist a picture of my tits showing."

Black responses to the Arizona immigration law

* Above, new Americans, rallying for justice, by Irfan Khan, L.A. Times.

The signing of SB1070 in Arizona has sparked a wave of negative reaction across the United States and across the political spectrum, from Barack Obama on down. There are numerous calls for a boycott of the state, a pledge against the law for people of faith, and a statement from the Major League Baseball players association condemning SB1070.

Some high school seniors are now deciding against going to college in Arizona. One comment on the New York Times blog post on the topic struck me as particularly intelligent, and hinting at the root of African American disdain for SB1070.

Barbara, a Duke alumnus, writes:

When I was a student at Duke there were many male African-American students who felt like they were being profiled because of the relatively high rate of crime on campus, and the fact that a disproportionate amount of it was attributable to young black men in the community. In some cases students were held even after they proved they were students. It made their college experience a lot worse than if they gone elsewhere. It's a legitimate consideration.

It's not that I don't understand that border states face special challenges and find the lack of progress frustrating, or that I don't agree that Mexico has long shown lack of inclination to face its social problems because it has a safety valve next door -- I share those concerns. But there is simply no way to enforce this law without targeting Hispanics. I don't care if that was the intent or not, it is almost certainly going to be its practical effect.

Indeed, history runs in cycles, and the U.S. has seen far too many discriminatory and hateful laws or practices that have targeted and abused African Americans for generations. Yes, we know that African American anxiety about Latino immigration to the U.S. exists, and exists widely. But Arizona's new law burns at the boundaries of our notions of justice and fair treatment under the law, which assaults any reasonable person's sense of decency -- regardless of color.

This is why so many prominent black Americans and black organizations are standing up against SB1070. At the top of the pack, for pure inspiration, is Chuck D, the former frontman of Public Enemy, who released a special track against the bill called "Tear Down That Wall." (Public Enemy, of course, has a track that has gone after politics in Arizona before.)

A progressive new jam

* Above, your blogger, and Raul Pachecho, in Mexico City.

From my post at La Plaza, on an interview with Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli during the Vive Latino festival in D.F., about their bold and progressive new song, "Gay Vatos in Love":

Still, the song consistently challenges comfort levels among some listeners, the singer admitted. "I think people get confused, they don't know where we're coming from. Some people ask, especially in the Spanish press, 'Who's gay in the band?' So there's an assumption there."

(When reporters ask about the sexuality of the band's membership, Pacheco says he sometimes responds with a purposely blank, "I don't know.")

"For us it's a bigger issue," Pacheco went on. "We felt that [gay rights] is just another in a long line of underdogs, so I think we connected to it on that level. It was totally natural for us to take that stance."

The full post is here. Thank you for your re-tweets. I am waiting on several comments submitted to at La Plaza to get moderated and published, but the internal system over there is ... slow.

Comments here are welcome as well.

The Pyramid Project *

Above, an old hand-colored latern-side photograph from the pyramid complex at Giza, part of a collection of surreal-looking images from the Brooklyn Museum, via the eminent BLDGBLOG.

Geoff Manaugh writes:

The shots ... exude a stage-set quality: the diffuse and hand-colored light, the foreshortened perspective, and the cut-away glimpse into a world of subterranean vaults lending an air of surreality to the whole collection.

Overall, the architecture captured in these images is a mixture of deeply shaded, geometric minimalism ... wed with moments of ornamental grandeur, as hieroglyphic bas-reliefs, revealed by passing angles of sunlight, offer whole worlds of spatial detail. Stone inscriptions become less like something you might read, in other words, and more of a spatial experience in their own right.

Indeed, the images are almost unbelievable. See more here. They make me wonder if our planet's pyramids are in fact structures generated and descended upon us from the cosmos, and if we'll ever truly understand their essence and role on Earth. I'm not kidding.

And that reminds me. In the current issue of Celeste, the Mexico City art, design, and fashion magazine, I have an essay titled "The Pyramid Project," a satire in the spirit of "A Modest Proposal." The piece calls for the construction of a new Mesoamerican pyramid for the winter solstice of 2012 -- and that it be burned and destroyed. Why? We must mediate the end of the Fifth Sun, of course, for balance and survival.

"The pyramid is the flame is the pheonix."

This Celeste issue is all about futurism and the surreal. It features work by or commentary on Alexander McQeen, Pedro Friedeberg, Rem Koolhaas, Charlie Le Mindu, Jennifer Teets, and a fashion shoot by EGR and Cesar Arellano. It's a beautiful issue, right at the zeitgeist.

Celeste, now being edited by the D.F. artist Pia Camil, is published in Spanish and is available at American Apparel stores, as far as I know. Texts appear in English in the last pages of the magazine. Its website is not currently updated.

* Previously, "For the gods, 'all is play': Paz on the pyramid," "Spring equinox at Teotihuacan."