Smoke Signal's Artists Feature
KEN McCOHMACK The power of the social and political message.
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From his recent show, Light Falling: A se
lection from 20 years of Photography,
McCormack showed his range with the
title photograph, above, one of hundreds
of shots he took of the scene to drama
tize the idea of "snow being like light," and Free As
sembly, at right, a shot that was "not art for art's
sake, but to make some sort of statement."
Ken McCormack is not Indian. Neither his
photography nor writing focuses on Indian is
sues. Still, his local work at the Lincoln City News
Guard has been an inspiration and his influence
continues to echo throughout the
area in the work of local writers and
photographers.
McCormack is a writerphotogra
pher whose studio walls include
portraits of Beat poet Allen
Ginsberg and Yippie Abbie
Hoffman. His photographic inspi
rations include Jacob Riis and
Sabastiao Salgado, photographers
with "powerful social and political
messages."
In his recent photographic retro
spective at Lincoln City's Central
Coast Cultural Center, Light Fall
ing, McCormack showed 52 photos, both black
& white and color. This was the first time he
had put together so wide-ranging a show of his
life's work.
At the same time, McCormack has completed
a work of non-fiction, bringing together the
myths of two of America's most interesting indi
viduals. Touched with Fire: How Aldous Huxley
Saved Us from John F. Kennedy, A Spiritual
History, takes advantage of the little known co
incidence that both men died on the same day.
Kennedy's life, compared with mythical Camelot,
is neia up against
Huxley's life, a forerun
ner to the New Age
movement that has bur
geoned in recent years.
Huxley, as many recall,
is author of Brave New
World, a nightmarish
fantasy of a totalitarian
future based on indi
viduals being bred for
appropriate occupa
tions. Living in a home with
KEN McCORMACK a separate studio down
the windy old Highway
101 near Neskowin, McCormack continues to
grow and change as does his art.
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RDBBY ROMERO "Everything new is hidden in the past."
The Michael McCormick Gallery for the Arts
in Taos, New Mexico calls Red Thunder, Robby
Romero's Native rock band, "America's best kept
secret."
Romero is a show-biz kid who early on "found
himself in the company of filmmakers like Den
nis Hopper and Sam Peckinpah," according to
his biography. By the time he hit his teens, he
was already singing his original songs in Taos
cantinas. Later, "he wrote and toured with Rici
Danko of The Band, Gene Clark of The Byrds,
and Paul Butterfield of The Butterfield Blues
Band. He also appeared in several independent
films including Valley Girl with Nicholas Cage.
"Through his mother, Robby began an appren
ticeship with Latin activist Reyes Tijer and Native
American activist Dennis Banks. His time and
work with them helped to shape both his politics
and his art," according to his biography.
Romero's output has been prodigious. Ten years
of Red Thunder music is documented in the film
special, "Thuderstorm: When Lightning Strikes."
Red Thunder performed at Leavenworth Federal
A
n
i
7
Penitentiary in
honor of Indian
political prisoner
Leonard Peltier.
The group per
formed for Ger
man Chancellor
Willie Brandt
for the Nelson
Mandela Free
dom Tour, in Rio
de Janiero for
the United Na
tions Earth
Summit, in Aus
tria at the
World Uranium
Hearings, and
in Mexico City at the International Conference
on Biodiversity.
Romero's films, All the Missing Children and
Is It Too Late? aim to help runaway and throw
away kids. Hidden Medicine, which premiered
ROBBY ROMERO
during the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, is an
"experimental, mystical film that deals with the
relationship between Indigenous Peoples and
the environment," according to his biography.
Coming up are three new projects. One, titled,
The New Buffalo, will be a documentary deal--ing
with Indian casinos. The second, Dona Ma
rina: Lady of the Sea, is a love epic during the
conquest of Mexico. The third, The Longest
Walk, is a film based on the story of "the most
charismatic and controversial Native American
leader of our time."
Romero also has a collection of hand-crafted
Pueblo jewelry and lifestyle products designed
in partnership with indigenous peoples.
Most recently, the group has released its first
major music CD, "Paint the World," produced
by Grammy award winner Steve Addabbo with
art direction and photography by Dennis Hop
per. "I'm not concerned with correcting history," he
is quoted as saying. "We're involved in creating
it."
ROY TRACK "See 360 degrees if you have the time and the ability."
While most of the Grand Ronde Tribe knows Roy
Track as long-time emcee for the CTGR's Annual
Pow-wow, this self-proclaimed "freelance hustler"
says he will do just about anything in the communi
cations field to make a buck.
He started in print journalism, writing for Indian
newspapers. His work as writer and producer of
Tribal videos, extolling the benefits of casino profits
or securing a piece of cultural history goes back to
the 1970s when he worked for KOOL-TV in Phoe
nix, Arizona, at the time an ABC affiliate. There,
he turned down a chance to be "the first Indian tele
vision reporter in Phoenix" to learn the rest of the
communications tools - lighting, sound, and the idea
that "you can't have the visuals colliding with the
words."
For 28 years, he has produced and hosted 21s' Cen
tury Native American, the longest running Indian
television show in America.
His strengths, some hard won, also have come at
the hand of chance.
"I had a reputation as a kid that I talked like an
old man," he said. "I didn't learn it until later, but
my parents never talked baby talk to me. I learned
to read before I went to school because it was during
the war, and wives of men in the war would come
and visit my grandmother. Maybe out of boredom,
they taught me parlor games and how to read. I
guess I was just in the right place at the right time."
A Tribal member whose aunt is Katheryn
Harrison, former Tribal chairwoman, Track grew
up with his grandparents in Fort Peck, Montana,
and objected that his grandmother never taught him
the Nakoda language of his heritage. "She said,
'because you're not going to stay here.' I didn't be
lieve her at the time, but she was right. As soon as
she died, I left."
Still pursuing the language, he got himself in
trouble at a conference as a young man. An Elder
was complaining that the language was not being
passed on and Track recalls saying, '"You've got no
one to blame but yourself. Why aren't you teaching
it?' I caught hell for being so blunt, but he couldn't
refute it and I think that was my start."
As his skills grew, he was called on to help out
the Fort McDowell Tribe, which was broke at that
time, out in the middle of nowhere, and the govern
ment ordered all the Tribal members off the prop
erty so the land could be flooded for the Orme dam.
Track recalled doing a few pretty dry interviews,
but then he visited a man at an old Rez house. "It
had a couple cars in the backyard, and he didn't
want me to come in the house. I guess he was
ashamed of it, but then this big, old momma dog
with its ribs showing came out of the house. It had
just had pups and they were following her, and I
knew this was the image I wanted. I photographed
the dog, which was more visual than anything his
interviews produced.
"Here were these poor people in the middle of no
where. They were being driven off their land...."
The effort was part of a larger effort including the
ROY TRACK
local newspaper and ultimately some politicians that
stopped the dam from being built, one of the few
times Track has seen concrete results in the work
he's done over the years. "They still celebrate 'Orme
Dam Celebration' every November," he said.
Track said his grandmother taught him "to sur
vive, to see 360 degrees if you have the time and the
ability.
"The key thing that I feel good about is that my
family is involved, my grand kids are involved, and
we can maintain the ties to the traditional value
system even though we're not on the Rez anymore."