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Some
New Non-Daemon news of interest from Amy
IG’s signed a new record deal a few days ago with Hollywood
Records. We are really excited to have a fresh start and quite
frankly, thankful that anyone in the music industry still cares.
Hollywood
is a small label with a limited number of artist releases each
year. They have the staff and time to focus on each project and
are not put off by our politics or our queerness.
It’s
been in the works for a while. We went through a long process
of weighing our options. I struggled a lot with the corporate
ties of Hollywood, they are owned by Disney. But in the end feel
good about the decision. Honestly, I was won over by the enthusiasm
and willingness to get creative with a contract that offers us
things more important than money, i.e. creative freedom and vast
opportunities to grow musically. We did weigh this against other
offers, including independents, but didn’t find the level
of enthusiasm or understanding of our music that Hollywood showed.
We did consider putting our own label together, but it just wasn’t
in the cards. In the end, we felt that for the Indigo Girls, this
was the best road. The deal also allows us to pursue our solo
interests and specifically for me, gives me the space to focus
on my indie label-Daemon Records.
We are starting our record on April 20th in Los Angeles with producer,
Mitchell Froome. He is supercool and has a creative vision that
really jives with us right now. I can tell from our initial discussions
that he plans to get the most out of us musically and not tinker
too much with our basic raw sound.
The
songs are written and we’ve been practicing and arranging
for weeks. The music is still evolving, but so far, it feels very
full of energy and harmonies and all that good stuff. Emily is
exploring complex topics and melodies and taking her voice into
new places. I hear a lot of soul influences on her new songs.
I am exploring 3 chords again, but have been determined to just
write the stories and keep it honest. If I try to get tricky,
it just feels disingenuous. Emily is bringing a ukulele into the
picture and will try her hand on some slide acoustic and more
piano. Some songs will be bare bones acoustic and some will be
all out electric, but they will all be organic and true.
If
all goes according to our plans, the record will be out late August/September.
We have a July tour set up, plans to play Newport Folk Festival,
and I get to play HomoAgogo this year on August 2nd.
In
other artist news…
One
of my favorite writers, T Cooper, has come out
with a new book called Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes. It’s
been described as a "Jewish immigrant/Charles Lindbergh/Eminem
novel"...
Trust me, T Copper is great and always compelling.
There will be a book tour, so look out for it. (www.t-cooper.com)
I
hear British writer, Sarah Waters is also on
a book tour.
I love her work. We did a reading/music show at a church in England
a few years back.
My
mentor and friend, Ferron will be offering some
writing workshops this summer and fall. This could prove to be
the window to your creativity that you have been searching for.
Here’s some information.
Nuclear
Testing News
There
have been some disturbing developments in United States’
nuclear testing in the Nevada desert - Western Shoshone territory-
an amazing amount of hubris, stupidity, and a total lack of humanity
shown once again by the Bush regime. This comes on the heels of
a Western Shoshone victory at the United Nations.
10
March 2006, Geneva Switzerland. Today, in an historic and strongly
worded decision by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD) the United States was urged to
"freeze", "desist" and "stop" actions
being taken or threatened to be taken against the Western Shoshone
Peoples of the Western Shoshone Nation. In its decision, CERD
stressed the "nature and urgency" of the Shoshone situation
informing the U.S. that it goes "well beyond" the normal
reporting process and warrants immediate attention under the Committee’s
Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure.
Here’s
a little timeline of our newest nuclear transgressions
February
23, 2006
Today, at 12 noon, the governments of the United States and the
United Kingdom joined forces in the Nevada desert to perform a
nuclear test. Dubbed Krakatau, the test was considered successful.
It was the first sub critical test performed since the Armando
test in May of 2004. Sub critical testing is basically a loophole
that allows for nuclear testing regardless of the moratorium currently
in place, since there is no active explosion.
Incidentally,
Krakatau is a volcano that lies between the islands of Java and
Sumatra. When it erupted in 1883, it killed more than 36,000 people,
making it one of the deadliest volcanic disasters in historic
time.
March
30, 2006
The US military plans to detonate a 700 tonne explosive charge
in a test called "Divine Strake" that will send a mushroom
cloud over Las Vegas, a senior defense official said.
"I don't want to sound glib here but it is the first time
in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since
we stopped testing nuclear weapons," said James Tegnelia,
head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Tegnelia
said the test was part of a US effort to develop weapons capable
of destroying deeply buried bunkers housing nuclear, chemical
or biological weapons.
"We have several very large penetrators we're developing,"
he told defense reporters.
____________________________________________
Western
Shoshone Defense Project
Shundahai Network
Joint Press Release - April 4, 2006
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE :
U.S. DEFIES U.N. DECISION– PLANS MASSIVE MILITARY DETONATION
ON WESTERN SHOSHONE LAND
WESTERN SHOSHONE CALLS FOR HALT TO PLANNED JUNE 2 "BUNKER
BUSTER" DETONATION AT THE NEVADA TEST SITE
Speaking
with media last week, US military spokesman James Tegnelia confirmed
U.S. plans to detonate a 700 ton explosion at the Nevada Test
Site on June 2, 2006 in a test called "Divine Strake."
The location of this test would be on Western Shoshone land, and
would be in direct violation of a recent decision by the United
Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(CERD). In its decision, made public March 10, 2006, the CERD
Committee urged the United States to "freeze", "desist"
and "stop" actions being taken, or threatened to be
taken, against the Western Shoshone Peoples of the Western Shoshone
Nation. In its decision, CERD stressed the "nature and urgency"
of the Shoshone situation informing the U.S. that it goes "well
beyond" the normal reporting process and warrants immediate
attention under the Committee’s Early Warning and Urgent
Action Procedure.
The
CERD decision explicitly cited ongoing weapons testing at the
Nevada Test Site as well as efforts to build an unprecedented
high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NV
James
Tegnelia of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was quoted by
Agence France Presse as saying, "I don't want to sound glib
here but it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom
cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons,"
and notes further that this is the "largest single explosive
that we could imagine." The Department of Defense announced
in late October 2005 that the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrating
(RNEP) weapon project was being dropped in favor of a more conventional
methodology
The
detonation plan also runs contrary to earlier public statements
made in late March to the Las Vegas Review-Journal by Linton F.
Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
In his statement, Mr. Brooks announced that the Bush administration
had no plans to start detonating warheads at the Nevada Test Site.
"We have absolutely no evidence that we're going to need
to test. ... We don't see any specific reason now that leads us
to believe we'll need a test," Mr. Brooks said. "On
the other hand," he said, "we don't know everything
about the future."
According
to Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council,
"We’re opposed to any further military testing on Shoshone
lands. This is a direct violation of the CERD finding and an affront
to our religious belief - Mother Earth is sacred and should not
be harmed. All people who are opposed to these actions by the
U.S. should step forward and make their opposition known."
Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmother and Executive Director
of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, "The U.S. has named
this 700 ton explosive ‘Divine Strake’. It’s
a mystery why they use ‘devine.’ Isn’t ‘devine’
used for your deity, God, Your sacredness? Why don’t they
call it ‘Hell Strake?’ I believe when you are working
testing weaponry of destruction of life, you should not associate
it with ‘devine.’ We want this insanity to stop –
no more bombs and no more testing."
Eileen
McCabe-Olsen, Associate Director of Shundahai Network noted, "This
test, besides being an egregious violation of Western Shoshone
sovereignty, is an escalation that should outrage anyone concerned
with peace, justice and care of our environment."
Pete
Litster, Executive Director of Shundahai Network said "Ongoing
weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site violate international law.
They violate the standing treaty between the U.S. Government and
the Western Shoshone people. They also violate the spirit of non-proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction. The Test Site is located on Western
Shoshone territory, and must not continue to be misused in bold
violation of standing agreements between the U.S. government and
the Western Shoshone nation."
Although approval for the test was sought and obtained from the
state of Nevada in January 2006, the test detonation can be cancelled.
The Western Shoshone National Council, the Western Shoshone Defense
Project, and Shundahai Network call for the United States Government
to do so immediately. Concerned citizens can call or write to
express their opinions:
President
George W. Bush comments@whitehouse.gov 202-456-1111The
White House_1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW_Washington, DC 20500
Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld http://www.dod.gov/faq/comment.htmlSecretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld_Secretary of Defense_1000 Defense Pentagon_Washington,
DC 20301-1000
James Tegnelia dtra.publicaffairs@dtra.mil (800)
701-5096 Defense Threat Reduction Agency _Attn: James Tegnelia
_8725 John J Kingman RD Stop 6201 _Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201
CONTACTS:
Julie Fishel, Western Shoshone Defense Project 775-468-0230 wsdp@igc.orgPete
Litster, Shundahai Network 801-637-1500 pete@shundahai.org
The Western Shoshone Defense Project's (www.wsdp.org)
mission is to affirm Newe (Western Shoshone) jurisdiction
over Newe Sogobia (Western Shoshone homelands) by protecting,
preserving, and restoring Newe rights and lands for present and
future generations based on cultural and spiritual traditions.
The W.S.D.P. was established in 1991 by the Western Shoshone National
Council to provide support to Mary and Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone
grandmothers who were facing the confiscation of the livestock
that they graze on Western Shoshone lands.
Shundahai Network (www.shundahai.org)
is dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain by building alliances
with indigenous communities and environmental, peace and human
rights movements. We seek to abolish all nuclear weapons and an
end to nuclear testing. We advocate phasing out nuclear energy
and ending the transportation and dumping of nuclear waste. We
promote the principles of Environmental Justice and strive to
insure that indigenous voices are heard in the movement to influence
U.S. nuclear and environmental policies. All of our campaigns
and events incorporate the values of community building, education,
spiritual ceremonies
Past
"Notes from Amy"
August
2005
June
2005
January
2005
November 2004
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