Lucha Libre Tijuana

"I Heart TJ, Too" by Kinsee Morlan

Pay the extra money and get a seat in the front row.  General admission is $15, but it’s more than worth the $40 to be so close you flinch when the Mexican wrestlers get thrown against the flimsy steel gate separating you from them.  You can actually smell the stench of the old costumes and see the trickles of blood rolling down the fighters’ chests from fake moves gone wrong.

And buy the beer. Get buzzed and join the chants whether you understand what the crowd is saying or not.

Throw a lime or two when the bad guys come out.  If you have a full beer, you can throw that, too. It’s all part of the fun of the Lucha Libre fights held at Auditorio Tijuana on various Friday nights throughout the summer.

How do you know when the fights are happening?  I have no clue.  Me and the rest of the Tijuanenses get to enjoy the hand-painted signs advertising the fights that get hung along Ague Caliente and the rest of the city a week before the match.

If you’re a gringo planning to come down, get there early to buy your ticket.  If the luchadores are popular, the shows will sell out.

Mas photos below the break:

Mummies in Tijuana

"TJ Kitty" by Kinsee Morlan

This sounds strange, but there are currently dead bodies on view at Tijuana’s former Jai Alai stadium, El Foro.

Eighteen of the famous “Mummies of Guanajuato” are on view in Tijuana through Nov. 12.  I’ve heard the reason the mummies are at El Foro instead of a proper museum is that CECUT, Tijuana’s museum of art, refused to have the show in their space.  No word as to why.

Anyway, the show sounds creepy and perfect for the Day of the Dead season.  More info below:

Eduardo Arellano, “El Doctor,” captured in Tijuana

"A Hipster braves the Tijuana Streets" by Kinsee Morlan

I woke up to the news this morning: Tijuana police arrested Eduardo Arellano Felix, one of the five brothers in the powerful Arellano Felix Cartel, in a shootout in a middle-class neighborhood in Tijuana Saturday evening.

Who knows if this is good or bad for the city.  I’ve been corresponding with other bloggers and neighbors who say the violence won’t end until a faction of one of the waring drug cartels emerges as the new leader. So really, we have two major wars going on right now in the city streets: The Tijuana police and federalis against the drug cartels and the drug cartels against one another.

Ostensibly, the arrest of Eduardo Arellano seems like a move in the right direction, but it’s too soon to tell what the overall repercussions will be.

Meanwhile, those of us who live in Tijuana seem to be responding in different ways.  Some groups are advocating a self-imposed curfew, leaving the streets desolate and empty so as to stay out of the way of the street wars. I myself can’t let the drug cartel and the fear take over.  On Friday night, my BF and I went to a lucha libre match at the Auditorio Tijuana. We sat in the front row, so close we could smell the mildewy costumes of the Mexican wrestlers (more on that later, after the media storm surrounding the arrest dies down).

On the way to the match, we passed about 20 police cars that had closed down half of Agua Caliente, a main boulevard in Tijuana, in front of an old-west themed restaurant and bar called El Rodeo. A part of me pictured a stray bullet flying through the air and hitting someone in our cab, but the more rational side of me knew the chances were slim. It’s dangerous in Tijuana right now, but I refuse to let it scare me to the point where I won’t leave my apartment.

San Diego Zeekend

David Antin

From spoken word by David Antin to drum circles, music, experimental workshops and more, San Diego Zeekend is an event that explores a lot more than just the Mexican/American border. It’ll explore cultural, spiritual and language boundaries, too.

Sponsored by Zeek: A Journal of Jewish Thought and Culture, the event kicks off tomorrow morning, Saturday, Oct. 25, with coffee and pastries at the LFJCC and culminates with a trip down to Friendship Park in San Ysidro on Sunday, oct. 26, where plans to build a third border fence are ruining a park where families in the US go to meet their loved ones who aren’t able to cross the fence.

For more info, click below:

Reports from the Tijuana Tequila Expo

I did it so you didn’t have to, folks.  I subjected my poor liver to sample after sample of tequila and mezcal at last weekend’s Tijuana Tequila Expo.

Unfortunately, due to my inebriated state, the notes I left with from the tequila-heavy tented area down on Revolucion make zero sense.  All I know is that we left with a big bottle of Mezcal Felino and a small bottle of tequila that came in a cool little leather carrying pouch.  I’ll have to check the brand on the small bottle and get back to you on that later, but I’m pretty sure I wanted my bf to buy it for the cute tequila purse and not the actual quality of the tequila.

So, if you’re in the market for tequila, I’m afraid this post doesn’t help much. But here’s my attempt at helping you through the daunting task of picking out a good bottle of tequila:  The Tequila Don Roberto wasn’t bad, the Buen Amigo organic tequila was good, and the Tequila El Agave Artesanal was one of the best.  At least, that’s what I think I meant by the scribbles on the backs of the cards I gathered.   Sorry guys, next time I’ll try to keep things under control.

Tijuana designer gets picked up by San Diego buyer

Olga Sanchez, one of the Tijuana designers who participated in San Diego Fashion Week, will be launching her women’s clothing line at Let’s Go7863 Girard Ave. in La Jolla this Saturday, Oct. 18, beginning at 4 p.m. with mannequin modeling.

Chora Prints in Tijuana and LA

Chora Prints: New Political Posters from TJ2La opens at La Casa del Tunel: Art Center this Saturday, Oct. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m..  Stop by Acamonchi’s who first, then head to La Casa!

More info about the project below:

Acamonchi art in Tijuana again!

From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Lui Velazquez, the experimental art studio/gallery in Estacion Federal in Tijuana is opening a show by Acamonchi, the street, bike and cat-inspired graffiti and stencil artists who’s paintings are as chaotic, crazy and beautiful as the city of Tijuana.

Acamonchi will also be part of an exhibition at CECUT on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Info in Spanish and English below:

Border Pride 2008

Daniel Watman, a border activist and community organizer I wrote about for CityBeat awhile back, is hosting a Border Pride celebration in Friendship Park in San Ysidro on the U.S. side of the border and in Playas de Tijuana on the Mexican side this Saturday, Oct. 18.

See below for details:

Sezio vs. Adapta

Yes, the violence continues, but so does the art and creation.  This Thursday, my art collective, Adapta Project, will take on an online art and music site, Sezio,   We’ve picked out three Tijuana artists and Sezio has picked out three San Diego artists who will go head-to-head in a three-month art-off at Cream Coffee House, 4496 Park Blvd. in University Heights.

We’re doing it as a sort of reminder that the cities, whether you like it or not, are sisters, and no matter how much we each try to distance ourselves from our neighbors, the geography will never change.  The cultural exchange, in our opinion, is something that neither city takes advantage of enough.

For our first artist, we’ve chosen Daniel Meneses, aka Organika.  His graphic-intensive designs and light-boxes with a decidedly organic and flowing feel will contrast against Sezio’s Mike Maxwell, whose pop-surrealism paintings of blue-faced historical figures, hipsters and lighthouses are crisp, clean and a tad creepy, but beautiful nonetheless.