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M AY 29, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXV, N O . 34
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Biden
Prepares
for 2016
SOCCER
RIVALS
The vice president is
fiercely loyal to
President Obama
By Josh Lederman
Associated Press
Orishas, or deities in the Yoruba
religious system. This is the first
studio recording of the songs in
their completion.
Omo Alagba features three
drummers, a singer and a cho-
rus.
The drummers play the bata
drums, which are considered
“talking drums.” The drums
have different tones and the
drummers talk to each other
through them.
Riedlinger says this tradition
survived amongst the slaves and
WASHINGTON (AP) – With his politi-
cal future tied irrevocably to President
Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden is
still working to preserve his own distinct
identity as he contemplates a third presiden-
tial run in 2016.
With nearly four years left in Obama’s
second term, it would be untoward for
Biden to be openly self-promotional, and
his advisers say he’s focused on his current
job. Still, with the jockeying for 2016 nom-
inations already well under way, there’s an
advantage to staying part of the conversa-
tion. So the freewheeling man from Scran-
ton, Pa., is polishing a reputation carefully
nurtured over four decades in Washington,
playing up his own strengths even as he
stays fiercely loyal to his current boss.
“The good news is my dad understands
that he works for the president, first and
foremost,’’ said Beau Biden, the vice presi-
dent’s son and Delaware’s state attorney
general. “I hope he takes a real, hard look at
running, but now’s not the time.’’
That time will come soon enough. In the
meantime, the vice presidency has afforded
Biden ample opportunities to keep his name
in the spotlight without seeming overtly
political. He’s hit the pavement, keeping a
strenuous schedule that would wear out
many 70-year-old men.
On a Monday earlier this month, Biden
hosted religious leaders for hours at a White
House meeting on gun control, even though
efforts to revive a failed bill had stalled. On
Tuesday, he spoke about voting rights at an
African-American think tank. He talked
immigration with Asian-Americans at an
awards dinner Wednesday, and the Boston
bombings in a keynote address to firefight-
ers on Thursday. By Friday, he was prepar-
ing to return home to Delaware, where he
spends many weekends.
“Part of the challenge of being president is
you have to be president. It doesn’t give you
See BATA on page 3
See BIDEN on page 3
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
The Seattle Reign played their rival the
Portland Thorns Saturday May
25th at Tukwila’s Starfire Stadium. The
Thorns beat the Reign 1-0 with a
controversial penalty kick goal in
the 84th minute of the game.
Film Explores Origin of Afro-Cuban Music
Seattle-based bata drummers prepare for performance in Nigeria
Bruce Poinsette
Of The Skanner News
T
wo local documentarians
are bringing the Afro-
Cuban bata drumming
tradition to the screen.
Alex Riedlinger and Sidony
O’Neal will be traveling with
the Seattle-based Omo Alagba,
or “Children of the Sacred Eld-
ers” project for their perform-
ance at the historic 10th
International Congress of Orisa
Tradition and Culture in Ile-Ife,
Nigeria. They will be capturing
the experience to both expose
viewers to the music and further
the dialogue of the African dias-
pora.
“I feel like the process of
making this film will be just as
powerful as the drumming that
we capture,” says O’Neal.
She and Riedlinger are work-
ing in conjunction with produc-
er Chaz Mortimer of Ibori
Records to put out this film.
Riedlinger will be doing all the
filming while O’Neal will write
and translate. Both are doing
extensive research. Mortimer, in
INDEX
News ..................2,3,6,7
Calendar ....................2
Opinion .......................4
Bids/Classifieds............7
addition to producing, will be
doing sound for the film. Their
collaboration will be the first
project for O’Neal and
Riedlinger’s vehicle, Ibeji Pic-
tures. Recently, the group raised
$6,840 through an Indiegogo
campaign.
The Omo Alagba are a Luku-
mi Orisha band, which means
they perform Afro-Cuban praise
music that has roots in Nigeria.
Mortimer received grants to
produce a full album of all the
praise songs performed by prac-
titioners to pay home to the
Budget Talks Stalled in Olympia for Now
About $1 Billion divides Democratic and Republican politicians
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP)— Staffers in
Washington state’s financial management
agency have been conducting legal and his-
torical research to determine what would
happen if lawmakers fail to pass a new
budget before the start of the fiscal year.
David Schumacher, the budget director
under Gov. Jay Inslee, said the work is
being done in order to keep officials pre-
pared and insisted that it’s not a sign that
budget negotiations are at an impasse.
Still, Senate Minority Leader Ed Murray
called the pace of negotiations “glacial.’’
“I think the worst case scenario is we find
ourselves on June 30 without a budget and
we go into territory we’ve never been into
before,’’ he said.
Schumacher said he’s still hopeful that
negotiators will begin coming closer togeth-
er soon as they start swapping revised budg-
et plans. The House and Senate budgets
have a $1 billion chasm between them, with
House Democrats seeking new revenue by
extending taxes and eliminating tax breaks.
Schumacher said typical negotiations in
Olympia would find a solution somewhere
in the middle of that gap.
“You kind of split the difference,’’ Schu-
See BUDGET on page 6