It’s the pulse of true brotherhood

Amid all the talk about racial hatred and gang violence between Latinos and blacks, two men are stepping forward to spotlight the common ground that has long linked the two communities, especially in Los Angeles. Chicano DJ Frankie Firme and R&B; singer Marvin “Rip” Spencer were so dismayed by the recent spate of interracial violence in this city that they came together to stage a concert called “Peace in the Street,” scheduled for Sunday at the Montebello Inn. The idea is to remind everybody that blacks and Latinos are not only neighbors but also cultural cousins.

“All you hear about is Chicanos and blacks killing each other in jail and on the streets,” says Firme. “Yet we listen to each other’s music, chase each other’s women, play sports with each other and go to war with each other. We’ve got to show young people that there’s another way, and the way they know best is through music and dance.”

From the jitterbug embraced by Chicano zoot-suiters to the roots of hip-hop in the Bronx, blacks and Latinos have always made music together. In fact, without blacks in Latin America, there would be no salsa, no samba, no son jarocho. And in Los Angeles, there’d be no Eastside Sound, the Chicano soul fusion of groups such as Thee Midniters and Tierra.

“The music has always played that role, bringing us together,” says Spencer. “When you snap your fingers, tap your toes, bob your head and shake your booty, you’re all just on the floor enjoying yourselves. And there’s no room for prejudice there.”

Firme, 51, and Spencer, 68, grew up on opposite sides of the Southland.

Firme ran with a Chicano gang called the Night Owls from the Bassett neighborhood of La Puente in the San Gabriel Valley. Spencer hails from the Midwest, and has lived in South Los Angeles since he was 8.

The recent violence -- much of it born out of racial hatred -- has hit close to home for both of them.

Spencer lives just blocks from the site where a 14-year-old black girl was killed by a racist Latino gang from the Harbor Gateway area. And Firme’s family was recently devastated by the shooting death of his wife’s 25-year-old nephew, which he believes was gang-related, though no suspect has been found.

The crime wave led police and city officials to denounce the trend and announce a crackdown. And it pushed Firme and Spencer closer together.

The two men met about a year ago when Firme interviewed Spencer for his Internet radio show, “The Second Time Around.” After the shootings, the two men sympathized with each other. They reminisced about the old days, wondering where the world was going wrong. And they turned to music to heal.

Sunday’s lineup is composed entirely of R&B; and oldies acts, including the Coasters (“Yakety Yak”) and Spencer’s own group, Marvin & Johnny (“Cherry Pie”), with backing by Billy Cormier & the Imposters. There are no Chicano acts on the bill, but that’s the point. It was this music, the smooth soul and doo-wop sounds of the ‘50s and ‘60s, that Chicanos embraced as their own. In fact, the Penguins’ 1952 R&B; classic, “Earth Angel,” is a virtual Chicano anthem.

“They’re the ones keeping this stuff alive,” says Spencer, whose uncle was the original Marvin in the 1950s Marvin & Johnny duo.

This was music made for slow-dancing at garage parties or cruising on the boulevard -- Whittier, not Sunset. It was the music playing in barrios and ghettoes as kids came of age and stole their first kiss. When they were drafted, it was the music they took with them to war.

Firme, a Vietnam vet whose real name is Frank Arzaga, remembers it as “a magic time” when the songs seemed to tell their stories. Nobody had money, he recalls, but “everybody looked good and smelled good” for the garage parties. The guys wore khakis with razor-sharp creases and slicked back their hair with Tres Flores pomade. Las rucas wore hot pants and hoop earrings, with enough makeup to resemble Cat Woman. It was the girls who bought the records, mostly 45s that were three for a dollar.

By the time Firme was 16, he had been shot and stabbed, and he still has the scars to prove it. He lifts his shirt to show the large tattoo of an owl over his heart, the emblem of his gang, which nicknamed him Smokey.

The Night Owls had a couple of black members, including one nicknamed Midnight, a son of Cuban immigrants who owned a bakery. But blacks, outnumbered in town, had their own gang, the Greenberry Boys, named after their street.

Regardless of race, they all adhered to one inviolable rule: You don’t ruin a garage dance by fighting.

One night, Firme got in trouble by dancing too close with the sister of a black guy, nicknamed Popeye. “I gave her a big squeeze and I kissed her on the neck,” he recalls. “Big violation!”

When Popeye called him outside to fight, Firme played on their commonalities.

“Hey, man, we play Little League together. We’re both All-Stars. I don’t want no trouble.”

“But that’s my sister,” Popeye protested.

Firme reminded him of all the other rucas back at the party. “There’s enough for both of us,” he said.

Friendship won the moment, but they still had to save face. So Smokey and Popeye killed some time, took off their shirts and mussed their hair to make it look like they had scuffled. Then they rejoined the party, each one bragging he had gotten the better of the other.

The lesson for today: Diplomacy and humor can go a long way toward peace.

Firme soon joined the Marines because a judge told him it was either boot camp or jail. The experience expanded his musical vistas. Firme had always thought that popular Latin soul singers Joe Bataan (“Sad Girl”) and Ralfi Pagan (“Make It With You”) were from L.A. But his new East Coast military buddies set him straight. Both Bataan, an Afro-Filipino, and Pagan, an Afro-Rican, were from New York.

“No matter where you’re from, man, music is gonna do you,” says Firme. “It’s gonna make you part of the world.”

For more information, call (310) 613-3991 or visit www.eastLArevue.com, where you can also hear the Internet radio show of Frankie Firme, who bills himself as “the Al Capone of the microphone.”

The past lives in the sound of music

In an era when even national record-store chains are vanishing, it’s great to know that one neighborhood shop survives in East L.A., where I once owned a record store. You can bet that Sounds of Music Records is kept afloat by the barrio’s undying devotion for oldies, something digital hasn’t destroyed. You can still buy 45s here. And it specializes in the oldies that were big on the boulevard.

Sounds of Music Records, 4956 E. Whittier Blvd., L.A., (323) 261-9224.

Latin Legends Live: a preview

The Eastside Sound is enjoying a bit of a revival, judging from the growing demand for the Latin Legends Live tour that features veteran exponents of the smooth soul fusion style. This year, the Greek Theatre has added an additional night for the engagement, which will now be May 22 and 27. It will feature War; Tierra with the founding Salas brothers, Steve and Rudy; Malo with guitarist Jorge Santana; and Thee Midniters with lead singer Little Willie G. A pared-down version of the lineup (minus War and Santana) will perform tonight at the House of Blues in Anaheim.

For tickets and information, call (626) 918-5949 or go to

tierramusic.com.

A hip-hop video that’s all style

Chicanos continue to add their twist to American pop music, as they have since pachucos dressed in zoot suits and did jump steps to Cab Calloway in the 1940s. Now, L.A. Chicanos are bringing their own style to hip-hop, though most of this homegrown music hasn’t quite found its mark.

You’ll definitely get a kick out of a new video by a Chicano rapper from Oxnard named Down, a.k.a. Kilo, a.k.a. Juan Martinez. It’s titled “Lean Like a Cholo,” and it’s all about cholo style, the moves, the shoes, the kick-back attitude.

In the video, see if you can spot two cameo celebrities, Mexican American singer Lupillo Rivera and music mogul Jerry Heller, of Ruthless Records and N.W.A fame, or infamy. (Hint: Heller’s the only tall white guy with gray hair who can’t dance.)

Check out www.brightcove.com/title.jsptitle561993441

Gurza covers Latino music, arts and culture. E-mail agustin .gurza@latimes.com with comments, events and ideas for this new weekly feature.