Diva News Archive for November-December 2005

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NEWS FROM NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2005
November 23, 2005 DIVA ON THE AIRWAVES! Arigon appeared as a guest on KPFK 90.7 FM's Wednesday edition of "American Indian Airwaves" with Carolyn Dunn. Arigon Starr is a woman on a mission! She just completed at successful staged reading at Native Voices At The Autry's Play Festival last weekend -- and today she appeared on KPFK's "American Indian Airwaves." The show was live and Miss Starr performed a few new songs from "The Red Road," including "Who's A Weepin' For the Weeper (When The Weeper Is A-Weepin'"), "The Menu Song," "Choctaw Blues" and Danny Dacron's punk rock anthem "Indian Eyes." Carolyn Dunn and Arigon will chatted about the festival, which also included the wonderful plays "Tombs Of The Vanishing Indian" by Marie Clements and "Stone Heart: Everyone Loves A Journey West" by Diane Glancy. Speaking of the "Red Road" -- a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the reading. There were a ton of Starrwatchers in the audience. We can tell by your hootin' and a-hollerin' that you really enjoyed the show. More stories and photos from the show soon! That's a photo of Arigon at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. There was a recent publicity photo shoot at the Museum to promote "The Red Road." MORE PASSINGS: Have to send heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of two Native American heroes -- VINE DELORIA, JR. and LINK WRAY. Vine Deloria, Jr. was a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and worked as a scholar, activist and writer to help change the outdated Indian images and government policies that affected all Indians. His book "Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto" has been a longtime Diva favorite. Link Wray was a Shawnee Indian and was the godfather of the power chord! Just ask his other fans -- Pete Townshend, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie. Both NDN Pioneers will be missed, but we're sure their legacies will live long. November 7, 2005 NATIVE DIVAS TO REUNITE AT MOTHER BEAR'S IN SAN PEDRO! The Diva will join her sister Divas Joy Harjo, Carolyn Dunn and the Mankillers for a special show this Friday. Arigon, Nick Peters and Thaddeus Graham will be part of the Native American Divas night at Mother Bear's Books and Gallery on Friday, November 11th. Their is a $10.00 donation at the door -- and we're sure it's going to be a show you won't soon forget. As many of you know, Carolyn Dunn will be directing the workshop version of "The Red Road" and Joy Harjo is not only a great writer and poet -- she's a fine musician, too. The Native Divas haven't been onstage together since 2004! [That's Carolyn Dunn, Arigon, Joy Harjo and Charlie Hill in the photo.] There is more information about the location and time of the show on the Diva Live page. Arigon just returned from Oklahoma after a successful event at the Cherokee Casino -- plus lots of fun at the NCAI Conference. More stories and photos coming soon. Stay turned! QUICK NOTES: Our condolences to the families of noted Native artists Talmadge Davis (Cherokee), R. C. Gorman (Navajo) and activist Michael Haney (Seminole/Sioux). We're sorry they've journeyed to the spirit world -- but boy are we grateful they gave their all and contributed their vision, talent and energy to Indian Country. Y'all will be missed! October 31, 2005 ALL ABOARD THE "RED ROAD" EXPRESS! The Diva is on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a special preview of her one-woman show! Arigon and Native Voices at the Autry producers Randy Reinholz and Jean Bruce Scott have been working for weeks and weeks on creating a short, cabaret version of "The Red Road." "This has on top of all my usual craziness -- and what a fun ride it's been," said Arigon. Arigon is in Oklahoma at the request of the Cherokee Nation for a special performance of "Postcards From The Red Road," which features some of the songs and characters from the full production. "This process has been a tremendous help in developing the characters, plus exploring lots of fun ways to tell a great story," she said. "Jean Bruce Scott and have been laughing like hyenas during the rehearsals." If any of you Starrwatchers are in Oklahoma near Tulsa, come on down to the show tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. We'll have a full report for you when Arigon returns from Oklahoma. In the meantime, she did tell us she's been to two Tulsa Pow-Wows this weekend and has seen lots of her Oklahoma friends. "I've seen folks I've met at different gigs across the country -- and saw Larry Sellars, a favorite actor from the "Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman" series, plus Dr. Phillip Lujan, the father of playwright James Lujan. There have also been a bunch of elders at both events -- and it's always a thrill to spend time with them. I was also excited to find out that one of my cousins is now working for the Native American Times. Saw Chief Jim Gray and the Gray Bunch at the Tulsa Indian Club Pow-Wow, too." Sounds like it's going to be a whirlwind trip for the Diva. More information about the show is on the Diva Live Calendar. See y'all there! October 14, 2005 THE DIVA'S COMEDIC BEST ON "BARBERSHOP" "The Politics Of Money" premiered last Sunday and is now available on Showtime On Demand. *"Hey, mom! There's an Indian On TV!"* It was a cry heard across the country last Sunday night as Arigon Starr made her network television debut on Showtime Networks' program "Barbershop: The Series." We've heard from Diva Fans across the country who all agreed that Arigon did an awesome job. If you missed the episode this week, you can still catch the episode via Showtime's pay-per-view service, Showtime On Demand. Just grab your trusty TV remote control, look for the Showtime programs link, click on Barbershop and find Episode 09. Click on that link and you'll be enjoying Arigon's performance. Our pal Bob Colladay, who takes care of BR5-49's website, took these photos from the episode and cleverly added them to BR5-49's Message Board. Bob lives all the way in Kansas -- so if you can see it in Kansas, I'll bet you can see the show in Gallup, New Mexico or Portland, Oregon. AAAY! We don't know when the Diva will be back on television, but rest assured we'll keep you up to date on all of her TV-doings. THE DIVA IS HEADED TO NCAI -- The National Congress of American Indians 62nd Annual Convention is happening October 31-November in beautiful Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a gift to NCAI -- Principal Chief Chad Smith and The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma are bringing Arigon Starr to the conference for a very special performance. Arigon is working on a 35-minute cabaret-style version of her one-woman play "The Red Road" that will be presented at the Cherokee Casino on Tuesday, November 1st at 7:00pm. The performances is called "Postcards From the Red Road" and is FREE -- and everyone is invited, whether you're at the Conference, eating dinner at the Wild Potato or live in Oklahoma. You'll get to hear some of the songs and actually meet some of the people who inhabit the world of "The Red Road." If you want to get a jump ahead of the crowd, you'll want to catch this performance. As y'all know -- "The Red Road" will be presented in it's entirety (as a workshop) during the upcoming Native Voices at the Autry Play Festival on Friday, November 18th. Again, that performance is FREE and only requires calling the Autry National Center to reserve your space. October 3, 2005 ARIGON VISITS "BARBERSHOP" --"The Politics Of Money" episode of the popular Showtime series features the Diva! Hooray Diva Fans! Showtime Networks will air the "Barbershop" episode that Arigon filmed in August this Sunday, October 9th at 10:00pm ET/PT. As mentioned in a previous installment of Diva News -- "The Politics of Money" features Arigon as "Ms. Littlefeather," a very contemporary bank loan manager. She'll be seen in a brief appearance with the star of the series, Omar Gooding. The "Barbershop" episode will continue to air throughout next week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10:00 PM ET/PT if you miss it the first time around. "Barbershop" is also available from Showtime On Demand. Check your cable company to see if they carry On Demand programs. As many of you know -- Showtime is a pay cable service and you have to be a subscriber to see the program. Some of you have already subscribed to Showtime just to see this episode -- so we thank you! We also encourage you to either call or write Showtime if you enjoy Arigon's performance on the show. We've heard from our actor friends that there's nothing like a groundswell of comments to help let them know an actor has made an impression. Here's how to get a hold of them: You may contact Showtime's Customer Care Department at 877-474-6984 Monday through Friday 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM Eastern Time. You can also write to Showtime Customer Care Department Showtime Networks Inc., 1633 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. We'll be excited to hear your comments! Send them to us at Starrwatcher Online and we'll print the best ones! [That's a photo of Arigon on her recent trip to the Oregon Coast.] ROBERT CONLEY IS COMING TO TOWN! -- As you've seen here on Starrwatcher Online, Arigon, Nick and Thaddeus will be supporting author Robert Conley at a booksigning event in Orange County this Saturday from 1:00pm-5:00pm. The event is FREE, all ages and will feature a cool surprise -- Arigon will perform a 30-minute teaser-version of "The Red Road." "You'll finally get to meet some of the characters I've been living with all summer," said Arigon. The mini-show was recently dubbed "Postcards From The Red Road" will feature all of the music from the show. "There is some hard core country, bluegrass and some punk rock tunes just for good measure," smiled Arigon. Those of you who are super-longtime Diva fans will be thrilled to be reintroduced to "Danny Dacron," Arigon's British Punk Rocker persona. "Back in the day, there were a bunch of us who had 'Remember Danny Dacon' t-shirts, which was a total in-joke to us. I'll never forget a stranger stopping me in a mall and commenting, 'Yeh, I remember Danny Dacron. He was great, wasn't he?' Eee-yah!" MOTHER BEAR'S GALLERY AND THEN SOME -- The November 11th show seen in a previous edition of Diva News has been on-again/off-again. We're happy to report that the show on ON -- and will now feature an all-female line-up including Arigon, poet/writer/musician Joy Harjo and the all-woman traditional drum group The Mankillers. The show will now take place at Mother Bear's Gallery in San Pedro. The show is a benefit for the Alliance of Native Americans and several tribes affected by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. More information to come. Speaking of Mother Bear's -- owner Carolyn Dunn-Anderson is also joining "The Red Road" team. She will be directing the show for the upcoming Native Voices at the Autry Play Festival on November 18th. HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO THE COMPTON FAMILY IN OKLAHOMA -- We were saddened to learn of the passing of a young Diva fan in Oklahoma. Nastassia "Tosha" Sasheen Compton was just 15 years old when she went to the Spirit World on September 18th. Tosha's dad Jim sent this wonderful note to us here at Starrwatcher Online and we're reprinting his note with permission. *Ms. Starr:* I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart of the impact you brought to my daughter, Tosha Compton. We are deep friends with Cinda Hughes and that is how my daughter came to know of you and your music. I lost Tosha on September 18, 2005 due to salmonella and her blood went septic. She had an illness from birth of sickle cell. She was Otoe Missiouria and Mexican but loved her Indian people. Her dreams were to become a nurse for babies and help Indian children . She loved music and played in the Santa Fe high school Orchestra in Edmond, Oklahoma. She was also a manager for the school Wrestling team as she was brought up in a wrestling family as I'm a pro wrestler. She was in debate and Softball. Your music and being an Indian woman brought pride to her. Again THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK IN EVERYTHING YOU DO! Please don’t ever change the message you are sending to these young NDN women. You changed one *heart as I bet you have changed many! Here is the obit and pic of the life you changed. God bless you!* *Thank you and AHO!* *Jim Compton* *otoendn@cox.net* ===================================== To a beautiful girl who touched a lot of people's hearts. Nastassia 'Tosha' Sasheen Compton, 15, of Edmond OK, was sent to Heaven on September 18th, 2005. Born December 29th, 1989 in Oklahoma City, OK. Survived by her Parents Jim and Debbie Compton, Gena and Stephen Mauldin; brothers J.C., Minke, Stephen and Alex; grandparents Carol Compton, Jim Vigil, Mary and John Gravitt, Keith and Judy Lipps and great grandparents Theda and Travis Jorgensen. Tosha was a sophomore at Santa Fe H.S., Edmond OK, where she was a Manager for the Wrestling Team and was in the orchestra. Tosha loved playing her violin, softball, music/TV, making Native shawls, and spending time with her friends. Her friends loved her very much, and like true friends, they were with her until the time of her passing. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and served in the Young Women's Program. She was an active member of the Otoe Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma and loved her culture. The Family wants to thank all of the Staff at Children's Hospital Jimmy Everest Sickle Cell Center for all their hard work to keep the Compton Family healthy. Funeral proceeding will be at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 22nd at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, corner of 33rd and Bryant, Edmond, OK. Graveside services at 2:00 p.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery, Kelly and Memorial Road OKC, OK. In lieu of flowers the family request donations be made to The Jimmy Everest Sickle Cell Program, 940 NE 13th RM 3308, OKC, OK 73104. Published in The Oklahoman on 9/21/2005. ============================== Thanks Jim! We hope that folks reading this will think of their loved ones and remember the power we all have to impact other people in a positive way. BACK TO THE TOP ©2001-2007 Wacky Productions Unlimited. All Rights Reserved