The Champs

The Champs were an American rock and roll band, most famous for their Latin-tinged instrumental "Tequila". The group was formed by studio executives at Gene Autry's Challenge Records to record a B-side for the Dave Burgess (aka Dave Dupree) single, "Train to Nowhere". The intended throwaway track became more famous than its A-side, as "Tequila" went to No. 1 in just three weeks and the band became the first group to go to the top spot with an instrumental that was their first release. The song was recorded at Gold Star Studios in fall 1957, and in 1959 won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

"Tequila!" was written by the saxophone player Danny Flores, although he was credited as Chuck Rio because he was under contract to another record label at the time. Flores, who died in September 2006, was known as the "Godfather of Latino rock." Flores' "dirty sax" and his low-voiced "Tequila!" are the hallmarks of the song. Flores signed away the U.S. rights to the song but retained world-wide rights until his death. Dale Norris is still in MO and works at a Walmart in Joplin.

The Champs (podcast)

The Champs is a comedy podcast hosted by Neal Brennan, Moshe Kasher, and until 2013 DJ Douggpound (Doug Lussenhop of the Tim and Eric Show). It is part of the All Things Comedy podcast network.

Kasher said the following of the podcast in a 2011 interview with SanDiego.com: "It’s Doug dropping sound effects and beats over me and Neal kind of hosting an hour of ridiculous chat. We have a rotating black guy guest, there’s a different black guest every week." Guests of the show have included actor/comedians Wayne Brady and David Alan Grier, as well as musician Questlove, adult film star Lexington Steele and professional basketball player Blake Griffin. The show has strayed from its guest format on occasion with guests such as comedian and actor Bobby Lee, former pornographic actress Sasha Grey, former Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco and actor Aziz Ansari. In 2014 The Champs was named "Best Podcast" as part of LA Weekly's "Best of L.A." issue.

See also

  • List of The Champs episodes
  • La Cucaracha

    "La Cucaracha" (Spanish: "The Cockroach") is a traditional Spanish folk corrido that became popular in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

    Structure

    The song consists of verse-and-refrain (strophe-antistrophe) pairs, with each half of each pair consisting of four lines featuring an ABCB rhyme scheme.

    Refrain

    The song's earliest lyrics, from which its name is derived, concern a cockroach that has lost one of its six legs and is struggling to walk with the remaining five. The cockroach's uneven, five-legged gait is imitated by the song's original 5/4 meter, formed by removing one upbeat (corresponding to the missing sixth leg) from the second half of a 6/4 measure:

    Many later versions of the song, especially those whose lyrics do not mention the cockroach's missing leg(s), extend the last syllable of each line to fit the more familiar 6/4 meter.

    Verses

    The song's verses fit a traditional melody separate from that of the refrain but sharing the refrain's meter (either 5/4 or 6/4 as discussed above). In other respects, they are highly variable, usually providing satirical commentary on contemporary political or social problems or disputes.

    La cucaracha (moth)

    La cucaracha is a moth in the Crambidae family. It was described by Bleszynski in 1966. It is found in Bolivia.

    References

    La Cucaracha (horse)

    La Cucaracha (26 March 2001 9 February 2014) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Bred and owned by the Yorkshire businessman Guy Reed she was trained by Barry Hills at Lambourn. She was a specialist sprinter, who won both of her races as a juvenile but injury restricted her career to five races in two years until she emerged as a top class sprinter as a four-year-old. In 2005 she won four of her seven races including the Cammidge Trophy and Ballyogan Stakes before recording her biggest win in the Nunthorpe Stakes. La Cucaracha remained in training at five and recorded another major victory on her final racecourse appearance when she won the King George Stakes.

    Background

    La Cucaracha is a bay mare with a faint white star and a white coronet markings on her hind feet bred at Copgrove Hall in North Yorkshire by her owner Guy Reed, a former RAF engineer who had made his fortune in the frozen chicken business. She was sired by the sprinter Piccolo and thus was a male-line descendant of the Godolphin Arabian, unlike more than 95% of modern thoroughbreds, who trace their ancestry to the Darley Arabian. Piccolo's biggest win came in 1994 when he was awarded the Nunthorpe Stakes on the disqualification of Blue Siren. He went on to have some success as a sire of sprint horses including Temple of Boom (The Galaxy), Flying Blue (Chairman's Trophy), Tiddliwinks (Duke of York Stakes) and Winker Watson (July Stakes). La Cucaracha's dam Peggy Spencer won three minor races for Reed from sixteen attempts between 1994 and 1996. She was descendant of the broodmare Be Careful, the ancestor of several other major winners including Agnes World and Dubai Destination.

    Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    La Cucaracha

    by: Lila Downs

    En la misa y en la feria
    Todo el mundo ya lo sabe
    Los que llegan al gobierno
    Porque se puede comprar
    Del partido comunista
    Ya no queda casi nada
    Ahora todos van buscando
    Como hacerse millonadas
    Fue la junta de naciones
    A poner sus opiniones
    Todos no estaban de acuerdo
    Donde y cuando bombardear
    Se sientan los presidentes
    En la silla del gobierno
    Luego mandan a la guerra
    A la gente de su pueblo
    La cucaracha, la cucaracha
    Que ya no puede caminar
    Porque no tiene
    Porque le falta
    La marijuana que fumar
    Huaracha muchacha que vamoa huarachar
    Va una cucaracha que quiere comerciar,
    Toca, loca ábreme la boca,
    Buscame una coca que no quiero trabalear,
    Mica, rica para zapatear,
    Pido a Victor Jara no me vaya a doblegar,
    Chama chama al Ché Guevara,
    Una petición, una cucaracha,
    Por culpa y omision,
    La cucaracha, la cucaracha
    Que ya no puede caminar
    Porque no tiene
    Porque le falta
    La marijuana que fumar
    Todos se pelean la silla
    Que les deja mucha plata
    En el norte Pancho Villa
    Y en el sur viva Zapata!
    Ya murió la cucaracha
    Ya la llevan a enterrar
    Entre cuatro zopilotes




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