The day after Reyes I found myself in la alacaldía de San Juan interviewing Draco Rosa, the genre-bending rock-pop singer-songwriter whose career began as a key member of the boy band Menudo, lurched forward into the rock en Español classic Vagabundo (produced by Roxy Music guitarist/glam rocker Phil Manzanera) and has perhaps climaxed with his Latin […]
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This essay was originally published on January 13th by the National Institute of Latino Policy newsletter, which asked a number of Latino opinion leaders across the United States to respond to the issues raised by journalist Roberto Suro in his January 2nd New York Times opinion piece, “Whatever Happened to Latino Political Power?” The “demography […]
Read more2015 was not an easy year to get through in many ways. A lot of troubling signs have appeared on the landscape: Continuing injustice toward people of color in the form of extra-judicial police killings of unarmed civilians, increasing wealth inequality, the Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, the continued threat of gentrification, out of control gun […]
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Just before Thanksgiving this year my four-part investigative series about whether or not Rikers Island prison complex could be saved by reforms or should be closed and replaced by small community justice centers was cross-published by City and State and City Limits. The series covers the cases made for both reform and closure, the history of […]
Read moreGlenn Martin, head of JustLeadershipUSA, an organization that advocates for prison and criminal justice reform, appeared on the November edition of Living in Spanglish Radio to talk about Rikers Island. A prominent source in my recently published four-part investigative series about whether reforms can really work in the Rikers Island detention complex or whether it […]
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On this last show of 2015, I spin tunes from Benjamin Clementine, Liam Bailey, Monsieur Periné, Natalia La Fourcade, Bomba Estereo, Helado Negro, Digitaria, J Balvin, Héctor Lavoe and the weekly salsa segment. I also talk about the Puerto Rico Debt Crisis, Hamilton, as well as alluding to the aguinaldos and coquitos of the near future.
Read moreLara Bello, a singer-composer from Granada Spain, joined me on Living in Spanglish radio to talk about her past work and upcoming album. While she is grounded by her training in flamenco, she is strongly influenced by jazz and African and Middle-Eastern music. We spoke about two of her songs, “Horizonte/Yumma Lala” from her album Primero […]
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On the latest edition of the Living in Spanglish radio show on WBAI-FM, Otura Mun, a Santurce, PR-based rumbero who has also been a producer and beat mixmaster, talks about his new project, IFÉ. Starting with how he was inspired by seeing an old photograph of the 1965 Watts Riots, and describing the 2-3 clave […]
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Donald Trump’s rightist populism may be the harbinger of a new political trend in the U.S.
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ED MORALES 