Zoot Suit Riot Tickets

The Zoot Suits, with characteristically high wastes, bold yard-long key chains, wide lapels, tight cuffs, bold glistening shoes and statement-making wide legs, were more than just a way of telling oneself apart, or identifying with a certain ideology; they were a precedent to the slowly emerging concept of what it means to be ‘cool’ in America. The show revisits the trend-setting, mood-defining suits made their way into music, prompting the 1980s swing band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies to name a song as well as an album after them. In fact, the performance features songs like Hey Pachuco and Zoot Suit Riots. The historically-themed party has tickled many a swing band, rock, punk music fans to grab hold of the Zoot Suit Riot tickets already.

During the Twentieth Century a large number of Mexican immigrated to the USA, where they later underwent racial discriminated from all corners of society, including media, job opportunities and on the road. By the 1930s, the young Mexican lot, whom the newspapers addressed as Chicanos created their specific youth culture adopting their own language, dress and music. They wore zoot suits as a symbol of patriotism, racial protest and as a deliberate public way of flouting prejudiced regulations. Soon enough several incidents took place that only widened the gulf between the zoot-suited Latinos and whites, where the former were condemned and sent to prison owing to the misrepresentation of the latter. The production of these suits was even banned for certain time, but many tailors still continued to stitch them and the Mexicans continued wearing them. In fact, there were incidents when these suits were stripped off a group of zoot-suited boys, and burnt. Since the zoot suits were a strong instrument for the Mexicans to openly protest the authority’s prejudiced perspectives, and were the direct means of identifying themselves as Mexican individuals with their own culture, the riots that followed during this time came to be known as the Zoot Suit Riots. This marked the first time when dressing up against the generally accepted dress-code, was a way of asserting the rebellious spirit. This attitude can today be seen among rock, punk and grunge artists, among many others.

In 1997, American ska-swing band Cherry Poppin’ Daddies released a compilation album called Zoot Suit Riots, comprising of all their jazz and swing-influenced songs from their three initial albums. It was spotted on Top Heatseekers charts on Billboard as well as on the seventeenth position on Billboard 200. But more than its impressive charting results, the album was a hit since it led the brief revival of the long gone swing genre in the late 1990s. The album consists of songs Shake Your Lovemaker, Dr. Bones, Pink Elephant, Come Back to Me, Mr. White Keys, When I Change Ma Mind, Ding-Dong Daddy of D-Car Line, Master and Slave, No Mercy For Swine, Drunk Daddy and Brown Derby Jump. The Daddies themselves are famous for their swing/ska reputation, and critics have referred to them as ‘power swing’, ‘punk swing’ and even ‘big band punk rock’.

The Daddy’s song Zoot Suit Riot, which was part of their album by the same name, reflects the jump blues musical style widely prevalent in the 1940s. Its lyrical content, center on the Los Angles riots of the forties, especially its underlying meanings portray an inspirational perspective on the historical riots. In fact, in 2009, the song’s writer said that the song, in spirit, was like the rallying cry of a Pachuco that it was dance anthem of sorts for those who love swing culture and music, while it was also a way of expression proud marginalism. The upcoming show of the same name, celebrates exactly this and will be performing this incredible track, so make sure you grab some Zoot Suit Riot tickets , jazz and be there.