01 / Hear
Hear the Song
02 / Know
Know the Story
One Whittier weekend, repeated often enough to become part of us.
I wrote Keep Keepin’ On from the weekends Manny, Zack and I lived around Whittier Boulevard—the music, the oil cans, Tommy’s burgers, girls, barrio tension and the loyalty that kept three young men standing together. The Radio Mix tells that story on the direct route; the Lowrider Mix gives it a longer cruise.
The direct route through the memories.
When the weekend started
As teenagers, we knew a house party had properly started when Debbie Deb’s ‘Lookout Weekend’ hit the speakers. The room changed and everybody moved. Foster’s oil cans were our drink of choice—maybe because of the can, maybe the alcohol content. Years later I ended up in Australia, where Foster’s is harder to find. Don’t tell anyone, but I think it tastes okay.
The Whittier circuit
The song follows the weekend circuit Manny, Zack and I knew: cruising Whittier Boulevard, girls, jokes and late-night Tommy’s burgers. The boulevard was also the line between JimTown on the north and Cantarana—the Singing Frog—on the south. You learned where you were, who was beside you and when a joke had stopped being a joke.
Nobody faced it alone
The incident with the filero happened. Mom only learned about it after the song came out, and I still tell her, ‘It’s just a song.’ I also seemed to attract fights, leaving Zack and Manny to back me—or save me, depending on your point of view. Underneath the trouble, we cared for one another and made sure nobody faced it alone.
Where the road took us
Our roads eventually separated. Zack became a respected patent attorney. Manny earned a master’s degree and built a successful business career. I went into real estate, earned my broker’s license, opened an office and developed property. Different lives grew from the same Whittier weekends.
The music knows the way home
We moved beyond the street fights without abandoning the barrio spirit that formed us. The faith, loyalty and scars came forward as proof of what we survived. Then a familiar bass line starts and the years fold away: Manny and Zack are beside me, Whittier Boulevard is through the windshield and none of us knows what comes next. Sometimes music remembers the way home for you.
03 / Feel
Feel the Soul
What it leaves behind
I want you to feel the friendship beneath the trouble. We were not thinking about careers or the men we might become. We were trying to have some fun, survive our own choices and make sure our friends got home. We moved beyond the fights and found new heights, but the barrio spirit, faith, loyalty and scars came with us. Music always finds its way home.
Keep listening
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