Athenaeum Mini-Concerts
Gustavo Arellano
Last year author, SDSU professor and Chicano-about-town, Bill Nericcio, and a group of his artsy friends were set to bring Mextasy, a traveling exhibition featuring tongue-in-cheek artwork that identifies and challenges stereotypes of Mexican and Chicano culture, to the Centro Cultural de la Raza. They even had a taco truck ready for the shindig. But the world, or rather Southern California and parts of Arizona, had other plans, choosing to have a full blown blackout and thus killing the party. The taco truck stood empty, which can be considered one of the saddest things in the world.
As a "make-up" for that total electrical buzzkill, Nericcio along with Gustavo Arellano, Daniel Hernandez and Mexi-rock band Los Hollywood are bringing Mextasy back on Tuesday, May 22, to The Front at Casa Familiar (147 W. San Ysidro Blvd.) in San Ysidro.
Nericcio jumped at the chance to get the event rolling again when he and his mex-static cohorts somehow all managed to be in town at the very same time, a feat that has been pretty difficult to arrange. They will each be sharing from their respective books which deal with the results of blending Mexican culture into America and vice versa, whether it be through popular culture, gastronomy or in terms of personal history.
Arrellano will be reading from his book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, Hernandez will share from Down and Delirious in Mexico City: The Aztec Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century, and Nericcio will crack open a copy of his book, Tex[t]-Mex:Seductive Hallucination of the "Mexican" in America. It won't just be readings happening when these three "Mexican and Chicano minstrels" get together, however.
"We're friends," says Nericcio. "So we're gonna be ripping on each other too."
To top it all off Los Hollywood, who Nericcio describes as "like No Doubt from south of the border," will jam out and The Front will screen classic Mexican films on the walls of the space. Though it can't be confirmed, there are rumors that the taco trunk will be there again looking to feed those who were gypped out of delicious tacos last time around.
When asked what the vibe of the night might be like, Nericcio had this nugget to offer: "I don't know what it's going to be like. You just gotta be there!"
It all goes down from 7 to 10 p.m. Click here for further details.
Got any cool events you'd like to see highlighted? Email Events Editor Alex Zaragoza at alexz@sdcitybeat.com. You can also bug her on Twitter.
