Any award Special Citation for Hank Williams (Sr) doesn’t really need an explanation.

New York City, April 12 – The Pulitzer Prize Board has awarded a posthumous Special Citation to country music icon Hank Williams for his lifetime achievement as a musician, Columbia University announced today.
The citation praises Williams for “his craftsmanship as a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life.”

That the writer/singer of “Honky Tonkin’” and “Hey, Good Lookin’” would get an award like the Pulitzer once would have been sacrilege.

“The citation, above all, recognizes the lasting impact of Williams as a creative force that influenced a wide range of other musicians and performers,” said Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. “At the same time, the award highlights the Board’s desire to broaden its Music Prize and recognize the full range of musical excellence that might not have been considered in the past.”

Shorter Gissler: “We used to be artsy fartsy snobs!”

My mother knew Williams in Montgomery in the late 30s, or knew of him, somewhat crossed paths. In her mid teens she played steel guitar (“Hawaiian guitar” back then) on a radio program and says he, a couple of years younger, hung out around the station, and at other music venues. She had no idea of his amazing talent, though. She can be a little snobby, I have to say, so she probably didn’t give him the time of day, much less a good listen. Who’s sorry now?

Also in opening-the-arts-to-the-lowly-masses news today, Meryl Streep was honored with a membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This is a pretty exclusive club and she’s the first artist elected solely for acting, and this is seen either as the collapse of culture, or the democratization of art, depending on your point of view.

The inductees [of the special category Streep's membership is in] demonstrate again how far the academy has changed from its frankly snobbish roots, when modernists, women, non-whites and Jews were not welcome and the presence of a “lowly” actress, even one as talented as Streep, might have set off mass resignations.

And the gate crashing continues.

I often wondered what they talked about during the commercials, so to speak. Well, now we know.

By the time Gene Siskel died much too early, they really had bonded and loved each other, though maybe they didn’t say it, or recognize it until Gene was sick and the writing was on the wall. Roger Ebert has memorialized his partner and friend so beautifully since then, in a way we should all hope to be honored when we are gone.

Now Roger himself is ill, has lost his voice, but still writes and his real Voice rings pretty clear on issues beyond celluloid and art. He has stood strong to rant against the violations of our constitution, and the immorality of war. You can’t keep a spirit like that down.

That pair has brought me a lot of insight, pleasure and laughter over the years. These outtakes — biting, argumentative, silly, make me love those guys all the more.

Before Oklahoma was a red state, it was known as the Land of the Red People, described by the Choctaw phrase Okla Humma. In his sophomore film, Sterlin Harjo takes viewers on a road trip through his own personal Oklahoma, which includes an eclectic mix of humanity. Irene and Frankie have a difficult past, but Frankie needs Irene to help him with one task. He needs to get out of the hospital and go home to his daughter and new grandbaby to make amends. Irene had been his one, true, on-again, off-again love until they parted ways for good. But to make up for the past, Irene agrees to help him in this trying time.With steady and graceful performances by Richard Ray Whitman as Frankie and Casey Camp-Horinek as Irene, this story takes viewers for a ride in the backseat of Frankie and Irene’s Indian car, listening to their past and the rhythmic soundtrack that sets the beat for a redemptive road journey. Harjo wraps us in the charm and love of Oklahoma through the people and places Irene and Frankie visit along the way. In this sparingly sentimental and achingly poignant film, Harjo claims his place as one of the most truthful and honest voices working in American cinema today. Barking Water is an expression of gratitude for the ability to have lived and loved.
Bird Runningwater. Sundance Film Festival 2009 Catalog

A Q & A with Harjo at Sundance. And the just released trailer:

“Wouldn’t you rather be with someone with a working car?” So smart and real. And the actor, Richard Ray Whitman is incredibly sexy. So, um, “No!”

Barking Water looks spare and incredibly alive. Can’t wait to see it. No indication of when it might be in theaters. But look for it.

My raw footage has been cut into four parts and posted on Youtube by James. Here are the links:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

If you want to support Iraq War resisters, you could do worse than to donate at GI Rights Lawyer, or, for tax detectability, to Oklahoma Center for Conscience, marking your check for “legal support” on the note line.

I learned a couple of things about using the camera. The main one is, I need a tripod! I’m not a fan of that style of wobbling the camera around for no good reason, but if you are, you’ll love my freshman effort. Overall, I’m pretty impressed with the Flip Ultra. For a cheap camera, it does a great job.

I hope to edit the footage down to 10 or 12 minutes when I have time.

h/t americablog

Unlike some antiwar progressives, who are already condemning Obama for seeming to show way too much respect to the outgoing administration of admitted war criminals. I choose to be more patient, and reserve judgement until we see what happens. I don’t expect to see everything I would want, but I think we will see a lot of good things that we could only dream of three years ago.

I was so inspired, not by Obama, but by the masses of people who are inspired by him and what his election means. I will not discount how meaningful this breakthrough is to people of color, or dismiss their deep excitement and joy with my own agenda. Not today, that’s for sure.

The dreaded invocation by Rick Warren was so forgettable I’m embarrassed for him. It was completely eclipsed by the depth of Obama’s address and the heights of Rev. Lowery’s benediction. Not to mention the art of Aretha Franklin and Elizabeth Alexander, which immediately banished any negativity he conveyed — or at least that was my reaction and I haven’t seen much online that even mentions Warren. And isn’t being ignored the harshest sentence?

Anyway, it’s been a long, wonderful day for our country. We once again looked sane and even beautiful to the world. It won’t last forever, but enjoy the experience, and the memories it will create.

Obama’s Inauguration and Address (with John Robert’s botching the oath of office):

The amazing benediction by Rev. Joseph Lowery:

(The beginning of his speech is from “Lift Every Voice and Sing” sometimes called the Negro National Anthem.)

The pundits, a cynical lot, are tripping over themselves describing the crowds they are seeing, not to mention the vibe of said crowds. People are excited, happy, thrilled to see Bush leave the scene (of the crime) and Obama begin to make his promised “change.” I hope they –we — aren’t disappointed. So many indications say Obama is just another politician, he just happens to be a very good one. But other signs portend that he may truly be planning to and able to do significant, progressive surgery on our body politic.

I choose to hesitantly believe the latter, with the full realization that I may be among the deeply disappointed. A year ago I believed John Edwards was a selfless populist, and look how that turned out. So, I don’t completely trust my judgment of Obama’s political integrity. But I know that I must stay positive, or I just can’t function. So I’m laying off the doom and gloom and giving the guy a chance to prove Booman right.

Obama uses language to unite people and to disarm them. If he occasionally says something true but harsh, he quickly apologizes. More often, he gives his ideological opponents the rhetorical benefit of the doubt. He shows people and their ideas respect…often more respect than they deserve. He studiously avoids creating lightning rods that can serve as oppositional organizing points. He reaches out to evangelicals, to the Republican leadership, to conservative commentators, to right-wing Democrats.

In the process of doing these things, he inevitably neglects to pander to those whom he most agrees with. Progressive criticism strengthens Obama precisely because it makes him look more centrist. He has succeeded in staking out the broadest middle we’ve seen in memory. He hasn’t changed any of his commitments (at least, not in any fundamental way) that he campaigned on, but he has blunted all criticism from the center and the center-right. This was the goal all along. Some call it moving the Overton Window. What was once considered radical (e.g., revisiting national health care, allowing gays to serve openly in the military) is now considered acceptable. Now we argue about the timing, not the substance.

The conditions in the country are dictating a leftward movement in the Overton Window, but the old opponents are still there opposing us. The goal is to rally the supporters and to disorganize and disarm the opposition. The goal of Obama’s rhetoric is not primarily to convince people of the merits of his policies, but to build support for them and weaken any obstacles to their implementation.

This video is not the best, but the quality of Dylan’s voice is great.

Oh, the irony. The song contains these often-ignored stanzas, which were not ignored by Bruce and Pete (who, at 89, must have particularly relished singing at the Lincoln Memorial — a la Marion Anderson — after being blacklisted as a commie in the 50s).

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Now a version of the song shot by a German team has been posted on YouTube, and is available as of this writing. Here it is, watch it while you still can.

The whole idea of HBO getting rights to this part of the Inaugural events, a public event at a public location, in the people’s capital, is a concern, to say the least. Seems the excuse is that the Inaugural team needed the money to pay for all the logistics. I guess that legendary internet fundraising machine was offline.

The plane comes in from the left at about 2:00 and by 9:50 everyone’s on the boats.

All the professionals involved were just spectacular. As emptywheel noted, it was a “a miracle brought to you by America’s unions.”

video h/t to Jean Warner

The usual caveat about History Channel broadcasts applies. I haven’t seen these yet, so can’t vouch for any of it. All times Central.

The Presidents – 8 part series
If you’re going to catch all 8 parts, you probably want to rev up the Tivo. The best time to record would be the commercial-free History in the Classroom airing at 5 AM (Jan 19-23, Feb. 17-19).

• Part 1, 1789-1825: Monday, January 19 5:00 AM, 12:00 PM & 06:00 PM,
• Part 2, 1825-1849: Monday, January 19 07:00 PM & 11 PM, Tuesday, January 20 5:00 AM
• Part 3, 1849-1865: Tuesday, January 20 12:00 PM & 6 PM, Wednesday, January 21, 5:00 AM
• Part 4, 1865-1885 Tuesday, January 20 07:00 PM & 11:00 PM, Thursday January 22 5:00 AM
• Part 5 1885-1913. Wednesday, January 21 12:00 PM & 06:00 PM, Friday January 23 :00 AM
• Part 6 1913-1945. Wednesday, January 21 07:00 PM & 11:00 PM, February 17 5:00 AM
• Part 7 1945-1977. Thursday, January 22 12:00 PM & 06:00 PM, February 18 5:00 AM
• Part 8 1977-Present. Thursday, January 22 07:00 PM & 11:00 PM, February 19 5:00 AM

After cutting and pasting all that and getting confused myself, I found a better presentation of the schedule for The Presidents at Zap2It, although it doesn’t show the Feb. dates for the final three episodes for History in the Classroom. (make sure you have your time zone selected on the top of the Zap2it page).

FDR: A Presidency Revealed: Part 1.
* Tuesday, January 20 08:00 PM; Wednesday, January 21, 12:00 AM

No sign of when Part 2 might follow.

There are a bunch of other president-themed programs this week, including Lincoln mythology, John Wilkes Booth, the Kennedy Assassination, Air Force One, etc, but some of them sound hokey and I probably won’t seek them out.

You can turn off the TV and go to the History Channel website to browse a section on presidential history, including Lincoln’s Bible, on which Barack Obama will be sworn in Tuesday, and recent inaugural addresses. Or study all 44 American Presidents.

In light of President Obama’s realization of Dr. King’s dream, I’m putting this in the presidential category for inauguration week:

King
Sunday, Jan. 18
Martin Luther King is remembered with a rebroadcast of King, a documentary from last year (I think).

• Sunday, January 18 08:00 PM
• Monday, January 19 12:00 AM
• Monday, January 19 10:00 AM
• Monday, January 19 04:00 PM
• In two parts without commercials on January 29 and 30 at 5:00 AM as part of History in the Classroom

The History Channel store is having an Inauguration special, with 30% off and $1 shipping — through the 21st. Sound like it might be a good time for me to order The Universe, Seasons 1 and 2. I also liked Black Blizzard, about the Dust Bowl, and would like to share it with other hopelessly geeky Oklahomans. I already bought myself a birthday present, so let’s call this a Farewell to Bush present, shall we?