A pioneer of Chicano rock, Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara performed with Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and Celia Cruz, though he is best known as the front man of the 1970s experimental rock band Ruben And The Jets. Here he recounts how his youthful experiences in the barrio La Veinte of Santa Monica in the 1940s prepared him for early success in music and how his triumphs and seductive brushes with stardom were met with tragedy and crushing disappointments. Brutally honest and openConfessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer is an often hilarious and self-critical look inside the struggle of becoming an artist and a man. Recognizing racial identity as composite, contested, and complex, Guevara—an American artist of Mexican descent—embraces a Chicano identity of his own design, calling himself a Chicano “culture sculptor” who has worked to transform the aspirations, alienations, and indignities of the Mexican American people into an aesthetic experience that could point the way to liberation.
 

A pioneer of Chicano rock, Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara performed with Frank Zappa, Johnny Otis, Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, and Celia Cruz, though he is best known as the front man of the 1970s experimental rock band Ruben And The Jets. Here he recounts how his youthful experiences in the barrio La Veinte of Santa Monica in the 1940s prepared him for early success in music and how his triumphs and seductive brushes with stardom were met with tragedy and crushing disappointments. Brutally honest and openConfessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer is an often hilarious and self-critical look inside the struggle of becoming an artist and a man. Recognizing racial identity as composite, contested, and complex, Guevara—an American artist of Mexican descent—embraces a Chicano identity of his own design, calling himself a Chicano “culture sculptor” who has worked to transform the aspirations, alienations, and indignities of the Mexican American people into an aesthetic experience that could point the way to liberation.
 

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: The Fire and Flames of Funkahuatl, by Josh Kun and George Lipsitz 1
Prologue 16
La Veinte: A Santa Monica Barrio 17
Rubén Ladrón de Guevara Sr., 1914–2006 21
Superman inEse Eme 26
Music and Movie Moments 32
Miss Las Vegas 36
La Gatita 38
Las Vegas and the Breakup of Our Family 43
Sue Dean 49
Miss Hollywood 52
Shindig! with Tina Turner and Bo Diddley 56
The Sunset Strip Riots and My Second Marriage 62
The Southern Belle 64
LACC and the New Revelations Gospel Choir 68
Miss Santa Barbara and the Summer of 1971 75
Frank Zappa and Ruben and the Jets, 1972–1974 80
Miss Pamela and the GTOs 85
Miss Claremont 87
Miss Chino 89
The Mutiny 91
The Movie Star and Miss Blue Eyes 94
Opening for Zappa at San Francisco’s Winterland 97
Con Safos: The Album 99
Pilgrimage to Mexico 105
La Gypsy 114
From “The Star Spangled Banner” to Punk 116
The Whisky and a New Band: Con Safos 120
Miss Aztlán 124
Gotcha! 126
Zyanya Records 128
Cristina, Día de Los Muertos, and Chicano Heaven 130
Born in East L.A.: The Movie 138
Caliente y Picante 147
Performance Art 152
To France withAztlán, Babylon, Rhythm & Blues 154
Validation Crisis 170
Jammin’ with John Valadez 174
Arts 4 City Youth and Trying Again 180
UCLA 182
Journey to New Aztlán 187
The Enchantress 196
América Tropical 200
Miss Mongolia 203
Teaching Poetry 207
Inner City Lessons 212
Teaching at UCLA 217
The Neo-Chicano Tantrik Funk Monk 220
Lust to Art:Mexamérica and Performing at the Getty 223
The Eastside Revue: 1932–2002, A Musical Homage to Boyle Heights 228
L.A. Times Profile of Boyle Heights 231
Funkahuatl’s Absurd Chronicles 234
The Iraq War 236
Cross-cultural Friendships and Protests 238
Manzanar Pilgrimage 246
Yellow Pearl Remix 253
Saving the Toypurina Monument 257
Rock ’n’ Rights for the Mentally Disabled 260
Resistance and Respect: Los Angeles Muralism and Graff Art 262
Miss Bogotá and the X Festival Ibéroamericano del Teatro 264
Word Up! A Word, Performance, and Theater Summit 267
Meeting My Brothers from the Westbank First Nation, British Columbia 270
Epiphany at Joshua Tree 274
Miss Altar in the Sky 276
Rubén Guevara & The Eastside Luvers 289
The Tao of Funkahuatl 292
Release of theTao of Funkahuatl CD in L.A. and Japan 294
MEX/LA 296
Rockin’ the House of Dues and Grand Performances 299
Fifty Years in Show Biz 303
Miss Beijing 306
Miss Monterey Park 309
End of the Ten-Year Sex Drought 313
Seventy and Still Running 315
Platonic Homegirls 317
Joseph Trotter 318
A Boyle Heights Cultural Treasure 320
Boyle HeightsPor Vida 322
¡Angelin@s Presente! 325
Sara Casillas-Gutiérrez Guevara, 1923–2015 327
Staged Confessions 329
The Fall 332
Take Me HigherMi Reina 334