Muffin Bottoms [not] Just another WordPress weblog

09/21/2010

And the nominees are… [nammys]

Filed under: Humor,Music and Stuff,News,Pop Culture,Tech — admin @ 12:49 pm

Yesterday at noon we announced the following nominees for this year’s ceremony at Seneca Falls Casino 12nov10!

Congrats to all the “noms!!”

A ARTIST OF THE YEARJJ Kent – The Other Side of JJ KentJoanne Shenandoah – Enchanted GardenJohnny Whitehorse – Riders of the Healing BandJoseph FireCrow – Face The MusicMichael Bucher – BelieveShane Yellowbird – It’s About Time

B BEST BLUES RECORDINGGet Up & Get Out – BluedogGuitar & Vocals – Larry Burnett w/Don ChapmanIf That’s All Right With You – Twice As GoodIndian Casino – Blackhawk Blues BandLet Me Be – The Graywolf Blues BandShades of Gray – Cecil Gray & The Flying Eagle Blues Band

C BEST COMPILATION RECORDINGColours of My Life – Stephanie Harpe, Jason Burnstick, W.T. Goodspirt, Don Amoro, Tewanee JospehMoon of the Drum – Terry Lee WhetstoneRise Up – VariousThe Best of Drumgroups.com NAC Compilation Vol 1 – VariousThe Night Before; The Best of David Searching Owl – David Searching OwlWalking With the Spirits – Randy McGinnis

D BEST COUNTRY RECORDINGHitchin’ A Ride – Nokie EdwardsIt’s About Time – Shane YellowbirdMoving On – John McLeodThe Other Side of JJ Kent – JJ KentSOS – QuatisiWanted Man – Victoria Blackie

E DEBUT ARTIST OF THE YEARChris Ferree – UnboundCody Sunbear Blackbird – Raven SpeaksJoseph Strider – Meanings Within Meanings, Within MeaningsMarc Brown – Long Time ComingSamantha Crain – Songs In The Night by Samantha CrainVictoria Blackie – Wanted Man

F DEBUT DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEARDark Water Rising – Dark Water RisingIndigie Femme – Indian SouvenirKicking Woman Singers – The 4th ComingNake Nula Waun – Always ReadySayani – Sacred FireSegweh – Segweh

G BEST FEMALE ARTISTDeborah New Moon Rising – Stories From The Social FireKelly Montijo Fink – Songs of War & VictoryQuatisi – SOSShanise – Okeymow Maskiki Vol IIITinesha Begaye – Horses Are Our JourneyYvonne St. Germaine – Turning My Day Around

H BEST FOLK RECORDINGAmor Deveras – Yolanda MartinezBelieve – Michael BucherHiding Behind The Sun – Peter SackaneyIndian Souvenir – Indigie FemmeScrapbook – Bobby Bullet st Germaine (Strawberry Island)Songs In The Night by Samantha Crain – Samantha Crain

I FLUTIST OF THE YEARJohn Bear – Pure PassionJohn Two-Hawks – Wind SongsJohnny Whitehorse – Riders of the Healing RoadJonny Lipford – Turn The PageJoseph FireCrow – Face The MusicR. Carlos Nakai – Dancing Into Silence

J BEST GOSPEL/INSPIRATIONAL RECORDINGDoo Lado Shi diyin da – Larry KaibetoneyHoop of Life – RainSong: Terry & Darlene WildmanOut of the Rainshadow – RainshadowSacred Fire – SayaniSongs of War & Victory – Kelly Montijo FinkTurning My Day Around – Yvonne St. Germaine

K DUO – GROUP OF THE YEARAllen Mose Jr. & Orion Jay Mose – Holistic BlessingsAztlan Underground – Aztlan UndergroundBluedog – Get Up & Get OutDigging Roots – We AreFawn Wood & Dallas Washkahat – ‘Til The EndInjunuity – Fight For Survival

L BEST INSTRUMENTAL RECORDINGA Tribute To Walter Flett – Me’tis Fiddler QuartetFight For Survival – InjunityHitchin’ A Ride – Nokie EdwardsRed River Jig – Arvel BirdRemembrance – Gabriel AyalaRollin’ Like Thunder – Douglas Blue Feather & Danny Voris

M BEST MALE ARTISTAnthony Betoney – That’s An Old SongJay Begaye – Horses Are Our JourneyGlen Ahhaitty – No More LiesKevin Yazzie – HopeLone Bear – NDN MoonMike Sullivan Sr– Love, Lies & Lullabies

N BEST NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH RECORDINGA Time for Healing – Cecile MoosominDakota/Lakota Traditional Church Songs – Sacred HarmoniesHope – Kevin YazzieOkeymow Maskiki Vol III – ShaniseReconnected – Brian Stoner & Verdell PrimeauxUnity – Alex Turtle & Johnny Monroe

O BEST NEW AGE RECORDINGJim Boyd – Voices From The LakesSheila Applegate w/music by Joanne Shenandoah – Enchanted GardenJoseph FireCrow – Face The MusicR. Carlos Nakai – Dancing Into SilenceJohnny Whitehorse – Riders of the Healing RoadRon Warren, Dawn Avery, Ash Dargan – Red Moon

P BEST POP RECORDINGA Sunny Day – SpiritWingLifestyle Muzik – Bigg BNightwatch – SentinelSOS – QuatisiThe Liberation Sessions – MwalimWe Are – Digging Roots

Q BEST POW WOW RECORDINGBoys Will Be Boyz – The BoyzLive In Alexis – BlackstoneMany Tribes, One Nation – WarscoutOne Voice, One Nation – Thunder Mountain SingersThe 4th Coming – Kicking Woman SingersThe Elk Dreamers – Elk Soldier

R BEST PRODUCERA Michael Martinez, Lee Herrera, Mac Suazo, Tom Bee – neXt eXitFrank Waln – Always ReadyGeorge Parker – Late Night SessionsGloria Larocque – Colours of My LifeJan Michael Looking Wolf, Donald Blackfox, Shawn Justice – Breakin’ FreeRobert Doyle– Dancing Into Silence

S BEST RAP / HIP HOP RECORDINGBrainStorm – PlexI Love California – Short Dawg Tha NativeIt Comes Natural – Lady XplicitSex, Drunks & Hip Hop – Night ShieldTribal Tribulations – Chase Monchamp/Chase ManhattanVoice The Vision – Native Era Presents Arielle Tiensvold n Mista Futuristic

T RECORD OF THE YEARBelieve – Michael BucherBreakin’ Free – Jan Michael Looking Wolf BandDancing Into Silence – R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton & Will ClipmanFace The Music – Joseph FireCrowIt’s About Time – Shane YellowbirdTrue Blue – Northern Cree

U BEST ROCK RECORDINGAztlan Underground – Aztlan UndergroundBreakin’ Free – Jan Michael Looking Wolf BandNeed Your Love – Robe WilliamsSegweh – SegwehThe Great Unknown – Eagle & HawkWe Are – Digging Roots

V SONG/SINGLE OF THE YEAR“Cherokee Smoke” – Nokie Edwards“Grandfather” – Windwalker“Lizard Blues” – Joseph FireCrow“We Are Sinixt” – Jim Boyd“What If We Could” – Eagle & Hawk“What The World Needs” – Jan Michael Looking Wolf Band

W SONGWRITER OF THE YEARBrad Clonch – Fight For SurvivalDouglas Blue Feather– Rollin Like ThunderMichael Bucher – BelieveNokie Edwards – Hitchin’ A RideSamantha Crain – Songs In The Night by Samantha CrainVince Fontaine, Chris Burke-Gaffney – The Great Unknown

X BEST SPOKEN WORD RECORDINGAztlan Underground – Aztlan UndergroundFirewater – Janet RogersMoon of the Drum – TerryLee WhetstoneNightwatch – SentinelRed Earth – Lowery BegayeStories From The Social Fire – The Story Tellers

Y BEST TRADITIONAL RECORDINGCultural Legacy – Wakinyan OyateHolistic Blessings – Allen Mose Jr. & Orion JayKee-Tsa-Gya – Zotigh SingersRebuilding The Fire – Bo TaylorThat’s An Old Song – Anthony BetoneyUtopia – Todi Neesh Zhee Singers

Z BEST MUSIC VIDEOBarefeet On The Blacktop – Shane YellowbirdBreakin’ Free/Addiction– The Jan Michael Looking Wolf BandBy The Water – Donna KaySacred Warrior – Tom BeeShock Town – Jim BoydSpring To Come – Digging Roots

AA BEST WAILA RECORDING (NEW CATEGORY)Gortie & the TO Boyz – A Tribute To Augustine Lopez SrNative Creed – Cumbiafied NativezNative Thunder – Get’n DownPapago Warrior – Papago Warriors 5The Cisco Band – T.C.O.B.Tohono O’odham Braves – 25 Years of Waila Music

BB BEST WORLD MUSIC RECORDINGA Sunny Day – SpiritWingAztlan Underground – Aztlan UndergroundBrainStorm – PlexRed Moon – Ron Warren, Dawn Avery, Ash DarganRemembrance – Gabriel AyalaThe Liberation Sessions – Mwalim

CC NATIVE HEART (Non-Native Artist)Big City Indians – Tribal VisionDenise Johanson – Cave SpiritsJeff Ball Band – Ghost TownPeter Phippen –Woodnotes WyldScott Tweedie – Long Island SoundWind & Fire – Mark Holland/N. Scott Robinson

http://www.nammys.org

09/02/2010

Pepsi Cans & Peavey Amps. – by marco

Filed under: Food,Mundane Or Sublime,Music and Stuff — admin @ 6:14 am

Pepsi Cans & Peavey Amps.

A poem by marco

(and also the title poem of a brand new chap book…)


Peanut Butter prohibited.
Protein, fat.
Meat is best, better than
Butter.
Better, not bitter.
Meat, eat. Gnash-Gulash.

Spinach.
Yum.
Spinach and peanut butter.
Why cringe?
Spinach and PB – PB & S.
Peanut butter and spinach???
Hmm…..
Mmm…
Cottage cheese, please.
Loud raucous rock-n-roll music.

Tastes good.
Taste better than the plasma and
Saline I ate yesterday afternoon.
$15.
Mooncheese.
Meunster.
Fun with food/
Rock-n-roll.

09/01/2010

JOURNAL POEM 3

Filed under: Humor,Mundane Or Sublime,Music and Stuff — admin @ 9:09 pm
JOURNAL POEM 3
        by marco.
        previously published in a 33-poem book of
        poetry entitled "I Slurp My Coffee." (c)1995

Old Pomes. New Pomes.
Borrowed pomes; blue pomes.
Funny pomes, sad pomes; goofy and glad pomes.
Pomes pomes. pomes pomes, eat them up - yum.

Make alliteration instead of legislation.
Ah, all's well that "and's" well-
And all are about action.
Skip, jump, lay there, run, smile, frown.
Run around, skip the jumping;
Lay there down.

Who chewed a page outa my pomes?
You're not s'posed to chew:
Eat them delicately.
Luscious, yummy, soft delicious yellow pomes.
Moist, meaty, mysterious succulent pomes.
Pomes about poets, presidents, pests
And pomes full of juice.
I eat pomes.
Do you eat pomes?
Red pomes, yellow pomes, green poems.
Don't eat the blue ones.

http://www.textfiles.com/magazines/ATI/journal.txt

08/12/2010

SOA Watch Austin Sponsors Song / Poetry Writing Contest

Filed under: Mundane Or Sublime,Music and Stuff,News,Poetics — admin @ 8:34 am

Pete Seeger called SOA Watch “the singingest movement in the USA”

In that spirit we are sponsoring a song / poetry writing contest. For information about the SOA, SOA Watch and prisoners of conscience see http://soaw.org/ or for information about local SOAW Austin POC see http://soaw-austin.org/pocalbum_2009.php. You can also check out The Father Roy Waffle House SOA Protest Song Part 1 of 2 and The Father Roy Waffle House SOA Protest Song Part 2 of 2 on You Tube for a musical history of the SOA, SOA Watch and POC’s. The songs and poems will be sent to SOA Watch prisoners of conscience for their enjoyment while doing their prison witness. The winner will receive $300.00 and will be determined by a vote of SOA Watch supporters. There will be a “coming home” party for the POC’s so there will be opportunities to perform songs and read the poems. Deadline for submissions is the release date. That date depends upon the Bureau of Prisons since they set the “report date”. That date is at least six months from 2/8/2010 and could be several weeks later depending on the BOP. To submit a songs or poem send a CD to SOA Watch Austin, 500 E Riverside Dr #258, Austin, TX 78704 or email a link to an mp3 to soaw_austin@yahoo.com. Lyrics or poems may also be submitted as plain text to the same address.

http://www.soaw-austin.org

06/12/2010

Quoting Woody Guthrie

Filed under: Academic,Mundane Or Sublime,Music and Stuff — admin @ 3:35 pm
I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good.
I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose.
Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing.
Because you are too old or too young or too fat or too slim too ugly
or too this or too that.
Songs that run you down or poke fun at you
on account of your bad luck or hard traveling.
I am out to fight those songs to my very last breath of air
and my last drop of blood.
I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world
and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops,
no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built,
I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself
and in your work.
And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part
by all sorts of folks just about like you. 

- Woody Guthrie

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9895127

Woody (I Hate A Song) by atizine

05/30/2010

Whalies – NL’s 1st annual! 29may10

Filed under: Music and Stuff — admin @ 4:52 am

Whalie winners:

Incomplete listing from last night, minute by minute:

· Congrats 2 the following #Whalies winners last nite: Matt Gouette, Fatal Film, Weird Beards, Reducers. Many more coming up 2nite! about 18 hours ago via web

· Get Haunted wins a Whalie Award. Not sure what category. about 12 hours ago via txt

· Above Below wins a Whalie for the HipHop category about 12 hours ago via txt

· Sue Menhart wins a Whalie about 12 hours ago via txt

· Hempsteadys take best Punk/Ska at the new london Whalies. about 10 hours ago via txt

· Matt Gouette wins Song of the Year at the first annual Whalies about 10 hours ago via txt

· Striaght to VHS wins rekkid of the year at new london’s first annual Whalies award ceremony about 10 hours ago via txt

· Low Beam wins Album of the Year at the New London Whalies about 10 hours ago via txt

· Matt Gouette gave a performance as closing act at the first annual Whalies that cannot be described in words about 9 hours ago via txt

_____________________________________

Better list from New London Day.

• Album of the Year: Low-Beam – “Charge Of the Light Brigade”

• Record of the Year: Straight to VHS – “Self Titled”

• Song of the Year: Matt Gouette – “Opinion”

• Breakthrough Artist Of the Year: Get Haunted

• Best Alternative Artist: Fatal Film

• Best Alternative Performance: Straight To VHS – “Hey”

• Best Americana Artist: Paul Brockett Roadshow

• Best Americana Performance: Sue Menhart Band – “Why You Love Me”

• Best DJ: Chumzilla

• Best Hardcore / Metal Artist: Amido Black

• Best Hardcore / Metal Performance: Black Water Blessing – “Chainsaw Hands”

• Best Hip Hop Artist: Above / Below

• Best Hip Hop Performance: N.M.E. – “Thank You”

• Best Indie / Experimental Artist: The Weird Beards

• Best Indie / Experimental Performance: Brava Spectre – “The Lioness Eye Tamed My Open Palm”

• Best Music Series: Sinners Circle

• Best Music Video: The Weird Beards – “Willow Tree Express”

• Best Punk / Ska Artist: The Hempsteadys

• Best Punk / Ska Performance: Stressbomb – “No Time For This”

• Best Rock Artist: Gone For Good

• Best Rock Performance: The Reducers – “Tokyo Bay”

• Best Solo Artist: Matt Gouette

• Best Solo Performance: Brad Bensko – “Why Do You Do That”

03/22/2010

Sometimes You War; Sometimes You Dialogue; Sometimes You Do Both.

“Sometimes it’s a good day to die, sometimes it’s a good day to have breakfast.” — Thomas Builds-the-Fire

College teacher Julie Jennings conveys the following breaking news:

“The 3-20-10 Providence Protest has sparked a dialogue with the game’s publisher. The game-maker is starting to consider Native pre-testing of the game. Julie Jennings would like the game-maker to be invited to present to the Rhode Island Indian Council. His letter will be printed soon and he (B. Youse, a corporate owner no doubt) can be reached at byouse@cablespeed.com ”

RE: King Philip’s War role playing game.
Company Name: Multi-man Publishing.

My Opinion:

Awesome. Maybe he’ll allow a hefty portion of the outside panels of the box be words from elders of many tribes saying how they feel and strongly suggesting people learn more about not just Metacomet and Massasoit but find out more about each and every river name and street and town name. Heck there can be explanations that there are always more than one story that make up history at any time, and near the UPC label there could be a coupon for 5 bucks off at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research center. And maybe he’ll give a buck or two from each purchase to children in Haiti and Pine Ridge.

And how about a booklet listing NDN bands, artists, actors, songwriters, movie makers and all kinds of other talented people both contemporary and old.

There should be a separate booklet showing the facts that the original 13 colonies only succeeded in driving England out because native american boys were such skilled harpooners, lancers, swimmers, helmsmen and tacticians.

\

\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36LO_zmTGOU

/

/

I demand somewhere on the box be placed the quote that almost got John Ledyard jr. kicked out of Dartmouth where he wrote in a bluebook that he felt Uncas should be placed right up there with Darwin or Isaac Newton for his grasp of science, technology tactics and domestic and nation to nation concerns.

OK I better stop ranting or this will get too long. Let me just say that all represents how I feel so far. I don’t want this box to see light of day but if it must, this is some of the treatment I believe it should be given from beginning to end.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/INDIAN_WAR_GAME_03-15-10_46HKPR8_v28.3a62f30.html

01/29/2010

‘Inglourious Basterds’ Was ‘Navajo Joe??’

Filed under: Academic,Music and Stuff — admin @ 2:10 pm

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is Essentially a Spaghetti Western.

By Marc Frucht

Will we ever tire of consuming Spaghetti Westerns, and what does this do to the people of the Native American nations?

!

This essay will show that the 1966 spaghetti western Navajo Joe has been copied and “cannibalized” all throughout its history including last year and the year before with Inglourious Basterds and Rez Bomb respectively.

Navajo Joe and Inglourious Basterds have so many similarities but I’ll just list a few.

Navajo Joe opens with this scene: a young Indian woman Estella cleans cloths at the wash of a small canyon. Inglourious starts off in Nazi occupied France with a farmer named Perrier LaPadite using an axe, while his teenage daughter Julie is hanging laundry on a clothesline. She is the first to see the Nazis. Do all indigenous girls engage in the drudgery of cloths cleaning while oppressed by occupying forces of other nations?

Brad Pitt’s character goes around killing everyone in sight like Dirty Harry or Terminator; and so does Bert Reynolds as Navajo Joe. Where Navajo Joe carves double triangles into people’s faces and foreheads, Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine often carves swastikas into foreheads.

These dances are done to music, by the way, scored by the same man in both films: Ennio Morricone. His work also shows in such movies as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). If you watch any western, most notably a spaghetti western, there is a good chance if they didn’t use his work, there will be songs throughout that sound quite derivative of such. Nevertheless, Quentin Tarantino hired the same man to score his movie about Jews rising up against Hitler, that Sergio Corbucci had tapped for Navajo Joe.

“Algiers,” “Mystic and Severe,” and “The Verdict” are just a few Morricone songs used in Inglourious. There are many more of his own songs as well as a David Bowie tune and some Billy Preston which Morricone surely helped find appropriate places to position all these songs.

“Cat People” by David Bowie is a rather creepy song with the lyrics “putting out fire with gasoline.” Many things blow up throughout the Tarantino movie, but not so much with Corbucci’s film. Both do share the feeling of the protagonists killing people rapid fire, sustained over time.

Women are treated somewhat similarly in both movies; I’ll touch on that briefly.

The French Farmer’s daughters helping their dad, reminds me of women in Navajo Joe having mostly a helpful role. But I will say that Shoshana’s role is quite empowered, as is the movie star Bridget von Hammersmark. Neither simply hands weapons to their men just hoping they’ll go save everyone. It’s not clear how much of that is from Tarantino just liking to have EVERYONE shooting everyone else, or how much is historically accurate to 1940s Germany and France. I know when I saw one of the women load up a small handgun and place it in their purse I was reminded of an interview someone did with Greta Garbo long after Hitler had killed himself in his bunker, where she said that during her private lunch with the Fuhrer, the thought never occurred to her to shoot him because she was apolitical at the time. He was leader of a nation, and she was a Swedish American film star he wanted to wine and dine. She had a loaded derringer in her purse the whole time but never thought of popping a round into the old sicko.

Mervyn ‘Vee’ Duncan is a “half-breed” enemy leader in Navajo, while early in Inglourious Landa says to the French farmer, “I can think like a Jew, where they can only think like a German.” He’s bragging that his skills make him better than most German soldiers. I believe he is strongly implying that he’s part Jewish like Hitler himself was known to be. Hitler was said to have had a Jewish grandfather who he hated very much. So Landa (Hitler as well) just might be mixed like Duncan.

One last thing might help in correlating the triangles and the swastika. Hitler stole and misappropriated that symbol from the Hopi. Two Swastikas represent two halves of the Earth. From each of the poles (or anywhere for that matter) you have people take off to the four directions and then change direction to the left or a right, depending on which swastika you are walking. Together the two symbols represent Earth in perfect balance. By appropriating just one of them Hitler set the world into imbalance. He stole that symbol, which perversely corrupted it; but he also used the symbol of the pink triangle to represent gay people. At the same time he was making Jews wear the yellow Star of David on their clothing at all times, he was making gay people wear pink triangles.

Tarantino portraying the Jewish Americans rising up against Hitler in such a fantastical way is quite similar to Italians and Germans portraying Indians rising up against the oppressive Spanish and English settlers. Perhaps it is a much classier and more respectful version of a spaghetti western!

Author Edward Buscombe says that the American West is mostly a European invention. In his book ‘injuns!’ native Americans in the movies he says if Europeans had not “already been gripped by a fantasy about the West, one that drew them across the ocean and into unexplored lands, then the western part of North America might never have become part of the United States.” (181)

If Europeans were ever going to transcend bad portrayals of Indian people, families, nations and cultures it would have to happen despite America’s film industry, because they weren’t much help it seems. Jacquelyn Kilpatrick says as much about everyone from John Wayne to John Ford in her book CELLULOID INDIANS: Native Americans and Film. “Regrettably, because he is John Wayne,” she says, “because he is so untiringly skillful in the pursuit, his motivation dominates in building audience attitude.” (Kilpatrick, 61)

She calls it unfortunate that Wayne’s character is acting “according to the mores of the day.” (Kilpatrick, 61) She’d begun the book suggesting that unlike Ford and Wayne, Gary Cooper’s depiction of Indians is positive overall, while at the same time pointing out he was criticized years later for “romanticizing the Indian.” (Kilpatrick, 4) Isn’t this the same issue commonly held with any person portrayed as “other?” The current U.S. President, Barack Obama is considered too black one moment, too white another. People complain he’s too rich; others will complain he’s too poor, too aggressive or not demonstrative enough. This certainly happens to Indians as much as it does to Africans. This whole portraying someone as “other” while at the same time as “just not right” somehow, fits right in alongside dividing and conquering really.

Ward Churchill says he believes “that cinema, by concentrating solely upon a narrow period of time in Indian history” denies the present-day realities of Indian existence. (Buscombe,17-18) Doesn’t Tarantino do much the same by saying nothing about Jewish culture before or after Hitler? Buscombe says westerns’ plots are always “formulaic but complicated, with characters endlessly captured, then rescued, then captured again.” He says there’s a “pretty girl, usually assigned to a young suitor, not to the heroes.” (Buscombe,205) Doesn’t this fit for all westerns? It certainly illuminates Inglourious Basterds a bit too.

HOLLYWOOD’S INDIAN: The Portrayal of The Native American In Film says reading spaghetti westerns as metaphors “does not mean that this articulation was always conscious – nor that they would have been perceived as such metaphors by the public. Nonetheless, we may still presume that these westerns played a specific role, in the construction of… national identity.” (Rollins,41)

Something tells me America’s love of a movie like Inglourious serves to further reinforce her need to defend Israel against all comers, beginning with Hitler, much the same (or equally opposite) way Italy and East Germany wanted the Indians to rise up and destroy capitalist America.

Where it seems like Tarantino might have merely reset Indians as Jews and the Anglo settlers as Hitler’s Nazis; maybe Steven L. Simpson’s Rez Bomb serves as a more classical rewrite of a traditional spaghetti western. Two of the many characteristics which signify spaghetti westerns quite easily are location choices and outsider viewpoints.

When Scott catches a ride quickly while hitchhikes by standing right between two different Indian families, his acting is a very effective tool for showing the racism on the reservation, as are comments from others saying if Jaws killed a white guy things would be different than with so many other people “found lying face down stuck in a ditch somewhere.” But to say it’s identical to some of the scenes in Navajo Joe might be a bit of a stretch. That might be easier to compare with the portrayals of Nazis and Jews in Inglourious. I feel Rez Bomb could have gone into each of those issues with even more of a deeper treatment. Russell Means’ portrayal of the character Dodds shows he’s corrupt but doesn’t even imply why, or for how long. Is he much like Duncan in Navajo Joe, or is he more like one of Dickey Wilson’s 1970s Goons (Guardians Of Oglala Nation) maybe?

Many of the westerns that got the nickname “spaghetti” were filmed in places like East Germany and Italy because that was a whole lot less money than in John Ford’s favorite locations like Monument Valley. Along similar lines, Simpson chose Pine Ridge saying publicly that he was bringing economic development to the community. It might also have a lot to do with the notion that you can feed a family of four at Taco Johns or the Chinese buffet there for less than twenty dollars. Now, Navajo Joe and Rez Bomb are produced by people who are definitely not Indian, Simpson is from Scotland living in Hollywood as an ex-patriot and of course Corbucci is every bit as Italian as his name. Conversely similar is that Quentin Tarantino is neither German nor Jewish, rather he tells people he’s Italian American and Irish Cherokee (there’s some irony right there) and is said to have had a fascination with spaghetti westerns while growing up. An additional irony might be that people in Wikipedia and Imdb.com often complain saying his earliest films used nonlinear storylines. Perhaps his “outside the box” perspectives and eye for the nonlinear come from his part Cherokee mother who raised him. Or certainly someone else on that side of the family.

Lastly, when Landa switched to English, he was using that language as a weapon against the Jewish family he was hunting. He knows they don’t speak the language at all, but the two of them do. Wow. I wonder how often that kind of tactic was actually being used by Hitler’s people? And is there any parallel or corollary to Americans using Navajo and Comanche languages for important radio communications during WWII.

When Aldo looks over his carving on Landa’s forehead and tells his buddy “You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece,” it might also be Tarantino saying this to us! Whether Inglourious Basterds was a masterpiece, may be debated for some time now; but it might be Tarantino’s best work to date; and it’s definitely the best remake of a spaghetti western I’ve ever watched.

­Works Cited:

Buscombe, Edward. ‘injuns!’ native americans in the movies. Cornwall: Reaktion Books, 2006.

Inglourious Basterds. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Brad Pitt Mike Myers Melanie Laurent. DVD. The Weinstein Company, 2009.

Kilpatrick, Jacquelyn. CELLULOID INDIANS: Native Americans and Film. Lincoln: University Of Nebraska Press, 1999.

Navajo Joe. Dir. Sergio Corbucci. Perf. Burt Reynolds Aldo Sambrell Fernando Rey Peter Cross. DVD. Shock, 1966.

Rez Bomb. Dir. Steven L. Simpson. Perf. Moses Brings Plenty Tamara Feldman Tokala Clifford. DVD. Roaring Fire Films, 2008.

Rollins, Peter C. HOLLYWOOD’S INDIAN: The Portrayal of The Native American In Film. Ed. John E. O’Connor. Lexington: University Press Of Kentucky, 2003.

01/24/2010

Please Buy My Song “Frybread” And Help Haiti AND Pine Ridge

Filed under: Mundane Or Sublime,Music and Stuff,News — admin @ 12:29 pm

I don’t often ask favors of everyone I’ve ever met; but listen:

Even if I’ve given you a copy of my song “Frybread” for free, or even if you’ve bought it in compilations or on my CD back when I used to promote myself; could you please consider buying it off of the nammys page right now for their .99c price?

http://www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/musicdownload.cfm
If you do, half of your purchase will help in Haiti and half will go to Pine Ridge as well this winter. The fact that it helps in both regions makes me very happy and my heart smiles so so very much.

Cheers,
marco

01/23/2010

Classical Guitar Lessons Online? No Way; Really?

Filed under: Academic,Music and Stuff — admin @ 5:37 am

Just so you know, online classical guitar lessons don’t actually “sux0r” as much as you would think.

Here’s a glimpse of some simple ones that should give you ideas of your own for teaching and/or taking lessons this way:

Hi ____,
How are things going with that part I of the Boceto?

Here are several youtubes of people doing a not so good job with it. I thought as long as you’ve already played from the sheet music a few times, you’d be able to work from these without building too many of their bad habits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f41TH7zb4NY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V24VKqJUp8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXobn1QNr6k

This one’s probably the closest I’ve found to how the Boceto SHOULD be played:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA9DQV2AKNU

But that’s just my not so humble opinion. And I only mean relative to the others, I’m afraid.

And I hope you’re ready for this one!

Here’s how an orchestra chose to do it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HakH_km1jLI

Begins very nicely but gets VERY stiff, and then I don’t know what to say about the end. Orchestras tend to do things like this and I lose interest.

They did manage to keep some of the melody intact though, which amazed me.

Feel free to ask me any number of questions, and I’ll try to answer everything I can.

Cheers,
marco

oh, and ps:

for more than you’ll ever want to read about classical guitar, goto:

http://frucht.org/carulli.html

and for more than enough free stuff about music in general see:

http://frucht.org/anicmusic.html

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