Meet Buddy Zapata | Musician/Songwriter……. (retired from architecture)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Buddy Zapata and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Buddy, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’ve been insprired by the creative mind and life since I was a child. Artistic endeavor is a part of everything I have done throughout my adult life. I have pursued creattivity as long as I can remember; from music as a teenager, architecture through college and 38 years of practice while also playing and writing music. I feel as if I’ve had no other choice. It’s what I still do to this day

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The best part about being an artist is that the results are constantly changing. Influences come from everywhere. I’ve had great mentors that encouraged the individual output. Don’t try and copy others. Be You.That encouragment allows the ego to free itself of judgement and allows vulnerability. In that vulnerability comes truth and that is where the best art is. A well known songwriter friend of mine once told me “If it feels emberassing to reveal a story in your songs, it’s most likely great stuff”.
A journalist friend of mine described my music as a tour given by an old ghost through an old dusty and cluttered junkshop, a brocken hammer here, a cast off wig over there, a dust covered broken drum snare on the floor, a stack of old detective magazines on a glass table and it all goes together beatifully.
Remove the walls, say it and play it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My favorite parts of Southern California are Boyle Heights, Downtown LA, Pasadena, Altadena and San Pedro.
I’m very simple, a list of restaurants run the gammut of Vargas in Pico Rivera for Relleno Burritos, Pancho Lopez in Lincoln Hgts. for breakfast. La Parilla in Boyle Hgts, Cielito Lindo on Olvera St., Twoheys in South Pasadena for any meal. Step it up at Musso and Franks in Hollywood for steak, salmon or just tomato soup. The 6740 in Whittier for wings, burgers or fish n chips.
My favorite destinations usually include a view, Evergreen Cemetery is beautiful and plays such an amazing part of LA History. Go pick up burritos at La Azteca and go enjoy them at a graveside spot. My grandparents are buried there so i enjoy the hang. Calvary Cemetery too where Jelly Roll Morton is buried by a massive pine tree. The Grand Corridor through Downtown has great architecture and an amazing view from California Plaza that looks over downtown.
Pasadena and Altadena “The Dena’s” have great hiking in the SanGabriels which ooze beauty and history. Since I have lived there for the past 38 years.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents silently supported my creative output by going to my art shows, buying my first guitar and watching my brother and I amass a huge record collection. They also didn’t seem to mind our ventures into Hollywood to go to music clubs, like the Starwood, Whiskey etc, to see bands and to be part of a unique music scene and the connecting art culture with it. My brother Mike and I also began listening to artists like Muddy Waters, Lightning Hopkins, simultaneously with the punk and other new music we were listening to. My closest friend Ronnie Gomez lived around the block. We met in middle school. Gomez claims I had a Queen shirt on and that began a conversation. He was already playing in clubs and we’d land up joining him at his gigs. We perform and tour toether to this day. Pedro Wyant was a guitar player who played a small role in the famed Wrecking Crew. I approached him in 1989 for guitar lessons and soon afterwrds he gave me my first club gigs as I began backing him up for many years. These days my biggest music inspiration are my two sons who are both musicians. They have accomplished a lot in a very short time and have encouraged me to persue music full time.
There are so many others that have been instrumental in my music career. It continues to blossom to this day from meeting kind people with a soulful spirit and a similar creative drive.

Image Credits
Photo 1 Roman Cho

Photo 2 3 4 by Buddy Zapata

Photo with broom by Kat Mueller