The Tipsy Cake bakery sits in the heart of Humboldt Park. Today about a block and a half south of el Paseo Boricua, residents of the community, not just Latinos, gathered to let their voices be heard by the media and by others who hadn’t seen the offensive viral video. Although many claim that the owner of Tipsy Cake was just “poking fun” at the neighborhood, other life-long residents who have lived in the area their entire lives took it very personally.
Genaro Sanchez waves Puerto Rican flag in Humboldt Park during demonstration
“There are many of us who are children of narcotics and alcohol abusers who have been able to move past those addictions and create a better life for ourselves outside of these social ills imposed on us,” said Lah Tere, a life-long member of the community. ”Naomi Levine’s comments were brutal and impacted us on many levels. Our community has worked endlessly to create a safer space for all generations. Her comments triggered a deep pain. I am proud of my community, it resilience and courage.”
Among those who spoke at the press conference was Ald. Roberto Maldonado, write-in candidate Jorge Zavala who is running for congressman of the fourth district, and Ald. Joe Moreno.
“Their comments cannot be justified,” said Zavala, tweeted out by his son Jorge Gerardo, during an interview with Univision. “They don’t respect us as a community.”
Ald. Maldonado, of the 26 district where Humboldt Park sits, stated in his remarks that if Tipsy Cake was concerned for their well-being, they should have called the alderman’s office.
While many people are still scratching their heads over what exactly happened and why Humboldt Park residents are so upset, Jessie Fuentes, director of Batey Urbano put it simply.
“The remarks that she made that are stereotypical of Humboldt Park are false. They don’t define our community. The young people of Batey define our community, the people of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center define our community,” she said with music blaring behind her. “I hope she can bend her…white privilege so we can embrace her in our community.”
However, Fuentes did acknowledge that there is still violence and drug problems in Humboldt Park, something that community members are trying to fight.
“You should be here to help change those conditions, not poke fun at them,” Fuentes concluded.
After the protest that took place in Humboldt Park earlier today, Naomi Levine, owner of Tipsy Cake issued this statement via their Facebook page.
Dear Fans,
I would like to sincerely apologize to the Humboldt Park Community for my insensitive comments made in the City Soles interview that was posted on our Facebook page on February 21st
With respect to the specific comments that I made; first, “bullets in cake.” I viewed several comments accusing me of racism. I truthfully did not make the connection between my comments and being a racist, so I thought it best to immediately respond to such comments with how my business is minority owned and employs men and women from all ethnic backgrounds. I feel that the best comment to describe my ignorance came from Mr. Xavier Luis Burgos’ article on gozamos.com. In that article, Xavier wrote that:
“Some disregarded this “slip of the lip” as misguided, ironically tasteless, or even unintentional. But for many, this is impossible if one is mindful of the greater historical, social, and economic paradigms that informs such comments. Levine, like anyone on this Earth, exists not in a vacuum. “
At the time I made my comments, I truly failed to take into consideration any historical, social, economic or political implications of my words. As an Australian immigrant that settled in Humboldt Park in 2006, I now realize that I spent all my time focusing solely on growing my business and my family, and, like many in society, I never took any time to develop a real understanding of the very community and the history of the people that I have had the fortune of living among for the past 6 years. In other words, I in fact lived “in a vacuum.”
Second, my comment about “Humboldt crack.” I do apologize for this comment. However, I also feel that the people I offended with this comment deserve an explanation as to why I originally thought it would be taken as humorous and not offensive. As the owner of a bakery, I am privy to a lot of slang from customers. Nearly everyday since I opened the doors to my bakery, at least one customer would sample a product and tell me how it was “like crack.” Moreover, I noticed that men, women and children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds made this comment. This equated to 6 years of people telling me that my products were “like crack.” My only thought over all of these years, and during my comments in the interview, was that people could use that slang as a compliment to say that my food was addicting and that it was okay for me to do so as well. With respect to inserting the word “Humboldt” in front, I would have to apologize and accept 100% blame. What I thought was a “cool” play on words never crossed my mind as having implications to the presence of illegal drugs in Humboldt Park.
Finally, where I hope this message and my apology is received by all of those that were offended from my comments, I also hope it is received and acknowledged by the few callers that have made threats of violence. While I do not expect that every single person that was offended will accept my apology, I would like everyone to know that your comments on social media were received and educated me as to the mistakes I have made, which guided me to issue this apology.
Not only does Vazquez demand a apology but points out that various successful people have emerged to service the community and the city.
On behalf of the Spanish Action Committee of Chicago (SACC), who has for more than 46 years defended and made valuable the Puerto Rican and Latino community through Positive Social Changes, demand an immediate public apology from the owner of Tipsy Cake for the outrageous and insulting comments made against the residents of Humboldt Park. We also demand an immediate cessation of the use of marketing techniques that depend on the use of negative and racist stereotypes to sell products to the public including the use of the term, “Humboldt Crack” which only attempts, but fails, to negate the truth about our residents: a dignified, hardworking, and educated community making great strides every single day to improve the quality of life not only for Humboldt Park, but for the City of Chicago in general.
And in case you have not been informed of facts, here are a few examples of individuals, organizations, and business from Humboldt Park that deserve a cake in their honor: Jose Santiago, recently appointed Chicago Fire Commissioner; Association House of Chicago; Casa Central; Miguel Barreto Boy and Girls Club of Chicago; various Federal, State, Cook County, and City elected officials born and raised in Humboldt Park; and Roeser’s Bakery at 3216 W. North Avenue who, for over 100 years, have never demeaned the residents of Humboldt Park through the use of pejorative terms to described the community in which they serve.
The owner of Tipsy Cake, through her actions and words, has demonstrated that she does not deserve the confidence of the Humboldt Park community and therefore does not deserve our financial patronage.
Leoncio Vazquez,
President/CEO
SACC
Today there will be a demonstration held in front of the Humboldt Park location, 1043 N. California, at noon.
UPDATE: Tomorrow at noon there will be a protest at 1043 N. California against the comments made in this video.
So last night, I got a message from a good friend over at Latino Rebels, the site that brings Latino issues to light that aren’t necessarily being covered by mainstream media.
The video is an interview by City Soles’ Scott Starbuck with Naomi Levine, owner of Tipsy Cake bakery that was once based and housed in Humboldt Park, from which they still produce all of their baked goods. The bakery has a new spot in Bucktown. Levine’s reason for moving? “Too many bullet holes in the cakes.”
Starbuck doesn’t ask what she means or even attempts to redirect the comment but plays on it, pointing into the cakes with his finger and laughing. What?
First of all, if you really wanted to see bullet holes in your cake, you should have settled in the area 25-30 years ago, when you really did have a reason to watch your back and your cakes. Humboldt Park was one of the most dangerous areas in the city of Chicago in the late’80s and early ’90s, I won’t deny that. Humboldt Park was featured on Ganglands by the History channel because of one of the gangs. But to say that that’s were Humboldt Park is now is just plain wrong.
Get your facts straight, lady. In the last 20 years, the Humboldt Park neighborhood has been the victim of intense gentrification. Where there were buildings being shut down, condos were going up. Lots were being sold and long-time family homes were being bought out, remodeled and rented for much more than anyone would think.
The only reason why it is still considered the nationalistic Puerto Rican community that it is, is because of the community itself that has stood its ground with a campaign known as “Humboldt Park no se vende.”
It’s the people who have cleaned up their neighborhood and have succeeded through a lifetime of struggles. Various people from all walks of life have come to enjoy what Humboldt Park is turning into: A haven for young Chicagoans to live. And guess what, they are Tipsy Cake constituents.
Levine obviously didn’t know what she was talking about and for her to insult a community that has come a long way without understanding the hardships was just insensitive and inappropriate, states the Humboldt Park Portal.
When the community found out about this video, they spoke out and guess what: Tipsy shut them up by deleting comments, blocking Facebook users and not responding to Tweets directed at them. Because people are super intelligent and the internet is a wonderful thing, users and angry constituents turned to Yelp, where you will find a long line of one-starred-comments telling them everything from “I have never been here and now I know I will NEVER shop here because of the video I watched…” to “Shame on you. Humboldt Park welcomed your business with open arms and you sh**ted on them. Karma is real.”
So we’ll leave you with Latino Rebels’ edited video that talks about bullet holes and the crack that they sell. Yes, that’s right. “Humboldt crack,” said Starbuck before putting it in his mouth.
Mike Oquendo has been putting his productions on stage at Joe’s on Weed Street for the last 10 years. Last year, they celebrated 114 performances, he said Sunday night. Walking into Joe’s, the front bar was packed with people, mostly all Latino talking about being there for the Fullerton Experience. The house itself was jam packed, sold out for the second show of the evening.
“We’ve been putting shows on here for the last 10 years and this, mi gente, is the show that I’ve been waiting 10 years for,” he said from the stage.
Before bringing out the players for “No Cruising Zone: The Fullerton Experience,” Oquendo introduced some major players in the lives of those native Chicagoan Generation X-ers who cruised up and down Fullerton Avenue on Chicago’s north side and partied at various night clubs located on Milwaukee, Fullerton, Belmont and Pulaski.
His special guest of the night was Kenny “Jammin’” Jason, well-known mix master DJ who had a WBMX show called Saturday Night Live. Opening a radio space for the freestyle and house genres that hit Chicago and its Latinos hard, it was the station and radio show that allowed for people to listen to artists like Stevie B and George Lamond and hear a mix of the top songs.
“What happens at a Mikey O show goes on Facebook! Take that picture!” Oquendo said as Cisneros and Jason stood onstage together.
The players came out to perform short skits, mixed in with a bit of stand-up performed by Chicago natives, telling their stories about growing up. From Antonia Arcely talking about roaches in the cereal to Gwen De La Roka reminiscing about voice mail greeting recordings, the crowd was receptive and full of laughter.
In the first scene which played off of the idea of a talk show, Wendy Mateo and Lori Diaz played mothers to Arcely and De La Roka respectively. The conversation went from outfit strategies to what kind of men Latinas in Chicago find attractive, which turned out to be the paranoid jailbird, played by Jeff Quintana.
My favorite of the night had to be a skit between Jose Iasel Gonzalez and Diaz. She ran in disheveled, while her brother, Gonzalez, stared at himself and flexed in the mirror. She screamed at him, asking if he had told their father that she was out at the club with her man. She said that the DJ had stopped the music and called her out, saying her father was outside. Laughs and high pitched giggles emerged from the audience. It turned out that her brother did tell on her and she left the room threatening him. Quintana walks in as their father and asks Gonzalez to demonstrate how he walks like a gangster. Needless to say, after punishing his son, the boy didn’t walk like a gangster any longer.
Another skit touched on the time with the Chicago Bulls were reigning champions of the world, or so it seemed to all of us Chicagoans. Eddie Martinez plays a student stuck at home studying as Gonzalez runs in screaming that the Bulls had won the 1991 NBA Championship. Martinez couldn’t watch the game because his mother wanted to watch her telenovela, Mar y Mar. He goes on to list various other telenovelas of the time like Dos Mujeres Un Camino, popular among our parents and older generation Spanish speakers. In the end, the boys decide to cruise Fullerton to celebrate.
Those who were coming out of the earlier show were being picked up by cars blasting freestyle music and making people dance the night away. Those who saw friends or relatives in line for the next show said hi and, “Oh my God, you’re going to love it.”
The night was sprinkled with “You know you’re getting old” jokes along with references to the ’80s and early ’90s. This hyper-local, Chicago-centric, Latino-driven performance gave those in attendance a reason to turn back time, reminisce about the “good times,” enjoy the music and have pride in being a product of Latino Chicago; a place that many know as ghetto, gang-affiliated and negative. If anything, this space and time gave people a chance to acknowledge those aspects and embrace it because although growing up that way was hard, everyone made it through.
What we gained coming out of Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Chicago in the ’90s was strength and dedication to move up and out. There are aspects of our community that you can’t avoid and unfortunately, although it may be scary, gunshots and gang bangers were part of the environment. You dealt and you got through.
I give props to this show because it gave its audience a space to remember, laugh together and yell every time a Stevie B song started playing.
The bloggers and I watched the Grammys and we had a lot of things to say about them. But this is a blog post, so we’re going to keep it short and sweet. So here we go…
Did you know that the Grammys cut out 31 categories, many of which were formerly claimed by artists of color? Our friends over at Latino Rebels showed this to us. Our bloggers also brought it up and someone said he didn’t like the fact that there was a lack of Latino performers. “But they have their own Grammys!” you say. Yes, but there are also many, many artists who claimed these diverse categories that have nowhere else to be honored or acknowledged. Check out the petition and see why well-known acts such as Santana, Ruben Blades and Bobby Sanabria have boycotted the Grammys this year. It’s caused quite a stir.
We loved Bruno Mars‘ performance. We’re convinced that Filipinos mixed with Latinos make beautiful babies. See below.
What more though, is that we loved his hair.
Bruno Mars | Photo by Getty Images
Another thing we loved was the fact that Adeleis back! And not only did she give one stellar performance, but she took home six Grammys! We loved her performance so much, that it totally overshadowed some others that we’ll get to later.
Adele with 6 | Getty Images
And so, if you missed the performance, we’ll show you that too. (We know this is getting insanely long, but live with it!) This recording is like you’re watching it from you own TV!
This was my favorite quote by Bob Lefsetz about the Grammys: “Less is more. Who made a bigger impression last night, Adele or Nicki Minaj? Who sold more records? It’s about music. It goes in the ears, not the eyes.”
Which leads us to the worst of the night. Nicki, what in the world were you thinking?! Because TMZ said it best, we’re going to let TMZ say it again.
And finally, Bon Iver. I had never heard of him before the award like last year, when no one knew who Esperanza Spaulding was and she, my friends, is amazing. So what did I do? I YouTubed the guy and I found the video below. There are more videos to watch and although he’s soothing, I think the Recording Academy was going for quality over… umm… Lady Gaga wannabe? To each their own, but in the end, Bon Iver (whoever he is) did good.
And last but not least, we hated the fact that Chris Brown performed and even more, that little girls everywhere were saying things like, “Chris Brown can beat me any time he wants.” No, girls! Latina Denial said it best in their blog and we will repeat: No, a man can not beat you any time he wants! We’re not even going to show the video because it was sad. Nice try to jump start your career but too bad it ended because smart women didn’t like the fact that you leave chicks with black eyes. Gross!
Los Amigos Invisibles will be part of the Latin American Festival in July
According to Songkick.com, where readers are assured to be the first to know about concerts, there will be a Latin American Festival 2012 happening at our very own Congress Theater on Saturday, July 21. You heard right and can you guess the bands that are scheduled to appear?
Giant’s wide reciever, Victor Cruz is known for his salsa moves after a touch down. One of two Puerto Rican players playing in the Super Bowl tonight, Cruz has been talking about his new daughter, Kennedy Ryan, and has shown his pride in his Puerto Rican heritage, bringing Latinidad to football. The other boricua playing tonight is Aaron Hernandez, a tight end playing for the Patriots. Rumor has it that Hernandez may have his own moves tonight. But who will dance first, is the real the question.
No matter who wins, the Giants or the Patriots, a Puerto Rican athlete will be taking home a Super Bowl ring. Wepa!
Facts about Latinos in football:
Latinos make up about one percent of players in the NFL.
Ron Rivera, of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, is the third Latino named to a NFL head coach position, now that he’s the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
According to the LA Times: “Fifteen NFL teams have Spanish-language content on their websites and 14 broadcast their games on Spanish-language radio, including the Cardinals and Cowboys, who also beam their games into Mexico. In addition, Univision radio airs 32 games nationally, including the playoffs, Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.”
Ignacio “Lou” Molinet was the first known Latino to play in the NFL in 1927 for the Frankford Yellowjackets and was a native of Chaparra, Cuba.
The first Latino quarterback in the NFL was Tom Flores for the Oakland Raiders in 1960.
Last night, the San Diego trio, Los Hollywood, hit up the Cubby Bear in Wrigleyville. As the opening act for Noches de Rock, which will take place Thursday nights, Los Hollywood was an excellent way to start the series.
The band hadn’t been back to Chicago since 2008, right after they won the MySpace Latino Battle of the Bands competition which not only built their fan base around the country, but launched them into the indie rock scene, playing at South By South West in Austin, Texas and the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City.
The band made up of Heidy Flores on vocals, Marcos Mondregon on guitar/bass and Gustavo Mojica on drums, recently ended their mini-Southern California tour, was only in for two days and had the opportunity to see Los Rieleros del Norte and K-Paz de la Sierra at VLive. The fact that they got a shout out from the stage, had an opportunity to hang out with Los Rieleros and got back stage access, threw Flores for a whirlwind.
“De repente dice uno de ellos, ‘Saludos a Los Hollywood!’ and I was excited!” said Flores. “He said it twice.”
The Cubby Bear performance started close to 11 p.m. with a fairly decent crowd. As soon as they took stage, people clapped, whistled and cheered.
Although many of us in the audience didn’t find out about this show until this week, it was still a good time. According to their manager, Guillermo Wightman, this show was planned a mere three weeks ago. They got the call, booked the tickets and here they were.
This was the first time for Mondregon in Chicago. He was living in Mexico for two years and wasn’t on the first trip.
“It’s awesome. It’s an awesome city and I’m happy to be here,” he said. “I was in Mexico and I was tryin to fix my papers and my immigration status. I’m happy to be back.”
Flores’ voice was as magical on stage. The music really spoke for itself. New fans could not stop talking about the sharpness and the beauty of the songs they heard for the first time.
Flores and Mondregon played a new song called Cucu, representative of the heart in love. Upbeat and cute, the song is a definite upside to the music the band is producing. Most of the songs, they said, are about love.
For the past few years, Los Hollywood have been in the process of writing and figuring out just where they want their new album to go. Within the time they’ve been away from Chicago, they released a second EP, which I didn’t hear about until last night. But all of those elements will be going into the new album produced by Thom Russo, which they hope will be out by summer of 2012.
“We’re very excited because we’re going to work with a great producer who’s worked with Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson,” said Flores. ” [In] Latin America I would say Juanes, Mana. He just recently went to the Latin Grammys this year as a sound egineer. He now has 16 Grammys.”
The music on the new album is going to be an improvement and a change for sure, they all agreed.
“I think we’ve grown in these past three years since we came. I think the songs are going to be way better, the production, everything is going to sound a lot better,” said Flores.
The three have been working tediously on the lyrics to the songs, locking themselves away until they emerge with a hit, they said. But they never try to force or finish a song just to finish it. The lyrics have to come to them, they said.
“We’re not machines, you know? We’re not always producing songs. Pero queremos sacar canciones que le guste a la gente,” Mojica said. One song in particular took them a month to finish writing. ”La cancion no queria ser terminada,” laughed Mojica.
“Some songs are like the first EP but everything is different. Things are different. Ahora los tres somos mas involucrados in the song writing,” Flores added.
Though the album isn’t done, it’s almost there. Once they land in San Diego, they’ll be going back to write more songs and finish the album.
The band played about four of their new songs, which seemed to hit home with the audience. Of course they played “No Te Aguites,” their fist single that everyone adores, “Te Quiero Tanto” and “Gira, Gira” off of their fist EP. People in the audience were definitely singing along.
Though their music is growing and changing, Mojica claimed that there will always be that “Los Hollywood” sound to their music.
“Even si tocamos cumbia, Los Hollywood will be there. Creo que es la forma que tocamos juntos los tres. Cuando nos juntamos a tocar, sale el sonido de Los Hollywood,” he said.
It definitely showed last night. They ended their 10-song set list and decided to play just one more, with which the audience wasn’t satisfied. They left the stage only to be invited back on by screaming, whistling and chants of “Otra! Otra!”
What people don’t usually know is that Flores sang rancheras and mariachi music before finding her love for rock and pop. Mojica told me years ago that that’s how he came to find out who she was. She was the girl that sang Mariachi and played guitar in San Diego. The first song they ever played together was Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know.”
As she came back on stage, they decided to play a ranchera that had people clapping and whistling up a storm. The girl still has it.
Over all, it was an excellent performance on a mild night in the city. The band said they had a blast and look forward to being back again. Meanwhile, they have big plans coming up like visiting Colombia, Spain and of course, Mexico.
Have you heard about Ana Tijoux’s new album, “La Bala”? Featuring 11 new songs and a collaboration with Jorge Drexler, among other artists, this album is sure to be a chart topper. Politically charged, enlightened and groovy, Tijoux takes a lot of the energy from her debut album “1977″ and brings it back again.
I had the pleasure of meeting Tijoux at the Latin Alternative Music Conference is New York City two years ago. Very talkative, educated and charming, Tijoux spoke to us about her climb to the top. In addition, I was also lucky enough to catch her performance at Lollapalooza last year, where she packed the house. People of all different shapes, colors and backgrounds were there, waving their hands, dancing with her music and some were even singing along.
Her recently released single “Shock” from the new album has already been named “Single of the Week” on iTunes Latino and has been featured on NPR and this Tuesday you’ll be able to get your hands on the new album, which was recorded in Santiago, Chile and mixed and mastered in Detroit.
Because of student protests in Chile and other worldly events, Tijoux was inspired to write “Shock” and pay homage to the protesters of her home country. The rapper, who was born in France to a French mother and Chilean father, there due to political exile during Pinochet’s regime, is multilingual and actually started rapping first in French then in Spanish. Tijoux has also claimed to know a little Japanese.
Wait to hear the buzz more as soon as the album is released. For now, check out the video to “Shock,” shot last year in Chile.
