Fruko Crowd 1 - La Milagrosa

Joe Arroyo Tribute

Fruko Crowd 2 - La Milagrosa

The final part of our time in Medellin started with a show put on as part of the city’s Feria de la Flores. It was a Fruko tribute to Joe Arroyo followed by a Golpe Golpe show. Hadn’t heard of Golpe Golpe but they’re a big reggae group form Puertro Rico. The show was free, way up a hill in a barrio called La Milagrosa. We pulled up on Robin’s motorcycle to probably a thousand people waiting on the street – the show was full and nobody could get in. We decided the best thing to do was play the Gringo card, and after pushing our way to the front of the line, Robin said we we worked for a magazine from the U.S. and had had our press passes stolen. After conversing for a while, they decided to let us in. Once we got in, we were crushed among thousands of people, a fight got broken up right next to us, beer was being spilled on our heads…music was awesome but it was pandemonium.  So…Robin spoke to the police in charge of the VIP booth, gave them the same story, and we ended up watching the show from the very front, sitting the VIP section. Pretty awesome.

Fruko Crowd 3 - La Milagrosa

Waterfall Josh

Hearing the show was great. Watching the crowd was an amazing experience too. Blocks and blocks of people jammed together watching, shouting along to every word of every Joe Arroyo song the tribute group covered. And every word to Golpe Golpe’s songs. Watching from La Milagrosa, seeing everybody enjoying themselves so much – wow. The DJ played one of my favorite Vallenato songs too - Veni veni  by Juancho Polo Valencia, and people really went nuts to it. Including me. After the show we had some really good Colombian tipica – Arepas and Empenadas – which are basically fried corn dough stuffed with meat and cheese.

Waterfall Medellin

Tienda

Next day started slow, Robin had to record his radio show and I had to get a firewire cable. So I got dropped off at a special mall which was full of technology stores. Store after store of businesses selling a few PCs, printers, cables. Very random. Things in the US we have gotten used to buying online. I felt back at work wandering around among all that technology.

Store in the Hills

After that we visited a waterfall just outside of town, in the mountains above Medellin. We pulled the motorcycle right off of the highway, and spent a few hours swimming in a vibrant green canyon with a couple small cascades. Not bad for right outside of a city of 2 million. On the way back into town, we took a long detour through some poorer barrios outside of the city. Almost getting lost in the hills, we were driving down narrow streets with panoramic views, up until the streets end and become stairs or dirt paths. We had helados at the top outside of a tienda that was playing Cumbias – Andres’ Landaro’s Pava Congona this time- before a pretty crazy drive down, with buses and trucks coming RIGHT next to us as we made our way back into town.

Mujer en Tienda

Stairs

Barrio Houses

That night we went out in Poblado, Medellin’s nicest neighborhood for some drinks, meeting with a mix of extranjeros and locals. After sitting outside for a while, by a beautiful park with a creek running through it that defines that part of the neighborhood, we received a call from a friend who was down the block. Going to meet him soon turned into its own adventure, as he suggested we go to one of Medellin’s main nightlife attractions for locals and tourists. The kind of place we would normally all do our best to stay away from — as one website says — “Sexy models and dwarfs perform on stage and mingle with the crowd against a backdrop of Wild West décor. Not the most obvious ingredients for creating Medellin’s most spectacular club, but it seems to work.” But the friend wanted to go and offered to pay — so across Medellin we went in  two taxis, entrance was paid, an $80 bottle of liquor bought, and a strange experience began. Girls in lingerie, midgets, chippendales dancers. Live Reggaeton cover groups. Spring break style shows. A really weird night I appreciated for its glimpse into Medellin pop culture, but had a hard time enjoying.

No Mas Violencia

Traveling is a mix if things you legitimately want to do, things you think you “should” do and things that locals think you will like. And that was Mangos, said to be the discoteca mas representiva de Medellin. An assault on the senses, not so much conducive to dancing but a distraction from. Like a Paisa (from Medellin) Disneyland. A paisa Hollywood Boulevard. Leading to a night which ended far too late.

The final morning in Medellin, tainted by a legendary hangover, disappeared into a haze of buying plane tickets, dealing with credit card companies and running errands and getting to the airport to fly to Bogota.

We went thursday and did some touristy things. Walked around the Botero statues in the town center. There we were acosted by a group of giggling schoolgirls in purple who wanted pictures with the Gringos. And more. and more. and more. Guess this happens all the time here. We then walked down a commercial strip, I bought some pirated MP3 CDs as we walked through an area filled with any matter of illegal music, porn, watches, religious ephemera, smog and a crush of people. Passed through a church plaza. Great to be back in a large latin-american city.

After walking we rode the Metro Cable up to a Barrio called Santo Domingo. Medellin has invested a lot into its infrastructure recently, working to incorporate some of the poorer neighborhoods into the urban fabric. So the Metro Cable is a cable car serving as urban transport for the barrios up the hill, all poorer. The ride is beautiful with a stunning view of the city. There is a library up top (http://www.guiaturisticademedellin.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=5&lang=en) and a small bamboo bridge. This was my first trip outside of the center, and we chatted with some folks who let us try some local fruit, had a glass of cane juice. And a pretty so-so almuerzo/lunch. All in all a beautiful trip. And on the way down, this little girl had a game for learning english. Was fun at first, but eventually she was banging on keys and the whole way down we heard “Duck” Bear” “Sheep” et al. Pretty funny once we got out of there.

From there, we stopped at  a club where Robin recorded his Prime Cuts radio show and his partner Jeff was musical director for a theatre group rehearsal. The soundtrack is an Afro-Colombian beauty, and was great to hear live percussion and marimba, with beautiful singing on top. The singer from a Medellin Hip-Hop group called Explosion Negra (my favorite song is Son De mi Tierra) is also part of the group. Really dug seeing the community so much of the newer Colombian music I play comes from.

I’m sitting at the bogota beer company with a Candelaria clasica. From LAX to San Salvador to Bogota. Now this connection to Medellin. I’m seeing the names of mp3 downloads and years of trolling blogs for Cumbias and its ephemera screens around me. Barranquilla is in the ads. Bucaramanga in the screen to my left. Cali, Tierra de lindas hermosas mujeres , departs in front of me. Its funny how we can absorb cultural references as just another word to learn, a song title, where somebody Is from …another disconnected piece of this global cultural puzzle we call the internet, and then, finally, can at least begin to bring a smell ,taste, vision and experience to those names.

Something about traveling again after 3 years hustling and running in Los Angeles brings questions of identity to the table. Successful Los Angeles business owner working among the worlds greatest abundance. White Jewish kid from LA with a Spanish-language DJ name and more comfort these days in Boyle Heights than at Shabbat services. Not quite sure where i fit in. The guy sitting next to me on the plane is from Guatemala City and asks if i know Basico 3…another DJ in the global beat scene and dear friend of my dear friend Farah. And of course someone I once met in LA. The world is small. The rhythmic community my blanket.

Random memories of this long travel day

- sleepy from a 2 hour restless sleep ,the plane finally takes off from LAX and at the synths of the Michita remix album project the movement of the plane into my consciousness. Instant smile hits my face.
- landing in San Salvador. Taxing to the gate. And they throw techno remix of “just can’t get enough” on the speakers. Huh? Love it.
- fresh coffee in the airport in San salvador. Tasting better with every sip. Im still on that caffeine rush 6 hours later.
- it hitting me that as my own boss i earned myself a vacation.
- being happy to be in Colombia.

Ritmo pa’ Gozar Vol. 1 by DJ Gozar

Release/catalogue number: 2
Release date: Jun 28, 2010

Eclectica - June 13th - Eastside Luv

I’ll be playing beats along with residents REYES and Glenn Red on Sunday, June 13th at Eastside Luv bar. Would love to see you out there!

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“An eclectic and unrestricted night of roots music that pays tribute to the many genres that have and continue to influence creative generations of the Eastside of LA and beyond.”

ROOTS TO SAMBA
Ecléctica is a gathering place to enjoy great music, delightful people, art, videos and drinks in one of the best spots in Boyle Heights. Eastside Luv not only has the best cheladitas but one of the fattest sound systems around.

Hosted by Lilia from Liliflor and Reyes from Tropico de Nopal

ECLÉCTICA
Every 2nd Sunday
21+ no cover

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residents:
REYES
http://www.tropicodenopal.com/
GLENN RED
http://www.myspace.com/glenn_red
special guest
http://www.jweisscreative.com/dj-gozar/
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Visuals . Art . Music

$5 Drink Specials ALL NIGHT LONG

For More info visit http://www.eastsideluv.com/

Arturo's Wedding, June 2010

My Friend’s Arturo & Michelle got married last weekend at the Heritage Square Museum in Highland Park. I was honored to play a set right after L.A.’s own ‘La Santa Cecilia’ who tore it up in their own right.

Thanks to Jesse Watts for the photo!

PRODUCTION STILLS

EVENTS & DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS

MUSIC & CULTURE

These portfolios will be part of my redesigned jweisscreative.com site shortly – please check back within the month. Inquiries regarding photo work can be sent via the CONTACT link above.

I began my involvement with the teaching of Media Literacy skills. This involved discussing the implications of Mass Media conglomerates and the impact of the content and programming provided by these outlets on the students’ lives and decision-making. We made a list of everything that could be considered media, all come up with by the students, and discussed the content that is consumed from these various sources. We also discussed what it means that a magazine like Seventeen is actually published by Hearst, and what some of the implications of this could be. I really enjoyed that class and the students’ incredible engagement in the material.

I’m doing this work as part of my involvement with the Los Angeles chapter of the Progressive Jewish Alliance and their Jeremiah Fellowship. The fellowship is a social justice leadership program which takes place over the course of a year, and has opened a lot of avenues for me in the social justice landscape of Los Angeles. This is just one of those ways. More to come on these pages about my teaching work and the PJA.

Front

Iglesia, originally uploaded by pd88.

San Pedro La Laguna, 2007.