Earth Day Hurt cover from Keith Secola

Here is a cover of Trent Reznor's Hurt that Keith made himself for you the fans. Bless our beautiful Mother today and every day.

https://youtu.be/bdE2rNzL6IA

If you would like to be a part of a Keith Secola video click here.

Still Time to Submit Photos for Got Land? Video

Looking for a great Earth Day activity? If you haven't yet submitted a photo for the You Got Land? video, there is still time. This is a chance to bring some attention to a place you love, a place that is threatened, or has already found itself chopped up for corporate greed. Favorite hiking trail, proposed damn or mine site, sacrilegious real-estate development, government building or monument... get creative! Photos can be submitted to thendnkar@gmail.com 

Oh, and tune in here at the NDN Kar tomorrow for a very special Earth Day surprise from the man at the wheel, Mr. Keith Secola himself!

 Here are some great some gorgeous pics sent in by Jessica Foster and Marsha Winters of the Kootenay Columbia. Jessica writes: Sinixt Land and Kootenay Columbia River. You see Teck in the background. 

The Sinixt people on the north side of the border were once deemed extinct by our government. Until the local people could prove their DNA when a sacred burial ground was being dug up for a roadway. 

The Kootenay Columbia has been dammed up in several places devastating the Sinixt people along the river in particular the Coleville tribe.

Want to get involved? Here's how:

  1.   Make a poster with the words 
        “Got Land? Thank an NDN” on it.

  2.   Take a picture of yourself holding it:

a.       at a rally

b.      your favourite place in nature

c.       an ecological war zone (i.e. tar sands, Mount Polley,
         dam sites, etc)

d.      steps of a government building

e.      any place that speaks to you  on Turtle Island

  3.   email it to us at  thendnkar@gmail.com

  4.   Please only send photos that belong to you and
        you have permission to use.

  5.   We ask for no profanity, as we would like to make
         this video in a good way for the children and elders too.

  6.   Feel free to substitute “Thank an Inuk” for all of you far
          Northerners out there. Settler allies are welcome to 
          participate, also.

We will do our best to include every submission we receive, but cannot guarantee usage of all images submitted. Inclusion will be based on creativity and how big the statement you make is.

Got Land? Thank an NDN -- More Pics

If you haven't yet sent in your pictures for Keith's You Got Land? video it isn't too late. Here's some of the latest submissions, sent in from Sherri Rinkel-MacKay from Bragg Creek in Southern Alberta, Canada, taken on her vacation. Picturesque, quirky, and thought provoking. It looked like Sherri had so much fun...we just had to share all of these with you! Email your own to thendnkar@gmail.com
.

Valley Of Fire State Park

Moapa Paiute sacred territory

Pacific Beach in San Diego

A big thank you to Sherri and to everyone who has submitted a picture for the video!

Want to get involved? Here's how:

  1.   Make a poster with the words 
        “Got Land? Thank an NDN” on it.

  2.   Take a picture of yourself holding it:

a.       at a rally

b.      your favourite place in nature

c.       an ecological war zone (i.e. tar sands, Mount Polley,
         dam sites, etc)

d.      steps of a government building

e.      any place that speaks to you  on Turtle Island

  3.   email it to us at  thendnkar@gmail.com

  4.   Please only send photos that belong to you and
        you have permission to use.

  5.   We ask for no profanity, as we would like to make
         this video in a good way for the children and elders too.

  6.   Feel free to substitute “Thank an Inuk” for all of you far
          Northerners out there. Settler allies are welcome to 
          participate, also.

We will do our best to include every submission we receive, but cannot guarantee usage of all images submitted. Inclusion will be based on creativity and how big the statement you make is.

Christmas Time

I was with my kola (friend), Elwin Braveheart from Kyle, SD. We were throwing rocks into the night. One of the rocks I threw kissed some barbed wire on its downward flight. It flashed brilliantly in the distant darkness. It was magic on an enchanting evening. It took me years to understand that songs can travel on a flash of light. . 

It was Christmas, Christmas morning, it was early in the morning, it was below freezing, here comes the Santa Claus, Ho, ho, ho, ho, hey, heyda.    

I heard this song in Laguna, NM in 1983. Todd Jiron sang it on a hand drum— an ancient beat with a contemporary figure.  It was the kind of song that needed to be shared with children.

Christmas Time Video

                                 

https://youtu.be/cj13s2mjLkI

Christmas Time has two parts, one slow and one fast. I wrote the music on the piano in the key of the C (the people’s key).  It is one of the best instruments to have. It teaches pitch to singers, passing chords to musicians, melody to songwriters, and harmony to choirboys. I play it like I do guitar. The piano has been a major inspiration for me. I have written a number of songs on it, including those from the Rock Opera, Seeds. 

Christmas Time needed some chords, a storyline and a melody. I filled the lyrics with as many metaphors that bring about positive thoughts as possible. The symbol of Santa Claus is the spirit of Love, a dream of angels, peace on Earth, being good all year long, singing in a church mouse’s choir band. 

We recorded Christmas Time in two evenings at recording engineer Christian Leefeldt’s studio in Tempe, AZ. Our former drummer lived in the space before and we had been practicing there for years, so we were very comfortable.

The night before, we practiced the song with a slow tempo all the way through, but the next day, I heard something different and suggested we speed up the second part. It took a couple hours of trying to communicate my wishes with the drummer.  You can hear us disagreeing on the outtakes. It’s hilarious.  “Well, tell me what you want me to play Paul, or I won’t play at all,” kind of thing. We eventually did get it together. We tracked the instruments, bass and drum the first night.  

On the next evening we recorded the vocals for Christmas Time. You can hear two fantastic female vocalists on it. Martha Redbone, an accomplished studio vocalist and live performer from Brooklyn, NY, who just happened to be in AZ. Martha and her husband Aaron came down from Sedona to Tempe for the recording. Aaron laid down a track, as well. He’s a jazz pianist. Happy Frejo is the other female vocalist.  She was living in Arizona at the time.

Even though the song has Native crossroads influences, the sound of the band is all Tempe, AZ.  Jangly guitars, melancholy melodies, and tight rhythms are trademarkx of the bands that came out of the Mill Ave (Tempe) scene in the 90’s. Tempe is a college town and one popular band to come from it was the Gin Blossoms. Doug Hopkins was a songwriter in the band and he was a friend of mine. Sadly, he committed suicide. One time he jumped a train in Tempe and couldn’t jump off until Tucson, one hundred miles later. He got off right next to the Congress Hotel and Bar, a haunted site, but that’s another story. I remember sharing songs with him and others after hours at the Hollywood Alley. One good thing about some of the music spots in Tempe is that they only want original music. You couldn’t get a gig playing just covers. When a town supports songwriters like that, it creates a more artistic local music scene and that is what was happening, we were writing our own songs. Jason Kay (drums), Charles Bond (Guitar/vocals) Jimmy Vickers (Bass) are Arizona musicians on the track.

When we finished recording Christmas Time, I took a break from the studio to catch some air. I remembered the song in its original form. I liked how the two came together to create a new song. Transformation took place and alchemy ran its course. The muse works in mysterious ways.  When spirits enter a room they sing, Ho, ho, ho, ho, hey, heyda.  Now I understand the flash of light.

To all the Children of the Earth, Merry Christmas, we Love You.

Two New Interviews with Keith Secola on A Conversation With Dawn Karima

Listen to two new interviews on A Conversation With Dawn Karima. Keith talks about the creative process, song writing, and inspiration, and shares a few songs. 

http://talktainmentradio.com/shows/archivedpodcasts/conversationwithdawnkarimapodcasts.html

Something Special We Just Had to Share

Here at the NDN Kar we received an extra special submission for Keith’s You Got Land? video. So, we just had to share. 

These beautiful pictures come from Dr. Dawn Karima who is Creek/Cherokee from the Qualla Boundary Reservation in the Great Smoky Mountains. Did we mention she’s a Native American Music Award Winner?  She is also a professor, and prominent NDN Country journalist, a documentarian, an author, a motivational speaker, a Miss American Indian Beauty, a Powwow dancer, and the list goes on and on. Wow! We feel honored here. 

You can check out Dr. Dawn Karima’s ethereal music and full bio at www.reverbnation.com/honeydawnkarima 

and her radio show at http://www.talktainmentradio.com/shows/archivedpodcasts/conversationwithdawnkarimapodcasts.html . 

Then be sure to head out and take your own pic for us for the You Got Land? video. Submissions are still open, so keep them coming! For all of you on the south side of the border, what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to THANK AN NDN! And for all of you on the north side, where are some Burnaby Mountain pics???? We'd love some Burnaby Mountain pics! Sending good vibes to all you warriors out there.

Here's how you can be a part of the You Got Land? video:

1.   Make a poster with the words 
        “Got Land? Thank an NDN” on it.

  2.   Take a picture of yourself holding it:

a.       at a rally

b.      your favourite place in nature

c.       an ecological war zone (i.e. tar sands, Mount Polley,
         dam sites, etc)

d.      steps of a government building

e.      any place that speaks to you  on Turtle Island

  3.   email it to us at  thendnkar@gmail.com

  4.   Please only send photos that belong to you and
        you have permission to use.

  5.   We ask for no profanity, as we would like to make  
         this video in a good way for the children and elders too.

  6.   Feel free to substitute “Thank an Inuk” for all of you far
          Northerners out there. Settler allies are welcome to 
          participate, also.

We will do our best to include every submission we receive, but cannot guarantee usage of all images submitted. Inclusion will be based on creativity and how big the statement you make is.

This Thanksgiving Thank an NDN

Keith Secola (NDN without land) standing in the removed section of the town of Parkville, MN. Behind him is where the neighborhood he grew up in used to be. It has also been removed to make way for expanding mining operations. Whole communities throughout the Mesabi and Vermillion portions of the Iron Range of Minnesota have been dismantled to make way for mineral extraction. The modern history of Turtle Island is the history of the removal of people from the land for the benefit of big business and resource extraction: It is both the history of the blood of NDNs removed through brutal, constant, and ongoing acts of genocide, and ironically it is also the history of settlers and colonizers who largely arrived on Turtle Island soaked in the sweat and tears of their own exploitation, and removed from their own homelands. Acknowledging the truth of our past will help lead us all to a better future. So, You got land? …Thank an NDN. And then let us unite against systemic greed for the sake of a better way for the next seven generations. (photograph by James Paavala 2011)

If you would like to appear in Keith's video for YOU GOT LAND? here's how:  http://www.thendnkar.blogspot.ca/2014/11/appear-in-keith-secola-music-video_4.html