We iz in your interwebbies, honoring your calacas.
♥Thanks again to Rio+Rene+Crew for having us as his models for this year's event!!
Sooo stoked to be in this flyer!! With the hella breezy -La Moussy- Mayra Ramirez and I, doing our calaca thing. Bien super fly with our make-up session, y todo.
Rene y Río worked their magic.
Friday, Oct. 8th
6PM-9PM
$5.00-$10.00 Sliding Scale
Featuring Contemporary Chicano Music by singer Liliana Herrera & guitarist Jose Roberto plus a special performance by Tania Llambelis & the Oakland Improv Collective. Artist Market of Dia de los Muertos crafts and art for sale in our Lobby.
So mark your caledars!! and check +info here: Rio Yañez | Honoring Revolution with Visions of Healing
I'll remind+repost you all of this fantastic local event again this week =)
++++++++++++
In the meantime here are some more fotos.
La Moussy, el Rio, fotos, bicis, some coffee, flores and even some fancy drinks thanks to Rene.
That's how we roll.
♥xxo.m
bici calacas
bien classy. sup sassy
una riding skull
time for make-up. ta-da. Mayra brought the goodies and to-dos, green lashes, black glitter ADM. SMFF
poster shot
rio at work. with la moussy.
rio at work. with la meligrosa.
and this picture above by Rio "Meli and Mayra"
Meli,
ReplyDeleteWOW !! Great post.
Just really awsome.
Cheers,
Jon C
That is so cool - you both look gorgeous in the shoot!! I love the bici calacas :)
ReplyDeleteDamn. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteKickazz poster!
Awesome!! The photos are fierce, I love it! Wish I were in San Fran and could attend! S.
ReplyDeletewow, that looks like a lot of fun! and you two look lovely! even though i couldn't tell for a minute which one was you (execpt she was wearing pants and not riding your bike!)
ReplyDeleteque linda, i love that mayra is wearing fe as well, she'd be happy to see her sporting her ropa.
ReplyDeleteGreat make-up job!
ReplyDeleteToo cool - wish I could be there!
ReplyDeleteYUCK!
ReplyDeleteI don't like it.
Making the beautiful ugly is not cool or awesome, it's the sign of fundamental and deep rooted disorder.
I hope that there is room for a diversity of opinion here...will someone please explain to me what I am obviously not getting about this?
(just one guy's opinion; clueless philistine that I apparently am)
♥gracias all --- thanks so much for all your comments, was a blast of fun to collab with such beautiful peeps and can't wait to check out the show this Friday!
ReplyDeletexxo.M
Andre/ the Day of the Dead roots back to pre-hispanic times and though it is a Mexican celebration, it is observed in a vast majority in Latin/SouthAmerica. When in doubt, your friends at google and wiki are there to help.
Some of us have deep, sentimental connections with this day, and by plainly calling it ugly is rather unmannerly.
And while we are still here and miss those whom have already departed, it is a festive and colourful celebration honoring both life and death.
OK..I think you nailed it..it's the "honoring death" part that I don't dig.
ReplyDeleteI see enough of that impulse permeating the popular culture more and more all around us (it's the sheepish, "me-too" boosterism of it all that I find particularly chilling). Citing its roots in the homicidal blood soaked human sacrifice culture of pre-Lady of Guadalupe Mexico does not endear it to me, either.
I'm sorry if I offended, that was not my intent...I was just trying to be real and call it as I see it: I mean, after all, come on...it IS ugly.(isn't that partly the point?). If we've lost our ability to truthfully state the obvious, then we are really screwed.
I'll get off my soap box and go sit in the corner and shut up now, but it moved me negatively enough that I felt the need to say something, even at the risk of striking such a rude jarring note in the echo chamber.
That having been said, I have to admit, the bike looked pretty cool...
AMAZING!!!! saluditos desde Lost Angeles.
ReplyDeleteNearly every culture that has existed has accepted death as a vital part of life. Americans choose to deny it, reject it, we forget those ancestors on whose shoulders we stand, without whom we would not exist. We are obsessed with youth, we pretend that we will not die, and in doing so, we demean the precious and ethereal nature of life. And we miss it's pure joy.
ReplyDeleteIt is the narcissistic culture of breast implants, botox treatments, lip implants, literally human disfigurement, that I find truly horrifying.
Aside, though, from the baggage, I still find it beautiful at "face" value. ;) It's just makeup, dude.
Sorry about last night's rant...it was partly the result of too many adult beverages on a synaptic system unaccustomed to such overindulgence.
ReplyDelete"The wines were too various...it was neither the quality nor the quantity that was at fault. It was the mixture. Grasp that and you have the root of the matter. To understand all is to forgive all."
Meli, riding my bike to work this morning I I saw you waiting at a bus stop on Filmore. I considered dropping to my knees and begging your forgiveness, but you had a cup of coffee in your hands and I knew better than to get between you and your morning fix.
Andre,
ReplyDeleteNice try trying to kiss ass back onto Meli's good side. Your comments regarding Hispanic heritage aren't exactly going to win you any favors on this site. You somehow managed to offend an entire culture of people in just a few sentences by calling their traditions ugly.
What were you trying to prove anyway? Only thing that you've proved is 1) you are ignorant towards cultures you don't understand and 2) you stalk Meli on the bus
Oh and don't blame it on alcohol that's what alcoholics do. Just looks to me like you were trying to be an internet badass. Next time think before you click send.
Bill E,
ReplyDeleteYou raise a lot of interesting points (none of which I would substantially disagree with).
My initial negative reaction though was purely aesthetic. What I couldn't understand (still don't)was what exactly it was about taking an otherwise attractive young woman and painting her up to look like a desiccated corpse that would qualify in someone's judgement as "amazing". A little creepy maybe, but "amazing"?
It was only afterwards, in my slightly inebriated state (OK, more than slightly) that I began to associate this in my mind with the general trend in our society to embracing, on all levels, a culture of death and a general aesthetic of ugliness (yes, I am a fun drunk!)...a little over the top, to be sure, but there are serious issues involved, although, of course, this is probably not the best venue in which to address them.
In parting, and in more direct response to your comments, let me just say that while I agree with you about the general American tendency to deny the existence and inevitability of death (a not completely unhealthy approach by the way, tied as it is with what was once the characteristically American spirit of optimism; now sadly fading)I can not buy into the "Death is just a part of living" school of thought. Death, by definition, is not a part of living, it is in fact the absence of living. Wrap it in flowers, and dance in the streets dressed as a skeleton all you want, but no matter how you try to pretty it up,and make it your pal, it still sucks.
It gets better or worse, of course, depending on your general metaphysical outlook. If you are a secular humanist, then it sucks on steroids, because for you death is the brick wall at the finish line of a 100 mile an hour drag race.
It gets a little better for a theist, but even for them death is an evil and an enemy, something to be overcome, not embraced.
Bottom line; it ain't just make up, dude; it's either the end of Everything or the beginning of Everything, and there is a lot more that could be said about it, but having already tarried far too long in the territory of Bloviating Pinhead (besides being still a little hungover) I'm going to slip back into a comfortable cocoon of good ole American denial for awhile and head downstairs to the cafe for a cup of tea.
Cheers.
Whoa Alex, chill dude! Sounds like you are the one that needs a drink.
ReplyDeleteI'm not particularly interested in trying to win any "favors", just expressing an opinion (you know, the public square, marketplace of ideas, and that whole quaint old fashioned freedom of speech thingie?)
Yeah, I was shooting from the hip,just thinking aloud (but perhaps not "allowed") clicking off a quick visceral reaction to something I saw on the internet (gee, that doesn't happen much on the blogsphere, does it?)...you know, sort of like what you just did.
I wonder if, rather than just hurling out insults, you would be capable of a calm, reasonable discussion?
Andre,
ReplyDelete"My initial negative reaction though was purely aesthetic."
Really? So where does this ignorant comment (and it is ignorant, make no mistake about it) fit in?
"Citing its roots in the homicidal blood soaked human sacrifice culture of pre-Lady of Guadalupe Mexico does not endear it to me, either."
I guess some people just can't appreciate beautiful female calacas. For that we can feel sorry for them...
ReplyDeleteFidel,
ReplyDeleteYes, that was a poor choice of words, I admit. It was unnecessarily and crudely provocative. I wish I hadn't said it that way.
What I had in mind was modern customs that arise out of pre-Christian pagan cultures in general, not specifically aboriginal Mexican culture. Many of them had really dark and brutal
origins.
It did not mean to paint with such a broad brush and imply, as I can see now that it quite easily could be interpreted that I did, that all of pre-Christian, specifically Aztec and related cultures, were through and through "homicidal".
I was speaking specifically about the ritualized institutional religious culture of that civilization. It is my understanding , and please correct me if I am wrong, that by sheer raw numbers alone, the scope of ritualized human sacrifice in that culture is unparalleled in human history. I am not aware on any counter-example to contradict that understanding.
If you are,please provide it to me (cite sources please).
That is, of course, ancient history, and a modern day descendant of those people should feel no more personal shame or responsibility for what happened in those times than I, a Euro-mutt, should feel about the witch-burnings of the early modern era in Europe or the slaughter and enslavement of German tribes by the Roman Legions.
It is all part of the common human inheritance. All cultures have their episodes of glory and all cultures have their shameful aspects too.
I would like to say more to you about this, because I respect and take seriously your objection, but unfortunately I have to be somewhere right now.
I hope this helps.
My apologies for any misunderstanding.
Gorgeous as always <3 I love that little top tube cover - so cute! I hope the event goes well :)
ReplyDeleteAndre,
ReplyDeleteI'm fine, just calling you out on your BS. Sometimes trolls need to be put in their spot.
Don't really approve of people running around bashing other cultures.
gorgeous pics! <3 dia de los muertos. did you do your own makeup? iz very niice.
ReplyDeletei'm going all out this year after seeing inspiring calacas. hugh & mati's were great too, painters that they are.
btw: when a close family friend Gil Lopez passed a decade ago, through the terminal stage he found incredible joy in the beautiful rituals, festivity and beliefs of DoD. he decorated with many colorful and funny paper cuts, ate skull shaped sweets, remembered those who had passed and knew he'd be remembered. he sought solace in the belief that life should be celebrated and that death is a part of life, part of a larger cycle. i'll definitely remember him on DoD.
And alas, Horatio, why is it that the image of Hamlet speaking to the remains of poor Yorick one of the most resonant images in all of Western literature? Was Shakespeare a deeply disturbed individual? Perhaps. Are we all deeply disturbed for appreciating that imagery? I think not. Nobody wants to hit that wall at the end of the race, but....
ReplyDelete"Let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come."
Alex,
ReplyDeleteAgain with the insults?
Is that really the only note in your repertoire?
I asked if you were capable of a calm, reasonable discussion. I can only infer from your mean-spirited response that your answer is "No".
Ah well, to each his own...
Let me just add that it is a sad commentary on the state of our discourse today when to simply cite a historical fact about a culture (one which no historian denies as factual)is considered as "bashing" that culture. What a sadly impoverished and illiberal approach to history.
"..you are ignorant towards cultures you don't understand.."...well, uh yes (d'uh!), who isn't? Isn't that just a tuatology: I don't know what I don't know? Gee, thanks, that's very helpful. Isn't that the whole point of asking questions in the first place? Exactly in order to find out that which we do not know?
In the future, Alex, try to remember that an insult is not an argument, it is merely the admission that you have no argument.
Bill E,
ReplyDeleteTouche!