S2E2 Ghosstek (Part 1)

In this week's episode, special guest host Ghosstek joins in on the chisme, laughs, discussion, and everything in between. We talk music, giving back, growing up in LA, and politics. The chisme is so good that we broke it down into two parts. Enjoy! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Hello, welcome to Teasement Out Loud, where we're out, we're loud, and we love to talk.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Today I'm here. I'm really excited because we have a great guest for you guys all today. And I'll let him introduce himself.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Hello, everybody. My name is Joshua Campos. Also, um, I am a DJ producer and I go under as Ghost Tech. Um, it's G-H-O-S-S-T-E-K, and I'm also a barber. So um I'm Edlin's barber, and um uh yeah, oh, and I also started a nonprofit.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

So yes, a lot of great things. A very busy B jack of all trades.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

I was like, Yeah, the Jack of the Josh of all trades.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Oh, that's perfect. Yeah, solid.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Because they say Yeah, they say the Jack of All Trades, but the masters of none. But like, nah, dude, Josh got these locked down, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Master of all.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, I try to, I try to, at least know things, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so yeah, tell me a little bit about yourself. Like growing up, where where did you grow up? Are you um how did you first start getting involved in in all these things? Kind of like how did your your journey first start?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

So and I was in context, I was born and raised in Boyle Heights, that's what I tell people. But technically, I was actually born in the city of Montebalo because I found out later that my parents um had me at the famous, the infamous actually, uh Beverly Hospital in Montebalo.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Oh, the right I thought you were gonna say White Memorial.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

I usually hear White Memorial Yeah, White Memorial is in Boyle Heights. So my brother and sister Well, yeah, my brother and sister were born there, and like all my cousins were born there. But for some reason, me, my parents took me to Montebello. So I was born in Montebello, but I grew up in Boyle Heights, um, moved around always between East Los and Boyle Heights, and for a bit like in Montebello, but the entirety like my life circled around uh East LA and Boyle Heights. Um I like to say a joke saying that I'm like second like two and a half gen gen because my mom was born here, but my dad's the immigrant. So I'm like I'm like two and a half, two and a half gen. Um my dad's from uh Guanajuato, Mexico. Um he was born out there. Yeah, came out here Salvatierra, Guanajuato. And uh say it again. Uh Salvatierra, that's where all the mummies are at, all the momyas. Oh yeah, I was gonna say Las Momias. Yeah, Las Mumas. Yeah, so he came here at a very young age, uh, also Boyle Heights, grew up out there, went to Hollandbeck Middle School, uh Roosevelt High School. Um he met my mom.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

It's either Garfield or Roosevelt, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, it depends if you're closer to East House. Like if I know all the kids that grew up closer to Indiana went to Garfield. Uh yeah. And they went to like it's either uh Hollandbach then Roosevelt or Stevenson then Garfield.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Yeah. Um my mom was born out in Boyle Heights. Um my mom's actually mixed, she's a Mexican Bolivian.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah, so my grandma's, I believe, is from Yungas, Bolivia, and but she was mostly raised, I think, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, or or La Paz, something like that. Um closer to the capital city? I I would say uh I'm not I'm not very familiar exactly like where like certain like uh like states and cities are at. Um she was um she grew up out there and she came here when she was uh I believe fifteen, fifteen years old, fifteen or sixteen, and ended up in the hood. And then she met and married a man from um her second husband actually. Her second husband's from um Niati. And then she had my um my mom and her uh brothers, which are my uncles. So a lot of them I I I could say I was blessed. Yeah, but you know, my grandmother, she was a single mom, she she held it down, so uh I would say culturally around their surroundings. My um my uncles and my mom were raised with a big Chicano culture because where they lived, but at home it was a mix of like Bolivian and Mexican, if anything. That's really dope. Yeah, so when I grew up when I was little and I I a big portion of my life I lived with my my my grandmother from my mom's side, um I grew up with uh Bolivian culture. And okay, and outside of it, obviously it's like Chicano culture, right? Because like everyone on the blocks, either like Mexican or Salvadorian, and um you just grew up with I call it like straight up like it's it's Chicano culture. Um those that grew up out there understand it because you grew up hearing certain like um slang on how people talk, and you saw certain stereotypes that you could relate to and see, you know, like low riders and all these veteranos, these vatos talking like like foos, and and I grew up on this street that was um on South Moss Street, uh close to Whittier, which is the main street. I was about to say Whittier Boulevard, yeah, Whittier Boulevard. Yeah, yeah. So um I lived really close to famous the famous Johnny Shrimp boat. So those from around there would know. I was really close to walking distance. I love this place to death, La Mascota Bakery. Shout out to the Ignacio the Ignacio Um Salcedo family, the original uh owner um before he sold the business. And I'm actually close to I believe the great grandson. He's one of my personal like like friends. Um he's uh he's a doing he lives in Pico now. Um he's a great tattoo artist. Shout out to Chipta IV. But yeah, like that's like the roots. Like it's it was crazy to know that his family was were the original owners of La Mascota Bakery, because it's a it's a very like I will for me personally a popular staple in Boyle Heights. It should be his historic landmark, if anything. Same with like Los Cinco Puntos, El Tepeyac, uh yeah, like all that. Yeah, it's yes, yes. Put them in the same category as Mariachi Plaza, you know, because it's been there for years, and it's like those who know, um, those are the spots. And um I've actually recently went out into Boyle Heights and I did a few photo shoots um like in places that were like historically like um I connected to. So I did a shoot in Mariachi Plaza, I did one at La Moscota Bakery on the 6th Street Bridge, and um just to kind of show like oh in Hollandbeck Park, just to kind of represent and show like these spots that I was surrounded and around like all the time. And uh I'm I want to like write something about it, like my uh my like love letter to to Boyle Heights.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

That's so dope. You should definitely do that. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I just I would love to see the the photos.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Are you planning on uh I have a I have a few that I posted I have a few that I posted on my um Instagram, but I have like I have a majority of the photo shoot like in in my on my computer that I just want to like when I get the time I want to like type up like a blog slash like letter to Boyle Heights. I think it's beautiful, but I also think it's bittersweet. It's like a like a toxic relationship. I think Boyle Heights is a toxic relationship. You just keep it. How so? I say how so because like realistically speaking, it is still the hood. It's still the hood, and it's part of a minority that is a product of a failed government. And yeah, and get into that too. There's still gangs, there's still like the schools are not the best in the district. Um, there's still trash, there's still homeless people, there's still drug addicts and like crackets walking around. There is a constant battle going on with locals against outsiders or transplants because it's it's it's it's been a slow burner when it comes to gentrification because like we could see what happened with uh Echo Park, so we're like that area. And I it's slowly happening, and I'm saying slowly because the community is retaliating. And I'm not gonna lie, like when I was younger, I wasn't fully educated or understood gentrification. When I saw someone put like an like stop gentrification, I asked, What's that? And the someone just told me, like, oh, it's pretty much it's just gonna bring business and like uh kick out gangsters and like and and clean up the community. And I was like, Oh, that sounds freaking awesome! Like, hell yeah. Like, right? I'm down with this gentrification you speak of. Like, I'm pro-gentrification, like this is cool. But I mean, I was young, no one really realistically like told me the exact definition until um someone put me on check, I forgot who, and they explained it to me, and I was like, oh, wait a minute, I don't like this. This is not great. Like, okay, now I see why they're they're masking masking it with like a oh, like it's gonna bring business, it's gonna clean up the streets. But like, yeah, it's it's pretty much cleaning up the streets and bringing business to benefit the people they want to bring into this community. They want to kick out the community already has, and I'm not okay with that.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Benefit them, right? Yeah, to benefit, yeah, to benefit. I don't know, the apartment building owner, yeah, like developer.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Get rid of these projects, bring all these like corporate cafes, and um I it's and I say it's bittersweet too because there's some people that are just openly like angry, and if they get a smell of what they think is gentrification, they automatically target that small business or person without doing research because it happened to my dad. Because he opened up his barber shop there, and there was a couple complaints, and um yeah, they instead of taking a kind of because my dad, like I said, he's an immigrant, he grew up with the struggle. You know, this is the this was a guy at a very young age, he had to go to the projects, knock door to door to sell and like sell like pan and pan dulce with his with his mom, who was a single mom. Um he decided to bring the his um retro like 1950s like what barbershop concept to Boyle Heights. Um by the time he decided to open it in Boyle Heights, it was pretty pricey for rent. So like he had to match uh the price of his haircuts to whatever like would make sense in that like uh with the with the rant. And it was only like at the time, I think I believe this was like back in 2016, 17. The haircuts were 20 bucks back then. Compared to where they are now, I thought, yeah, that's crazy to see how much inflation affected that. And um he um opened up the barbershop and people instead of just asking like a qu like they'll ask a question like how much a haircut will cost, and then um as soon as they got the price, you know, if you walk into like Edlin, for instance, you walk into a barbershop, right? You need a haircut really bad, okay? Yeah, and you walk into a barber shop and you're like, how much for a haircut? Basic haircut. The person tells you 80 bucks, what would you do? 80 or 100 bucks?

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Oh, I'd be like, that's a little out of my budget.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, okay. Instead of being like, okay, like you know, I respect that, dude. They would get pissed off, they'll retaliate. We've had I've seen someone got pissed off. They literally my dad had a speaker in their front and the person knocked it down. They're like, that's this, boom, knocked it down. This is your this is what do you what are you doing? Blah blah blah. And then there were some people that like um like my dad was very like self-aware that he could bring quality. Um because he's he like I'm not gonna say like he had it was a narcissistic mentality, like he really invested himself into barbering and to understand like the classic barbering skills, and he he can do he can bring quality haircuts that I I respect him for. And um he tried making it a reasonable price for what he can offer, but plus also survive because rent on Cesata Chavez is pricey now, and for the time it was probably like a five dollar difference because haircuts were like 15 bucks next door. But it just it just pissed some people off and they uh quickly assumed that he was a gentrifier, and they eventually there was an article on um a local like um newspaper talking about um hentif hentifiers. Oh yeah, have you heard of that? They accused Yes. So so at first they called my dad a gentrifier, and then he opened up and said, Hey yo, like it's not like that, like you know, like I'm I'm I'm an immigrant, you know. Um because by theround that time my dad was still on his like residence. He didn't become a he didn't become a citizen until like 2020 or 20 yeah, 2019 because like recently like recently so he was a resident for a long time. It it is a it's a it's a hard, brutal process for immigrants. And then my dad taking him that long to finally get it, like it it's it's really, really, really, really hard, and it's cost a lot of money, and you need to know you have to pretty much be educated on how to do it, and unfortunately, some people are not given resources or the education how to do it, and that's what um that's a whole diff that's a whole different thing. That's like what Groovin Gipp's trying to do, right? My nonprofit, we're trying to like situations like that, but we'll get to that later. We'll definitely get to that. Yeah, we'll get to that later. Yeah, yeah. And uh, random fact, I this is like off topic, but it's gonna give some context on why my dad pushed himself to get a citizenship. I remember this was Trump's uh 2020 campaign when he was like running for president, and my dad would always watch the debates, and he would just laugh and laugh, like, dude, this guy's dumb, he's an idiot. And one day I walk in and my dad's just seriously watching the whole like debate, and then the debate's over. My dad just turns up the TV and just sitting there for a couple of minutes and he looks at me and he's like, Well, I'll be back. And he just got his keys and started walking away. And I'm like, What are you doing? He's like, I'm gonna get uh my citizenship because it looks like this dumbass is gonna win, and I do not want him kicking me out. So that was his so so yeah. My joke is oh, the only good thing I got out of Trump's presidency is my dad finally became a citizen because he was just scared. Yeah, but but going going back, uh, when he finally like my dad opened up and told people, like, you know, like I'm an immigrant, I'm a resident, um, I'm just trying to survive, like I'm a business owner, this is my second shop. You know, I I I opened my first shop in Montebello, it was on Olympic, close to Southside Montebello. Rent was really cheap at the time. Um and and um he was a hustler, and when he finally saved up enough money and and and got like you know investment returns, he's like, I want to go back to a place I can call home. And he opens up his barbershop in Boyle Heights, people start talking um both positive and negatives. He tried explaining himself to the negatives, and instead of taking accountability, they decide to call him a hintifier.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Wait, but how how could he even qualify as a hintifier? Didn't he grow up in Boyle Heights?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, that's what I'm that's what I'm saying, but it's it's uh it's like it's people that don't want to take accountability and apologize. And I do understand that it stems from like anger and frustration because you know when you're when there's when there's fear, there's anger. So like of course it's people that that want to protect their community, they want to protect themselves. But I'm not gonna lie, like there's also hate. So I know there's there's always someone with hate in the community, you know. But like there's for sure like haters. And I give that man credit. Um, he's been there and he's still open. Both locations are still open, even in these trying times. He's managing to stay up. So I I I um that's that's I like what's that? That's pretty cool. I respect him for that. It's a pretty nice influence, you know. And uh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So you guys are really great barbers, by the way. Oh, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Yeah, shut out the cream cream shop, the cream shop, and then I do have a private barber suite in Montebello called uh Mr. Fields Hair Studio. And my last yeah, Mr. Fields literally comes from Senor Campos. No way, yeah. I stayed with it.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Yeah, and I had someone saying that. Someone's like, hey Foo, like you're busting uh a Ricky Valenzuela, like you're just trying to like chain into that's your Richie Valence so you can cater to like the white community. I was like, nah, Food, it's actually an inside joke that uh my crazy ass uncle. Um so my dad and my uncle, it's his only brother, they're yin and yang. Like my dad's very calm, mellow, he's um serious, but he's also a jokester, and he's just like very level-headed. And then my uncle's like the hyper freaking like my dad's I would say my dad's like a um what's like like a good like stern dog. Like, I don't know. Like I would say my uncle's like a golden retriever, and my dad's probably like a great dane or something, like, or like uh something like a some sort of serious dog. And um he he's he's uh he's like it's loco, like uh he's like the the party animal. He's in this and this this this band called Spaghetti Cumbia. Shout out to Spaghetti Cumbia, all of them are also locals from Boyle Heights. I didn't know that he was part of a band. Yeah, he was part of a they're like a cumbia ska punk post punk band. It's a heavy influence of like the whole I would say Boyle Heights Rocketto scene. Because I don't want to categorize it to one genre, you know, but there's because growing up there, there was such a heavy influence of like shows, right? There was metal, there was punk rock, there was um ska, and it's like you see all these like rockabilly, sacko billy, punker foos, and they took influence from all that and and created this genre with their culture, which is their Chicano culture, which is the Latino culture in general, which is why they make music in Spanish and and they create cumbias. And that's also how I am with me as ghosting. I I yeah, I purposely influentially um incorporate um like some sort of res like some sort of like um influence from um from my culture. So like I make a lot of reggaeton remixes or I will legit come up with like a Latin influence like track and I would add somehow manage to put Spanish lyrics if I have to. I I want to represent um my Chicano and and Latino culture into my into my music. If I feel like because I grew up with it and uh and I I do see and I I understand that people can be influenced, but the ones that are getting more representation and light bringing in like Latin music into like or like Latin influences with the music are people that are not gente Latino or grew up. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, don't get me wrong, like you know they're they show love to the the Latin community and um they're you know they're mixing it in and all that stuff, but they're getting a lot of the light than the actual like gente latin or people that are Chicano that are making that could do this already, and they've been doing it and they're they're really trying to represent where they're from. Um that's that's that's an issue I see. So I feel like it is important to incorporate your culture into whatever art or platform you you use to represent yourself. Yeah, I agree. And uh that's awesome. So yeah, that's that's like what what what uh what episode, what season are we on right now with my life? Um the barbershop, okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Yeah, so getting into I guess music. I didn't I didn't know that your dad was also into music.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

My yeah, my my uncle, it's my uncle. Oh your uncle, yeah. Well a long time ago, actually, my my dad's always been a hustler. My dad's always been a hustler. Um he grew up with that, just it's always like survival instinct. And in order to survive, you have to make money. So at a very young age, my dad, my weekends consisted of me waking up at five in the morning and helping him set up um boxes on a small 2000 Mistabishi Mirage. I remember that damn car. It was like on his last breath every day. Only like two doors worked, everything, those dents and and and cracks everywhere, like it turned on when it wanted to. And um, he would like put these like boxes and strap them down all over, and then we'll go to any swap meet we can because um they they run by a lottery if you show up early. So we'll go to like Santa Fe, Paramount, um Vin Vin Vinyland or Vanyard, something and we will go to these different swap meets and we'll set up a tent and sell like wholesale product from downtown LA. And that's how my dad used to make his extra. Source of income. And before that, at a young age, he used to have a party rental and DJ uh company or like services. So like he would like he had a bunch of tables and chairs, and then he also had his DJ system. And that's that's how I picked up on DJing because I used to mess around with his equipment. When you were little? When I was little, yeah. And he was so into like the like to like the um that like uh world of like like music and marketing. So he also used to like manage bands and he used to manage this band called Orgullo Cafe, which is also what's pretty like um locally popular in Islos, I would say. And um that's from my my uncle used to play in that band too. So yeah, he he was involved in that. So my entire life I kind of grew up around um I guess the music industry, the indie music industry, if anything. I had an influence in that. And as I got older, I like I oh and and and also my mom put me in piano lessons when I was a little kid. So that's how I got my first taste of like performing and getting uh and getting like creative and trying to like couple my own music and stuff. So the influence of like keep getting put into music and my mom told me like I later like I try to keep you as busy as possible because I you know we we grew up in a rural area, like Boyle Heights back then was way worse, and um I I wanted to keep you busy and distracted so you won't be like influenced by the streets.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Oh, okay. So that that was her main goal and reason.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah, and somehow somehow, somehow, with what little money we made, they managed to keep me and my siblings in uh Catholic private school. Wow, yeah, and but it was really impressive. I I give them a lot of credit for that. Um, it wasn't cheap, but uh something that that people don't really understand or know. I'm not gonna say all private schools do this, but there is like financial aid, like there's grants, there's scholarships, or there's some sort of personal agreement. I don't even know if I should be saying this because they let they allowed us to do this. You pretty much have a conversation with the principal and be like, hey, this is all I can afford. And he's like, Worry not, we'll work something out. I'm gonna make a plan for you based on your budget, and they're like, but just you, you know? And then you just have to promise me that your kid's gonna behave, they're gonna have good grades, and they have to get involved with like school curriculum, they have to get involved with the church and do community service. I had to do all that. I I put my I put my fat ass in cross country, I hated it, which is pretty funny now because I love running. I could run all day now. I hated it. Um I had okay grades, I was able to meet the minimal, the minimal effort. I was always on academic probation, I was easily distracted. Um, my behavior was something it it I got it suspended, I'll get in trouble. Um, but eventually I was able to control that later. I I was like fixing my behavioral issues, and um, but I always got involved with the school. I mean, I was involved with the the the drumline, I was uh me and my friend started like the rock band. Um I we started a DJ club and so I that's how I got in with the school, and I I brought like that I was able to bring in and and um and then yeah, like we had to do stuff for like the church here and there and do like fundraisers and offer like free um labor for like events, like you have to volunteer. But it all added into your to your tuition, it would deduct what you owe. You were like see it as like five hours was like equivalent at the time to like forty dollars, so then they'll deduct that.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Oh, okay. And so they kind of you kind of repaid it that way.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

Yeah, uh a lot of my dad even told me, like, you know, I feel bad because back in the days I just assume all the kids from the high school that was in your bike from the private high school had money. And uh, you know, he's he's like, I'm not gonna lie, we kind of used to fuck with them and we used to bully them, we used to like talk talk crap to them and all that stuff, and we thought they were like these stuck up, like rich kids, and it's an I used he's like us struggling, getting by. It was like eight of us living in a in a small, small, like two-bedroom, really, really small two-bedroom like um house. And um, yeah, we I we grew up like struggling, and um he even said, like, look how we live, look how we are, and you guys are in private school, and I'm like, damn, I I feel bad. Like, I'm pretty sure there was kids like that when I was and went to like Rose Buddh and stuff, yeah. And um there was this kid, he was a boxer, he was like a few grades above me, and I my my mom told me that his mom was this lady that goes around to all the schools selling raspados, raspados and alotes and chicharrones. Raspado lady, she was a raspado lady lady that I used to see at my elementary school and middle school. She'll go to all the schools selling all that stuff. She sent her son to a private school. And just by doing that, just by doing that, and her son and her as well were super involved with the community and the school, and the school like were like, you know, I guess what's that word? Like credit that I would say. And then yeah, that she she grinded for her son. So um I'm not sure how it is now. I hope it's still like that, you know, to give kids that pretty much, like I said, we're living a system that's set up for failure. Hopefully, it's it's still they're still able to do that. So tell people do your research and talk to other parents. Talk to other parents or talk to an office lady. Like the office lady, like you'll tell her something, and you'll be like, be like, hey girl, like okay, I'm struggling, and she'll be like, you know what? Like sidebar, and then she'll whisper something. Like, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but like la la la la, yada yada yada, contact this number, blah blah and boom, loopholes, loopholes for the like for the for the right thing. Um so that so yeah, the entirety of my life I've been around like barbering and music, which was a heavy influence in my life, and also being from Boyle Heights, that's also a huge influence on my life. Um the music culture out there is great, and I feel like everyone's so much good music, yeah. And I feel like every every household has at least like one Morsey Smith fan. You know what I'm saying? Like all the Morsey foods, yeah. Like that was like I don't huge in LA. Yeah, and you know, when you're a kid, your world is so small mentally, you know, like um everything seems like it's so close and it's just you. I don't know if that makes sense. Like um, yes. Like I thought maybe only my parents listened to that type of music, and I assume that every artist they listened to was from my city or around or from here. Like, I don't I don't know much about bands and stuff, just being like a little like when I was off Becky, and um as I got older and I met their friends, and like all of them were obsessed with like Morsi, the Smiths, New Wave music, and like, oh, there's more people. And I thought maybe it's just this community. I'm not gonna lie, it still feels like it's pretty much just the East Less Bo Heights community that has a huge obsession with Boy, like like like with like the uh Morrissey and and the Smiths. But I'm pretty sure there's more than that. But for me, I feel like they're the ones that that praise them the loudest. I mean, me personally, I have my personal ex uh opinion about Batman in general, but all I can say is I like his music from the Smiths and his hits when he went solo. That's all I'm gonna say. That's all that's where I draw them. That's that's it. He's he's said and done some stuff I do not agree with, and I'm like, yeah, no, like your art is good, but you're a maniac fool. It seems like he's a little out there, I think. Yeah, but that's a whole different topic. That's like people can Google that. They can find stuff for that, yeah. But um, yeah, I I um after high school, I did go to community college for a bit. I went to uh ELAC. And ELAC, yeah, right now. Oh, there you go. It's a great school. When I was going there, it was still under construction, but they have already I I'm not sure. Um I think they called it, or maybe I'm wrong. I believe it was like the Vapa section, which is the visual and performing arts part of the school. It's uh close to um Carl's Jr., like that street. It's like these two buildings, one of them focuses mostly on music, and the other one focuses on art. Uh that those two buildings were already built, and it was like the nicest part of the school, but the only nice part of that school around that time. It was like the old yeah, and um it was it's it's uh it's a great school. Um it's I I I would recommend people that like live around the area, want to go to community college. It's it's a good school, and I believe it does have ties with like um um like Cal State schools, like that. Like a theater, what do they call it? Yeah, a theater school, especially like Cal State LA. And um another advice I'll like to tell people one day you're gonna go into your your job, your career, you're gonna be in an office full of like 10 to 15 people, and they're all gonna talk about the school they went to, but you all are gonna get the same pay and you had the same degree. What I'm pretty much saying is just save your money, don't go, no need to go to a super expensive school. Yeah, yeah. It's good.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Community colleges, they're they're so great, you know. That this could be a whole other conversation, but I uh my partner works for community colleges, she's a teaches there and stuff, and and and besides that, I'm just learning they just have they do so much for more for the community. My mom just started going to yoga uh at a community college. She's taking courses there, so they have like community courses that you can just you don't need to be like a full-time student.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

They have like GED programs too, like for kids that like drop out of high school and want to get their life back together. And uh from what I remember, they also had like um programs for kids that were behind credits in high school, and they can continue their education, not continue their education, but pretty much like their own summer school at ELAC. And it's uh affordable or free. They offer a lot of fee waivers, a lot of like uh financial applications that we should pay you for something. Community colleges are very slept on, and you've got to really emphasize the word community in it because it is community like driven. Um there's nothing wrong with that. I tell people look, you know, when you go to universities and take about four years to get your degree estimate, it's still gonna take you four years to get your degree if you do two years for your associates and then another two to three years to get your uh bachelor's. Because I've I've seen it. My my cousin did that, you know? She's uh she's a chicana, um, she went to community college and she literally just had fun with it. She went for a long time because she was just taking so many classes. I think at some point they're like, girl, you literally qualify for like five different AAs right now. Like because you're just taking one class. Yeah. So then she had a pick one and she focused on sociology, and then she uh um I think from there she transferred to um Cal State Monterey Bay, but oh up there, up up north, yeah. But then COVID happened, so then she transferred to Long Beach, and right now she's getting her MA in sociology or social work uh at Cal State Long Beach.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Yeah, she she's she's a badass. Uh she's very inspiring. I love her. Like she's yeah, again, Chicana. She was born in Boyle Heights, uh, was raised in Whittier, um getting her degrees and like working and grinding hard and giving back to the community. I actually got her involved with my nonprofit just because of her um Oh, really? Yeah, just because of her background, just because she's very involved with the community. She uh works with um um families, like social work, um yeah, social work with families, and she has experience, and uh that's why I got her involved. Like I I want people like that. She's you you help communities, you help kids, and this is what you're majoring in. So she's she's a big part in my uh well the foundation that I founded and it's she she's shout out. If she can do it, all you girls out there, all you girls out there, you got this, you know. I I tell my girlfriend, like, because sometimes she feels overwhelmed, and I like I'm like, look, you again, you grew up in a system that was set to fail you. I'm like, you're a female, so you're already set back than the like the males because you're a brown female. It's like a real that's the double minority right there. So even though like I grew up as a minority, I'm Chicano, and I was already set up steps back, you're more sets behind me because you're a girl. And the fact that you're doing this now, you know, um, she has a single parent. Um, and you know, got God bless her dad. So, you know, she he passed away when she was a teenager, and I'm like, you know, you have a single parent and you're grinding, you're doing this all by yourself, and you're transferring to Kelsey Fulverton right now to get your uh bachelor's in sociology. I'm like, girl, you're doing this, you're really doing this, and you're getting so far, and you need to give yourself a break and give yourself a pat on the shoulders because it takes a lot to get there, especially in the position that you were given since birth.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Not everybody can do it.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Yeah, not everyone can do it, you know. Um when you could do it. She she went through a really bad depression, you know, because her dad uh was battling cancer in high school. She even told me she almost dropped out of high school to take care of her dad. And she managed to pull through, and I guess with the minimal like credits, she was able to graduate and she went to college, but you know, you it grief is different for everybody, and it I would say it followed her and she went through some things and she dropped out of college, and then um when we started dating, she went back and she continued on, and yeah, now this this girl's getting it. She's about to transfer to fully. Oh, definitely, definitely. And I I like uh it's pretty it's really inspiring. I'm like when I see stuff like that, I'm like, hell yeah, dude. That's I say education and community work is the best middle finger you can give to the government. That's punk rock. That really means punk rock. Yeah, that's the best middle finger. That needs to be on a sticker or something. Education and community work, like that's punk rock. Groove and give. Me, my my my foundation's called groove and give. Like uh the word groove, the letter and then give. And literally, how does it work? You're gonna groove and you're gonna give. So the first time I started it, um, I hosted up this event called Groove and Brew, which was like the front image of the event to gain people's attention. Uh that's why I called it that. And I set up this summer pop-up at a couple in uh breweries out here in SoCal where I booked around four to five amazing DJs, it was all volunteer work, um, to pretty much DJ house music at the brewery and used the platform of like music to to pretty much like um spread awareness about any situation that we're focusing on and to collect cash donations or um school supplies and backpacks um uh donations. And we were gonna give it to this um foundation out here that's a special education center. And um it actually really caught me by surprise. Uh it was um I had my expectations really, really low. I I didn't really I did and didn't know what I was doing. And but when you don't know what you're doing and you get like five, ten people that just have a big heart and they also don't know what they're doing, you manage. I don't know if that makes sense. Like you somehow manage, like you all lock in and everyone's so driven. I remember you liked the idea, you showed up with your uh girlfriend, and then I loved it. Yeah, we loved it, we had a great time. People communicated, we got cash donations, you donated, and I really appreciated that. And um oh girl, I learned so much from that. So this year we're locking in, we're we're doing a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

So yeah, you're having more events this year?

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, so so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have a summer tour. And I'm um it's still it's still um it's shaping itself up as time goes, because obviously I have let's say um the outline, the first draft of the idea, but as as time goes, as partnerships lock in, as I get like places to set up these events, it's slowly changing and structuring itself. So now the idea is I'm gonna have multiple micro events, but maybe between one to three big events. And so the micro ones would be like the DJ ones, but the big ones would be like, oh, like we're gonna take the to a parking lot and have vendors and have like live music, and uh this fear our focus is to help families, mainly kids are our we want to help the children, but you know, children come as families, so like obviously, like we'll help families. Um, are the two major issues that I've seen that's affecting my community, and which is the current unlawful bullshit immigration enforcement that's been going on and Medicaid cuts.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Yes. Um one of my close friends, his name is Miguel Lugo, he runs what he calls eltuco.org, that's his registered foundation. Um, he is a motivational speaker, he's an um disabled advocate, and he also works for I believe Disabled Voices United, and he's also a comedian. So he doesn't call it stand-up, he calls it sit-down comedy because he's on the wheelchair. Funny guy, Chicano, um Monabella resident. I've been I've been working with him, and um yeah, like hit that's his platform is is obviously like the fight against Medicaid cuts. And we we've been working together, he's a great, great person. He um I told him a joke, like if you fit the the Mexican stereotype because he got arrested, but he got arrested fighting for Medicaid. He went on a protest, and I believe he went to go stand up front in front of a Republican, um, some sort of politician, some sort of Republican politician from Anaheim, and he was up there. They were asking him to move, and he's like, No, I believe they were celebrating the death of Medicaid, they had a funeral for Medicaid, and they marched to this lady's house. Yeah, they marched to this lady's house and pretty much telling her in a very it was a peaceful protest way, pretty much, fuck you for voting for it. Like, really, like, how could he do that? And they had him stand up front, they told him you need to move, and he's like, No, I'm here standing my ground. They asked him two more times and then he arrested him. And people cheered for him. People cheered for him, and I mean the cops were doing what they had to do. That I mean they they they warned him, but eventually, like um, um, yeah, he he did that for he he's like that type of advocate. He's a fighter for the people. He's a f and I that I like, I love that. And um that's the reason why I'm like, you know what, dude, like me, I'm seeing um people get deported left and right, brutally deported, even or just getting arrested and getting sent to detention centers, even American citizens, and it's already hit close to home where I know a couple people that had relatives, and you're it's happening happening a lot nearby, and I told them something hit me um last year that that that emotionally affected me, and I I came to the realization how much it's affecting families and kids, besides losing like a parent. Um traumatic. There's uh there's a gas station not a gas station, uh, a car wash on Garfield and Whittier that was um was a pretty much a victim of an ice raid. And they went in there and they took uh people. And um there's another couple places I got like my favorite uh taco truck, uh Jason's tacos. They the they the owner came back and they took not only the customers, but they took the the cooks. He came back and he's like, what the hell? Food was burning on the on the you know on the on the on the Blancha or whatever, like he just came back to like like if they were like abducted, or well they were, like you know, like they were just like taken. And um people people were pissed off at him. They're like, How could you let your workers work? And I've heard this comment from people that were undocumented. They're like, We have to work. We can't we don't have like the the the luxury or like the opportunity to just be like okay, I'm gonna just stay home until this all cools down. Bills are still gonna be there, they have mouths to feed, they have a roof to keep over their family's head, and it's they're they're they're they're risking it, and they know the risk, and it sucks. So my mom calls me, and this is like after Grooving Gift, the summer has ended, and I'm I'm just storing everything at my parents' garage because we have like boxes and boxes full of like supplies to the brim, to the brim. It was it was so that's what like warmed my heart because I'm like I don't know what to expect from this. But I made these giant um donation bins that filled up to the brim, and I was like, Whoa, this is too heavy, like this is crazy. And my mom called me, like, hey, um, I want to tell you something, and I was gonna ask if I can take a couple backpacks and supplies from you. I'm like, Yeah, don't worry about it. Like, wait, what's up? And she's like, So there's a lady that she didn't really get along with, um, just because I it's like a whole like like cheese mess story, and um she she heard the lady crying and like screaming, like scream crying. My mom went up to her and she's like, Hey, like like um what's going on? And uh the lady's like, they they I just got a phone call right now that they took my husband. He was at the um the gas station, I mean the the car wash down the street. And she's like, What? Yeah, they deported him, I don't know what to do. Like he took care of the family. And the two kids were there and they were crying, and my mom was like, I feel really bad, you know? And she's like, Is it okay if I can give her, you know, backpacks with school supplies, I can give them to her kid. And I'm like, yeah, like don't even ask me that that ever again. Like don't don't just know that it's an automatic yes. Like that's the point. That's what we're trying to do. Like to help people that are financially like impacted in some way or like um or like struggling or we want to help families like that. And then it inspired me. Like, I'm like, you know what? Like this was like the pilot, but the next group and give I'm gonna have like a van, I'm gonna focus on helping families like that. And um our mission this year is to collect school supplies and backpacks for families that were affected by the ice raids, which is a blessing that I was able to get in touch with uh Chirla, the coalition for uh was it humane immigrant rights? Yeah, I had a meeting with them on Zoom. Oh, they're they're really great people. I I was learning so much about them, and I'm like, heck yeah, like just know that they're like as soon as I emailed them, I'm like, this might be an emailed loss because they're pretty big. And they replied to me right away, and they're like, they we want to do something like this, like talk to us more about it, and then like they're responding to emails quick, and I was like, Oh, like I told them that too. Like, I really appreciate you guys responding so quick. Um that's that's really cool, that's really awesome. And um, and then you know, um I I'm partnered and I worked with Miguel all the time, so I'm like, cool, like um, let's work together, let's do another like summer drive, let's do it now while it's spring, so we were ready for summer. And oh, they wanted to do it right away. No, like, like um, they're like telling me, like, oh, like, because I I I told them like the first thing in the like in the email, like, hey, my name's Josh, I started Grooving Give, yada yada yada. This is what we do, this is what we want to do, and this is how we want to help. And um and I know it's early, but from experience we learned that right now is a perfect time to plan, take notes, get numbers, lock in venues, book people. That way, when the summer is here, we just have to set up and host. Because it does it does you need to be hella prepared and you need to get early, pr like you need to get like ready pretty early. And they're like, they responded to me right away. So then we had a meeting, I met with a logistics team, and I'm currently just pretty much on queue waiting for them to um reply to me to give me a number because I'm trying to set a goal, like a goal, and push for that goal. And a fundraising goal, yeah, fundraising goal to see like how many backpacks and supplies I need to get to give to like all the kids that are registered with them. And amazing. And and yeah, that our numbers, I mean, I wish I could help everybody, but I'm gonna start with the community because you know we are a small uh non-profit, nonprofit, yeah. And um I'm partnered with Miguel, and I also want to like help his cause, which is why like we're also gonna donate again to the um the special education center because they were also affected by the Medicaid cuts. Um we did a tour there and um they said that I believe that they've been affected like with funding because of that, and they only have like one social worker now that's working like twice a week, once or twice a week. And um I was like wow. Like I was like I was like wow. For like the whole school? For like the whole school with a house over like a average of 250 like students registered.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 47:22

Yeah, it's called the Alfonso B. Perez Special Education Center. It's on by um it's close to the um it's like an East L? Yeah, it's an Isle A. It's close to um like off the 710 close to Brooklyn Avenue. What's gonna be Brooklyn Avenue? It's close to Cesar Chavez, but I'm calling it. Wait, have you heard? Well, we have I heard about it. Have you heard it? Are they really? I I believe it. Um there I I spoke to a couple like uh some like I have a lot of customers that are um college students or graduates, and they took they've taken like Chicano studies and stuff, and they learned about the environment that was set up with those like um farmers. And one thing he told me is that um around that time a lot of women and children will go missing, the farmers or the immigrants. It was very common for that. And they would have them locked up in these sheds at the farms, and like you know, he says you put like a group of people and in sheds, you know, shit could happen, and a lot of women were being sexually assaulted, and and it was a common issue. So he says it would kind of make sense that Sesha Chavez was one of those people. One of those people for multiple women to come out with these allegations. Look at what Danny Masterson, the guy from that 70 show. You know, so many, so many, so many years this guy got away with it. No one said anything, but one day it just takes one person with the courage and the strength to finally open up and say, like, hey, this person assaulted me. And it's not easy because look at the type of publicity you're gonna get. I've read comment sections, they pissed me off. Yes, they're victim blamers, they don't want to believe them, they're talking shit to them, they're they're just bad mouthing them, and they and I know people that they're gonna feel like they don't want to deal with that. No one wants to hear that. Like, not only were you sexually assaulted a while ago, but now people are gonna condemn you for being a victim, it's messed up. So it's that's why I say it takes a lot of strength and courage. And then for the lotus huerta, someone that's up there as an advocate, someone that's a big face to just open up, it's gonna give strength and courage to other victims to speak up. And there's multiple people. Look at Bill Cosby, it happened too him too. Multiple people, and now that food's getting charged, and then people are like, well, like that's not fair, he's dead, he can't um defend himself. He's a rapist. What? He don't need to defend himself. He's lucky, he's not gonna get he's just he's he's and he's lucky that he died naturally than like to be like arrested and get the book thrown at him or to like rot in a jail cell. So, like, yeah, so I I believe her. I I made a post on TikTok and I just kind of just like I I don't want to say over exaggerated, I literally just said, like, bro, like growing up in Boyle Heights, I've heard many stories about Seth Chavez, and a lot of it it was a it was mixed feelings, and people will be like, yeah, F that fool. Because they've like I met old old cats that knew him, and they said like that, like he, yeah, old, old cats that knew him, and you know, you you walk around, you talk to a random fool with locks and long socks, and all of a sudden they're like ah fools or union worker, yada yada yada, and they're telling you the stories while they're drinking a 40, and you're like, damn, fool, you're crazy, and then you realize, oh no, he wasn't crazy, he's just a drunk with real stories. And um, they told me like ah that food never liked immigrants and yada yada yada, and I'll be like, yeah, fuck it. But he he was a typical, like, I like immigrants if they were came here the legit way. That's that's what I got from that. But he would he he seen uh illegal immigrants as scabs, scabs to his cause. So um, because you know how those union workers that were striking?

SPEAKER_00 51:00

Is it Chavez? Yeah, he used to be also very anti-immigrant.

SPEAKER_01 51:04

Very, very anti-immigrant. A lot of people don't know that. Mm-hmm. And um this like senora commented and she was like, Oh, like you you need to like get your facts straight. Like, some of us actually live this, like you youngsters don't know what you're talking about. Like, next time be educated before you speak. And I told her, he saw them at scabs to his cause. If he saw illegal immigrants working, he would beat the fuck out of them and push them out. He would also report them to immigration enforcement, and he went with a senator to the borders to kick immigrants back when they tried hopping or come crossing.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Not only that, I believe I've heard that um basically the Lores Huerta would do a lot of the work, the actual work. He would just be mainly like the face and just show up to talk and take all the credit.

SPEAKER_01 51:56

No, of course, and it's always like that because, like, for instance, like you're gonna see um on history books, they're gonna really put a big picture with Cesar Chavez and talk about the cause without like full detail and context, and they're also gonna talk about MLK without the full detail and context, without mentioning other advocates that were also involved, other advocates that were behind it, other advocates that were getting beat and arrested, other advocates that were just been marching and and pretty much blood, sweat, and tears to fight for the same cause. But since he was the image, they used them because same thing with MLK, like yeah, he he did what he did, but like Rosa Parks was more than just she said no. People just see her as a lady that said no. Like, ghost sit in the back, no. And it turns out that she was already seat seated at the colored um um colored section. That's the one that she was. They were just harassing her, and she said no, she was tired of that shit. She's like, fuck y'all, dude. Like I'm I'm already sitting seated at where I'm at and I'm fed up. Yeah, and she was yeah. And uh MLK got a lot of credit, but she was behind him, behind him with all that. And it's stuff that no one really uh speaks about. And if whoever's listening doesn't believe me, you could simply Google that shit or read a book. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Please read a book. Yeah, read a book. You know, I wish more people would read a book before they start commenting things that are just not factual.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

They read fake articles and they read comments and believe them. They see TikTok videos full of like bullshit and they believe it, and then that's how they get their education, and then they start preaching, barking, and screaming that. And it's like I don't I'm not someone to reply to comments. Um every so often I don't really care. Um, there's bigger issues than to fight with people in the comments section to explain myself or correct them. They have the time and resource to do that themselves, and um I'm busy with my life and mission than to like argue with people. Um all that time and energy that I could use to argue with people, I'm gonna use it for my mission, my cause. Yeah, yeah, and um it's it's crazy the with the whole uh Seth Seth Chavez situation because like I've already knew that fool's like kind of like a eh, and I'm like, he's gonna have it. Like people are gonna be like dark dark facts about him, right? Dark but then when I hear when I saw the article and what it was, I was like, oh, oh, that one from Zrozo 100, real quick. I'm like, this is bad, bad. And but there is another kind like issue that people are having, and they're like, it's crazy how it's so easy that this brown man got caught up and now that's they're quickly erasing him from history, they're quickly pinning over his murals, they're quickly uh trying to petition to change the street name, taking the statues down, and everyone's all there and they're all happy for it. But yet again, when they took down statues of Confederate um soldiers, when they took down statues of um Christopher Columbus, people were quickly to jump on it and bring them back up and fight. But this one, everyone's involved, even the white politicians are like, yeah, get them down. I'm like, yeah, you're gonna focus on this and not persecute the people that are still alive assaulting children on the Epstein files.

SPEAKER_00 55:07

Exactly. Yeah, I'm like, oh ridiculous to me. Like what? I don't understand what it is that if there's an active investigation, what are they waiting for? Obviously, we know, right?

SPEAKER_01 55:17

But yeah, like what I feel like that's the reason why there's so much like more shit that the president's doing to kind of like distract people. Like getting involved with Iran, like the war on Iran, like w why do we have to get involved with that? He that guy's full of nothing but broken promises, and all his supporters are like that one person that keeps going back to that toxic partner that constantly gives like I promise you, babe, like I'm gonna change, and like no foo, he's not gonna change. He's not gonna or she's not gonna change. Um it's gonna be the same bullshit, and he it's it's like a cult following. They're like their own like mentally disabled cult following. Like they're they're there's something wrong with them. They're the way their brain is wired and the way they just praise him for and he does nothing but wrong and lies. And I'm like, bro, he would do like 2% of something that benefited you that was good to you, and then just do a bunch of bad shit, and you're like, I'm gonna remember the 2% of a small thing that benefited from me. Like, oh, I don't have to report my taxes or overtime anymore. He's a god. But him being on the Epstein list, lying to our faces, messing up the economy, putting us in trillions of dollars of debt, like that's not the problem. That's not he's he's a good person, and I'm like, no, he's not, and he does not have empathy because for you to have the capabilities to do that to a kid means you are a soulless person. So he does not care about any other issue. Any other issue. He doesn't care about it. No, he doesn't. He's there for his own Yeah, he's there for his own motive. And um I've always been um um I've always told people that I was independent, like independent, um and like his first like four years I hated it, and it it it I I'm not gonna lie, like for 2020 I was not comfortable with either him or Hillary, so I just chose not to vote. And he became president. I'm like, well, he's stupid, so I'm pretty sure he's not gonna do much. He kind of did a handful of things. It affected me as an independent worker, it affected me as someone that's like an that you know is on Medi-Cal. And I was like, Oh, this sucks, but it wasn't as bad as it was now. Like he came back with like like with a motive and fire and fury, like complete like F all of you guys. I that's why I call it um I call him Mind Viewer Trump. Mindviewer Trump, you know, he's a dictator, he's a little freaking Nazi. Yeah, I was like, oh, what does Mind Viewer have to say now for Trump's Reich? Um and I after all this um I about how bad everything was getting, I'm like, yeah, like I know I'm just one person, but I know I can make a difference somehow, somewhere. Even if it's like a small community or a small percentage of people, if I can help them, I'm gonna do something. And then I openly I went public to like people because I was very, very private of my political beliefs. People would just be like, Oh, are you like a liberal democrat? I'm like, I'm whatever you want you think I am. But like, no, I'm like, if anything, I'm more I'm a socialist. I'm a socialist. I'm uh if anything, like what do they call like a democratic socialist, if anything?

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Yeah, yeah, like like mom dami, right?

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Yeah, about about yeah, I am I'm just very for the community and I'm all I'm like more about like equal opportunities and like everyone rising together. So I'm I and um I'm very anti like everything this freaking Cheeto is doing.

SPEAKER_00 58:41

Yeah, I feel like that first term was um kind of like a warm-up, like let me, you know, testing the waters, let's see how much I can get away with. The second one was just full blown. He's like, Oh well, I it's like somebody just gave him a clearance and he's like, go fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Yeah, like he he was building up to this. He he really was building up to this, and he came, he had his own uh personal um agenda, and this this guy's oh my god. I I feel it in every way possible. I feel it financially. I mean, as a as a small business owner, I I really, really feel it. I feel it as um as someone that's Latino, you know, like and and seeing what's going on in my community, like it's everything, and then and it sucks because I met people that are kind of like, well, I'm not seeing it, then it's not happening, or it's not affecting me, so it's not an issue. And I'm like, bro, it's that's not how it works. That's really not how it works. It's affecting the community, it's affecting other people. Just because it's not happening to you doesn't mean it's not happening whatsoever. And if you're choosing to look the other way, then like fuck you, you're part of the problem. Yeah.