JULY 7, 2016 // 7
Nick Jaina to perform Presentations to explore immigration, race, tacos
Portland musician
to play KALA,
Sou’Wester Lodge
‘Who Eats at Taco
Bell?’ project visits
Naselle, Astoria
ASTORIA and SEAVIEW, Wash. —
Portland musician, composer
and author Nick Jaina will
perform twice this coming
weekend on both sides of the
Columbia River.
First he’ll play at 8:30
p.m. Friday, July 8 at
KALA, 1017 Marine Drive
in Astoria. Then he’ll travel
across the Columbia and
perform at 8 p.m. Saturday,
July 3728 J Place.
Indie-folk musician
Lonesome Leash will open
both shows, which are open
to the public. KALA has an
$8 cover charge.
Jaina’s live performance
is like an engaging audio
scrapbook. He loops togeth-
er guitar melodies and found
sounds and reads passages
of his book “Get It While
You Can” over them. The
format is almost like a pod-
cast, reaching the listener
on many different emotional
and intellectual levels.
A musician and writer,
Jaina has toured the world
during the last decade,
releasing several albums on
HUSH Records and Fluff
& Gravy Records. His irst
book, “Get It While You
Can,” is a memoir about a
love of music and the world.
The book was a inalist
for the 2016 Oregon Book
Award for creative nonic-
tion.
Jaina has composed
soundtracks for feature
ilms, plays and ballets. He
is co-founder and musical
director of the Satellite
Ballet and Collective in New
York City, which has collab-
orated with dancers from the
New York City Ballet and
Julliard.
Lonesome Leash is
the solo moniker of Los
Angeles-based songwriter
and multi-instrumentalist
Walt McClements. Known
for previous involvement in
NASELLE, Wash. and ASTORIA—
What do tacos have to do
with demographic shifts,
forgotten history or cultural
belonging? Gaelyn and Gus-
tavo Aguilar intend to delve
into that complex question
with their dynamic project
“Who Eats at Taco Bell?”
The couple has been
leading presentations during
a two-month expedition on
the Lewis and Clark National
Historic Trail, staring May
14 in Illinois and traveling
across 11 states. Seeking to
spark relection and commu-
nity connection, the Aguilars
share tacos and prompt dia-
logue and engagement around
the question: What is it going
to take for Americans to truly
live interculturally?
The Aguilars will present
“Who Eats at Taco Bell?” in
the local area this month.
First, they’ll visit the
Knappton Cove Heritage
Center in Naselle, Washing-
ton, from 1 to 4 p.m. Satur-
day, July 9. The presentation
is in collaboration with Lt.
Jesus Reyna, a registered
nurse and Region 10 Minori-
ty Health Consultant for the
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services’ Ofice
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Nick Jaina will perform July 8
and 9.
SUBMITTED PHOTO BY ALLEYN EVANS
One-man band Lonesome
Leash will open both shows.
the bands Dark Dark Dark,
Hurray for the Riff Raff,
and Why Are We Building
Such A Big Ship?, McCle-
ments, as Lonesome Leash,
channels all of his musical
experiences into a solo
affair with accordion and
drum set. Born in Durham,
North Carolina, McClem-
ents settled in New Orel-
eans in 2004 for almost a
decade before traveling for
two years and winding up
in Los Angeles. The journey
spawned his latest solo
album “Precious Futures,”
which was released in No-
vember 2015.
of Minority Health. Reyna
was deployed in 2014 to the
U.S.-Mexico border to work
with unaccompanied minors.
Then, the Aguilars will
visit Astoria. On July 14, the
couple will set up their “taco
encampment,” featuring taco
making and portrait taking,
conversation and a multi-
media performance. The
encampment will take place
from 3 to 6 p.m. at the River
People Farmers Market,
located at 12th and Exchange
streets, and continue at 7:30
p.m. across the street at
Peace Lutheran Church.
The couple will also give
a presentation looking back
at their two-month expedi-
tion at 6 p.m. July 15 at the
Astoria Public Library.
The focus of “Who Eats
at Taco Bell?” centers on
how immigration, race and
colonialism in America’s
past continue to inluence
personal and political notions
of movement and identity —
and what we can learn from
history to improve the future.
The idea for the project
was sparked in Gustavo Agu-
ilar’s hometown in Texas: a
town of 175,000 with 150 to
200 taquerias. And yet, one
Taco Bell continues to thrive.
In investigating why, the
Aguilars began to understand
how the American diet — as
much as it has been formed
by the intermingling of
different cultures — sheds
light on the multiple ways
that Americans have chosen
to deine what it means to be
an American, as well as the
implicit biases that exist in
the popular imagination.
The demographic face
of the U.S. is changing;
according to the U.S. Census
Bureau, Hispanics constitute
17 percent of the population
and are the largest ethnic
or racial minority. Such
changes can expose underly-
ing fears, leading to tension
and conlict, such as recent
debates around immigration
policy and racial justice.
For the Aguilars’ proj-
ect, the taco operates as an
indicator species: one small
part of an ecosystem that can
signal the health of a society
faced with multiplying di-
versities. “Who Eats at Taco
Bell?” explores the paradox
of how someone could har-
bor a disdain for “foreigners”
but also a love of their food.
At the same time, setting
the project on the Lewis and
Clark trail adds another layer
to the theme of movement
and cultural identity that the
project explores; the trail
was forged by an expedition
that played an important role
in European-American terri-
torial, cultural and economic
expansion.
By cooking and eating
tacos with attendees at
their events, the Aguilars
invite people from varied
backgrounds to transcend
differences and come togeth-
er. “Who Eats at Taco Bell?”
is designed to spark ideas
and strengthen relationships
through engagement with a
range of critical themes: so-
cio-economic mobility, cul-
tural belonging, movement
and borders, assimilation
and appropriation, and new
forms of cultural identity.
Gaelyn Aguilar is a
cultural anthropologist, and
Gustavo Aguilar is a com-
poser and performer with a
research interest in critical
studies. The two co-facilitate
the Tug Collective, a inter-
disciplinary organization
focusing on re/search, con-
temporary social practice,
and participatory, prob-
lem-based interventions that
tackle the cultural politics of
contemporary border regions
in North America. To learn
more, visit tacotalk.org
The Knappton Cove Her-
itage Center is located at 521
Washington State Route 401
on the site of the historic
U.S. Quarantine Station that
was once the “Ellis Island”
of the Columbia River. For
more information, email the-
cove@theoregonshore.com
or call 503-738-5206.
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