When Brent Beltran and his
wife, Consuelo Manriquez De Beltran, left their work as political
organizers in 1997, the two had no idea they would soon be embarking
on a career as independent publishers and producers.
The two had been working
with La Union Del Barrio, a San Diego revolutionary nationalist
organization, logging countless volunteer hours as dedicated
members when they decided it was time for a change.
"We were at a loss
and said, 'What's the next step?", remembers Beltran, a
29-year old San Diegan. "A good friend of ours and member
of La Union was a writer. We thought his poetry was great, so
we said, 'Why not start our own press?'"
The jump from community
organizers to Chicano literary publishers didn't phase the couple,
who plunged right into production by publishing a book of poetry
by Manuel J. Velez in April of 1998 entitled "Bus Stops
and Other Poems."
Consuelo took charge of
the numbers side of the business -- financial, accounting, promotions,
sales -- while Brent took charge of the day-to-day chores, which
included editing, producing the CDs, managing the website and
handling correspondence. The two were on their way to being publishers.
"We had no business
skills whatsoever," Beltran admits with a bit of a chuckle.
"Everything we did before that was based on our community.
Here we were creating a business, but we had no idea how."
What the couple did have
was the tools and some hard-won people skills. "I really
appreciate having been a member of La Union because I gained
skills: organizing skills and computer skills. This enabled us
to start Calaca Press."
At the end of 1998, Beltran
and his wife found the means to record poetry, spurring them
to expand their product base beyond books and into spoken word
CDs.
"A friend introduced
us to this guy who has an awesome computer with a recording and
mixing program," he says. "It's all digital and inexpensive.
He charged a lot less than a regular recording studio would."
Two spoken word CDs, "Chorizo
Tonguefire" by the Taco Shop Poets and a compilation called
"Raza Spoken Here," followed soon after. Calaca's most
recent release is a spoken word CD, "When Skin Peels,"
by California poets Elba Rosario Sanchez and Olga Angelina Garcia
Echeverria. The book and CDs are rife with bilingualism and linked
by the overarching theme of Chicano self-determination.
Neither poetry nor spoken
word are known for their huge money-making potential in the book
publishing and recording industries, but Beltran has hope that
Calaca's offerings will reach enough customers to keep them going.
"Record stores have
this little tiny spoken word section that no one goes to, but
hopefully as spoken word gets more popular, [larger record stores]
will be more interested in our titles," he says.
