WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006 On December 8, the prankster skypilots are joining in on a musical number with the New Riders of the Purple Sage at the WOW hall in Eugene, Oregon. I'm writing an original musical sketch called, Guantanamo for the occasion.
It starts out with us marching onstage chanting GITMO GITMO, GITMO INFO, then goes into the question, what is that chant all about, which is answered with snappy repartee about Guantanamo Bay, what can we do about it? What we do is consult Oblata. We throw the cocos (pieces of coconuts), everyone goes bonkers on the drums and shouting, one person falls thrashing on the floor, overtaken by the spirit of Oblata. He rises as a rooster, crowing and prancing and shouting in Spanish. We then go into the song, Guantanamo A Libre.
SATURDAY DECEMBER 2, 2006 GUANTANAMO PRACTICE We met at Tsunami Books for a first time runthrough, a reading, essentially, with some attempts at Cuban music. It was a good initial practice. Now I will tighten up the script, burn a CD of the background music and send them the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Here at home we'll have a final rehearsal, then bring it all together on Friday, December 8, at the WOW Hall in Eugene, Oregon.
GITMO GITMO GITMO INFO
xxxJOHN B: What's that mean, GITMO INFO? XXXHAGEN: That you're an enemy combatant.
xxxSCOTT L: You will become a Gitmo ghost. xxxxANON: You'll ride the waterboard.
TO LISTEN TO SOME MP.3 SOUND FILES
OF THE PRACTICE SESSION
CLICK ONGITMOSOUNDS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2006 From Strode's THE PAGEANT OF CUBA:
The Cuban insurrection of 1895 was made in the United States. A Cuban living in New York named Jose Julian Marti decided the time was ripe. He had lived in Europe, up and down South America, all about the Caribbean, and in the United States. When a half-grown boy he had dedicated his life to the cause of Cuban liberty, astounding his mother by the maturity of his words,"To many generations of slaves must succeed one generation of martyrs." Like the youthful poet Heredia, he was an exile; and more, he had the authority of the martyr to back him.In the first year of the Ten Years' War, Marti, a frail fifteen-year-old youngster, was arrested in Havana for composing seditious poetry. His sentence was six years' hard labor in the quarries. Influence got the sentence lightened, and in 1871 he was deported to Spain. He did not return to Cuba until after the Pact of Zanjon. Captain-General Blanco regarded him as a crazy man, but a highly dangerous one, and sent him once again a prisoner to Spain in September 1879. Marti did not see his native soil for sixteen years. From 1891 to 1895 he labored, "forging the Cuban colonies into a single effective instrument for revolution."
The Cuban cigar-makers in Tampa and Key West worshipped him. He was called The Master. Men gave up smoking and turned their watches into cash; women proffered their gold baubles and feast-day mantillas.
By the end of 1894 all was in readiness for active revolt, when the three ships outfitted by the junta were seized by the American government in observation of neutrality laws. On February twenty-fourth, 1895, in the village of Baire near Santiago, the new cry of freedom, the Grito de Baire, was launched. On April 1st, the fighting mulatto, Antonio Maceo, bearing scars of twenty-five wounds received in the Ten Years' War, arrived from exile. Ten days later, Marti himself touched his native soil for the first time in sixteen years.
Within six weeks of his landing, Marti was dead- shot from his white horse on May nineteenth, after having been betrayed by a guide.-- submitted by Robert Register
"A white rose I grow for the sincere friend who offers me his hand.
And for the cruel one who tears out my heart, a white rose I grow.
-- Jose Marti
SECOND PRACTICE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2006
Cubans say Guantanamo Bay is occupied territory. xxxWhat can we do about it?
It is a conundrum.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxCuba is a rubber?
xxxCuba is a lizard. Its eye is Havana and its asshole is Guantanamo Bay. We will consult Oblata.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2006 WOW HALL SHOW A SUCCESS
GUANTANAMO WILDLY RECEIVED
NRPS JOINS INThere was even a heckler. Disrupted things at the beginning, yelling, "George Bush is being held hostage in Washington. He is actually an envirenmentalist and peace lover being held by greeheads and warmongers."
We continued the chant: GITMO GITMO GITMO INFO. When order prevailed, the regular progam resumed. Today I am shot. So, standby for more pics more words and, ultimately, the DVD.
-- KapnKen THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2006 Got this in the email today from Buddy Cage, the pedal steel guitar player for NRPS:
One of the most fun gigs w/nrps I've ever had - just being there with the old gang was tremendous and the play stunned me. It was hypnotic watching the Pranksters ACTUALLY do it - from 2 feet away!!! Merry Xmas to all.
-- Buddy
Thanks, Buddy. I watched the vidie and it was good but the sound was mushy, caught on the camera microphone. Fortunately there are two separate sound recordings from the sound board I'll be able to work into the vidie.
-- KapnKen PICTURES FROM THE GUANTANAMO NUMBER All photos by Sheree Walters
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