Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 1

Qué Onda: What's Up? Waves and good vibes.
Lesson 123. Expressions
Let's continue with Arturo Vega's tentative arrival in New York:

Y vine primeramente en el sesenta y nueve para ver qué onda, a ver qué tal estaba Nueva York
"And I first came in sixty-nine to see what was going on, to see how New York was."

"¿Qué onda?" It's a common question in Mexico and elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. It's even a common greeting. If you took it literally, the question sounds like "What wave?" -since "qué" (with an accented é) means "what" and "onda" means "wave," technically speaking. While "de onda corta" is "shortwave," as in shortwave radio, note that "onda" can also mean "vibe" informally. And so "qué onda" can mean, basically, "what's up" or "what's going on," as our translators have it. ("What vibe" sounds silly in English.)

Los Sesenta: The sixties and the grammar police
Lesson 122. Expressions
Chatting with Arturo Vega, the artistic director of the seminal New York rockers The Ramones, we learn he's from Chihuahua, Mexico (yes, the namesake of those tiny Taco Bell / Paris Hilton dogs). We also learn that he came to the U.S. in "los sesentas" ["the sixties"] -- as in, "los años sesenta." In fact, in just over six minutes of chatting in front of the camera, Vega mentions "los sesentas" four times (in captions 22, 23, 30 and 38, to be precise). But the grammar police say that Vega gets it wrong four times: In proper Spanish, the decades are supposed to be singular, so it's los sesenta (short for los años sesenta).

Well, let's give Vega the benefit of the doubt. You see, Anglicisms in Spanish are increasingly popular. By "Anglicism" here we are referring to the application of a rule of English grammar to Spanish. Besides making decades plural, as an Anglicism, you may hear some family names pluralized in Spanish as the are in English. For example: Los Ramones (as uttered by our interviewer in caption 28) is technically the incorrect way to refer to the members of the fictional Ramone family. (Granted, "los Ramone" does not echo the name of the legendary band....) Note: the band members each took the last name "Ramone" as stage names, but these neighborhood pals from Queens were not, in fact, related, nor born with this surname.

Tip: If you want to hear a more traditional translation of a famous U.S. family into Spanish, tune into Los Simpson. (Yup: it's singular: "Simpson.")


1.Arturo Vega está aquí con nosotros...
Arturo Vega is here with us...

2.y este... tengo el placer de pues... a conocerlo más porque... realmente...
and well... I have the pleasure of well... knowing him more because... really

3.No sabía de usted y ahora sí que... vamos a ver qué más vamos a aprender hoy día, ¿no?
I didn't know about you [before] and now... let's see what else we're going to learn today, no?

4.Entonces este... primero que nada queremos saber,
Well then... before we do anything we want to know,

5.para que la audiencia sepa de dónde, de dónde eres...
so the audience might know where, where you're from...
6.Soy de Chihuahua. Chihuahua, México.
I'm from Chihuahua. Chihuahua, Mexico.

7.Nací el trece de Octubre del cuarenta y siete,
I was born on October thirteenth of forty-seven,

8.el día de San Eduardo.
Saint Edward's day.

9.Siempre le pregunté a mi mamá porqué me habían puesto los nombres que me pusieron: Eduardo Arturo
I always asked my mother why they gave me the names they did: Eduardo Arturo

10.Y... según mi mamá decía "no sé, na más porque me gustaron"
And... according to what my mom said "I don't know, just because I liked them"


13.Y este... bueno y... cómo llegastes a...
And well... well and... how is it that you arrived...

14.Bueno, sabemos que eres de México entonces y...
Well, we know you're from Mexico then and...

15.llegastes a Estados Unidos hace... ¿cuántos años atrás llegastes?
you came to the United States in... you arrived how long ago?

16.Llegué... para vivir permanentemente... me vine a Nueva York el veinticuatro de diciembre del setenta y uno.
I came... to live permanently... I came to New York December twenty-fourth of seventy-one.

17.No sé, van a ser... treinta años.
I don't know, it's going to be... thirty years.

18.No... treinta y dos, treinta y tres. -Como treinta y dos. -Treinta y dos.
No... thirty-two, thirty-three. -Like thirty-two. -Thirty-two.

19.Y... pero ya había viajado anteriormente. Venía de vacaciones o nada más.
And... but I'd already traveled before. I used to come on vacations... nothing more.

21.desde que estaba más chico.
since I was a little kid.
22.En los sesentas empecé a viajar
In the sixties I started to travel
23.y por supuesto en los sesentas era más atractivo ir a lugares como San Francisco, California
and of course in the sixties it was more attractive to go to places like San Francisco, California
24.a... a experimentar lo que era el movimiento hippie... todo eso.
to... to experience what was the hippie movement.. all that.
25.Ya.
Right.
26.Entonces viajé a California primeramente.
Then first I traveled to California.
27.Muy bien. Y este... entonces llegastes a Nueva York después y... aquí fue donde...
Very good. And well... then after you came to New York and... it was here where...
28.conocistes a los Ramones o ¿cómo fue que...?
you came to know the Ramones or how was it?
29.Vine a Nueva York primero para ver tentativamente a ver si me gustaba
I came to New York first to see tentatively if I liked it
30.como para finales de los sesentas, como para el sesenta y nueve yo sabía
like at the end of the sixties, about sixty-nine I knew
31.yo ya estaba muy a disgusto en México.
I was already unhappy in Mexico.
32.Estaba yo haciendo teatro
I was doing theater
33.y estaba participando con grupos experimentales de teatro que organizábamos.
I was participating in experimental theater groups which we organized.
34.Organizábamos espectáculos más o menos de una manera muy espontánea...
We organized shows more or less in a very spontaneous way...
35.tal vez como lo que se llamaba en esa época, "happenings."
maybe just like they used to call it in those days, "happenings."
36.Pero siempre teníamos problemas con la policía.
But we always had trouble with the police.
37.En México todavía no se podían hacer cosas muy libremente en...
In Mexico you still couldn't do things very freely in...
38.en los sesentas y simple y sencillamente por tener el pelo largo
in the sixties simply and plainly because you had long hair
39.y si les caías mal al policía te... te podian levantar. La patrulla te levantaba y te cortaban el pelo sin...
and if you were disliked by the police he... he could pick you up. The patrol picked you and cut your hair without...
40.sin ninguna razón verdadera. Entonces yo ya estaba muy a disgusto.
without a good reason. Therefore I was already very annoyed.
41.Y también de no poder encontrar los medios para...
I also couldn't find the means to...
42.para hacer las cosas que queríamos hacer.
to do the things we wanted to do.
43.Nadie apoyaba el movimiento. No teníamos oportunidad de acceso a teatros o espacios
No one was supporting the movement. We didn't have the opportunity to access theaters or spaces
44.ni siquiera a teatros verdad, porque nos conformábamos con hacerlo en cualquier
not even theaters right, because we were content with doing it at any
45.espacio donde pudiéramos poner, digamos más o menos un escenario o algo así.
place where we could put, let's say more or less a stage or something like that.
46.Pero no había oportunidades y la gente no te tomaba en serio o...
But there were no opportunities and the people did not take us seriously or...
47.o era cuestión de burla o cosas por el estilo. Entonces yo...
or it was a matter of ridicule or something like that. Then I...
48.estaba estudiando actuación. No sabía yo todavía si iba...
I was studying acting. I didn't know yet if I was going to...
49.me iba a ir por el lado de la actuación, el teatro o el cine.
I was going to do acting, theater or movies.
50.o estoy para dirigir cine tal vez.
or maybe, most likely to direct a movie.
51.Entonces yo estaba pensando Paris o Nueva York.
Back then I was thinking Paris or New York.
52.Y vine primeramente en el sesenta y nueve para ver qué onda, a ver qué tal estaba Nueva York.
And I first came in sixty-nine to see what was going on, to see how New York was.
53.Y pues, realmente me gustó mucho luego, luego.
And well, I really later, later liked it very much.
54.Ya para el setenta y uno cuando estaba yo completamente listo y dispuesto
In seventy-one when I was already totally ready and willing
55.a salirme de México...
to get out of Mexico...
56.dije pues, Nueva York va a ser... donde me voy a clavar.
I said then, it's going to be New York... where I'm going to stay put.
57.En el sesenta y ocho estuvistes entonces por ahí en... en... en México en el D.F., en la capital
In sixty-eight you were there in... in... in Mexico at D.F., in the capital
58.o supiste... llegaste a oir en la capital... -En el sesenta y ocho. -Algo del, de las este... las matanzas...
or you knew... heard at the capital... -In sixty-eight. -Something about, about well... the killings...
59.Precisamente es lo que iba a mencionar. Me acuerdo muy bien del sesenta y ocho porque...
Precisely that's what I was going to mention. I remember sixty-eight pretty well because...
60.por lo de Tlatelolco, verdad...
because of Tlatelolco, right...
61.La matanza de Tlatelolco y estaba yo en...
The killings of Tlatelolco and I was in...
62.en este... San Francisco. Estaba. Me acuerdo que lo vimos por televisión.
San Francisco... I was [there]. I remember we saw it on television.
63.Me acuerdo que no lo podíamos creer.
I remember we couldn't believe it.
64.Entonces si lo pasaban. -A pesar de ya estar familiarizado con la represión
Then they did show it. -Despite being familiarized already with the repression
65.a la que el gobierno podía llegar, de lo que eran capaces.
that the government was able to carry out, what they were capable of.
66.De lo que... sabíamos, verdad porque pues, en México todo el mundo sabemos, ¿verdad?
Of what we... knew, true because well, in Mexico everyone knows, right?
67.las cosas que hacía el gobierno y... y la policía.
the things that the government did and... and the police.
68.Me parecía tan increíble. No lo podía yo creer y...
It seemed to me so incredible. I couldn't believe it and...
69.realmente también eso... yo dije: "si el movimiento estudiantil...
really that also... I said: "if the student movement...
70.tiene éxito... si realmente se vuelve una semilla para cambio...
is a success... if it really becomes a seed for change...
71.en la sociedad... si la sociedad realmente... le da importancia y se prende y las cosas cambian
in society... if society really... gives it importance and it ignites and things change
72.esto va a ser muy positivo, pero si no, va a estar más represivo que nunca."
this is going to be very positive, but if not, it's going to be more repressed than ever."
73.Y luego con lo de la matanza pues te diste cuenta como iba a... como estaba reaccionando el gobierno,
And then with the killings you became aware of how it was going to... how the government was reacting,
74.y dije, "No pues, se va a poner peor."
and I said, "No, it's going to get worse."
75.Y realmente, pues era para dar mucho coraje...
And really, well it was making me more angry...
76.mucha frustración y miedo también. Entonces eso también me impulsó un poco más a...
lots of frustration and fear also. Thus that also pushed me a little more to...
77.a decidirme a salirme de México.
to decide to get out of Mexico.