St. Pocho’s Day! Chicano Folk Punk Band Ollin Honors Mexican-Irish Connection With Pogues Tribute for 21st Year
The story below was originally published in 2021. This year L.A. TACO has confirmed that Ollin will be performing their legendary annual Pogues tribute set at Blipsy's Bar at 369 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90004 in Koreatown on Friday, March 17 at 10 PM. The cover will be $10. For more information, follow the band's account on Instagram.
--
[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]n an undisclosed backyard along Monterey Pass Road’s industrial stretch in the San Gabriel Valley, members of the 90s Chicano punk band Ollin performed their annual St. Pocho’s Day show to a crowd of about a dozen people—mostly family. Since the early 2000s, the Chicano folk-punk band has performed their Mexican American Spanglish versions of famous Celtic-punk ballads by The Pogues.
Led by East Los Angeles hardcore punks-turned-teachers and twins Randy and Scott Rodarte, the band only gathers and performs the powerful tribute on St. Patrick’s Day. Throughout the years, this project has received many accolades for their ability to emote the working-class connection and immigrant struggles shared by both Mexican and Irish Mexican immigrants. The project also honors the captured soldiers from El Batallón de San Patricio, or the Saint Patrick’s Battalion, that were hanged after fighting alongside Mexicans during the Mexican-American war in 1847.
This year’s performance was stripped down due to the pandemic but rest assured that come St. Pocho’s day 2022, the band will reunite and play as loud as ever.
Photos and video by Erwin Recinos.
[gallery type="rectangular" columns="4" ids="117621,117620,117619,117615"]
[gallery type="rectangular" columns="4" ids="117607,117606,117601,117592"]
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from L.A. TACO
Spot Check: Colombian Desgranados In Echo Park, Mexican Wine Festival At Mírate, and Perverted Waffles in DTLA
Plus, a party highlighting pan-African cuisine, a new Taiwanese cookbook by an awarded local from the San Gabriel Valley, and a Little Saigon food festival that starts tonight! Welcome back to Spot Check!
This 24-Year-Old Latina Mortician Beautifies the Dead and Influences the Living
Growing up in Arleta with a first-generation family from El Salvador, Berrios admits that her family only embraced her career choice two years ago, after she started to win awards like “Young Funeral Director of the Year.” The 24-year-old works as the licenced funeral director and embalmer at Hollywood Forever cemetery. As a young person born in peak Generation Z, she's documented her deathcare journey on TikTok and has accrued more than 43K followers on the platform.
Meet ‘Carnitas Rogelio,’ The Family-Run Stand With The Best Michoacán-Style Carnitas O.C. Has to Offer
Michoacán-raised Rogelio Gonzalez slices the cuerito (the pig skin) in a checkered pattern to ensure a light crunch in each bite and utilizes every part of the pig, from the feet to the liver and intestines, which he binds together in a braid.
‘The Office’ Star Rainn Wilson Brought Jerk Chicken Tacos to the Picket Lines Outside of Paramount Studios
In three hours, D's Tipsy Tacos and her team passed out “roughly 100 plates” of tacos, burritos, rice, beans, nachos, and quesadillas to striking screenwriters and actors.
Five Common Plants to Avoid When Creating Your Green Spaces in L.A.
Almost every time I visit a property with landscaping issues, the problem starts with bad design: the wrong plants in the wrong place. Here's advice from a third-generation L.A. landscaper and noted taco expert.
