1Voice Summer 2019

Moderator Diane Velarde-Hernanadez with former
staffers Arturo Flores, Sergio Hernandez and
Rudy Salinas, and filmmaker Jimmy Velarde.
Con Safos Screens
at Lummis Kickoff
50th anniversary of seminal
Lincoln Heights magazine
Lummis Days opened with Con Safos: Reflections
of Life in The Barrio, a look by writer,
producer and director Jimmy Velarde at a seminal
Chicano publication born in Lincoln Heights during
the late 1960s.
Con Safos published eight issues from 1968
to 1972, turbulent years punctuated by student
Blowouts and the Chicano Moratorium. “What we
had was not polish, but we were hitting the right
nerves,” said collaborator Gilbert “Magu” Lujan.
During its run, Con Safos helped launch a
generation of Eastside writers and artists, including
photographer Oscar Castillo, painter Beto de
la Rocha and poet Mario Suarez.
youtube.com/watch?v=s_UVMmmEMQk
Bohemian Rhapsody
in Sycamore Grove
NELA celebrates Charles Lummis’ cultural
legacy with a broad brush, from film
screenings to juggling swords.
Charles Lummis could have taken the train
when he set out from Cincinnati to L.A. in
1884. Plenty of people did. But not Lummis, who
walked to his next job, and wired reports from
the 3,507-mile journey to his new employer, the
L.A. Times.
Lummis was just warming up. He soon became
the Times’ first city editor; built a home in
the Arroyo, followed by a museum on the hill; and
is credited with both drawing leading lights to a
city still rough around the edges, and showing
respect to Native cultures and rights.
Every spring, Lummis Days Festival organizers
Juggler Scot Nery laughs
in the face of death.
Poetry drew a large crowd to Lummis’
home, El Alisal, on Sunday morning.
aim to reflect that diverse cultural outlook. The
14th annual gathering blended a Tongva invocation,
a documentary film about a pioneering Chicano
magazine, and a contortionist whose signature
acts include juggling pancakes in a hot skillet.
“A broad cross-section of talent on the stage
draws a broad cross-section of the community to
the park and film showing,” said Eliot Sekuler.
Big bands like the Evangenitals, above, and Mariachis
Lindas Mexicanas draw big crowds.
The light was to die for in
the Southwest Museum.
4
ARTS & CULTURE
Photo by Lisa Weingarten
Each Noisemaker is Forged in Fire
Photo by Eliot Sekuler
Every year, the Lummis Days festival
honors a cultural warrior mers out a unique Noisemaker in her
from scratch every year and ham-
in the community. Tomás Benitez Sycamore Grove forge. Uniformity?
proudly claims he “was born and That’s for the Oscars!
raised in front of a TV set in East Each award has four parts: a
L.A.,” but this year’s “Noisemaker” steel tree made from pipe and tubing;
a brass gong with Charles Lum-
says his mother nurtured his love
for the arts. He became an actor mis’ face; a plaque with the recipient’s
name and year; and a striker
and writer, followed by leading
roles at Self-Help Graphics and for the gong that McLarty often
Plaza de la Raza.
personalizes. She created a baseball
bat for Dodger fan Benitez,
Benitez is the sixth recipient of
an award that also breaks the mold. and has also used a toy xylophone
Blacksmith Heather McLarty starts Continued on page 8