In memorium Violet Kazue de Cristoforo

Violet Kazue de Cristoforo (1917-2007)

Violet was a haiku poet and editor of May Sky, There is Always a Tomorrow: An Anthology of Japanese American Concentration Camp Kaiko Haiku.  Violet was imprisoned at Jerome, AK during WWII. In August of 2007, a few months before her death, she was honored with an NEA Heritage Fellowship award. 

 Drawing by Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani of Tule Lake. 

Fearless Freaks

This documentary on the evolution of Oklahoma City based psychedelic punk band The Flaming Lips is remarkable because it was compiled of footage that spans decades captured by Wayne Coyne's neighbor and friend Bradley Beesley. The Film includes images of the various Lips members and their kin as teenagers playing kamikaze football all hopped up on weed. Wayne Coyne makes the observation that the attitude behind starting a front yard, no-pads, tackle football club called the Fearless Freaks was not unlike the attitude that brought the first incarnation of the Lips together in the early eighties. Punk Rock gave people a kind of permission to express themselves regardless of the risk of personal bodily harm. Hell, most of the time that was the point. 

Viva La Lips!