Hola gente! Tia Tenopia here welcoming you to another exciting week of Latinopia postings.

New this week we present music and photography. For the musica we go back to the sixties to one of the first Chicano rock bands to score a national hit. I’m talking about Cannibal and the Headhunters and their hit song, “Land of a Thousand Dances.” Now if you’re the age of my dad and Tios, you probably are familiar with, “Naa-na-na-na-na-Naa.”  Well how did Cannibal and the Headhunters ever come up with that crazy phrase? Check out this week’s video interview with Hector Gonzalez, owner of Ramparts Records and you ‘ll find out all about it.  You’ll also find out about how Cannibal and the Headhunters, four singers who grew up in the Ramona Gardens housing project of City Terrace, were invited by the Beatles to open for them for a 17 city concert tour in 1965. Check it all out the Hector Gonzalez interview!

There are few photographers in America who can claim to have photographed such celebrity legends as Dr. Dre, Marilyn Monroe and Michael Jackson while also documenting key moments in the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. But acclaimed photo journalist George Rodríguez has done all of that and more! Over a period of several decades, George was able to photograph César Chávez and the struggle of the United Farm Workers Union. Latinopia features an interview with George Rodríguez talking about this work and showcasing the collection of César Chávez photographs on exhibit at the Farm Worker’s Center in Keene, California .

Now, I must share with all of you Latinopians an email I received from that firme Tejano filmmaker Carlos Calbillo. He was talking about texting and said he no longer uses LOL but prefers instead to use the more descriptive and oh so much more Latino, HQF (Hay que funny). This got your Tia Tenopia to thinking…

..what if instead of OMG we were to use HPD (Hay Por Díos!), and instead of FYI, we could use  PQS (‘Pa Que Sepas) and MRDC (Me reí de carcajadas) instead of LMAO, and DV (de volada) instead of ASAP, and , of course, instead of BTW, you could use HDE (hablando de eso)  Well, I think you can see where this is going.  HDE, any more ideas out there?  Bueno, PQS your Tia has to be going DV so you all can get to this week’s videos!

Abrazos, Tia Tenopia