Spinning for Change
Inside of the Los Angeles Ale Works Brewery on a recent night in February, it was a surprisingly bustling scene for a Tuesday night. The brewery was filled with people, families and even babies in strollers. The large patio was busy with food vendors, outdoor bowling lanes and DJs playing music. The impressive turnout was mostly due to the fundraiser being hosted in honor of the Pacheco Family.
Jennifer Pacheco, a first-generation Chicana, also known as Rudeblue, is a DJ who regularly spins at the brewery. She has been spinning records for 10 years and has been part of a Latina women musical record collective, “Musica.Y. Mujeres” since its inception in Long Beach over three years ago. The music is enjoyed by a diverse audience across generations, evoking feelings of connection and shared community.
What Pacheco didn't know was how she would soon have to turn to this community for support. On Jan. 23, Gerardo Pacheco, Jennifer's father, was commuting to work around 7 a.m. in San Bernardino County. He was driving as normal when he saw police sirens signaling him to pull over. He was shortly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) and has been in detention ever since, being constantly transported and even moved to a detention center out of state in Texas. Making the processes for legal representation very difficult.
As Pacheco explained, once her family obtained an attorney, they would have to find another one to represent him in the state of Texas, despite being detained and residing in California.
“We were already struggling to find a lawyer...we found a lawyer but now that he got moved to a different state, that lawyer can’t represent him no more, so now we have to start all over again,” Pacheco said.
So Pacheco turned to her community and to what she knows best–DJ’ing.
The turnout for the collective Noche De Alma fundraiser to honor the Pacheco family, hosted by Ale Works, revealed the impact of ICE activity in the community and the role of support and connection that music serves in the lives of community members.
“I think there are bigger problems that we need to address as far as political issues rather than immigration issues especially in L.A.,” said record vendor, Alex Ochoa.
“It's been hard, I've been really upset. My family and I were all super upset about that, but at least we were able to locate him; it's just been a process,” said Pacheco.
An overall positive sentiment permeating through the crowd of people at this turnout was the uniting quality of music and the love of oldies by the Latinx and other communities.
“Music is really a healing method. It brings people together, you can see that people, basically anyone's welcome here and we have a common ground. We’re like, ‘we love music, we love to listen to music, we want to enjoy and talk to people about you know, talk it out, and it doesn't have to be this crazy,’” Ochoa said.
Robert Rodriguez has been collecting records since he was 13 years old and regularly DJ’s at the brewery.
“We’ve been at this venue at Los Angeles Ale Works for two and a half years, and you know this is our community, we're here every single Tuesday, so we just want to show support for Jenny and raise extra funds for her and her family,” said Rodriguez. “Music is a time away from the nonsense, and whatever nonsense, it doesn't even have to be political, it could be familial, it could be you know work, it could be just whatever's happening in life, music brings joy, and to us it's like that's why we do this,” said Rodriguez.
The community that the brewery brings makes all the difference for families like Pacheco’s. Without community support, the financial hardships and burden would all fall on Jennifer and her family as they live from paycheck to paycheck.
“We want to bring joy to people, and thankfully, Los Angeles Ale Works gives us a platform every Tuesday, ” said Rodriguez.
