All Communities Against Brutality (A.C.A.B.) hosting FREE Community BBQ This Weekend

Today, October 22, 2010 is National Day of Police Brutality Awareness. There are several events going on around the Houston area, including tonight @ 6pm @ Emancipation Park. Come out to march, eat, and share stories of how you or your community has been affected by police and police brutality. 

From Oscar Grant's murder by Oakland cops to the severe beating of 16-year old Chad Holley by 8 Houston police officers, there is something to be said about how police work and don't work in our communities.

So, after you get your fill of demonstrating today, come over to Eastwood Park off Harrisburg Blvd (5020 Harrisburg) tomorrow, Saturday, Oct 23, 2010, to eat and discuss solutions and alternatives with A.C.A.B. (All Communities Against Brutality).

FREE EVENT!!!!

3rd Annual East End Cultural Arts Fest 2010

A free cultural arts festival designed to expose quality artistic culture and to showcase the East End to Houston and beyond. This year the festival has teamed up with non-profit SER and the Greater East End Management District to celebrate “Going Green” by highlighting SER’s Green Job Training Program as well as other local green initiatives including recycled art, products and services.

The festival will feature performance zones including a visual arts zone showcasing over forty local artists; a cultural arts zone showcasing spoken word, indie films, dance, and a variety of eclectic music; as well as the world beat zone, focusing on music performances by artists representing various regions of the world. Over 50 booth spaces will also be made available to local artists and green businesses to show case their products and services.

Featured performances include Gitanerias Flamenco with Lucia y Valdemar, Grammy award nominee SisterSister, the conjunto soul of the East End Pistoleros de Tejas and many more TBA. A special blessing by Danza Aztec Teokali is scheduled. The celebration will also involve a silent auction with several Houston visual artists, including Julie Zarate, Lizbeth Ortiz, Christian Navaratte and many more TBA.

Please join us for this special event!
For more information and update on schedule performances, please visit:
www.bohemeos.com


What: 3rd Annual East End Cultural Arts Fest 2010
Where: Tlaquepaque Market, 700 Telephone Rd., Houston TX 77023
When: Oct. 17th, 2010 (Sunday) Noon till 8pm
Admission: FREE

31st Annual Festival Chicano @ Miller Outdoor Theater

The 31st Annual Festival Chicano is a cultural celebration of 31 years of Chicano music from Tejano & Conjunto to Mariachi & Orchestra. It is one of the oldest ongoing events of its type in the world starting tomorrow and into the weekend at the Miller Outdoor Theatre for FREE! Bring the kiddos, blankets, comida, and good vibes- they'll provide the musica of our cultura!
Little Joe & Mazz...need I say more? Nos miramos DH!

Here is the line up running from 7pm- 10pm each night:


Thursday, October 7, 2010
Jimmy Gonzalez y Mazz
Ram Herrera

Friday, October 8, 2010
Little Joe
Shelly Lares
Stefani Montiel

Saturday, October 9, 2010
Latin Breed
Los Palominos

Public Forum on Chemical Security

Texas has more “high-risk” chemical facilities than any other state in the nation.  In fact, the greater Houston area alone has 17 of the top 101 most dangerous facilities in the nation.  These plants are putting millions at risk of a toxic nightmare.  The U.S. Army Surgeon General estimates that an attack on just one of these facilities could kill or injure 900,000 to 2.4 million people.

Come learn about this vital issue and what you can do to help protect our community from a toxic nightmare.

The good news:

Just four poison gasses are responsible for the majority of these chemical threats.  For each of these gases, safer alternatives are available today.  Nationwide, more than 500 plants have switched to safer chemical processes since 1999, thereby eliminating risks for 40 million Americans.

The very highest risk facilities, however, have yet to adopt safer chemical processes. We need chemical security standards that put all high-risk facilities on an even playing field. The current law actually bars the government from requiring safer chemical processes and exempts thousands of water treatment plants and hundreds of port facilities. The chemical lobby wants to make that law permanent and that is unacceptable. 

Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey recently introduced a bill into the U.S. Senate which would go would require the highest risk plants to convert to safer processes where commercially feasible. This bill is now under consideration by the Senate.

Saturday, September 11th, 2010 
3pm- 4pm
Houston, Texas
Rice University--Sewall Hall Room 309.   (Building is near visitor parking).  
http://www.rice.edu/maps/colormap.pdf

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=117113331675588

Books on the Bayou 2010

For the record, we at OurDHStreets, LOVE Persepolis. A must see!! And this event is free!!!
From chron.com- Ultimate East End-

The Houston Public Library invites the community to join Houston Mayor Annise Parker and Houston Public Library Director Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson for the Opening Celebration of the 9th Annual Books on the Bayou: Houston Reads Together program. This year’s selection is “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” by Marjane Satrapi. Mayor Parker’s welcome address is only one of several events which are scheduled to begin at 11 AM thru 5 PM at the Central Library on Saturday, August 28, 2010.

The opening celebration includes a day of Persian cuisine, musical and dance performances, speakers, book discussions, and a film screening of the award-winning film adaptation of “Persepolis” (a French film with English subtitles). In addition, at 1:15 PM there will be a screening of archival footage of Satrapi’s visit to Houston. The Central Library is located at 500 McKinney, 77002, 832-393-1313. The program is free and open to the public.

About Books on the Bayou

The Houston Public Library invites all Houstonians to join together to read “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” by author Marjane Satrapi for the 9th Annual Books on the Bayou: Houston Reads Together program. Books on the Bayou brings Houstonians together to read the same book at the same time, provoking discussion among co-workers, friends, families, and classrooms. This program cultivates a culture of reading in Houston by encouraging people to visit libraries, bookstores, community centers, homes, churches, and schools to discuss the featured book.

Now through September 30, 2010 everyone is invited to attend the many diverse activities that are planned at all neighborhood library locations. There will be book and film discussions, displays, storytelling, and other events. For a detailed list of events visit www.houstonlibrary.org/booksonthebayou or pick up a Resource Guide at any of the Houston Public Library’s 35 neighborhood locations.

Opening Celebration

Book Discussion | 11 AM
Connie Lewis from Houston Great Books Society will lead a book discussion of “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood.” Whether you’ve read the book or are just thinking about reading it, you are invited to join the discussion.

Welcome Addresses | 12 NOON
The official opening of the 9th Annual Books on the Bayou: Houston Reads Together reading and programming series, featuring Persian cuisine, special musical and dance performances, and guest speakers Mayor Annise D. Parker and Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, director of Houston Public Library.

Archival Footage Screening | 1:15 PM
A special screening of archival footage from Marjane Satrapi’s visit to Houston, introduced and provided by Inprint. Graphic memoirist Marjane Satrapi, author of “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood,” was featured in the in the 2007/2008 Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series as a special event presentation on Saturday, April 12, 2008, Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Film Screening | 3:15 PM
A special presentation of the award-winning film adaptation of “Persepolis.” French, with English subtitles; MPAA Rating: PG-13.

For further information, visit the Houston Public Library at www.houstonlibrary.org/booksonthebayou or call 832-393-1313.

It's A Tejano Weekend in DH

From UT:Austin- The Roots of Tejano & Conjunto Music-

The roots of Tejano and Conjunto music are as widespread and diverse, and run as deep, as the traditions, cultures and people which gave them life. The main root is the music of Mexico with all its regional and class variations, its extraordinary range of songs and dances, and its social and religious lyrics ranging from the solo voice to the powerful sound of the bandas from Sinaloa to the highly stylized format of today's mariachis. The genteel polished urban orchestras as well as the often untrained rural string bands, the romantic bolero singers, the smooth as well as the gutsy, male and female rural ranchera stars, the vocal trios, the Jarocho harp music of Veracruz, the Huastecan fiddlers and falsetto singers, the danzon and mambo orchestras, and above all the norteño sound of the accordion accompanying the duet vocals from the North, have all contributed to the sound of present day Tejano and Conjunto music.

The musical traditions of the Tejanos of South Texas and Norteños of Northern Mexico have been influenced not only by the mother country Mexico, but also by their Anglo, African, and immigrant neighbors like the Czechs, Bohemians, and Moravians as well as the Germans and Italians.

These various incorporations and collaborations led to Tejano music, native to Tejas. Names like Little Joe y La Familia, La Mafia, Sunny Ozuna, our reina, Selena, and Mazz brought to life the spirit of being Tejan@.

And in recognition of our Tejan@ roots, this Saturday, August 21, 2010 at Palmers Ice House, DJ tomcruz and DJ Steve Audio will go head to head for

The 1st EVER

DJ TEJANO/CUMBIA BATTLE!!!

The show starts at 8pm and will also include special guests The Saints & Sinners.
Organizer Mike Marron had this to say about Saturdays big show!:

"The Saints & Sinners" have a 5 piece horn section with congas and that the band consists of 11 members which is a rare special treat for music and dancing lovers.The band performs a variety of music from Tejano/Cumbia/Latin/ and Old School R&B Funk music. You hardly ever see big groups like this performing these days!
Every dollar you pay is well worth it and actually you are getting way more than you pay for.
We will be making history in the Tejano World (actually all over the world) and having the "1st ever DJ Tejano/Cumbia Battle." DJ tomcruz hailing from Denver Harbor/East Houston vs DJ Steve Audio hailing from North Side/Houston will be battling it out!
And Special Referee for the battle will be East Sides Own PEPE(Nick Marron)"

Palmers will be showing the Texans Game and having Free Pizza that night.
$7 pre sale tickets can be purchased at Palmers Ice house.
$10 at the door, $8 before 10pm
Palmers Ice House
7315 Lyons Avenue
Houston, TX 77020-5454
(713) 670-7756
Brought to you by SNS Ent.
For more info: facebook.com/mikemarron1
myspace.com/snsband1969
or call 832-668-0067
To Reserve your table call:713-670-7756

Tejano Viva!!!

Feliz Dia de Resistencia! Cuauhtemoc Celebration This Weekend

Versed from WE WILL RISE by Kurly Tlapoyawa
Section 11- The Plague:

On April 21,1521, Hernan Cortez returned to Tenochtitlan, after previously invading and leaving behind a terrible smallpox epidemic, and began to lay siege of the great city- today known as Mexico City. He came with dozens of boats, each one equipped with a cannon. As they entered the surrounding areas of the city, The Mexica- today called Aztec- warriors met the Spaniards in full force. The battles were bloody, fast, and furious; Causing each side massive losses. But the superior fire power of the Spaniards, along with the weakened condition of the Mexica, gave the Europeans the upper hand. Bit by bit, battle after battle, sections of Tenochtitlan were isolated and overrun by Spanish forces.

Then, after mapping the clearest route through the canals surrounding Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards launched their boats from along the side of Texkoko. The heavily armed craft, blasted their way through the Mexica canoes sent to confront them. The slaughter was incredible. The white invaders used war horses, lances, guns, catapults, flesh-eating dogs, armor, cross bows, and their hunger for blood, and thus ensued an 8o day fight that left thousands of Mexica dead.

On August 13, 1521, Tenochtitlan finally fell to the Spaniards.

On our final day as a free people, the young Cuauhtemoc, the last heroic tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, made a declaration to the people and the day has since been declared a Dia de Resistencia or Day of Resistance, for Cuauhtemoc's words promised that a new day would rise for the Mexica people, our ancestors....for us.


This Saturday at Eastwood Park- 5000 Harrisburg, Houston TX, 77023- starting at 6pm- Come honor the resistance of one of our greatest leaders, Cuauhtemoc. We will be reading Cuauhtemoc's last mandate to the people of Mexiko, given originally 500 years ago today in remembrance that through our struggle as a Brown people, we have endured, and we will rise to our ancient knowledge and glory again.

Come for the palabra, stay for the danza!