Raven Jake Dawes

On the slab in the lab...

Y'all I may have a web project coming up with the talented Michael A. Isaacs. Thanks to some Hollywood magic (aka costume and make up) your intrepid desert explorer, Raven Jake, is taking a ride on the wild side or possibly engaging in some  unauthorized genetic engineering. First up: I'm gonna make me a jackalope and see where the day takes me. 

Cover Art for Heart of a Poet

Heart of a Poet Trailer

Y'all, I've been away from the blog for a spell, but I ain't been idle. Here's the extended trailer for a movie I started on last year. I play a Nazi assasin with a strong work ethic and refined tastes.

 

"Just Deserts" Wedding Video

 

"Just Deserts" is a silent movie created by Jim and Lynn Hawkes of Circle Take Media in Palm Desert for our wedding. We wanted to do something a little different and a little more "us." Evil Lord Snakbar has usurped the kingdom of Princess Jane, who has fallen in love with Sir Jeryd. Snakbar doesn't deal well with rejection, but Jane and Jeryd are pretty resourceful -- and then there's the matter of the magic mead. Music by Martin St. Pierre.

New Website

Alright everybody, some of you have been around long enough to know that I've got an alter ego, a character if you will, called Jeryd Pojawa. I thought him up years ago, and he's had a pretty decent career out there in Hollywood.

Anyway, it was getting to be time to blow the dust off the old scrapbooks and reassess the beauty / functionality / money / time continuum of this summer and well, that kind of thing can lead to more of the same.

So to that end, Jane spent some time scanning and coding and uploading and widgeting and all that kind of thing and put together this website. Probably won't ever be "done"  - but it's got a pretty comprehensive scope of the careers of Jeryd Pojawa and Raven Jake Dawes.

Check it out - you're sure to find something you like whether it's Han Solo's keychain or my portrayal of a creepy serial killer/photographer in a cop show. Maybe you like freak cards (I sure do) or movies about stuff exploding. Or trade show booths. Like I said, something for everybody. There's even a song on there, if you can find it.

So big thanks to my lovely wife for gettin' on it, and hopefully you'll find something up there that puts a smile on your face.

www.jerydpojawa.com

Berzerker!

Now you all know me as being that folksy guy always ready with a song or a story or some grooming tips. But that ain't the whole story. I'm also a part-time Berzerker, as the photo at right clearly attests.

Just kidding. I made the little dog sled there for a movie I was working on; I was just in the scene there for  scale; the actor who plays the Iditarod dwarf stands about even with the top of the sled. I also made a small, old-timey boxing ring for another one of the little people from the project, which  turned out great. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of myself as the Boxing Giant, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Feelin' Loki, Punk?

I'm tryin' to get a little more organized with some of my old-timey photos that I never got a chance to post. Case in point: this one from a few years back. Just now stumbled upon it. I was actually playing "The Wizard" in a movie for a friend's son, Morgan Culp. Course lookin' back on it, it looks like I've got some unresolved Loki issues. And if that's the case, amigos, you'd better get ready for Ragnarök!

Accident on the Colorado Street Bridge

Folks, this has gotta be my most morbid post ever. And I apologize for this, but I think it's gotta be done, here's why: Our buddy, Adam Gorightly of the Untamed Dimensions wanted to talk to us about weirdness in the Arroyo Seco for a project Australian filmmaker Sam Fielder is taking on. Well, there's a lotta weirdness to account for, and I thought I'd go right for the suicide bridge.

Gorightly and Fielder are working on a documentary about the paranormal and SoCal and besides the Arroyo, they went to Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Salvation Mountain, Giant Rock, the Integratron, the Salton Sea, Joshua Tree - you know, some of Raven Jake's favorite haunts. Then we went and had a chat on Greg Bishop's Radio Misterioso. Had some good times talkin' about the normal, the paranormal, and everything in between.

Now I want to tell you right now that I do not in any way advocate ending your life voluntarily. Most times it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Game over. Get some help. There are very few scenarios where you're better off dead, and mostly it's just a huge awful burden on those who are left behind. When you look down the list of "jumpers," you'll not find even one person whom you could say objectively was "better off."

The Colorado Street Bridge has been an icon of Pasadena, California since its construction in 1913. Once the highest and longest bridge in the world, its beautiful Beaux Arts arches spanning the Arroyo Seco have the turn-of-the-20^thcentury charm of orange crate labels and the grandeur of a roman aqueduct traversing a Maxfield Parrish landscape. It is a source of pride to native Pasadenans who have fought successfully to preserve it when “progress” would see it destroyed and was once a tourist destination not unlike Venice’s Ponte dei Sospiri.

So Jane threw herself into the research with characteristic abandon, and came up with some pretty major discrepancies between the documentation and the perception. Yep, it's that "weirdness" thing. So besides the death list, what else? Well, maybe that ol' bridge is haunted. I figured I'd go back to the "back in the day" news clippings and cite the references. Let's clear out the hearsay. Get rid of some of them urban myths. Here's a few things it might interest you to know.

It is a fact that Orange Grove Blvd at Live Oak was the site of a Tongva burial ground for the Hahamonga. Is this an influence? Maybe, if you believe in ghosts.

Here's another - two workers were killed during the construction of the bridge, and it's a pretty hair-raising story. Here's the newspaper account from 1913:

Pasadena – An entire section of the forms for the floor over the highest arch of the $200,000 concrete bridge now being constructed over the Arroyo Seco at the West end of Colorado Street gave way at 5:00 yesterday afternoon and let 30 tons of liquid cement and 100 tons of scaffolding fall to the ground 150 feet below.

Sixteen men were at work on the top of the arch at the time. Three fell with the debris. One was killed outright; another was extricated after 20 minutes work and will live. The third was buried up to his neck in the soft concrete under a network of heavy timbers about 20 feet deep for nearly five hours. He was finally rescued and found to have a leg crushed and one arm so badly hurt that amputation will be necessary.

The other workmen saved themselves, some by running back to a safe place on the bridge and three by hanging for their lives to wires.

The dead man was John Vicso [sic - usually it's spelled "Visco"], a dumper, who lived in Los Angeles. He was picked up with his head crushed.

C. J. Johnson, the next taken out of the death pile, who lives at No. 417 Central Ave, Los Angeles, may lose his left eye and his right arm was mangled. He was taken to the Morengo Avenue Hospital.

H. Collins, a wire worker, who lives in Pasadena, was taken out at 9:45 o’clock, and taken to the Pasadena Hospital. He may live.

Great heroism was shown in the rescue of Collins. No sooner had the maze of wood and cement fallen than every man on the ground seized saw, crowbar, jack or whatever tool he could lay his hands on, and sprang on the pile of timbers. Above them a still larger section towered, with its uprights buckled and its upper beams hanging at a dangerous slant, seemingly ready to fall any minute. A lookout was stationed on top of the bridge and another off to one side to give a warning if it should be seen to start, but not a man at work would have had a chance to escape should such a second accident have occurred.

Soon after Johnson was brought up, some of the workmen heard Collins calling to them from far down in the depths of the pile of wreckage. His cries were groans of pain and all worked the harder.

Owing to the lack of room, the rescue party was soon reduced to about eight man led by Alfred Larson, the superintendent. They burrowed into the heap like prairie dogs, sawing their way as they went. After two hour’s work, during which they reassured the injured man with calls of, “Never mind, old man, we’ll have you out soon,” they reached him. They found him wedged tightly and buried to his neck in liquid cement. The tip of one hand also protruded. To clear away the cement, it was necessary to enlarge the hole and Dr. R. H. Newfering, in order to ease the man’s suffering, took his life in his hands and descended into the hole to administer a palliative. He had to use the hypodermic needle on the patient’s forehead.

Those who worked with Larson to extricate Collins were E. Ericson, J. Mulaney, Samuel Overson, John Moseley, R. Reynolds, Jesus Colorado, M. Colorado, David Cotterell, N. Nelson, Fred Aymes, Samuel Olsen, R. Gillhousen, H. Holland, John Galloway, R. Everett, and Bernard Munn, the time-keeper, who was also rushed to a telephone and notified the police, who procured ambulances.

W. A. Nelson perhaps had the narrowest escapes of any of the men. When he heard the timbers crack, he started to run onto the next arch and the floor parted just in front of him. He leaped over the chasm and landed safely on a projecting shelf which remained in place.

E. Ericson was just looking at some of the timbers, the force having only a moment before stopped work preparatory to going to the mess tent, when he heard one of the Colorados call to him to jump. It was too late. He and the two Colorados were cut off. As the floor sank beneath them, they seized slender strips of steel which projected from some of the solid cement, and by almost superhuman efforts drew themselves to safety.

The arch, the top of which fell, besides being the highest in the bridge, has also the greatest span – 210 feet. The scaffolding under it was in three sections. It was the western section which crumpled up and went down with the cement. The middle section started, but remained in place, although it is feared that it may fall at any moment.

The bridge is being built jointly by Los Angeles County and the city of Pasadena and is to give Pasadena automobilists a direct route to the seashore without passing through Los Angeles. It is being constructed by the Mercereau Bridge and Construction Company of Los Angeles, and the plans were drawn by the firm of Waddell & Harrington of Kansas City. C. K. Allen, an engineer who represents the latter firm and who is superintending the construction of the bridge, said last night:

“It is hard to tell what caused the accident. Some timber gave way and that let another go, and so on. The scaffolding fell like a pack of cards. We had forms for 100 cubic yards of flooring in and were pouring the cement. Three cars had just been run out to the end of the track, and the jarring of the cars probably caused the boards to start. The accident will not greatly delay the completion of the bridge. We had expected to have it done in October.”

This is the first serious accident there has been on the bridge since work was begun.

Visco, who was killed, was married, and Collins has a wife and a 6-year-old child. Johnson is unmarried.

Detectives Shelton and Betts went to the place at once in the police automobile, when the accident was reported and the chief of police McIntyre later also arrived on the scene with a number of patrolmen. The fall of the timbers made a terrific crash, and a large crowd collected, but the danger of another fall was so great that few ventured near. 

And here's the reference: "Cities and Towns South of Tehachepi's Top--Los Angeles County News: ONE KILLED IN COLLAPSE; Concrete Bridge Over Arroyo Seco Poves Insecure; Three Precipitated One Hundred and Fifty Feet; Tons of Material Fall With Luckless Artisans.." Los Angeles Times (1886-1922),  August 2, 1913. 

 There've been plenty of rumors over the years about "the concrete dumper who fell into the cement mixer and was ground to pieces" and "the guy who fell into the cement and when they couldn't get him out they poured more concrete over the top of him, sealing him in the bridge forever. " Now when you read the original account, you can see that there's a kernel of truth to the story - but the rest is just fanciful (if somewhat gothic) urban myth. In fact, the story of the accident, the Indiana Jones-style escapes of Nelson, Ericson, and the Colorado brothers, and the heroic rescue of poor Collins make for as good a story, if not better.

Now they say that when a ghost passes on the bridge at night, the lights turn blue. I ain't seen it, and a minimum of 120 people have ended their lives there; I hope it's 'cause their souls are at peace. But the first time someone fell off that ol' bridge, it was an accident - and 98 years later the tragedy of John Visco and H. Collins should serve as a reminder of how precious and transient life is.

 

Buffalo Field Campaign

This event was posted on NDN.me and I had to share.

Saturday, October 9 | 7:00pm - 10:00pm

Venue/Location

1770 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

 

Details

Get together with Buffalo Field Campaign for an evening of story telling, video footage, and music inspired by America's last wild buffalo and those who work in their defense!

What are the BFC Road Shows?

Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization focused on protecting America's last wild buffalo population. BFC lives and works in the lands where wild buffalo still roam, in southwestern Montana, and has become the leading source of news and information about them. BFC volunteers embark on daily field patrols, monitoring wild bison migration and document all actions made against them in an effort to raise awareness and gain permanent protection for this sacred, iconic species. BFC's Road Show is one way we can bring the buffalo's story to you and build a strong advocacy for their defense. Read more here

View Full Schedule here

October 9, Saturday
7pm, LA, CA
2HeadedHorse Gallery
1770 Glendale Blvd

Los Angeles, CA

Jonny jvasic@msn.com

It's the only L.A. event (and I believe the last of this roadtrip) so I'll be there! You gotta love buffalo! Here's some more from their website underlying the urgency of this campaign:

Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization focused on protecting America's last wild buffalo population. BFC lives and works in the lands where wild buffalo still roam, in southwestern Montana, and has become the leading source of news and information about them. BFC volunteers embark on daily field patrols, monitoring wild bison migration and document all actions made against them in an effort to raise awareness and gain permanent protection for this sacred, iconic species. BFC's Road Show is one way we can bring the buffalo's story to you and build a strong advocacy for their defense.

The Yellowstone buffalo population is the last one to remain free of cattle-genes, to still follow their migratory instincts, and the only buffalo to have continuously lived on their historic habitat since prehistoric times. Once roaming free in the tens of millions across North America, today, fewer than 4,000 wild buffalo are left in existence; these few are confined to Yellowstone and are under constant attack by livestock interests.

Montana's voracious cattle industry, overseen by the Montana Department of Livestock, holds a "zero tolerance" policy against buffalo, harming, harassing and killing them for following their natural, migratory instincts that bring them to habitat in the state. Since 1985 nearly 7,000 wild buffalo have been senselessly killed. Montana and the federal government agencies supporting them claim that these actions are taken to prevent the spread of a livestock disease, brucellosis, from wild bison to cattle. In the centuries of cattle invading North America, wild bison have never transmitted this disease to the livestock they got it from. Other wildlife - such as elk, deer, and even domestic dogs - also carry brucellosis. Only wild buffalo are targeted, which demonstrates a deeper issue other than disease: grass. The cattle industry fears the return of wild buffalo because they want to hoard grassland habitat for their cattle.

With our country's shameful history of mass buffalo slaughter it is a bitter irony that 130 years later history repeats itself. Adding insult to injury, Montana's livestock industry has a unlikely partner in these crimes against buffalo: Yellowstone National Park. Amazingly, the agency that is in charge of protecting this sacred species, and that uses the buffalo as their very symbol fully participates in their harassment and slaughter. During the winter of 2008, Yellowstone National Park helped livestock interests kill over 1,600 wild American buffalo, becoming responsible for the largest buffalo slaughter since the 19th century.

In addition to our daily field patrols, and using our decades of experience, BFC is working to gain wild buffalo permanent protection under the Endangered Species Act; we are working with Congress for legislative support, working with First Nations that help honor the sacred nature of the buffalo, and we have joined with other bison advocates to take legal action against the governments that harm them. These buffalo are an American treasure, belonging to themselves and the land they have roamed since prehistoric times. America's last wild buffalo need all of our help to ensure their survival.

BFC co-founder Mike Mease, along with BFC volunteer and coordinator Noah will be traveling out West visiting communities, events and Farmers Markets sharing stories, music, poetry, video and discussion about the last wild buffalo. We are honored to have family members and friends GoodShield of 7th Generation Rise, and Phoenix AfterBuffalo back again this year joining us for the entire West Coast Road Show in 2010!