Skip to main content
Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

University of California Press

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
book: Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer
Book
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Confessions of a Radical Chicano Doo-Wop Singer

Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2018

About this book

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 open, Confessions 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.
 

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara is a native Angelino Chicano musician, singer, and songwriter with Ruben And The Jets (cofounded with Frank Zappa), Con Safos, and the Eastside Luvers; a record producer of Chicano rock and rock en español compilations; and a performance artist, poet, short story writer, historian, journalist, and activist.

Topics

  • Publicly Available

    Frontmatter

    i
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    Contents

    vii
    Download PDF
  • Publicly Available

    Acknowledgments

    xi
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Introduction: The Fire and Flames of Funkahuatl

    1
    Josh Kun and George Lipsitz
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Prologue

    16
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    La Veinte: A Santa Monica Barrio

    17
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Rubén Ladrón de Guevara Sr., 1914–2006

    21
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Superman in Ese Eme

    26
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Music and Movie Moments

    32
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Las Vegas

    36
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    La Gatita

    38
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Las Vegas and the Breakup of Our Family

    43
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Sue Dean

    49
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Hollywood

    52
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Shindig! with Tina Turner and Bo Diddley

    56
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Sunset Strip Riots and My Second Marriage

    62
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Southern Belle

    64
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    LACC and the New Revelations Gospel Choir

    68
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Santa Barbara and the Summer of 1971

    75
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Frank Zappa and Ruben And The Jets, 1972–1974

    80
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Pamela and the GTOs

    85
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Claremont

    87
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Chino

    89
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Mutiny

    91
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Movie Star and Miss Blue Eyes

    94
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Opening for Zappa at San Francisco’s Winterland

    97
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Con Safos: The Album

    99
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Pilgrimage to Mexico

    105
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    La Gypsy

    114
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    From “The Star Spangled Banner” to Punk

    116
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Whisky and a New Band: Con Safos

    120
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Aztlán

    124
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Gotcha!

    126
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Zyanya Records

    128
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Cristina, Día de los Muertos, and Chicano Heaven

    130
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Born in East L.A.: Th e Movie

    138
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Caliente y Picante

    147
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Performance Art

    152
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    To France with Aztlán, Babylon, Rhythm & Blues

    154
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Validation Crisis

    170
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Jammin’ with John Valadez

    174
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Arts 4 City Youth and Trying Again

    180
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    UCLA

    182
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Journey to New Aztlán

    187
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Enchantress

    196
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    América Tropical

    200
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Mongolia

    203
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Teaching Poetry

    207
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Inner City Lessons

    212
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Teaching at UCLA

    217
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Becoming a Xikano Tantrik Funk Monk

    220
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Lust into Art: Mexamérica and Performing at the Getty

    223
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Eastside Revue: 1932–2002, A Musical Homage to Boyle Heights

    228
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    L.A. Times Profile of Boyle Heights

    231
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Funkahuatl’s Absurd Chronicles

    234
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Iraq War

    236
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Cross-cultural Friendships and Protests

    238
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Manzanar Pilgrimage

    246
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Yellow Pearl Remix

    253
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Saving the Toypurina Monument

    257
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Rock ’n’ Rights for the Mentally Disabled

    260
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Resistance and Respect: Los Angeles Muralism and Graff Art

    262
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Bogotá and the X Festival Ibéroamericano del Teatro

    264
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Word Up! A Word, Performance, and Th eater Summit

    267
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Meeting My Brothers from the Westbank First Nation, British Columbia

    270
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Epiphany at Joshua Tree

    274
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Altar in the Sky

    276
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Eastside Luvers

    289
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Tao of Funkahuatl

    292
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Release of The Tao of Funkahuatl CD in L.A. and Japan

    294
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    MEX/LA

    296
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Rockin’ the House of Dues and Grand Performances

    299
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Fifty Years in Show Biz

    304
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Beijing

    307
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Miss Monterey Park

    310
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    End of the Ten-Year Sex Drought

    314
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Seventy and Still Running

    316
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Platonic Homegirls

    318
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Joseph Trotter

    319
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    A Boyle Heights Cultural Treasure

    321
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Boyle Heights Por Vida

    323
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    ¡Angelin@s Presente!

    326
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Sara Casillas-Gutiérrez Guevara, 1923–2016

    328
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Staged Confessions

    330
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    The Fall

    333
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Take Me Higher, Mi Reina

    335
    Download PDF
  • Requires Authentication Unlicensed
    Licensed

    Index

    339
    Download PDF

Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
April 15, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780520969667
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
376
View content
https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520969667
eBook ISBN: 9780520969667
Keywords for this book
chicano rock; johnny otis; bo diddley; tina turner; celia cruz; ruben and the jets; barrio la veinte of santa monica; 1940s; success in music; triumphs; brushes with stardom; self critical; becoming an artist; chicano identity; mexican american people; liberation; music; frank zappa; mexican descent; aesthetic experience; american artist
Downloaded on 25.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520969667/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button