An engaging look at a band’s artistic activism and Navajo people’s resistance.
An environmentally and politically minded memoir of Clan Dyken, a touring folk-rock band that’s dedicated to environmental activism.
Muniz effectively blends history, biography, and Navajo cultural traditions as she traces the evolution of a musical group that brothers (and credited co-authors) Mark Dyken and Bear Dyken formed in the late 1970s, at the height of anti-nuclear activism in the United States. “The band’s core mission is to help people create a better world through music and nonviolent activism,” she writes. At the center of the story is Muniz’s trip with the band on their annual Beauty Way Tour, during which they delivered food and firewood to Navajo families resisting forced relocation from their homes in Big Mountain, Arizona. The Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act had forced displacement and relocation of many Navajo people; however, many families, including a contingent of protesting grandmothers, have refused to go. The people must contend with poverty, destruction of natural resources, and a lack of electricity because there’s “no infrastructure, no grid” on the land. Big Mountain is located next to the world’s largest coal strip mine, which has drained the land’s aquifer and killed natural vegetation, Muniz writes, causing Navajo and Hopi people to suffer from environmental devastation. In intimate detail, the author narrates the history that’s shaped the Navajo people and culture of Big Mountain. Along the way, she also offers an essential account of Clan Dyken, which became politically engaged after an anti-nuclear talk at the University of California, Davis, in the early 1980s. With their solar-powered sound system, the band has taken their music on the road, playing festivals all over the country and protesting at nuclear testing and waste sites in Nevada and California. Other tours have included tree-logging protests, and the band travels annually to Bear Mountain in support of Navajo families. Over the course of this book, Muniz movingly relates how those families have continued to refuse displacement, spurring a creative movement.
An engaging look at a band’s artistic activism and Navajo people’s resistance.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73286-911-0
Page Count: 346
Publisher: Word Project Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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