BAKERSFIELD BY MIKE NESS

BAKERSFIELD
By: Mike Ness, Social Distortion. (AS played by Hank Ray)

Take me down that line.
Iv’e got a heavy load
I can’t seem to make it on my own
Turn the lights down low
I can’t seem to get you
Get you out of head
Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You seem so close yet far away
Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You’re a million miles away.

I feel the heat comminn down.
Can’t make it through this day.
I can’t hardly fake it
I can’t fce this dayaWas it
something that I said?
Something that I didn’t do?
18 hours more till can be with you.
Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You seem so far away
Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You’re a million miles away.
Will you come be with me in Bakersfield
I am a million years away.

Talking part:
I walked out of that lonely truck stip with my head down, How the fuck did I get into this mess. What would Buck Owens have done? He would have gone home and grabbed that old guitar and wrote a love song, Not just any love song, The one that would make a grown man brake down and cry.

Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You seem so far away
Stranded here in Bakersfield,
You’re a million miles away.
Will you come be with me in Bakersfield
I am a million years away.

Buddy Allen Owens Show at Buck's

Photo by:
Buddy Allen Owens Played The Crystal Palace Last Night




Buddy Owens played some songs off his record last night as well as an awsome medley of his father Buck Owen's songs. Buddy's step father, Merle Haggard, had many of his songs played as well.




Buddy Allen Owens (Buck Owens's son. This photo was taken by BLT with Hank Ray



Kim Macabe was Buddies co-singer and she sand just as good as she did with Buck Owens years ago.




DATA FROM ANSWERS.COM :
"Singer, songwriter and guitarist Buddy Alan, born Alvis Alan Owens, is the son of country legends Buck and Bonnie Owens. While growing up in Bakersfield, California, he listened to country and rock & roll and formed his first rock band, the Chosen Few, at the age of 14. He switched to country music by his late teens and in 1965 moved to Arizona with his mother and her new husband Merle Haggard. That year he also sang for the first time at one of his father's Christmas concerts.

Buddy Alan's first single, a duet with Buck called "Let the World Keep on a Turnin'," was released by Capitol in 1968 and made it to the Top Ten. That same year, he also recorded his first solo single, "When I Turn Twenty One," written by stepfather Haggard; this one made it to the Top 60. By 1969, Alan had spent a summer touring with the Buck Owens Show and was working at a country music nightclub. That year he released two more singles and also recorded his first album, Wild, Free and Twenty One. He then joined his father's All American Show and continued touring the country. His popularity grew, and he starred in his own shows and made regular appearances as a soloist and musician on Hee Haw for the next seven years. Alan again made it to the charts in 1970 with the single "Santo Domingo." In late 1970, he and Buckaroo lead guitarist Don Rich recorded the popular "Cowboy Convention," and Alan was named Most Promising Male Artist by the ACM. From 1971-1975, Alan continued to release modestly successful singles. Alan was signed to Capitol Records for eight years, but despite his initial promise as a performer, he never made it to the big time. Alan left the music business in 1978 to attend college in Arizona. He then went back to radio as Buddy Alan Owens and became the music director at two local stations in Tempe, Arizona. He was voted Billboard's Music Director of the Year four years running during the late '80s and early '90s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide"

Bakersfield Knap-In, 10 Years Of Monthly Flintknapping

Bakersfield Knap-In, 10 Years Of
Photos By Dennis Mahan


Monthly Flintknapping
Flintknappers still “Knap-in” after 10 years
By Dennis Mahan
Flintknappers from near and far gathered in Bakersfield’s Hart Park on Sunday to mark the ten-year anniversary of the longest-running monthly “Knap-in” in the world.
The Bakersfield Knappers, started by Gary Pickett, Ray Harwood, Danny Raines and Sherry Pauley, meet the first Sunday of every month to practice the ancient art of making stone tools such as arrowheads, knives and other projectile points.
“I like the camaraderie,” said Harwood, 49, of Bakersfield, who is an archaeologist with a degree from California State University, Northridge. “We advance our knowledge by keeping in practice and sharing ideas.”
Harwood and other group members give Pickett a lot of the credit for the group’s progress and success.
“Gary is an excellent teacher. He has the gift of teaching and has a lot of patience with us,” said Jim Boatman, 61, of Tehachapi.
Pickett’s interest in flintknapping came more than 20 years ago when he began finding old arrowheads in the creeks of southern Missouri where he grew up. He was fascinated by the arrowheads and thought he could make them himself.
“I just started beating two rocks together,” said Pickett, 44, who moved to Bakersfield in 1997.
It was five years of trial and error before he made much progress, but moving to Bakersfield and meeting Harwood through a flintknapping Web site helped both of them progress faster. They decided to meet every month and work on rocks, but didn’t expect for the small group to grow like it did.
“I’m pleased with the progress and the people it’s brought,” said Pickett.
Every meeting brings folks from all over the state — Inglewood, Ridgecrest and Sacramento — and even from out of state. One man visiting California from Louisiana heard about the group and came out for a visit.
Flintknapper Fred Swanson comes from Weldon for the experience he gets from talking with Pickett. He feels that flintknapping can be good therapy.
“You get hooked on it. It’s an enjoyable, relaxing endeavor. You get started and you kind of forget about everything else,” said Swanson.
For anyone interested, the group will provide the tools, rocks and lessons to get started during the “Knap-in.” For those who would like to get started on their own, tools include deer antler, hammer stones and the more modern “copper bopper,” along with a chunk of obsidian rock.
The next demonstration will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, near the east entrance of Hart Park. For more information go to www.lettherockroll.com.

Party Down in LA

Party Down in LA (HANK RAY)

Cherie she liked to take some drugs, do a little more than hug
And party down in LA, Party down in LA.

I went Michael Jackson’s house, the day that he died.
Heath ledger was the one who sort of went out with the tide.


Cherie she liked to take some drugs, do a little more than hug
And party down in LA, Party down in LA.

I woke up at star bucks someone chain sawed off my feet
Ana Nichole Simpson checked out cause couldn’t stand the heat.

Cherie she liked to take some drugs, do a little more than hug
And party down in LA, Party down in LA.

I saw you on the twilit zone, Vic Morrow got his head chopped off
I never looked at hellicpter quite the same.

Cherie she liked to take some drugs, do a little more than hug
And party down in LA, Party down in LA.

REALLY HAD A CRUSH ON YOU By: Hank Ray

REALLY HAD A CRUSH ON YOU By: Hank Ray

Way back in high school
You were a beautiful princess
It really was painful
I had such a deep love for you

--and it really makes me blue,
--cause I really had a crush on you.

After school you became a rock star
I was wearing army green
The only time ever saw you
Was at night in my dreams

--and it really makes me blue,
--cause I really had a crush on you.

Now I’m old and worn out
I was done doing what I do
I decided to write you this love song
And now I feel brand new

--and it really makes me blue,
--cause I really had a crush on you.

When I die and I fly up to heaven
They will set aside all the blame
I’ll ask to see the most beautiful angel
And Gabriel will call out your name.

--and it really makes me blue,
--cause I really had a crush on you.

“Giant Ants Ate the Blues Player,” an entry on Undead Backbrain

“Giant Ants Ate the Blues Player,” an entry on Undead Backbrain


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Giant Ants Ate the Blues Player
Kaiju Search-Robot Avery has discovered that Bakersfield, California country blues player Hank Ray is making a movie about giant ants.





Taking the classic truth-in-advertising approach to titles, it’s called Giant Ants Eat Bakersfield. It will be about 30 minutes long and the director hopes that it will be available online after a run at the Kern Country film festival. He’s billing it as:

The first Country Music Horror Film ever! It’s A Musical And It Has Giant Ants Eating Bakersfield.




Apparently, filming began about a year ago. Hank commented to Avery: “I filmed this all over Bakersfield. We almost got busted filming on the roof of the old BUCK OWENS recording studio. The film is not finished, and I sort of put it on the shelf. I have had some really good feed back lately so I will start on it again this weekend. Yours was the best feed back so far. I will keep you updated.”

So Avery’s enthusiasm for no-budget independent monster flicks may have caused a potential renaissance in the Bakersfield Giant Ant film industry.

Below is a conceptual image for the film (NOT the real advertising poster), which Hank bodgied up from a classic poster from one of his film’s inspirations, the greatest giant ant movie of all time — Them!




According to Hank, the giant ants are a metaphor for the way the New Country music has come in and taken control of the Old. Now that’s a metaphor that hasn’t been explored in giant monster films before this. He told the Backbrain:

Well, Bakersfield used to stand for an underground or rebellious response to Nashville country Music. When Buck Owens passed away a while back, I went to his funeral. I later wrote some songs about that and one was called “Giant Ants”. It was as though corporate music was like giant ants that took over country music and Bakersfield was one of the things the corporate ants ate. I suppose I am a nut.

Here are the lyrics of Hank’s song on the subject:


ACT ONE SONG:
The old country music is gone

The old country music is gone
You know it never had a chance
The old country music is gone
Corporate music killed it just like giant ants.
Corporate music came to call
Like some giant ants they killed it all
I’d like to hear more like Clarence and Hank
But big corporate music owns all the money in the bank
The old country music is gone
You know it never had a chance
The old country music is gone
Corporate music killed it just like giant ants
America has sold it’s music out
They forgot what Bakersfield and Nashville was all about?
Watch ‘em on TV become a Nashville star
I can’t believe it’s gone this far.
The old country music is gone
You know it never had a chance
The old country music is gone
Corporate music killed it just like giant ants.

The film is meant to be a take-off of those really old B-moster movies where the monsters are so fake that they are cool. Like the tree monster and some of the ones on the old Star Trek.

Anyway, I went to Buck Owen’s ranch and made a mini film of Buck’s son’s band BUCKSHOT for Brighthouse. It showed on cable. That’s how it started. I have others that are helping — Dr. B.L.T., a local song writer, and some local hot-rod club members. My friend Ron Ramos, who almost got pinched on the Buck Owen’s studio roof, helped a lot.

The reason we had to get on the roof was, the studio had just sold, so we made a sign — like the studio was still open and put it on the marquee . Then we took a giant ant off an old pest control truck and painted it with rubberized undercoat, so it looked better. After that I bought some fake human skulls at the holloween store in Bakersfield and some dry ice for smoke.



One night I was wrestling the ant under the giant Bakersfield Arch sign at Buck Owen’s Chrystal Palace. It was so bizarre a sight that the 99 Freeway slowed to a crawl above the Palace.

A lot of the film footage got ruined when I spilled beer on it at a local honky tonk where I’d been filming.

Ah, the unique difficulties that come with country music monsterdom!










Below is a clip of Hank singing a song about a mastodon:

Woody’s Dream


Good luck with the film, Hank.

Source: Hank Ray via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery
Hank Ray’s Journal
Hank’s MySpace page (where you can hear more of his music)

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Published: Apr 19 2009 / 10:03 am
Category: Big Bugs, Film, Giant Monsters, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, Music, News

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Avery

04.19.09 / 10am
A country musical with giant insects?! I can’t wait to see more from this cool little big bug flick! It looks like a blast. Hank’s a great guy too! Lots of fun!

Giant Ants Ate the Blues Player

04.19.09 / 10am
[...] Original post by Undead Backbrain [...]

Topics about America » Archive » Giant Ants Ate the Blues Player

04.20.09 / 2am
[...] After Armageddon created an interesting post today on Giant Ants Ate the Blues PlayerHere’s a short outlineKaiju Search-Robot Avery has discovered that Bakersfield, California country … America has sold it’s music out [...]

HANK RAY VIDEO IN THIS ARTICLE

THE ORCUTT SYNDROME: BY RAY HARWOOD



"As of late many knappers are creating ever larger
pieces of lithic art in the form of huge bifaces.
Emery Coons reportedly percussion bifaced a 50 inch
preform and managed a 40 inch finished neofact. I
wrote the Coon's family and requested information and
a photo by received no response.
At the California knap in this year, large the key
word.
Many from other states, such as Coons in Oregon, are
also thinking large and obsidian suppliers are selling
more mega slabs than ever.
Named the Orcutt syndrome after an old time knapper
named Ted Orcutt, whom was known for his massive
biface work. More later..." Ray Harwood Aug. 30. 2000

Emory Coons; Big Blade Maker : By Ray Harwood

Emory trade mark eagle.



Emory, the young prodigy.
"I told that kid to leave my rocks alone, he would cut himself, he was 5 years old - DARN KID IS STILL BRAKING MY ROCKS!" - DAD




Emory's work. 2


Emory's work. 3


Emory 4


Two of my first flintknapping buddies were Jim Winn and Barney DeSimone. During the old days they starting going up to Glass Buttes and they would tell me stories of the great biface knappers they had up there. One such knapper was really good at the giant blades and he was just a kid.

His name is Emory Coons and he is one of the few big blade makers in the world. His biggest to date is 41 inches finished (mud sedimentary) and he has a 47 inch (world record) pumpkin blade in the shop waiting to be finished. Emory keeps his blades thicker than Cole’s because he transports them to a lot of shows. He sometimes makes them thinner or even pressure flaked. He has been chipping large blades since the 1990's and most have been 20 to 36 inches. If you are interested in purchasing a large blade he is only limited to what pops out of the ground for color and length. Most large blades are out of silver sheen obsidian, pumpkin or red are harder to find and several out of dacite it's a steel grey color. But you never know what color the next large chunk will be.



Above photo is a 42 inch flake. The 18 lbs billet (The billet he got from Dan Stuber) is sitting above the pit, he used this to strike the rock and remove the monster spall.



One of my favorite stories is when Emory traded a 21 and a 31 inch blade for a Winchester riffle with Leopold scope. To make these giant blades Emory Coons digs a ditch and makes sure there are no rocks left in there that can cause vibration. The 30 lbs billet to the rock then as it gets smaller the 18 lbs billet then the 9 lbs, then, use a 1 inch solid or copper cap to build a lot of platforms to take massive flakes. The first stages involves alternate flaking, driving massive spalls off with a 9 pound copper Billet. For finer work he uses a 2 and a half inch copper bopper to reduce end shock. Barney DeSimone introduced Emory to copper billet technology when Emory was 16 years old and Steve Allely taught his copper platform preparation and use. Brian James was a big influence on horn platforms. Emory was introduced to flintknapping by his father, another great knapper, at the age of five years. Emory met Jim Winn a few years back and Jim began making large blades as well.

Emory makes three to four giant blades a year, this since he was 18 he is now 38. which is about 54 mega-blades to date. Emory is so good at spalling that people nearly kidnap him to reduce giant boulders. He is getting a 43 pound billet and the late Rick Woodram left him a 6 foot drag saw, so who knows what monsters may emerge.

Emory 10, blades




Emory 11. dacite blade



Emory 8. knapping






Emory 9. Face off





Emory 12. dacite blade





Emory 13. blade




Emory with Jim Winn 14



Emory 15



Emory 7 A News Paper

Emory 7 B News Paper

Emory 6, NewsPaper.



Emory 5, in News Paper.


BIO:
Emory Coons was born in Burns Oregon in 1971 and started flintknapping at the age of five, 33 years ago. He has resided in Burns most of his life and attended Burns Union High School winning awards in the crafts department for jewlery two different years. He has been perfecting his skills as a artist ever since, flintknapping, silversmith, lapidary and teaching his craft to others. He has been on OPB on The Caveman at Glass Buttes and Channel 2 News Boise Idaho about the Nyssa rock and gem show multiple times. Several news paper articles have been written on his art from gem and mineral shows he has attended in Nyssa Oregon, Burns Oregon, Madras Oregon, The Dalles Oregon, Pendleton Oregon, Mission Oregon, Salem Oregon and the Oregonian in Portland Oregon and Golden Dale Washington. The Pendleton Mission papers had a mention for round-up as well as the blades he chipped were built into the Umatilla Veterans’ Memorial. He has taught classes in flintknapping at Indian Lake for the Umatilla tribe four years also the wild horse atl-atl demonstration as well as Pipestone Creek Alberta Canada and in Medicine Hat British Colombia Canada for the Jr. Forest Wardens, at Northern Lights out of Slocan Canada twice, also demonstrated flintknapping along the Oregon Wagon Train in 1993, Baker interruptive center, and Windows to the Past for the BLM and Forest Service. Then there's knapp-ins (arrowhead makers conventions) at Glass Buttes Oregon, Ed Thomas Golden Dale Washington knap-in, Richardson’s rock ranch knap-in and the Brad Boughman- Jim Hopper Knapp-in on the upper North Umqua some of the worlds best knappers come to these events to show there skills and teach. Emory attends gem and mineral shows like the Confederated show in Onterio, Nyssa Thunder Egg Days, Prineville Oregon, Hines Oregon Obsidian Days show his father started and the Madras, Oregon gem and mineral show. At these shows he can find most of the exotic materials from other countries, like fire opal from Australia, Brazilian agate, Condor agate from Central America, or crystals, Idaho star garnets and other gems to make arrowheads or jewlery out of. The Fire Obsidian is one of his favorites to find and work. His work can be seen at Boise University (display), Omsi (display), Great Basin Art in Prairie City, Oards 'War Hawk'(tomahawk heads assembled by Great Basin Art), The Edge Company magazine (War Hawks), or some of the local Burns stores. Most of his work has been sought after by private collectors and as gifts. His friend in The Dalles, Jason Hinkle, has oregonthundreggs.com and has put a web page up for Coons Lapidary with pictures and contact information for the selling of his art.

Notes:
Progression of age pictures are numbers 1,13,10,8,4,9,14,15,11,12,oldest to now, the eagle was made 3 days ago, the first picture, at the top of the article, knapped inbetween snow storms.

11 is silver scheen obsidian, the one pictured with Jim Winn is dacite and
picture 15 is the mud sedamentry.





Emory Coon's axes and Danish Daggers(above).'War Hawk'(tomahawk heads assembled by Great Basin Art)









BALLAD OF EMORY COONS

By Hank Ray

I once new a man named Emory Coons
He lived out in the woods just like- Daniel Boone.
He knew how to live out off the land
Just like Ted Orcutt and Ishi the Indian man.

Emory made giant blades out of obsidian and flint
He stayed out at Glass Buttes in a canvas tent.
He learned how to knap when he was very young
even Errett Callahan couldn't believe what he done.


I once new a man named Emory Coons
He lived out in the woods just like- Daniel Boone.
He knew how to live out off the land
Just like Ted Orcutt and Ishi the Indian man.



http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=54296085



COLE HURST, MEGA BLADE MAKER




"As of late many knappers are creating ever larger
pieces of lithic art in the form of huge bifaces.
Emery Coons reportedly percussion bifaced a 50 inch
preform and managed a 40 inch finished neofact. I
wrote the Coon's family and requested information and
a photo by received no response.
At the California knap in this year, large the key
word.
Many from other states, such as Coons in Oregon, are
also thinking large and obsidian suppliers are selling
more mega slabs than ever.
Named the Orcutt syndrome after an old time knapper
named Ted Orcutt, whom was known for his massive
biface work. More later..." Ray Harwood Aug. 30. 2000










MEGA BLADE KNAPPING WITH COLE HURST
By Ray Harwood

PHASE ONE OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE:


PHASE TWO OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE:


PHASE 3 OF COLE'S MEGA BLADE



THESE PHOTOS OF COLE KNAPPING SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING THE BIFACE DURING THE CAREFUL PRECISSION KNAPPING PROCESS. The slightest mistake can lead to disaster, in that a lot of time and effort on a very rare piece of stone is gone in a fraction of a second....stone is a very unforgiving medium to work with.
TED ORCUTT UNDOUBTEDLY KNAPPED WITH THE SAME PROCESSES.







.

COLE HURST: MEGA BLADE KANPPER






Many have heard of the large biface knapper of the last century, Ted Orcutt,. Many don’t know that there is an every growing number of modern flintknappers that are following in Orcutt’s foot steps. I plan to showcase as many of these new obsidian biface masters as I can. Here is the first mega blade knapper, Cole Hurst.


Cole Hurst was born October 14th 1960 in Fort Madison, Iowa and within a few years his family moved to East Wenatchee, Washington where he still resides.
Growing up he found arrowheads, scrapers and fragments of stone artifacts which sparked his curiosity in how they were made. Cole started flintknapping in the mid 80's when he was in his mid 20's. Cole Hurst didn’t know what I was doing, just experimenting. It was in the late 80's that he got a copy of "The art of Flintknapping" by D.C. Waldorf. Then later he met D.C. in 1990 when he was there in East Wenatchee with the Buffallo Museum of Science to take part in one of the digs at the Richey Clovis site, which is only a few miles from where he lives. That is when Cole’s knapping really took off. He has made several trips to Glass Buttes to quarry Obsidian, also e has networked with other flintknappers to aquire stone from all over the United States and around the world. Cole bought a rocksaw to conserve on materials as well as a kiln for heat-alteration.

Cole has held the Wenatchee knap-in since 1995. Cole is a member of Knappers-R-Us since it's beginning in 2001 and has a page on www.Flintknappers.com/cole.htm . Cole has chipped different point types found across the U.S. Cole has played with many different styles of knapping. Danish, Egyptian, Mayan Eccentrics, paralell pressure and percussion flaking and Flake over Grinding. Through the 90's his main focus was the Wenatchee style Clovis points. Cole made many and tried several different fluting techniques with pressure jigs, today it is direct percussion fluting. In the mid to late 90's Cole wanted to make larger pieces and began making the large bi-faces, his first deer dance blades. Since that time, the large Clovis points and Ceremonial blades is about 80 percent of Cole’s knapping. He has made many up to 16 or 18" and the quest for even larger blades has lured him. Finding material large enough is a quest in itself. Just in the last few years have Cole found pieces up to and beyond 24". Currently Cole is working on a pair of blades that may exceed 28”
-“Some may think using slabs is kinda cheating. I don't. Much harder to get into with all the squared edges and fragility. Not to mention getting more than one centerpiece by spalling.”- Without slabs hundreds of pounds of obsidian would be wasted, when one boulder can produce one or two giant blade on a good day, if sawn with a diamond saw these precious large pieces can yield dozens of large to giant blades. These giant blades are indeed rare and precious. With many of the lithic sources being considered for National Park status, these quarries will be off limits forever, and the time of the giant blades will end, and their value increase many times over,

Who was Ted Orcutt?



Ted Orcutt, The Karok Master, King of the Flintknappers. at the he
turn of the last century there were many flintknappers working at
their craft. One of these knappers stands out among the rest as he
carried on a sacred tradition, the white deer knapper. The White Deer
knapper had the honor of knapping the massive obsidian blades for the
world renewal ceremony known as the White Deer Dance. The White Deer
Dance was very a huge undertaking and organizers spent years planning
for one event. The event was not only time and labor intensive but
was also financially very costly. To make things work out, each tribe
took a turn hosting the event that often lasted 3 solid days. The
actual dance involved dancers carrying stuffed albino dear skins on
polls followed by obsidian dancers that carried a set of two- twin,
massive obsidian bi-faced blades tied in the middle with a buck skin
thong. He who knapped the sacred, giant, ceremonial blades for the
Karok, Hupa and Yurok was a man of honor. The man who last held this
honor was known as king of the flintknappers, he was Theodore Orcutt.
Theodore Orcutt was born February 25, 1862 near the Karok Indian
settlement of Weitchpec on the Klamath River. Weitchpec is now at the
upper or north edge of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in
northern California. His mother was a full blooded Karok Indian, born
at the Karok settlement of Orleans, Oleans is only a short distance
from Weitchpec on Hwy 96, his father was a Scotsman. Theodore's
father, Albert Stumes Orcutt had fair skin, blue eyes and light hair
and was about 5.11 inches tall and ran Orcutt Hydraulic on the South
fork of the Salmon River at Methodist creek, Albert came to this area
from Maine where he was carpenter, although he had been a sailor
earlier in life. Later in life Albert had a small farm and Orchard on
the Klamath River.
Theodore's mother, Panamenik -Wapu Orcutt, was closer to 5 foot 6
inches , with jet black hair, brown eyes and dark skin. His mother
had the characteristic traditional female Karok tattoo on her chin, 3
vertical strait lines. At adolescence all traditional Karok girls had
their chin tattooed with three vertical lines, or stripes. Using a
sharp obsidian tool, soot and grease were stitched into the skin, the
same tattoo was on the biceps. The tattooing was for several purposes
all relating to gender and Klan affiliation. She was considered a
good cook and hard worker, she could make baskets, new the ins and
outs of herbalism and acted on occasion as a midwife. She also spoke
both the Hokan language and English. Theodore's mother stayed close
to him all his life and even in old age she made trips to visit with
him. His mother lived to the advance age of 107 years old.
In about 1865 young Theodore was given his Indian name, "Mus-su-peta-
nac" translated to English means "Up-River-Boy", Karok traditional
names were not given for several years after birth so if the child
died at a young age they would not be remembered by name and the
grieving would be less. The infant mortality rate for Karok in the
late 1800s was not good, at the Federal census of 1910 there were
only 775 Karoks living in 200 Karok homes.
As a child, Theodore road his pony to the local one room school house
and was a quite and good student. He was a quit boy and a very good
writer, had excellent penmanship and was well read, he was, however
largely self taught, because of his many other obligations. He helped
around the house and was diligent in his chores. While the country
was celebrating its first centennial, 1876, Ted was 14 years old and
had begun his flintknapping apprenticeship with his Karok uncle "Mus-
sey-pev-ue-fich" , his mother's brother, whom was a master
flintknapper and was considered the village specialist. It was a
great honor for Ted to be chosen to such a prestigious mentor (mentor-
a wise and trusted counselor) and he practiced when ever he could.
The raw material of choice for stone workers in northern California
at the time was obsidian. Obsidian is a volcanic, colored glass,
usually black, which displays curved lustrous surfaces when
fractured. According to Carol Howe (1979) "the amount of control that
a skilled workman can exercise over obsidian is amazing. Teodore
Orcutt, a Karok Indian, one lived at Red Rock near Dorris,
California. He learned the arrowhead maker's art from his father, who
was the village specialist. The giant blade in figure 1, now in the
Nevada Historical Museum at Reno, Nevada, is an example of his work,
though not ancient, it represents the almost lost hertage of an
ancient art. Orcutt told Alfred Collier of Klamath Falls that it took
years of practice for him to became proficient."
While still in his teens he began to master the art of flintknapping.
First he learned the percussion method of knapping (Percussion method-
the act of creating some implements by controlled impact flake
detachment) and after several years he could reduce a fairly large
mass of obsidian into a flat plate like biface (biface-a large spear
head shaped blank with flake scars covering both faces), he was also
becoming more adapt to the pressure flaking techniques with a hand
held antler tine compressor (Pressure flaking- a process of forming
and sharpening stone by removing surplus material with pushing
pressure- in the form of flakes using an antler tine). His
arrowheads, spear points and other flint work became quite nice and
he began to experiment with eccentric forms and often knapped
butterfly, dog, eagles and other zoomorphic (zoomorphic-abstract
animal shaped art) and anthropomorphic (anthropomorphic-abstract
human shaped art) forms out of fine quality, fancy obsidians provided
to him by his uncle. He was also in his teens when he learned the art
of bead weaver, brain tanning of hides and arrowsmithing.
In 1885, Ted was 23 years old and spend nearly all his time after
work flintknapping and crafting traditional Karok items. It was at
this age that one morning Ted's uncle told him to get his bed roll as
he was now ready to participate in the sacred act of collecting
lithic material. This was an honor that Ted had looked forward to for
many years and he was very excited. Ted ran back to tell his mother
but she was already standing outside with Ted's bed role and some
food she had prepared.
Not only the obsidian collecting was important but the
cerimonialism involved in doing so as well. Obsidian mining was
something that had been done by hundreds of generations of Karok and
it was not to be taken lightly. Before white mining laws came about,
Native Americans relied on the concept of "neutral ground", even
tribes which were bitter enemies could meet at the obsidian quarries
and share knapping and lithic information.
As their buckboard wagon arrived at the obsidian outcrop, Ted jumped
out of his seat down into the dark damp soil, his boots leaving
imprints in the half dried mud, it was early spring and the grass was
vibrant green. Black obsidian chips glistened and sparkled all over
the land scape. When Mus-su-petafich showed young Ted how to mine and
quarry obsidian he first left an offering of tobacco, when he
performed lithic reduction (lithic-greek for stone, term most often
used in science, reduction-the miners often made preformed artifact
blanks to lessen the bulk for transport) Mus-su-petafich drove the
obsidian flakes off the core with a soft hammer stone. Large blocks
of obsidian were quarried by splitting them off giant boulders with
the use of fire. Mus-su-petafich would build a bon fire against the
rock. As each flake came off, no matter what the method of
extraction, he would set it in a pile and categorized them as his
ancestors had and said "this one is for war, this one is for bear,
this one is for deer hunting, this one is for trade, this one is for
sale". The various piles were kept separate until they were knapped
to completion and were all set aside for their original purpose. Mus-
su-petafich told Ted why each flake (or spall) had a special purpose
based on its form, structure, fracture-ability, texture, hardness and
color. There was a different Karok word for each type and variability
in the obsidian. Red obsidian was considered ritually poison and
these were usually saved for war or revenge, at this time in history
many of the customs had changed and Mus-su-petchafich made beautiful
points for sale and trade with varieties of obsidian that were once
reserved for the kill. There were numerous instances when Mus-su-
petchafich had to obtain subsurface, unweathered material, but these
were for the most part small pit mines.
It took Ted many years of mentoring with his uncle before he began to
fully understand the Karok lithic tradition. The two men made
thousands of arrowheads, lithic art and traditional Karok costumes
and marketed them, not only to traditional Indians but also, to a
wealthy eastern clientele. As Ted got older flintknapping became an
obsession, nearly all his extra time was spent either collecting
extravagant lithic material or flintknapping, in bad whether and at
night he would plan his strategy for some lithic challenge he was
working on and his quest for every better lithic material began
taking him farther and farther from home. Oregon's Glass buttes,
Goose Lake, Blue Mt., in Northern California, Battle Mountain
Chalcedony in Nevada Opal, agate and jasper from the coastal areas
and the inland deserts. On several occasions Ted Orcutt made trips to
Wyoming, the Dakotas and many locations in Utah and Idaho where he
would find specific lithic materials for special orders. Herb Wynet
was Orcutt's traveling partner and "sidekick" on many of these trips
and Herb would do all the driving so his friend "Theo" could gaze out
the car window at the country-side. Ted could look at the geology and
topography of an area if he had been there before or not and give a
good prediction, with great accuracy, where the lithic material would
be, he was correct nearly every time. On these trips Orcutt kept a
list of artifact orders on hand, this way he knew what lithic
material to get and what to focus on at his afternoon knapping
sessions on the road. In this manor Ted never fell behind on his
orders while on his flint hunting adventures. In 1902 Ted moved to
Red Rock Valley near Mount Hebron he was now 40 years old and his
percussion biface knapping was becoming better than ever. In the
earlier years Ted and his uncle had made I name for themselves among
the Native Americans in their area by knapping the large White Dear
Dance ceremonial blades for the White Deer Dance Rituals, Ted was now
challenged by these massive blades and he had a compulsive need to go
ever larger and more spectacular using many varieties of flint and
obsidian to make ever more elaborate pieces. By 1905, at age 43
Orcutt was knapping hundreds of obsidian blades of massive size, his
command over the percussion method of knapping was now unrepressed in
the history of the world.
In 1911 Ted was 49 years old when he got the job of postmaster of the
Tecnor post office in Red Rock. It was August of the same year that
Ted sat on the wooden bench outside his house and read about Ishi in
the local newspaper, the whole thing with Ishi took place only a few
miles from Ted's house, curiously, the Hokan language family
encompasses both Yahi (Ishi's language) and Karok (Orcutt's
language). It was a local joke to Ted people would say "hey Theo, did
you hear Mr. Ishi is the last arrow head maker!"
Ted was self-educated, read a good deal and by all accounts wrote a
good hand. The job as postmaster was taxing and left little idle time
to knap stone so in 1926, at the age of 62, he gave up the postmaster
job and began hauling mail from Mt. Hebron, at Technor, in Red Rock
Valley, first with horse and buggy and later in a Model T Ford, which
Ted bought new. During this time Orcutt was knapping more than ever
and was selling items through out the eastern United States, Europe
and Museums through out the world. He had well received exhibitions
at the California State Fair in Sacramento, a permanent display in
the Memorial Flower Shop in Woodland, California and he had shipped
his points to many hundreds of museums and collectors. He had a claim
where he mined obsidian near Wagontire, Eastern Oregon. It was in
this period also that Ted's ceremonial blades went from the 30 inch
long giants to the 48 inch long monsters that made gave him the
title "king of the flintknappers". This same time period Ted took a
half ton block of glass Mountain obsidian and carefully and precisely
knapped a 48 1/2 inch long ceremonial knife, which was 9 inches wide
and only 1-3/4 inch thick. This massive bifaced blade still hold the
world record for size, it rests in the Smithsonian Institute, a
similar one is in the Nevada Historical Museum at Reno, Nevada. In
the Natural History museum in Sacramento there is a massive
collection of large Orcutt blades, 176 in all, they are in an old box
marked "source unknown". The Southwest Museum in Los Angeles has many
Orcutt blades and also some of the White Deer Dance costumes Ted
made. As for the 48 inch blade, one witness to the giant blade
manufacture heard Ted speak really softly while working on the giant
blade, " I get awful nervous when I'm working on this, I'm afraid
I'll break it just before I finish."
It was not entirely unheard of for a collector to find a giant piece
of a broken Orcutt bi-face. In 1983, I worked with Jerry Gates of the
U.S. Forest service in Modoc County, in northern, California. My
duties included surveys near the huge obsidian deposits at Lava Beds
National Park in Lassen, County, California. I observed many chipping
site, several were not ancient. One site had both obsidian flake
scatters in context with old condensed milk cans, log cabin syrup
cans and Prince Albert Tobacco cans. I still recall that the flakes
were large percussion thinning flakes that appeared to be from biface
reduction and were of an opaque green material. I was told by a local
that he thought old sheep herders tried their hand at knapping in the
early 1900s, but I had a different theory, I stood over the site,
camp fire ring in the center can dump off to the side and reduction
type flake refuse and I knew this is where Ted sat, perhaps with his
uncle and reduced his preforms for transport back to the Somesbar
area where Ted Lived at the time. At another such site I observed my
first look at an Orcutt biface, it was just the base, and was a full
5 inches wide and an inch thick. The broken piece was 10 inches long
and it was evident that it was less than half the piece. Jerry Gates,
U.S.F.S. archaeologist in Modoc showed me yet another large fragment
that was covered with lake moss, it was about a foot wide, less than
an inch thick and about a foot and a half long- it was only a small
piece of the mid section. The giant biface fragments were broken
during flintknapping procedures. The giant bifacially flaked blades
broke, most likely, from the effect of end shock, which is a
transverse fracture caused by the obsidian exceeding its' elastic
limits, when the impact is made. Failure of the material to rebound
and recoil before desired fracture occurs, caused the preforms to
snap apart in the center sections. End shock is the reason few
knappers can make large percussion bifaces.




In May, 1946 Ted was 84 years old he moved to the L.D. Parson's
Ranch, Ted still did quite a bit of knapping at the ranch and
performed his duties including maintaining, grooming and shoeing the
horses. Theodore Orcutt passed away later that year ending the rain
of the "king of the flintknappers." Even today at the site of the old
Parson's Ranch obsidian erodes silently from the earth where Ted left
his waste flakes and stash. Unnoticed boulders of the material set as
a silent and forgotten testament to the master Deer Dance Knapper.
I have been asked several times in the last 25 years weather
flintknapping was actually ever a true lost art. Flintknapping is one
of the oldest crafts in the world and it is also one of the most
enduring and actually was never lost. Many knappers, both in the
Brandon gun flint factories and the reservations of the American
Indian, it was never lost, it was interest in it that was lost but
not the craft itself. Even the master Ted Orcutt did not leave this
world without leaving his knowledge and is rumored to have had
several devout students over his live time. One known student of
Orcutt was Fred Herzog . Fred met Ted Orcutt in the late 1920s while
both were working at Lew Parson's ranch and lumber mill in Oal
Valley. According to Fred Herzog (1959) "Teds skill was beyond all
imagination as he made points from 2/16 of an inch up to large spear
points two feet long." Some speculate that Dr. Don Crabtree, whom
knapped in the same style as Orcutt, may have met or at least
observed Orcutt at work. Crabtree was known to have lived and worked
in the northern California area during Orcutt's later years. Crabtree
came to be known as the "Dean of American Flintknapping". Crabtree
himself had hundreds of students and some of them are prominent
knappers and archaeologists today. It is possible that while watching
Crabtree's students we are seeing the Orcutt knapping style as it
once was.
After Theodore Orcutt passed away several have searched for clues to
his legacy. Carol Howe, Eugene Heflin and myself. Eugene wrote a book
called Up River Boy, but after Eugene passed away the book was never
published. I am still seeking information and if you have any -
please let me know. I published an article about Eugene's search for
Ted in Indian artifact Magazine in 2001.









As many of my blog readers know, I am writing a series called “big blade blogs”, I have covered Theodore Orcutt, Emory Coons, Cole Hurst and know, Grog Verbeck. Although my fellow Bakersfieldians were acquainted with Grog, I having been out of the loop for quite some time, had never heard of him. It was quite serendipitous; I was on a trip to Anza Borrego desert with my eldest son James , he was returning home to U.C. Davis and gave me ride to a knap in near Sacramento on the way. There in the center ring was Grog Verbeck knapping out very large, monster bifaces. Grog is a long time student of the master knapper, Greg Ratzat of Neolithics fame, in fact he cooks for the class up at Glass Buttes.

According to “Gogslithicart.com: Grog Verbeck was raised in the small town of Staatsburg, on the great Hudson River in New York. He is descendant of the Cherokee tribe by way of his mother's full-blooded great grandmother and his great uncle served on the Osage tribal council. Since Grog was a young boy he had an interest in Indian artifacts and life skills including bow hunting, tanning and fire starting. In college he pursued Native American studies and new world archaeology. He made his first arrowhead as a boy and has been addicted to flintknapping as an art for nearly ten years.” Grog knaps boulders and spalls and an occasional giant slab. Grog obtains his lithic material from the glass buttes area of Oregon with his long time friend and mentor, Greg Ratzat.


Links:
Grog Flintknapping video:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jharwood2686/AnzoBorrego2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIiegdC9loTilgE&feat=email#5319217016479070066

Grog’s web Site:
http://grogslithicart.com/index.html

Grog article:

http://tahoeculture.com/2008/12/01/truckee-flintknapping-artist-grog-verbeck/

Grog article:

http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf






Grog a chef by trade and runs a private chef service, HeyChef.com, in Lake Tahoe, California.
“HeyChef! began serving Truckee in 1996 and focused on the private chef services of
accomplished chef, Grog Verbeck. For more than a decade before landing in Truckee, Chef
Grog served in New York as the private chef for Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, where he
prepared meals for their celebrated dinner guests from the theatre and political worlds, including presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.” {http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf)


Ballad of Grog Verbeck

Grog, the from Cedar Bog, lives in the moutains with his old sheep dog.


Grog flint knaps giant obsidian blades and the sword in the stone
If you want to by some lithic art call him on the phone.


As many of my blog readers know, I am writing a series called “big blade blogs”, I have covered Theodore Orcutt, Emory Coons, Cole Hurst and know, Grog Verbeck. Although my fellow Bakersfieldians were acquainted with Grog, I having been out of the loop for quite some time, had never heard of him. It was quite serendipitous; I was on a trip to Anza Borrego desert with my eldest son James , he was returning home to U.C. Davis and gave me ride to a knap in near Sacramento on the way. There in the center ring was Grog Verbeck knapping out very large, monster bifaces. Grog is a long time student of the master knapper, Greg Ratzat of Neolithics fame, in fact he cooks for the class up at Glass Buttes.

According to “Gogslithicart.com: Grog Verbeck was raised in the small town of Staatsburg, on the great Hudson River in New York. He is descendant of the Cherokee tribe by way of his mother's full-blooded great grandmother and his great uncle served on the Osage tribal council. Since Grog was a young boy he had an interest in Indian artifacts and life skills including bow hunting, tanning and fire starting. In college he pursued Native American studies and new world archaeology. He made his first arrowhead as a boy and has been addicted to flintknapping as an art for nearly ten years.” Grog knaps boulders and spalls and an occasional giant slab. Grog obtains his lithic material from the glass buttes area of Oregon with his long time friend and mentor, Graig Ratzat.


Links:
Grog Flintknapping video:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jharwood2686/AnzoBorrego2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCIiegdC9loTilgE&feat=email#5319217016479070066

Grog’s web Site:
http://grogslithicart.com/index.html

Grog article:

http://tahoeculture.com/2008/12/01/truckee-flintknapping-artist-grog-verbeck/

Grog article:

http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf






Grog a chef by trade and runs a private chef service, HeyChef.com, in Lake Tahoe, California.
“HeyChef! began serving Truckee in 1996 and focused on the private chef services of
accomplished chef, Grog Verbeck. For more than a decade before landing in Truckee, Chef
Grog served in New York as the private chef for Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas, where he
prepared meals for their celebrated dinner guests from the theatre and political worlds, including presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.” {http://www.heychef.com/assets/FactSheet_Generic_FINAL_email.pdf)

The song link:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=55033732


Ballad of Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog
By Hank Ray

Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.

Grog flint knaps giant obsidian blades and the sword in the stone
and small flakes of stone pressure flaked with bone.

Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.


Grog, the frog from Cedar Bog, lives in the mountains with his old sheep dog.