By OSKAR GARCIA Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS—Las Vegas paid tribute Thursday to a Mexican children’s entertainer with few links to the American adult playground, except her many fans who live here.

Officials unveiled a star for singer Tatiana on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars, which will be placed Friday on the Las Vegas Strip nearly 25 years after she began as a teenage pop singer and 13 years after she gained fame singing songs for kids.

Tatiana, who turns 40 years old on Friday, is known to Latinos throughout the world as “La Reina de los Ninos,” translated to English as “Queen of the Children.”

In an interview before a ceremony honoring her at The Mirage hotel-casino, Tatiana said that she has only performed a few times in Las Vegas, and was surprised by the crowds and the feedback because her show is entirely in Spanish and she is more well-known south of the U.S. border.

“They said, ‘We have children and we don’t have anywhere to take them to have fun and to recover their roots and their language and their music,’” Tatiana told The Associated Press. “Maybe I’ll come back—I hope so—and I want to come back big.”

Tatiana said a run of three shows in 1997 along with a Mexican family circus in the mall of a Hispanic market in North Las Vegas attracted a total of 17,000 people.

“All the people knew me from Mexico and the TV shows in Mexico,” she said. “The little girls, they had the dresses like me and the T-shirts and everything that their grandmothers or family sent them from Mexico.”

Las Vegas Walk of Stars spokesman Pablo Castro Zavala said Tatiana was picked because the organization got a tremendous amount of e-mails and phone calls asking that she be honored. According to the Las Vegas Walk of Stars Web site, honorees usually have had a significant and enduring Las Vegas presence.

“People love her,” Zavala said. “She’s also a person with a good heart, a single mother who works very hard.”

According to the latest numbers from the U.S. census bureaus, about 25 percent of Nevadans are Hispanic.

Tatiana said she began focusing on children’s songs when her daughter was 1 year old.

Tatiana joins Hispanic musicians Alex Lora of El Tri, Vicente Fernandez, Veronica Castro and Los Tigres del Norte on the walk. Her 180-pound star will be placed on the Las Vegas Strip sidewalk on Friday outside the MGM Grand hotel-casino. Her star is the 35th on the walk.

Popularity: 31% [?]

CHICAGO (AP) — “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is becoming bilingual.

Chicago-based Harpo Productions says the show is being made available in Spanish through Secondary Audio Programming and closed captioning.

The Spanish-language offerings launched Monday in the country’s six largest Hispanic TV markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston and Dallas. More cities are expected to be added this season.

Harpo is picking up the cost of the translation service in order to boost its Hispanic audience.

“It allows us to serve the fastest growing demographic of the U.S. population,” Angela DePaul, a spokeswoman for Harpo Productions Inc.

Advertising spots remain the same, and the show’s syndication fees are locked in through 2011.

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” is now in its 23rd season. It’s syndicated to 214 domestic stations and in 139 countries.

Popularity: 35% [?]

By Leila Cobo

MIAMI (Billboard) - Hispanic radio is showing new interest in reaching a bilingual and bicultural population.

After the 2004 surge — and subsequent decline — of Latin “hurban” formats that played predominantly reggaeton and hip-hop and targeted a bilingual, Hispanic youth audience, some stations are testing those waters again, with variants.

In August, Liberman Media switched KZZA-FM Dallas from a Latin urban format with little spoken Spanish to a mix that targets second- and third-generation Hispanics. KZAA now plays an even mix of English- and Spanish-language music and features bilingual DJs. The twist? All artists played on the station, even those singing in English, are Hispanic, reflecting a concerted effort to attract a Hispanic audience.

“We tried many common denominators, and we found that you can’t put all Latins in the same basket,” Liberman programming vice president Eddie Leon said, explaining why the station shied away from labels like “Latino” or “Hispanic” or even “hurban” or “urban.”

But the one thing that everyone had in common, he said, was Spanglish.

“We’re trying to target a second-generation Hispanic, and we’re trying to make sure that what we play is representative of that audience,” Leon said. “These are people that speak English and Spanish.”

KZAA’s core acts include Frankie J and Toby Love, both bilingual; Wisin & Yandel and Daddy Yankee, who sing in Spanish; and Colby O’Donis and Prima J, who sing in English.

KVIB-FM (95.1 Latino Vibe) Phoenix is doing something similar. The Arizona station morphed from a hurban format into a mix of Spanish and English (approximately 70 percent/30 percent) that includes everything from Spanish pop to reggaeton, cumbias, bachata and crossover hits by Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown.

Program director Bobby Ramos, who comes from KLOL (La Mega) Houston, said that Latino Vibe “specifically targets bilingual, bicultural Latinos living in the United States” but programs specifically for the region — in this case, one that’s heavily Mexican.

Between 2004 and 2005, some 30 stations launched or flipped to hurban formats. Some stations have remained stable, like KXOL-FM (Latino 96.3 FM) Los Angeles, which switched to a hurban, bilingual format in 2005 and maintains a playlist that tilts heavily toward reggaeton and hip-hop.

But many switched formats, driven by the decline in reggaeton sales and by the fact that their young-skewing stations could not attract certain advertisers, like liquor companies.

But the format is enticing, particularly when taking into account that 24 percent of the U.S. population younger than 5 is Hispanic, according to 2007 U.S. Census numbers. And the average age of Hispanics in the United States is 27.6, lower than the 36.6 of the population as a whole, according to 2007 Census numbers.

By expanding the playlist for Latino Vibe, Ramos was able to better target his regional audience and, in the process, attract a slightly older audience — those in the 18-34 age group rather than the 18-24 demographic.

“When we made these adjustments, we discovered that our demos actually went higher and we were able for the first time to become compliant with bringing in alcohol advertisers,” he said.

Latino Vibe is owned by Sun City Communications and is the company’s first Spanish-language station.

“My understanding is they plan on going countrywide,” Ramos said. “This is the model of what they would like to do in the Spanish world.”

Popularity: 35% [?]

Via California Chronicle

California Political Desk
September 05, 2008

SACRAMENTO – Opposition to a recent policy by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) to require its athletes to speak English starting next year continued to grow today as several more organizations called on the Tour to rescind the new rule. Yesterday, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) announced several other leading civil rights groups who are also joining him in opposition.

Among the latest in opposition is California´s conference of the nation´s largest and strongest civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In addition, the following organizations also announced joining the coalition opposed to the LPGA´s policy: Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Californians for Disability Rights, Filipinos for Affirmative Action, California Immigrant Policy Center, Korean American Coalition, National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, Sojourn to the Past – A Civil Rights Education Project, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), California Alliance for Retired Americans, and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC).

“The nation´s most prominent organizations for civil rights, seniors, the disabled, LGBT, women, and various ethnic communities are overwhelmingly opposed to the LPGA English mandate,” said Yee. “We will continue to fight to ensure this discrimination ends. If necessary, we will picket LPGA events, urge sponsors to withdraw support, go to the courts, introduce legislation, or do whatever else it takes for the LPGA to rescind this policy. Our nation has made great strides in ensuring civil rights for all; we should not be taking steps backward.”

“It is unfortunate that the LPGA has decided to turn back the clock on the idea of advancing equal opportunity and America´s relationships with other parts of the world,” said Alice Huffman, President of the California State NAACP. “Speaking English has nothing to do with playing the sport. The LPGA should seriously reconsider its approach.”

Despite there being no relevance to the sport, the LPGA claims that it is important for players to be able to interact with American media and event sponsors. In fact, no other professional sports league in the United States requires such a mandate. One major sponsor, State Farm, has already announced they may no longer support the LPGA if they do not rescind the policy.

There are 121 international golfers on the LPGA Tour, coming from 26 different countries. This year, the Tour held events in ten countries.

“Clearly, the LPGA fails to realize that broadening the talent pool to welcome international players is in the best interest of the Association,” said EunSook Lee, NAKASEC Executive Director. “This policy is discriminatory, particularly against South Korean players who are significantly represented within the LPGA membership. We are also concerned that the new policy may violate state law. The LPGA´s English-Only is a great step backwards in the advancement of golf and we urge the Association to rescind their new policy.”

“This is another horrendous example of anti-immigrant sentiment,” said Lillian Galedo, Executive Director of Filipinos for Affirmative Action.

“Californians for Disability Rights applauds Senator Yee for taking a strong stance against discrimination and for inclusion,” said Laura Williams, President of Californians for Disability Rights, Inc. “The LPGA action to enforce an English speaking only policy is a major step back to a time when exclusion and discrimination based on our differences was not only tolerated, but encouraged. Do they intend to allow ASL for deaf and hard of hearing? Or make accommodations for persons with learning impairments, which makes a second language difficult if not impossible? Californians and Americans should not return to the dark ages of excluding all but a narrow scope of young white able-bodied.”

“English-only policies breed intolerance and misunderstanding and have no place in athletics or civil society,” said Vincent Pan, CAA Executive Director. “The Olympics have shown how sports can help bridge communities and make the world smaller, with sponsors who appreciate and value language and cultural diversity.”

Other organizations in opposition to the LPGA policy include the California National Organization for Women (NOW), Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), Equality California, Latino Issues Forum, Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), Asian American Coalition for Civil Rights, Applied Research Center, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center, and Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality.

“Denying access based on language capability or country of origin is unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory,” said Yee. “Omitting qualified players from LPGA membership is inappropriate and unsuitable for the world we live in and poorly reflects on the increasingly diverse population of California and the United States.”

Popularity: 63% [?]

The tiny drama “La Misma Luna” dominated the 23rd annual Imagen Awards, which honor Latino-themed entertainment and Latino talent on both sides of the camera. Five awards, including best picture, went to the drama about a young Mexican boy’s journey to find his mother in Los Angeles, where she’s an undocumented worker.

Such Latino luminaries as John Leguizamo, Jimmy Smits, Edward James Olmos, Lupe Ontiveros, Eva La Rue and Cesar Millan were in attendance at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, where 18 awards were handed out for achievement in features and television.

“Luna,” written by executive producer Ligiah Villalobos. won five Imagens on the feature side: best actor for Adrian Alonso, best actress for Kate Del Castillo, best supporting actor for Eugenio Derbez, best director for Patricia Riggin and best picture. The film set a record for a North American opening by a Spanish-language film when Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co. released it in March.

The TV awards were more widely dispersed, with ABC’s “Ugly Betty” collecting honors for best primetime program and best supporting actor for Tony Plana. (”Betty” star America Ferrera also appeared in “Luna.”). Carlos Mencia was named best actor for his Comedy Central showcase “Mind of Mencia,” while actress and pop star Christina Milian scored the best actress nod for the ABC Family feature “Snowglobe.”

The best children’s programming award went to the Nickelodeon mainstay “Go, Diego, Go!”

Several legacy awards were handed out. Plana received the Lifetime Achievement Award; Rodrigo Garcia, producer-director of HBO’s “In Treatment,” received the Creative Achievement Award; and Villalobos received the Norman Lear Writers Award.

“This year we saw an increase of quantity and quality of exceptional submissions across categories,” said Helen Hernandez, founder and president of the Imagen Foundation. “The increase of Latino representation across entertainment disciplines is truly indicative of the prevalent role we play in Hollywood, mainstream America and throughout the world.”

Hernandez launched the Imagen Awards in 1985 to nurture an increased Latino presence in the entertainment industry and more positive representations of Latinos on TV and movie screens.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Two years after Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu took the year-end awards circuits by storm with “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Babel,” and a year after they inked a $100 million deal with Universal to produce five films under their Cha Cha Cha banner, opportunities for other Latino filmmakers — both veterans and those relatively new to the scene — have been on the rise.

And while some are using those opportunities to address issues dear to Hispanic moviegoers, others are more concerned with impressing audiences of all kinds.

“You have to make a film that’s universal, that touches people,” says director Alfredo De Villa. “It doesn’t necessarily have to announce its Latino-ness.”

Even the most quintessentially Mexican of filmmakers, writer-turned-director Guillermo Arriaga — who began his career working alongside Inarritu telling stories unique to life in Mexico City — is making a film about a non-Latino mother and daughter working through their family issues in his directorial debut, “The Burning Plain.” When Arriaga speaks about stepping into the director’s role, he doesn’t talk about making a grand social statement, but about “the chance to collaborate and bring people together, and share the communal experience of having a common goal.”

Following are 10 filmmakers who, through the quality and vision of their work, are expanding the definition of what it means to be a Latino filmmaker, in Hollywood and beyond.

View List Here

Popularity: 40% [?]

Mario Lavandeira hates to leave the house. He prefers to stay in his gated-community condo, which has all the charm and personality of a just-cleaned motel room, so he can torture the rich and famous from the safety of his computer. He’s been up since 4 am, belly-crawling through the blogosphere to uncover juicy celebrity tidbits for his gossip site, PerezHilton.com. “I work 16, 17, 18 hours a day,” he whines as he stuffs his pear-shaped torso into a black and yellow hoodie and matching track pants that make him look like a giant bumblebee. “I’m not exaggerating. That’s really how much I work.”

But chubby Mario from Miami isn’t the boss around here. The boss is Perez Hilton, his infamous alter ego. Like a queer-eyed Incredible Hulk, this raging diva persona took over the life of shy, schlubby Mario in 2005. In just three years, Hilton has smashed through the Hollywood elite, muscling his way from bottom-feeding blogger to up-and-coming entertainment-business power player.

This particular spring morning hasn’t turned up much news—no bold-named breakups, no leaked sex tapes, no tinted-limo treks to rehab. But Hilton has a hair appointment, and it’s time to get going. So he throws a few celebrity crumbs to the 8 million devotees who rely on him for their daily dish. As usual, they’re delivered in a writing style so breathless you need an inhaler to follow along. Choice samples from Hilton’s oeuvre: OMG! … Justin Timberlake is box office POISON … Jesse Jackson is in Deep Shiz … Amy Winehouse! Her performance was a hot mess!”My site is for people just like me,” he says as we bullet through West Hollywood in his Toyota Camry. “Regular folks.”

Of course, most regular folks aren’t greeted by name at the valet parking stand in front of this chic Beverly Hills beauty salon. Inside, a fawning hair stylist squeals, “My family in Arkansas just loves you!” She takes more than two and a half hours to coif his thick black hair into a spiky ‘do with a Flock of Seagulls wave falling over one eye. As he admires the effect in the mirror, I’m reminded of a drawing I spotted above his living room sofa: Hilton as a grinning vampire perched atop the Hollywood sign. “I want to be the gay Latino Oprah,” he says. “Anything is possible!”

Perez Hilton as a bona fide celebrity? OMG!It’s really happening: First there was Hilton’s wildly successful site. Then came his four-episode TV special, What Perez Sez (which aired on VH1 to respectable ratings), followed by a nationally syndicated on-air gossip gig with ABC Radio. In early 2009, Hilton’s first book, a satirical tell-all titled Red Carpet Suicide: A Survival Guide on Keeping Up With the Hiltons, will hit bookstores. Then there’s the recently launched Hot Topic clothing and accessories line (brace yourself for armies of teenage girls in Team Perez T-shirts and shiny pink Hilton-brand lip gloss).

Now the guy who prefers Bette Midler to Arcade Fire and knows all the lyrics to Paula Abdul’s “Vibeology” is working with Warner Music to launch his own boutique label, with acts handpicked by the blogger himself. “Record labels release so much crap these days, I think I could do really well,” he says as we head back to the condo. “Nothing coming out of my label will be crap. But if it were, it would just be a single. If there’s one crap single that has the potential to make a shitload of money, I’d release it.”

As we pull up to a four-way stop, Hilton gasps. “Look! It’s Seth Green!” Sure enough, the red-haired actor from Austin Powers sits in the next car, staring blankly out the window. “I should say hello to him,” Hilton says, then pauses. “He should say hello to me.”

The blogs-to-riches story of Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. is the stuff of online legend. In 2004, during what he calls “the worst year of my life,” he was a fame-obsessed loner who had just been fired from a reporting job at Star magazine. (”It poisoned my soul,” he says.) Dreaming of becoming an actor, he moved from New York to LA, unemployed and broke.

Read Full Story

Popularity: 34% [?]

The National Football League and ESPN will kick off Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15) with a special celebration surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys Monday Night Football game on Monday, September 15 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN Deportes). The game is the signature event for the NFL’s “Fútbol Americano” initiative celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, and a signature event within ESPN’s month-long campaign and programming efforts on ESPN Deportes recognizing the accomplishments of Hispanics.

The MNF game telecast on ESPN will feature special graphic integrations, vignettes and audio from the ESPN Deportes Spanish-language telecast featuring Emmy-nominated play-by-play commentator Álvaro Martín and former NFL kicker Raúl Allegre. The telecast will also kick off with a customized version of the Hank Williams Jr. open, featuring some lyrics in Spanish. The Monday Night Countdown pre-game (7 p.m.) will also highlight events with special features and coverage of the national anthem, which will be performed by a Latino artist at Texas Stadium that evening.

ESPN Deportes, the official Spanish-language television home for all MNF games, will send its entire broadcast team – Martín, Allegre and sideline reporter John Sutcliffe – to Dallas for the match-up between the Águilas and Vaqueros (the teams’ Spanish names, which will appear on Texas Stadium scoreboards during periods of the game). ESPN Deportes will cover the anthem ceremony during the NFL Esta Noche pre-game show, as well as the halftime entertainment performance by popular Latin pop duo Prima J, featuring cousins Jessica and Janelle Martinez.

“We’re excited to partner with ESPN to shine a national spotlight on Hispanic Heritage Month,” says Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president, marketing and sales. “The Monday Night telecast will kick off festivities across the country to honor the NFL’s Hispanic players and fans.”

“The MNF game telecasts on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, as well as surrounding coverage and promotional support across multiple ESPN platforms, will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and the passion that Hispanics have long had for the NFL,” says John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, program acquisitions & strategy.

The NFL, ESPN and the Cowboys will host a MNF Chalk Talk Luncheon the day of the game for 150 invited guests at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Dallas. Alumni players from both the Eagles and Cowboys will participate in the event, which will emphasize the Hispanic Heritage Celebration. Martín and Allegre will also be part of the panel of NFL experts, and a local Hispanic non-profit organization will be among the groups recognized for its work in the Dallas community.

In anticipation of the Eagles-Cowboys game, “Fútbol Americano” messaging will be integrated into ESPN’s MNF promotion across television, radio, online and print. (ESPN promotional support will continue the following week in anticipation of Hispanic Heritage Celebration events planned in San Diego around the Jets-Chargers MNF game.) The NFL will air new spots from its “We are fans!” television campaign in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month. Also, a print ad will run in USA Today Sports as a complement to the TV campaign, driving tune-in to the MNF Hispanic Heritage Month game.

Hispanic Heritage Month activities in Dallas will begin Saturday, September 7, when Texas Stadium and the Cowboys host the 30th annual Fiestas Patrias, the largest free outdoor Hispanic Music Festival in Texas. ¡En Vivo!, the ESPN Deportes interactive traveling stadium, will be part of the celebration. Local community outreach events continue September 13, with an NFL Play 60 Youth Football Festival, also at Texas Stadium. The festival will include NFL Flag clinics, as well as an NFL Flag exhibition game between Los Diablitos from Mexico City and a local Dallas NFL Flag team. Los Diablitos are the national champions of NFL Tochito, the NFL Flag football program in Mexico. They will be honored at Texas Stadium on field at halftime at the Monday Night Football game.

The National Football League is committed to serving football fans of all cultures and recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month as a special time and opportunity to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic players, coaches, front-office personnel and fans.

ESPN’s month-long Hispanic Heritage Month celebration will kick off September 1 with an integrated campaign across various ESPN entities, including television, radio, print and online. Titled “Hispanics in and off the Field,” the campaign celebrates the many contributions Hispanics have made in the world of sports. ESPN’s Hispanic Heritage Month schedule will feature two new programs and daily 30-second vignettes honoring Hispanic athletes. Themed programming will include J.C. Chávez, a film about the feats of Julio César Chávez, undisputedly one of the best Hispanic boxers of all time. Directed by Diego Luna of breakout hit Y Tu Mamá También (2001), the film examines Mexico’s adoration of the iconic six-time world title champion and will make its television premiere Saturday, September 27 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN Deportes and ESPN Classic. In addition, dominoes, considered one of the most popular pastimes among Hispanics, will also take center stage during Hispanic Heritage Month with the premiere of the VI World Domino Championship September 23-25 at 8 p.m

Popularity: 34% [?]

US comedy show Ugly Betty has scooped three awards at the Hispanic Artists Awards, which recognises outstanding Latin Americans in film, TV and music.

America Ferrera, who stars as Betty Suarez, won entertainer of the year at the ceremony at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California.

The comedy series also won awards for directing and best performance by a Latino-led ensemble cast.

Singer Shakira was honoured with the Humanitarian award.

A host of artists, including BeBe Winans, Wynonna Judd and Lucero, performed a tribute to Linda Ronstadt, who received the trailblazer award for her contributions to American music.

The Black Eyed Peas, the Cheetah Girls, Sergio Mendes and Cheech and Chong also performed at the ceremony, hosted by Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Red Full Article

Since its launch in 1999, the New York International Latino Film Festival has always had plenty to offer on a global scale - especially with the filmmakers coming from different Hispanic backgrounds here and abroad.

Despite these differences, all share one common goal: the desire to change perceptions about Latino culture through the art of film.

Now in its ninth year, NYILFF runs Tuesday through Sunday at four Manhattan venues and includes several New York premieres among the more than 80 documentaries, shorts and features that not only break stereotypes about Latinos, but celebrate the diversity of the community.

The directors’ backgrounds are as unique as the movies themselves. Here’s a look at three films with New York ties:

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