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chicago is more home than
home. we’ve had some
remarkably cool shows in
the city, and of course
at ravinia too. chicago
just brings the best
out of us.
Los Lobos founders
(left to right, above)
Cesar Rosas, Conrad
Lozano, Louie Perez,
and David Hidalgo left
such an impression on
Steve Berlin (right) 40
years ago that despite
not being native to
their music tradition,
he eagerly began
playing with the band
two years later and
became a permanent
member four years
after that. Their June 1
concert is their third
pairing with Los Lonely
Boys at Ravinia since
their 2008 concert
(pictured).
at same year, the band record-
ed
How Will the Wolf Survive?
, their
rst major-label release; it won critical
acclaim and cracked
Billboard
’s Top
.
e title track, in particular, is a special
one—it was inspired by a
National
Geographic
article about wolves, but
you don’t have to be an English major
to suss out the metaphor. (“Los lobos”
is Spanish, of course, for “the wolves.”)
Co-written by Hidalgo and Perez, the
song’s lyrics clearly re ect concerns
about their place as artists and citizens
in a country of immigrants that para-
doxically remains hostile to its newer
arrivals: “Sounds across the nation /
Coming from your hearts and minds /
Battered drums and old guitars / Singing
songs of passion / It’s the truth that they
all look for / Something they must keep
alive / Will the wolf survive?”
e mid-’ s were a fertile time for
the group, even before the enormous
break that made Los Lobos famous.
Berlin still played sessions on his own;
for example, he lent his sax to R.E.M.
for
Document
, most prominently on
“Fireplace,” but also on the superior Mu-
tual Drum Horn Mix version of “Finest
Worksong.” (He remains friends with
the band’s Mike Mills and Peter Buck.)
Collectively—and more notoriously—
Los Lobos appeared in studio to help
Paul Simon when the latter recorded
Graceland
; according to Berlin, Simon
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