song 112 : Manzanar Recess (Tacoma Ballet)
Doing some snooping around, the heroine of Tacoma Ballet finds the answer to her question. The town is hiding a terrible secret.
The abandoned building next door to Uptone, before becoming a flop house where Nirvana played, was a school for Japanese American children. During World War 2 American GI’s showed up and took all the kids away at gunpoint to be incarcerated in a concentration camp at Manzanar.
For years, they say, you could sneak inside and see all the rooms left as they were, pens on paper, books open, covered with dust and spider webs. The story inspired two songs, this one and Tacoma Ballet.
Here’s what Ginsberg’s man Randy Roark had to say: “As for the contents of Tamra's mind this time out, we begin with the vague dread and paranoia common to many works of art created in the days preceding 9/11. And in at least one example truly worthy of Blake (or Kafka), the song "Manzanar Recess" is about the fascist underpinnings of concepts like "homeland" defense (using those words), and how the government will soon know where we are and what we're doing "24/7." (For those unfamiliar with Manzanar, it was a United States concentration camp built in the California desert where we interned Japanese nationals for the duration of World War II.)”
Listen to the song: Click Here
The abandoned building next door to Uptone, before becoming a flop house where Nirvana played, was a school for Japanese American children. During World War 2 American GI’s showed up and took all the kids away at gunpoint to be incarcerated in a concentration camp at Manzanar.
For years, they say, you could sneak inside and see all the rooms left as they were, pens on paper, books open, covered with dust and spider webs. The story inspired two songs, this one and Tacoma Ballet.
Here’s what Ginsberg’s man Randy Roark had to say: “As for the contents of Tamra's mind this time out, we begin with the vague dread and paranoia common to many works of art created in the days preceding 9/11. And in at least one example truly worthy of Blake (or Kafka), the song "Manzanar Recess" is about the fascist underpinnings of concepts like "homeland" defense (using those words), and how the government will soon know where we are and what we're doing "24/7." (For those unfamiliar with Manzanar, it was a United States concentration camp built in the California desert where we interned Japanese nationals for the duration of World War II.)”
Listen to the song: Click Here
posted by TamraSpivey at 11:58 PM
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