Hola Amigos,

Here we are aqui in1999, "Fin De Siglo", which means end of century en espanol. When I was in Havana I saw a giant department store built in the '30's by this name. It would be a cool name for a CD, but by the time I finish my next CD it would probably be too late!! Asi Es La Vida.

Recently my band, the Crowned Heads of Tex-Mex, and myself did some recording at a ranch near a place called Enchanted Rock located in the Texas Hill Country. Hopefully some cool rockin' sounds will come out of it. "Soon Come".

A loco thing that I've been doing on and off through the years is my version of folk art altars with a Tex-Mex twist. I'm a very spiritual person, in a kind of Carascafarian kind of way, who digs the Virgin Guadalupe and all things south of the Rio Grande. But this year I've really gotten into some serious creativity with them on a mucho grande scale.

They are wooden boxes made from scrap wood I've collected over the years that someone else usually threw away. The more aged and rotted the better I like!! I believe in giving wood a second chance. I paint them all in bright Mexican colors and develop themes that pay homage to people, places or saints, or songs or records I've done. I place a picture or photo inside them which could be just about anything from Mexican revolutionaries like Pancho Villa to Saints la Virgin Guadalupe. I pay homage to everything in life that seems mystical to me in a crazy loco way!! From my dog Anna to Frida Kahlo, there are no limits. I've also done some of my past album covers and cool bandphotos on these Altars. I put crowns on them that a family makes for mein San Miguel.

A lot of the black and white photos I hand color myself. The fabric that I place in the backs of some of them are usually from old Mexican shirts, pants or bags that I've worn or used through the years, some were even in past videos. A bunch of the Guatemalan fabric I have even tore out of my '65 tour bus. It's becoming a shell of it's former self. The way I look at it this bus has been everywhere and survived, from bus wrecks en Mexico to running off snow covered roads en Mexico, not to speak of all the conversations that have taken place inside it. I believe this fabric has a cool soul and spirit about it.

For the last 25 years I've been collecting folk art paintings and photos from Mexico, Cuba and Central and South America, so there are an incredible amount of subjects in which to hit on. I don't collect the most normal stuff either. I use only old used paints in bright colors and a lot of the trim comes from yucca and pencil cactus that grows next to mi casa. All this is done in an adobe mud dwelling that I built on Mi Rancho No Tengo.

With these altarsI feel like I'm finally getting to do the album covers I wanted but never got to have due to outside interference. Half the fun is just putting the titles on them. From start to finish I spend quite a few hours on each one. From getting the pictures en Mexico to painting, it's a crazy but satisfying process with bueno end results!!

Oh why I started doing this I have no idea but I've always wanted to, I can't tell you where it came from. It's probably a result of too much manana time hanging out in Mexico. I play music and this goes with it, heading down south and grabbing the inspiration!!

Hasta Manana Iguana
JOE KING CARRASCO

ps...If anyone out there wants to pay homage to something or someone special, send me a photo and I'll build a personalized beautiful altar! Ay Yi Yi

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