"Chávez Ravine" can mean many things. Obviously, there is an area in Los Angeles by that name. But there is also a book, a short documentary, and a Ry Cooder album, in that order. Cooder's 12th solo effort wouldn't exist without the book or the documentary. Like the Buena Vista Social Club, it came about almost by accident. And again, it was an opportunity he knew how to seize. It became his own ode to a lost Shangri-La – a masterful street-corner opera.

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Written, produced and edited by Frank Schnelle

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