This Sunday Ollin will be performing in benefit of the Barrio Writers and now the newly formed Barrio Actor’s Guild programs. The destination spot is the Zocalo Restaurant in Santa Ana. SolArt Radio is no longer doing shows at Taco Adobe on Main Street (Haven’t gotten the full story on that yet!)

From the info panel on the show’s Facebook event page:

Need a reason to celebrate the end of Summer? Well, Barrio Writers, Barrio Actors Guild & SolArt Radio are giving you one!!

Join us at Zócalo for dinner, local music Trio Barrio Writer Joana (accordian), David & Barrio Writer Germayn, DJ Michelle Reyes & our special feature band OLLIN!

“Ollin began with the inspiration of traditional Mexican music. From there, the brothers expanded their musical curiosity and brought other types of folk music into the mix. Irish melodies, Klezmer riffs, German beer polkas, and African syncopations all were introduced and have become a part of the eclectic Ollin sound. Live performances are theatrical, energetic, and with the mixture of many different styles, still well balanced. Their recordings are solid three dimensional stories with lyrical prose that puts you knee deep in their musical barrio.”

Please come out & show your support!

A donation of $10 is being requested at the door.

Taller Sur opened for Mexican singer Alfonso Maya last Saturday night at Santa Ana Taco Adobe. The crowd enjoyed hours of good music. If you missed it, no worries. My trusty flip recorder took a couple videos of Taller Sur. Also, Ruby Castellanos has been inviting friends to perform acoustic happy hour Thursdays at the restaurant. Catch the last July installment of such performances tomorrow!

There’s more to come at Santa Ana Taco Adobe in August and September so be sure to stay informed on this blog as show dates for Barrio Writers and Latino Health Access fundraisers are set to continue the summer music fun!

Here are two youtube videos for all of you out there who missed last weekend’s benefit bailongo with La Santa Cecilia. With proceeds going to the Orange County Dream Team, the money is sure to go, in part, to help activist Antonia Rivera handle her court dates stemming from this week’s congressional sit-ins.

This is my video taken in the sweaty room of Taco Adobe without much light. As you can see, the dance party was on as La Santa Cecilia busted out this new tune that I’ll call “Looking up, Mirando Around!” The next time the band rolls through Orange County, do yourself a favor and check em out!

At this difficult moment, a lot of things in our community are either atrophied or deteriorating. Two groups defying the recession’s effects thrive amidst the malaise; La Santa Cecilia and the Orange County Dream Team. The musicianship of the former will be lending its talents for the benefit of the activism of the latter. La Santa Cecilia is branching out on the sheer infectiousness of its music while the OCDT is fresh from making Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez bow down and co-sponsor the DREAM ACT. The event hooking these two groups up  goes down at Taco Adobe in Santa Ana as part of a series of shows hosted by the one and only SolArt Radio. Mark your calendars for July 16th. It’s going to go down proper!

Save the date! SolArt Radio is presenting the music of Lex Land and Yellow Red Sparks on Friday, June 4th at Taco Adobe in Santa Ana! In the meantime, tune into the latest 33rd installment of the community internet radio program to hear the live music of Mauricio Diaz and special guests inlcuding members from La Santa Cecilia and Taller Sur!

Here is another video uploaded from the “Rome to Santa Ana” art exhibit opening last month featuring the solo musical performance of Yellow Red Sparks member Josh Hanson. The group won “best folk” honors at the recent 2010 Orange County Music Awards. Enjoy!

{Check the new logo. You likes?}

This week’s installment of SolArt Radio includes a LIVE music session with Luis Camberos, as well as special guest co-host/performer Ruby Castellanos from Taller Sur. The two musicians get down for a great interpretation of the classic Victor Jara song “Te Recuerdo Amanda” that you are not going to want to miss. Camberos also put together a great playlist for the show as this experiment in community media is now ustream tv savy! Lastly, stay tuned for a calendar of community events and upcoming shows.

Listen up and spread the WORD!

The usually raucous garage rock band Street Spirit took an acoustic turn last night at the opening of the Stamperia del Tevere exhibit in Santa Ana. The band transformed its repertoire into one of those unplugged sets that always seems to accentuate the lyrics and song writing that sometimes is lost in the pedal driven distortion. If you missed this rare musical occasion, no worries. Youtube is here for you!

Enjoy a free download this week of Armando Quiroz and Taller Sur’s Ruby Castellanos performing “Palomazo” live in-studio from SolArt Radio episode #31! Keep it tuned, the SolArt Radio crew is keeping all their live performances over the past year to compile a “best of” CD soon!

Free download:

http://files.me.com/solartgallery/eoiqaf.mp3

La Santa Cecilia, a vibrant and promising band from Los Angeles known for its irresistible mastering of Latin music’s most danceable genres, made its first foray into Orange County back in November 2008 as part of the “Frida Festival” in Santa Ana. El Centro Cultural de Mexico in conjunction with other local organizations hosted the event that featured vendors selling all things Frida and the English/Spanish lectures of renowned speaker Gregorio Luke on the Mexican artist. Before delivering his evening talk in English, the six piece band took to the stage of a large auditorium in the city’s Fiesta Marketplace to open for Luke as hundreds of people streamed through the doors. At that point, La Santa Cecilia had been largely unknown to the Latino audiences of Orange County. After the band delivered an impressive five song set featuring tracks off their hand painted demo, the first conquista was had. Outside the venue, the band was meeting the demand for their CDs and speaking with those interested in bringing them back soon!

And so they returned. Weeks later, La Santa Cecilia opened for Pilar Diaz at the invitation of Santa Ana’s local Latina theater group Breath of Fire for its annual ‘Noche de Milagros’ fundraiser. The lineup had already been a potent one-two punch for LA Latinos checking out the solo efforts of the former Los Abandoned front woman in her workshop shows in Echo Park. That evening, OC had its second taste of the band’s intoxicating spirit and more fans were conquered. A year would pass before La Santa Cecilia would return to Santa Ana. In that time, the spaceless Latino youth of OC would trek en masse to downtown Los Angeles to catch the band performing at Mucho Wednesdays at La Cita. Their first gig back in Santa Ana last year would come not a moment too soon in November for an open-air world music street festival near the Fiesta Marketplace. The audience was cross-generational and many did not know what to expect from the band of jovenes setting up their congas, drums, upright bass, and guitar. It was essentially a replay of their Frida Festival experience. Accordion notes opened their norteña song “Chicle” as young and old danced on the closed streets of Santa Ana. Another instant conquest.

Much as in 2008, La Santa Cecilia would not keep its growing audiences waiting too long. Breath of Fire’s annual fundraiser came calling weeks later. The demand for the band was high and they obliged, only this time as the headliners. Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly penned a feature on La Santa Cecilia ahead of the gig giving them more print exposure than they had enjoyed in the pages of the LA Weekly despite being a more prominent fixture in the music scene of the widespread metropolis to our north. That evening of the fundraiser show, hundreds of supporters of both the band and the community theater group packed the 511 space in Santa Ana where the event was held. From the first song, the baile de la conquista was on once more satiating an appetite that had developed for seconds! Familiar chants of otra! otra! persuaded the band to extend the evening for one more song – an interesting musical take on the classic “Moliendo Cafe.”

Having forged a bond with the city’s non-profit hustlers, the members of La Santa Cecilia set their eyes next on a Valentine’s show with local fixtures Taller Sur. This time, the tandem of community musicians would be the sole attraction and focus at the 511 space. On Saturday night, couples and singles came in droves to enjoy the music of the two bands. The setlist turned in by LSC later in the evening featured recognizable songs off their demo like “Jack” and “El Farol” but on this occasion they were the exception. New material and interesting covers such as the Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever” mixed with the flavors of ska illustrated the band’s sonic evolution and growth. The musical masses predictably danced once more only this time La Santa Cecilia’s audience had seemingly branched out beyond the humble seeds that were planted back in November 2008. On the eve of Valentine’s Day, the spaceless Latino youth of OC enjoyed another night of music with a band their primos in LA have had the privilage of dancing to all too often!