Arts of War on the Web

The web site, Soldiers & Civilians Project, has just gone live.  It is the home of an audio documentary and online forum that looks at the nature of military service, along with the impact of war on the personal lives of those most directly affected: veterans, folks on the home front, and others.

“Through these conversations—including responses from listeners—The Soldiers & Civilians Project intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the realities of military service, the gravely serious consequences that follow from a decision to engage in warfare, and the ways in which people work to prevent or stop armed conflict or to ameliorate its effects,” the Project’s organizers say.

“The hope is that these conversations will foster further dialogue, encourage us to listen more closely to one another, and help guide us—as citizens of a self-governing society—toward wiser and more compassionate decisions.”

The Project is looking for input from veterans. If you’d like to contribute your war and post-war stories or for more info, email soldiers.civilians@gmail.com

Mario Ybarra, Jr., a 45-year-old filmmaker whose Marine father (above) was killed in Vietnam in 1966 eight days before his son’s first birthday, is working on a documentary that honors his father’s service and also deals with the years of emotional turmoil he endured following his father’s death.

Among other things the film will cover is Mario Jr.’s successful effort to have a new elementary school in Weslaco, Texas, named after his father, Pfc. Mario Ybarra.

The production still is in the planning stages and the filmmaker is looking for financial support. For more info, email him at  mibarra1999@yahoo.com

If you do, tell him you read about the project in VVA’s Arts of War on the web page.

Mark your calendars for November 18, 19, 20. Those are the dates for “…Next Stop Is Vietnam: The War on Record, 1961-2008,” a three-day symposium examining the music of the Vietnam War sponsored by the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison.

The event is co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Integrated Liberal Studies Program, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Wisconsin Public Television, and the Monona Terrace and Convention Center. It also is part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The opening event is a presentation beginning at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, November 18, at the Museum titled “Distant Drums, Sky Pilots, and Green Berets: The Music of the Vietnam Era.” The evening’s speaker is Hugo Keesing, the producer of the massive new 13-disc CD, Next Stop is Vietnam.

On Friday, November 19, at noon the Museum will host “I Believe I’m Gonna Make It”: A Conversation about Southern Music and the Vietnam War with Charles Hughes, a PhD candidate in history at UW-Madison, and Bill C. Malone, the host of “Back to the Country” on WORT-FM.

At 3:00 that day at the Monona Terrace and Convention Center Theater there will be a panel discussion entitled “Does Anybody Know I’m Here?”: Black Music and the Black Experience in Vietnam. Taking part will be William Bell, a Stax Records artist who served with the 25th Infantry Division in 1962-63; Art Flowers, a Vietnam veteran, novelist, poet, and Professor of English at Syracuse University;  Clyde Stubblefield, a drummer who played with James Brown during his 1968 Vietnam tour; and Lauren Onkey, Vice President of Education and Public Programs for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Saturday at noon the Museum hosts a concert by singer/songwriter and VVA member Lem Genovese; Marty Heuer, who served with the 174th AHC and was a founding member of High-Priced Help and Three Majors and Minor; Jim Walktendonk, a singer/songwriter and former 18th MP Dog Handler; and Hugo Keesing.

The final event begins at 2:00 at the Museum: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”: Music and the Vietnam Experience, a panel discussion with journalist and Vietnam veteranDoug Bradley and author Craig Werner, who is an professor of Afro-American Studies at UW-Madison.

All events are free and open to the public. For more info, call 608-261-0541, or go to the museum’s website.

The University Theatre at North Carolina State University in Raleigh is presenting six  performances of the powerful Shirley Lauro play, A Piece of My Heart, which tells the stories of six women who served in the Vietnam War, beginning on October 28th.

The play is based on stories from the the oral history book of the same name by Keith Walker which was published in 1986 and still is in print.  The play will be presented at the Kennedy-McIlwee Studio Theatre in Thompson Hall from, Thursday, October 28, to Sunday, November 7.

Lauro will take part in a reception with the cast and crew that is open to audience members before the opening night performance on October 28, and will hold a post-show discussion following the October 29th performance. The show’s producers are putting together a  display of photos and memorabilia from the Vietnam War in accompany the performances.

Part of the proceeds will go to the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation in Washington D.C. For more info, including show times and ticket prices, go to the  theatre’s web site or check out the press release.  Or call 919-515-1100.

This year’s National Veterans Creative Arts Festival began today, October 18, and will run through October  24, hosted by the Tomah VA Medical Center and held in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs, this annual festival is the culminating event of  talent competitions in art, creative writing, dance, drama and music for veterans treated in the VA’s national health care system. The veterans who participate are selected during year-long competitions. Again this year, about 130 veterans will exhibit their artwork or perform musical, dance, dramatic or original writing selections at the Festival’s gala variety show.

The public is invited to two events on Sunday, October 24: the Art Exhibit, which begins at 12:15 p.m. and the Stage Show at 2:00. Both will be held at the Viterbo University Fine Arts Center in La Crosse. Admission is free, but a ticket is required for the stage show. For ticket information, call: 608- 372-1262.

Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic 1979 film Apocalypse Now has been available over the years on all the various home video formats–as has Coppola’s 2001 Apocalypse Now Redux (which added two long scenes and other stuff) and the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (in which Eleanor Coppola, the director’s wife, shined mostly unflattering light on the extreme craziness involved in putting that film together).

Lionsgate has just released two new Blu-ray versions, a two-disc and three-disc “Full Disclosure Edition.”  Both contain both films, along with nine-plus hours of extras, including new interviews with the actors and filmmakers. The three-disk set includes Hearts of Darkness and with even more extra features such as audio commentary by Mr. and Mrs. Coppola.

The DVD package also includes a 48-page booklet containing previously unpublished behind-the-scenes photos, Coppola’s notes, letters from the set and memos to the crew.

The films are presented in the latest and fullest high definition formatted for widescreen with the same theatrical aspect ratios as the movies themselves, along with new, enhanced master audio. You can watch the trailer on YouTube.