Gene Aguilera

Richard "Scar" Lopez, a founding member of Cannibal & the Headhunters, the East Los Angeles vocal group that scored a national hit in the mid-1960s with "Land of 1000 Dances," has died. He was 65. Lopez died of lung cancer July 30 in a convalescent hospital in Garden Grove, said Gene Aguilera, who managed the group a decade ago during its local comeback. They were four high school students in East L.A. — Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia, Lopez, Robert "Rabbit" Jaramillo and his brother, Joe "Yo Yo" Jaramillo — when they emerged on the national music scene in 1965.

Richard "Scar" Lopez, a founding member of Cannibal & the Headhunters, the East Los Angeles vocal group that scored a national hit in the mid-1960s with "Land of 1000 Dances," has died. He was 65. Lopez died of lung cancer July 30 in a convalescent hospital in Garden Grove, said Gene Aguilera, who managed the group a decade ago during its local comeback. They were four high school students in East L.A. — Frankie "Cannibal" Garcia, Lopez, Robert "Rabbit" Jaramillo and his brother, Joe "Yo Yo" Jaramillo — when they emerged on the national music scene in 1965.

Little Julian, if you're out there, Gene Aguilera is looking for you. A bank executive in East Los Angeles by day, Aguilera is a passionate devotee of the 1950s and '60s-era R&B-flavored pop still cherished on L.A.'s Eastside. At his spacious Montebello home, Aguilera's eyes glass over when he describes how he thrilled at age 10 to the vocal sublimities of Thee Midniters on a small transistor radio. "Here were these guys, Chicanos from the Eastside," he says. "They were just like me.

Little Julian, if you're out there, Gene Aguilera is looking for you. A bank executive in East Los Angeles by day, Aguilera is a passionate devotee of the 1950s and '60s-era R&B-flavored pop still cherished on L.A.'s Eastside. At his spacious Montebello home, Aguilera's eyes glass over when he describes how he thrilled at age 10 to the vocal sublimities of Thee Midniters on a small transistor radio. "Here were these guys, Chicanos from the Eastside," he says. "They were just like me.

The art of the comeback can be as exciting as anything in sports. Former welterweight champion Carlos Palomino certainly proved that to us last Saturday night at the Grand Olympic Auditorium against Wilfredo Rivera. At age 48 (and being away from boxing for 18 years) Carlos reeled off four consecutive knockout victories last year and served as an inspiration to us all that age is only a number and ability and talent can persevere. Palomino will rank as one of the best welterweights in our era. Carlos, even though the scorecards said you lost, consider it a victory of the soul and spirit of the warrior that you are. GENE AGUILERA, Montebello

Let's take a trip down Olympic Boulevard. More than three decades ago, Little Willie G.'s invitation involved Whittier Boulevard, a few main drags to the north. That's when he sang for Thee Midniters, part of a cadre of bands that brought both cultural pride and rock 'n' roll to the Mexican American community of East Los Angeles. And sometimes beyond. "Land of 1000 Dances" made the national singles charts in versions by both Thee Midniters and friendly rivals Cannibal & the Headhunters.

A passing car backfires outside Manuel Gonzales' white-stucco house in East Los Angeles, and all four members of the Blazers simultaneously pretend they've been shot. A drive-by joke, you might call it. But it's not all that funny, especially since Gonzales, one of the rock band's singers, is talking about the gang problem and about the crazy guy running through his neighborhood with a machete just a couple of nights ago.

From the first onslaught of ballots in Calendar's quest to learn its readers' choices for the best pop albums ever, the question was not whether a Beatles album would finish No. 1 among the 1,563 ballots we received--but which Beatles album would finish No. 1. Besides the winner, "Sgt.