Amor Revolucionario – Revolutionary Love

I often say it,  Revolutionary Love.. Amor Revolucionario.. Inin otik chichike kanoche nin toyolo — This I write/share this from my heart

Amor Revolucionario
(Revolutionary Love)
By Patrisia Gonzales

I once fell in love with a voice over the radio that woke me up each morning with words of love for his people.

I once loved a man because he could sing 101 songs in the fields as he worked as a farmworker.

I loved another because he had a laugh that embraced all those around him, though he had been tortured.

These men, I loved for their acts. I loved them, as I have loved others, for the stories they gave me. They were not meant nor destined for romantic love. I shared with them “revolutionary love.”

And then I began to love a man page by page, from a book he wrote about surviving death and disappearance. His revolutionary love called out to me, and I married him. Revolutionary love does not have to lead to romance, though when the two arrive together, their marriage makes the relationship a destiny. This alchemy of revolution of spirit and matter and love has helped us endure the hard times in a relationship that seemed to defy reason. Learning to love became my act against oppression.

Mexican freedom-fighter Benita Galeana first taught me about revolutionary love. She was nearing 90 and had a houseful of men and women who adored her and pampered her. Emissaries from freedom struggles the world over paid her visits. Of the men, especially, she’d say, “Ellos me tienen amor revolucionario!” (They have revolutionary love for me!)

Che Guevara once said that true revolutionaries were motivated by love. While living in Mexico City, I got to shake Nelson Mandela’s hands after his release from prison. Madiba’s hands were big and strong, and I felt the revolutionary love for his people that kept him alive while imprisoned for decades on Robben Island.

Even those of us who are not freedom fighters can love in a revolutionary way because of our love for doing what is just and good. “Amor revolucionario” is the love I have for the people organized to transform their conditions and for all people anywhere who are treated inhumanely. It is a love for freedom and a passion for a different kind of life than what’s accepted as normal.

Once, while having dinner with some comprades, we had an intense discussion about acting with love. They said they did things with love. I said I cannot love everyone, but as a Buddhist, I can have compassion for everyone. Love, for me, is inspired by some kind of deeper relationship. But I do love certain people, sometimes from first sight, because of how they live. I love men and women with revolutionary love because they give me hope for the possibility of change. I love them as brothers and sisters, and sometimes not at all like that, but as simply men and women who dare take a stand.

Perhaps revolutionary love is biochemical and molecular and releases endorphins like romantic love and chocolate. And it is deeply spiritual. In this country, romantic love and lust are glamorized by Hollywood. It’s a sugary love, scantily clad and drunk with illusions that allow people to accept the deceit of comforts. Revolutionary love is coarse dark chocolate, ground with cinnamon and chile, and a truth that makes you naked. And it’s just a bit bitter.

Revolutionary love, like Love, can sting. It can keep you up at night because of unrequited ideals. You can go hungry because of it. It can blind you with anger, causing you to strike out and judge others because you can no longer tolerate life’s contradictions (so why can they?). Or because what you have sacrificed for what seems impossible and illusive. It can drive you crazy — I know many who have succumbed to what Roberto calls “revolutionary madness.”

I believe our lives are a love story — to love ourselves, to love what we do, and to search for purpose so that we can love how we live. For those of us who have survived injustices and violence, to love is a primal, everyday act against injustice. For all revolutionary love leads back to our souls for the revolution that begins inside of us, so that we can begin to love, and change

Alfredo, A leader for THE PEOPLE

Alfredo Gutierrez, an Arizona Civil Rights leader and myself in 2002. Alfredo ran unsuccessful for Governor in 2002.

“We shall arm ourselves, and in America, the only weapon that counts is the vote. Be prepared to defeat those who humiliate us and defend those who stand with us.” – Alfredo Gutierrez

When I started college in March of 2001, I never intended ever to become politically active. In high school I had been involved in M.E.Ch.A (Movimento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) organization, a Hispanic student group dedicated to promoting high education among Hispanics. The group offers opportunities to young Hispanics for leadership development, community service, political activism, cultural awareness and educational enrichment. I also realized that MEChA was also in college, so wanting to make a few friends I started hanging out with the group.

In September of 2001, something happened that changed my life. To me, it was something more sentimental then the 9-11 New York tragedy.

I became devastated by the murder of 21 month-old Liana Sandoval. Liana was the daughter of my cousin, Tony.  Liana’s mother confessed to police the toddler had been beaten to death, and she and her boyfriend had weighted the girl’s body with a rock and dumped it into a canal.

The pair was arrested on multiple charges which included first degree murder, child abuse, and the mother also was charged with failure to protect her child.

As I wrote a commentary for the The Voice, The Glendale Community College campus newspaper, “Before this news and event unfolded, there were warning signs. Months before, Liana’s father Anthony Sandoval and his family were noticing signs of abuse on his two daughters Isabella and Liana. Neighbors also claimed that Liana and her older sister, Isabella, were often left alone. This information was reported to Child Protective Services; yet, CPS was unable to come up with any hard substantial evidence of neglect or abuse.”

There was something wrong with the system and I began to question Child Protection Services agency and the people supposed to protect this young child.

In October of 2001, Alfredo Gutierrez, or just simply Alfredo as everyone knows him by, decided to visit MEChA organizations throughout Phoenix announcing he would run for Governor and was looking for individuals and volunteers wanting to get involved in the political system.  I had known about Alfredo from reading about the history of MEChA in Arizona.

Alfredo was from a small mining community called Miami. As a teenager he often attended union meetings and learned how to union organize which made it effective when he was started organizing students in college. In 1968, Alfredo organized MASO (Mexican American Student Organization) at Arizona State University.  MASO would then later unite under the MEChA banner.

In November of 1968, Alfredo Gutierrez organized a march on the President of ASU to protest what they felt was an unethical alliance with a company who was hiring Mexican workers at below minimum wage and without benefits. His organization collected over 5,000 signatures in support of their cause, then led 300 students in a march to the administration building to meet with President Durham. That march turned in to a two day sit in. Alfredo was such an effective leader of student protest that the administration created a ‘bizarre student code of conduct/rules’ to mainly target him and get him kicked out, which did happen. Many years later, they would end up awarding him with a DOCTORATE. In 1972, Alfredo ran to become a State Senator and won. In 1974, he became the nation’s youngest state legislative majority leader. He went on to serve in the State Senate till 1986 as both the Minority and Majority leader.

I decided that this was my shot at getting involved in politics. I kept in touch with Alfredo as he gave me his cell number and many times answering when I called. In March of 2002, a friend and I set up a gubernatorial debate on my campus in which we invited the candidates for Governor to have a forum in which to reach out to the students and also hopefully get them involved as well. It was here when I decided I was going to fully help Alfredo in his campaign for Governor as a fulltime student volunteer. All spring, I visited other campuses across the state of Arizona telling other students about Alfredo. Then in the summer, I would spend a majority of my day at the Alfredo for Governor Campaign office in Phoenix doing various errands. It was during this time Alfredo taught me how to network. He opened many doors for me introducing me to various community, business and organization leaders. Then one day he invited me to meet Bill Clinton, who would stop by Phoenix to assist and help raise funds for the Democratic Party. At the end of the summer, Alfredo didn’t end up winning the primary but I did end up learning a lot on how the political participation works, how it affects those who are involved and those who don’t raise a voice to their own concerns. The most important, I ended up learning a lot about myself and what was really important to me.

The Aftermath:

To this day, Alfredo still often comes over and greets me with a big smile and an “abrazo” as I still continue to cross paths these days at rallies, marches or community events. He still fights for the poor and disposed, mainly the immigrant community.

On October 15, 2011, he was arrested along with 45 other individuals at the “Occupy Phoenix” rally.

He was acting as a liaison between the members of the movement and the city. In an interview with Ed Montini of the Arizona Republic he said “I thought the city and the city manager acted in bad faith,” he said. “I decided that the protesters had been duped, and I felt like in trying to serve as a bridge between them and the city, I had played a part. So I went to jail with them. What you had out there, for the most part, were a lot of idealistic kids who weren’t threatening violence or doing anything of the sort.”

Alfredo maintains a web site known as “La Frontera Times”

You can reach the web site by going too: http://www.lafronteratimes.com/

To reach Alfredo Gutierrez through twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LaFronteraTimes

To read Alfredo Gutierrez’s Blog please visit: http://alfredosblog.lafronteratimes.com/

Adam Lyons, The Real Life ‘Hitch’

I had a student the other day; he’s like, “I don’t want talk to her, she’s not hot.” I was like WOW! You’re amazing. There are so many levels we can talk about this, by the way. That statement itself says so much about him. We can automatically go to the fact that he’s automatically judging what beauty is. Well in that case, anybody that he judges better judge him back because they leave themselves open to it. – Adam Lyons (on Judging Beauty)

Great coach and friend Adam Lyons and myself. Adam Lyons is a Social Dynamics and Attraction Coach, recognized as one of the top in the World.

Prior to 2006, I was deeply involved in politics, I was good at talking with an older generations, and a younger generation, and those people always embraced me as an equal, yet I was often having trouble communicating with people my own age, and if I did communicate with them, I always felt like there was never a genuine or emotional connection. I really lacked that equilibrium in my life.

In January of 2006, after getting my heart broken, I spent much time in deep depression.  I felt miserable. I spent many months trying to figure what I had done wrong in my relationship.  I went through almost 2 years of DEPRESSION. Yet during this time, different people in my life were dragging me out to try and expand my peripheral vision of life. I realized that overall; my social interactions with people were not good. I was frustrated, sometimes desperate and when people intertwine frustration and desperation, it leads to a real sad state real quickly.  I decided I wanted to get serious about not just learning, but mastering the art of the social interaction.

My problem was I invested too much in others and I never felt I received it, so this always caused a heart ache in me. Giving value is one thing, investing in someone is another. This was my biggest problem trying to distinguish from the two. I didn’t realize this until much later on what I was doing wrong, until I met Adam Lyons, a man who I would later on meet and he would help remove certain veils that our own personal egos will blind us with.

In 2007, I got a job as a salesman. I was motivated, but during this time, I felt I was starting to lose myself. I was still going through depression and I also felt like my identity was being lost in the process. Being a salesman, I often felt like I was not genuine with people.  I was losing my inner core. I felt like a robot.  Then my life took a real turn in 08. I got released from a sales job, which was I real good at. I got another job and it made me realize how big of an EGO I really had and how this was holding me back in my interactions. I knew there were social interaction coaches out there but I was really unsure what style I really wanted to learn. There were so many teachers and so many theories, but I was not sure what would suit me the best. I wanted the fundamentals broken down.

In November of 2008, someone told me about social interaction coach Adam Lyons who was from London England. It seems Adam Lyons was rated the #1 pick-up artist in Europe, and rated #3 in the world by the pick-up community. He taught men how to improve their communication with other people. I added him on Facebook not knowing what to really expect, I guess I was just another Joe shmoe on his friends list, but when I meet people, I don’t want to meet them and get to know them for their profession, but I want to genuine and get to know them outside as much as possible. If anything I want something to offer in return. He’s from London, I’m in Arizona. I never thought I’d ever meet him, or take one of his socializing courses; I mean what are the chances of meeting someone who is half way around the world?  So I brushed him off as another name on my Facebook. Then I thought about what I had done. I thought about it for at least 3 weeks. On December 9, 2008 I sent Adam a message wishing him happy birthday and saying that one day I wanted to sit down, chat and get to know him not just as a teacher but as a friend. I was astonished he replied to my comment since he must have had over 3000 birthday wishes that day.

In January of 2009, I learned that a certain company from England he was working for was going to be selling only 1000 of an 8 DVD Set on psychology of social interaction. I jumped at the process of purchasing it and when my DVDS arrived, I popped one in. I didn’t care for the speaker on the 1^st DVD, but when I inserted to watch the 2nd DVD, it opened a whole new world to me. Adam Lyons was teaching on this DVD.

I was blown away how he had broken theory down. I learned about how he used his social circle to create other interactions. I was blown away I tell you… Being somewhat a student of psychology, I understood what he had to say because he was not using complicated words. I understood the dynamics he talked and teached. This DVD that I saw on him made me want to devour everything I could find online about Adam Lyons.  I searched online for any audios, videos, anything I could find on the guy.  I just felt that I had to meet him. I was going to do whatever it would take to not only meet this guy, but also take one of his classes.

Problem though. He’s in London. I’m in Arizona.  Then I learned his company would be flying him out to different cities in the United States so he could teach his classes in the United States.

In April of 2009, I started saving money up to take his class in Los Angeles for May, but realized I would come up short of funds. The dilemma I had was that I could go and take his class and not have a place to stay, or I could have a place to stay and not take his class. Then I learned he would be speaking at a seminar on Sunday Night, May 3rd 2009. It would have to do; I wanted to meet him, Even if it was a quick handshake and hello.

So on the night of May 2nd, I drove all the way from Phoenix to Los Angeles just to meet him in L.A. the next day. I was nervous at the seminar. I not only recognized him, but I recognized his fiancé at the time, Amanda Torres. His seminar was packed, but as he walked in, and I was sitting in the back, I looked up and saw him, and he saw him and he said, “Hello Gabe, how you doing,”  This literally shocked me that he not only recognized me but actually remembered our conversation from Facebook several months back. Adam Lyons talked a lot about things I already knew about at the seminar. To me, it was just a refresher, but what I enjoyed most was when he talked, he doesn’t make things technical or complicated like other teachers. He talks in everyday terms that even a child could understand.

I snapped many photos of him, his friends, and him and who at the time was his fiancée Amanda. Some of these pictures he used as his pictures for Facebook.

A week later after meeting Adam, I learned he was going to be teaching a 3 day class in July 2009 in Scottsdale Arizona, and for me, it was a weekend that would change my life and take my interactions to another level as I know it now. I signed up for the course. When I met Adam, I give him and his wife Amanda a gift; it was a picture I had taken of him, his wife and several friends when I first met them in Los Angeles.

During the course of the seminar Adam said he would take us out to a public setting and we had little missions we had to accomplish with the things he had taught us in the seminar. So he taught several other individuals who were there, along with myself.

On the first night of his course, Friday, Adam wanted to assess my abilities to see how much I knew. He wanted to figure what bad habits needed fixing and what the diagnosis for my reprogramming.  For a majority of the night I froze. This scared me a great deal because since I first started interacting with people in 2006, I rarely felt this fear or anxiety I was feeling. I had gone up to random strangers to talk to them many of times before, and yet I could not do it this time. Maybe because I felt like I was under a microscope.  Maybe I felt the pressure of being judged, being the shadow of someone who I saw so great at what I wanted to learn.

I got to a point in which I was yelling to myself inside my head, “stop thinking, you know how to lighten up and control crowds…”  I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs, and at one time I fought hard to keep the tears inside. I honestly wanted to hide. I was so mad at myself for not being able to ‘pull the trigger’ at certain moments. Definitely an uneasy feeling because I knew I could do it, and I just wasn’t doing it.

Adam took me aside and gave me a quick personal pep talk and I calmed down. He then had me go up to a certain girl and told me he was not leaving until I got her number or at least talked to her for five minutes. I really did not want to talk to her at all thinking I would have nothing in common, but it was now or never. We chatted, and this woman wanted to keep in contact with me so we exchanged phone numbers.  What was amazing about this girl was that she was from out of town, but I had visited her extremely small city in Missouri where she was from, so we were able to talk about what we both had in common for a great amount of time. I didn’t think anything was really going to come out of the interaction, but the next night, that girl called me and invited me over to hang out which caused me to be late on the last day of the course. Who would have known?

After Adam’s 3 day course, I came to realize that I had all the tools all along, but he taught me in what order to use those tools and how to use them properly. Adam taught me the difference between giving value and investing in someone. He said ‘Value vs. Investment’ was going to change many of the affected facets of not only with personal interactions I had with people, but also mentally and emotionally things I struggled with. He personally taught me something called “social game,” on how to use the network of people around you to introduce you to other people, and also taught me how to properly use “frame control,” both which he will rarely ever teach anyone.

Since meeting Adam Lyons, several of my friends all tell me that since that time that I did not do a 180, but I do a total 900 in my life and how I live. They ask how… I say… Adam Lyons.  I always joke to my friends that he has a PhD in Attraction since he has broken down Attraction down to a physics equation, and he does.

(C-R) + Q + SE = Attraction. 

He also taught me the various forms of attraction (general attraction and physical attraction) and what draws people to us or us drawn to them. I have been able to reverse engineer many of my interactions with people and see the basis of how each letter works.

(Comfort – Rapport) + Qualification + Escalation = Attraction

On September 13, 2009, I was fortunate enough to have run in to Adam and Amanda in Las Vegas, were he introduced me to other great social art interaction teachers. We hung out at the Palms hotel for a great amount of time.

He has taught thousands of men in his seminars and course classes who want to learn the ‘Art of Attraction,’ but for me it was never about ‘picking up’ to me it was about learning how to make my interactions more meaningful and more powerful with people, in which he did help me accomplish.

To this day, often throughout his extremely busy herculean schedule, Adam will call me or email me from time to time to see how I am doing.  Aside from that, it is those times when Adam will continue to teach me other things to build on what he has already showed me. I have realized I was always great at many things, but I came to learn that I didn’t know how to bring out those qualities out from within myself and how to properly display them in my interactions. Adam taught me how to do so and it makes me feel more connected with whomever I was interacting with. To this day, knowing and learning that, it gives me a real sense of security within myself.

All my answers were not solved right away. It wasn’t like Adam gave me a “magic pill” to solve all my problems. I had to put in the work and practice. I realized by being social and practicing, I would meet people from all venues of life, photographers, accountants, cooks, promoters, beauticians, fitness trainers, fashion designers, musicians, people who worked in different places , actually people from all walks of life. etc. etc.

I pushed myself by getting out of my comfort zone by attending places in my area I had never gone too, like trying new restaurants, going to music shows of bands I had never heard. In a way it will somewhat remind you of “Jim Carrey” in the movie “Yes Man” when he grows as a personal individual and expanding his horizons. This allowed me to build momentum and connections I felt I had lost during my years of depression.  All this would not only help me grow as a person but it would show to others that I was a person to be valued because of the people I know or things I had tried. When a girl needed help with her taxes, I know someone I could call, when a friend would be looking for a venue to throw a party, I remembered a venue manager I had met a couple weeks prior. When someone needed a favor, they could always turn to me. One can learn what is taught, but if it is not practiced, then it does you NO use. This goes back to what Adam taught me, “Value vs. Investment”

Some of the few of questions on “Value vs. Invesment’ I will ask myself often; What do I value? How DO I show of give value? How do I know I am getting value in return? Is it worth Investing? Do I feel as I’m investing too much or too little?

There’s a lot of responsibility that goes along with what I learned from Adam, the thing is, today, I am more focused and motivated than I’ve ever been. Adam Lyons and his wife Amanda really redefined, in my own mind, what I was capable of doing. My confidence, my beliefs in myself are STARTING to mold and take shape,  not just in social interactions, but other aspects of my life as well.

Thank You Adam for being not only a great teacher, but also a very great friend as well.

The Aftermath:

Since I have met Adam Lyons, three times (Los Angeles, Scottsdale and Las Vegas) in 2009, He went on to marry the gorgeous and beautiful spirit Amanda Torres Lyons. Prior to 2009, He was well known in the London England nightclub circuit, getting paid by clubs to bring girls, who he had friended. This was a big reason; I really wanted to learn from Adam, he knew how to live is ‘a entertaining lifestyle.’ During this course of time, he met Amanda Torres through his circle of friends who were mainly women. After two years, he moved to America to be with her and they got married in the summer of 2009 at the age of 28. In December of 2009, He was rated the #1 Pickup Artist in The World which says a lot about his journey in life, since at the age of 15 he was voted ‘least likely to ever get a girlfriend’ in school by his classmates. He claims he had limited success with women until his mid-twenties, until he read a book that changed his life. He is now one regarded as one of the top dating coaches in the world.

To add Adam Lyons on Twitter, visit http://www.twitter.com/AFCAdam

To learn more about Adam Lyons, visit his website at http://www.attractionexplained.com/

Dr. René Díaz-Lefebvre

I first wrote this in December 2003. This is about a man who I consider one of my mentors in college. I would sit in his office and we would talk often for hours and hours in both English and Spanish about anything, school, politics, family, culture. I recall him saying to me once, ‘You belong in a University like Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, you are too advanced for this setting.’ When I first met this man, I was so relieved at what I had been preaching for years about education teaching reform could officially be backed up by this man in a scholarly format. Let me introduce you to one of the greatest teachers I have ever met.

Professor creates legacy with multiple intelligences program.

By Gabriel Cruz

An older man with broad shoulders wearing blue denim jeans, tennis shoes, and a polo shirt sat down in a classroom filled with people of a younger generation. He gives off the impression that he is a student himself, but then you notice his long silver mustache, slicked back salt and pepper hair and deep dark powerful eyes of an eagle. You get the sentiment that you are in the presence of an aristocrat, yet he is very humble, because of the commanding presence he displays.

On Nov. 21, 2003, the same man, René Díaz-Lefebvre of the Glendale Community College psychology department was awarded the “Faculty of the Year” award by the Arizona Association of Chicanos of Higher Education in Tucson at the Pima Community College West Campus.

“Pima is a special place to me. I had returned home, and the feeling was surreal,” said Díaz-Lefebvre.

As the first student ever to be enrolled at Pima back when it was still an airport hangar, one would think he was creating a legacy, but his family saga in Tucson goes even further back in time. His great grandfather Jose Antonio Comanduran was one of the first commandants of the Tucson Presidio in the 1700s. His great great uncle was Sabino Otero. Sabino Canyon, a scenic area in Tucson, and Sabino High school area named after him. This is just a small line of a dignified bloodline that Díaz-Lefebvre comes from. People had doubts about Díaz-Lefebvre early on though.

At the age of seven, several of his instructors visited his home and told his mother he was incompetent at learning the material presented to him and would never amount to much, but his mother told him, “Mijo, yo se que tú eres la más inteligente persona en el universo,” which translates in English to, “Son, I know you are the most intelligent person in the universe.” Many years later, after falling asleep in the Library of Harvard University, Díaz-Lefebvre awoke in tears after having a lucid dream about his mother visiting him, and reminding him how much she believed in him, and how much he really did belong at Harvard just like anyone else.

In 1983, Díaz-Lefebvre became captivated with the examination of Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligence Theory. Gardner argued that “intelligence is not some static reality fixed at birth and measured by testing and that contrary to traditional teaching, that one’s intelligence was actually comprised of eight or more intelligences. Utilizing the methods, students get out of their comfort zones and explore several ways of learning.”

Eleven years later, as Díaz-Lefebvre felt that too many students were falling through the cracks of education; he decided to introduce the Multiple Intelligence/Learning for understand program (MI/LfU) at Glendale Community College as an experiment. He knew all the students ‘were smart, but it was how smart they were,’ that captured Díaz-Lefebvre’s mind.

The eight components used in the MI/LfU are Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalist, Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical or Linguistic.

“This program allows students to become mini-experts in their fields of study, and then they teach their friends around them,” says Díaz-Lefebvre. “Today’s learner is visual, hands on, and that is a challenge for the paper-test method. We as people come in all potentials and capabilities, and the paper test method makes students feel like one size fits all, when we all do not see life the same way. Students want choices because that is what life is about, choices.”

Díaz-Lefebvre feels that sometimes motivation for students is to memorize the answers to the questions, take the test, get it over with, yet they never understand or remember the material.

For his work on progressive ways for students to learn, he has given over 100 keynote addresses, seminars , and workshops not only nationwide, but he has also been invited to speak at international conferences around the world. Díaz-Lefebvre’s office is filled with “Who’s Who among America’s teachers” awards and was recently recognized as one of the 2000 most outstanding scholars of the 21^st century. He also recently appeared on a PBS documentary.

Díaz-Lefebvre and MI/LfU Program faculty are constantly nominated as one of the ten finalists nationwide for the Bellweather Award.

“This program (MI/LfU) allows students to be accountable, yet also creative on how they go about understand the material taught to them,” says Díaz-Lefebvre

[Since I had wrote this in December of 2003, I have come to learn that Dr. Díaz-Lefebvre has won so many more prestigious awards, please read read more on Dr. Díaz-Lefebvre at http://web.gccaz.edu/~rdiaz/bio.doc

To contact René Díaz-Lefebvre : Rene.Diaz@gcmail.maricopa.edu]

DJ AL3

AL3 and myself in Vegas in 2008 (Courtesy of Christian Audriger Nightclub web site)

 (First wrote this March 22, 2009, I have   since somewhat edited it)

 If you are a fan of DJs, or music, I’m sure you are going to want to read about this guy.

I am a fan and friend of a DJ by the name of  Albert Lineses III, better known as AL3.

What can I say about AL3?

He’s a multiple time National DJ Champion, and DJ Times International DJ Champion and has the world record by mixing for 66 hours live without any sleep, drugs or caffeine, back in 2000, on Labor day weekend. Currently he is the ONLY DJ for the UFC. He also DJs at various clubs in Las Vegas.

 

The first time you see him, you will notice his big white grin or freshly shaved head, and you will probably mistake him for a Vin Diesel, although his body structure frame is not as large as Vinnie D’s.

I first heard of AL3 when I was a teenager in the 90s when he was often DJ’ing in Phoenix at “Zazoos” or Club Tribeca, which as a teenager I would often try and find a way to get in. He would also spin live on WGN for Thump Dance TV.

I got involved in politics and lost interest of the “nightclub scene” till in 2006 when I returned. I started frequenting locations in which AL3 DJ’d as he always  brought large crowds to pack the clubs, yet there was something about his DJ style that I could not grasp though. He played the regular hit music, yet wherever he went, he lit up crowds, there was certainly something special to it.

I spoke with him from time to time, many times after he would get on the mic and throw a big shout out for me at the clubs. I got some of his cards, and started passing them out at youth conferences I spoke at, many times, these youth would hit me up with emails asking where I discovered his style.

In 2008 I decided to pay him a visit in Vegas, where he was DJ’ing at the Christian Audigier Nightclub on the night of my visit.  So here it was happened. I went to the club around 9pm to find out if I would be allowed with my camera in to the club. The promoter said no for certain P.R. reasons. I was cool with it. So I went to eat since I had not eaten all day and as I was leaving the club, I see AL3 walking on to the Casino Floor. I mean that’s just the aura he carries. I mean, this is Vegas, what are your chances of running in to someone you know, in another city, coincidently without any communication of meeting?

So we briefly talked and I told him I would return.

Later I returned and there was long long line to get in. So as I was waiting in line to get  in, three girls came up behind me and were frustrated.

One of them said, ‘What the hell do I have to do to get in the club right now, show my boobs?’

Another girl said, ‘Let’s go to another club, I don’t think it’s even worth waiting.’

I overhearing the converstaion I quickly responded to both of them, ‘AL3 is here tonight, he is a Multi-National DJ Champion, You have to check him out… It’s going to be worth the wait..’

The third girl responded, ‘How do you know? Are you from here?’

I pulled out one of AL3’s cards from my wallet and handed it to her. I have many of his cards that I often hand to people. I then pointed to the AL3 poster on the wall.

The first girl said to the other, ‘Oh hell no, we are staying here.. we need to check him out.’

AL3 had me on the guest list, but I didn’t mind the wait.

While I was there I gained a bigger appreciation for his style and realized how much I missed watching him spin at the clubs every Friday and Saturday Night in Phoenix on a weekly basis.

At the end of the night, which was 5am, a promoter came up to Al3 and asked how he was able to keep the club packed and interested for so long since other nights at the same club when he is not there it is often dead.

I then overhead AL3 telling this promother about how certain beats of music give off certain vibes of music and that it must be paced and slowly progressed at certain hours of the night. He talked, ‘If you start off too fast, people will get tired of dancing and leave early. Play at a steady pace and people will stay a bit and drink and the bartenders will be happy.’

I was just amazed how he broke DJ’ing down from not only a social emotional aspect that it brings to others, but also how it affects business. It just blew my mind away for him to break those aspects down.

In July 2011, I was going through a tough time in my life and I guess AL3 noticed it because he invited me to lunch. We met up and we talked, and he re-asserted many of my own personal beliefs and gave positive suggestions for my own personal growth. Awesome to know he went out of his way to make time for a friend. Thanks AL3, it is much appreciated.

Check out his FREE DOWNLOADS at http://www.AL3.com and you can also add him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/almf3