LOS ANGELES CHICANO HEAVYWEIGHTS RUBÉN FUNKAHUATL GUEVARA AND MATT SEDILLO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE OF A SPLIT POETRY ALBUM “GRITO DE LOS DOS DE LOS” ON CINCO DE MAYO, MAY 5TH 7:30 pm AT BEYOND BAROQUE, VENICE.
MultiMedia Militia is proud to announce the release of their latest project, a split poetry vinyl album by Los Angeles Chicano heavy weights, cultural icon Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara and revolutionary poet Matt Sedillo with a reading, live and on YouTube at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 N. Venice Boulevard in Venice, on Friday May 5, 2023. Preshow reception at 7:30pm hosted by the Venice Arts Council, followed by 8:00pm show with guest poet Linda Ravenswood. For more information contact Beyond Baroque at (310) 822-3006.
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“Grito de los Dos de Los”, (Los Dos – the two – de Los- from Los Angeles. Los is Pachuco slang for Los Angeles). The Grito de Dolores (“Cry of/from Dolores”) was the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence, uttered on September 16, 1810, by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores, near Guanajuato, Mexico. It is a battle cry against oppression and for liberation. The album features: 15 tracks with 2 tracks written and performed by both poets, digital download, and an insert with text of all poems, illustrations by Roque Torres and liner notes by George Lipsitz, Paul Ortiz and Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona. The album was produced by Michael Beserra, recorded at Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory, mastered by Deeskee at Weightless Audio, and executed by MultiMedia Militia. More information available at MultimediaMilitia.com.
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“The voice known by the name of Subcomandante Marcos proclaimed that our words are weapons, parts of an arsenal that we may need at any time. On this album, Matt Sedillo and Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara arm the people of Los Angeles and the people of the world with words in rhythm and rhyme, words shouted and whispered, words that wound and words that heal. They speak about stolen lands and stolen lives, about longing for love and losing it, about dangerous dreams and deadly desires. In a world ablaze with hate and hurt, they give us words that can be weapons for struggle, that can provide ways to overcome fear, that teach us, as Guevara says, to stoke the fires of hope and despair and to kiss the flames of acceptance, redemption, and salvation.” -George Lipsitz
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Hailed as “the best political poet in America” and “poet laureate of struggle” by acclaimed historians and journalists, Matt Sedillo has spoken at over a hundred campuses across the United States and on three continents and has received The Joe Hill Labor Poetry Award (2017) and The Dante’s Laurel (2023). He is the author of “Mowing Leaves of Grass”(2019) and “City on the Second Floor” (2022) both on FlowerSong Press. More on Sedillo at www.mattsedillo.com
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Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara is a multifaceted native Angelino Chicano rock & soul musician, singer, songwriter and bandleader with Ruben And The Jets (co-founded with Frank Zappa), record producer of Chicano rock and roll en Espanol compilations, performance artist, poet and playwright, fiction writer, author and activists. His memoir, “Confessions Of A Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer”, (University of California Press, 2018). Guevara was a finalist for the 2019 International Latino Book Awards for Best Autobiography in English. In 2021, the KCET/PBS arts and culture program, Artbound, premiered “Con Safos” a documentary based on six decades of his work. It was nominated for an Emmy and won LA Press Club awards (Lively and inspiring” -LA Times). More on Guevara at www.tantrikfunk.net. Interviews and photos available upon request.
