CHICANO RADIO NETWORK U.S.A. Blog

DEEDEE GARCIA BLASE

 

 

 

TUNE IN tonight Thursday eve at 7 pm Pacific Time!Click here to tune in>>> http://tunein.com/station/?StationId=235787 Our 1st guest on the Que Onda show will be the Chicano legendary musician Rudy Salas — one of the founders of TIERRA! Find out how Rudy and Tierra were involved in the #ChicanoMovement. Tierra, the band named “Best R&B Vocal Group” by four leading magazines including Billboard. They started their career in East Los Angeles with a blend of rock, pop, jazz, R&B and salsa. The result was a Latin R&B rhythm which produced classics like “Together”, “Gonna Find Her”, “Memories” and “Zoot Suit Boogie”. The band’s quarter century commitment shows a dedication that can only be understood by listening to their smooth and soulful sounds. Tierra will be performing in Chandler, Arizona, early October at the Showroom at Wild Horse Pass Hotel and Casino!   Normally Tierra sells out their shows at the Wild Horse Pass, so it is a good idea to get your tickets now!

Immediately after Rudy Salas of Tierra, you will listen to a one minute Deported Veteran message from Hector Barajas.

Our 2nd guest is Jeronimo Blanco who is one of the original founders of the Brown Berets National organization. You will hear some historic and educational information on the brown berets’ role in providing security for Cesar Chavez. He takes us back to the 70’s and tells us about the many death threats Chavez received.

Our 3rd guest is Steven Gutierrez, who is the founder of anti orthoism. With his 35 years of experience as an artist, he tells our listeners what kind of mark he wants to leave on this earth and the importance to thinking outside of the box when it comes to the art world.

Our 4th guest is Mike LePond of Symphony X. Symphony X is making their one month long tour with Overkill. Chicanos and Latinos are passionate about metal music and their tour is one to attend if you love progressive and heavy metal.

 

If you miss tonight’s show on the Chicano Radio Network, you can tune in this upcoming Sunday at 5:00 pm (Pacific Time).

Hosted by Austin Civic Orchestra

Date:  September 20, 2015

Time:  7:30 pm

Location: Long Center,701 W Riverside Dr, Austin, Texas 78704

What happens when a Latin Rockstar joins forces with a Classical Orchestra? A night of Austin-worthy live music at the Long Center featuring the renowned rockstar Rick del Castillo along with guitarist Mark del Castillo, guitarist Jason Gallardo, vocalist Alex Ruiz, vocalist Danny Ortiz, and bassist Jimmy Hartman.

The musicians will be performing del Castillo’s original score for the award-winning film, Killing Snakes along with other Latin and Spaghetti Western themed music. Audiences can expect to be transported to the Wild Wild West through the nostalgic Western music and cool Latin Rock vibes.

The ACO is partnering with Austin SoundWaves to provide complimentary tickets to their students and parents.

 

 

 

TUNE IN tonight Thursday eve at 7 pm Pacific Time!

Click here to tune in>>> http://tunein.com/station/?StationId=235787

Our 1st guest on the Que Onda show will be Ignacio Gomez who is a legendary Chicano artist, muralist, sculptor and designer. He is known for painting Edward James Olmos as a pachuco for the Zoot Suit play. Currently the Zoot Suit image designed and painted by Ignacio is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and it is traveling on tour. In 2004, Ignacio designed, sculpted and painted the César E. Chavez Memorial for the City of San Fernando. Located on 23,000 square feet of land. This Memorial consists of a six foot tall bronze statue of César Chávez, a fountain in the shape of the UFW Eagle, 10 metal silhouette figures representing the March to Sacramento in 1968, and 100 foot long mural of César’s life.  He also designed an 8’ x12’ headstone for César E. Chávez, in La Paz, California.   Ignacio was born and raised in East Los Angeles, California.  His father was an immigrant from Piedras Negras, Mexico and his mother from Zacatecas, Mexico.  A graduate of Roosevelt High School, he then studied commercial art at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.  He worked at McDonnell Douglas to save money to enter Art Center College of Design, now in Pasadena.  In 1966, Ignacio was drafted into the U.S. Army.  While in the army he painted four murals at Fort Ord, California and four at Fort Hood, Texas.  After an Honorable Discharge as a Specialist Five from the U.S. Army in 1968, he returned to Art Center.  While in school, he entered a contest in which two of his paintings were accepted and printed in the New York Times, which led to him having representation in New York.  Ignacio received his B.A. from Art Center College of Design in 1970.

Among many other art works… in 1976, he illustrated a Beatles Album for Capital Records.

Our 2^nd next guest is Humberto Guizar. Humberto is a high profile lawyer specializing in police brutality cases, wrongful deaths, and excessive police force. Humberto is a successful lawyer who has won several multi-million dollar lawsuits. He is not quick to settle and performs his own trial court room work. In fact, he is one of the very few Chicanos whose case went to the Supreme Court.   I invited Humberto to be a guest because I get a lot of emails / requests from folks who want me to suggest to them a good police brutality lawyer. I wish I knew Humberto when a childhood friend of mine (Julie) lost her husband in Idaho when the Nampa Police Department put her husband’s hands in cuffs and watched him die while he was begging to breathe. In light of the recent decision made by Judge Bolton in Arizona’s US District courtroom, I am afraid the culture of police departments will escalate to an environment that allows them to operate in more of a gray slippery slope area.   Humberto Guizar is one I will refer police excessive force cases to whenever a person wants a good lawyer.

Our 3^rd guest is Adam Sandoval of California. He is the founder of AZTUSA (Aztlan combined with U.S.A). He explains the mission and direction of AZTUSA as Chicanos of the next generation utilized social media as a revival and rebranding of the Chicano Movement. Aztusa is commerce-based highlighting the 7 states in our Nation that was formerly known as Aztlan. Aztlan is a spiritual mindset of our region. In the show, Adam talks about the 7 states, and he gives a shout out to Arizona’s Marie, and Texas’ Jesse and highlights their works and performances.

Last but certainly not least we end the show with a bang. Jesse Murphy “Hermosillo” is an Arizona actor and a musician. He is also a hard core lowrider advocate in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, and in our interview he tells us about the films he is in, and the song he created. The song will be played at the end of this final segment, and it is a hard hitting truth reality about the laws such as SB 1070 have had on our people. In other words, Jesse writes about how we will overcome the laws designed to make us feel bad about the way we were born.

 

You do not want to miss this show! Tune in tonight at 7 PM (Pacific Time)!

BRING OUT THEM LOWRIDERS, CUSTOM HOTRODS ECT….LETS SHOW THEM THAT WERE ALL EQUAL AND UNITED!!! There will be a peaceful/March and CRUZIN to the Capitol on Sept. 11th , to Let our government know that the Chicano/a & Latino/Latina community are not what Trump has portrayed us to be.

We are also cruising to the Capitol to show Senator Catherine Miranda our support for anti-racial profiling legislation.

 

‪#‎StopRacialProfiling‬

 

 

 

 

 

 

WINDOW ROCK – The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission announced that it will explore the next phase of activity, Pre-Construction, at Site 1 of the Paragon-Bisti Solar Ranch comprised of 22,000 acres of the Paragon-Bisti Ranch south of Farmington that was selected and conveyed to the Navajo Nation in the late 1980s under the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974.

Site 1 consists of approximately 1,321-acres adjoining the Bisti Substation on New Mexico State Highway 371, north of De-Na-Zin Wash.

The announcement comes after a work session held in August in which NHLC members received a technical briefing on the Feasibility Study for the Paragon-Bisti Solar Ranch from Tetra Tech― a company hired to perform the study.

The Feasibility Study found that approximately 10,000 acres on five major sites are suitable for hosting 2,100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power ― equal to the entire generating capacity of the state of New Mexico. Site 1 could host as much as 290 megawatts of clean renewable power.

The study was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tribal Energy Program, and was completed on June 30, 2015. The Pre-Construction phase includes meeting and recruiting solar developers, surveying, and environmental assessment.

“The Commissioners appreciate the magnitude of this project and we are thankful for the investment by the U.S. Department of Energy,” stated NHLC chair Council Delegate Walter Phelps (Cameron, Coalmine Canyon, Leupp, Tolani Lake, Tsidi To ii).

Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Office executive director Wenona Benally, said the project will set the Nation “on a new path.”

“There is extraordinary potential for the Navajo Nation to develop renewable energy resources on our lands,” added Benally.

For more information about the Paragon-Bisti Solar Ranch project, please click here: http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/pressReleases/2015/Sept/Feasiblity_Study_for_Paragon-Bisti_Solar_Ranch.pdf

By Laura Reston

Republican presidential candidates who want to deport undocumented immigrants en masse, end birthright citizenship, and build a wall along the Mexican border just got some new ammunition. A report released Wednesday by the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that advocates for reducing immigration to the United States, has concluded that 51 percent of households headed by immigrants—legal or undocumented—receive some kind of welfare. “They are creating a significant burden on public coffers,” writes Steven Camarota, the study’s author and the director of research for CIS. “By using welfare programs immigrants may strain public resources, harming taxpayers and making it more difficult to assist the low-income population already in the country.”

While that sentiment is likely to resonate with conservatives, the facts prove otherwise: Native-born Americans aren’t footing the bill for immigrants so much as immigrants are contributing to a welfare system that many of them can’t take advantage of.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 cut back on welfare extended to immigrants. It categorized green card holders and refugees granted asylum as “qualified,” and all other immigrants—including undocumented workers and many people lawfully here in the United States—as “not qualified” and therefore ineligible for welfare. But the law stipulated that even qualified immigrants had to spend five years in the United States before they could apply for benefits like Medicaid, food stamps, or cash assistance for families with children. Since that major welfare reform, some states have responded by providing for immigrants with programs that offer health care to the children of immigrants or pregnant mothers, and a few states—like California and New York—offer nutritional or cash assistance. But those efforts are mostly limited to qualified residents, while all other immigrants are still almost universally banned from receiving welfare.

The CIS study exaggerates the number of immigrants on welfare by using households as the unit of analysis; as long as the head of household is an immigrant, they consider it an immigrant household, and Camarota counts a household “as using welfare if any one of its members used welfare during 2012.” This means that a household with an American spouse who therefore qualified for welfare could be counted as “using welfare.” The same would go for a child born in the United States to immigrant parents. If he or she received subsidized lunch at school, the whole household would be categorized as “using welfare.” As the Cato Institute notes in its critique of the study, that measure is “ambiguous, poorly defined, and less used in modern research for those reasons.” Relying on such mutable methodology let Camarota exaggerate the number of immigrants on welfare to back up the claim that Americans are footing the bill for immigrants.

Groups like The American Immigration Council have long argued that, contra conservative depictions of “moocher,” immigrants have long given more to the welfare system than they take from it. “In one estimate, immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, pay about $90 billion a year in taxes, and use about $5 billion in public benefits,” a 2010 report by the Council found. “In another cut of the data, immigrant tax payments total $20 to $30 billion more than the amount of government services they use.” And a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2013 found that “more than half of undocumented immigrants have federal and state income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes automatically deducted from their paychecks.” Those immigrants are essentially helping to underwrite the welfare system, providing an enormous subsidy to it every year without being able to reap any of the benefits.

Camarota rejects that conclusion.

“We have an immigration system that lets in vast numbers of unskilled laborers. We tolerate illegal immigration,” he said in an interview. “Pretty much everyone concludes that it’s going to be a net drain.” He wants to institute a “selective” immigration system, one that cuts back on the number of immigrants and places an emphasis on allowing only educated, not unskilled, workers into the country.

Many economists would advise against such a plan. From construction sites in Virginia to farms along the California coastline, immigrants provide essential labor in an evolving economy. The Chamber of Commerce report found they are more than twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a new business each month. In fact, immigrants started 28 percent of all new businesses in the United States in 2011. Immigrants pay billions in taxes to the government every year; in Texas alone, they generate $1.6 billion annually in taxes. To deport millions en masse, sending them back to their home countries—to say nothing of Donald Trump’s proposal to uproot American citizens born here—would be economically disastrous.

Source: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/122714/immigrants-dont-drain-welfare-they-fund-it

John Tamny , Forbes Staff

While there’s a lot to criticize Donald Trump the politician about, his business exploits are something to behold. That is so because as George Gilder frequently reminds us, it’s the proverbial “leap” that produces the crucial information necessary to power any economy forward.

Over the decades Trump has taken numerous leaps; some that were very successful, and some that weren’t. The economy gained whether his ventures soared or wilted. If his net worth is less than $2 billion, more than $5 billion, or even the $10 billion he claims, his professional accomplishments have been brilliant.

Still, without questioning for even a second what he’s accomplished in the business world, it’s worth pointing out that he may well be overstating it when he calculates $10 billion after compiling his assets and liabilities. To understand why, it’s useful to go back in time to the late 1980s. It was then that Security Pacific was the fifth largest U.S. bank, and Trump was arguably at the height of his business prominence.

In his excellent 1999 book Dead Bank Walking, former Security Pacific CEO Robert H. Smith recalled a 1989 visit from Trump to the bank’s Los Angeles headquarters. As Smith described it, “When I first met with Trump he had already been heralded as a genius and seemed to be at the leading edge of everything.”

Smith went on to write that “Trump had a Clintonesque aura around him, the effervescent divinity of a studied deal-maker, and a categorical ability to communicate and inspire the belief of others in his personal vision. He no doubt could have been an evangelist.”

Trump sought a $50 million loan ($50M Security Pacific’s “house limit”) to revitalize the old Ambassador Hotel, which was most famous at the time in a macabre way for it being where Robert F. Kennedy was tragically assassinated in 1968. The hotel and the area in which it was located had since cascaded downward but Trump, full of the entrepreneurial confidence that defines high achievers, said he had a plan to revive the formerly great hotel.

Read More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/2015/07/27/banking-history-calls-into-question-donald-trumps-10b-net-worth-claim/

 

Most progressives and liberals have long suspected Donald Trump is a fraud. Thanks to an investigative reporter who has been dogging the Trumpster for over a quarter of a century, there is documentation of his numerous fraudulent acts and behaviors. In addition, there are a number of questions that the media should be asking that would doubtless prove that Donald Trump without a question is a total fraud.

 

Watch Video:  https://youtu.be/pwDZQPLWMjM

David Cay Johnston is an author, lecturer, and investigative reporter who has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting who has presided over the board of the non-profit organization Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. His areas of expertise include tax law, accounting, economics, business and finance. He is also an outspoken Progressive whose thoughts and ideas echo those of Bernie Sanders. Since 1988, Johnston has been watching Trump closely. Recently, he came up with a list of questions that would reveal much about the GOP’s “Golden Boy” – assuming Trump would provide frank and forthcoming answers, as he claims to do.

Watch Video:  https://youtu.be/3dmV4sFe4Fo

For example, how many of our readers knew that Trump was successfully sued by the Attorney General of New York for running an “illegal educational institution”? Students at “Trump University” paid a whopping $35,000 for “Elite” mentorships – but never even saw their mentor. And here’s a juicy little fact that fans of The Godfather and The Sopranos should appreciate: the contracting firm that constructed Trump Tower was owned by a pair of gentlemen who went by the monikers of “Fat Tony” Salerno and “Big Paul” Castellano.

When it comes to charity, Trump doesn’t even donate to his own foundation. Instead, he donates other people’s money – specifically, those who do business with him.

Can you say, “kickbacks”?

It only gets better: Trump was found guilty in federal court of cheating immigrant workers hired to demolish a multi-story building. He paid them less than $5 per hour under the table. He didn’t even furnish them with hard hats. Oh, and all that talk from Trump about how he’s a “self-made billionaire”? It turns out that he had a bit of help from the taxpayers of New York. The mayor of NYC at the time, Abe Beame, happened to be good buddies with Donny-boy’s Daddy, Fred Trump. That little connection got Donald a tax abatement on a mid-town Manhattan property (right next door to Grand Central Station) in 1976. That was the old Commodore Hotel, which today is the Grand Hyatt New York. As of 2016, that little deal that his daddy made for him will have cost taxpayers $400 million.

So much for being a “self-made” billionaire.

Incidentally, Donald – how do you explain the fact that you paid zero income tax in 1978 and 1979, when you were busy remodeling that fancy Manhattan hotel? In fact, how do you explain not being able to pay your bills back in 1990, despite being a billionaire? And maybe you’d like to clarify to voters how you managed to run not one, but four companies into the ground? You want to run the country like you run business?

Heavens help us if that scenario ever came to pass.

At age 66, David Cay Johnston has not lost his edge when it comes to asking the hard questions. You can read all 21 of them, along with more details, right here. However, don’t expect the mainstream corporate media to be putting them to the Trumpster anytime soon.

Chances are, he’d just side-step them or refuse to answer anyway.

Watch Thom Hartmann address the issue of Trump and the mob, and The Young Turks address how Trump’s money was actually made by his father and Trump has actually invested it poorly.

Addition to Original Piece:

Andrew Reinbach, a journalist who published an article in the Huffington Post on this topic in April 2011, sent Ring of Fire an email adding the following information to this piece:

Trump Tower was not built by a company owned by Tony Salerno and Paul Castellano. Trump Tower’s general contractor was, I believe, The Trump Organization, itself. HRH Construction–the firm owned by Salerno and Castellano–supplied the concrete for the poured-concrete building. At the time, that company was the only supplier of concrete in Manhattan.

Salerno also controlled the Demolition Workers Local 95, and Trump had hired a demolition contractor from Herkimer, NY to handle demolition of Bonwit Teller, the old, distinguished department store that occupied part of the Trump Tower site. That’s who supplied illegal Polish immigrants to the project.

There’s no room to store supplies on the reconstruction site of a Manhattan tower, so daily supplies are trucked in from New Jersey on a very tight, orchestrated schedule geared to that day’s operations. Those truckers are of course Teamsters. But in one of America’s strongest union towns, Trump Tower experienced no labor problms, even though non-union labor was used.

So the lingering question has been: How did that happen? The answer is probably Tony Salerno and the lawyer he shared with Donald Trump–Roy Cohn. There is no way a violation of labor peace like this could have gone forward unless someone in a powerful position gave the go-ahead.

 

Source: http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/4662-pulitzer-prize-reporter-exposes-trumps-lack-of-wealth-mob-ties-failure-to-support-charity-and-mu.html

 

TUNE IN tonight Thursday eve at 7 pm Pacific Time for some key #Chicano-led events in California, Texas and Arizona (also known as the Aztlan U.S.A).

Click here to tune in>>> http://tunein.com/station/?StationId=235787

Our 1st guest on the Que Onda show will be Antonio Pelayo. Have you noticed how some in the art community don’t see tattoo artwork as “fine art”? It’s gonna take a California Chicano to change things up as tattoo art was accomplished with much respect and reverence with regard to our Aztec ancestors. Chicano curator and artist via Antonio Pelayo is changing art paradigms as he and Exodus Events are creating a fine art tattoo exhibit via TATUaje. Over 100 tattoo artists will be at this event you don’t want to miss. Our very own hero, Danny Trejo is hosting the event this upcoming September 12, 2015 at the Plaza De La Raza in Los Angeles.

This multicultural event dedicated to the tattoo and the amazing culture that surrounds it. Tatuaje is a 21+ only event and will feature a tattoo themed art exhibit, live concert, live tattooing, live body painting, hot rods, and pin up girls. Partial event proceeds benefit our good friends at Plaza De La Raza, a cultural center for the arts and education

Hosted by Danny Trejo & Bernadette Macias and with a Special Guest Appearance Tatu Baby. The Master of ceremony actor Mike Flores.

Musical Performances
The Walking Phoenixes
LP3 & The Tragedy
The Blackouts

Our 2nd guest is Maximo Anguiano who is an independent writer, creative, public intellectual, mobilizer, and scholar. As a progressive and agent for change, he has been able to use words and the arts to influence populations of people from various walks of life. He has recently written an original play entitled, “The Oppression of the Oppressed” which highlights the harsh realities of the prison industrial complex in modern-day America.

Through rare experiences of volunteering, speaking, and mentoring men of color in prisons, in addition to my formal studies, Maximo has been able to obtain a better grasp of the prison industrial complex. Additionally, several real events have inspired him to write this play including a letter to society by Ray Jasper, the forced confession of Hakim Crampton, and much more. This play is intended to create awareness on mass incarceration in the United States. Key themes of the play are the war on drugs, mental health of prisoners/inmates, disproportionality of Blacks/Latinos incarcerated, solitary confinement, prison culture, capital punishment, socioeconomics, privatization, and more. The play is also entirely based on true events.

The play culminates years of Maximo’s own hard work; however this production would not be possible without the help of people and organizations like those listening to this message. This is truly a grassroots initiative.

We cordially invite you to a stage-reading of the play on Saturday, September 19th 2015 in San Antonio, TX. Information on the show is as follows:

Date—Saturday, September 19th 2015
Time—3:00-5:00PM
Location—Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center’s Museo Guadalupe, 723 S. Brazos St., San Antonio TX. 78207

The reading will be coupled with an art exhibit by Mel Casas entitled, “Getting The Big Picture.” Additionally, after the reading, there will be an opportunity for Q&A with the playwright, community members, and justice-based organizations The script is still in working format in order to obtain feedback, however the style & writing is gripping, gritty, and genuine. Any other questions can be directed to the playwright, Maximo Anguiano. I hope that you will consider this opportunity. I may be reached at 517.262.4571.

Our 3rd guest is Sergio Alfredo Guerrero, who is you the curator of Guerrero Music Archives and he is also part of the board of directors for the Texas Music Museum. You will hear rich Mexican American history with regard to Mexican American musicians and record labels owned by Mexican Americans from Sergio Alfredo Guerrero.

I will have to have him back as a guest on the show because he has tons of information regarding raza in Tejas. Personally I did not know there were so many record labels owned by us until I spoke with Sergio. The TEXAS MUSIC MUSEUM is a treasury containing a unique historical collection that tells the story of the musicians who made Austin the Live Music Capital of the World! More importantly, one can attend this museum with free admission, but if you want to donate to this cause – your gifts are tax deductible!

Our 4th guest is the XIXA band! We want to end our show with psychedelic rock andd roll cumbia and with excitement and rhythm. Band members of XIXA (formerly known as Chicha Dust) are: Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sullivan, Jason Urman, Geoff Hidalgo, Efren Cruz Chavez, and Winston Watson.

On Friday September 4th, on the stage of Hotel Congress’s HoCo Fest, Chicha Dust will be born again as XIXA (pronounced “SEEK-suh”). Tucson’s favorite cumbia band isn’t going away – on the contrary, they are finally bringing it all home. Four years ago, inspired by the sounds of Peruvian cumbia – known as “chicha” – Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan founded Chicha Dust. The band dedicated itself to the exploration of hard edge, guitar-driven cumbia popular in the Amazon and on the streets of Lima.

Surprisingly – or not – the musical roots of Tucson and Peru have much in common. Both are guitar heavy and mix genres from Brazil, Colombia, the Andes, surfing beaches, British rock, and psychedelic jams. After a few years of getting deep into the world of Peruvian cumbia, the band is now writing its own material, cranking their amplifiers louder than ever, and letting their Tucson roots show.

XIXA has a bit less chicha – and bit more desert dust. The material is all original, and reflects the band members’ various loves and backgrounds – but never straying far away from the infectious sounds of cumbia the band is known for. The next few months will be busy for XIXA. Barbès Records (home of the ‘Roots of Chicha’) will release XIXA’s first EP, Shift and Shadow, worldwide in early November, followed by a full-length album, Bloodline, to be released in February 2016. Both will be available on vinyl.

#ChicanoMovement

LOS ANGELES, CA – August 31, 2016 – The Los Angeles Music and Art School (LAMusArt) announced that Hollywood Latina media maven, Bel Hernandez Castillo, President of Latin Heat Media LLC, will present her with the Creative Leadership in Arts Award at their 70th Anniversary Benefit Concert and Gran Fiesta!, on September 12, 2015, in Santa Monica, CA.

“LAMusArt is proud to honor Bel Hernandez Castillo for her dedicated advocacy of Latino and Hispanic professionals in the entertainment industry,” said Manny Prieto, Executive Director, LAMusArt. “Her crucial work to provide a more inclusive and visible path for our East Los Angeles students to pursue creative careers is admirable and appreciated.”

Hernandez Castillo joins a distinguished group of past LAMusArt Creative Paths in Leadership Award recipients that include philanthropists and founders of the National Transplantation Institute, Drs. Rafael and Robert Mendez, film producer and executive, Moctesuma Esparza, and executives such as George A. Ramirez.

“I am honored and grateful to be recognized with this award by such a formidable arts institution which has been serving the youth of East Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and the surrounding communities since 1945,” said Hernandez Castillo. “This is a community I know so well, since it is where I grew up.”

Hernandez Castillo, is an award-winning journalist, author, producer and CEO of Latin Heat Media, LLC, an integrated multi-media and entertainment company, which was founded when the company published the first entertainment trade focused on Latino talent in 1992 (now on the web www.latinheat.com).

Over the years, LatinHeat Media has also moved into producing digital content, theater productions and now film and television; always with the mission to providing platforms and exposure to Latinos in Hollywood. To this end, Hernandez Castillo is the creator, executive producer, and one of four Latina hosts of the TV talk show, HOLA! LA, which has been airing on KCAL9/CBS2 since 2012. On September 20, 2015 HOLA! LA is back with a special Hispanic Heritage Month episode.

Additionally this year, LatinHeat Media launches LatinHeat Cinema, a new online licensing, distribution and streaming platform for Latino content makers, a co-venture with American Latino Theatre.

Giving back to her community is very important to Hernandez Castillo. She is one of the founders of the LatinHeat Media Institute, a nonprofit organization, which utilizes multiple platforms and strategic alliances to inform, educate, connect, and empower Latinos in entertainment by providing the resources and tools they will need. LatinHeat Media Institute will launch its inaugural LatinoMediaVisions (LMV) monthly series on Sept. 17th with the premiere of indie film, Strike One, starring Danny Trejo and Johnny Ortiz. LMV focuses on showcasing and promoting the work of Latino media content makers, in addition to offering entrepreneurial development programs to Latino independent filmmakers.

Through the various platforms under the umbrella of LatinHeat Media, LLC and the non-profit organization, LatinHeat Media Institute, Ms. Hernandez Castillo fulfills her life’s mission of developing, promoting and creating content by Latinos, about Latinos for universal audiences.

The 70th Anniversary LAMusArt Anniversary Benefit Concert and Gran Fiesta! will take place at 7PM, September 12, 2015 at the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica. For more information on this year’s Stars for the Arts Gran Fiesta! and to find out how you can help provide kids access to the arts, please visit www.LAMusArt/org/GranFiesta.

About LAMusArt Award Recipient
Bel Hernandez Castillo is an award-winning journalist, Author and Producer, and the President/CEO of Latin Heat Media, LLC, an integrated media and entertainment company. Since 1992, she has published Latin Heat, the first entertainment trade publication focused on Latinos in Hollywood, now on the web (www.latinheat.com). She is the creator, executive producer and host of HOLA! LA, an all Latina hosted talk show aired by KCAL9 and KCBS2). In 2000, Moviemaker Magazine dubbed her the “Godmother of Latino Hollywood.” She served six years as a member on the prestigious Peabody Awards Board, is on the Business Board of the National Hispanic Media Coalition; and she has been recognized for her journalist endeavors by the Hispanic Public Relations Association, Latina Style Magazine, La Opinion, National Hispanic Health Foundation, National Hispanic Media Coalition, the City of Los Angeles, the HPRA and Women in Theater Festival. In 2012 she received an NCLR ALMA Award for her contributions to the entertainment community and in commemoration of Latin Heat’s 20th anniversary. She is one of the authors of the anthology, ”8 Ways to Say I Love My Life” written by eight professional Latinas who recount the triumph of their lives. The book was adapted into a theatrical production, which Ms. Hernandez Castillo produced and went on to win an Imagen Award in 2009 for Best Theatrical Presentation. Ms. Hernandez Castillo is currently raising funds for the 3rd national tour of Latin Heat Media’s “Veterans: A Legacy of Valor”, written by Enrique Castillo. This Imagen Award-winning production highlights the real lives of four Mexican Medal of Honor recipients, David Barkley Cantu (Army), Macario Garcia (Army), Eugene Obregon (Marine Corp) and Roy Benavides (Army Special Forces). She is married to actor Enrique Castillo and has three grown children and three grandchildren.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Elia Esparza
Phone: 323-501-3717
Email: [email protected]
www.AlwaysEvolvingPR.com

 

Source: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=1d53a21a59758d7e337800796&id=2dbc45e8ea