Kath published some intriguing thoughts about time, the data-body, and outsourced memories along with her video. Her piece begins with a quote from “Time Squared,” a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. Which is kind of funny because when I think about time, I always come back to Delmore Schwartz’ poem Calmly We Walk Through This April’s Day, which, of course, provides a big theme for the Star Trek Generations film: Time is the fire in which we burn. And I also come back to Don Charles’ song, “Little Pieces,” performed by D-Squared, which I used as the soundtrack. As Charles says, we’re all just “walking, talking, burning little pieces.” And for the origin of both, you can always look back to Heraclitus.

I used a teensy snippet of music performed by D-Squared. It’s their cover of Buckeye Jim.

When D-Squared performs, they give you a story to go with every song. Their songs are wonderful stories in their own right, but getting to hear the story of why Don or Deb wrote a particular song makes each one a “two-fer.” Incidentally, if you’re in Arizona on December 6, you’re more than welcome to join me in Mayer to see Don and Deb usher in Winter – I’ve seen them make it snow before!

So here’s the intro, giving the inspiration for the song, and then the song itself. My audio is crappy because I just used the camera mic that night, but I still think you’ll get a sense of the magic of this tune. For whatever reason, the song just chokes me up.

I hope the owls are there for me when it’s my turn to answer the call.

First, the guerrilla music video I made with D-Squared of their song Little Iraq has been accepted on Neil Young‘s Living with War web site. At one point it ranked number 17 but has since fallen to 25. Every time someone clicks to view it the popularity ranking goes up, and we could use your support. If you have five minutes, visit http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwvideospage.html and click the Little Iraq link to vote for us. We’re really excited to support and be a small part of Neil Young’s vision!

Next, Ryan Kost wrote about Recapturing the Agua Fria River’s oasis in the Arizona Republic recently, the exact area that inspired the song, and where the video was shot. It looks like Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department has stopped allowing motor vehicles into the area. Hurray! A first step. And there is a public hearing coming up to discuss this conservation area and appropriate uses for it. If you live in Maricopa County I strongly urge you to attend and make your concerns known. Here is the info:

Sept. 17, 2007, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Albins Civic Center
19005 E. K-Mine Road Center in Black Canyon City
Details: (623) 374-5234

This little spot is important for a lot of reasons. It’s one of the very few natural lakes in this area. It’s a water resource that’s hugely important to the native wildlife, yet it’s being contaminated horribly by all the things people are leaving out there. Think about it: lead from bullets, chemicals from paint and motor oil and gasoline and God knows what else people are taking out there and either shooting up or dumping or just leaving sitting out. All of it leeching into our water supply.

There are amazing animals out there that I’ve never seen anywhere else, including the most incredible little frogs you’d never expect to see in the desert. And the abuse of this area is killing them.

There are also extraordinary petroglyphs out there, left by the ancestors of local First Nations peoples. Their precious cultural record, a huge part of the history of this area – not to mention incredibly beautiful enduring art – is being casually blown to bits by the ignorant.

I documented some of this in Table Mesa Road, which screened at Pixelodeon this summer. If you can go to the meeting and speak out, it’s a chance to make a difference. I’d love it if I could never get a bunch of production equipment out there again due to vehicle restrictions. Remember, take only photographs and leave only footprints – lightly treaded ones. The frogs and I thank you.

This tune set the tone for the evening, and the chorus is so catchy I want to share it with all of you. It will get stuck in your head if you like the music.

Enjoy! And if you like it, consider checking out D-Squared’s tunes, and maybe buy a CD!

Again, since I don’t own the music, I am releasing this performance video under a different CreativeCommons license than my usual.

“Hoo Li” Performance by D-Squared by Cheryl Colan + D-Squared is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at dsquaredmusic.com.

So, Don and Deb went camping north of Phoenix for Don’s birthday, and instead of the tranquil beauty Don remembered from when he was a kid, they encountered people abusing the desert with ATVs and massive debris and all manner of guns. Don got mad, and then he got even. He wrote this tune.

I really like it. I hope you do, too.

Addendum: I have to license this differently because I don’t own the copyright to the music.

Little Iraq (Music Video) by D-Squared + Cheryl Colan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at dsquaredmusic.com.

Update on July 3, 2007: At the request of Verdi during the recent critical review flash meeting, I have added a 640×480 version of the video – see the link under the video player above.