A Great Day In
East L.A.
A Film and Photography Project
In the Spring of 2015, I got a call from Piero F. Giunti, who
had an idea to create a photograph inspired by the historic
"A Great Day In Harlem" photo. He wanted to do "A
Great Day In East L.A." to celebrate the area's great
musical tradition and history. Of course anything to
do with promoting East L.A. music and it's history is
something I'm all in on. I agreed to help him get all
the East L.A.-related artists I knew for the project.
It turned out to be a great partnership in that I was able
to secure the artists from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s,
while Piero was able to get the ones from the 90s, 2000s,
and 2010s. Together we covered all possible decades.
Some of the artists I brought in, he had never heard of and
might not have been able to find out about, let alone
contact. On the other hand, he brought in many younger
artists that I hadn't heard of and knew nothing about.
It was a revelation to me to meet and interview some of
these artists who were talented and extremely interesting,
i.e. intelligent and politically and socially active and
aware. Piero and my combined abilities cover all the
bases for this project. Piero is the photographer and
videographer. I'm the interviewer and project historian.
What we do is bring in the artist(s), interview them about
their lives and careers on videotape, and take their
photograph. So the project grew to also include a video archive of the history of East L.A.
and East L.A.-related music and artists
and a collection of individual portrait photographs of the artists.
There was "A Great Day In East L.A." exhibit at the Clark's
Humanities Museum on the campus of Scripps College in
Claremont, California, which ran from October 12 to November
20th, 2017. There was a display of rare historic
memorabilia and 20 of the portrait photographs. There
were also panel discussions and musical performances by
Alice Bag, Irene Diaz, and La Santa Cecilia. The "A
Great Day In East L.A." project is still in progress. To date we have
interviewed/photographed 250 plus artists. In June of 2025 there will be a major new exhibit of "A Great Day in East L.A." at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles. Below are
photographs of me, and sometimes Piero and I, posing with
the some of the artists. These photos were taken after the
artist's individual photographs.
Photos with
Interviewees
Mark Guerrero & Trini Lopez
(multi-hit vocalist)
Louie Perez & Mark
(singer/songwriter/instrumentalist- Los Lobos)
Aztlan Underground with Piero & Mark
(indigenous, hip hop,
political band)
Brenton Wood & Mark
(multi-hit r&b singer)
Ruben "Funkahuatl" Guevara &
Mark
(singer/songwriter- solo
artist and with Ruben & the Jets, Eastside Luvers)
Teresa Covarrubias & Mark
(singer/songwriter- The
Brat, Las Tres)
The Heartbreakers- Joe & Benny Rodriguez with
Mark
(doo wop singers)
Irma "Cui Cui" Rangel & Mark
(bilingual
singer/songwriter)
Martha Gonzalez & Mark
(lead singer- Quetzal)
Ollin with Mark & Piero
(punk, Mexican/Chicano folk
music band)
Mark & Bobby Robles
(lead guitarist- Thee Midniters)
Lala Romero & Mark
(pop
singer)
Mickey Stevenson &
Mark
(Motown Records producer)
Greg Esparza & Mark
(lead
singer- Thee Midniters)
Ramon & Tony Banda
with Mark & Piero
(Poncho Sanchez, Tierra)
Mark & Andy Tesso
(lead guitarist- The Romancers, The Mixtures)
Marissa Ronstadt &
Mark
(vocalist)
Quetzal Flores & Juan Perez
with Mark
(Quetzal)
Gabriel Tenorio &
Mark
(musician/entrepeneur)
Mark & Geri Gonzalez
(vocalist)
Mark & Lawrence
Perez
(leader/lead guitarist- The Premiers)
Gilbert Rocha & Mark
(leader of The Silhouettes- Ritchie Valen's first
band)
Thee Commons with
Mark & Piero
El Chisme with Mark
Very Be Careful with
Mark
Icela Sotelo & Mark
(vocalist)
Chan Romero with
Mark and Leon Becken
(rock
& roll pioneer)
Annette Torres &
Mark
(musician)
Maya Jupiter & Mark
(Australian-Mexican rapper)
Max Uballez & Mark
(The
Romancers, Macondo)
Bertha Oropeza &
Mark
(vocalist)
Thee Counts with
Mark
(East
L.A. band of the '60s)
Jimmy Espinoza &
Mark
(Thee
Midniters)
Mark & Danny Diaz
(lead
guitarist)
Mark & Joe Espinoza
(leader/bassist- Village Callers, Chico)
Mark & Bobby
Figueroa
(drummer- Beach Boys)
Mark & Albert
Martinez
(The
Desires- Eastside band of the '60s)
Mark & Sal Murillo
(Lead
singer- The Blendells)
Mark & Mike "Mickey" Aversa
(Mickey & the Invaders, Dyna-Might)
Ron Reyes & Mark
(lead
guitarist- Thee Impalas, Yaqui)
Alex Del Zoppo &
Fred Hererra with Mark & Piero
(Sweetwater)
Sal Rodriguez & Mark
(drummer- War)
Mezklah with Piero &
Mark
Cesar Mejia & Mark
(producer/engineer)
John Avila &
Mark
(bassist- Oingo Boingo & engineer/producer)
Mark & Josh Duran
(Blues
Experience)
Danilo Lozano & Mark
(flute
soloist, producer, music educator)
Mark & Louie Mendez
(Rock
Angels, Flaco Jimenez, Trio Los Dados)
Lorenzo "Lencho"
Martinez & Mark
(guitarrón/drums-
Rock Angels, Flaco Jimenez, Texmaniacs)
Mark & Mickey Lespron
(lead
guitarist- El Chicano)
2 Mex & Mark
(rapper- hip hop artist)
ALT & Mark
(rapper- hip hop artist)
The Blue Satins with
Mark
(East
L.A. band of the '60s)
Ernie Hernandez with
Mark
(Mark
& the Escorts, The Men from S.O.U.N.D., Nineteen
Eighty Four, and Tango)
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