L.A. Music: Beck & Being A Guera

For this Friday's installment of my L.A. music series, I'm giving you some Beck.
This, because I'm still pretty excited about procuring my lovely wood back on Monday.  My vintage credenza came from a Craiglist seller in Silverlake. Beck lives (or used to live) in Silverlake.  As I also explained on the same wood-centric post, Silverlake is a area near downtown L.A. that's an enclave of hipsters and creative types.

Beck is a native of Southern California, and his music reflects that, at least to my ears.  I don't know if we can still consider Beck a "hipster" -- I was surprised to hear recently that it's been nearly 20 years since the release of his first hit, "Loser."  (What?!)

The song I'm playing today is "Que Onda, Guero?," off of his album "Guero."  I love this song because it reminds me of working in a semi-industrial area of Santa Fe Springs, back in the very early '90s.  I had an office job for a small distribution company, owned by a Mexican-American man named Gil. Gil was shocked to learn that his new secretary (me) was half Mexican, too.   He'd just assumed that because my name is Kelly, that I must be Irish.  Ha.

Anyway, that whole neighborhood (like all of L.A.) was a big melting pot of races, but especially Mexican-Americans.  At snack and lunch time, the roach-coach (food truck) would park at the end of the cul-de-sac, blare it's horn, and the workers from all the nearby companies and offices would come out for fresh-made burritos, tacos, ceviche, and packaged Hostess snacks.

"Que Onda, Guero?" translated literally means, "what's up, blonde-boy?" (Also: important to know that "guero" is pronounced "weh-doh," as you'll hear in the song.  But "guero" in casual Mexican parlance really refers to any white boy, no matter the hair color -- or a pale-skinned Mexican, too.

Hence my sometime-nickname around the office of "geura," for the supposed Irish girl who was really just a half-breed with dyed auburn hair.

So here's to Silverlake, Beck, being a guera, and gettin' your groove on for the first weekend of spring.  Turn it up and enjoy!