WEBVTT - WiIlie Colón: Idilio 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.640 What a journey with Willie Colonne. Right after a childhood 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.720 marked by poverty and discrimination, he paired up with Hector 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:12.840 LeVaux for a string of genre defining albums that knocked 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.560 the Latin jazz establishments house down. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.439 He and Hector aka The Bad Boys became FINA Records 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.680 top earners until lavaux struggle with addiction pushed Cologne to 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:25.560 step away. 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.920 But the following out didn't stop Cologne's rise. El Malo 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:33.000 helped revitalize Celia Cruz's career before finding a new musical 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:34.760 soulmate in Reuben Blas. 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.800 All this time, Golonne made music from a distinct New 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.280 yor Riecan perspective, mashing up melodies and rhythms from Las 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.360 Islas with lyrics that came from the streets of the Bronx. 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.599 And after Salza hipchecked mambo to the side, Gologne and 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.440 the other artists under FANYA made huge inroads into Latin America. 0:00:55.360 --> 0:00:58.680 This was a sound that resonated with puebro Latino wherever 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.680 it was at home the Trasla Frontera or an. 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.520 Exile, and as El Pueblo embraced salsa more and more. 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.959 Willi Colonne became willing to speak for El pueblo. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:15.440 And to it, starting with his music and ending with 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:16.160 his tweets. 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.080 No story ever ended well, that ended with a tweet 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:26.280 and yes I am talking to you, DT and Elon. Anyway, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.920 we started the series talking about all of the different 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:33.280 pueblos Willy Colone belongs to, an American, a Latino, a 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.480 Puerto Rican, a New Yorker, worth noting not a single 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.920 one of these is a monolith. Hell, Willi Cologne himself 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:43.240 is not a monolith. 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:48.600 We contain multitudes, and those multitudes can and do, but. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:53.600 Heads, especially when there are politics in the mix, as 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.440 is the case for good old Willy Cologne. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:02:01.240 Heads up, y'all. This episode's going to be a little different, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:03.440 less Margarita. 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:08.000 More i pa. It's going to leave a very bitter 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:13.000 taste in your mouth. But before that, we still have 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.000 a few of Willi Colone's later career highlights that we're 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:29.040 excited to explore. I'm your host Lilianavosquez. 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:32.440 And I'm Joseph Carrio and this is Becoming an Icon. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.440 A weekly podcast where we give you the rundown on 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.840 how today's most famous LATINV stars have shaped pop culture. 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:41.919 And given the world some extra level. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.720 Sit back and get comfortable. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.080 Because we are going in the only way we know 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.359 how with buenas Vias. 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:55.440 Buenasriesas and a lot of opinions as we relive their 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.600 greatest achievements on our journey to find out what makes 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:12.720 them so iconic. Wheelie's work with Rubin Vladies saw him 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.200 at the top of his game, but at the same time, 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.480 he was beginning to step out from the band and 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.680 establish himself as a solo artist. 0:03:20.120 --> 0:03:23.000 You're not a chorus girl anymore, Sugar. Get out there 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:24.480 and show them what you got. 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.960 Well, what he had as a vocalist wasn't really the 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.160 most impressive by conventional standards. Critics called his vocals weak 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.960 and nasal. I'm feeling a little Shakita here. Remember she 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.960 sounded like a ghost. Mmm? Don't you remember that from like. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.720 Season one, season one, episode two point just kind of. 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.560 If you remember the actual episode. I was going to 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.600 be very impressed with your memory, Like an elephant anyway. 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.360 That is why on his very first album, nineteen seventy 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.320 nine Solo, his vocals are heavily accompanied by an all 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:56.120 female choir. 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:01.560 Oh ah, well, once a chorus girl always chorus girl. Still, 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.960 the album went gold in just three weeks after its release. 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.040 His tour for the album a broke a record attendance 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.920 in Venezuela's Poliedro de Caracas Arena. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.360 The record was a top seller. 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.200 But back at home, the salsa sound that really had 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.239 helped popularize was changing. 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.560 Sansa dura was getting long in the tooth. The next 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.920 big thing was salsa romantica. 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:30.680 Whereas salsa dura was sweaty, grungy, remember the smell of 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:33.599 wheed and garbage, the sounds of sex worker clapping back 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.480 at that camp. Salsa Romantica was just what the name implies, 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:42.120 romantic love songs like slow jams m hmm, more. 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:46.800 Major key than minor, basically a more radio friendly satasa. 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:51.960 Some might even say sanitized. And in nineteen eighty one, 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.960 Willie jumped aboard the salsa romantica bandwagon with the album Fantastmas, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:00.480 but he didn't completely abandon his tendency to make statement. 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:05.719 He had four radio hits with Okecera, suenote A, more 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.880 verda Vero, and volar A Puerto Rico, but the first 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.640 single stands out for its hidden political message. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.360 O Casira was originally composed in nineteen seventy six by 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.760 Chico Buarke, a poet and playwright persecuted by Brazil's a 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:22.000 military dictatorship. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.279 The original song is part of a trilogy of songs 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.680 based on a novel by a colleague of Borguess, and 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.159 while it's a love song on the surface, many have 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.840 interpreted as a song of resistance Jews. The question went 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.480 through the song O cascera, Oh, what will be? Reflects 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.800 a desperate uncertainty at the height of the dictatorship's repression. 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.320 What will be? No one had the answer, so the 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.640 song was kind of a trojan horse within Sasar Romantica. 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.839 It's a love song at first blush, but for the 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.280 listeners throughout Latin America it was about solidarity. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.760 But Cologne wasn't above a love Songeen eighty two s 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:06.240 Corrasson Guerrero and nineteen eighty fours. Timpta had plenty, such 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.680 as a stone cold classic chitana. 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.760 On this track? Will he mix different styles just like 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.120 he always had? This time flamenco guitar and salsa, And 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.919 I'll say to that is Rosalia. If you're listening to 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.279 becoming an icon, when are we getting that cover girl. 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.279 If she's busy right now with Jeremy Allen White, I 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:31.120 don't think that she's in any hurry to release new 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:32.000 music and get out. 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:33.080 Of bed Asie. 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:36.640 I wouldn't be either, yestua. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:39.320 Oh yeah, well are you talking about? 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.360 I don't know? Oh wait, Salsa Romantica Okay, Oh yes, sorry, 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.280 I was thinking of the Calvin climat and I forgot 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.080 about Willie Colon because as much as I love his music, 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:53.200 don't want to see Willy in his calvins. Anyway, We've 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.640 got a big one next to focus on. Are you ready? 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.719 Okay, Okay, I'm ready. 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:03.280 Cologne's biggest album of the Sasa Romantica period was nineteen 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:07.400 eighty nine's Top Secrets, a record that sent shock waves 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.120 through the Spanish speaking world. 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.239 This was thanks to a standout track on the album, 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:17.880 El grand Varon. The track tells the story of Simon. 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.400 Born in the summer of fifty six, Simon was the 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.400 pride and joy of a man named Andres. Finally, Andres 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:25.920 had a. 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:30.440 Son, and with that pride, Andres raises Simon with a 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:33.120 heavy hand. He forces his son to study as he 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.160 did and aspired to the life he had telling him 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.239 you must be ungrand Varon, a great man. 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.920 That macho parenting eventually drives Simon to run away and 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:49.040 find freedom somewhere far from home, somewhere where Simon can 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:49.560 be Simon. 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.600 Eventually Andress discovers where Simon is living. He knocks on 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.560 the door and finds a woman greeting him. She tells him. 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:02.200 It's me Simon to gra Varon, Oh my God. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:07.960 Simon and Andress never reconciled. Simon doesn't write home, and Andres 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:09.640 can't put aside his judgments. 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:13.680 The Cornus urges listeners to avoid Ondress's mistakes and put 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.720 their judgments aside. And then the story of Simon ends 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:18.800 on a tragic note. 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.760 In a hospital room, just like the one he was 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:25.480 born in, Simon succumbs to a strange illness and dies 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:27.320 without anyone by his side. 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.840 The AIDS pandemic in the US had been ignored for 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.680 years by the Reagan administration. When the government finally did 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.800 act in the late eighties, it was noncommittal, and by 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.319 then the death toll was steep and the stigma was deep. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.360 It's to say, at a time when the gay community 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.439 was struggling to be heard Elgrand Varon was played on 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.520 radio stations around the world. 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.200 Even though Colonne and Omar Alfano, the Panamanian composer who 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.160 wrote the song, thought the subject was too taboo for 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.280 the song to be a single, but radio DJ's around 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.880 the world saw power in the song and an urgency 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.800 to raise awareness with its message. 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:09.120 With attention came controversy and criticism. But two years after 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.800 the release of the song, Willie Colonne was given a 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.200 Humanitarian Award for Elgrand Baron. 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.400 But the song was personal for both Cologne and Omar Alfano. 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.400 Alfano had penned the song for a dear friend who 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:23.720 had passed from the disease. 0:09:24.360 --> 0:09:27.640 Colon's connection to the song, meanwhile, was a lost one. 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.440 Four years prior to its release, Hector LeVaux, Willi's bad 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:34.880 boy brother in arms, was diagnosed with HIV, and in 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:40.079 nineteen ninety three he succumbed to complications from AIDS. Later 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.360 in the nineties, Colon would take a break from music. 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.600 Speaking to an interviewer, he declared, sometimes writing a song 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:47.800 is not enough. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.840 Willie Cologne was going through a bit of transformation. 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.520 And let's just jump in here and say that this 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:11.480 next period is full of surprise. Let's take a bousa 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.480 before we get into this next part. To our lovely listeners, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:18.200 Joseph and I Hey are recording this show in mid August. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.560 It is one hundred degrees in LA and eighty nine 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.720 percent humidity in NYC. But by the time this episode 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.040 hits your ears, the American presidential election will be just 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.000 twenty days away. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.079 You right back. I'm going to go scan my aura 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.400 and see if my future self is telling my present 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.680 self anything about how things are going. 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:44.960 Joseph, I actually don't think that future life regressions are 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:48.559 a thing. That's called a progression, and that means that 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:50.960 you can time travel, which if you can, why the 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.040 eff are we doing a podcast and not making billions 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:53.720 of dollars? 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.839 Well, no, there you go. That's it. That's good, that's all. 0:10:57.920 --> 0:10:59.280 That's all. That's all I'm going to say. 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.760 Wait, no, you are never one to hold your tongue 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.360 by your tongue. You are a chatty cher. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.240 Listen, listen to me. I'm going to do a wise 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:11.400 Cleft John song, and I'm going to say I'll be 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.200 gone till November. I'll be gone till November, like I 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:16.600 want nothing. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:22.520 To after Okay, so is that because you're getting flooded 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.080 with political ads? 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.360 You know what is so crazy? What I used to 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:30.760 get so much mail, I used to get stuff I 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.240 used to get I get none, nothing of the sort 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:37.439 because I don't even via text nothing. 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:41.720 I used to interesting. Do you pay attention to politics? 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.240 I'm not just talking about the general election, because we 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.000 know that's a very big, loud, important decision, but I'm 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.480 talking do you pay attention to local politics? 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.240 No? I don't even want to go there with all 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:55.960 of that. But no, that's the that's the truth. Okay, 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:57.800 we're going to change that. Love you, but we're going 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.480 to change that. We will, Okay, we will. 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.120 But here's the I think there's a few lessons that 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.719 we can take away from the last several years of politics. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.320 And one thing I have learned, and that I think 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:14.160 a lot of Americans have learned, is that every election matters. Obviously, 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.960 the big ones dominate the news cycle, but local races 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.360 are kind of where it's at. Like, if you really 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.679 want to make change and effect change, you got to 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:23.400 start locally. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.840 And in nineteen ninety four, an unusual race was brewing 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:28.520 in the Bronx. 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:31.520 June twenty fifth of that year, The New York Times 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.400 published an article with the headline politics with the Beat 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.679 of the Bronx. Willie Colonne Salza Star makes a bid 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.000 for a congressional seat. 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:44.199 After bringing awareness to AIDS, poverty, and Latin American dictatorship 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.800 with his music, Golan decided sometimes writing the song is 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.200 not enough. He was running for the House of Representatives 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.120 in New York's seventeenth district. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.359 Willi felt moved to enter politics because of deteriorating race relations. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.080 Two years prior, in nineteen ninety two, the LA riots 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:05.520 that followed the beating of Rodney King had marked a 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:11.120 deep period of unrest, not unlike twenty twenties George Floyd protest. 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:15.200 Just months after the LA rights, Washington Heights saw four 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.840 days of rioting after a twenty three year old Dominican 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:21.480 immigrant was shot and killed by police. Amid the riots, 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.720 Willie Cologne met with then Mayor David Dinkins to serve 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.320 as a liaison for the neighborhood's Latino community. 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.880 Cologne was also moved to run for office by reductions 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.840 in school and social program funding. He viewed the incumbent representative, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.760 Democrat Elliott engel Is out of touch with the community's needs. 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.840 As for that community, it was more like several communities. 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.120 New York's seventeenth district had been redrawn in nineteen ninety 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:51.280 two to include more Black and Latino voters. It represented 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.600 the Bronx Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham, and Newer Show, where 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.200 Willie Cologne lived with his fam. 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.920 When Willy was running, the district was thirty six percent Black, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.520 twenty six percent Hispanic, and thirty four percent white. Victory 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.600 in the primary election would mean forming a coalition amongst 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:10.120 these disparate groups. 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.040 Willie's plan form a bridge between the black and Latino communities. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.240 To do that, will you hope to win endorsements from 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.600 black local elected officials, along with the Reverend Al Sharpton. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.320 Because in those days you had to get the nod 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:25.760 from Al. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:28.560 These days not so much. 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.400 Meanwhile, really trusted that the Latin community had his back. 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.040 With thousands of fans hugging and kissing him at that 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.200 year's Puerto Rican Day parade, It's. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.720 Easy to see why wait a minute, wait, just to 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:42.640 damn minute, didn't you ride on float in a Puerto 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.000 Rican Day parade? 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.200 I love that you know that about me, And yes, 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.840 I had my flag. I was wet, bying all up 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:52.760 and down Fifth Avenue, sweating my ass on. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:53.520 Oh you did? 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:55.600 I mean, for those of you that don't live in 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.720 New York, the Puerto Rican Day Pride Parade is a 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:03.240 site rowdy, is a site to behold, is what I 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.560 was going to say. If you're in the parade, if 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.640 you are not participating, if you are not celebrating, and 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.640 why aren't you. I know that it can be a lot, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.760 but it's one of my favorite memories of living in 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:17.800 New York. It's like, I love the I love the 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:20.240 parade when we are when we're well behaved. 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.600 So what was on the actual float? Just very quick? Oh, 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.640 I was hotter, Yes, sunscreen. 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:29.720 They had snacks, they had sunscreen. I mean, there's a 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.040 lot of speakers. I was on the float with a 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.200 lot of other journalists from different media outlets all over 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.520 New York. So I had my friends from NBC, from 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.680 UNI Vicion, I had them from THENO. Yeah, it was 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.080 all of us. We were all kind of like joined forces, 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.880 obviously all Puerto Ricans. But it was super fun and 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.080 I love the Puerto Rican Day Pride Parade. I actually 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.360 can't wait to take Santi to the parade, and I 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.360 hope that he gets to write on the float with 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:52.760 me one day. 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:53.880 Hey, well, I already know it. 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.440 I know, I know. Okay. Back to Willie, so he 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.360 knew what kind of tone he wanted to strike as 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:03.920 a politician, but his policies, well those were a little murkier. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.080 Gologne told an interviewer, I'm not going to tell the 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:09.640 district what our problems are. I want the people in 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:12.240 this district to come forward so we can develop a 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:13.200 progressive agenda. 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:16.880 After knocking the incumbent as out of touch, will you 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.360 imagine that he would be more capable of hearing the 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.680 community and speaking for them, just as he had done 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:23.360 with his music. 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.360 He went endorsements from the local hospital workers' union and 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.960 a municipal union, along with closed door encouragement from Latino 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.240 elected officials, but ultimately. 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:38.080 Willie got blown to smither. Riens child Angel earned sixty 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:42.200 two percent of the vote, leaving Elmlow with thirty eight percent. 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.920 Years later, he was sure that he never was comfortable fundraising, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.160 putting him at a huge disadvantage. 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.960 Now, this wasn't the first time Willie Golong got involved 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.040 in New York politics. 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.600 Before he ran for Congress, he was part of the 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.080 board of directors of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.400 He also served a member of the Latino Commission on 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.639 Aids and as president of the Arthur Schoenberg Coalition for 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.240 a Better New York. Still, after Golan lost the congressional election, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.680 he returned to music and recorded two more albums, nineteen 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.920 ninety six is yvoel Veo Traves and nineteen ninety eight 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:16.480 The Mascielo Corrasson. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.120 The albums continued in the same South s Romantica as 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.240 his previous records from the eighties and the nineties, but 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.920 politics would soon lure Willie back in an unexpected way. 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:32.760 In nineteen ninety eight, the year I graduated high school, 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.600 Whelly was approached to sing the theme for the Macielo Corasson, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:42.920 a Mexican political tele novela. Willie accepted on one condition, which. 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:49.520 Was put me on those screen bitch. Willie played Feliciano Puintor, 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.919 a Dea agent, and not only did he insist on 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.720 getting a part, he wanted his name and title on 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:57.280 a bad hang. 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.439 The producer of the show talked's enthusiasm for the character 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.640 and named him an honorary police officer in New York City. 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:09.000 Which is a little surprising after the Washington Heights rites 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.280 like were Dominicans here for WILLI Colone the cop? 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:14.679 So to find that out, I think you have to 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.600 track down the Aunties who watched that novella. But remember, 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:24.440 Latinos are not a monolith. Even within a single neighborhood 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.040 like Washington Heights, there are differences, So I. 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:29.400 Know how a lot of folks we feel in about 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.800 the cops in years. Since you're telling me that it 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.080 didn't happen in Washington Heights. 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.080 Well, I think it's really important to remember that before 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:41.720 these riots even took place, Washington Heights experienced the very 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.480 worst of the crack epidemic in the nineteen eighties. I mean, 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.760 the George Washington Bridge, which was the biggest landmark in 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.280 that neighborhood, was a major artery for drug traffickers traveling 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.600 between New York and New Jersey. So saving the neighborhood 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.399 from violence and turf wars took a combination. It was 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:03.640 park community effort and park collaboration with the cops, gotcha. 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.680 So it makes sense that Wally specifically played a DEA 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.399 agent aka a cop who goes after the types of 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.840 guys who terrorized his neighborhoods. 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.000 Yeah, and it does tell you a little bit about 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.439 how Riitty Cologne came to kind of see himself the 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.000 guy who grew up getting into these fights, being all 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.240 tough and using that toughness to defend vulnerable people like 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:23.840 his sister. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.520 But it's still funny that after years of dressing up 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.000 like un Mafio so he wanted to be the good 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:31.040 guy who went after the game. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:33.520 I mean, remember his cover albums. I mean he was 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.960 literally Al Platino and Scarface, right. But I do think 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.560 it's worth making the Daddy Yankee comparison again, which we 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.800 have done in the past. You know, Yankee also played 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:45.960 up his gangster image the way that a lot of 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:50.520 rappers do and did, but he ultimately saw himself as 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:52.960 the voice of the little guy, which. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:55.520 Is why Willy ran for office again in two thousand 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.159 and one, this time for public Advocate. He did a 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.120 little better but still couldn't clinch denomination. 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.280 But the following year he would land a place in 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.920 the office of the newly elected mayor Michael Bloomberg as 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.800 an advisor and liaison to the Latino community, and that's 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:17.119 where we came in the Bloomberg years. Jesus take me 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.679 back there. But also I feel so old when I 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.560 think about how long ago that was, and it reminds 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.920 me that I need to make a appointment for some 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:31.560 restallin some Philip please, or I guess I could go 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.720 oh Natural and try to get an appointment with Joseph, who, 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.720 by the way Listeners is so booked and busy that 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:43.359 he doesn't even have time for his co host and Brima. Okay, 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:47.320 I mean true, I get it. You're out here doing 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.440 faces of like, you know, the most elite of the elite. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.240 I don't qualify, but we're not gonna be finding if 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.919 you don't scol you. Okay, back to blooming Apart from 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.440 that infamous soda band, do you remember that when you 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:01.800 couldn't get big gulps in New York? 0:21:02.800 --> 0:21:05.760 I don't think I lived here. And I've also never 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:06.480 had a big gulp. 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:08.920 Okay, Well, I'm from Texas, so I basically survived on 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:09.280 big gold. 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:11.560 But I actually never had a big hop. But my 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.280 friend Courtney Reno shout out to Quianna. She always had 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:14.720 a big golp. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.720 Well, Bloomberg said no, mas okay. So In addition to 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.920 the soda ban, he was also known for his controversial 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:23.720 stopped in Frisk policy. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:27.919 Which empowered police to just like it sounds, stop and 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.080 frisk whoever they deemed. 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:34.520 Suspicious, I mean racial profiling, munch and one of the 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:40.199 policy's biggest critics was Bloomberg's own advisor, Willie Cologne. In 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.640 a twenty fifteen interview about the mayoral election to succeed 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:47.120 at Bloomberg, Colonne said that Latinos live in quote the. 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.720 Other New York quote. Stop and frisk has gone too 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:55.000 far in general and in the whole country in the 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.399 name of anti terrorism and fighting crime and infringing on 0:21:58.520 --> 0:21:59.840 constitutional rights. 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.840 Golog actually threw his support behind Bill Thompson, the city 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:07.439 controller under the Bloomberg administration, who would ultimately lose to 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:08.200 build a Blasio. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:11.760