Tag Archives: California
Back In The Day
March 16, 2012 — by
If you grew up as a pre-teen or a teenager in the Bay Area in the 1990s, urban radio composed the soundtrack to your coming of age. I hate the phrase “urban radio,” especially when it’s used glibly, but it works best as a wide umbrella term for music that young people listen to in urban areas, like San Francisco, Oakland and Berkley. Rap music (Dr. Dre, Notorious B.I.G), hip-hop soul (Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige), smooth R n’ B (Brandy, Ginuwine), head-strong girl groups (Salt N’ Peppa, En Vogue), and just straight-up freaky-deaky vocalists (Adina Howard, Sisqo) were the beat to every hallmark of my teenage life, whether it was learning to break dance to Soul For Real on a Bar Mitzvah dance floor (where we also first painfully learned to bump n’ grind) or later when we hot boxed our mom’s Volvos in high school while listening to Bone Thugs N’ Harmony. More…
My Pre-Teen Punk Hero: Venus DeBaun
February 1, 2012 — by
Several years ago, a friend made me a mix CD (remember those?) and among the many gems on it was a song called “Beer” by a band I’d never heard of called Unit 3 with Venus. It was a punky new wave song that sounded like it was recorded in a bar and it got stuck in my head forever, mostly because of the vocals, which sounded like a little kid screaming “BEER! Beer isn’t good for you!” over and over. Instant hit. Of course I googled “Unit 3 with Venus” immediately but didn’t find out much, except that they were an LA band made up of a mom, a dad, and their 8 year old daughter named Venus, (the owner of the Punky Brewster voice screaming about beer that I loved so much). They never even released a full length album, just a single and a few songs here and there on compilation albums, but they achieved mild popularity in the LA punk scene of the 80s and were now something of a cult favorite.
Poster Youth
January 27, 2012 — by
La Raza Community Centre offered a variety of activities and support for local youth of San Diego during the late 70s–early 80s. La Raza Silkscreen Centre taught kids the skills needed to design their own posters. Powerful prints!
Teen Connection Theatre
January 9, 2012 — by
Teens connect and make theatre together—workshopping skits, painting scenery and field tripping. In 1986-1988, the Centro Cultural de la Raza community center hosted young productions. The center was co-founded in 1970 by Chicano poet Alurista and artist Victor Ochoa, known as a center of indigenismo (indigenism) during the Aztlán phase of Chicano art in the early 1970s.
Punky and Nose Candy
December 12, 2011 — by
I idolized my cousin Merrie when I was a kid. The first time I ever took a plane by myself was to visit her in LA. She lived in Studio City, and she took me out for Sushi. At the time she was working on Full House, so I had the opportunity to be an ice skating extra. I used my wages to buy my first pet rat, Willie. But I digress.
Before Full House, Merrie worked on the iconic children’s program Punky Brewster. I remember going to visit her at the studio with my parents and getting an opportunity to shake Brandon the dog’s hand backstage. He was well trained. I might have even had a brush with a pre-breast reduction Soleil Moon Frye.
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