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Host: Shawn Spruce
An all-Native send-up of the Tony Award-winning musical-turned-hit-movie “Grease” is connecting with audiences in Canada and playing in selected theaters in the U.S. “Bear Grease” is the brainchild of Crystle Lightning (Cree) and MC RedCloud (Huichol), a husband and wife hip-hop duo who go by the name Lightning Cloud. It’s a follow-up to their “hip-hopera” “Dr. Sioux’s The Neech Who Stole Christmas.” With songs like “Boarding School Dropout”, this is not the nearly all-white musical depicting the fun-loving 50s era. Today on Native America Calling, Shawn Spruce talks with MC RedCloud as well as Nipîy Iskwew (Cree and Beaver First Nation), fashion designer, entrepreneur, and performer, and Teneil Whiskeyjack (Cree), artist, playwright, and entrepreneur who plays Marty in the show, about Indigenizing the classic plot, lyrics, and fashion of “Grease”.
Break 1 Music: Thank You, Singers (song) Northern Cree (artist) When It’s Cold – Cree Roundance Songs (album)
Break 2 Music: Indians Never Die (song) Black Belt Eagle Scout (artist) Mother of My Children (album)