Despite the interview with Julieta Venegas falling through, one of my proudest moments from the festival came with working on this story about Latina artists at Outside Lands. As those of you who know me are aware of, my main responsibility at the Daily Journal is to cover sports. But I love music, in particular, Latino artists that influence me every day. Opportunities like the one that presented itself at Outside Lands are priceless — and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what my side project would be this year. Picture below is that of Ana Tijoux, who I talked to on Saturday, being interviewed by Union Rockera (who are some of my new found friends).
I made some new friends working on this piece. The guy in the photo is Rocky, or Ricardo, from Union Rockera. Cool cat. He works with a woman named Cinthia (I hope that spelled right). There was another friend, DJ Juan Data, who was there covering Latino artists as well. Very friendly people who I hope to work with in the future.
I put the finishing touches on the story on Monday, and it came out on Tuesday. An excerpt from the article, if you may:
Standing a smidge above 5 feet, a petite Anamaria Merino, better known in the Latino hip-hop scene as Ana Tijoux, stepped out onto the Twin Peaks stage at Outside Lands.
Imposing? No. But that changed very quickly.
It didn’t take very long, maybe a couple of bars, for those who at first asked, “Who is this? What does she sing? Is it true she raps?” to realize that San Francisco had in its midst a special kind of talent.
Outside Lands, the music, food, art and wine festival has come and gone now, but it didn’t leave without allowing the Latina to leave a lasting impression.
And that wasn’t just Tijoux’s doing; when the lineup for the 2011 version of Outside Lands was announced, fans of Latin American music, in particular the female genre, must have been thrilled — not only were they getting the future in Tijoux and Ximena Sariñana, but the current queen, Julieta Venegas, was performing as well.
So, why was it one of my proudest moments though? Well, for two festivals now, I’ve been trying to find my way onto the Outside Lands’ PRESS page. It’s where they post some of their coverage. Two years now, I’ve sent in my review, two years, nothing. This year, with my Latina story in, I made the page. Smiles, all the way around. Including me. Haha.
One thing before I finish this one up, Ana Tijoux will be in town on September 11 as part of a Nacional Records card that includes Los Amigos Invisibles and Nortec Collectivo. They’ll be at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. It’ll be well worth your time. Like I’ve mentioned before, she puts ALL of today’s female MCs to shame/school. Cannot wait to see her again.