MAS Magazine / 8 - 3 - 2007

MÁS

Presorted Standard US Postage Paid Mercado Nuevo

August 3, 2007 Volume 2, Issue 47

www.masbakersfield.com P.0. BOX 2344, Bakersfield, Ca 93303

CULTURE PRIDE COMMUNITY

It’s a family affair Readers weigh in on immigration ‘El Cantante’ movie review

MÁS

Contents

12-13 ON THE WEB 5-6 FILM 7 HEALTH 8 GENTE 10-11 AY MUJER 14 ENTERTAINMENT 15 PUZZLES 18 CLASSIFIEDS 20-22

August 3, 2007

10-11

COVER STORY Families, local car club driven for lowriders

Reader air thoughts on immigration debate

12-13

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony partner in film, “El Cantante”

MÁS Magazine to hold health expo for las mujeres y niños

Spotlight on local gente

Deborah Ramirez takes on ‘Bridezilla’ and dad taking extra step for baby

7

In the Mixx with Noe G.: A look at what’s happening this weekend

Test your bilingual skills with puzzles

Need a job? Puppy?

Yard sales, too!

Did You Know?

General Manager

Delia Carson dcarson@masbakersfield.com 716-8632

Many Kern County Hispanics go without health insurance

Type of health insurance None

23

PPO (Preferred Provider Organization)

25

HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)

20 18 7 12

Medicare (Social Security program) Medicaid/public assistance/welfare Other type of health insurance

Note: Sum of percentages is greater than 100 as some repondents have more than one type if insurance Source: Scarborough Research 2007

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Managing Editor

Kern County adults Hispanic Total 38 11 14 13 11 17

Olivia Garcia ogarcia@masbakersfield.com 395-7487

Cover photo: Roger Hornback

Editorial / Advertising 716-8640

Más is a new weekly magazine focused on Hispanic people, style, culture and issues in Kern County. Más is a publication of Mercado Nuevo, LLC, a subsidiary of The Bakersfield Californian.The Más name and logo design are trademarks of Mercado Nuevo and cannot be used without the company’s permission. For questions or for more information about Más or other publications of Mercado Nuevo, contact us: Mercado Nuevo LLC P.O. Box 2344 Bakersfield, CA 93303; (661) 716-8640 www.mercadonuevocorp.com or masbakersfield.com

COVER STORY

Bakersfield’s Aztec Image Car Club members driven by love of lowriders & love of la familia

By Matt Muñoz MÁS staff

L

owriding is a family affair for Bakersfield’s Aztec Image Car Club.

Whether cruising around town, heading out to a car show, a summertime barbecue or just kicking it in the back yard, lowriding is all about la familia to these selfproclaimed “old school” riders.

Making their 10th appearance at this year’s Lowrider Nationals car show in Bakersfield Sunday, Aug. 5, Aztec Image prides itself on continuing the lowriding tradition in true, old school fashion — where “pride in your ride” is as important as the priorities in everyday life.

“It means a lot to me,” said Richard Martinez, Aztec Image Car Club president, of his current ride — a classic ‘68 Impala that also happens to be the first car he ever owned.

Martinez, 32, who’s led the car club since 1995, is quick to express his affection for his custom auto — in fact, he explains what it’s like, to this day, to be a lowrider owner with this: “I come home, open the garage, see it on the ground, and I say, ‘That’s my car.’”

Passionate about the artistic aspects of self-expression his car provides, Martinez also stressed that while his car is considered a part of the family, he never lets it come between his loved ones.

“It’s a big part of my life, but I don’t let it cause problems between my family and friends,” he said.

Tracing the club’s Bakersfield roots back to 1994, Aztec Image originally started out with eight members.

In 2007, Aztec Image now boasts 23 members — large in comparison to other local clubs, many of whom have broken up or resurfaced after a few years of inactivity, according to Martinez.

“Since lowriders have started getting popular again, a lot of people have noticed that we’ve been the club that has been around the longest,” said Martinez. “A lot of clubs have gone, but we’ve never stopped or taken a break since the beginning.”

So what’s the secret to making it Continued on page 13

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Keeping it

REAL

PHOTO BY ROGER HORNBACK

Rafael Fonseca, from the Aztec Image car club, sits in his 1965 Chevrolet Impala during a barbecue at one of the members houses Thursday, July 19, 2007.

PHOTO BY ROGER HORNBACK

A 1985 Chevrolet Monte Carlo parked during a barbecue at one of the members houses Thursday, July 19, 2007.

Continued from page 12 last?

“Families come first,” he said.

“Like if someone’s having a birthday party, and there’s a car show, we’ll cancel going to the show and go to the party, or we’ll re-schedule,” he said.

As in the household, Martinez added that Aztec Image members’ wives also play an important role in the club’s operation and longevity.

“Wives also come to the meetings, and have some say-so in certain things,” Martinez said. “We encourage them, because some of the guys tend to overlook things.”

But don’t think that the women of Aztec Image are only allowed in meetings.

Martinez’s wife, Yvonne, is also a full-fledged member of the club, with her very own ‘71 Buick Riviera.

After all, who says a lady can’t lowride?

“Once I married Richard, I got into this,” said Yvonne. “I saw Richard’s magazine lying around and I saw the car I wanted, a Riviera. My dad had one and I loved it so much. I was upset when he got rid of it.”

But, wishing for, and then finding the car you’re enamored with isn’t as easy as it sounds as the Martinezes would soon find out.

On top of that, Rivieras are a rare breed of classic car with their unique V-shaped rear window — but as luck would have it, the couple found one for sale while driving by a local muffler shop.

“We bought it from the original owner, an elderly lady who was sick and moving out of state,” said Yvonne. “We purchased it on the exact same day the original owner bought it back in the ‘70s. It was meant to be, I guess.”

To prove her commitment to creating a car show contender, Yvonne carefully chose her own paint and upholstery.

“It took a long time, but as soon as we brought the car out, we started winning trophies at shows — Best

PHOTO BY ROGER HORNBACK

Yvonne and Richard Martinez.

Lowrider Nationals ■ Sunday, Aug. 5, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

■ Kern County Fairgrounds ■ Adult tickets, $25. One child under 10 admitted free with each paying adult. Each additional child, $10.

■ Tickets available at: Eric’s Autobody on Brundage Lane; various FastTrip locations; Ritmo Latino stores; and at the fairgrounds.

■ Details: www.LowriderNationals.com

Candy, Best Paint and Best Interest for the ‘70s era,” said Yvonne, who is also the treasurer for Aztec Image.

“But I really go to just have fun and show what I’ve accomplished, not really to compete.”

For this lowriding mujer, the hobby and the husband go hand in hand.

“The lowriding came with marriage, so as long as I’m into Richard, I’ll be here,” said Yvonne with a goodnatured laugh.

At the time of this interview with MÁS, Yvonne’s Riviera remains in the shop to get a new look in time for this weekend’s Lowrider Nationals gathering.

“I can’t wait to show it off again,” she said of her “baby” with its eight to 10 multi-colors — including magentas, pinks, blues, all candy-colored — with jumbo flake treatment inside the paint patterns being done by Kyle and K-Daddy’s And how do the rest of the mem-

PHOTO BY ROGER HORNBACK

Five-year-old Noah Salcido stands by his lowrider bicycle during a meeting with the Aztec Image car club recently.

bers feel about having a female member in the club?

“We do look at Yvonne as the wife of our president,” said Dario Salcido, the vice-president of Aztec Image for the last four years. “But she’s more of a member to us.”

Salcido, 30, who rides two different cars for the club — a ‘79 Oldsmobile Cutlass in a shade of blue with silver flake and gold leafing, plus pinstripes and ‘63 Chevy Impala Super Sport

painted colbalt candy blue with a white-blue pearl top — claims a deeply-rooted history in the lowriding culture through his father and uncle, both of whom were also members of local car clubs.

“I was raised lowriding in Bakersfield,” said Salcido. “My dad was in Shades of Brown, and my uncle was in Carnales Unidos. It’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby to me.”

And for Salcido, lowrider lifestyle means sharing this common bond with loved ones.

“I do it for the friends and family,” he said. “My 5-year old son even talks about lowriding all the time. He can tell you the year of an Impala just by looking at the body. It’s art, a positive thing.”

And keeping it “positive,” is what Aztec Image plans on the doing for the Latino culture and the car culture in general.

Ruben Garcia, whose Aztec Image membership dates back to the club’s first year, has seen his share of different images and negative lowriding stereotypes perpetuated in movies and in gangs, but hopes that people will see the car clubs like his in a positive light.

“People have to get to know us,” said Garcia, 40. “There are different kinds of people with these cars, and they don’t take care of them. We’re not like that. We take care of each Please turn to LOWRIDERS, page 14

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Relationship advice

Deborah Ramirez Need some advice from the Latina perspective?

Send your “Ay Mujer” question to: ogarcia@masbakersfield.com “Ay Mujer” is written by Deborah Ramirez, a proud Chicana de Bakersfield.

Loca Bridezilla needs reality check; no boobs for new dad, por favor Dear Deborah My sister-in-law to be just uninvited me and my husband to her wedding. My husband’s step brother is the groom and my husband was his Best Man. What happened is that this chica gave my husband a list of his Best Man duties that she said she pulled out of a book. It had almost 20 duties listed, and the last duty on the list was to dance with all of the single women.

I didn’t appreciate this, said something to my husband, and he said something to his step brother and it got back to her.

She left me a nasty voicemail and then my step brother-in-law called my husband and told him he was no longer his Best Man and not to come to the wedding.

Was it wrong of me to have said something?

Signed, Tormented by Bridezilla’s Ay mujer, She’s lucky you didn’t get this book and knock her over the head with it. This wedding etiquette book is obviously outdated and not written by a woman of color

because I know plenty of colorful women who are reading this sayin’, “Oh no she didn’t!” So, NO it wasn’t wrong of you to have said something.

Pero Mujer, look at this as a blessing in disguise.

Did you really want to go?

She did you a favor.

Bridezilla seems to be the type of woman who may never evolve into a selfrespecting woman so feel sorry for her and especially feel sorry for your husband’s step brother. Let her be her petty little self.

You, on the other hand, should set a dignified example; yet, in the future, she should not be allowed to dictate environment and relationships.

With her wedding, she could dictate because it was “her day” but now her day is over, and she needs a reality check.

This is the family’s responsibility, not yours, to tell her to leave that mess at her home and not to infect long held relationships between siblings.

Don’t know that anyone in the family would have the courage to do so, but it is their responsibility to set the

tone of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in the family. If they don’t, family ties will be adversely affected but not irreparable in the future.

Deborah Dear Deborah, I’m having my first baby, and my husband just came home with one of those breast strap-ons that a man can put on to feed the baby.

He says he wants to experience everything I do and bond as close to our baby as I do. I think he’s loco and to me this is weird.

I told him I wasn’t going to pump my milk and put it in another breast for him to feed the baby.

He accused me of being selfish and now I’m stressed out. What do I do?

Signed, Mine are real.

Ay mujer, Tell him that if God intended him to have leche tanks he’d have them. But since he doesn’t, find other ways to bond with the baby.

While I understand more men are seeking to establish the same type of bond with their children as mothers do,

this does get filed into my weird category tambien.

It isn’t selfish of you and you need to tell him to back off because he’s stressing you out and stress on mama causes stress on baby. Right now, he’s just a little lost in his excitement about becoming a father so you have to set him straight by being firm about your position.

There are socio-biological reasons for different bonding experiences for parents and their children, and we need to let nature dictate.

It is admirable that he wants to bond close with his baby but there is a time and place for his role, and breast-feeding just isn’t his place.

Tell him you appreciate him wanting to help you and establish a close relationship with your baby, but he needs to reserve his bonding to what he can biologically contribute and man boobies just don’t lactate.

Tell him you’re more than happy to pump your milk and put it in a bottle, but you won’t transfer milk from one breast to a fake one.

Bottom line, you don’t want to confuse the baby.

Deborah

LOWRIDERS: Everything done to car “straight from the heart” Continued from page 13 other and our cars like family.”

Garcia remembers getting the keys to his car as a graduation present from his parents after high school in 1986 — a ‘64 Chevy Impala Super Sport now cobalt blue with a white blue pearl top and navy blue vinyl upholstery with velour in the center; a light blue headliner; Dayton 100 spoke rims; and a stock Chevy tricked (and treated) out in orange with black.

It’s a beloved car that has become not just more prized with age, but now also serves as a family heirloom, soon to be proudly passed down to Garcia’s own son.

“Everything done to that car is straight from the heart,” Garcia said.

“People have offered me a lot of money for it, but I’m going to give it to my son when he’s old enough in about three more years or so.”

With a fondness for the old school days of lowriding — when a cool paint job, smooth upholstery and accessories like rabbit ears antennae and chrome, chrome and more chrome was all the rage — Garcia and the other members of Bakersfield’s Aztec Image look to keep the rich family tradition alive.

They said they will do this through

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mutual respect for their fellow lowriders, many of whom are younger collectors who may prefer the so-called “next best thing,” i.e. the latest technology, to the simplicity of the true purist.

For the rides in the Aztec Image group, it’s all about polish and shine — their “Aztec Image” emblem glitters in bright gold on just about every vehicle and even adorns some club members’ personal bling collections — and those special, custom touches like colorful murals emblazoned on a trunk or intricate etchings engraved right on to an engine.

Of course, what a lowrider rolls on — the wheels/tires — also deserve a unique look, usually reserved for elaborate spokes (yes, chrome will do nicely, but you can also go for a burnt orange if that better captures the “stylings” of your ride).

And although Aztec Image members embrace their pure, old school love for lowriders, they realize it’s a matter of choice — and for dedicated lowriding lovers like these, that freedom of choice is key.

“I respect everyone from different clubs here in Bakersfield. They’re all good people,” Garcia said. “It’s like a big family with different names.”

PHOTO BY ROGER HORNBACK

Dario Salcido, left, Ruben Garcia, center and Richard Martinez, from the Aztec Image car club, pose with a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air during a barbecue at one of the members houses Thursday, July 19, 2007.