Jet Blue
By Falling James for The LA Weekly
Rubén Funkahuatl Guevara’s musical career is so extensive, it’s virtually impossible to boil it all down into one short paragraph. What’s more, his long and varied back story is so stellar, it reads almost like the plot of a surreal movie. He’s perhaps most widely recognized for his collaborations with Frank Zappa, bringing to life and making real what had previously been Zappa’s fictional doo-wop parody Ruben & the Jets. But the Boyle Heights native’s roots extend all the way back to 1965, when he appeared with Bo Diddley and Tina Turner on the pop television show Shindig! In the ’80s, he reinvented himself as a Chicano activist, fronting the influential band Con Safos and working as a promoter to champion Latin-punk groups like the Plugz and the Brat and such rock en español comers as Tijuana No! Guevara’s own music has moved restlessly from his early days as a blues, R&B and doo-wop stylist into stranger, freakier explorations that draw upon jazz, funk and his extensive spoken-word experience.
This magic medicine man is back after too long of an absence with a new album, The Tao of Funkahuatl, which draws upon all of his varied personas, from the funky downtown grooves of the title track and the spoken-word insights of “La Virgencita de Boyle Heights” to the cool blue introspection of “The Eyes of God.”
Continue Reading...The Tao of Funkahuatl Now on iTunes
Click here to sample and purchase The Tao of Funkahuatl from the Apple iTunes store and watch this space for demo tracks and videos coming soon.
Continue Reading...The Tao of Funkahuatl = Tantrik Funk
The Tao, or, the way of Funkahuatl is the merging of spirit, sex, funk, and soul on the path to the Beloved while living your life as a work of art. Tastes of Tantra, Taoism, Sufism, Pachukismo, the Sixth Dalai [“Lover”] Lama, and Rhythm & Blues, tantalize. You know Marvin Gaye advised and pleaded, “We gotta get down and share some sexual healing”. So, let’s dance and love our lives away to some soulful Tantrik Funk. Listen to my songs of lust, love, and light. Let them take you away on a sensual flight beyond day, beyond night. To a place where sex is sacred. To a place where love is God…Say what?
-Funkahuatl (The neo-Aztek deity of Tantrik Funk)
Continue Reading...“THE TAO OF FUNKAHUATL” CD Drops on 3/20/11 “Amazing artistry” – Anthony Valadez, DJ, KCRW
Song list after the jump. 1.) LA VIRGENCITA DE BOYLE HEIGHTS 2.) AT THE EASTSIDE LUV 3.) SACRED HEARTS 4.) FLESH & BONE 5.) THE EYES OF GOD 6.) WHEN I WAS YOUNG 7.) CRAWLIN’ IN LUST, LOVE & LIGHT 8.) THE TAO OF FUNKAHUATL
Continue Reading...Concerts
THE TAO OF FUNKAHUATL
“Freaky, funk, rock, jazz, and spoken word by a magic medicine man” -Falling James, LA Weekly
“Amazing artistry” -Anthony Valadez, 89.9 FM KCRW, Los Angeles
“Funky and deliciously delightful” -Dave Marsh, The Loft (SIRIUS, Satellite Radio)
“Fearless and transcendent” -Vincent Ramos, (Curator, Vincent Price Museum)
RUBEN GUEVARA & THEE EASTSIDE LOVERS
Ruben Funkahuatl Guevara/Vocalist/Composer (Frank Zappa, Ruben and The Jets, Con Safos); Steve Alaniz/Tenor Sax (Stanley Clarke); John Avila/Bass (Oingo Boingo); Ramon Banda/Drums (The Banda Brothers); Bob Robles/Guitar (Jackson Browne, Thee Midniters)
Plaza de la Raza
Closing for The End of the World graff art show by Chaz Bojorquez
3540 N. Mission Road
LA (Lincoln Heights) CA 90031
January 31, 2013, 8PM
Free
House of Blues
Los Lobos
West Hollywood, CA
Sunday, December 19, 2010, 9pm
$30
Tropico de Nopal Art Gallery
CD Release Party
1665 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles (Echo Park) CA 90026
March 20, 2011, 9pm
$10
A Night at the Phillips Music Company: A Tribute to Boyle Heights
Hiroshima, Little Willie G. (Thee Midniters), East L.A. Taiko, Ersi Arvizu (El Chicano), Ollin, La Santa Cecilia, Ceci Bastida, Ruben Martinez, Marisela Norte, George Sanchez. Curated by Josh Kun
Grand Performances/California Plaza
Downtown, LA
Saturday, August 27, 2011, 8pm
Free
ADELANTE! Mexican American Artists: 1960s and Beyond (Including Cheech Marin’s Collection)
Forest Lawn Museum
Glendale, CA
Thursday, September 8, 2011, 6pm
Free
MEX/L.A. “Mexican” Modernism (s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985
Pacific Standard Time Series
Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)
628 Alamitos Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90802
Sunday, December 4, 2011, 3pm
Free
50TH ANNIVERSARY AS A RECORDING ARTIST
The Eastside Luv Bar
1835 E. First Street
Los Angeles (Boyle Heights), CA 90033
Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 9pm
$8
Continue Reading...The Tao of Funkahuatl
"Amazing artwork...
amazing artistry!"
- Anthony Valadez, KCRW 89.9 FM Los Angeles"Funky and deliciously delightful!"
- Dave Marsh, The Loft (SIRIUS Satellite Radio)Buy Your Copy Today!
Download
Ruben Guevara
To some, Rubén Guevara (sometimes referred to as Rubén Funkahuatl Ladrón de Guevara) is most important as the man behind Ruben & the Jets, the real group that followed in the wake of the 1968 Frank Zappa album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and left behind two of the finest rock & roll albums of the early to mid 1970s. But Guevara is so much more...-
Albums
