1822 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90026

The third installment of VARIEDADES, a regular performance salon at the Echo in Echo Park, will focus on…ANARCHY!

The bill features the legendary Exene Cervenka of X and The Knitters fame, and founders of East L.A. punk Los Illegals… and on the other end of the generational spectrum, Chicano Son, a collective of young Eastside musicians fusing traditional music and radical politics. The evening also includes Richard Montoya of Culture Clash, interdisciplinary artist Marcus Kuiland-Nazario and the radical poet-techie of Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0 and b.a.n.g.lab, creators of the Transborder Immigrant Tool, which helps migrants find their way to water in the desert. In addition, Iranian-American multimedia artist Amitis Motevalli will present and discuss an original short film.

There will also be special surprise guests—activists and artists all addressing the inspirational, wildly misunderstood, extraordinarily diverse world of anarchy, especially as it relates to Southern California.

VARIEDADES is co-hosted by writer and performer Rubén Martínez and playwright and cultural activist Raquel Gutiérrez, and directed by Colin Campbell. Each edition is focused on a different theme and brings together artists across generations and disciplines.

Background on the “anarchy” theme:
100 years ago, Mexican journalist and revolutionary Ricard Flores-Magón lived in Los Angeles at a time of tremendous political ferment—on both sides of the border. The term “anarchy” had widely divergent meanings depending upon who uttered and who heard it and it was often linked in the popular imagination with violent radicalism—the “terrorism” of the day.

But then there were the anarchists themselves, a motley cohort united only by their belief that a world free of capitalism and government in general was not just a theoretical possibility but realizable here and now. Flores-Magón spent years in Los Angeles trying to do just that, even establishing a commune in Edendale (about a mile and a half north of the Echo where we’ll be performing!) with equitable gender roles and an attempt at sustainable living. For attempting to enact his principles, he was jailed and convicted several times and ultimately died in federal prison.

Los Angeles is no stranger to dreamers and idealists. Across the 20th century and into the 21st the region has been a proving ground for radical and alternative communities of all kinds. And of course radical L.A. is alive and well today—from the Midnight Ridazz deconstructing the auto-distopia of the city with their guerrilla cycle riding to community farmers pitting sustainable agriculture against agribusiness.

VARIEDADES is inspired by the Mexican vaudeville shows in 1920s Los Angeles in which Martínez’s grandparents were regular performers.

Added by la-underground on June 29, 2011

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