LEO’S TEXAS READING LIST 

Compiled the end of the Future Rock tour – Aug/Sept 2012…  Long drives in the van through south TX, west TX and back east via Dallas/Houston were only cured by listening to books on tape (‘guns germs and steel’) and by my personal reading collection, a combination of books gifted by friends, found on the stoop in Brooklyn months before and recommended by revolution books NYC… taken as a whole they paint a vivid complex picture of Texas history, contextualizing the present and giving insight to the world, be it Texas or somewhere else.

1) DRUG LORD: The life and death of Pablo Acosta.

Got this from a friend in Marfa, TX.  It’s actually a discard from the Marfa Public Library.  It’s non-fiction biography about Pablo Acosta: Mexican drug lord, based in Ojinaga, in the state of Chihuahua, northern Mexico, and right across the border from Presidio, TX in the ‘Big Bend’.   He was in charge of the ‘Plaza’, making deals with the government, the police, the other gangs, his rivals, Americans, smuggling marijuana heroin and cocaine throughout the 70’s and 80’s.  He got his start as a poor local peasant smuggling Candelilla wax across the border – a legal product that was taxed by Mexico so they smuggled to keep the profits.

 The book is sensationalist, it covers all kinds of crazy escapades, murders, addiction, stunts, dangerous turns of affairs and documents the corruption straight up the Mexican government and in proxy – the US government which was cutting deals with the Mexicans. 

BUT what’s really deep is: that even as exceptionally daring, smart and ruthlessly business minded in Pablo Acosta – HE COULD BE ANYONE.  If he had been killed a decade earlier, there would be some other ex-paisano running the Plaza and continuing the drug trade across the border in this small strategic little town.  IT’S A SYSTEM.  Its capitalism.  Its illegal but it is not contradictory to the business system that rules both societies Mexico and the USA.  

Heavy quote, sung by local troubadours at Pablo Acosta’s funeral:

“Gone is Pablito, friend of the poor.

Killed by the government

In a world that shows no mercy

For people like that.

And the gringos,

Laughing on the other side of the river,

Prayed for Pablito to die

Yet he had done nothing more

Than give them what they wanted”

ESCAPE FROM TEXAS:  A Novel of Slavery and the Texas War of Independence

Got this as Revolution Books’ ‘book of the week’.  Fictional, but well researched and realistic.  Main character is James, a slave in the Mexican state of Tejas y Coahuila in the 1830’s.  He’s been brought from Tennessee by his Anglo-American owner into the newly disputed land – Tejas was largely unpopulated, a mix of Mexican settlers, roving Native American bands on horseback and new anglo-american slavemasters with their ‘cargo’.

The book shows the tumultuous history of Tejas – far from the center of Mexican government and society, greedily wanted by the USA and more specifically by individual Anglo-americans who wanted to make money, build plantations and expand the southern slave system of agriculture.  We watch James build from scratch his oppressor’s house, grow his food and make him money, while the master calculates his profits and talks to local leaders about how to protect their ‘investments’. 

This book really shows the western expansion of the USA was not so much lead by the government, but by individual capitalist units – small “families” led by a man, which his wife-property, and his slave-property.  They set up homesteads, worked the land, profited, and braced themselves for Indian attacks.  I think you could call it micro-capitalism.  

HEAVY SCENE – where the newly independent (anglo) state government of Texas is debating their slave system – should they allow importing new slaves?  One such slave master becomes very disappointed when they say no (to keep in line with the USA’s policies) because he wants to bring in as much new ‘cargo’ via the gulf coast and often Cuban slave traders. 

EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

Gives the history of the Comanche people and chronicles their era 1700’s-1800’s as conquering raiders and buffalo hunters.  From their encounters and battles with the Spanish colonizers, they took to the Spanish Mustang horse and became the most supreme horse-riders in the entire history of the Americas.  They were buffalo hunters who used every part of the animal.  Dominating warriors on horseback, based in present day Texas, Oklahoma, and raided as far north as Kansas and south to Chihuahua on week long pirate attacks, killing, kidnapping, mutilating and even raping.  Warriors in the fashion of Genghis Khan and the Mongols.

The book also lays bare the genocidal colonial essence of the United States.  Built on expansion and transformation of the wilderness and crushing native peoples societies.   The ever-growing American capitalist mission which butted heads with the Comanches who controlled the wide open plains lying between the American East/Midwest/South and the west coast of California. 

See the previous book “Escape from Texas” to understand the anglo/slave settlement of Texas.  This book mentions slavery but brings in no analysis, as the plains where the Comanche were based was not farming land and less useful to the slave system.  It ended up begin cattle ranch land for $. 

The story shows the development of the Comanche people alongside the ambition of the Anglo-Texans, coming from Missouri, Tennessee and connected back to bankers and in NYC and rich men in DC…  Buying slaves in New Orleans and the shores of East Texas.  Building cotton farms.  On the plains ranching cattle.  All for $ and for growth, for the American dream and the American family.  The Comanches and their fascinating leader Quanah Parker held off their settlement for decades until finally disease, military campaigns and callous midnite murders from US militias ended their freedom and way of life.

ISAAC’S STORM:  a Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History

Non-fiction but written like an exciting disaster novel.  The story of the 1900 Hurricane which hit Galveston, TX and ruined the city.  Told through the eyes of the Isaac, the local head of the weather department – it includes lots of science, clouds, weather patterns, 1900 American settler society and international relations (ignoring Cuba’s hurricane warnings on a racist/nationalist basis) plus lots of hi-flying disaster drama.

Very frightening to read this just a few months before Hurricane Sandy hit NYC.   This book shows the intersection of weather and natural forces with people and human society.  There is no such thing as a ‘natural disaster’ – it is always in combination with society – if Isaac had made different choices the damage and death in 1900 would have been much lighter. 

BASICS: From the writings and talks of Bob Avakian

Perhaps the most important book on this list.  Crucial to understanding the lineage between all this history… the underlying forces and dynamics.  What it all means to today.  How we actually could have a different future, based on where we are and what has come before.  How to make sense of all the madness in our history, and in this case we’ve only been looking back 200 years! 

This book is an organized sampled of quotes and passages from Avakian – perhaps his best book and definitely the easiest to read and best introduction to his work.  Some crucial principles which help understand all this Texas history (and much more)

 * History is the result of antagonistic contradictions played out

* The economic system of a society creates necessity for everyone in the society – this necessity is the driving force of its expansion

* Much of what plays out in the world is not consciously driven – it is the result of larger social forces and of unconscious choices by people who represent their class interests without perhaps even knowing it.

 QUOTE:  “In a world marked by profound class divisions and social inequality, to talk about “democracy” – without talking about the class nature of that democracy and which class it serves – is meaningless, and worse.  So long as society is divided into classes, there can be no “democracy for all”…

With a fan in Mercedes, Texas over the Labor Day weekend!  Our new merch store is here: http://outernational.net/merch/

“I feel like I play a lot of instruments, I have to dress appropriately to match them well; to look fancy like the nice instruments.  And part of it is I just wanna smash it super super hard, and this is the best way I know how to do it.  Come correct!  You know and blow my horn and blow my brains out!” » Watch Dr. Blum talk about his style and instruments via Latin Recap. WATCH: http://youtu.be/kjn0oPI2xY4

“The idea of Outernational is, many people just think because “oh because we mix up different styles of music in a rock & roll context” they think Outernational is just talking about that.  But the idea of Outernational is really trying to get people to lift their sights, you know their sights, where their looking to, not just what’s literally in front of your eyeballs, but what you’re setting your sights on and your lives and how you’re thinking about the world. Trying to get people to set their sights on above and beyond the countries and divisions and the way the world is so stratified and screwed up.  So we’re trying to get people to break on out of that mindset.

Outernational, above and beyond the borders of today.

We thought to be part of a larger revolutionary movement of people stepping on the scene to change the world, that it could really ruffle some feathers but even more than that really kinda help people feel different and start to see things different expose people to some different feelings and thoughts through a rock and roll band.  That’s powerful.  It’s not going to change the world, but it could change people that will change the world.”

- Miles Solay in Volted Magazine

Outernational co-headline the Texas Street Fest in Mercedes, TX today: http://www.txstreetfestival.com/ || Via @MilesSolay: “What-the-folk-style a hop, skip & a jump from Big Bend (where we shot a bunch of “Illegals” video)”

“Power Latin/World Infused Revolutionary Rock!” | “We finally played in a Texas roadhouse last night. We were welcomed by this banner!!!” - Follow the band on Instagram via @DRBLUM!

Back in the Rio Grande Velley this SATURDAY, Sept 1st (via Press Release): Outernational who is no stranger to the Rio Grande Valley began their Todos Somos Ilegales U.S. tour in Brownsville, Texas earlier this year and have come back for only their second visit to South Texas.  A blend of punk, rock, hiphop, and Latin beats with a hint of electronic music makes this incredibly talented foursome, a force to be listened.  The group is produced by none other than Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave) and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer, Chad Smith.  This genre-bending, futurerock group is sure to set the stage a blaze with their Rage Against The Machine-style vocals and guitars, and Red Hot Chili Pepper-like rhythm section.  Also, pay close attention to The Doctor, who adds keyboards, synths, cornet and accordion sounds to complete this circle of sound.  Outernational will take the main stage at 3pm on Saturday, September 1^st.

An (new) Outernational fan said…

Local Marfa/El Paso culture blog, EP Culture Beat showed us some love this week! “NYC rock band Outernational is playing on Sunday, August 12 at Padre’s in Marfa.  The group will also play El Paso on Monday at the Palomino Tavern, located on 2601 N. Mesa St. along with local bands.”

Hello Marfa, TX - in your town!  FREE SHOW TONIGHT @ Padres on Sunday, Aug 12: https://www.facebook.com/events/391498974251452

We’re proud to kick off the OTRA OTRA concert series in San Antonio, TX tonight.  Other bands scheduled to play the series: La Santa Cecilia, Bombasta, Los Skarnales and more!  Information HERE.

Live from Austin, TX in May 2012 courtesy of Blastro2. “Outernational es una banda de rock alternativo de  Nueva York que se ganó un espacio en el Line Up del Pachanga Latino Music Festival de Austin no sólo por su amplio estilo musical sino por sus letras que hablan con concimiento de causa sobre el problema de la inmigración, el racismo y la igualdad de oportunidades para las comunidades latinas. En su background no tienen ni un pelo de hispanos, no se trata de eso, han hecho de su música una causa activa en contra de las leyes norteamericanas anti-inmigración. “Future Rock” o rock del futuro es como a ellos les gusta calificarse, rock sin fronteras”

………From the desk of Leo J Mintek.  Todos Tour Journal number four……

We had spent 4 weeks in a van on the border, from Brownsville to Tijuana.  We went up into occupied Arizona and into the darkness of Reno and into the central farm valley of California.  The final leg of the Todos Somos Ilegales tour would take us back across the continent from LA to NYC.  

“May Day” – Los Angeles, CA  May 1^st is ‘International Workers Day’ and has been celebrated around the world since 1890.  For decades it has been known as an immigrant rights holiday in Los Angeles, marked by annual marches downtown celebrating Latino/Indigenous culture and defiance to capitalism.

1) We kicked off May Day at the American Reclamation garbage/recycling facility.  There, the mostly immigrant workforce picks through and processes recyclables from city garbage.  They have been penalized and harassed for trying to unionize, in a situation where they are treated themselves like disposable garbage by the company and the industry.  We sang fighting songs from the stage.  Dolores Huerta and the Teamsters were there.  I met workers from Mexico and El Salvador, some of whom were musicians; they asked me where they could record a demo.

2) We raced downtown and quickly set up on another stage as the first waves of the LA May Day marches fed into Pershing Square.  We sang as the march entered the plaza: a wild scene of workers, unions, #occupiers, punks, hippies, youth, communists, anarchists, leftists, humanists, all very fired up!!  It was powerful.

3) We drove the van to Echo Park to set up our big concert that night, our final California show.  It was fast and intense, with a nervous energy different than other nights.  Ceci Bastida joined us on stage.  She sang Canta El Rio and during Que Queremos played the vox continental organ as I shouted out the chord changes on stage.  G minor!!!!  During the final encore I thought a blood vessel would burst in my face as Miles cranked every knob on my amp and the band sounded like something between a wild animal and an earthquake.  Afterwards I gave a fired up interview with Remezlca and we drove out that night, East out of LA towards the other coast.   

May 2 – 4 Marathon to Houston.  Los Skarnales, Houston underground legends for nearly 20 years, had invited us to play Cinco De Mayo with them in their hometown.  So we drove across the southwest in 3 days from LA.  The drives were long and dry and we stayed close to the border.  In New Mexico we heard old west stories of Pancho Villa crossing north to fight Federal troops and heard about the waves of migrants who move in the night.  Migra SUVs lurked in the highway hills and we saw beautiful, sad memorials to fallen immigrants.  This one was for a 47 year old woman who crossed but did not make it. 

In El Paso I began to notice the deep effect of the drug trade.  People said that when the coke dealers start showing up at shows it ruins the scene.  At 9am in an El Paso parking lot I spoke to two day laborers on their 2^nd job of the day. They were painting the lines in the parking lot, and joked about “big texas sized lines” and pretended to snort.  I realized so much cocaine is coming across the border through El Paso.  And so much of it stays right here in El Chuco.  Meth is made in labs.  Marijuana is grown all over.  But cocaine only comes from Central and South America.  And unless it’s on a boat it comes across La Frontera.  The cocaine trade fuels so much gangsterism, addiction, police militarization, and an overall insane climate of violence.

May 5, Houston, TX– Cinco de Mayo was a double bill: Los Skarnales & Outernational at the Continental Club.  Los Skarnales played ska, pachuco boogie, cumbias, jump blues, and even invited us on stage to sign a few Clash covers. After the show we stayed up all night and learned real Tejas music history with Felipe from the band.  Felipe’s father was the drummer for a group called Los Johnny Jets from Reynosa, Mexico, across the border from McAllen in the southern Rio Grande valley.  Los Johnny Jets had a wild rock and roll style that could not be matched by the Mexican rock and rollers from Mexico City.  The border music and rock and roll was a deep influence.  Los Johnny Jets even once backed up Chuck Berry, since Chuck always played with local musicians and never toured with a band. 

Felipe also had LPs from Chelo Silva,  great-aunt of engineer Jordon Silva who recorded and mixed several tunes on our album Todos Somos Ilegales.  Chelo Silva recorded in McAllen and sang songs for the girls of Reynosa, the women of the brothels, young girls trapped in the twisted border economy.  

May 9-13 Texas Finales   We played with Calle 13 at House of Blues Houston and at Pachanga Festival in Austin TX.  Residente Calle 13 is on the title track of our album Todos Somos Ilegales.   Their live show is undeniable.  Everyone knows Residente is a tremendous frontman, lyricist and rapper, and that Visitante is a musical maestro… but PG-13, their younger sister, is the secret weapon of the Calle 13 live show. 

Pachanga Fest is a great festival with a very forward thinking lineup and artistic concept under the umbrella of ‘Latin Music’.  We played two featured sets and did a lot of interviews.  “Who is the band?  Why did you make this album about the border?  Why do you talk about Revolution and what do you mean?”  On our stages we met Ana Tijoux and Chico Trujillo from Chile, Chingo Bling from Houston, our buddies Forro in the Dark from NYC/Brasil, the undeniable crunk cumbia DJ squadron Peligrosa, and the up and comers La Divison del Norte who were making their US debut at Pachanga Fest.  La Divison Del Norte had worked hard and won a contest to appear at the festival, driving up from Mexico to make their first show across the border.  Afterwards we invited them to come with us the final Texas date of our tour, in San Antonio.  

May 14-17  From San Antes we drove North through Austin, Dallas, Arkansas and St Louis to Chicago, backtracking the route we took two months earlier.

May 18-20  We arrived in Chicago for the anti-NATO protests.  NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is basically a US-led military alliance and they are responsible for war crimes, massacres, and occupations from Afghanistan to Libya and beyond.  NATO are war criminals breaking international law with no regard for human life, national sovereignty, culture, peace, or a livable future for the world. 

Chicago was filled with activists from all over as well as tremendous police and military response.  The city was on lock down and tensions were high!  We sang at a World Can’t Wait event, followed by an Afghani Poet, an Iraqi poet, and a Chilean man who lived survived state torture in the 1970’s by the US-supported Pinochet dictatorship. 

In Chicago I heard stories of border crossings.  A friend tells me how 15 years ago he crossed over at El Paso and came to Chicago.  He recently visited Mexico to see his family and hired a coyote to return through the Arizona Desert.  Ever since 9/11 the traditional crossing points in Texas and California have been militarized and highly guarded.  These days most people cross in the Arizona desert: occupied Tohono O’odham land, and a very difficult journey.  I heard stories about the Coyotes, guides who rob, rape, and abuse the people paying to come to the US.  It’s a full on illegal economy, a functioning part of this system.  A system which lives off the labor of immigrants in the US, most of who must hire a gangster and risk death and rape to cross north to work in the shadows.  That night I met a half Salvadoran, Chicago born and raised, ex-gang banger who had just left prison for the 2^nd time.  His only hope for a job and getting out of slanging was to travel to West Virginia and work in a coal mine.  But his mother had died and he lost the opportunity.  So he was back in his hood in Chicago, selling weed at a swingset at 1am.

The next night we special guested with Tom Morello at a night of music dedicated to Woody Guthrie (he would be 100 years old this year).  We made friends with Son Del Viento, local Son Jarocho musicians who also performed, giving a crucial immigrant perspective to Woody Guthrie’s songs of class struggle in the fields.  We jumped up to sing Deportees with Tom Morello and every other musician from the night.  It was a beautiful chaotic scene.  

The next morning we were in downtown Chicago, surround by uniformed Iraq Vets Against The War.  They were kicking off a day of protests climaxing in a ceremony of throwing back their medals.  Watch the Democracy Now video so you can hear what the vets had to say, it is incredible!  We were singing in the middle of a huge crowd with Tom Morello, Tim McIlrath (Rise Against), Rebel Diaz, Son de Viento and Amy Goodman (Democracy now).  The soundstystem on stage had malfunctioned so we marched out into the crowd, escorted by IVAW troops in formation.  Tom and Tim both led songs and then it was Outernational’s turn.  We played Sir No Sir.  It was one of the most powerful moments I’ve ever had as a performer.  Dr Blum said afterward he was in tears when the IVAW guys sang along to Sir No Sir.  We love the soldiers who resist these wars of conquest and imperialist plunder, they are deeply inspiring and a crucial part of the future we need to manifest.  

May 21-22  We left Chicago for New York.  And we felt it proper to cross the border into Canada on the way.  It’s always good to visit Canada.  As similar it is to the USA (and fundamentally the same system), I always get a good perspective by leaving the country.  Canada’s cities are international and culturally rich and even the mainstream white Canadian culture is more open minded and less paranoid than American culture.  

May 24-26 NY Finally we made it back to NYC.  We nearly lost our voices and our marbles along the way.  We had to cancel a night in a favorite city of ours: Buffalo, NY.  The sheer physical strain and mental challenge of the tour was taking its toll.  We rolled into NYC and played our homecoming show at Dominion NY.  Chad Smith was in town and jumped behind the drum kit with no preparation.  I seem to remember the last time I saw him was the same circumstance.  We set off the next day for Dr Blum’s home of Staten Island and closed out the tour with a very weird show in the Hamptons of Long Island.  

I WANT TO THANK EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO WAS INVOLVED IN THE TOUR AND ALL THE FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FELLOW DREAMERS FROM BROWNSVILLE TO SAN ANTONIO, HOUSTON, LAREDO, MCALLEN, MARFA, AUSTIN, DENTON, EL PASO, TOHONO O’ODHAM, FLAGSTAFF, TUSCON, PHOENIX, LOS ANGELES, SAN DIEGO, TIJUANA, LYNWOOD, CARSON, SANTA MARIA, FRESNO, SACRAMENTO, BERKELEY, SAN FRANCISCO, RENO, MEXICO, EL SALVADOR, HONDURAS, GUATEMALA, ARKANSAS, ST LOUIS, CHICAGO, ONTARIO, BUFFALO and NEW YORK…    WE ARE ALL ILLEGALS!

Volted Mag interviews Dr. Blum and Miles Solay with some great live footage from the band’s show at Pachanga Fest from May 2012.

“New York City rockers Outernational play “future rock,” a sound they explain in our latest interview. The band also talks about their record Todos Somos Ilegales (We Are All Illegals) and the social injustice that inspired it.”