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Put Some Altitude in Your Glass
27: Northside Interview with Bobby LeFebre
Jun 22, 2019
27: Northside Interview with Bobby LeFebre
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00:00
11:27
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FULL TRANSCRIPT
0:00
What's up, everybody? It's the moment you've been waiting for. Northside's in the house. [claps] Yes, we are. Whoo. [laughs] Northside. Thanks for having us here. Bobby LeFreere,
0:11
Angel Mendez, uh, who happens to be my neighbor across the street. [laughs] So hey, welcome, welcome to the winery, and, um, just glad to have you here. Yeah. Thanks for having us. So what, uh...
0:22
Tell us about Northside, the play. Yeah. You know, this play is, uh, about, uh, five years in the making now.
0:28
Uh, we've been developing the piece with Su Teatro over the last few years, uh, and are very, very excited to have its full production here, um, June 13th through June 30th. We are completely sold out- Whoo...
0:40
so what we're doing here today- That's awesome... uh, is, is really the only way that there are tickets left. Um, and so it's been amazing. We've had 260 people, you know, filling the house every single night.
0:50
It's been completely energetic and magical, and, um, we're, we're excited to be presenting this, this story to the community. It- it's been a, an incredible experience 'cause, um, living in the, in the neighborhood,
1:04
uh, at each performance, we've meet a lot of... I- I meet a lot of people who's, who, who are from the Northside or, or used to be in the Nor- uh, in the- Mm-hmm...
1:14
Northside, and, and it, it really, really hits them home. And, uh, whenever we talk about a particular place, it's like there's cheers. Last night's audience was- Off the chain... electric. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
1:28
They were incredible. So if you guys are coming to the show tonight- Oh, man... or this weekend, you have some work to do- Yeah... because the audience last night, they're gonna give you a run for your money.
1:34
It was- That's right. You-... it was a fun- Mm-hmm... fun time last night. Yeah, they- Well, we're, you know, we're getting the Saturday night audience- Okay... pumped up- Yeah, yeah, yeah...
1:40
'cause that's when we're going to the show. [laughs] Absolutely. So we'll be, we'll be leading the cheers. But, um, [laughs] but anyway, the, um... So, you know, we did a...
1:49
We put out a thing to just tell us your favorite, uh, Northside place, whether it was an old school place or somewhere new. Mm-hmm. And, um, and we were just floored. We were blown away by the, uh, by all the responses.
2:01
Yeah. And, and the places that, uh, people remember, and some places I, I don't remember or don't even know about. [laughs] And, uh, you know, maybe- I was telling you about one... yeah, you were.
2:10
And maybe, yeah, maybe you can, uh, chime in, Angel- Well, back, back in the-... on some of the, some of those real old ones... back in the day, w- in the... 17- 'Cause you have such a good memory, now... 17...
2:18
Oh, hell no. 'Cause, you know. [laughs] Sometimes. I, I couldn't remember the name of this place, and then you reminded me.
2:24
I don't know what it was that you said, but right on 40th and Tejon, there used to be a, a restaurant. It was called, uh, La Poblana. And
2:34
after a while, then they became the La Nueva Poblana, and then it became, uh- Santana's... Santana's. I mean, I don't know what it is with- Club 4001. Club 4001. Mm-hmm. And now, now it's Visions? Nescio's. Nescio's?
2:48
And now it's Nescio. Nescio's. But I'm, I'm rooting for Nescio to hang out because my wife, my wife says maybe she needs to do a cleansing on that building- [laughs]...
2:59
because [laughs] so many, so many n- so many businesses. But La Nueva Poblana was there for years and years and years. Yeah, and then, uh, the... I'll tell you a f- a funny story about, uh, 4001 Tejon.
3:11
That building used to be a gas station back in the '50s. Oh, wow. So yeah, my uncle owned, owned that gas station. Um, it was a, it was... I think it was about 1953 when he owned it. Mm-hmm.
3:24
And, um, there's a great picture of him standing outside the front with, um, his, his dad and his brother, and my uncle was a chain smoker.
3:34
So he's right out front of the pumps, and they got this great shot, and he's got a cigarette right here. Oh, wow. [laughs] Right down on his hip. Yeah.
3:41
So, um, but yeah, my cousin, uh, tells, uh, who is my u- my uncle's son, he, he's my first cousin. He talks about a lot of stories 'cause they used to wash cars out there in the '50s.
3:52
And, um, and then he talks about the Marigold, which was a restaurant down the block. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, you know where Panchito's is, uh, the tortilla. Yeah. All right? Oh. That was a detail shop, man.
4:02
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that detail shop. You know, my, my parents, they tell stories about that block too in between 40th and 42nd.
4:08
There used to be apparently like a, a potato chip store or factory that made potato chips. I don't know if it was in the '60s. Oh, really? And so they would go, and they would...
4:16
They sold, you know, like fresh potato chips, and there was a barber there that my dad and my uncles used to get their hair cut at in between 40th and 41st.
4:23
So there's a lot that's been, you know, in and out of that, that, on that block. Yeah. And so there's a lot of history in there.
4:30
And, and that's the thing that we cannot forget, and that's the thing that, that this play, I, I love about this play.
4:38
It, it brings out that, that history that it, you know, this place was not just discovered all of a sudden and became Highlands. Yeah.
4:47
But, you know, it's still the Northside, and, and we need to, we need to talk about that history and let- I think so much of the piece is rooted in that cultural memory, you know?
4:54
Uh, my grandparents, great-grandparents, um, and, and parents all lived in the neighborhood, and, you know, just growing up listening to all these stories about running around in the neighborhood and, and just sort of what it was.
5:06
We're, we're trying to preserve that cultural memory 'cause so much of what happens when our neighborhoods change is culture's erased, and, um, we're trying to, to enliven the, the spirit of, of the people in the neighborhood that, that we all, all love so much.
5:20
And, and hopefully... The Denver Post did a, a review, and they called it a dramedy, you know? So hopefully there are dramatic moments, there's comedic moments.
5:26
[laughs] Um, and last night's audience really, they rode that wave with us. So, um, it's been, it's been a good time. Did the, um... When you did the YouTube series a couple years ago- Mm-hmm...
5:36
was that kind of your, your catalyst to, uh, to bring this to the, to the play? You know, the play- It was great?... actually existed before the web series, so I had, uh- Oh, did it? Okay...
5:43
yeah, I had a draft of the play written already. We had done a stage reading of that play. Um, but theater's interesting.
5:48
It's finicky in that this isn't a, a, a standard theater experience in that we've, we're gonna have almost 4,000 people seeing this play, which is really rare for a regional, you know, premiere of a, of a play.
5:59
Um, but actually, the, the script was written for the play first, and then I kinda got bored with the theater piece. And, and, you know- Online ways of, of experiencing things tend to draw more, more people in.
6:11
So some of the episodes on We Are, uh, are Welcome to the Northside have 8 to 10,000 views, right? Yeah. And so, um, we figured that we can spread this message that way and have a l- a few more people see it.
6:21
But then we revisited the play last year. Tony Garcia at Su Teatro, you know, hit me up and was like, "Hey, let's talk about your play," and, uh, here we are. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we, um...
6:32
Or when the YouTube series came out, we, we watched it- Yeah... every week, when you're, however, however often- Yeah... you put them out. But we were... we laughed and- [laughs]...
6:39
um, we, we had a, we had a good time watching them. [laughs] You can st- and you can st- and you c- and you can still catch- And we still-... catch those series...
6:47
some, I still throw out some of those catchphrases- Yeah... that you, uh, that you threw in there, like the palm pies- Right... instead of the empanadas. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So one of my favorite episodes.
6:56
[laughs] The palm pies. That's funny. So anyway. All right. So we've got some tickets to give away- Woo-hoo!... uh, to Northside, to the sold-out Northside. And, um, so we're just gonna draw. We put all...
7:08
We, we gra- we grabbed all of your, your entries. Mm-hmm. Emily did, when I say we. [laughs] [laughs] And so she, um, she put them all in the, in the, the basket- Yes, yes... here for us.
7:18
And, um, we're gonna draw out two pair of tickets, but we have a bonus today. Uh-oh. Chuy's Network has... You're completely frozen. Oh, we're frozen. Okay. I'm live. She's live. Okay. Oh, you're live over there.
7:32
You're live and you're... I'm live and you're both hanging. Okay. We're all tech. We're all tech. Matt works with... He's posted on the- Yeah. Okay, good. So we'll just keep going live here. Okay. All right.
7:40
We're gonna keep going live. So we, uh, our bonus is we have an extra pair. We have a third pair of tickets to give away- That's awesome... to, uh, to the Northside.
7:47
So I, I don't know if I should be the one to draw or what. Well, I'll pick one, you pick one, and- Okay... since we have an extra- Cool. Cool. Cool All right. Bobby can pick one. Okay.
7:55
I'm gonna keep mine and put them on, uh, Craigslist for- [laughs]... 200 bucks a seat and see what happens. Oh, my... He's gonna be s- out, out, out the door scalping them. [laughs] All right. Let's see who we got here.
8:07
Oh. Da-dun, dun, dun. All right. And the winner is Victoria Raquel Aguilar. Nice. And she says- And what does she say? What's it- She says, "Chubby's and La Casita are my favorite spots to eat.
8:24
However, my childhood house on 37th and Pecos is my absolute favorite place to reminisce about the good old Northside." All right. All right. So Victoria Raquel Aguilar, you are our winner. And you're going to the show.
8:39
All right. Awesome. [laughs] All right. And I've got- Drum roll. Da-dun, dun, dun... Nanette De Leon. Rrr. And her favorite, uh, places are Carl's Pizza and Elitch's when it was on 38th and Tennyson. All right.
8:53
[laughs] So all right. Two, two great places. One's still here on the Northside. Love Carl's. And our lucky last winner is Brenda Lynn Martinez, and she said Subway Pizza- Yeah... which makes a cameo in our play. Yeah.
9:05
Right, right, right? And understand, 'cause my daughter did this. She said, "There was a Subway?" "No, not the sandwich shop, my dear. [laughs] Subway." Yeah. The Subway. [laughs] Yeah. And if you listen to...
9:17
One of my favorite things about Ange, you know, is, is this is a Mexican Chicano play, but Ange is Puerto Rican, so every now and then, the Puerto Rican comes out. Oh, yeah.
9:24
[laughs] And we've been joking about some of the slang that he uses. Like right now he's a my daughter. My daughter comes out. My d- yeah. My daughter, yeah. I know.
9:31
When I, when I'm doing the part, I have to consciously- [laughs]... control that Bronx coming out, boy. The Nuyorican comes out. Yeah. The, the Nuyorican comes out, so I gotta, I gotta be- [laughs]... l- conscious.
9:42
Uh, two nights ago I heard it and I said, "[gasps] Oh, God. Okay. It's not in the Bronx." [laughs] It's all good. Congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations to- Yeah. All right... all three winners. All our winners.
9:54
And, uh, so we'll give you guys, uh, we'll reach out to you on Facebook, um, so we can get the tickets to you. And then also, we've got a bonus for everyone who entered and did not win. Mm-hmm. We wanna make you winners.
10:07
And, uh, so, uh, what you've got is a, we're gonna give you a complimentary three-wine flight- Ooh... here at the winery. Nice. And you can come, um, today, and you can come tomorrow.
10:22
So it's good for today and tomorrow, and you've got a three, three-line flight here at Bona Quisti Wine Company. So, 'cause we appreciate you, all you Northsiders and all your Northside stories.
10:31
And I gotta tell you something, um, everyone who put Bona Quisti Wine Company as their favorite place- [laughs]... it, uh, it, it really means, uh, it means a lot to us.
10:43
Even though you're probably trying to score some extra points- [laughs]... and double up on your entry. And that's cool. But- That's all right...
10:48
but it's the greatest compliment that you could pay us and, and we really appreciate it. So, so yeah. Hey, it's true. I mean, bro, you ha- you are becoming an institution here.
10:59
I mean, those Friday night, those Friday night... I've j- I have... I, unfortunately, I'm doing theater, but I gotta make it here- [laughs]... 'cause I hear this place is jumping.
11:11
And if you haven't been here for Fridays, you should- Okay... you gotta come. We're cutting you- And you are an institution... we're cutting you some slack tonight. I salute you, brother. [laughs] All right.
11:17
I salute you, brother. Salud. I salute you. Salud. Yeah. Salud. Yes. Nice. And salute to the Northside. Yeah. Yeah. Come out. Yeah. Okay. We got Northside. [laughs]
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