el crispito

I explained to her that the guy next to me was my boyfriend and that I'm interested in guys, but maybe she suspected that that's just a line people use to turn a particular girl down easy. Perhaps she thought I just didn't know what I was saying. Perhaps she figured I just don't know what I'm missing.

Now that I look back on it, having lived here a while, I don't think it was any of that. In Guadalajara, young people are paid by companies to hang out in stores (Wal-Mart is the biggest offender in this regard, in my experience) for the sole purpose of giving you a sales pitch (and on occasion, but not always, a sample) while you're shopping. They'll make sure you know about a particular type of eggs, from their specific benefits to your health to their currently reduced sale price. They will let you know why the product you just pulled innocently down from the shelf is inferior to the one they are going to tell you about.

This can be rather disconcerting, when you are not a native speaker of the language and you just kind of zone out when you do mindless tasks like shopping. All of a sudden, someone is talking to you about something and when you come to it, you realize that they are deep into it already and it's going to on for some while. I have taken to wearing my iPod and listening to it while I shop to try and keep it a more solitary experience, because I feel like in grocery shopping, like electing candidates, they had their chance to make any pitches and promises to you up to the time you walk through that door.

Still, I have looked up from putting my shaving cream in the carrito to see that a young woman of about 19 was in the middle of her speech about another brand. She looked as interested in the product as I was, but I took off my headphones, wagging my finger to indicate that I couldn't hear her. Once I got the headphones off, I thought she'd start over, but she didn't. The first time, because it seems like you don't care, you tell her to start over because you didn't hear what she said at first. You get over that quickly. They're there to do a job, and that's to say the set speech to anyone and everyone that goes by. That's their job, and they don't really put any more thought into it than necessary, because it's a stupid job.

Maybe the whore of Adelita Bar doesn't know much, but she knows how she sells sex night after night, and experience has proven there is no need to deviate from the formula. She sat on my lap because that's what you do after two drinks. It was mindless shift work to her, the other hooker and the bartender. The bar was otherwise devoid of customers, and the management had long ago considered and decided all the big stuff, like whether or not to invest in fumigating to keep cockroaches from crawling along bar. They decided not to.

Since I didn't want to dry hump a woman in a Tijuana hooker bar, we moved on to the aforementioned gay bar. It was cozy and small, crammed full of maricones tijuanenses. We squeezed through and took seats at the bar, drinking tequila. The music is deafening in Mexican bars and clubs, and Tijuana is not a town where a business will distinguish itself by doing something unusual. I don't remember any of the other music they played that night, but I remember "Puto," the song that got me started with Molotov. Everyone in the place started jumping up and down and yelling "¡PUTO!" at the top of their lungs when the chorus came on. It was shockingly chaotic for Mexico, even on a dance floor.

You see, puto is the male variation of puta which is a fairly universal term in Spanish, meaning 'whore' or 'bitch.' One could have described my impromptu date at Adelita Bar as a puta, and while you'd not say it to her face, reasonable men would agree that the term was appropriately used, as she was selling sex. In English, to talk about a prostitute in the masculine sense, we'd say something like 'hustler,' 'rent boy' or 'man-whore,' but in Spanish, all you have to do is switch the 'a' to an 'o' at the end.

Because bigotry is not overly concerned with accurately distinguishing small differentiating details, in Spanish, the term puto became used to identify male homosexuals also, despite the fact that not all male homosexuals are prostitutes. Likewise, it also got used to describe someone as a cheat or coward, or uwilling to stand up for themselves.

Well-meaning straight people are always explaining to me that, 'That's so gay!' is not a derrogatory slur against gays, and I suspect that compared to having someone scream, 'Die faggot!' as they hurl a brick at your head, this holds true. Since these are people that are socially beyond screaming brick-throwing, they are much nicer and better intentioned. They don't seem to understand that by using the word 'gay' as a substitute for 'lame,' by the transitive property of equality, you're saying that 'gay' is 'lame.' To them I say, thanks. It means a lot to me that you care enough to try and explain why it shouldn't be offensive. That would indicate that you think my opinion on the subject matters, and lots of people out there (like those in the screaming brick-throwing category) don't. That's nice. Thanks. But the bottom line is, I'm offended by people saying "That's so gay!" At least when they're not also pointing at a picture of Paul Lynde at home with his dog.

The use of the word puto to describe someone with what you consider reprehensible personality traits seems offensive to me, wheras if I hear someone use the word in the other two senses, I can differentiate when someone is using it with the intention of being offensive. The other way seems like a more systematic bigotry, and that's always creepy.

The whole puto thing was mildly controversial for the band, and they went around justifying that they didn't mean anything against gay men, they meant it to describe people who won't stick up for themselves. In any case, the gay men in the Tijuana bar didn't seem to care, and in fact, had taken it on as a Mexican gay anthem. So to me, it remains that: a loud Mexican rallying cry for the putos of Mexico, for which I have undying respect. And while I might lecture the boys of Molotov on the subtle connection that I described above and tell them that using it that way is ultimately offensive, I love the song 'Puto.' Among my cherished, growing collection of Mexican memories, it will remain an early favorite. That and the real puta sitting on my lap in Adelita Bar.

After that first exposure, I started listening to more of their work and I found that they were really much more musically literate and talented than they were given credit for, using some very classic sounds to create something very new. I have been surprised that they are not considered the Mexican Led Zeppelin down here. In my opinion, they're the best thing to happen in Mexican rock music since Carlos Santana. If you are a friend from my Boulder and Denver days, I probably forced you to listen to them on multiple occasions. I don't think anyone really got into them much besides me, but they were big enough in the United States to score tour dates and airplay on indie stations.

I highly recommend checking them out. You need to have at least tolerance for rap, hip-hop, metal, classic guitar rock, sex and swearing (in English and Spanish) or you probably won't be able to take it. If you like at least one of those things a lot, you might find them interesting.

Like I said, I really like them. I have happy memories associated with them. They get people angry about how their songs demonstrate a united Mexican effort to reconquer the southwestern part of the United States. They have a song that uses a litany of classic Mexican and American foods to describe the female anatomy. It's witty and naughty, in English and Spanish!

Therefore, I am sad to learn today that they are most likely breaking up.

Their web site, which I would normally consider to be the last word on this, says only:

Separados ¿o no? ¡¡Nadie Sabe Nada!! Enero 18, 2007

Por el momento, desde Molotov.com.mx no podemos confirmar ni desmentir los rumores que desde hace unos días giran en torno a la banda. Hay fuertes rumores de separación, ya aparecidos en diversos medios, pero nada de eso es 100% seguro. Mas información próximamente...

Broken up...or NOT? no one knows anything!
January 18, 2007

As of now here in molotov.com.mx we cannot confirm or negate the rumors that have been circulating in the past days of a possible break-up of the band. Such rumors have been circulating in several media outlets, but nothing is 100% sure. More information soon...

Unfortunately, I learned about it because rocking neighbor Alberto mentioned them, and after some joyous conversation about how wonderful they are, he broke it to me that he heard that they'd broken up. He opened the copy of Friday's El Publico (March 2) and showed me the headline:

Aunque los integrantes de Molotov disolverán el grupo, cada uno se dedicará a actividades relacionadas con la música

That uses the future tense, but it states in black and white that they are breaking up the group. The article goes on to confirm that one of the band members announced in a press conference (El Publico does not give the date of the press conference) that the band members are "worn out and sickened by the same journey," and that they want to continue to pursue music individually. I think that probably spells the end of Molotov. That makes me really sad.

Gracias por la música, cabrones.