November 26, 2025 • 46 mins
Surprise! Diosa and Mala are back from their break to check-in about a few things. Like, why is there a one-sided rivalry between LA and NYC? Is LA a real city? Plus, they recap the Signal Awards, and Locatora Live. Together, they discuss the latest documentary everyone's talking about: Selena Y Los Dinos. This new documentary uses archived home-videos of the late singer and cultural icon, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, and reveals another side of the multidimensional artist.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
O La La Loka mos. I'm Fiosta and I'm Mala.
We are back. It's still season ten, a little bit
of a hiatus to recover and to plan and to celebrate.
(00:20):
There's so much to discuss today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We did a little traveling.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We won some awards, accepted such awards. We got back
into producing and hosting our live show, Loka Live, a
podcast party.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We did a little mini two part tour.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We're going to talk about all of that today and
the new Selena Yulos Linos documentary on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Let's start with our trip. And you were traveling before
then as well.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yes, yes, So, as some of you may remember or
may recall, I am currently in film school. I'm at
USC at the School of Metic Arts. I'm pursuing my
MFA in Film and Television production. So exciting news, guys.
A film that I produced last semester in the spring
of twenty twenty five, a documentary called All of Us Girls,
(01:14):
directed by Efong Wong, was accepted as an official selection
into the Saint Louis International Film Festival WOHO. So me
and my crew of USC filmmakers we flew out to
Saint Louis to go watch our film screen in its
first festival, and this was my first time having work
(01:34):
showing at a film festival. Biosa and I worked at
Laalif one year. We moderated a panel for the show Viva,
and we have submitted work to a film festival, but
this is the first time that's something actually has been selected.
So it was a really exciting time. It was very fun.
(01:55):
Saint Louis is a beautiful city. I had a great time.
Everyone was so friendly, and the festival just felt like
this is these are lovers of cinema, These are cinema files.
They love cinema, they love everything about it. And there
was a moment and I was telling Yosa about this,
and it was so relevant because after Saint Louis, I
(02:16):
flew to New York to meet up with Yosa for
the Signal Awards. But there was a moment where I
went to like a networking coffee. Right, I told you
about this, Biosa, Right.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You did, And I would love for you to share
it on the podcast because it is quite the story.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
One that's not foreign to us, one that we actually
hear all the time because we work in entertainment and
we are LA girls. We are from here, born and raised,
so this is like was nothing new, and so when
it happened, I just kind of sat back and let
it happen, and then I responded, So, we're sitting at
this filmmakers networking coffee and these are all filmmakers with
(02:53):
work showing in the festival, and most of them are
from the East Coast or the Midwest. There were some
that were there from their countries because it is an
international film festival. And there was a one filmmaker in
particular from New York City, of course, who started out
of nowhere, without prompting, by the way, just started talking
about how much she hates Los Angeles, how LA is
(03:16):
so fake. Quote, LA has no soul. Quote there is
nothing to discover. Quote, there's no real town, there's no
real city.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
End quote.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And I swear it felt like they and then others
started to chime in. I swear this went on for
at least twenty minutes, and I just sat and drank
my black coffee and said nothing and just listened because
they were hitting all the talking points that LA naysayers
always hit right the traffic, there's no real town, you know,
everybody's fake, everybody's only there for the industry.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Everybody's only there to network.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
And of course I waited, and I bided my time,
and then opportunity struck and I said, you know, it's
so funny to me to hear all of this about
Los Angeles because I am born and raised in LA.
My mom was born and raised in LA. My grandmother's
been there since she was sixteen. And you know, in LA,
we never talk about what life must be like in
(04:13):
New York because we're having so much fun living our
La lives and having a great time and enjoying the
sunshine and the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it was it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And you know, La really is that girl, because even
as far away as Saint Louis, when nobody asked, nobody prompted,
people still find a way to talk about her.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
La is that girl.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know, she's that bitch when she starts all this conversation.
To quote Beyonce nos Knowles.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Obsessed. And it really is like the things that we
hear all the time, right, what we hear online, what
we hear transplants say about Los Angeles, right, And you
it's so funny that you were in the same room
and they had no idea what they were saying and
who they were talking to. And you know, we flew
(05:04):
to New York that same weekend for the Signal Awards,
and I got there a day before you did, and
I stayed in Brooklyn and it was so lovely. It's
now my third time in New York in my whole life, Like,
I really haven't spent too much time on the East Coast,
and so to be in New York, there's such a
romantic feeling to the city, right, And in addition to
(05:26):
like it's cold, it's fast, right, like all like the
real part of being in a real city is obviously prevalent, right,
But then there's also when you're visiting, there's this romanticized
feeling of being in the city. Right, because you're visiting,
you don't have to deal with that day to day
stuff that you that people that actually live there have
(05:48):
to deal with. As I was walking in the neighborhoods,
and there's so many coffee shops, there's little wine bars,
there's restaurants, there's bookstores, there's all this stuff and all
these things that we have in La like to be clear,
but because we are so spread out, you don't always
have them all in the same block in a very
dense way. And so I told Mama, like, you know,
(06:09):
I can see why New Yorkers then moved to La
are like, oh, La is not a real city. I
don't agree with it, but having just been there for
a couple of days and really being able to just
be on our own itinerary and just really explore in
our own way, but I could see why it's probably
a really big shock for them when they moved to
(06:30):
LA and see just how spread out everything.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Is exactly, and you know, let's let's let's be very fair.
Los Angeles, Okay. New York was settled by the Dutch,
and they built everything vertically, and we in Los Angeles
we were founded. I mean we were in Mexico first.
We were a big old ranch. La was a ranch, yes,
(06:53):
rancho Okay, So everything was spread out. And the way
that the cities were established and founded and built has
everything to do with the way that we experienced them today.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I love New York.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I have spent a very solid amount of time in
New York over the years. Since I went to college
in Boston, I was in New York all the time.
I have nothing but love for New York City. It's
it's a great time every time I visit. But it
always strikes me how New Yorkers have such vitriol for
La and we just don't feel the same about New York.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We just don't.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
First of all, California was Alta Cali. It was a
part of Mexico. It was like it was land, right,
everything was spread out, and then we were ruled by
the car industry, right, like the car industry is and
among other things. Right, is one of the reasons we're
(07:48):
so spread out. It's by design. It's intentional.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
We're a very car dependent city and that is by design.
It's not choice. And I love to say, watch Roger
Rabbit if you want to know what happened to La
and the freeways and the like little trolleys that we
once had in this city. So it's all by design.
It's not for lack of community. It's not because we're fake,
(08:15):
it's not because we're vapid. It's there's actual design choices
and there's redlining. There's so much right, and so it's
just such a bad take when folks say La is
like this way because of just this one reason, right,
When there's so much that goes. There's so much historical
context right into why LA is made up the way
it is. Also, when we were in New York, we
(08:38):
were like on the win of Zorhandanni being elected mayor
of the city and that was really exciting. That was
really thrilling and one of my there has been so
much internet dialogue, discourse, hilarious memes, and one of my
favorite takes is formum Donnie. The first thing that he
(08:59):
fixed is is to broke or peace between Desis and
Marrow of the Bodega Boys. And I stand by that, like,
let that be the first thing that he does. Bring
back the Bodega Boys.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yes, a peace treaty. We could use a little more peace.
They're they're the voice that we need now. They need
to come together.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
We missed them. I miss them.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Everything went wrong when the Bodego Boys broke up. They
it's something happened in the space time continuum. Speaking of
award winning podcasts like The Bodega Boys, we were in
New York to also accept our Signal Awards because we
won double gold for look at what our Radio and
Signona sexit.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes, we did a double gold victory, so we had
to go. We had to go to the winner's party
hosted by the Signal Awards in Brooklyn and it.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Was a star stud at affair.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Hassan mian Haaj was there to accept an award as
well for his podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
He gave some remarks.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There were iHeart execs there accepting an award for iHeart.
We met them, we said hello, we took a pic,
and we also ran into people that we know, and
we didn't realize that that would happen. When we first
walked in to the awards party. The person checking us
in said, oh my god, I know you guys. And
it turns out it was Marianne, who is a listener
(10:24):
who flew us out to her university in Oregon years
ago to do one of our first college talks ever,
and there she was working at the Signal Awards. So
it was like a very wild, unplanned reunion.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, it was so exciting, and just to be in
a room full of audio producers and hosts and creators
on the East coast, right on the New York side,
I think was really exciting for us. Because we have
our audio community here in LA we can go to
a ton of events and just know the majority already
(11:00):
the people in the room, and that was an event
where we knew very few people, but we were able
to practice our networking, which is not necessarily my favorite
thing to do, but it is like a part of
being in any industry, right, And so I think that
was really fun and we got to we walked away
with some really great connections and we got to meet
(11:20):
new people and it was definitely worth the trip for us. Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
We took meetings, we schmoozed, we got photos and our content,
and we ate, we had pizza. It was a good time.
We saw friends. So I was really happy that we went.
It wasn't like a requirement, but in a way, it
was like, no, we gotta go, Like this is our work.
(11:47):
We must show up in person, we must be present.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, I mean, And it's also our first award, like
of this magnitude. We have been nominated for different things
over the years and have been named best Podcast, Best
Latina Podcasts, Enlist, and we've received a ton of accolades.
But I think this award in particular felt really special
(12:10):
to us is because we were judged by our creative peers.
There's an academy, there's judges, there are people that we
highly respect and admire that are on the panels. When
we asked our listeners to vote for us, we were
asking you to vote for the Listener's Choice Award, and
we did not win. The Listener's Choice Award was a
very tough competition, especially in our category, but we did
(12:34):
win gold, meaning the judges awarded us gold, and I
think that was also really gratifying because, as we've said before,
sometimes you can be in a silo, like in a
little production silo, and something that was mentioned at the award,
which it really resonated with me, was that you're working
(12:54):
episode by episode, production meeting by production meeting, and you're
working so fast that you don't even really get to
step back and see the whole picture and really appreciate
and soak up the work that you're doing because it
moves so fast. Being able to really soak up the
award and acknowledgment that, like, our work matters and we
(13:17):
were making moves and changes in the audio space, I
think was really really important.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I think it's possible that well, let me just say
first of all that submitting to awards is expensive. It
costs money. It's not free. There is a barrier to
entry to being an award winning podcast. It's not only
the quality of your show or the popularity or the
critical acclaim, Like you have to be able to afford
the cost of submission, and if you want your trophy,
(13:44):
you have to pay for the trophy as well, So
like all of this costs money and it is a
huge barrier. And I think it also highlights that it's
possible that there were tons of episodes throughout the years,
throughout our seasons that are likely award winning caliber, but
making the investment and the expense of submitting and then
seeing the return on that is something that we really
(14:07):
didn't do until this season, and I'm really happy that
we did. And I think it's like that acknowledgment that
the work is good, the work carries and that panel
of judges can see the validity of the work.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And you know, you.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Don't need necessarily that validity and that acknowledgment to do
what you do and to make art, but it helps
and it does feel good, and I think that it
is important.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And when we came back, we like immediately hit the
ground running because we had our riverside show look at
that alive in Riverside.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, it was really nice going back to the idea
of getting out of our production bubble and getting out
of the online bubble. We used to host and produce
a lot of in person events pre pandemic, and we're.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Getting back into it.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Look at That Alive a podcast party is back in
a big way. We did two back to back, one
in Riverside at Killer Queens and let me tell you
that IE audience is so lit, is so hype, is
so fun. We had Isis, the host of Ie in Besties.
She was our special guest and she was amazing and
(15:19):
she brought out her friends and her following and her
listeners in her community and we had look Ata Radio
listeners lok A Mores there from Hysperia and all over
the High Desert. They made the track, which was amazing
because you know, historically we've done our shows in LA
not everybody can make it, so we've always known that
(15:40):
we have an IE listenership and that there's audience out there.
So it was really really cool to connect with them
and be in person again. And we posted photos to
our Instagram so you can go check those out. We're
at look at Thora Underscore Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was fun. I loved it. It was cute.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It was it was And then after Riverside we had
our La show and that was at the Iconic Paramount Theater,
our second time producing a show there, and it was
so beautiful. Our listeners came out and Grisol performed an
incredible set. She sang four songs, she sang originals, she
(16:19):
sang covers. Jess and Carlos, the creators of the Yosable game,
were also there doing some interviews and just playing the
game with folks during the cocktail hour, and that was
a lot of fun as well.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I loved that game.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I love that game because it really tests your like
day to day Spanish and so it really had had
me thinking and really reaching to try and translate some
of these words, and it was just fun. It was
a good time. And check out their game. I think
(16:57):
it's great for your whatever party you're throwing. It's a
great icebreaker, great for families, great for kids, great at
the workplace. Because it's Spanish, it's just bocab, but it
really has you thinking and they gamified it so it's
very fun.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, it's really fun. There's a clip of us playing it.
I for one, I do not do well playing games.
I like, my brain shuts down. I'm like, you can
ask me a word in English and I will not know.
You can ask me in Spanish and I also will
not know. There's just something about my brain that I
cannot I cannot do any like games like that stress
(17:34):
me out. But it was still so much fun and
it was not as scary as I thought it was
going to be. I was like, I do not want
to play this, and I'm glad that I did because
it was It was a lot of fun. I would
definitely incorporate this into my parties as well. And then
the live show portion that we had was so fun.
We were really expanding on this theme of signs and
(17:57):
following signs, maybe noticing signs and having them take you
on a completely different path. We definitely pulled, like from
our experience with Lokata in our personal lives, to really
talk about this concept of following signs or ignoring signs,
because sometimes that happens.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, So we it was just me and me and you,
me and Diosa, just chat and chatting it up, and
we had some fun prompts and questions for our audience,
and our audience was really engaged and they participated and
shared some amazing life stories and examples. The title was
(18:38):
this is your Sign, and we interpreted that in a
lot of different ways, you know, like this is your
sign that you're on the right track, versus is there
something that we interpret as anxiety when it's really a
sign either in a good way or a bad way.
And so we kind of took it out of astrology
and made it more about the universe communicating with you
(19:02):
and your choice or your path or maybe how to
differentiate between a false signal or a distraction and a
sign that you're really meant to be doing something. So
are our audience, of course, who are all these like
really incredible mostly women, mostly Latinas, who are each on
their own paths in life and their own journeys and
(19:22):
figuring it out for themselves. They brought some really cool examples,
like there was a musician there from flor de Toloace
who's talking about the struggles of being a working musician
and the obstacles that life throws at you. And her
mom wants her to be a doctor, but she's a
violinist and she plays.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
In the all female Mariacci and she tours.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
But that means that sometimes the work is not a
stable but it's what she loves to do and it's
in her heart and that's that's her path. And so
she shared that, and there was a Latina restaurant owner
from the Bay who also shared about those days where
it's really hard and she struggles and sometimes she wants
to call it quits and throw in the towel, but
(20:04):
then something happens and it reminds her of her mission
and her purpose and why she loves to do what
she does. So I thought it was a very affirming
night for everybody to share and to vent a little.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
It was a lot of fun and we'll be back.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And the very next morning, after a look at Alive
at the Paramount, we were down in Long Beach, bright
and early because we were EMC's for a five K
the Liberation five K raising funds for immigrant Families Cash
Assistants hosted by or A Le Long Beach, which is
an amazing immigrant rights nonprofit that we've worked with in
(20:42):
the past. We hosted a fundraiser for them at OUI
Love Studios and we raised twenty five hundred dollars in
cash assistance towards immigrant families that or a LA processes
and hands out directly to those in need. So yeah,
we we were busy and just giving back to the
community however we can, and on that day it was
by being MCS for a five K.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Don't go anywhere, look amotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
In other pop culture news BIOSA have you seen the
new documentary Selena Eulos Vinos on Netflix?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yes, I have. That was actually one of the reasons
that I was like, Mala, we got to bring back
the podcast, like, even though we're technically on break, we
have to talk about the documentary, which is directed by
Isabel Gastro. I personally really loved the documentary. You know,
I think in so many ways, we know the story, right,
(21:40):
we know what Selena's upbringing, her rise to fame, her tenacity,
her hard work, and unfortunately her tragic death. But in
this light to see a very different side. And I
think that's partly because they used a lot of archival
footage that has never been seen.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
For the documentary is an absolute feast of archival footage.
There is so much from TV interviews with Selena, rehearsal footage.
A lot of it like very grainy, like practically black
and white. Some of it like behind the scenes footage,
home videos, stuff from when Selena was a little little girl.
(22:24):
I mean, it's really incredible how much of her life
was documented, and how much of her artistic process and
the training leading up to her becoming the superstar sensation
that she was. The documentary also includes interviews with her
brother with ab Keithania, with her sister Susette, with her
(22:46):
father Abraham, and her mother Marcella. And I think that
to me, what is so striking is that for Selena
fans of a certain age, almost everything that we've seen
of Selena is filtered through a film, like a studio
film or the TV show. So we've seen her through
the lens of an actress j Loo, right through a
(23:10):
script and through like Hollywood direction. To see her as herself,
the actual Selena, with her actual bangs and her features
and her makeup and talking not to us, but talking
to us is really refreshing and a very different experience
(23:31):
than watching like Selena the movie or Selena the series, right,
And so that's what I loved most about it. And
then we hear her talk about the struggle and how
hard it was, and how it was hard to put
food on the table when they lost their house and
when they had to move in with their relative and
there was like thirteen of them under one roof, and
(23:53):
you know, the fourteen fifteen years of rehearsals and gigs
and touring, and you know, I think that the version
of Selena that we all know and love is the
sort of the clips and the sound bites and the
movie where she's smiley and dancing and happy and very
upbeat and very positive and she's, you know, this darling.
(24:16):
But I think the documentary also brought in that like
very human side of it was hard, you know, and
she was working since she was a kid. So I
found it to be like just so informative in that way.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
And I think at this point, Selena as a cultural
figure has reached sainthood in some way where it's like
literally Santa Selena, like her image in so many ways
cannot be tarnished. And that's partly because her life was
cut so so tragically short, and because when someone reaches
(24:53):
sainthood right figuratively in this in this way, it's like
we have her on such a high pedestal and she
will remain there, and she should remain there. And I
think that this documentary allows us to see this more
vulnerable side of her, the side of her that's multidimensional,
because I think when we put women, especially like on
(25:15):
this pedestal, and we put someone like her in sainthood,
like in some ways, we're like, we're reducing who they are,
and it can be reductive and it uncomplicates them, right
because they're quote perfect or they're you know so culturally
significant and impactful, and all of that is still true.
(25:36):
But we see a version of her that I don't
think the public has seen before for very obvious reasons,
because there are ways that you are around your family
that you are only around your family, And so I
think to see her talk about how, like you mentioned Mala,
how hard it was for her to be touring, right,
And she said in an interview where we're seeing like
(25:58):
the BTS part of her being interviewed where she says
that she lost a lot of her youth because she
didn't really have friends that she was in contact with,
considering the time period and her finishing high school by
mail and really missing out on all these milestones that
when we think of adolescence and growing up, she was
growing up like touring and gigging.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Abe in the documentary mentions that their father Abraham saw
the Jackson five and sort of said, oh, well, we
can be like a Mexican Jackson five, and let's get
all the kids in the band and everyone's going to
perform and tour and the kids are working, the kids
are gigging, the kids are earning checks, the kids are professionals.
It also reminds me of Beyonce and Destiny's child and
(26:44):
the dad manager who is instrumental in their rise to fame.
But I think Beyonce also, you know, her song sixteen Carriages,
I think has a lot to do with her loss
of innocence and her loss of a childhood because like Selena,
she was working and rehearsing and touring and gigging at
(27:06):
a very young age and it never stopped. So there's
there's definitely these child stars or these celebs, these superstars
who started that path as very young kids. I don't
see how you can have a normal childhood and go
to school every day and be on the playground and
go to sleepovers and birthday parties and then become a
(27:27):
Selena or a Beyonce, it's sort of one or the other.
And these girls, these women experienced that sacrifice to become
the superstars that they were, and who knows what heights
Selena would have reached had her life not been cut short.
But if you haven't seen the documentary, I highly recommend it.
It's a really beautiful watch and of course heart wrenching.
(27:49):
Be prepared to cry, as we do with anything Selena related.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
We know the love story in her and Chris and
how her family was so against them being together, them
being married, something that the documentary really only twenty years
old when they got married. She was only twenty, right,
and we think about like, I was twenty nine when
I got married, and I'm like, I was a child bride.
(28:17):
I felt so still now when I say twenty nine,
I'm like, that is so young. There's a lot of
like farandula She's meant theories about the family, I think,
especially her father, and you know, the documentary really highlights
she was only twenty years old and there was a
lot of reason for her family to have these reservations
(28:37):
about her getting married. Right and now with time and retrospect,
something that struck me, and then I then Susette said,
it was like, I'm really glad she did it because
she actually got to experience love and being a wife
and being married, and she didn't get to experience becoming
a mother. For all the reasons that we know, not
(28:58):
to reduce the mess the film, but it really does
feel like we only have one life. We literally never
know what's going to happen to us. Our life can
change drastically, our life can end tragically suddenly, and these
choices that we make really do have so much impact.
And that bold choice that she made to marry her
love right her partner, was one that she got to like,
(29:23):
a love that she got to experience and enjoy like
in her very short life.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, and it strikes me that he was probably he
was her friend, you know, and for someone who couldn't
have friends because she was on the road and touring,
he was also her friend. And so she made a
choice to do something for herself and not for the band,
and not for the fans, and not for her dad,
but just for her.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So I'm so I agree with Susanne. I'm so glad
that she did.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That, because then she would have never had that she
would have never had that, and she gave us so much,
gave every so much and shared so much of herself
that she deserved to have that person that was just
her person.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Anything Selena really like I'm in. We don't always love
all of the projects, but it's out of love and
adoration and respect for Selena and her legacy. Something that
I hear often online there's this sentiment that like, let
Selena rest and stop profiting off of her memory and
her legacy. And I think there's also this respect to
(30:32):
be had to her family or for her family, and
for Selena and her legacy. And when you hear her talk,
especially in this documentary about her legacy and what she wanted,
like it ends with her saying, I will be here
as long as the public wants me, and we do.
We still want her, Like without us wanting more from
(30:55):
her story or learning more about her story and her background, like,
they wouldn't be putting it out. And I think that's
also something we should consider too, is how also the
fans and the community drives new new production, right new music,
even which I don't agree with, like the AI album right,
I think that came out a couple of years ago.
But there's also because there's a want for it.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's true, it's true.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
One is no one's going to stop making Marilyn Monroe
merch because she's iconic, legend, superstar status forever and ever.
And Selena has entered and has been in that sphere
for some time now. So I think it's a testament
to like, she's a true star, a true star, and
stars never fade, so as long as there's there's material
(31:46):
to share, and clearly they had all of this material,
you know, I think that the public never truly had
their their Selena craving satisfied because her career was ended
so and her life was ended so quickly.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So it's it's this.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
No, but we know that there's more, and we want
more because we love her. So I'm all for it
as long as it's done well and respectfully. There have been,
like you said, there have been projects that have not
been done so well. Maybe in a hurry, I don't know.
I don't know, But as long as it's done well
and with reverence, we love it because we are fans.
(32:26):
We are fans, so I love the documentary because it
was her, it was truly her.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, don't go anywhere. Look amotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
And we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
And this got me thinking, Mala, like, what documentary about
a Latina artists past or present do you want to see?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
So I was thinking about this and the documentary and
feature film that I would love to say is about
Tango Lele who just passed away in February of this year,
twenty twenty five. Rest in peace. She passed at the
age of ninety three. You guys may have seen some
news articles about her passing, but maybe you're not familiar
(33:15):
with Togo Lele so also born Yolanda Montez. She was
from Spokane, Washington. She was a dancer who at the
age of like fourteen fifteen, relocated herself alone to Mexico City,
lied about her age and started dancing in the cabarets
and the nightclubs in Mexico. She was an exotic dancer.
(33:38):
She was a cabaret dancer. She was a showgirl. And
if you've ever seen photos of like a very beautiful,
scantily clad show girl from like back in the day,
from the thirties and forties, she had the one white
stripe of hair and she was quite scandalous for the
time period, but she also gained a lot of celebrity
(34:01):
and she appeared in a number of movies. Her film
debut was in Nocturno More, followed by La Muerte, and
then she had a breakthrough role in an Matado Tango
Lele and She's been She was in a bunch of movies,
and then because of her seductive dancing, her riskue wardrobe,
(34:23):
she came under fire from Mexico's Legion of Decency and
they found her very indecent because of her very scandalous
dance moves and her wardrobe, and so she kind of
disappeared from the screen for a while in the nineteen fifties,
and eventually in the sixties and seventies she came back
(34:44):
and appeared in a few more productions, but very very
much iconic. On oscars dot Org, they actually have an interview,
a video interview with Tango Lele. In her later years,
she kept the white stripe in her hair, I think
until she passed, and she suffer from dementia. But she
is somebody that I find very riveting, very interesting, and
(35:07):
I would love to see a documentary and a future
film about her.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Iconic I would love to come under fire from Mexico's
legion of decency. I mean iconic sounds amazing. I love this.
I would love to see a documentary about her and
also a future film because I feel the same way
about the woman I think deserves the documentary and a
future film, which is Ima Sumac, who we've talked about
(35:34):
on this podcast before. But Ima Sumac was a Pruvian
vocal singer. She had four octave range, she had an
operatic voice. There was this like lore behind her which
was fabricated by Hollywood and also during the time of
like Musika Exotika, which was basically like globalized exotic music.
(35:58):
It was very like Pan American was not nondescript type
of exotic music, and so she became the queen of exotica.
She has a very very complicated relationship I think with
music more so I should I can, I should say
we can complicate her relationship and her as a figure
(36:19):
to like exotic music and the machine that is Hollywood
and the music industry. But her lore was that she
was a descendant of like the last inc and King
like that was the type of story that was given
to her, and the public ate it up because they
don't know. They didn't know in the fifties and sixties,
they didn't know anything about Peru and the history and
(36:41):
the Incan Empire, and so the public ate it up.
She had a cult following. She performed up until the
nineties and she died at the age of eighty five.
And she was a very very beautiful singer and a
beautiful lady, a very very striking, striking woman. She's definitely
someone that I think I would love to see a
(37:02):
documentary about her her vocal range, and also a feature film.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, there's all these sort of Golden era divas that
if you are into and that's the thing is, I
think we're into divas in general, his like throughout time
and space, and so I think that we've come to
learn about these women and we really like hold them
(37:30):
in high esteem because they were serving looks. They were
getting in trouble by the legion of decency. They like
were creating these these beautiful like how would I say this?
You know, the way that Beyonce creates an entire aura
about herself, from the music, to the vibe to the wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
They were doing.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That in their own way back in the day and
creating their own legend and embodying that from the music
to the dance sing to the looks, to the mystique
and the lore. So I just love it and I
think it's fabulous. And if you are not familiar with
these ladies, go look them up. You are going to
become big fans.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
And I think that they.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Also their existence pushes back on this idea that like traditionally,
historically women in Latin America were like always conservative or
chase or in the home or they were all, you know,
popping out babies.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
They were all no.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Like, these women were out there and they were working
and they were making a name for themselves and doing
it in a very fabulous way that raised eyebrow sometimes.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I agree. I feel like diva status is earned right
and it takes time. So I can't I can't necessarily
name like a new diva quote unquote, because they feel
like all the divas that we currently have have been
in the game for a long time. But I don't
know if if some of the like newer artists have
that kind of diva persona, that mystique, that aura, that lore.
(39:05):
Maybe because we're all too expol on social media, including
our faves, but like these women had a lore to them.
And when reading more about Ima Sumac when I was
prepping for this episode, there was someone who was at
an event with her and talks about like she was
just on, she was just performing, she was always in character.
(39:27):
And I think that that's also part of like diva hood,
is that you are always on. Mariah Carey is always on,
Beyonce is always on. We're never going to see these
divas not on. And I can't think of anyone in
this current era that's like up and coming or even popular, right,
But I just really can't think of an artist or
(39:49):
a star that can can kind of emulate that same
diva sentiment.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
No, no, at least not now.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Maybe one will arrive or maybe in maybe maybe in
twenty years, May twenty years.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, I can correct my statement. It does. It takes
a long time.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
It takes a long time.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
The other uh divas who need a documentary, that's us,
we need a look I thought documentary. We've been talking
about it for years and it will happen one day
because we have so much of our own footage from
the past ten seasons that it's got to go somewhere.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, this is a good This is a good, good,
good reminder for anyone documentary or not just for yourself,
like actually document your life, right, not for social media,
not for content, but like for yourself, for your family.
I think documenting your life and your story and your
this moment, your family, what you're doing. You know, I
(40:47):
remember growing up like I'm going taking it back to
the sleet of documentary, right, but like the big oldcam quarters, right,
we see that in the documentary. That's exactly how I
grew up, with the big oldcam quarters. Like my dad
holding it, at my brother holding it, somebody filming a
birthday party, someone unwrapping a gift like that was all documented.
(41:08):
And that kind of really rich family videotape, right that
I think in like the kids of the nineties and before,
is so so delicious And I feel like for us,
for the for look At and the podcast, we have
a lot of archival footage. It's archival now ten seasons
and it's on our phone. It's not as romantic, but
(41:30):
we have it.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah, it's the the cam quarters.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
And filming every family event also elevates your everyday life
to that of a production, and it elevates the birthday party,
you know, the Christmas concert, the talent show, it learning
to ride the bike. Having that big camera there and
(41:56):
putting it on tape elevates the moment to some thing
worthy of filming, to something that it needs.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
To be captured.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And the world that we've been living in for so
long is where are we need a script and a
location and what's the story and what are we wearing
and hair and makeup? And we got a film And
that's beautiful because we do production, we produce work. But
I think that there's something beautiful about that big old
camera coming out to record you know, your first steps
(42:30):
or a sleepover or whatever whatever it is. It's sort
of reminding us too that like everyday life is that
important and that worthy of documenting and filming, and it's
art in its own way, art unfolding at Verite filmmaking.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Think it's a beautiful thing. And yeah, film your lives.
Your lives are art too. It's not just on a
set that makes it art, or if there's a script
or if there's an actor, that's not what makes it art.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Necessary, absolutely, and we have just so much I think
story that we want to share about what it's been
like on this journey as first time entrepreneurs, business owners, podcasters,
artists living in LA and in this time period, there's
still so much that we want to share and it
(43:19):
continues to unfold. There's more so I don't we won't
have our documentary in the next year, but it is
something that we are like plotting on, dreaming about and
thinking like, Okay, how could this work? And I think
even early in the early days, like we had that foresight.
I think we knew we were onto something. We didn't
know what yet, but we knew that we were onto
something because I remember, for when we did our one
(43:42):
of our very first look lives, there was a time
period where we were doing so much that we would
just be at my house till like midnight and just
working on things. And I remember us recording and having
my cousin take a photo of us because he was
home and we're like, can you take a photo of us?
We would just document these moments of us, like being
in the work of it, not the glamorous, not the makeup,
(44:05):
not the in the studio, but just like working and
like building things right, like literally building like I remember
us making like this really beautiful green greenery that we
were gonna hang, and then it was too big, we
couldn't transport it. Those are the things that we were
documenting because I think we knew in some in some
way like that there was going to be a need
for it someday.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Absolutely. The the book.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
The documentary, you start production by living. We've already started
production on the documentary in so many ways by living,
by doing, and by documenting it along the way. And
then the documentary is really just piecing it together. So
every time we do something, we say for the memoirs,
for the memoirs, for the memoirs, because we've been we've
(44:51):
been writing our memoirs actively by doing.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Anytime something really exciting or wild, someone says something wild
to us, or does something mean to us, or something happens,
we're like, for the memoir. They'll see you one day,
We're gonna write this down.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yes, they'll see, They'll all see.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
And on that note, and on that note, thank you
Lokomotives for tuning in to another episode of Look at Radio.
We hope you enjoyed us coming back from our hiatus,
and we will catch you next time US. Look at
(45:32):
Our Radio is executive produced and hosted by me Fiosa.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
And me Mala.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Look at Our Radio is also edited by me Fiosa
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Logal Lundia
O La La Loka mos. I'm Fiosta and I'm Mala.
We are back. It's still season ten, a little bit
of a hiatus to recover and to plan and to celebrate.
(00:20):
There's so much to discuss today.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
We did a little traveling.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We won some awards, accepted such awards. We got back
into producing and hosting our live show, Loka Live, a
podcast party.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
We did a little mini two part tour.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We're going to talk about all of that today and
the new Selena Yulos Linos documentary on Netflix.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Let's start with our trip. And you were traveling before
then as well.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yes, yes, So, as some of you may remember or
may recall, I am currently in film school. I'm at
USC at the School of Metic Arts. I'm pursuing my
MFA in Film and Television production. So exciting news, guys.
A film that I produced last semester in the spring
of twenty twenty five, a documentary called All of Us Girls,
(01:14):
directed by Efong Wong, was accepted as an official selection
into the Saint Louis International Film Festival WOHO. So me
and my crew of USC filmmakers we flew out to
Saint Louis to go watch our film screen in its
first festival, and this was my first time having work
(01:34):
showing at a film festival. Biosa and I worked at
Laalif one year. We moderated a panel for the show Viva,
and we have submitted work to a film festival, but
this is the first time that's something actually has been selected.
So it was a really exciting time. It was very fun.
(01:55):
Saint Louis is a beautiful city. I had a great time.
Everyone was so friendly, and the festival just felt like
this is these are lovers of cinema, These are cinema files.
They love cinema, they love everything about it. And there
was a moment and I was telling Yosa about this,
and it was so relevant because after Saint Louis, I
(02:16):
flew to New York to meet up with Yosa for
the Signal Awards. But there was a moment where I
went to like a networking coffee. Right, I told you
about this, Biosa, Right.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
You did, And I would love for you to share
it on the podcast because it is quite the story.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
One that's not foreign to us, one that we actually
hear all the time because we work in entertainment and
we are LA girls. We are from here, born and raised,
so this is like was nothing new, and so when
it happened, I just kind of sat back and let
it happen, and then I responded, So, we're sitting at
this filmmakers networking coffee and these are all filmmakers with
(02:53):
work showing in the festival, and most of them are
from the East Coast or the Midwest. There were some
that were there from their countries because it is an
international film festival. And there was a one filmmaker in
particular from New York City, of course, who started out
of nowhere, without prompting, by the way, just started talking
about how much she hates Los Angeles, how LA is
(03:16):
so fake. Quote, LA has no soul. Quote there is
nothing to discover. Quote, there's no real town, there's no
real city.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
End quote.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
And I swear it felt like they and then others
started to chime in. I swear this went on for
at least twenty minutes, and I just sat and drank
my black coffee and said nothing and just listened because
they were hitting all the talking points that LA naysayers
always hit right the traffic, there's no real town, you know,
everybody's fake, everybody's only there for the industry.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Everybody's only there to network.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
And of course I waited, and I bided my time,
and then opportunity struck and I said, you know, it's
so funny to me to hear all of this about
Los Angeles because I am born and raised in LA.
My mom was born and raised in LA. My grandmother's
been there since she was sixteen. And you know, in LA,
we never talk about what life must be like in
(04:13):
New York because we're having so much fun living our
La lives and having a great time and enjoying the
sunshine and the West Coast.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
So it was it was amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
And you know, La really is that girl, because even
as far away as Saint Louis, when nobody asked, nobody prompted,
people still find a way to talk about her.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
La is that girl.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
You know, she's that bitch when she starts all this conversation.
To quote Beyonce nos Knowles.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Obsessed. And it really is like the things that we
hear all the time, right, what we hear online, what
we hear transplants say about Los Angeles, right, And you
it's so funny that you were in the same room
and they had no idea what they were saying and
who they were talking to. And you know, we flew
(05:04):
to New York that same weekend for the Signal Awards,
and I got there a day before you did, and
I stayed in Brooklyn and it was so lovely. It's
now my third time in New York in my whole life, Like,
I really haven't spent too much time on the East Coast,
and so to be in New York, there's such a
romantic feeling to the city, right, And in addition to
(05:26):
like it's cold, it's fast, right, like all like the
real part of being in a real city is obviously prevalent, right,
But then there's also when you're visiting, there's this romanticized
feeling of being in the city. Right, because you're visiting,
you don't have to deal with that day to day
stuff that you that people that actually live there have
(05:48):
to deal with. As I was walking in the neighborhoods,
and there's so many coffee shops, there's little wine bars,
there's restaurants, there's bookstores, there's all this stuff and all
these things that we have in La like to be clear,
but because we are so spread out, you don't always
have them all in the same block in a very
dense way. And so I told Mama, like, you know,
(06:09):
I can see why New Yorkers then moved to La
are like, oh, La is not a real city. I
don't agree with it, but having just been there for
a couple of days and really being able to just
be on our own itinerary and just really explore in
our own way, but I could see why it's probably
a really big shock for them when they moved to
(06:30):
LA and see just how spread out everything.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Is exactly, and you know, let's let's let's be very fair.
Los Angeles, Okay. New York was settled by the Dutch,
and they built everything vertically, and we in Los Angeles
we were founded. I mean we were in Mexico first.
We were a big old ranch. La was a ranch, yes,
(06:53):
rancho Okay, So everything was spread out. And the way
that the cities were established and founded and built has
everything to do with the way that we experienced them today.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I love New York.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
I have spent a very solid amount of time in
New York over the years. Since I went to college
in Boston, I was in New York all the time.
I have nothing but love for New York City. It's
it's a great time every time I visit. But it
always strikes me how New Yorkers have such vitriol for
La and we just don't feel the same about New York.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
We just don't.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
First of all, California was Alta Cali. It was a
part of Mexico. It was like it was land, right,
everything was spread out, and then we were ruled by
the car industry, right, like the car industry is and
among other things. Right, is one of the reasons we're
(07:48):
so spread out. It's by design. It's intentional.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
We're a very car dependent city and that is by design.
It's not choice. And I love to say, watch Roger
Rabbit if you want to know what happened to La
and the freeways and the like little trolleys that we
once had in this city. So it's all by design.
It's not for lack of community. It's not because we're fake,
(08:15):
it's not because we're vapid. It's there's actual design choices
and there's redlining. There's so much right, and so it's
just such a bad take when folks say La is
like this way because of just this one reason, right,
When there's so much that goes. There's so much historical
context right into why LA is made up the way
it is. Also, when we were in New York, we
(08:38):
were like on the win of Zorhandanni being elected mayor
of the city and that was really exciting. That was
really thrilling and one of my there has been so
much internet dialogue, discourse, hilarious memes, and one of my
favorite takes is formum Donnie. The first thing that he
(08:59):
fixed is is to broke or peace between Desis and
Marrow of the Bodega Boys. And I stand by that, like,
let that be the first thing that he does. Bring
back the Bodega Boys.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yes, a peace treaty. We could use a little more peace.
They're they're the voice that we need now. They need
to come together.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
We missed them. I miss them.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Everything went wrong when the Bodego Boys broke up. They
it's something happened in the space time continuum. Speaking of
award winning podcasts like The Bodega Boys, we were in
New York to also accept our Signal Awards because we
won double gold for look at what our Radio and
Signona sexit.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes, we did a double gold victory, so we had
to go. We had to go to the winner's party
hosted by the Signal Awards in Brooklyn and it.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Was a star stud at affair.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Hassan mian Haaj was there to accept an award as
well for his podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
He gave some remarks.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
There were iHeart execs there accepting an award for iHeart.
We met them, we said hello, we took a pic,
and we also ran into people that we know, and
we didn't realize that that would happen. When we first
walked in to the awards party. The person checking us
in said, oh my god, I know you guys. And
it turns out it was Marianne, who is a listener
(10:24):
who flew us out to her university in Oregon years
ago to do one of our first college talks ever,
and there she was working at the Signal Awards. So
it was like a very wild, unplanned reunion.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, it was so exciting, and just to be in
a room full of audio producers and hosts and creators
on the East coast, right on the New York side,
I think was really exciting for us. Because we have
our audio community here in LA we can go to
a ton of events and just know the majority already
(11:00):
the people in the room, and that was an event
where we knew very few people, but we were able
to practice our networking, which is not necessarily my favorite
thing to do, but it is like a part of
being in any industry, right, And so I think that
was really fun and we got to we walked away
with some really great connections and we got to meet
(11:20):
new people and it was definitely worth the trip for us. Oh.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
We took meetings, we schmoozed, we got photos and our content,
and we ate, we had pizza. It was a good time.
We saw friends. So I was really happy that we went.
It wasn't like a requirement, but in a way, it
was like, no, we gotta go, Like this is our work.
(11:47):
We must show up in person, we must be present.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, I mean, And it's also our first award, like
of this magnitude. We have been nominated for different things
over the years and have been named best Podcast, Best
Latina Podcasts, Enlist, and we've received a ton of accolades.
But I think this award in particular felt really special
(12:10):
to us is because we were judged by our creative peers.
There's an academy, there's judges, there are people that we
highly respect and admire that are on the panels. When
we asked our listeners to vote for us, we were
asking you to vote for the Listener's Choice Award, and
we did not win. The Listener's Choice Award was a
very tough competition, especially in our category, but we did
(12:34):
win gold, meaning the judges awarded us gold, and I
think that was also really gratifying because, as we've said before,
sometimes you can be in a silo, like in a
little production silo, and something that was mentioned at the award,
which it really resonated with me, was that you're working
(12:54):
episode by episode, production meeting by production meeting, and you're
working so fast that you don't even really get to
step back and see the whole picture and really appreciate
and soak up the work that you're doing because it
moves so fast. Being able to really soak up the
award and acknowledgment that, like, our work matters and we
(13:17):
were making moves and changes in the audio space, I
think was really really important.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I think it's possible that well, let me just say
first of all that submitting to awards is expensive. It
costs money. It's not free. There is a barrier to
entry to being an award winning podcast. It's not only
the quality of your show or the popularity or the
critical acclaim, Like you have to be able to afford
the cost of submission, and if you want your trophy,
(13:44):
you have to pay for the trophy as well, So
like all of this costs money and it is a
huge barrier. And I think it also highlights that it's
possible that there were tons of episodes throughout the years,
throughout our seasons that are likely award winning caliber, but
making the investment and the expense of submitting and then
seeing the return on that is something that we really
(14:07):
didn't do until this season, and I'm really happy that
we did. And I think it's like that acknowledgment that
the work is good, the work carries and that panel
of judges can see the validity of the work.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
And you know, you.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Don't need necessarily that validity and that acknowledgment to do
what you do and to make art, but it helps
and it does feel good, and I think that it
is important.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
And when we came back, we like immediately hit the
ground running because we had our riverside show look at
that alive in Riverside.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, it was really nice going back to the idea
of getting out of our production bubble and getting out
of the online bubble. We used to host and produce
a lot of in person events pre pandemic, and we're.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Getting back into it.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Look at That Alive a podcast party is back in
a big way. We did two back to back, one
in Riverside at Killer Queens and let me tell you
that IE audience is so lit, is so hype, is
so fun. We had Isis, the host of Ie in Besties.
She was our special guest and she was amazing and
(15:19):
she brought out her friends and her following and her
listeners in her community and we had look Ata Radio
listeners lok A Mores there from Hysperia and all over
the High Desert. They made the track, which was amazing
because you know, historically we've done our shows in LA
not everybody can make it, so we've always known that
(15:40):
we have an IE listenership and that there's audience out there.
So it was really really cool to connect with them
and be in person again. And we posted photos to
our Instagram so you can go check those out. We're
at look at Thora Underscore Radio.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was fun. I loved it. It was cute.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It was it was And then after Riverside we had
our La show and that was at the Iconic Paramount Theater,
our second time producing a show there, and it was
so beautiful. Our listeners came out and Grisol performed an
incredible set. She sang four songs, she sang originals, she
(16:19):
sang covers. Jess and Carlos, the creators of the Yosable game,
were also there doing some interviews and just playing the
game with folks during the cocktail hour, and that was
a lot of fun as well.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I loved that game.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
I love that game because it really tests your like
day to day Spanish and so it really had had
me thinking and really reaching to try and translate some
of these words, and it was just fun. It was
a good time. And check out their game. I think
(16:57):
it's great for your whatever party you're throwing. It's a
great icebreaker, great for families, great for kids, great at
the workplace. Because it's Spanish, it's just bocab, but it
really has you thinking and they gamified it so it's
very fun.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, it's really fun. There's a clip of us playing it.
I for one, I do not do well playing games.
I like, my brain shuts down. I'm like, you can
ask me a word in English and I will not know.
You can ask me in Spanish and I also will
not know. There's just something about my brain that I
cannot I cannot do any like games like that stress
(17:34):
me out. But it was still so much fun and
it was not as scary as I thought it was
going to be. I was like, I do not want
to play this, and I'm glad that I did because
it was It was a lot of fun. I would
definitely incorporate this into my parties as well. And then
the live show portion that we had was so fun.
We were really expanding on this theme of signs and
(17:57):
following signs, maybe noticing signs and having them take you
on a completely different path. We definitely pulled, like from
our experience with Lokata in our personal lives, to really
talk about this concept of following signs or ignoring signs,
because sometimes that happens.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Yeah, So we it was just me and me and you,
me and Diosa, just chat and chatting it up, and
we had some fun prompts and questions for our audience,
and our audience was really engaged and they participated and
shared some amazing life stories and examples. The title was
(18:38):
this is your Sign, and we interpreted that in a
lot of different ways, you know, like this is your
sign that you're on the right track, versus is there
something that we interpret as anxiety when it's really a
sign either in a good way or a bad way.
And so we kind of took it out of astrology
and made it more about the universe communicating with you
(19:02):
and your choice or your path or maybe how to
differentiate between a false signal or a distraction and a
sign that you're really meant to be doing something. So
are our audience, of course, who are all these like
really incredible mostly women, mostly Latinas, who are each on
their own paths in life and their own journeys and
(19:22):
figuring it out for themselves. They brought some really cool examples,
like there was a musician there from flor de Toloace
who's talking about the struggles of being a working musician
and the obstacles that life throws at you. And her
mom wants her to be a doctor, but she's a
violinist and she plays.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
In the all female Mariacci and she tours.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
But that means that sometimes the work is not a
stable but it's what she loves to do and it's
in her heart and that's that's her path. And so
she shared that, and there was a Latina restaurant owner
from the Bay who also shared about those days where
it's really hard and she struggles and sometimes she wants
to call it quits and throw in the towel, but
(20:04):
then something happens and it reminds her of her mission
and her purpose and why she loves to do what
she does. So I thought it was a very affirming
night for everybody to share and to vent a little.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
It was a lot of fun and we'll be back.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And the very next morning, after a look at Alive
at the Paramount, we were down in Long Beach, bright
and early because we were EMC's for a five K
the Liberation five K raising funds for immigrant Families Cash
Assistants hosted by or A Le Long Beach, which is
an amazing immigrant rights nonprofit that we've worked with in
(20:42):
the past. We hosted a fundraiser for them at OUI
Love Studios and we raised twenty five hundred dollars in
cash assistance towards immigrant families that or a LA processes
and hands out directly to those in need. So yeah,
we we were busy and just giving back to the
community however we can, and on that day it was
by being MCS for a five K.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Don't go anywhere, look amotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
In other pop culture news BIOSA have you seen the
new documentary Selena Eulos Vinos on Netflix?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yes, I have. That was actually one of the reasons
that I was like, Mala, we got to bring back
the podcast, like, even though we're technically on break, we
have to talk about the documentary, which is directed by
Isabel Gastro. I personally really loved the documentary. You know,
I think in so many ways, we know the story, right,
(21:40):
we know what Selena's upbringing, her rise to fame, her tenacity,
her hard work, and unfortunately her tragic death. But in
this light to see a very different side. And I
think that's partly because they used a lot of archival
footage that has never been seen.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
For the documentary is an absolute feast of archival footage.
There is so much from TV interviews with Selena, rehearsal footage.
A lot of it like very grainy, like practically black
and white. Some of it like behind the scenes footage,
home videos, stuff from when Selena was a little little girl.
(22:24):
I mean, it's really incredible how much of her life
was documented, and how much of her artistic process and
the training leading up to her becoming the superstar sensation
that she was. The documentary also includes interviews with her
brother with ab Keithania, with her sister Susette, with her
(22:46):
father Abraham, and her mother Marcella. And I think that
to me, what is so striking is that for Selena
fans of a certain age, almost everything that we've seen
of Selena is filtered through a film, like a studio
film or the TV show. So we've seen her through
the lens of an actress j Loo, right through a
(23:10):
script and through like Hollywood direction. To see her as herself,
the actual Selena, with her actual bangs and her features
and her makeup and talking not to us, but talking
to us is really refreshing and a very different experience
(23:31):
than watching like Selena the movie or Selena the series, right,
And so that's what I loved most about it. And
then we hear her talk about the struggle and how
hard it was, and how it was hard to put
food on the table when they lost their house and
when they had to move in with their relative and
there was like thirteen of them under one roof, and
(23:53):
you know, the fourteen fifteen years of rehearsals and gigs
and touring, and you know, I think that the version
of Selena that we all know and love is the
sort of the clips and the sound bites and the
movie where she's smiley and dancing and happy and very
upbeat and very positive and she's, you know, this darling.
(24:16):
But I think the documentary also brought in that like
very human side of it was hard, you know, and
she was working since she was a kid. So I
found it to be like just so informative in that way.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
And I think at this point, Selena as a cultural
figure has reached sainthood in some way where it's like
literally Santa Selena, like her image in so many ways
cannot be tarnished. And that's partly because her life was
cut so so tragically short, and because when someone reaches
(24:53):
sainthood right figuratively in this in this way, it's like
we have her on such a high pedestal and she
will remain there, and she should remain there. And I
think that this documentary allows us to see this more
vulnerable side of her, the side of her that's multidimensional,
because I think when we put women, especially like on
(25:15):
this pedestal, and we put someone like her in sainthood,
like in some ways, we're like, we're reducing who they are,
and it can be reductive and it uncomplicates them, right
because they're quote perfect or they're you know so culturally
significant and impactful, and all of that is still true.
(25:36):
But we see a version of her that I don't
think the public has seen before for very obvious reasons,
because there are ways that you are around your family
that you are only around your family, And so I
think to see her talk about how, like you mentioned Mala,
how hard it was for her to be touring, right,
And she said in an interview where we're seeing like
(25:58):
the BTS part of her being interviewed where she says
that she lost a lot of her youth because she
didn't really have friends that she was in contact with,
considering the time period and her finishing high school by
mail and really missing out on all these milestones that
when we think of adolescence and growing up, she was
growing up like touring and gigging.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Abe in the documentary mentions that their father Abraham saw
the Jackson five and sort of said, oh, well, we
can be like a Mexican Jackson five, and let's get
all the kids in the band and everyone's going to
perform and tour and the kids are working, the kids
are gigging, the kids are earning checks, the kids are professionals.
It also reminds me of Beyonce and Destiny's child and
(26:44):
the dad manager who is instrumental in their rise to fame.
But I think Beyonce also, you know, her song sixteen Carriages,
I think has a lot to do with her loss
of innocence and her loss of a childhood because like Selena,
she was working and rehearsing and touring and gigging at
(27:06):
a very young age and it never stopped. So there's
there's definitely these child stars or these celebs, these superstars
who started that path as very young kids. I don't
see how you can have a normal childhood and go
to school every day and be on the playground and
go to sleepovers and birthday parties and then become a
(27:27):
Selena or a Beyonce, it's sort of one or the other.
And these girls, these women experienced that sacrifice to become
the superstars that they were, and who knows what heights
Selena would have reached had her life not been cut short.
But if you haven't seen the documentary, I highly recommend it.
It's a really beautiful watch and of course heart wrenching.
(27:49):
Be prepared to cry, as we do with anything Selena related.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
We know the love story in her and Chris and
how her family was so against them being together, them
being married, something that the documentary really only twenty years
old when they got married. She was only twenty, right,
and we think about like, I was twenty nine when
I got married, and I'm like, I was a child bride.
(28:17):
I felt so still now when I say twenty nine,
I'm like, that is so young. There's a lot of
like farandula She's meant theories about the family, I think,
especially her father, and you know, the documentary really highlights
she was only twenty years old and there was a
lot of reason for her family to have these reservations
(28:37):
about her getting married. Right and now with time and retrospect,
something that struck me, and then I then Susette said,
it was like, I'm really glad she did it because
she actually got to experience love and being a wife
and being married, and she didn't get to experience becoming
a mother. For all the reasons that we know, not
(28:58):
to reduce the mess the film, but it really does
feel like we only have one life. We literally never
know what's going to happen to us. Our life can
change drastically, our life can end tragically suddenly, and these
choices that we make really do have so much impact.
And that bold choice that she made to marry her
love right her partner, was one that she got to like,
(29:23):
a love that she got to experience and enjoy like
in her very short life.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, and it strikes me that he was probably he
was her friend, you know, and for someone who couldn't
have friends because she was on the road and touring,
he was also her friend. And so she made a
choice to do something for herself and not for the band,
and not for the fans, and not for her dad,
but just for her.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
So I'm so I agree with Susanne. I'm so glad
that she did.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
That, because then she would have never had that she
would have never had that, and she gave us so much,
gave every so much and shared so much of herself
that she deserved to have that person that was just
her person.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
Anything Selena really like I'm in. We don't always love
all of the projects, but it's out of love and
adoration and respect for Selena and her legacy. Something that
I hear often online there's this sentiment that like, let
Selena rest and stop profiting off of her memory and
her legacy. And I think there's also this respect to
(30:32):
be had to her family or for her family, and
for Selena and her legacy. And when you hear her talk,
especially in this documentary about her legacy and what she wanted,
like it ends with her saying, I will be here
as long as the public wants me, and we do.
We still want her, Like without us wanting more from
(30:55):
her story or learning more about her story and her background, like,
they wouldn't be putting it out. And I think that's
also something we should consider too, is how also the
fans and the community drives new new production, right new music,
even which I don't agree with, like the AI album right,
I think that came out a couple of years ago.
But there's also because there's a want for it.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
It's true, it's true.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
One is no one's going to stop making Marilyn Monroe
merch because she's iconic, legend, superstar status forever and ever.
And Selena has entered and has been in that sphere
for some time now. So I think it's a testament
to like, she's a true star, a true star, and
stars never fade, so as long as there's there's material
(31:46):
to share, and clearly they had all of this material,
you know, I think that the public never truly had
their their Selena craving satisfied because her career was ended
so and her life was ended so quickly.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
So it's it's this.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
No, but we know that there's more, and we want
more because we love her. So I'm all for it
as long as it's done well and respectfully. There have been,
like you said, there have been projects that have not
been done so well. Maybe in a hurry, I don't know.
I don't know, But as long as it's done well
and with reverence, we love it because we are fans.
(32:26):
We are fans, so I love the documentary because it
was her, it was truly her.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Yeah, don't go anywhere. Look amotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
And we're back with more of our episode.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
And this got me thinking, Mala, like, what documentary about
a Latina artists past or present do you want to see?
Speaker 3 (32:54):
So I was thinking about this and the documentary and
feature film that I would love to say is about
Tango Lele who just passed away in February of this year,
twenty twenty five. Rest in peace. She passed at the
age of ninety three. You guys may have seen some
news articles about her passing, but maybe you're not familiar
(33:15):
with Togo Lele so also born Yolanda Montez. She was
from Spokane, Washington. She was a dancer who at the
age of like fourteen fifteen, relocated herself alone to Mexico City,
lied about her age and started dancing in the cabarets
and the nightclubs in Mexico. She was an exotic dancer.
(33:38):
She was a cabaret dancer. She was a showgirl. And
if you've ever seen photos of like a very beautiful,
scantily clad show girl from like back in the day,
from the thirties and forties, she had the one white
stripe of hair and she was quite scandalous for the
time period, but she also gained a lot of celebrity
(34:01):
and she appeared in a number of movies. Her film
debut was in Nocturno More, followed by La Muerte, and
then she had a breakthrough role in an Matado Tango
Lele and She's been She was in a bunch of movies,
and then because of her seductive dancing, her riskue wardrobe,
(34:23):
she came under fire from Mexico's Legion of Decency and
they found her very indecent because of her very scandalous
dance moves and her wardrobe, and so she kind of
disappeared from the screen for a while in the nineteen fifties,
and eventually in the sixties and seventies she came back
(34:44):
and appeared in a few more productions, but very very
much iconic. On oscars dot Org, they actually have an interview,
a video interview with Tango Lele. In her later years,
she kept the white stripe in her hair, I think
until she passed, and she suffer from dementia. But she
is somebody that I find very riveting, very interesting, and
(35:07):
I would love to see a documentary and a future
film about her.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Iconic I would love to come under fire from Mexico's
legion of decency. I mean iconic sounds amazing. I love this.
I would love to see a documentary about her and
also a future film because I feel the same way
about the woman I think deserves the documentary and a
future film, which is Ima Sumac, who we've talked about
(35:34):
on this podcast before. But Ima Sumac was a Pruvian
vocal singer. She had four octave range, she had an
operatic voice. There was this like lore behind her which
was fabricated by Hollywood and also during the time of
like Musika Exotika, which was basically like globalized exotic music.
(35:58):
It was very like Pan American was not nondescript type
of exotic music, and so she became the queen of exotica.
She has a very very complicated relationship I think with
music more so I should I can, I should say
we can complicate her relationship and her as a figure
(36:19):
to like exotic music and the machine that is Hollywood
and the music industry. But her lore was that she
was a descendant of like the last inc and King
like that was the type of story that was given
to her, and the public ate it up because they
don't know. They didn't know in the fifties and sixties,
they didn't know anything about Peru and the history and
(36:41):
the Incan Empire, and so the public ate it up.
She had a cult following. She performed up until the
nineties and she died at the age of eighty five.
And she was a very very beautiful singer and a
beautiful lady, a very very striking, striking woman. She's definitely
someone that I think I would love to see a
(37:02):
documentary about her her vocal range, and also a feature film.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Yeah, there's all these sort of Golden era divas that
if you are into and that's the thing is, I
think we're into divas in general, his like throughout time
and space, and so I think that we've come to
learn about these women and we really like hold them
(37:30):
in high esteem because they were serving looks. They were
getting in trouble by the legion of decency. They like
were creating these these beautiful like how would I say this?
You know, the way that Beyonce creates an entire aura
about herself, from the music, to the vibe to the wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
They were doing.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
That in their own way back in the day and
creating their own legend and embodying that from the music
to the dance sing to the looks, to the mystique
and the lore. So I just love it and I
think it's fabulous. And if you are not familiar with
these ladies, go look them up. You are going to
become big fans.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
And I think that they.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Also their existence pushes back on this idea that like traditionally,
historically women in Latin America were like always conservative or
chase or in the home or they were all, you know,
popping out babies.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
They were all no.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
Like, these women were out there and they were working
and they were making a name for themselves and doing
it in a very fabulous way that raised eyebrow sometimes.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I agree. I feel like diva status is earned right
and it takes time. So I can't I can't necessarily
name like a new diva quote unquote, because they feel
like all the divas that we currently have have been
in the game for a long time. But I don't
know if if some of the like newer artists have
that kind of diva persona, that mystique, that aura, that lore.
(39:05):
Maybe because we're all too expol on social media, including
our faves, but like these women had a lore to them.
And when reading more about Ima Sumac when I was
prepping for this episode, there was someone who was at
an event with her and talks about like she was
just on, she was just performing, she was always in character.
(39:27):
And I think that that's also part of like diva hood,
is that you are always on. Mariah Carey is always on,
Beyonce is always on. We're never going to see these
divas not on. And I can't think of anyone in
this current era that's like up and coming or even popular, right,
But I just really can't think of an artist or
(39:49):
a star that can can kind of emulate that same
diva sentiment.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
No, no, at least not now.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
Maybe one will arrive or maybe in maybe maybe in
twenty years, May twenty years.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, I can correct my statement. It does. It takes
a long time.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
It takes a long time.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
The other uh divas who need a documentary, that's us,
we need a look I thought documentary. We've been talking
about it for years and it will happen one day
because we have so much of our own footage from
the past ten seasons that it's got to go somewhere.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, this is a good This is a good, good,
good reminder for anyone documentary or not just for yourself,
like actually document your life, right, not for social media,
not for content, but like for yourself, for your family.
I think documenting your life and your story and your
this moment, your family, what you're doing. You know, I
(40:47):
remember growing up like I'm going taking it back to
the sleet of documentary, right, but like the big oldcam quarters, right,
we see that in the documentary. That's exactly how I
grew up, with the big oldcam quarters. Like my dad
holding it, at my brother holding it, somebody filming a
birthday party, someone unwrapping a gift like that was all documented.
(41:08):
And that kind of really rich family videotape, right that
I think in like the kids of the nineties and before,
is so so delicious And I feel like for us,
for the for look At and the podcast, we have
a lot of archival footage. It's archival now ten seasons
and it's on our phone. It's not as romantic, but
(41:30):
we have it.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah, it's the the cam quarters.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
And filming every family event also elevates your everyday life
to that of a production, and it elevates the birthday party,
you know, the Christmas concert, the talent show, it learning
to ride the bike. Having that big camera there and
(41:56):
putting it on tape elevates the moment to some thing
worthy of filming, to something that it needs.
Speaker 2 (42:05):
To be captured.
Speaker 3 (42:06):
And the world that we've been living in for so
long is where are we need a script and a
location and what's the story and what are we wearing
and hair and makeup? And we got a film And
that's beautiful because we do production, we produce work. But
I think that there's something beautiful about that big old
camera coming out to record you know, your first steps
(42:30):
or a sleepover or whatever whatever it is. It's sort
of reminding us too that like everyday life is that
important and that worthy of documenting and filming, and it's
art in its own way, art unfolding at Verite filmmaking.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Think it's a beautiful thing. And yeah, film your lives.
Your lives are art too. It's not just on a
set that makes it art, or if there's a script
or if there's an actor, that's not what makes it art.
Speaker 1 (42:59):
Necessary, absolutely, and we have just so much I think
story that we want to share about what it's been
like on this journey as first time entrepreneurs, business owners, podcasters,
artists living in LA and in this time period, there's
still so much that we want to share and it
(43:19):
continues to unfold. There's more so I don't we won't
have our documentary in the next year, but it is
something that we are like plotting on, dreaming about and
thinking like, Okay, how could this work? And I think
even early in the early days, like we had that foresight.
I think we knew we were onto something. We didn't
know what yet, but we knew that we were onto
something because I remember, for when we did our one
(43:42):
of our very first look lives, there was a time
period where we were doing so much that we would
just be at my house till like midnight and just
working on things. And I remember us recording and having
my cousin take a photo of us because he was
home and we're like, can you take a photo of us?
We would just document these moments of us, like being
in the work of it, not the glamorous, not the makeup,
(44:05):
not the in the studio, but just like working and
like building things right, like literally building like I remember
us making like this really beautiful green greenery that we
were gonna hang, and then it was too big, we
couldn't transport it. Those are the things that we were
documenting because I think we knew in some in some
way like that there was going to be a need
for it someday.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Absolutely. The the book.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
The documentary, you start production by living. We've already started
production on the documentary in so many ways by living,
by doing, and by documenting it along the way. And
then the documentary is really just piecing it together. So
every time we do something, we say for the memoirs,
for the memoirs, for the memoirs, because we've been we've
(44:51):
been writing our memoirs actively by doing.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Anytime something really exciting or wild, someone says something wild
to us, or does something mean to us, or something happens,
we're like, for the memoir. They'll see you one day,
We're gonna write this down.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Yes, they'll see, They'll all see.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
And on that note, and on that note, thank you
Lokomotives for tuning in to another episode of Look at Radio.
We hope you enjoyed us coming back from our hiatus,
and we will catch you next time US. Look at
(45:32):
Our Radio is executive produced and hosted by me Fiosa.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
And me Mala.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
Look at Our Radio is also edited by me Fiosa
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Logal Lundia
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