A Day's Pay for Obama!!! Day 3

Wow! Hey everybody, the ONE DAYS PAY group raised $1075.00 during the last 48 hours! I think this is a real testament to how strongly people feel about the coming election. If you already made a contribution, I'd like to thank you again. If you haven't, don't forget, even a modest contributions of $5.00 really counts! In fact, it's those small donations that have made the difference for Obama this year. If you're strapped for cash, then of coarse, save your money for those things you need to get by. But don't forget that you have lots of people around you who may be indifferent, disillusioned or disappointed with politics. Your words are worth just as much as your dollars. Let them know how you feel, let them know its important, talk about it and let's make sure our less motivated friends and family get out to vote! For Obama!

All the best from Baghdad,

Cy Kuckenbaker

You can make a contribution here!:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/OneDaysPay

A Day's Pay for Obama!!! Day 2

Hey Everybody! We raised $525.00 in 24 hours! That's great. For those who contributed thank you so much. For those who haven't, remember even 5 dollars makes a big difference.

I had the opportunity today to talk with a high level State Dept official who just returned to Iraq from D.C. He had a meeting with Joe Biden, who he says is a great guy. More importantly, he says the buzz behind the scenes in DC is that everyone is scared to death the election is going to be REALLY tight and end in gridlock again. It's going to be close. Get involved while you still can. If you’re broke, no worries. Get out and talk to your friends and family, get registered and VOTE. And, if you've got a five to spare, don't be shy.

All the best from Baghdad,

Cy Kuckenbaker

contribute here:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/OneDaysPay

A Day's Pay for Obama!!!

Hello everybody, Cy here, and I'm really worried. Seven years of George Bush and 15 months in Iraq is more than enough to teach me that I, we, must get involved in our politics and that we really do need CHANGE.

I've decided to contribute all the pay I earn from today, Sept 11th, to Obama's campaign and put my money where my mouth is. The Republicans have been using this day for seven years to keep us off balance and fearful. I want to reverse that and put my day, and my days pay behind something that I believe in. Please join me and make a contribution. Whether its one hours pay or a days pay. We have an extraordinary opportunity before us; lets do everything we can to make it happen! WE MUST WIN THIS ELECTION.

Please follow the link below or go to my.barackobama.com!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/OneDaysPay

All the best,

Cy Kuckenbaker

Drinking the Tigris: Old Glory II

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paintedland/2446656346/ I posted on this back in May, here's the latest from JR's Hughto's notes:

Last week I had the LAPD's Major Crimes Division: Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Section follow up with me about this. They stopped by and slipped a card under my door with a note saying "Please call [them] regarding an investigation." After I called, I found out I was the target of the investigation. They wanted to see my negatives, and while they agreed that nothing I had done was illegal, they did insist on coming over to my place before work to speak with me.

So, two agents came by and interviewed me for half an hour. They looked around my place, and I showed them the contact sheet - a roll with 4 pictures of the refinery, the others of innocuous things like my girlfriend and koreatown graf. After running out of nice ways to find out who I was, the agent filling out the forms asked, simply, "So, are you a Muslim?" I laughed out of shock and discomfort, and replied, "No."

They then stood, shook my hand, assured me again that I had done nothing illegal, and left. All told, they probably wasted a day and a half between the two of them on my case, when one well phrased google search could have led them here.

Dominican Republic

My trips usually beat the hell out of me then I go home ten pounds lighter and need to sleep for a month. The Dominican was a vacation. I was there for a week and I loved it. We stayed on the Northern Peninsula the whole week driving around with Fernando listening to local music, eating coconuts and seeing the sights. That place has been blessed with beauty. It's lush and the water is bright blue. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2767546654/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2775037466/

Drinking the Tigris: Petra

I got another R&R out of Baghdad this month. Woo hoo! I went home, but stopped in the Dominican Republic on the way. On my return to Baghdad, I flew back early and spent a couple days in Petra, which is in the South of Jordan. I'll get to the Dominican, but while it's fresh, a few words on Petra. Petra blew my socks off. What an incredible place. After a year of living in a pen in Baghdad through which I have no connection to the country except hearing the call to prayer on the car radio, it was great to get an impression of the Middle East and the heritage of the region that is authentic and first person. Petra is unlike anything I've ever seen because it's the combination of a manmade wonder and a natural wonder. Just the slot canyon that leads to the Treasury is stunning. The temples and caves beyond it speak to a society of enormous resource and organization that slowly vanished. The Bedouin people who live there now fascinated me. I have never had such an impression; that a person could belong completely to one specific landscape. The Bedouin gave me that impression. They've mingled into the rock and peaks with such natural ease it's hard for me to reconcile. How can a person have no fear of heights? I saw a man on a precipice hundreds of feet above a canyon floor poking his head around and yelling to his friends below. I can't imagine how he got up there without a rope. He was very casually looking for a lost goat. You'll see in the video below a Bedouin girl who thinks nothing of hanging her legs over the edge of a cliff. Incredible.

I hiked for two full days and wore myself down to nothing by the end. I got really excited and should have slowed down. By the second night I was sick. A little dehydrated and feverish, but it was worth it. It's one of the best travel experiences I've ever had. Here's a fun little video of the highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm0No52RLvY&feature=player_embedded

Bush League: Film Music

I heard this guys music a couple years ago in the Bush. Jacqueline, one of the main characters in the film, was listening to it in her shop. During the editing process I've gone back through the footage just to hear the music. I've been hoping I could find out who the guy is and get some of his music for the film. Got an email this morning from Malawi Jake pointing me a website that's selling Malawian mp3s (www.malawianmp3.com) and there he is: Lawrence Mbenjere! Got his name, now I can try to find him. He's got this video on YouTube. I love these videos, but I LOVE the music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj8NlVQgaY&feature=playerembedded

Bush League: Before Mobile Tech

This is just an aside from the film, but I wanted to put this together and put it out there. I'm really curious to see what happens when a place has a communication revolution that's never had an industrial revolution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pP5aDCWGzU&feature=player_embedded

Drinking the Tigris: Obama on the Cover of the Rolling Stone

He's got to come to Iraq sooner or later? In the year I've been here, nobody has been as anticipated. In fact, nobody has been anticipated at all because we never know they're coming till they're here. My boss met Angelina Jolie when she came in. I was very jealous. He fitted her body armor for her, perhaps the most coveted roll any man could play in her arrival. When he got back to the office all he said for an hour was, "beautiful lips man, beautiful lips." I swear he got word she was coming in; normally he would never meet a flight. That was a surprise, but we know Obama has to come soon, so it's become a conversation here in the office. I can't wait. I feel like a good guy is finally going to ride into town. I've seen a few powerful people come and go around here, and I long for the day their ride comes to an end. None of them made me sicker than the fat Texas energy tycoon. He came lumbering off a small jet with a gaggle of staff behind him, and a giant gut in front of him. His tent sized suit was at least five grand. His Daddy is one of the biggest energy businessmen in Texas and a major Republican contributor. Not exactly a self made man. Few of them are.

I'm out of here next week for a break. Hope Obama doesn't come while I'm gone.

Drinking the Tigris: Ed on the Bomb Shelter

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2660130261/ I took this picture of my coworker Ed on the bomb shelter. He's a former Marine. He was an MSG. Those are the Marines that guard all the embassies worldwide. He met his wife at the embassy in China. He tells harrowing tales of his time in Mongolia shortly after their wedding. Six months in a concrete box apartment with nothing to do. Twelve-hour train rides to China to get a pizza. He also tells great stories about scuba diving, and in particular, one story about an underwater encounter with a giant clam at night. Most of all, he talks about his kids. He really misses his two sons.

Drinking the Tigris: Edward

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2654350129/ This is Edward, a Ugandan guard working here in Baghdad. When I arrived last year I was surprised to see such a diverse mix of people. Why is a Ugandan checking my ID at the chow hall? I thought it would be all Americans with a sprinkling of Brits and other 'Coalition of the Willing' personnel. Because the war has been so privatized, a lot of the less critical security work is handled by the lowest bidder. Edward's company is American, based in Tennessee, but they hire out of Uganda because their soldiers are well trained and work for cheap. We've outsourced the war that far. It's incredibly strange. Everyday at lunch you can hear different people, Airmen, contractors, anybody that's been around a while yell, "Jambo jambo!" as they great the guards in Swahili on their way to and from the chow hall.

Edward was very anxious about being photographed. He asked me over and over again, "What's this for?" The shot is behind the chow hall after his shift ended. He turned his head in the middle of the exposure, checking to see if his boss had caught him. I tried to explain that I wanted to take his picture, just because, but I walked away feeling like I'd asked for way too much. He could have lost his job or been seriously reprimanded had the wrong person noticed. People have been fired for less.

Drinking the Tigirs: Big D, a KBR driver

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2652858758/ Truckers, honkies, bubbas, Georgians, Texans, Croatians, Serbs; KBR is a big mix. It's true that at the top, these companies are corrupt money stealing machines, but the character of the company's employees is completely different. Most of the Americans who work for KBR are working class people from Texas and the South. Big D was a long haul trucker before he came to Iraq. When he started with KBR, he drove an 18 wheeler running convoys from Baghdad to Kuwait. A year and a half ago he scored a job with us. Now he drives people around in the armored suburban sitting behind him. I'm not sure why he's got an armored vehicle, he never has to go outside the wire any more.

His politics and his rebel flag sunglasses aside, Big D is a lovable guy. He sometimes reminds me of the Lion from the Wizard of Oz actually. Except the Lion didn't have a bald eagle tattooed on his forearm and a gold flake painted Peter Built truck with 9/11 murals on three sides. Badass!

Drinking the Tigris: Full Access???

I've been interested in taking pictures outside our compound for a while but assumed because of the security environment it would be impossible. A couple weeks ago I talked with an Air Force officer, and fifteen minutes later I had a letter that gave me authorization to take pictures of anything and everything excluding two sensitive areas. I couldn't believe it. The sergeant that issued the letter talked about how they want transparency and people back in the States to know what's happening here. Given the new obsession with security back in the U.S. and all the stories about people being busted for taking pictures of buildings and train stations, I think it might be more open here? What the hell is going on with us? These are a couple shots from a test roll. Hope to crank out some daytime stuff soon, pictures I could never take in the States. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2543835291/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cykuck/2845752591/

Drinking the Tigris: Bush League

Last week, I got to go over to the (scary) place where the Iraqis train and fire a full auto AK47. It was fun and broke the monotony. Nobody should ever be allowed to own one of these things, its ridiculous that there's an argument about it in the U.S. Otherwise my day to day life is so monotonous that I can't remember anything about it. My personnel life is also pretty lame, but at least I have my film to keep me going. Every now and then I hit a patch in the footage that reminds me why I love it so much and why its become the focus of my existence.

Bizarre extremes?

Bush League: Zolokere Choir

I put this video up ten months ago and its been averaging around a thousand hits per month. It passed 10 thousand today. A nice landmark! It's a no-brainer considering how good the music is, but even so, the response is way beyond my expectations. I'm glad to say that more will come out of this. No details for a while, but I've been talking with Malawi Jake about doing some field recordings that focus on this music. He's looking for a fitting project for his post-Peace Corps return to Malawi and it looks like it's going to happen this autumn.

I was shooting a soccer practice for Bush League when I heard the choir start. I recorded five or six more songs, so I'll have to post a couple more for you soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdA-32LmEaw

Bush League: The Warm Heart, Mr. Muntale

Receiving a hand written letter from a friend in Malawi is a huge treat. From Mr. Muntale, a shop keeper and local chief in the Hewe valley: "Dear Cy Kuckenbaker

First and foremost, I would like to know your life. How are you treated there?

With me here and the family, I am doing fine.

Sir, I have thought it wise to write you a letter because since you left Malawi, no communications with Mkwinda (that's him). You have been here in Malawi, chatted with us, to me that was a very good thing.

I know traveling is money. For you to come to your friend Jake. It means you really love one another.

The next thing is that you have been with us here (in his shop), so I should apologize if in any way myself or other people have done anything bad to you.

Nothing more to prolong. May God allow us to communicate once more in letters or physically.

Your Loving Brother"

What an amazing way to write.

Drinking the Tigris: Old Glory

I was perusing flickr the other day and came across my buddy JR's latest photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paintedland/2446656346/

This one caught me off guard. From his notes:

"This is the massive face of the BP Hydrogen Refinery in Long Beach. It faces the 405 freeway; several thousand people see it every day on their way to and from work. It's a pretty provocative image made more so with each passing day. While I was shooting the plant, well within my rights, a security guard zipped up in his company truck and demanded I stop taking photos. He asked me to return to my car where I would meet him. By blowing through a red light, he beat me back to my car, which he had blocked in with his truck (it was the only car in a vacant lot on a Sunday afternoon). He wouldn't allow me to leave until I had given him my name, phone number, street address, place of business, and "reason" for being there. He claimed that "since 9/11, you can't shoot anything you want," and that I would need to check with the local police in order to find out what I was allowed to shoot. Unfortunately, this kind of misinformation about photographers' rights in the post 9/11 America is becoming more and more common. I eventually gave up trying to explain my rights as he seemed more intent on filling out his paperwork and keeping his job. It was a sad experience - his written english was very poor, and I ended up having to write the report for him. It's a hollow feeling to be forced to help someone take away your liberties; America in microcosm."

Bush League: Ethnographic Recordings

Today I listened to a cool piece about an ethnographer who recorded all kinds of American folk songs on the New Yorker website (http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/04/28/080428onaudiobilger/?xrail). Got me thinking about the music for Bush League. One of the things I'm trying to do, is use a hundred percent Malawian music for the score. I tried to collect as much as I could while I was there, and will probably, hopefully, go back for more.

Bush League: Honesty the Dog

Getting some work done on Bush League this week. Here's a shot of Honesty the Malawian village dog going toe to toe with a baby goat. Cracks me up cause Edward, one of the soccer players, is laughing so hard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xwEiu-UFgw