We got a lot of really good entries to our contest, but in the end, we couldn’t resist picking this entry “Monster Taquero” from Chamuco’s Studio of El Sereno. We can’t wait to see how this looks as a full color, die-cut sticker! Look for it on walls everywhere sometime next month…

Congratulations to Chamuco’s and to everyone who entered, it was a lot of fun and we hope to do more contests (and print more stickers) in the future!

Hello TACO readers. Today we have a great new contest for you guys that everyone will love. Here’s the deal– make a TACO Logo or design that somehow references the word taco, either using our logo in some new form or starting from scratch (see some examples of what people have done in the past here). We’ll pick our 3 favorites– all three will get two tickets to the December 9th Ozomatli show at the Nokia Theater, and the grand prize winner will have their design printed as a sticker and distributed throughout the world!

Email your submission to info@lataco.com, or upload it somewhere and tweet us (@LATACO) to let us know you’re entering. Submissions must be in by November 20th.

Game on! We can’t wait to see what you come up with…

LATACO and GOLDENVOICE are pleased to offer two pairs of tickets to the Talib Kweli show on April 3rd at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. Opening acts are David Banner and 9th Wonder, and doors open at 7:00pm.

To enter, leave us a comment on the comments area with a link to your favorite TACO post of all time. Make sure to include your email address so we can contact you if you’re picked as the random winner.

Full details after the jump.

Goldenvoice & Bud Light present Talib Kweli

with David Banner and 9th Wonder
Date: Sun, Apr 3, 2011
Showtime: 8:00 PM
Doors open: 7:00 PM
Ages: All Ages
On sale: Sat, Feb 26, 2011 10AM
Ticket Prices*: $28.50-$35

Ever since emerging as a member of Black Star in the late 1990s, Talib Kweli is one of the few artists making commercially viable music that matters. The Brooklyn bred rapper’s hard-hitting music has been able to educate and entertain simultaneously. So it is no wonder that at the peak of their fame, both Jay-Z and 50 Cent named Talib Kweli as one of their favorite rappers.

With Ear Drum, his first album released on his own Blacksmith Music and his sixth album overall, Kweli has delivered his career-defining work, a polished collection showcasing his advanced lyricism and his penchant for picking music that resonates long after the song ends. “The image of the ear and of the drum is powerful enough by themselves, but when you put them together, it’s an instrument that’s in your body that helps you hear,” he explains. “They’re also two very simple, yet powerful words. I wanted to focus on finding a sound that makes you move, and that’s where the word ‘Ear Drum’ popped in my head.”

Now, after establishing himself as a rap visionary, Kweli along with long-time manager Corey Smyth launched Blacksmith Music. The pair signed an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to market, promote, and distribute the music of Blacksmith artists. Following Kweli’s release on Blacksmith/WBR there will be a new solo album from Jean Grae, the critically acclaimed South African-born female rapper who is among the most respected female rappers in the history of the genre. Rolling Stone called her “the best kept secret on New York&..39;s indie hip-hop scene,” while XXL, Spin, Village Voice, URB and others have labeled her an artist to watch. Strong Arm Steady, a forthcoming Blacksmith/WBR release, is a super group whose members are platinum rapper and Pimp My Ride host Xzibit, Los Angeles underground star Phil The Agony, lyrical assassin Krondon and San Diego rap pioneer Mitchy Slick. Strong Arm Steady has been one of the few West Coast acts to build a rabid fanbase through mixtapes.

In the mean time, the lyrically and sonically potent Ear Drum demonstrates that strong, powerful messages can serve as the backbone for music at its best. “The vast majority of my subject matter focuses on black self-love, black self esteem, black self worth,” Kweli says. “That translates to other communities because if you’re a human being, it doesn’t matter what color you’re talking about. You’ve been through some sort of struggle and you can apply it to your own life.”

Tickets Available Here

FatCap is a site dedicated to bringing you graffiti and street-art. They have been sharing their passion since 1998.

Founded at a time when digital cameras didn’t even exist, FatCap is an old-time player. At the beginning, it was a simple photo gallery web-page where they’d post the pictures taken while skipping school. Later, in 2001, it became an interactive portal where artists could have their own page, at a time when neither blogs nor MySpace and Facebook existed. Since then, it has kept growing and gathering a strong and faithful community.

And to start off this 2011 year, FatCap invited several artists, including myself, to share their goals and plans for this new year. So let’s get straight to what they posted…

Whether it’s an apocalypse now or a vow to wear their mask more, we were eager to know what resolutions artists set for 2011.

We asked artists to share with us their New Year’s Resolutions for 2011, and they delivered. Brilliant, insightful, random and hilarious! With resounding agreement, the number one resolution is to PAINT MORE!

Be sure to read them all, there are some hidden gems:

Galo MAKE

For next year? I’ll MAKE this succinct – Priority number one: to have more LoveGalo Girls! Then: paint more, travel more, curate more shows, make more money, possibly and finally battle Cope2 and continue my quest to becoming the Wilt Chamberlain of graffiti art.

you can read out full Interview with Make/Galo

Cope2

Cope2′s new years resolution is to work out hit the gym hard witch I started already spend more time with my family take my art to another level and stay away from all negitive people and haters do what’s best for me and my family cause when you look out for people they betray and stab you write in the back! Not anymore I’m done

COPE2

To read more visit FatCap

A judge has ruled that California’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.  The ruling was made today in a lawsuit filed by two gay couples who claimed the voter-approved ban violated their civil rights.

via Associated Press and KPCC.

SAN FRANCISCO — Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled Proposition 8 is unconstitutional “under both the due-process and equal-protection” clauses.

His verdict comes in response to a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco seeking to invalidate the law as an unlawful infringement on the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriages in California five months after the state Supreme Court legalized them, passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008 following the most expensive campaign on a social issue in U.S. history.

Attorneys on both sides have said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then the Supreme Court if the high court justices agree to review it.

Anticipating such a scenario, lawyers for the coalition of religious and conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8 in 2008 filed a legal brief Tuesday asking Walker to stay his decision if he overturns the ban so same-sex couples could not marry while an appeal was pending.

“Same-sex marriages would be licensed under a cloud of uncertainty, and should proponents succeed on appeal, any such marriages would be invalid,” they wrote.

Walker presided over a 13-day trial earlier this year that was the first in federal court to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married without violating the constitutional guarantee of equality.

Supporters argued the ban was necessary to safeguard the traditional understanding of marriage and to encourage responsible childbearing.

Opponents said that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples.

David Wilson of Mission Viejo says his marriage shouldn’t matter to others.

“I may be married to a man, but I’m married nonetheless. If they can’t handle that, that’s not my problem,” he said. “Even before I really realized I was gay, I’d always had a strong belief in equal rights, and that some aspect of a person’s life that’s wholly out of their control — gender, race, sexual orientation, what have you — shouldn’t preclude them from being able to have the same rights as someone else.”

The public responded to questions about Prop 8 and same-sex marriage posed to people in KPCC’s Insight Network of news sources and to the social media channels Facebook and Twitter.

The city of Los Angeles approved a resolution to declare August as Immigrant Pride Month as a counter to Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 that gives law enforcement the power to questions one’s legal status.

“This is a city that celebrates all people wherever they come from,” said Councilman Jose Huizar, one of the author’s of the proposal. “No one should be held to a higher standard simply because of characteristics someone may think they have that is different from the norm, whatever that norm may be. That norm is very diverse, it comes in different colors, different flavors, and so, we hope this law is struck down.”

Although this only applies to August 2010, it is clear the city of Los Angeles is trying to celebrate its diverse roots, even though it still does some business with Arizona;  working with an Arizona-based company that has the dubious distinction of operating our red light cameras at intersections and a lesser evil, SuperShuttle.

via the LAist.com

August 6 – 29, 2010
Fri & Sat @ 8pm
Sun @ 5pm

Get ready boys and girls for another thrilling episode of El Verde! Born as an alien from the not so far away world of Mexico, mild mannered Arturo Sanchez came to the United States to live an ordinary life. But after a freak elote accident, Arturo became… El Verde!!

www.casa0101.org for tickets and info.

Had the pleasure of seeing Plutocracy in LA for the first time since the 90′s…  back when I was living in the Bay Area and going to shows in teen centers and various all ages venues.  If you are a fan of NO LE$$, Kalmex and the Riffmerchants, ETO, Spazz, Agents of Satan then you know what I’m talking about.  Their set was fast and intense in a crowded space fogged with blood, sweat and flying fists.  Bastard Noise of course put on a great display of power and noise.  Definitely the loudest band I’ve seen in a while.  If you haven’t been to The Blvd Cafe on 2631 Whittier you are missing out.  Be sure you get there early, the set times are all off.  I missed Lack of Interest but I was able to snap a photo of the Legend himself:

At 83 he’s still grinding.   No one can ever tell me they’re too old for this shit.  See you at the next show.