Wednesday, September 5, 1934
Pago 16
Daily Nebraskan
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King, The Crowns
rock against Reagan
By Mesa Z. Kcppekaan
Dally Nebraskam SerJor Reporter
If Ronald Reagan gets re-elected
president this November, Joe
"King" Carrasco will cross the Rio
Grande into Mexico never to re
turn except on tours and week
ends. "
That's why our stuff is getting
more Tex-Mex," said Carrasco. "It
I can figure out a way to get down
there and stay, 111 move. Reagan's
foreign policy is unbelievable. He's
going to get us blown up."
Carrasco and his band, The
Crowns, relaxed Monday after
noon at a small party before play
ing that evening at the. Royal
Grove. The 30-year-old Texas rock
er promised two trends in the
band's newest releases: more
Latin influences and more politi
cal lyrics.
Carrasco said he has always
been a political person. He reads
up to four newspapers a day,
particularly when he's not on
tour. But he gets a lot of his
information first-hand in Central
and South America.
"I spend a lot of time traveling
and talking to people, and I can
4 "Federates" is political in a way. It's about
taking mushrooms and hanging around the
pyramids. If everybody did that, all the world's
problems would be solved.'
see our foreign policy is totally
wrong," he said. "Anti-American
sentiment is running really high.
But no one here gives a fuck, and
that blows my mind."
Carrasco said that since Rea
gan's reign began, the United
States has fought wars that Ameri
cans know nothing about. He said
he thinks that if Reagan wins
another term, the United States
will invade Nicaragua.
After watching the president
on television deliver speeches to
Republican conventioneers Car
rasco said, he decided the pres
ent administration is run "like a
cowboy movie, with John Wayne
as president."
His new album, Bordertawn,
will come out in Europe in two
weeks. The new lyrics indicate his
sympathy with Central and South
American problems and his un
easiness with U.S. stands. One
song, "Current Events Are Mak
ing Me Tense" was written after
Carrasco had a nightmare about
nuclear war.
"I dreamed we were on tour in
California and I heard on the
radio that missiles had been
launched" he said. "Everybody
was hauling ass and all I could
think of was, Til never see Texas
again.' "
Other songs on Bordertown,
which will be available in the Uni
ted States as an import, include
"Who Bought the Guns That Killed
the Nuns" and "We dont Speak
The first verse of "Who Bought
the Guns . . gives Carrasco's
perception of Reagan's Latin
American policies:
"Who gave the order to cross
the border?
Who gave the order for all this
torture
It was a man, a man, a man
with a plan
For murder and aggression
across this land."
Later in the song we find out
the man is "Konny, and he is not
funny."
Carrasco said he got interested
in Central American politics more
than ten years ago. While living
and working in Austin, Carrasco
became sympathetic to the prob
lems of Salvadoran refugees. He
said it's a criminal offense to har-'
bor refugees there because the
U.S. government doesnt recognize
them as political refugees, but
economic refugees.
Since then, Carrasco has visited
El Salvador.
He said the easiest way to
imagine what life is like in El Sal
vador is to picture two identical
duplexes next door to each other.
In the U.S. duplex, 60 people live
there. Fifteen people get the bed
room, bathroom and kitchen, and
45 people are stuck in the living
room.
Two hundred people live in the
Salvadoran duplex. Four people
get the whole house, and the rest
live in the back yard.
"If you look at the people per
square mile here compared to
there, and the way the wealth is
distributed, that's a good anal
ogy," Carrasco said. "People in
Central America have been held
down too long. They want what
we have here, and I don't blame
them."
Early political interests gave
some of his old songs a "semi" pol
itical bent. "Federales," from his
album For the Hottest Mouth in
Town, has a tongue-in-cheek pol
itical message.
"Federales' is political in away,"
he said. "It's about taking mush
rooms and hanging around the
pyramids. If everybody did that,
all the world's problems would be
solved, if you know what I mean."
"It's good to make people think
while they listen to your music,
but the important thing is to have
fun," he said. "I just want to make
people happy and maintain my
lifestyle, which is loose."
Grove revellers trampled on
any allusions to foreign policy,
Reagan and the Central Ameri
can strife as they hoped, bopped
and stomped through the King's
nearly two-hour set. King's real
pull lies in the Latin-Mexican beat
of drummer Dick Ross and the
bass guitar of George Reiff. The
showmanship of Kris Cummings
and her trademark farfisa organ
as well as The King's acrobat
ics keep feet glued to the dance
floor and eyes focused on stage.
The King's finale was a precar
ious climb over stage and speak
ers to the second floor of the
Grove. He somersaulted into the
waiting arms of the crowd who
passed him hand-over-hand back
on stage. Sweat poured fast and
furious as Carrasco boogied to
"Party Weekend" and "Dont Bug
Me Baby," both from his most
recent American release.
"My roots are Tex-Mex, so that's
what we play," Carrasco said.
The fact that I play Tex-Mex
music is rebellious and subver
sive in itself. It goes totally against
the grain of American music.
"What's held Latin music back
so long is the language. I played
with a lot of Mexican bands, and I
try to put English lyrics to some
Mexican polkas. My Chicano
friends said I was crazy, but some
times it worked."
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Joe "Eimg" Carrasco and The Crowns play coErt Jester cX & prc-show party Monday elternooii.
Carrasco, behind, and The Crowns ore Iksij Ccr.inirC3, Isft, George Eeif ad Bids Tizzs.
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