03.19.2019 | By Jack Rico |
Guillermo del Toro will join directors David O. Russell and Dee Rees, plus producer Irwin Winkler and actors Michael J. Fox and Queen Latifah at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival speaker lineup which will feature collaborators Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Read More
01.21.2019 | By Jack Rico |
The new film and entertainment organization LEJA (Latino Entertainment Journalists Association) which I am a proud member of, has announced its first ever Latino Entertainment Film Awards. Here they are…
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07.30.2018 | By Jack Rico |
Colombia is a country known for its salsa and vallenato. Vallenato is the folkloric, poetic music of its coast which its singer/songwriter Jose Dario Martinez Acosta, aka Chabuco, has been listening to since he was a child due to his father’s influence, the legendary guitarist Hugues Martinez. With his fourth solo album titled Encuentro, he mixes the sounds of vallenato from the Caribbean coast of Colombia, with jazz and bossa nova, resulting in a beautiful and unique sound of Latin Jazz.
04.7.2018 | By Jack Rico |
On episode 71 of Highly Relevant, Ben Lopez, Executive Director of NALIP joins us to discuss the rock-bottom depths Hispanic actors have reached in Hollywood. What is the African-American community doing differently than the Hispanic community? Also, Randy Falco, the CEO of Univision, recently announced he’s retiring early. What type of person should replace him? Is it time for a U.S. born Hispanic to run it and should it be a woman? Should they look into doing English-language programming? And we also chat about how NALIP’s whole mission is to help Hispanic creatives break into Hollywood.
12.18.2017 | By Jack Rico |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qctaFDEz8bg
I can’t believe this movie is actually going to be released. When I lived in Colombia as a kid, I used get sick a lot and one of the most satisfying things I used to ask my Aunt Doris to bring me to the hospital to make me feel better were Condorito comics. Those PLOP! moments were everything for me. I would laugh so much from the drawings, the charatcters, the dialogue, it was all so funny to me. Hopefully this movie is just as hilarious as I remember them as a kid. Read More
11.28.2017 | By Jack Rico |
As is the tradition every year, the Recording Academy selected their nominations of the best of the best in music across 84 categories. For this site’s purposes, we will focus only on the Hispanic nominees which have been nominated in 20 categories this year, many more than we have seen in previous years. With Bruno Mars (Puerto Rican heritage) nominated for six awards and Despacito‘s bilingual version nominated for three, including Justin Bieber, we are seeing one of the great years for Latinos in music. Read More
11.23.2017 | By Jack Rico |
“Coco,” the 19th film from Pixar, is a return to form for the stumbling animation company which has re-found its footing with its colorful characters, striking vivid cinematography, and a heartwarming story of family and tradition. Set in Mexico, a young boy (Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming a musician just like his great-great-grandfather Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). But when his family prohibits him from playing music, he finds himself magically transported to the Land of the Dead on Dia de Los Muertos meeting his past relatives and discovering a deeper connection to himself and to his family’s history. Read More
09.29.2017 | By Jack Rico |
On episode 51 Luis Enrique and Mateo Gil are our guests on episode 51. Salsero Luis Enrique, who most people know for his global hit “Yo No Se Mañana” from 2009, has a new book out titled “Autobiografía“. We discuss many topics from his difficult immigration experience in the US to meeting his mother for the first time at 15, but perhaps the most salient moments of the interview had to do him being discriminated by Latinos, “Yo No Se Mañana” almost being sung in English, should Latinos have their own award shows and how salsa can become #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Read More
08.18.2017 | By Jack Rico |
We’re sending our love and prayers to the people of Barcelona who suffered a senseless terrorist attack. But on a lighter note, this is probably one of the best podcast shows we’ve done. We chat with Mesfin Fekadu, music editor of the Associated Press, who broke the story about Despacito not being nominated at this year’s VMAs. Did this happen because of cultural bias? We dissect all the variables, along with some of our thoughts on whether MTV should start playing Spanish-language music videos. Then I talk to Colombia’s hottest band of the moment, Bomba Estéreo, about their new album AYO, music and race, coca leaves, payola in the music business, and their love for the street language of Spanglish. Read More
08.9.2017 | By Jack Rico |
On the podcast this week, we talk MTV’s TRL reboot and how they need to seize the Latino music opportunity to be successful, plus, we discuss HBO and it’s controversial new slave series ‘Confederate’ with the creator of the #OscarSoWhite April Reign. She and four women have now created the #NoConfederate campaign to boycott the show. Will HBO succumb to social media pressure? Read More
