Canto CCCXXXIX: (Re) Introducing Meself

Gentle cabrones:

Well...let's start all over again!

Hola! My name is Gustavo Arellano, and I’m a hack.

My day job: Metro columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

My side hustles: Lecturer at Orange Coast College and Chapman University, both alma maters. Longtime contributor to KCRW, specifically my “Orange County Line” commentary and KCRW and Gustavo’s Great #TortillaTournament. “Good Ol’ Chico” columnist for Gravy a publication of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Contributing editor to Alta Journal. Porter at Alta Baja Market. Speech-giver for anyone who’ll ask — then there’s the scheduling...

My background: Oldest child of two Mexican immigrants — one from El Cargadero, Jerez, Zacatecas; the other from Jomulquillo, Jerez, Zacatecas. Lifelong Anacrimer. Went to Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Sycamore Junior High, Anaheim High School (Go Colonists!). Orange Coast College, Chapman University (B.A. in film studies), UCLA (master’s in Latin American Studies, with an emphasis in history, sociology, and anthropology). Nerd.

Likes: Comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable. Los buenos. Reading, reporting, learning. Kentucky, New Mexico, California. My friends and family, Hook and Cosmo. Beatles, Simpsons, Howard Stern, Bach.

Dislikes: Ingrates, hypocrites, flojos, convenencieros.

This newsletter’s history: Started on Tiny Letter in the spring of 2018 once I got sick of the Baal that is Facebook. Moved to MailChimp in 2020 once I had more than the limit Tiny Letter had for free services. Left MailChimp for Beehiiv in 2024 because of the former’s continued enshittification.

This newsletter’s purpose: My archivist. Entertain, inform. HWUT.

First time reading this newsletter? Subscribe here for more merriment! Feedback, thoughts, commentary, rants? Send them to [email protected]

Reason for the newsletter: To compile all the articles I’ve done in the past week. To let people know of any coming public events I’ll be a part of. And after that? Unload thoughts on my mind: stories, philosophies, Random Cool People I Know. Story, song suggestions. Photos.

Why the title? Because I once thought I’d start my own publication after leaving the Infernal Rag. I kinda have!

Why are your newsletters called “cantos”? Because I’m a pretentious wacko, and I love Byron and Dante.

What’s going to be new here? Nothing much. The design still works for me. But Abejahiiv has quiz abilities, so…

What’s with “The Only Canto That Matters” as your new epigram? I’ll always believe in “Don’t Get Beat,” my previous epigram. But if I’m moving on up, I need something new. I thought one of the most outlandish slogans ever was The Clash calling themselves “The Only Band that Matters.” And here I am. It’s not reflected in my logo just yet, but wait…

For those who have been with me for a while: Gracias doubly.

For those who have been with me only recently: Gracias.

For those of ustedes who still haven’t signed up: DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!

Like what you see? Lemme know.

Don’t like what you see? Tell me.

What else should I do? That’s what the poll above is for.

You subscribe to my newsletter, but didn’t get the email? Check in your spam or trash folder, and subscribe.

Anything else? Excuse the digital dust here, as I figure out Abejahiiv. Also, WERK.

And away we go…

**

Enough rambling. This was the semana that was:

IMAGE OF THE WEEK: Roasters surrounding Chispa OC mero mero Hairo Cortes at the org’s fundraiser, which was a SMASH. His brother Gerson said what we did to him was a human sacrifice. I got side roasting as well — but at least I didn’t get hit by a bus. Learn more about Chispa here.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I like good company, but I like hard work still better” — Camille Saint-Saëns

LISTENING: “Mountain of Love,” Johnny Rivers. Now that I’ve printed out all my previous cantos, I’m FINALLY going to do a playlist because I’ll be able to access them fast. If you haven’t figured it out already, I try to never repeat artists, so I THINK I haven’t put on Johnny Rivers. And if I did? Oh well! SEVERELY underrated, and although this song is kinda goofy, it still rocks. One of those musicians who’ll never get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but who cares!

READING: “The Total Package: The quest for the perfect silicone penis”: Not what you think it is — and yet it is, in a soulful way. Perfect ending. God, The Baffler is so great.

BUY MY NEW CO-BOOK! People’s Guide to Orange County tells an alternative history of OC through the scholarship and reporting of myself, Elaine Lewinnek, and Thuy Vo Dang. There’ll be signings all year — in meanwhile, buy your copy TODAY. And, yes: I’ll autograph it!

Gustavo Events  

March 2, 3 p.m.: Join me and my compa Bill Esparza for yet another Alta Journal reading — but this one featuring wine from Baja California! It’ll be at my wifey’s Alta Baja Market, 201 E. 4th St., Ste. 101, SanTana. The lecture is FREE, but if you want to taste the vinos, that’ll be $15, which will get you you a copy of Alta’s latest issue. RSVP here.

March 21, 5:30 p.m.: I’ll be in conversation with folks from the Long Beach Public Library Foundation on why libraries have become the culture-war front that they’ve become at the Union Bank Building, 400 W. Oceangate, Long Beach. Tickets are $25, but it’s a fundraiser, so PAY UP.

Gustavo in the News

“Gustavo Arellano Honored for Distinction in Chicano Literature at UC Santa Barbara”: I still need to write this up…

“The Washington Post Has a New Publisher. Here’s Some Unsolicited Advice”: Politico’s media columnist Jack Shafer includes me among a bunch of journalism chingonxs.

“Part 77 – The Squirrel Squad Closes Down A Scientologist Bar – Activism Versus Corruption”: Legendary whistleblower Zachary Ellison mentions me in a story of his.

“Part 78: A New Corruption Investigation in Los Angeles – The Case of Patrick Wizmann Versus Izek Shomof“: Legendary whistleblower Zachary Ellison mentions me in another story of his.

Gustavo Stories 

“Grítale a Guti”: Latest edition of my Tuesday night IG Live free-for-all.

“Orange County Line”: My weekly KCRW OC commentary continues, but there’s issues putting up online for the moment — stand by…

"Mexstasy at Crear”: The full discussion between San Diego State Tex(t)-Mex legend William Nericcio and myself — and then a rascally zacatecano!

“Why we need ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ more than ever as it turns 100”: My latest L.A. Times columna talks about one of my favorite pieces of music EVER. KEY QUOTE: “It was unpretentious and rollicking — nothing that I had known classical music to be — and sparked an admiration for Gershwin’s creation that grows the more I learn about him and his times.”

You made it this far down? Gracias! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram while you’re down here by clicking on their logos down below. Don’t forget to forward this newsletter to your compadres y comadres! You can’t get me tacos anymore, but you sure as hell can give them — and more — to the O.C. Catholic Worker!