Friday, September 5, 2014

The Valley




Here in the Valley, bread on the table
Work through the day for as long as we are able
Here in the valley, dark is the night
Out of the darkness into the light

DAVID HIDALGO is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, percussion, accordion, bass, keyboards, melodica, drums, violin, banjo) from East Los Angeles best known for his work with Los Lobos and the Latin Playboys. Los Lobos is celebrating its 40th year of playing "the soundtrack of the barrio" with a live CD called Disconnected in New York City. I love listening to him play this solo, acoustic version of this song, baring it down to its essence. Here is a version of the iconic song "Will The Wolf Survive?" from the same solo performance. I know some of you will really enjoy this.

Toads, I hope you will be inspired by David Hidalgo, Los Lobos, "just another band from East LA," the Barrio, wolves, National Geographic magazine, putting food on the table, hard work, making a home, making a life, finding light from darkness or whatever moves you to write a new poem and share it with us today. I look forward to reading!

11 comments:

brudberg said...

I let myself be indulged in his music.. Interesting.

Anonymous said...

cool selections, Marian. struck a chord (so to speak). I was lucky to see Los Lobos playing outdoors in Lower Sproul Plaza 30 years ago, when I attended Berkeley (various bands played a set there regularly at lunch time). good question, too - what will survive this 6th great extinction event powered by we "h. sapiens" ~

brudberg said...

OK.. yes -- there's a sadness in those rhythms.. dancing on the edge of the grave so to say... so that's what I went with ... having only images and no experience to draw inspiration from.

Marian said...

yay, hi everyone! hope you all feel inspired. i'll be offline all day but will come back later tonight or tomorrow to read your offerings. have a great friday!

Kerry O'Connor said...

Great vocals, lyrics, music.

Helen said...

I so enjoyed the video ... elegant simplicity.

Jim said...

Hi Marian ~~ It is a fun song, a little sad but that's the way it goes. Thank you for sharing. Right away I thought of "The Grapes of Wrath" but then I thought of me.

A man looses several things in his life, hard on him and different from women's losses; his freedom (some try to keep it causing lots of troubles), his dog and/or horse, and his pickup truck. There are more but these are ones I have experienced so far personally (the freedom loss two times).

Enjoy your day off from writing. I hope it was a fun task.
..

Hannah said...

Thank you, Marian!

Marian said...

ah, the poems here are just lovely. i've been tripping on Los Lobos all week now... and it's Saturday morning, maybe i can write something to my own prompt. :)

Susie Clevenger said...

This prompt moved me..Thank you Marian

Fireblossom said...

I'm a day late and a dollar short, as usual!