Peruvian Restaurant
Washington DC
Luis Chaluisan is
AUTHOR OF
Spic Chic [Paperback]
"An original, uprorarious, disarming journey
that holds no limits and where nothing is sacred."
Nicholosa Mohr Author
"His unique voice as a writer clearly displays
his poetic influences, his uncanny ear for
dialogue and his completely original sense of humor."
Elias Stimac Backstage
"Strong stuff, right in the Nuyorican tradition.
Poems and then stories back into poems that
are often emotionally moving. A self exploration
in a non-chronological history consistent in
language and point of view, it is clearly a highly
personalized work that is successful in the Nuyorican
free-style genre and successful in the broader sense as well."
David Henderson ('Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky: Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child)
Clem Richardson of the NY Daily News
describes Chaluisan's work as
"old-school, often as literate as it is lyrical,
stuffed with images drawn from NY City life."
SPIC CHIC PDF Google Docs
Spic Chic, by Luis Chaluisan
(Fly by Night Press, 2009)
Review by Charlie Vázquez
AMBIENTE MAGAZINE
The
rules of poetry are created by its author, much as a criminal operates
both within and away from society, as he or she sees fit. Thus, it’s no
wonder that so many poets past and present have dabbled in crime and
write about these adventures of subculture, as with Luis Chaluisan, who
surfaced in the earliest days of the Nuyorican poetry scene. Chaluisan’s
poems are odes—both celebratory and regretful—to his experiences as a
New York-born Puerto Rican surviving on the streets of New York. And I’m
not talking about the well-heeled New York of today, but of the
smoldering 1970s and 1980s. I remember living in the East Tremont
neighborhood of the Bronx during the mid- to late-1970s, and anyone
involved in crime who survived to write about it gets instant applause
for that alone.
Luis
“El Extreme” Chaluisan—a musician, writer, and former news reporter—is
in no denial of his controversy, as spelled out in the book’s opening
disclaimer statement. Although I thought I knew what I was walking into
when I read this book by the Section 13 jetty of the “Bronx Riviera”
recently (Orchard Beach), I was thrown for some surprises. These
twenty-plus pieces range from serious (“Johnny Boy”) to whimsical
(“Surfing in the South Bronx”), and Chaluisan’s greatest effectiveness
is achieved when he releases his honest emotions for public viewing—
which you almost don’t expect him to do (“I slide precariously alongside
her path, at once tender, then off-center,” from “Carmen Baby”). In
“Wilfredo the Anointed Apostle”, about a gay santero barber, Chaluisan
explains, “So before we crucify him with whispered nails…homo, queer,
fazzy hole…stop and think…perhaps a person’s lifestyle is really a
blessing, for who are we to know God’s ways and plans…when we’re walking
together, people just stop and stare…but if you could see him through
my eyes, he wouldn’t be a faggot but a man.” Spic Chic is an exciting
tour of jazz and salsa clubs, women of pleasure, of the island, of
desperate people struggling to survive—of joy and pain—but it’s also
about transformation. It’s really about becoming greater and wiser than
what doom had planned for your soul.
REPEATING ISLANDS REVIEW
Spic
Chic: The Adventures of the Last Nuyorican (2009) is a book of poetry
by musician, writer, and former news reporter/producer Luis Chaluisan.
Clem Richardson of the NY Daily News describes Chaluisan’s work as “old-
school, often as literate as it is lyrical, stuffed with images drawn
from New York City life.” David Henderson sees this text as “strong
stuff, right in the Nuyorican tradition. Poems and then stories back
into poems that are often emotionally moving. A self exploration in a
non-chronological history consistent in language and point of view, it
is clearly a highly personalized work that is successful in the
Nuyorican free-style genre and successful in the broader sense as well.”
Free MP3 Downloads
Sometimes in order to move forward
you must go back on the path.
Born
Elmhurst Hospital
79-01 Broadway
Elmhurst, Queens NY
Sept. 27, 1957
3:29 PM
Baptized Oct. 1957
St. Paul's Catholic Church
Boerum Hill, BK.
234 Congress St, Brooklyn, NY
First Grade 1963
Boerum Hill, BK.
St Paul's Catholic School
Holy Family Hospital
Founded in 1868
155 Dean St., Brooklyn,
Replaced by Brooklyn
Diocese nursing home.
My Father Buys Me My First LP
Please Please Me
The Beatles
March 1963
Favorite Cuts
1. Side A
"I Saw Her Standing There"
1. Side B "Love Me Do"
7. Side B "Twist and Shout"
(Phil Medley, Bert Russell)
Luis and Ronald Chaluisan 1963
Boerum Hill, BK.
142 Dean Street Brooklyn NYC
Battery operated toy pony our parents
buy for my brother Ron
that could go either or backward
by the use of a foot pedal
and controlled by the reins.
Boerum Hill, BK.
Live around the block.
Their mother Cristina
is my sitter.
139 Hoyt Street, BK.
Richie Ray Home
Richie Ray-Ray Maldonado
1952
139 Hoyt Street
Ricardo Ray Arrives/Comejen
FONSECA RECORDS 1964
Every Store in Boerum Hill, BK.
had this album proudly
displayed in their windows.
On The Scene With Ricardo Ray
Fonseca Records 1965
And He Followed
Up With LP's
In Rapid Succession
Bringing The Mod Beat
To Latin Music
Vis A Vis SALSA!
Richie Ray's
Music Becomes The
Soundtrack To Our
Chaluisan Experience
In Brooklyn and The Bronx
Richie Ray 3 Dimensions
Fonseca Records 1966