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George Tirado is a Chicano, performance poet, activist, and all around revolutionary. George got his start in the Hard Core Punk Rock scene in Houston Texas, then in San Francisco that formed the basis of his anarchistic politics. After being homeless for years and living a life of active addiction, he transformed his life story into poetry which he has published seven books and a few CD's. He has shared the stage with everyone from Lydia Lunch, Jack Hirschman, Hubert Shelby, and Henry Rollins, the Welfare Poets, he has toured and read everywhere from the U.S. to Canada to Mexico, and Europe and spent a summer on the Lollapalooza tour where he read on the Main stage. His last effort was being a founding member of the Molotov Mouths spoken word group which published Molotov Mouths New and explosive writings on Manic D Press. George Tirado work is deep shit once commented John Trudell, and it has been described as a poetic silver bullet to the forehead of mankind. After living in San Francisco's Mission District for 15 years George is here in Phoenix Arizona to challenge the backwards politics, injustice prison industrial complex and the status quo.
WHITE LABEL REVIEWS:
Wendy-O Matik:
"In your hands is a weapon. Just when you thought music and lyrics and vocals have no power over this dictatorship, at last, you're holding a missile to annihilate your cynicism. George is a radical Chicano voice of dissent who delivers one powerful sledgehammer blow to the shackles of oppression. Gut-ripping riffs combined with a volatile political message makes for a lethal dose of rebellion. This is your wake-up call, so listen up, if you dare to make a difference in this crumbling cycle of apathy."
Matthew J:
"Spoken word, ranging from the punk rock stand-up comedy of Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra to the surreally blunt confessions of Lydia Lunch, occupies a weird middle ground between music, poetry, and politics. The work of George Tirado is deeply rooted in politics and ethnic identity, and he is adept at the stream-of-consciousness evocation of poverty, street life, and urban apocalypse. He's like Ginsberg for La Raza, weaving references to Schopenhauer into depictions of drug addicts, AIDS victims, and Zapatista rebels. Steve Piper, who produced this album, also contributes music, backing the quieter moments like A Perfect View from My Window with gently finger-picked guitars and deepening the emotional impact of the amusing and self-deprecatingly-titled One More Bad Bukowski Poem with jazzy chords. While Tirado leaves little wiggle room in his militantly left political pieces, he avoids sinking into bland diatribes by keeping his imagery concrete and personal. On 509 Years, which is fueled not only by Chicano rage but also by overdriven guitar riffs as angry and energetic as anything Rage Against The Machine ever put out, he ends a litany of invoked revolutionary heroes with a reference to his grandmother: Yo soy Fidel Castro/Yo soy Che Guevara/Yo soy Mi Abuela/Rest in peace. This should be required listening for anarchists, mixing an undiluted antiestablishment message with music and poetry that actually moves with rhythm and melody definitely a welcome antidote to the insipid feel-good pap of less incendiary political poets. Viva La Revolucion!"
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