What a line up: Culture Clash, Ollin, Zack de la Rocha, Marisela Norte, Dolores Huerta! That’s what I kept thinking as I explained to a friend of mine what kind of show we were heading to. We were on our way to the long anticipated, Culture Clash 25 at Royce Hall, presented by UCLA Live.

“It’s not a play, it’s a celebration of CC’s 25 years,” I told him as we jumped on the 10 west. I imagined it was gonna be like their CC Anthology: 15th Anniversary Celebration. Bits and pieces of all their shows presented to remind us of their older work and to display morsels of shows you might have never seen.

All of a sudden my thoughts go to: mother fucken traffic!! That was the worst part of the night. I hate being late to shows so I planned in advance and left my house at 6pm for an 8pm curtain. But looking at the lava flow of red lights I was a little worried that we would still be late.

I love Royce Hall and felt I shared pride in having Culture Clash perform there. Pero the pinche drive during Halloween eve rush hour. Fuggedaboudit!

We arrived at 7:30 and got parking paid and had tickets in hand. My friend and I laughed at a line of people at the Border Grill taco truck that was parked at the stairs of the hall. Whatever, their food is good if you’re into stuff like that, but a taco truck line of fifty people ten minutes before showtime was odd. Of course my gente arrived late and curtain was held a bit. Yeah, yeah, insert Chicano time joke here.

Inside the hall it was the who’s who of what’s what in Chicano Los Angeles: business men, politicians, actors, directors, musicians, dancers and writers. Plenty of recognizable faces. There were some faces I didn’t recognize that were surrounded by people who did. The energy in the room was exciting.

Finally the lights dim. The show begins.

Our big bad Mayor Tony crosses the stage to a podium and starts off the night with jokingly suggesting he’s there to select a new police chief. The crowd responds with laughter and away we go.

Ollin is introduced and they do a couple of songs to get us in the party mood. Unfortunately, we’re all stuck in our seats.

Culture Clash is introduced and they come on stage take a shot of tequila each and say a few words.

Then Richard introduces his father, Poet Jose Montoya. Some very tender moments happen on stage as the Sr. Montoya jokes a little about his son like only a father can. In his own way he shows us he’s proud of his hijo and all of CC’s accomplishments. Sr. Montoya then take just a few seconds to read a poem that still lingers in my head:

A MOCO POME

And if you see
A moco on my
Bigote -

Don’t suffer
My shame and
Don’t punish
Me with silence…

Tell me about it!

I laughed and imagined how this can apply to anything between two friends. Tell me if I’m fucking up cabron.

Im gonna speed it up a little here and give you a list of some of the acts (I’m not sure if this is chronological):

- Los Illegals sang while displaying a video of cops beating activists during The Chicano Moratorium and the May 1st immigrant marches.

- A Golden Jalapeño Award was presented to CC’s long time attorney and friend, Nina Shaw.

- Carlos Mencia did a great set! He got a standing ovation but I felt he went on too long. My ass was hurting in them old ass chairs. I thought he was gonna be booed offstage a few times for his hard core jokes. I’ve seen Carlos a hundred times in comedy clubs but at an event like this I wasn’t sure how the audience would respond. Standing O?? Wow!

- Father Boyle then said some words.

- Ric Salinas danced on stage.

- Ahhhhh intermission. My ass was almost numb. It was good to stretch. My bud had a flask of JD. We took a few hits and while staring at the line for Border Grill again decided we were gonna go to La Estrella to end the night.

- Second half opens with Ollin again. I love the Boyle Heights Boogie and the La Loma song. But for an event like this I would recommend only one song coming back from  intermission.

- Zack de la Rocha then came on stage. Members of Ollin joined him to provide music as he read his wisdom into the microphone. They created a cool sound.

- Marisela Norte read a poem. What a great voice this woman has.

- Michelle Shocked was a blast of energy. Loved her.

- Big bad Eddie J. Olmos came out and presented Dolores Huerta with a Golden Jalapeño Award. Historic moment.

- Gordon Davidson, formelly of the Taper was also presented a Golden Jalapeño Award. They told a story of how Davidson was the person to suggest to Luis Valdez to write Zuit Suit.

- Richard’s brother, Vincent Motoya, played a couple songs with his bud from San Antonio.

- Some white dude read some cool as poem! I’m pissed I didn’t get his name. I’m not even sure he was introduced but he was funny.

- Finally, Culture Clash hit the stage to perform an abbreviated version of Chavez Ravine. It was short but precise and had just the right pieces in it.

Wow!!! What a looooong night. Montoya said it best right before starting Ravine, “Welcome to the longest night in Chicano theater.”

Seriously though, my ass was hurting to get up and move. But there was one more act. When CC finished they introduced Las Cafeteras!! All of a sudden I have energy again. What a great band! I need to check them out soon. Thank you, good night!!

We walk out and I look at my watch. It’s almost 1:00 a.m.! Really a long night. I had a good time but I really wanted to see more CC. I remembered how much fun I had at their 15th.

Can’t wait to see their next show at the Taper.

Thank you Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza and Ric Salinas for all your years of making us laugh, think and then laugh at ourselves.

Also, thank you to UCLA Live for continuing to include our Chicano/Latino/Mexican culture in your line up.

ps. I ended the night with tacos from La Estrella: Una orchata, dos de cabeza, uno de tripas y uno de buche.