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17 Dec 07 - 10:57 AM (#2217234) Subject: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman From: Wesley S updated 7:30 p.m. CT, Fri., Dec. 14, 2007 LOS ANGELES - Floyd Red Crow Westerman, an American Indian activist, actor and folk singer who appeared in "Dances with Wolves" and performed with Willie Nelson and other musicians, has died. He was 71. Westerman died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of complications from leukemia, said his son, Richard Tall Bear Westerman. The entertainer appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, including in recurring roles as Uncle Ray Firewalker on "Walker, Texas Ranger" and George Littlefox on "Dharma & Greg." His most memorable movie role was in Kevin Costner's 1990 Oscar-winning Western epic, "Dances with Wolves." He played the Sioux leader Ten Bears, who befriends Costner's character. A respected musician, Westerman worked with Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Harry Belafonte, Jackson Browne and others. His debut album, released in 1970, was titled "Custer Died For Your Sins." Last year he released "A Tribute to Johnny Cash" to positive reviews. "He always said he was a musician first and he just acted for the money," his son said Friday. Westerman completed work in September on the upcoming Costner film "Swing Vote." He was an activist for environmental causes, and for the rights of American Indians and other indigenous people. In the 1990s, Westerman toured the world with Sting to raise money to preserve rain forests. "He was really, really politically conscious," his son said. "He said the Iraq war is just another land grab, like they did with Oklahoma and the Midwest in America. Back then it was about land and gold, and now it was about oil." Westerman was born Aug. 17, 1936, on the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota. He left the reservation as a youngster to attend a government boarding school. In keeping with policies at the time, the school frowned on his culture. "They cut his hair and they wouldn't allow him to speak the language," his son said. "He was a survivor of everything that the government has tried to do to Native Americans." Westerman graduated from a reservation high school, spent two years in the Marines and earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State College in South Dakota. He made his movie debut in 1989's "Renegades," playing the father of Lou Diamond Phillips' character. He was a shaman in Oliver Stone's 1991 movie "The Doors." Survivors include his wife, Rosie, and daughters Jennifer Westerman of Arizona, Chante Westerman of Washington state, Nicky Jackson of Minneapolis, and Chenoa Westerman of South Dakota. |
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17 Dec 07 - 11:02 AM (#2217239) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman From: katlaughing NO! This, on top of losing Fogelberg, is too much, dammit! I had the honour of meeting him at a powwow once and cannot say enough how impressed and delighted I was. His songs, voice, delivery, everything were so memorable. The world needs more like Floyd and Dan. May the Great Spirit hold him and his family close. kat |
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17 Dec 07 - 11:15 AM (#2217257) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman From: Stilly River Sage He also has a daughter (or ex-wife or niece?) at Mankato in Minnesota. A native lit discussion group has been discussing his death since last Thursday. I didn't think to pass it along, but I should have. Yes, here's a blurb from her: Subject: from the Westerman family Floyd Red Crow Westerman passed to the spirit world this morning in Los Angeles, California, with family at his side. Services are pending. We thank you from our hearts for all the prayers and support and kindness and love that you have shown him and us. Gwen Westerman Griffin Mankato, MN SRS |
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17 Dec 07 - 01:17 PM (#2217346) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: bankley one of the first Native American artists to blaze trails in the entertainment 'industry'.... travel well Mr. Westerman.. |
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17 Dec 07 - 01:35 PM (#2217358) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: katlaughing There is a wonderful interview of him on youtube: Click Here. Quite a bit about his bronze sculptures, lung transplant before which he'd lost the ability to sing, Indian spirituality and more. It really is a nice interview. I love his voice and his outlook on life. |
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17 Dec 07 - 02:34 PM (#2217409) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: open mike What a great man was the Lakota man. thanks for the link , Kat...there are other You Tube segments by and about him.. including one from DQ University in Davis CA (Deganaweda Quetzalcoatl) in the spring of 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyARwbwAeyI&feature=related amd he has a web site http://www.floydredcrowwesterman.com/ amd a my space http://www.myspace.com/floydredcrowwesterman What a loss...he was able to sing again after a lung transplant.. and he may have been the only native entertainer to appear at the local casino here that usually features anglo performers. (cowboys) |
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17 Dec 07 - 08:21 PM (#2217694) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: Declan Sad to hear this news. If I'm not mistaken Floyd was the author of a great song called quiet desperation, which was recorded by Christy Moore, among others. |
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17 Dec 07 - 11:12 PM (#2217784) Subject: LYR ADD: Quiet Desperation Floyd Red Crow Westerma From: katlaughing Thanks for the reminder about that one, Declan: Quiet Desperation Floyd Red Crow Westerman My soul is in the mountain My heart is in the land I'm lost here in the city There's so much I don't understand. There's quiet desperation coming over me, Coming over me. I've got to leave I can't stay another day There's an emptiness inside of me, I can't bear the loneliness out here There's another place I've got to be. I long for you, Dakota The smell of sweet grass on the plain I see too much meanness And I feel too much pain. And there's quiet desperation coming over me, Coming over me. I've got to leave I can't stay another day There's an emptiness inside of me I can't bear the loneliness out here There's another place I've got to be. |
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19 Dec 07 - 05:27 PM (#2219234) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: GUEST,the LITTLE RASCAL [1936]..ANITA AND RED CROW SINGS.... NOW, RED CROW... SPREAD YOUR WINGS..... AT LAST THE PAIN IS GONE FOR OUR LAKOTA MAN.... NO MORE EMPTY LONLINESS....HE HAS ANOTHER PLAN.. HE PLANS TO SOAR ABOVE US...TO FIND A SWEETER PLACE.... WHERE EVERY KIND OF PEOPLE LIVE WITH DIGNITY AND GRACE. HIS FACE IS A MAP OF THE THINGS HE HAS SEEN..... SO KINDLY... SO GENTLE... SO ROUGH YET SERENE. PRIDE HIS COMPANION WHEN HE WALKED OR HE SPOKE..... EVOKING A WISDOM......BOTH BEAUTEOUS & BAROQUE..... HE CARRIED KNOWLEDGE SILENTLY, SPOKE WHEN HE NEEDED TO BE HEARD... THEN........... HE STOOD TALL & STATELY CONTRADICTING THE ABSURD!! AND NOW LISTEN!!! LISTEN!!! DO YOU HEAR HIM???? THAT IS OUR RED CROW SINGING...... GOODNITE RED CROW...GOODNITE MY FRIEND........ANITA |
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25 Dec 07 - 01:58 AM (#2222250) Subject: RE: Obit: Floyd Red Crow Westerman (13 Dec 07) From: Stilly River Sage A little more information about Mr. Westerman: From the ASAIL list (Assn. for the Study of American Indian Literature) Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 13:18:54 -0600 From: "Griffin, Gwen N" Subject: Re: from the Westerman family Thank you all for your kind words and tributes to my uncle. It has been 10 days of whirlwind activity talking to reporters and trying to get Floyd home to South Dakota. He was laid to rest next to my grandmother at Veblen cemetery with a drum group singing a traditional song and a veteran playing taps as the sun set and horses snorted in the cold clear air. He is my father's brother and we will all miss him very much. Wopida tanka. Tosta ake. Gwen Just to close the story, at least for now. SRS |