Taco Shop Poets is the name of a

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

formed in 1994 at a Poetry Series, Taco Shop Poetry, hosted by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez at the

Centro Cultural de la Raza The Centro Cultural de la Raza (Spanish for ''Cultural Center of the People'') is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. ...

in Balboa Park,

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. It grew to a collective of over 30 poets, band members and

performance artists Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

based at El Campo Ruse on 16th St. in Downtown

's East Village.

History and work

The Taco Shop Poets are often credited in helping to revive, redefine, and revolutionize spoken word in San Diego and elsewhere. They employed a very aggressive style of guerilla poetry central to which are its improvisational nature and combination of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and hip-hop influences. The collective's legacy reaches far beyond southern California and has spawned numerous copy-cat groups across the USA.An Interview at UCSB featuring the Taco Shop Poets (Includes Adrian Arancibia, Migual-Angel Soria, and Paul "ThaiMex" Phruksukarn)
/ref> In 2002, members of the Taco Shop Poets and other like-minded individuals collaborated to create an artistic space to house and develop art. This developed into the non-profit organization, Voz Alta Project. Although the poets as a collective are no longer active on Voz Alta's board, most members participate in the Voz Alta movement as it continues to host events and artists. The Taco Shop Poets are inactive as a collective, however each of the members are involved with performing or educating throughout the USA or abroad.

Releases

A compilation of selected writings was released in 1999 by the Taco Shop Poets titled Chorizo Tonguefire. A

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

by the same name featuring performances of some of the writings contained in the book was also released that year by Calaca Press. In 2004, a second compact disc featuring offerings from

raúlrsalinas Raúl R. Salinas (March 17, 1934 - February 13, 2008), better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was a Chicano pinto poet, memoirist, social activist, and prison journalist. Much of raúlrsalinas' writing was grounded in arguments for social j ...

and

José Montoya José Montoya (May 28, 1932 – September 25, 2013) was a poet and an artist from Sacramento, California. He was one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines, and serve ...

titled '' Intersections'' was released. The four longest standing group members, Adrian Arancibia, Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, Tomas Riley, and

Miguel-Angel Soria Miguel-Angel Soria is a Chicano community artist and activist from San Diego, California. He sometimes goes by the pen-name osokodiako. Early life Born in Tijuana, Soria was raised a few blocks from Tijuana's Avenida Revolucion, he and his fam ...

, released a second anthology featuring their work, titled "Sugar Skull Sueños"- Paperback and Ebook (2012, Tintavox Press). In addition, many members have ventured out and have releases on their own. Among these are: Adrian Arancibia:
- "AVÍSALE! The wanderings, meanderings and slanderings of a chileno in aztlán" - Chapbook Edition (2005, Self Published)
- "El nido/The nest" - Chapbook Edition (2007, Self Published)
- "Atacama Poems" - Paperback Release (2007, City Works Press)
-"The Keeper/El guardador" - Limited Edition Release/Hand-Made (2013, La Ratona Cartonera)
- Untitled - Paperback Release (2015 Parentheses Press)

Bennie Herron under the alias of Eclipse Heru:
- "Microcrusifiction" - Audio CD (1994. FDI)
- "Bak 2 Tha Future" - Audio CD (1995, FDI)
- "Seed-n-Soil" - Audio CD (circa 1999(?), Independent Release)
- "Churches and Liquor Stores Vol. 1" - Audio CD (2003, On1Ent)

Paul Phruksukarn under the alias of ThaiMex:
- "Intuition is the Key" - Audio CD (1999, Infinite Shades Music)
- "Blind Issues" - Audio CD (2000, Infinite Shades Music)
- "No Luciano Just a Drum and a Piano" - Audio CD (2001, Infinite Shades Music)
- "Brand New Starts" - Audio CD (2009)

Tomás Riley:
- "Message From the New For Real" - Audio CD (2002, Independent Release)
- "Mahcic: Selected Poems" - Paperback Release (2005, Calaca Press)

Members

Taco Shop Poets has included poets

Alurista Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia (born August 8, 1947), better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is a Chicano poet and Activism, activist. Early life and education Urista was born in Mexico City and attended primary school in Morelos. He went to ...

, and collaborations from *

Los Illegals Los Illegals is an American Chicano punk band from Los Angeles. Formed in 1979 artist/muralist Willie Herrón (keyboards, vocals), civil rights activist Jesus "Xiuy" Velo (bass), drummer Bill Reyes, and guitarist brothers Manuel and Antonio "Tony ...

Quincy Troupe Quincy Thomas Troupe, Jr. (born July 22, 1939) is an American poet, editor, journalist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Diego, in La Jolla, California. He is best known as the biographer of Miles Davis, the jazz music ...

Lalo Alcaraz Lalo Alcaraz (born April 19, 1964) is an American cartoonist most known for being the author of the comic ''La Cucaracha'', the first nationally syndicated, politically themed Latino daily comic strip. Launched in 2002, ''La Cucaracha'' has becom ...

Willie Perdomo Willie Perdomo is a Puerto Rican poet and children's book author. He is the author of ''The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon'' (Penguin Poets, 2014), a National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist, ''Where a Nickel Costs a Dime'' ( W. W. Norton ...

and

Fran Ilich Fran Ilich Morales Muñoz (born 1975 in Tijuana) is a Mexican writer and media artist who principally works on the theory and practice of narrative media. Since 2010 Ilich lives in New York City. Education Fran Ilich studied Latin American Stu ...

External links

Official Taco Shop Poets

References

{{Reflist American poets Musical groups from San Diego Latin American literature Performing groups established in 1994