10.01.07 Pieces of Los Lobos' heart - Garfield High School Benefit Concert

Press release is below. Click here to read LA Times excerpt or click here for an older article about the band visiting Garfield High a few years back.

To purchase tickets for the show, click here or call 213-480-3232.


CHICANO MUSICIANS RALLY TO SUPPORT REBUILDING OF GARFIELD HS AUDITORIUM
Los Lobos Headlines Benefit Concert Oct. 14 at Gibson Amphitheatre


LOS ANGELES (September 18, 2007) -- A group of Chicano musical groups long associated with the “Eastside sound” have banded together for a special one-night benefit concert on October 14 at the Gibson Amphitheatre to support the rebuilding campaign of the historic Garfield High School auditorium in East Los Angeles.

The lineup for the Eastside reunion show includes: Los Lobos, Little Joe y La Familia, Tierra, Little Willie G (of Thee Midnighters), El Chicano, and Upground. Additional acts will be announced soon. All appearances are subject to availability and may change.

Proceeds from the concert will be contributed to the Fund to Rebuild Garfield Auditorium. The historic structure built in 1924 was destroyed by fire in May.

Garfield alums and Grammy-award winning artists Los Lobos have been instrumental in organizing the concert. “Garfield high School represents the very essence of what East Los Angeles is all about. It is the soul of the community and holds a very special place in the hearts of the many bands that originated in this community,” said members of the group. “As musicians who draw inspiration from East Los Angeles, we are happy to be a part of the re-building effort. This benefit concert will serve as a celebration of the spirit and soul of East Los Angeles.”

The event is being organized by the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Garfield Alumni Association, promoted by Hot 92.3, and is being produced by AKA Productions. Concert sponsors include LA County Board of Supervisor Gloria Molina, Bank of America and Alta Med Health Services Corporation.

“This concert brings together many of the groups that originated the Eastside sound and continue to promote it to the present day,” said Dwayne Ulloa, of AKA Productions, concert producer/promoter. “This is a once in a lifetime show that brings all these great groups together on one stage in support of a very worthy cause.”

Garfield High School is well known as the setting for the 1988 award-winning movie “Stand and Deliver” starring Edward James Olmos. The school auditorium has hosted numerous awards ceremonies, plays and meetings in its 83-year history.

“We are extremely grateful to all of the artists, Hot 92.3, Gibson Amphitheatre, and the many others who have come together in support of this great event. We are very pleased that the entire community is rallying around this important cause,” Ulloa said.

For additional information about the concert and the rebuilding campaign, tune to Hot 92.3 or www.hot923.com or visit the Garfield High School website at www.garfieldhs.org.

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster, 213-480-3232 or www.ticketmaster.com; Macy’s; Ritmo Latino Retail Center; www.livenation.com, or at the Gibson Amphitheatre box office in Universal City.

Contact: Dwayne Ulloa
AKA Productions
909-920-9000
John Echeveste
VPE/PR
626-403-3200, 212




The below article is excerpted from The LA Times. To read the rest of this article, click here (free account required).



THE arson fire that destroyed the historic auditorium at Garfield High School earlier this year all but obliterated the framed portraits of illustrious alumni that had hung on a now-charred wall of fame. It was as if the blaze had tried to snuff out their identity and achievements, leaving only blackened and blistered images like specters of the success that means so much to this East L.A. campus and its blue-collar community.

Somehow, one of the images survived almost unscathed. It was a portrait of Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, the famed East L.A. band, wearing his characteristic dark glasses and impassive expression, like a silent witness to the destruction. He's not calling it a miracle, but the musician took the sparing of his portrait as an omen for the band.

"It's a calling," said Rosas. "It means we're on a mission from God to try to help."

Los Lobos will do just that next month at a benefit concert to raise funds for the reconstruction of the classic school auditorium that was gutted in the May 20 fire, sustaining an estimated $30 million in damage.

The band, whose original four members are all Garfield graduates from the early 1970s, will headline a bill with other Chicano artists -- Tierra, Little Willie G of Thee Midniters and El Chicano -- representing the classic "Eastside sound" that marked a musical era. The Oct. 14 event at Gibson Amphitheatre also features the legendary Tex-Mex band Little Joe y La Familia as well as Upground, Garfield's hot new upstarts playing a fusion of salsa, ska, R&B and rock.



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