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CD review: The Taco Shop Poets, Chorizo Tonguefire, Calaca Press

From The San Diego Reader 2/3/00

War-town San Diego / now cultural mecca in Aztlán / has become crossroads for mestizo tonguefire / has become crossroads for taco shop culture / has become crossroads for chorizo tonguefire. So say/chant/recite/intone the Taco Shop Poets...hotter than 10,000 pottery, 'scuse me, poetry slams...hey...wow...when was the last time anyone, in words, took San Diego so seriously?

In "Geograf a con Mingus," they're in Cuernavaca with Charles Mingus, who took the Big Murphy there in '79 (death: dig: Lou Gehrig's Disease: amyotropic lateral sclerosis) (or was it Huntington's chorea?) (dunno: dead)... "a blazing harmony / and a million happy moons appear / in our sky / to look at the rainbow petal / blossoms of our land / and I can hear Mingus say / 'Let my children hear Music' "...hey, that's an album (Columbia CK 48910)!

The Taco Shop Poets are a community-based poetry and music collective founded in 1994. Four poets, born in such places as Mexico City, Oakland, and Iquique, Chile, ably assisted on this recording by bass, drums, and flute...hey, it's okay.

The Taco Shop Poets have a free show at Grossmont College tomorrow at 7 p.m. in room 220. For information, call 619-644-7690.

--Richard Meltzer [Blurt]

© 2000 The San Diego Reader.