My morning coke run this morning corresponded with a wonderful interview with an indigenous Canadian musician named Jeremy Dutcher, a singer and classical composer a Wolastoquiyik member of Tobique First Nation.  With a gentle voice, he spoke about reviving the music, stories, and language of his people.

This line stood out (and I paraphrase): "I always knew I danced with the rainbow; from the time I was a child, it was undeniable."

Before the coming of the Europeans, he says, his people were inclusive of all people, all tribes. While Jeremy always knew he was gay, he wasn't labeled or marginalized by his tribe.  

I wish it were so in this country of immigrants who did so much to destroy his culture.  

This interview was aired on 1A, and you can find it as a podcast. 

***

I just watched Elvis on Netflix, the best and most gut-wrenching telling of the Presley story I've ever seen.   Tom Hanks plays "Colonel Parker," Elvis' abusive agent; Austin Butler brilliantly portrays Elvis as a young man and also as an aging burned out musician. This film is no doubt destined for awards.

The young Elvis was  a gentle Tennessee boy and man who found his inspiration in church music, especially Black gospel music, and the rhythm and blues musicians he knew on Beale Street in Memphis.  

The pace of his Vegas concerts and the drugs it took to keep him on stage at any cost speak to the greed that robbed him of his family and many of his dreams.

He died thinking no one would remember him, yet he had perhaps more influence on music in America and worldwide than any other.  If his dreams had been allowed to flourish in their own way--instead of usurped by Parker and others--he might still be alive today to finish his story.