Rage Against The Machine - Testify Music Video

Salt of the Earth

Salt of the Earth was produced in 1954, during the heart of the McCarthy anti-Communist era. The movie was made by members of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted. Needless to say, the film was not well received, and saw very little play on theater screens across the country (13 out of 13,000 theaters nationwide). It is labeled as the "Only U.S. Blacklisted film" and partly because of this, has seen a resurgence in popularity and cult following after the witch hunt McCarthy years ended. The movie focuses on the true events of a strike at a mine of the Empire Zinc Company in southern New Mexico. The mining company's name and the name of the town are changed, but the events depict the strike in Bayard, New Mexico, in 1951. Most of the actors in the movie are locals, many who were involved in the original strike. The movie deals with issues affecting Mexican-American miners who felt they were being treated unfairly, compared with their Anglo counterparts. However, the movie also deals with feminism, as the wives of the miners fight for equality of their own, both within their own homes and with their Anglo counterparts. Both the men and the women of the Mexican-American community soon realize the only way to win their struggle is to work together. This is a fascinating piece of film-making that exposes many of the injustices that Mexican-Americans have faced, as well as women, and even poor Anglo workers that have been exploited through the years.

Mural in Bayard depicting the strike: http://legacy.usw.org/usw/program/adminlinks/docs/paint.pdf

More information from the Office of the State Historian of New Mexico: http://www.newmexicohistory.org/filedetails.php?fileID=254

Zakk Wylde, Black Label Society - In This River - Tribute to Dimebag

Today in History

Tragedies in Music
Two terrible tragedies shocked the music world on December 8, 24 years apart. On December 8, 1980, John Lennon was murdered outside his New York apartment by Mark David Chapman. On December 8, 2004, Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott was shot during a Damageplan show at a club in Columbus, Ohio, by Nathan Gale. Both have been greatly missed since their premature departures from this world.

Ryan Bingham - Bread And Water

Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

Two killer renditions of a great song. Original version.

Johnny Cash - Rusty Cage

Johnny Cash version. Note Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers jamming on the song with the Man in Black.

Today in History

November 19, 1863. Abraham Lincoln gives his famed Gettysburg Address on the ground where thousands of U.S. and C.S.A. soldiers had died 4 months earlier.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Today in History

November 17, 1934. Future president Lyndon B. Johnson marries Claudia Alta Taylor, more affectionately known as "Lady Bird." Many years later a cartoon Texan, Mr. Hank Hill, will affectionately name his beloved bloodhound after the First Lady.

Metallica - Disposable Heroes

To all veterans, of all nations, that have put themselves in the line of fire fighting senseless wars perpetrated by evil leaders. We cannot begin to comprehend what these men and women have gone through. I did not make this video, I found it online, but I think it portrays well the atrocities and brutal realities of war.

Today in History

Robbed!
November 6, 1995. Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell announces he is moving the team to Baltimore. The Browns were an NFL institution, with some of the best and most passionate fans in the league. Fortunately, Cleveland retained the rights to the Browns name and football came back to the shores of Lake Erie in 1999. However, the Browns have never been the same, making the playoffs only once since their rebirth. To rub it in even more, Modell's new team, the Baltimore Ravens, would win a Super Bowl within five years of leaving Cleveland.

Today in History

Happy Birthday Karate Kid! Ralph Macchio turns 49 today. It is also the birthday of beloved humorist Will Rogers, born in 1879. If you get a chance, visit the Will Rogers Memorial Museums in Oklahoma.


Will Rogers Museum: http://www.willrogers.com/

Reel Injun

Independent Lens, a series on PBS displaying excellent independent films and documentaries, has quickly become one of my favorite things to watch. Last night the series premiered Reel Injun: On the Trial of the Hollywood Indian. Directed by Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond, the film examines the images and stereotypes of Native Americans in movies over the years. It is a very well put together piece, using clips from films and input from Native American activists, filmmakers, and actors. Diamond also interviews Clint Eastwood, who has appeared in and directed a handful of movies starring Native Americans. Diamond also uses some great music in the documentary, including Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills." This was an extremely interesting film, and I recommend it to anyone, particularly those interested in the images of Native Americans in Hollywood, as well as those interested in the representation of the American West in popular culture.

More about the film can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/reel-injun/

Feliz Dia de los Muertos!

Desert Solitaire

"No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."

Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey, recounts Abbey's experiences as an employee with the National Park Service, stationed at Arches National Monument (now National Park) near Moab, Utah. Abbey works in the park at a time before the roads were paved, before the onslaught of tourists that were to come by the hundreds of thousands. His home is a small camp trailer, and his only companions are the desert wildlife and solitude. Abbey tells his stories with ease; it makes one's heart ache to be in the desert, to experience what he was able to experience. One of the most poignant adventures that Abbey relates is his foray into Glen Canyon, prior to the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, and the subsequent flooding of the landscape that resulted in modern-day Lake Powell. Abbey writes, "The beavers had to go and build another goddamned dam on the Colorado." What a tremendous experience, to see this area before it was inundated. He and a friend spent nearly a week, floating down the river, breathing in the landscape around them. The greatest thing about Abbey's experiences, which is conveyed in his writing, is that he was alive. He wasn't merely existing, but he was actually living, and living life to the fullest. I absolutely loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the Desert Southwest, particularly Southern Utah. It is also essential reading for those interested in environmental history, and will appeal to the casual reader as well.

Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

Scenes from the Great Depression

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929. The stock market crashes. Known as "Black Tuesday," this day ushers in the Great Depression, lasting until the U.S. entry into World War II. Thanks to some of the New Deal programs of President Franklin Roosevelt, this bleak period in American history was well documented and has provided many iconic images.

"Hooverville" near Seattle

The most famous photo by Farm Security Administration photographer Dorothea Lange

Sammy Hagar - Little White Lie

The Red Rocker

Happy birthday, Sammy Hagar. Born on this day in 1947.

Today in History

October 12, 1940. Famed western actor and showman Tom Mix is killed in a car accident near Florence, Arizona.

Memorial at the site of Tom Mix's death

Celebrating 35 years of SNL

Today in History

October 11, 1975. Saturday Night Live debuts on NBC. It still airs 35 years later, and has become an integral part of American culture, along with producing some of the most famous and beloved comedic actors of our time.

Today in History

Today would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday. This is my favorite Lennon song, "Working Class Hero."

"I am not a crook"

August 8, 1968. Richard Nixon wins the Republican nomination for President. Fast forward six years - August 8, 1974. Nixon officially resigns as President amid the Watergate scandal, and Vice-President Gerald Ford takes office.

Hello, Newman

Born on this day in 1955 - Actor Wayne Knight, most famously known for his role as Newman on Seinfeld.

Song of the Day

Ben Harper - Shimmer and Shine

Today in History

July 22, 1934. Notorious gangster John Dillinger is gunned down by police and Bureau of Investigation officials outside a Chicago theater. Dillinger had been attending the gangster movie Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable.

Dillinger has been portrayed in several movies, most recently by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies.

Today in History

July 20, 1969. We've landed on the moon!

Song of the Day

Johnny Cash - Hurt
Powerful, haunting cover of Trent Reznor song.

David Hasselhoff at Berlin Wall 1989

Today in History

Today is perhaps the most important day in American history. That's right, today we celebrate the birth of the Hoff. David Hasselhoff was born on this day in 1952, in Baltimore, MD. Without him there would be no Knight Rider, no Baywatch. Perhaps most importantly, the Berlin Wall would still be standing. Yes, this beacon of freedom and democracy is singlehandedly responsible for tearing down the wall. Happy birthday Hoff.

On a more serious note, today also marks the 1 year anniversary of the passing of Walter Cronkite, a true American icon.

Song of the Day

Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

Today in History

July 16, 1945. The United States conducts its first test of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. Less than a month later two bombs would be dropped in Japan to bring World War II to an end. These events usher in a new era, one of uncertainty and fear of a possible nuclear war and assured destruction.

Monument at the Trinity site

White Sands Missile Range offers tours of the site twice a year: the first Saturday in April, and the first Saturday in October. Visit this site for more information: http://www.white-sands-new-mexico.com/military.htm

Song of the Day

Rush-Bastille Day
In honor of Bastille Day, which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, one of the catalysts for the French Revolution.

Today in History

July 14, 1881- Billy the Kid, alias Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney, alias Henry Antrim, was killed on this day in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, by Pat Garrett. He has become the most legendary figure in the history of the American West. It has even been questioned as to whether he really was killed on that day, or if he lived to old age (the movie Young Guns II explores the claims of Brushy Bill Roberts). Love him or hate him, his life and legend have left an indelible mark on the history of the American West, and on American pop culture.

Song of the Day

Alice In Chains: Check My Brain

Today in History

July 13, 1793-French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, who was executed four days later. The assassination was immortalized in Jacques-Louis David's painting The Death of Marat.

Also, happy birthday to Harrison Ford, who turns 68 today. Long live Han Solo.

Invictus

I had high expectations for this movie, and while it was a good movie, it certainly wasn't as good as I had hoped. It's not one of Clint Eastwood's finer films, but it's still better than most Hollywood drivel nowadays. Nonetheless, I think the film was good in showing how sports can bring people together, in a time and place where unity was much needed. I would be interested in seeing a movie made that focused solely on Nelson Mandela, or perhaps on the overall struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa. But only if Morgan Freeman is in it. Seriously, could anybody else play Mandela?

The title of the film comes from a poem by English poet William Ernest Henley that, according to the film, Mandela often read while in prison.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

As part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series of documentaries, a documentary entitled The 16th Man aired, showing some of the true story of the South African rugby team. Here is a link to the film's website for more information and some clips from the film:

http://30for30.espn.com/film/the-sixteenth-man.html

MOBA (Museum of Bad Art)

Great museum. Lots of bad art.
http://www.museumofbadart.org/

Song of the Day

Bruce Springsteen - Empty Sky
Written after 9/11. Powerful song.

SNL 2000 Presidential Debate (STRATEGERY)

Today in History

Strategery. Today W. celebrates his 64th birthday, born on July 6, 1946. To celebrate, enjoy a classic Will Ferrell SNL take on the dumb things that would come out of his mouth.

Lou Gehrig's speech

I was unable to find a video of the entire speech, but here are some clips of it from Ken Burn's Baseball.

Today in History

This one's obvious. It's the Fourth of July. But, I thought I would share one of the most replayed and cherished speeches ever given. Soon after learning he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and announcing his retirement from baseball, Lou Gehrig was honored by the Yankees on July 4, 1939, where he gave his famous speech.

Train - Idaho

And Here We Have Idaho...

Today marks 120 years of statehood for Idaho. Idaho was admitted as the 43rd state to the Union on July 3, 1890. Just a couple of reasons why I love Idaho:

Portraits of Celebrity Weirdness

Came across this piece, found this artwork interesting, to say the least.

http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/06/25/celebrities-get-weird-in-artist-s-paintings.html

I thought this one was hilarious:

More can be found on the artist's (Brandon Bird) website: http://www.brandonbird.com/paintings.html Check out "Letters to Walken" and his drawings if nothing else.

Song of the Day

Beastie Boys - So What'cha Want

Today in History

Battle of Gettysburg begins, lasts 2 more days. Viewed by many as the turning point of the American Civil War. Spawned a great movie starring Jeff Daniels and Tom Berenger (based on the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara).

Still Sends Chills Up My Spine

Today in History

As a life-long, diehard fan of the Denver Broncos, today is a day to honor the man, John Elway, born on this day in 1960 in Port Angeles, Washington.

Song of the Day

Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness covering the Marty Robbins classic.

Today in History

June 24, 1949
"Hopalong Cassidy" premieres on NBC, the first network television western. Many more would come, as the golden age of the western was just beginning.

Crazy Heart

Finally got around to watching this one, and I was not disappointed. It certainly wasn't a great movie by any means, but it's one worth watching again. Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal were great, he certainly deserved his Oscar. Appearances by Ryan Bingham and Robert Duvall (two of the coolest dudes on the planet) only enhance the movie. When it all comes down to it, though, the best thing about Crazy Heart is the music. T-Bone Burnett, along with Ryan Bingham and others, provided some excellent songs for this one, and Bridges and Colin Farrell do a good job of singing them in the movie. In an age where country music has become watered down and incredibly fake, the music in this movie is real. The constant images of New Mexico, especially the sunsets, made me realize how much I do miss the Land of Enchantment. Just an enjoyable movie all around.

Ryan Bingham - The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)

Happy Birthday Mr. Kristofferson

Today in History

June 22, 1936
Kris Kristofferson born. One of the legendary songwriters of our time. Also, apparently, on this day in 1847, the doughnut was created. Yum.