WHAT’S SHAKIN’

Out of the Ordnance

The Vietnam War remains the cultural lynchpin for the baby boom generation. But there was a second, lesser-known, conflict from 1964 to 1973 that has informed a good deal of photographer Mike Greenlar’s career. In those years, the Hmong people, mostly living in Laos, were the victims of Operation Barrel Roll, a U.S. bombing campaign that resulted in a dubious distinction.

“Laos is the most bombed country in the history of warfare,” said Greenlar, 58, a photographer at The Post-Standard. “Nearly 260 million cluster bombs were dropped in Laos alone.” Hundreds of tennis ball-sized cluster bombs are packed inside a single casing, the shell of which the Lao have used in creative ways. That factoid, which Greenlar heard in a National Public Radio report by Anne Garrels about the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War, along with information that Laos is largely forgotten when it comes to discussing that war, got him thinking.

“The thing that really intrigued me about Garrels’ story was the fact that people were taking bombs and making tools out of them, and that added another layer to the story. It was about a country that had been bombed, but there were people there taking those bombs and making items—it was a swords to plowshares type of thing—and that was all true when I got there.” Greenlar’s first trip was in April 2000. In subsequent visits, he photographed the Lao and the items they had fashioned from spent bombshells.

Greenlar compiled some of the photographs from those trips into a book he published himself, Remnants of a Secret War, printed by Eastwood Litho. He will be appearing at a booksigning on Thursday, Sept. 15, at ArtRage Gallery. The book is also for sale at the Syracuse Cultural Workers. And given the SCW’s mission—to celebrate diversity and community and nurture social justice—it makes sense that president Dik Cool decided to carry it. “It’s certainly a political book,” he noted, “and I spent two years in prison for oppos ing the war and the draft. So I have very strong feelings about that era.”

The book’s stark simplicity, the reality of living every day with bomb remnants, gets driven home by the black-and-white photos. In fact, Greenlar left out about 15 images “that didn’t fit as well with the themes.” The map of Laos and narrative help Greenlar, who lives on Syracuse’s North Side, interestingly not too far from Syracuse New Times photographer Michael Davis, further the story. Some of the images have been seen in Syracuse before, at a 2003 exhibit at Syracuse University’s Light Work Gallery. “I had by 2003 a lot of the tool-making from the bombs and the blacksmithing, but there was another

story and that was the resurgence of the Hmong culture in Laos. I’m not going to say I was the first Western journalist to do this, but I didn’t know of another.”

Traveling to Southeast Asia is notoriously difficult and exhausting—seven planes over a 13-hour time difference, ultimately landing in Phonsavan, in the middle of the country. “Each time I visited was around two weeks,“ Greenlar noted. And to go to Laos it’s virtually on the other side of the world. So I didn’t get that many days in the field; on a two-week trip, you get five or six days in the field.” Financed by sales of stock (we should all be so lucky), Greenlar was able to visit Laos a total of 10 times. “It wasn’t until the third trip that I realized that I had something more than just a story about bombs,” he said. “In between trips I was reading a lot, and two books related to the war really brought everything home to me: Keith Quincy’s books, Hmong: History of a People and Harvesting Pa Chay’s Wheat: The Hmong and America’s Secret War in Laos.”

Those tomes helped develop Greenlar’s affinity for the Hmong people, whom he described as resilient. “What I hope the book will do, and this is a lofty hope, but maybe I can create some kind of dialogue about cluster bombs, and at the same time celebrate the resilient Hmong culture. I don’t think everyday Americans realized the number of cluster bombs we dropped on Indochina. The Vietnam War was the first opportunity for the U.S. military to use anti-personnel weaponry, including the cluster bomb, and they’re a continuing problem. They’re still in the ground, and they’re still going off.

“They’re still being used today,” Greenlar added, “in Afghanistan and Iraq. They have a built-in dud rate of 15 percent to 30 percent—that’s how many don’t explode on impact. What the Hmong do is they always burn their fields in April, and when they do that, they’ll set the bombs off. Or there’s a boy with a water buffalo, and he stakes it into the ground, and he hits a cluster bomb. They’re really nasty.”

Those cluster bombs that have already exploded left behind a wealth, so to speak, of shell casings, and the Hmong have been creative in using them in their yards and homes, giving Greenlar plenty to photograph. In one photo, children play on a bomb casing, while in others a horse eats from one and a small garden grows in another. Fences and roadside attractions have been fashioned from spent casings.

Greenlar also made sure to show casualties from the unspent bombs accidentally detonated—amputees, for example—while also demonstrating how the Hmong make money from used bombs and casings. Everything he included in the book is a far cry from smartphones, SpongeBob and skinny jeans. As an American who wasn’t really welcomed by the Laotian government, Greenlar admitted that the real reason he found success on his multiple trips was the help he received on the ground.

“The key to the whole story was finding the right guide,” he said, “Sousath Phrestry, who would go into the field with me.

He prided himself on being an Indochina war guide. Most of his money was made taking tourists to the Plain of Jars, near Phonsavan. His father was a very decorated Pathet Lao leader during the war, so he had a lot of pull and that was what got me in. He was a big help to the story.”

Find out more about Greenlar’s story of the Hmong and their daily struggles in Laos at Thursday’s book signing at ArtRage Gallery, 505 Hawley Ave. You can purchase a book for $25 at the SCW, 400 Lodi St., or by contacting Greenlar at chachaway@aol.com.

—Molly English-Bowers

These Rams Were Tough

As the third quarter turned into the fourth, and Syracuse University was still struggling to outlast a what-should-have-been overmatched Rhode Island football team, a longtime SU season-ticket holder turned to a group of fans sitting behind him. “If I leave early,” he said, “it’ll be out of disgust.”

That pretty much sums up the feeling in the Carrier Dome this past Saturday, Sept. 10, when the Orange needed a mid-fourthquarter touchdown and a last-minute defensive stand to upend the Rams 21-14 before an announced crowd of 36,421.

Rhode Island is a small Football Championship Subdivision school (formerly known as Division I-AA), and SU fans figured the Orange would ride the wave of momentum from the previous week’s overtime victory over Wake Forest and dismantle the Rams. But Rhode Island hung close, thanks to SU’s head-scratching penalties, inefficient running game and inability to corral Rams quarterback Steve Probst, who hurt the Orange with his feet as much as his arm. “We had a lot of mistakes,” SU wide receiver Alec Lemon said, “and they capitalized on the mistakes.”

Here’s where it’s necessary to sprinkle some perspective over the disgust the fans might have felt during the game, and the relief they certainly felt filing out of the Dome:

Before last season, when the Orange finished 8-5 and played in its first bowl game since 2004, SU had won just 14 of 59 games from 2005 to 2009. While fans should be excited the program is on the upswing, they should also know that the Orange still has a looooong way to go before victories—even over FCS teams— come with style points.

“We’re not good enough not to enjoy a victory,” SU coach Doug Marrone said. “That’s what I told the players and that’s what I told the coaches. I’ve been in this business long enough when if you walk out of here and you hang your head after a win, you’re not going to be in this business for too long.”

One could argue that SU has played well for about 23 minutes (and one overtime) in its two games this season. In the Orange’s season opener against Wake Forest Sept. 1, SU trailed 29-14 with about 11 minutes remaining in the game (fans left early that game because they were disgusted and it was late on a Thursday night). But the Orange exploded for 15 points in a span of one minute, 19 seconds to tie the score in the fourth quarter, and then won the game with a touchdown on its first possession of overtime.

Against Rhode Island, with the score tied at 14, SU started its 80-yard, gamewinning touchdown drive with 12:26 remaining. Quarterback Ryan Nassib, who tied a school record with 29 completions, capped the drive with a 12-yard scoring strike to walk-on wide receiver Michael Acchione with 8:34 left in the game.

SU’s defense allowed only one first down in Rhode Island’s two possessions after Acchione’s touchdown. In the Rams’ final drive, Marquis Spruill and Dom Anene combined for back-to-back sacks, and safety Philip Thomas sealed the win with his second interception of the game at the Orange 24-yard line with 1:29 remaining.

So you could say SU is lucky to be 2-0. But it’s the first time the Orange is 2-0 since 1999, and 2-0 sure beats the alternative.

“I think you have a few {people} thinking, ‘I cannot believe it went down like that,’” running back Antwon Bailey said. “But honestly, we won. We haven’t done a lot of that around here. So I feel good. We got the win, we are 2-0. We are 2-0 at home: I feel great.”

Said Nassib: “A win is a win. I have been through a lot of stuff and you realize wins are not easy to come by. Did we make a lot of mistakes today? Did we leave a lot of points out there that we could have scored? Yes. I am proud of the guys who went out there play after play and stuck it out.”

And from left tackle Justin Pugh, “I’ll take 2-0 any day of the week.”

For 2-0 to have a chance to turn into 3-0, the Orange will have to play for 60 minutes this week. SU will play its first road game at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at the University of Southern California (the game will be televised nationally on FX).

This is not the Matt Leinart-Reggie Bush Trojans. USC is in the second year of a two year bowl ban and four-year probation for violating NCAA rules, and the Trojans have been stripped of several scholarships. USC squeaked past Minnesota 19-17 and Utah 17-14 in its first two games this season.

But led by future NFL quarterback Matt Barkley, the Trojans are still loaded with talent and SU knows it won’t be lining up against Rhode Island. “They’re a tough team to play,” cornerback Kevyn Scott said. “We’re going to have to fix our mistakes and hopefully build on it.”

ORANGE SLICES: Acchione, who went to Solvay High School, played in his first game for SU against Rhode Island and had two catches, including the game-winning touchdown. His father, Garry, played at SU from 1978 to 1981. “It was wonderful. Coming from a small town, you have a lot of expectations,” said Acchione, a senior. “The coaches always had my back. The players always motivate me to get better every day. When my time came, I made the most of it.”

“I’ve been seeing Michael Acchione on scout teams and he busts his butt every day,” Scott noted. “That’s a kid that really bleeds orange. He’s been working so hard, and just to see him have that moment, that moment of glory, it was great, wonderful.” . . .

In addition to tying the school record with 29 completions (in 37 attempts), Nassib tossed for a career-best 318 yards with three touchdowns and reached the 3,000 career-passing yards plateau. Wide receiver Van Chew set career-highs with eight catches for 134 yards, and wide receiver Alec Lemon also set a career-high with 10 receptions. “I have been with these guys for a long time and we have a chemistry that can only be built after a certain amount of time,” Nassib said. . . .

There was no update after the game on the condition of Orange stalwart defensive end Chandler Jones, who sat out with what Marrone has called a “lower body injury.” SU still went with a four-man defensive end rotation, but the foursome combined for only six tackles with no sacks. “It was a little bit different when you don’t have No. 99 {Jones} out there,” Spruill said. “When you always have him out there and then you don’t, it’s like ‘Wow.’”

—Matt Michael

Inside Voices

Colorfornia: New Forms in West Coast Street Art exhibit at Syracuse University’s Warehouse Gallery takes the enormity of street art from bridges and storefronts and attempts to transfer it to much smaller gallery walls.

Street art has been covered extensively in the past six months in publications like Time, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times because similar exhibits have run in the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, and the Talk to Me exhibit, currently running at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, has a section about the taxonomy of graffiti.

This exhibit, which opens Thursday, Sept. 15, and runs until Nov. 5, features the work of three renowned street artists from California: Apex, Chor Boogie and Jet Martinez. The artists were chosen not only for their accomplishments—all of them have had works commissioned from international urban development projects to the 2008 Summer Olympics in China—but also for their personal friendships with each other.

“If you have something site-specific where multiple artists share a space it’s easier if they have worked together and know each other,” Anja Chavez, curator for the Warehouse Gallery, said. Omkar, the Warehouse Gallery’s exhibition designer, said he had to create walls from plywood for the artists to paint on.

The use of spray paint also created an issue for ventilation in the space, so those who use the medium—Chor Boogie and Apex—composed their works at the nearby Delavan Center. The murals, which have been painted on wood panels, have since been transported to the Warehouse Gallery, 350 W. Fayette St., for the exhibit. “It’s not just street art any more,” Chavez noted, “it’s street art in the context of everything.”

And though all of the artists come from California and use bright, bold colors extensively in their works, their styles could not be more different. Apex uses spray paint to create abstract works that resemble what people would traditionally see as graffiti to express emotions. He says there is an architectural aspect to his work that distinguishes the forms.

Chor Boogie achieves effects with a spray paint can that most artists use a fine-tip paintbrush for. His work usually contains facial features conveying an emotion in the midst of waves of color. Chavez believes there is a misconception about what street art is, but “it’s amazing to see someone use spray paint to portray a face,” he added. And nature inspires Jet Martinez’s work, with many of his murals depicting flowers by abstracting their forms and amplifying their colors.

Although Chavez acknowledged that the context changes when street art is brought inside, she added that “a lot of Renaissance work that is in museums was originally meant to be in a home or church, so taking art out of its original place is done all the time.”

Local artist Oscar Garces painted the piece that trumpets the exhibition from the Warehouse’s large windows. It depicts a man atop a mountain with one hand stretched toward the sky. This is Garces’ first large-scale mural and it is a self-portrait depicting the relationship between religion and art.

An opening reception for the exhibit takes place Thursday, Sept. 15, 7 p.m., in the Warehouse auditorium. The artists will be in attendance to take questions from the audience. Luis Castaneda, an assistant professor in SU’s art history program, will moderate. For more information, call 443- 6450 or visit thewarehousegallery.syr.edu.

—Kelundra Smith

Sammys All Set

Local music legends 805, known for progressive rock and 10-foot pythons, and heavy metal guitar veteran David “Rock” Feinstein with his longtime band The Rods will be inducted into the Sammys Hall of Fame Nov. 10. They also will perform at the 18th Syracuse Area Music Awards (Sammys) on a memorable date, Friday, Nov. 11.

To remember, think 11-11-11. Other Hall of Fame inductees include soul singer Marcia Andrews-Hagan, longtime radio and television broadcaster Rick Gary and widely acclaimed saxophonist, composer, arranger and jazz educator Joe Riposo for the Music Educator Hall of Fame Award.

With the events of the past year in mind, the Syracuse New Times Lifetime Achievement Award will go to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, which lost funding and faded from the community last May after serving it for nearly 50 years.

“Big” Mike Fiss from WZUN-FM 102.1 (Sunny 102) presented the inductees Tuesday, Sept. 13, inside the Nicholas Pirro OnCenter. Dave Porter of 805, Feinstein, Gary and Riposo were all in attendance and Porter expressed his excitement for the award and the opportunity to perform. “It was a nice little surprise,” he said. “We don’t get to see each other very often, so it’s great to get together for this.”

It’s been more than a decade since the RCA-signed band played the Sammys and Porter noted their material, with “weird time signatures and stuff,” isn’t like covering “Freebird” when it comes to playing together again and putting on a show. “We’ll have one day to rehearse,” he said. “But we’ll all rehearse on our own the weeks before and get it together.”

Although the fire, concussion bombs, fog and python named Dudley might not make appearances during 805’s Sammys set, expect the music to pack the same punch. Feinstein and the Rods will keep the show rolling with a solid dose of heavy metal rock, drawing from more than 30 years of material. Feinstein, who originally rose to fame with cousin and legendary vocalist, Ronnie James Dio, in the band Elf, will be ready to play the OnCenter Ballroom, 800 S. State St.

“I’ve played every room that holds more than 50 people,” Feinstein joked. Here’s to one more.

Inductees will be honored Thursday, Nov. 10, Upstairs at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, 246 W. Willow St., from 7 to 11 p.m. Tickets are $20 and available by emailing or calling Debbie Foley at dfoley442@aol.com or 247-1718. Inductees will also be formally recognized at the Sammy Awards Show on Friday, Nov. 11, beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available through the Sammys website, syracuseareamusic.com.

—Jessica Novak