Ojibberish and merry new year

Looks like my main image-hoster is upgrading their servers again, so some pics and galleries are currently unavailable. Hopefully, they will be back up by the time you read this.



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Artistream; a new online Native Art gallery and NA artist blog with some heavy goals and a cool, simple design. From the site:

"...from the very beginning, Ron and I felt that Artistream should be much more than just a typical corporate enterprise. In fact, we decided that Artistream should:

1. Be a vehicle for producing and distributing beautiful art
2. Provide economic benefits to the artistic community that works in partnership with Artistream
3. Work to preserve (and restore) Native American culture, spirituality, history, ceremonies, etc.
4. Be intelligent about the resources that it consumes / transforms and give back to the environment when possible
5. Be aware of the local communities that it interacts with and strive to be a good corporate neighbor
6. Respect the people who work for and partner with Artistream and strive to meet (and inspire) them as individuals who have lives other than Artistream
7. Listen to feedback on how Artistream executes on these ideals and goals as well as regularly refine and update these ideals and goals
8. Be profitable and therefore continue to invest in these goals as well as provide for our families and those who partner with us."

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5th International Indigenous Librarians' Forum 2007:

" The Forum is an opportunity for Indigenous library workers from around the world to share information, contribute in the development of solutions to common concerns, and to discuss issues relating to the communication, documentation and preservation of Indigenous cultures. "

The Canadian Yukon Territory has (almost) reached an amazing milestone; Two years, no murders.

NATV; Currently just an online presence, but Native American Television is a necessary addition to the American mediasphere. Canadian counterpart, APTN, 'Aboriginal People's Television Network' is already on cable.

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Major change made to Miss Loontrout...





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Tags: native art,artistream, aptn, International Indigenous Librarians Forum, yukon territory, ojibway, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

Merry boxing day, solstice, many gift returns, etc.

First off, Bingoragers; I apologise for not posting this week. Spent plenty of time hiding in the studio, but got much done.

Secondly; I would like to thank Larry Mitchell, at "The Native Blog" and Jade L. Blackwater at Arboreality for their generous help in reaching more eyes -for my images, writings and story explorations- with their creative output and online presences.

Jades was patient enough to wait out deer season and my yearly, obssesive spasm of all things deerhunting-related, in order to receive back my responses for her interview at Brainripples. I am honoured.

Mr. Mitchell has been generous to me with his words and given me permission to illustrate and post portions of his novel, Potowatomi Tracks, here, at Bingorage. I'll be sharing some more illustrations, and his words, this winter.


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[From Chapter One (The Ballad of Vietnam)
of "Potowatomi Tracks":]




On our first day out in the bush, we came under fire.
Richard and I both hit the ground when the firefight started.
In that firefight the point man, whose name was Giles, came upon two NVA soldiers walking down the trail.
Those two NVA soldiers acted like they were out for a walk in New York City on a sunny day in June...
They had their AK-47's slung over their shoulders;
Their careless ways would turn into a dirge song.
Our point man killed one NVA soldier, and the other one left a blood trail through the jungle.
We all walked past the dead NVA soldier's body.
He lay on the side of the trail; he was dressed all in black... as the rain fell on his body.





Some infantry units in the 'nam would go through the jungles making enough noise to wake the dead.
The officers made evryone in our company keep it down.
That probably saved more lives than we will ever know.





I had gone through the monsoon season in the Quang Tri province.
Nothing can compare to the misery of sleeping in the rains;
All night the rain would fall...
There was almost perpetuity to the rains.
I said to myself"This rain can't last forever."
My feet would get white from having my feet wet all the time; this was called emersion foot.



The leeches crawled on my arms,
They would fill up with blood; I'd have to burn them off with a cigarette, then the little bloodsuckers would fall off into the jungle.
Jungle rot appeared on my arms.
You get jungle rot from being wet all the time.
Those visible scars that would stay on my arms throughout my life.





Glossary of Vietnam War terms at Cavhooah dot com.

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I remember hearing that The Hard Rock Cafe, the entire franchise, had been sold. What I didn't realise was that the Seminole Tribe of Florida,bought it.

Native Chefs dot com

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Although I really don't think it is necessary, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that two members of Tsartlip First Nation on Vancouver Island were within their treaty rights to jacklight for deer. This decision will probably affect treaty rights across the country.

Eighth Annual Native American Music Awards - Thursday, December 28th, 8:00PM. Website for "the Nammys".

Leonardo DiCaprio has been asked to provide a voice to raise the profile of Cree people fighting DeBeers mining for diamonds on their lands.

Sample of music from the great Nakota blues band, Indigenous. If you like/love Stevie Ray Vaughn, the lead guitar guy has got the chops.

ManitoulinIsland art

Native web art links

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Tags: potawatomi tracks, the native blog, arboreality, brainripples, vietnam war, illustration, hard rock cafe, seminoles, supreme court of canada, jacklighting, native american music awards, leonardo dicaprio, canadian diamonds, debeers, indigenous, native art, ojibway, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

Fort Frances drive

(pics click to enlarge)


Krustayn Versus Mecha Sasquatch update.



Detail,panel 1&2


Detail, panel 3&4


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Bingorage doodling on anatomy colouring book.







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Fort Frances Drive




Listing of old-time fiddlers, with Bio. of James Cheechoo, the James Bay fiddler featured in my video, "Fort Frances Drive"

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Good link-resource page, 'Incredible Native Art', at Princeton Online.

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Tags: krustayn versus mecha sasquatch, anatomy, coloring book, colouring book, youtube, video, james cheechoo, fort frances, northwestern ontario, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

cold and pretty

From the New York Times: DNA Gatherers Hit Snag: Tribes Don't Trust Them
The Nat. Geo. Society is sponsoring a DNA gathering project from "indigenous" peoples all over the globe, in order to track human migration and evolutionary process through time and geography. The Native people of Alaska, it seems, are reluctant to participate.

I can see how the people would be reluctant to provide (genetic) information that they see as being used to undermine fragile creation mythologies.

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bored mind + technology



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Found at youtube; odd moose clip



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Gramma and Grampa

My mom saved a newspaper clipping for decades that had a picture of her parents in it. It has yellowed and crinkled, but still warms me. I can only imagine how strongly she felt about it and I wished I had asked her about this particular picture.



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cold and pretty (click to enlarge)





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Tags: moose, caribou, cervid, youtube, fort frances, rainy river, grandparents, native art, ancestors, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

after the ice fog

The 2006 Bingorage Deerhunt story

Includes pics of dressed whitetail deer, as well as landscapes; please do not click if that makes you squeamish.

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Platypus bludgeon not legal for deerhunting in this Wildlife Management Unit
Click to enlarge. (Published in previous post.)




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Myspace site for the 2007 Council Tree Native American Music Festival.

"This is the space for the Council Tree Native American Music Festival. The fest will be in September 2007 at the Fort Collins Museum in FT. Collins, Colorado. Give us a shout!"

Their other site; http://counciltree.org

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Poking around the music festival, online, brought me to the well-made website of Lakota/Assinnaboine musician Rose Red Elk -aka- Wieka Luta Win, Red Feather Woman, who already has performances scheduled for spring 2007 in Iowa, Colorado and Wisconsin. If you check out one of these gigs, or have heard seen/heard her peform - give me a shout about it.

brokenvultureart@gmail.com

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Tags: 2006 bingorage deerhunt story, deer hunting, 2007 Council Tree Native American Music Festival, Red Feather Woman, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

Bingorage 2.5

Halloooooo Bingoragers;

I was up all night working on a couple things; but, mostly, I went in and tweaked the guts of the page - a bit - to try and make it easier to read and navigate.
If you are a return reader, do me the favour of letting me know if the page is easier to read and/or comprehend (outside of my grammar, syntax, jokes, etc.). Please check out the comments for this post.

There are a couple of things that I would like feedback on:

- Some embedded flash players (video and audio) start up on page load, which is annoying, out of context, if you do not know where it is coming from. I have a selective "Flashblock" extension on my Firefox browser, so I did not notice until I tested the site in IE(6). This was a pet peeve of mine when visiting "myspace.com" sites, until I got Flashblock, so I understand. I'll try and remedy this through the content-hosters or an HTML code-tweak.

-I like a larger font; it's better for my eyes and shows up better against an image-based background (versus 'solid' colour). Is it legible? More or less so, now?

-Load times. I put quite a bit of pics, flash, javascripts and more video clips (lately) into my page; but I'm running a high-speed cable connection and the page loads pretty fast, for me. Anybody having real troubles with page loads?

-Does anybody use those social bookmark thingies at the end of individual postings? Are mine working? Too cluttered? Add more?...

-Is there anything on the page that doesn't work for you? Dead links? etc...

Update - December 12,2006:
Dumped some more javascript, non-posting 'flash', link buttons and cut the index page from 6 to 5 postings.
Update December22/06: Changed back to 6 postings.
Update - December 13, 2006:
Okay. Figured out how to turn off the autoplay feature on flash video-player. Thanks to the guys at HuntShow.com
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Google is integrating blogger (and the blogspot domains, presumably) into the Googlepire. Already, I have had difficulty leaving comments, using my blogger login on new "Blogger beta" blogsites.

When the tide turns and I am rolled into the Googlepire, I'll try and keep things functioning. They may have it all figured out by then, so quit worrying about it already, Eric.

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Click pic to visit the 'Myspace' page
for the "Northend Artists Collective" of Winnipeg.



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Tags: blogger, blogspot, google,blogging, site update, html, northend artists collective, winnipeg, native media, ojibway, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, myspace

monday, again

The First Nations Film and Video Festival (FNFVF)
Website

The purpose of the First Nations Film and Video Festival is to
provide a venue for Native American film and video makers of all
skill levels.

The First Nations Film and Video Festival (FNFVF) advocates for
and celebrates the works of Native American film and video that
break racial stereotypes and promotes awareness of contemporary
Native American issues and society.

The FNFVF blog.

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Surreal-art gallery; Beinart.
If unusual, mind-altering images aren't your thing, take a pass.

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Random stuff:

World's oldest-known artificial eyeball found by archaeologists in Iran.

One of the best-protected rock art sites in the USA, undoubtedly, is on an army base in the Mojave desert.

33 names of things you didn't know had names.
Such as #20:

OCTOTHORPE - The symbol `#' on a telephone handset. Bell Labs' engineer Don Macpherson created the word in the 1960s by combining octo-, as in eight, with the name of one of his favourite athletes, 1912 Olympic decathlon champion, Jim Thorpe.

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Jim Thorpe.

"Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox Nation: Wa-Tho-Huk) (May 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) is considered one of the most versatile athletes in modern sports. He won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon, starred in college and professional football, played Major League Baseball and also had a career in basketball. He subsequently lost his Olympic titles when it was found he had played two seasons of minor league baseball prior to competing in the games (thus violating the amateur status rules). In 1983, thirty years after his death, his medals were restored."

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Tags: first nations film and video festival, native media, native art, surrealism, artificial eyeball, jim thorpe, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

36 hours of Bingorage

Pic of pencil sketch.



Scan of pencil sketch, with colouring pencil and highlighter added.



Orchid bitmap; edited with M$Paint and Irfanview photo editor, converted back to jpeg format.



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Argus Leader article.

To Yankton Sioux tribal artist Jerry Fogg, it seemed the top awards at art shows always went to paintings or sculpture.

So, he decided to try something different: Native American artwork done in multi-media style.

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Toronto Star article about new Canadian Native comedrama series "Hank William's First Nation", based on Indie film by Aaron James Sorensen

Like the movie, the series was shot on the Woodland Cree First Nation in the Peace River Country of Northern Alberta.

Starring is veteran scene stealer Gordon Tootoosis (Legends of the Fall) plus new faces such as recent Canadian Idol finalist Sheldon Elter and young actress Teneil Whiskeyjack. Stir in other regulars Jimmie Herman, Colin Van Loon and Edna Rain and here is a fine ensemble cast. Guest stars include Lisa Langois, Ellen Dubin and Ian Tyson.

Aaron James Sorensen, who directed and wrote the film serves as the show's writer and director. Larry Mollin (Beverly Hills, 90210) is the story editor.

APTN schedule entry.

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Tags: youtube, video clip, pencil sketch, ms paint, colouring pencil, native art, native media, ojibway, hank william's first nation, yankton sioux, jerry fogg, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

lumps of coal

Making changes on the Krustayn Versus Mecha Sasquatch painting. Check out the vid; it's a result of toying with my new moviemaker software. KVMS pics click to enlarge.

Update: December 9, 8pm CST; KVMS photo gallery at Zoto.com, updated.







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2006 Grammy awards; nominees for Native American Music Album:

"Voice of the Drum," Black Eagle;
"Heart of the Wind," Robert Tree Cody and Will Clipman;
"American Indian Story," Jana;
"Long Winter Nights" Northern Cree and Friends;
"Dance With the Wind," Mary Youngblood.

Complete list of all 2006 Grammy nominees.


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My interview at Brainripples.
Jade's been a regular reader and commentator here at Bingorage; check out her stuff.


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If you think that things are tough, where you live, then consider this:
The Northern Ontario community of Pikangikum has the highest suicide rate in Ontario, probably in Canada. You can only get there by boat, air or snowmobile (sled dog, too, I suppose).

Sattellite imagery; c/o google maps.

This Christmas, they will have no Christmas lights, because they do not trust the community's source of power -an old diesel generator- to carry the load.

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Tags: youtube, grammy awards, native american music album, brainripples, arboreality, pikangikum first nation, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics, video clip

december snows biting

It seems that Betty and Veronica are scared silly of false-face masquetry; especially when worn by Ojibway dudes, in Northern Ontario. (Archies's "Pals and Gals", double digest #51[2000]) I guess that I would be, too.



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Surfed around and found another 'Native Blog', down in Kansas. Rod Pocowatchit is a filmmaker (Pawnee, Shawnee and Comanche).
The posting that caught my attention is his thoughts on the new Clint Eastwood film, Flags of our Fathers, with Adam Beach, as Ira Hayes.
Anyways, Rod's blog, 'Rawd's.Think.Spot', lead me to NativeVue; online magazine.

" ...NativeVue Film & Media is joining this dynamic community with a vision uniquely our own. Our mission is to cultivate an interest in Native performing arts by featuring North America's most innovative Indigenous filmmakers, musicians, actors and media entrepreneurs. This is done by solid reporting and collaborating with others; simply stated--getting the word out. There's so much to celebrate that has hardly been touched on. "

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PowWows.com Member's Choice Awards-

" are a way for us to recognize excellence for events, dancers, and singers for this past year.

Nominations are now open. The nominations are open until December 31, 2006.

Please consider the contributions and actions of the nominees for just the year 2006.

The top 5 from each category will be placed in a poll starting January 1, 2007. Voting on these categories will end on January 31, 2007. "

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Native American Art News;


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Supposedly, the face of Jack the Ripper has finally been drawn (probably a bit late) by police sketch artist. Be very afraid. [pic clicks for story link]



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If you hadn't all noticed, yet; I love deer hunting.
I just found a 'youtube-like' video clip site dedicated to hunting,
Hunt Show.com. Here's a funny sample:

Tags: archie,false face society,huntshow, rawd's think spot, nativevue, native american art news, native art, native author, powwows.com, jack the ripper, Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

Best Wank

Hey, hey, hey.

My friend, Cindy Collins went and wrote a book about the historic West Bank (MPLS) music scene; West Bank Boogie. Check out the site and connect with some other whiz-bangers.


If you're in MPLS this weekend, check out the party.


Boogie-On Party
Friday & Saturday ~ December 8 & 9
Eagles Club *2507 East 25th Street * Minneapolis

Friday, Dec. 8, 7-9 p.m. The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs including special
guests members of the Brass Kings and MORE surprise guests.

9:30 p.m. to close: Willie Murphy and band, with Max Ray, formerly of the
Wallets.
More guests may appear through the evening.

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2:30 p.m. to close: Lawless Walleyes (featuring Tony Paul, formerly
of Shangoya); Koerner and Glover; Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson; Papa John
Kolstad; Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs and more.

Like all good boogies, this one is also a fundraiser.
25% of the book's profits go to West Bank Boogie Band Aid to help with musicians' medical costs.

Tags: west bank boogie, cindy collins, minneapolis, minnesota, Life of Cyn,Bingorage, Broken Vulture Art, blog, pics

mining old sketch books

Pics click to enlarge.



More than the sum and untitled sketch - 1997.


Sh*tkicking and untitled sketch (with cartridge, snake, lumber and thorny Jack-in-the-pulpit. - 1998


Late night in the Cafe, again and Jackie's Heron - 1998.


Sketch proposal for Hard Times Cafe T-shirt;1997



Gifted armchair quarterback; pencil (1993) and digital flug (2006).



The anti-'Barney', with rabid chicken as arm, under slivered moon. - 1998.


National Geo. article about "pre-Incan" archaeological find in peru. Particular ceremonial knives have been found, "in context", for the first time (instead of looted and sold on the black market, without documentation).

America's first muslim congressman wants to swear his oath on the Quran; but knee-jerk fundies say "Nein". Keith Ellison.

North Dakota tribe bars hate-church from rez; article.

Fake "tribe" of euro-tax-dodgers considered an extremist group by US Government. Accused of selling 'memberships' to facilitate tax evasion.

" The origins of the Little Shell Band (named after a Chief Little Shell, who died in 1901) have a kernel of truth. The Little Shell Band did, in fact, once exist as a branch of the Chippewa on the northern Great Plains in the 19th century. Most were pushed westward out of Minnesota and North Dakota to Montana. Today there is a Little Shell Band of Montana, a legitimate although federally unrecognized Native American tribe. It has no connections to extremism or to the Little Shell Pembina Band of North America. (Pembina refers to the area around the Pembina River in northeastern North Dakota). "

Russel Means accused of "manhandling" writer; article.

Very cool Flash-based "Native-Canadian" tribes' teachings;4 directions

Land, Genocide, Memory and Denial: The Battle of Baldwin Park. A long article,skimming plague, genocide and the slow native/chicano reclamation of southern California.

Tags: pencil sketches, native art,pre-incan, Keith Ellison, Baldwin Park, Little Shell Pembina Band,Four Directions,bingorage, broken vulture art, blog, pics