Ann Summa, one of those should-be-more-recognized photo-essay/historians of the LA punk scene, is our number one photographer. We have been working with her since 2004. Our first campaign involved some friends of my son who were in a band, and we photographed them in a suburban garage. We called our ads, “Play”. We vibed with Ann and she seemed to vibe with us, and so we secured our relationship for present and future gigs.

In June, I contacted her to see what projects that she had in the works and to let her know that we had a concept brewing for the new “Spark” design for Bullet Cable.

“Spark” Bullet Cable

I told her that we wanted to glorify East Los Angeles and the low-rider car culture by doing ads taken in neighborhoods with people hanging out with their cars. Since modern car culture is reference to both Hot Rods and Low-Riders, we thought we would do the local of the two references and see where it could take us. Since all of our ads are about musicians living multi-activity existences (including music), we thought that cars worked into our customers’ multi-dimensional lives and it should be shot this way.

Galo “MakeOne” Canote

Ann was excited that we seemed to (once again) be in sync with her own work. She told me that she was working with Father Greg Boyle (“G-dog”), the founder and much loved community leader, over at Homeboy Industries. She said that she was doing an essay on gang tat removals of former gang members at the center. I have long admired the work of Father Boyle and Homeboy Industries. Their mission is to redirect youth at risk, and to help rehabilitate gang members into contributing members of the community.

Ann suggested that I contact Father Boyle and tell him what we were doing with the Bullet Cable and the East LA angle. Since Ted J. McCann and my roots were Downtown and W. of the 110, I needed some help for the E. LA idea.

I had heard of Homeboy Industries from a show on PBS that I had seen about the organization. They set up ex-gang members as business people in a variety of different occupations: Silk-screening, bakery, cafe, catering, and others. Of course, I knew of the reputation of G-Dog. In fact, I think First Lady Laura Bush dropped his name and the organization’s name in at least 15 speeches she gave for her no-child-left behind push in 2005.

A light went off in my head…

Story of the Bullet Cable

Many people do not know this, but the Bullet Cable was born in the Rampart district of Los Angeles. Ted, on his way to the corner store across from our loft, happened upon a bullet casing laying in the street. Considering that tags from the 18th Street gang and MS13 competed on walls within walking distance of our studio, the casing was not really looked at with the shock of discovery it probably deserved, but more like a design concept that caught Ted’s forever-roving-inner-design-eye. When he got back to the studio, he threw it in his “idea box”, which has grown over the years, but basically is a container with a bunch of unrelated relics and other unidentifiable shapes that mean something only to to Ted.

One day, we were working, and Ted picked up the bullet casing, and he said, “You know, this looks like a connector for a cable…” (And we know what happened next.)

Anyway, back to the Homeboy Industries story.

I wrote to F. Boyle and asked if Core One Creative could offer job experience to their clients such as doing ad campaigns and doing a photo shoot: I was thinking runners and models, and maybe some location scouts. In exchange for interns, we offered to donate a portion of proceeds from sales for the Bullet Cable for one year, beginning in November.

Joey Ray Lucero

I wrote that it seemed fitting to use a instrument cord, inspired by drive-by debris, as a basis to collect funding that might put some healthy distance between the ex-gang human beings and their once-violent lifestyles. He thought it sounded like a great idea, and so did his staff.

A few months later I met Ann, Ted, and about 15 other people up in the hills of City Terrace and shot our ad. We had one intern and one model from Homeboy Industries Joey Ray Lucero, a former gang member turned successful motivational speaker, some of the best catered Mexican food from HomeGirl Cafe, and models and a stylist found on Craigslist.