A Warriors Musical Comes Out to Play

By the end of junior high school, there were two pieces of popular culture that made a considerable number of middle-class suburban lads my age think that joining a street gang was a pretty cool idea: S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel The Outsiders (part of the school curriculum for a lot of us!) and the 1979 Walter Hill movie The Warriors. 

And I recently discovered this foundational film of my youth has been adapted into a concept album by none other than Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and could now be headed to Broadway as a full fledged musical.

The Warriors tells the story of a 7-member delegation of the titular NYC gang trying to make their way back to Coney Island following a failed midnight peace summit at Van Cortlandt Park that ends in chaos. Wrongfully blamed for the murder of Cyrus, the visionary leader of the Gramercy Riffs who called the summit, the Warriors have to run, sneak and fight their way across an entire city of enemy territories run by gangs that are united at last...against them. 

Warriors (1979) trailer

The movie is based on a 1965 novel by Sol Yurick, who based it in part on Xenophon's Anabasis, but I am not going to pretend The Warriors is a piece of classic cinema. But it would be just as wrong to categorize it solely a guilty pleasure.

The film was green lit because the studio was desperate for 'youth films.' Walter Hill was intrigued by the classical core of Yurick's novel.  He also appreciated a screenplay that, that unlike every other film depicting street gangs as a scourge to society or a problem to be solved, this screenplay instead treated them as another part of the urban ecosystem to be explored.

Shot at night on the streets of New York with a modest budget, the producers paid actual gang members to be 'security.'  The cinematographer successfully campaigned for a scene with a rainstorm at the beginning of the film, so he could wet the streets for better lighting in the subsequent shots. The review in The Village Voice declared, "Much of the movie looks as if Fritz Lang had directed The Wiz, with occasional contributions from Sergei Eisenstein and Bruce Lee," which is about as apt an encapsulation I have ever read.

Paramount pulled most of the advertising for the film after vandalism and violence (including three killings) were associated with showings on both coasts. As Walter Hill observed 35 years later, "I think the reason why there were some violent incidents is really very simple: The movie was very popular with the street gangs, especially young men, a lot of whom had very strong feelings about each other. And suddenly they all went to the movies together! They looked across the aisle and there were the guys they didn't like, so there were a lot of incidents. And also, the movie itself is rambunctious—I would certainly say that." Like most cult films of that time, The Warriors found its eventual (and incredibly loyal) audience through VHS and television showings.

Sure, the dialogue can be pretty stilted in places, some of the gang costumes are both impractical and outlandish (hey, did you know the beloved Baseball Furies wore war paint to cover up the non-youthful faces of the stuntmen portraying them?), and you might well wonder why they didn't just steal a car to make up time. But I was amazed to discover there was an actual gang meeting in 1971 with 200 delegates from dozens of gangs in attendance - so maybe the story isn't quite as far-fetched as we think?

The Warriors is still a compelling, if straightforward, story of survival that also has some poignant things to say about loyalty, courage and even class struggle. The latter comes most notably near the end of the film when a group of upper class teens in suits and dresses board the same subway car as Swan and the rest of his ragged warband, and it is difficult to determine which side is made more uncomfortable by the contrast.

The movie made quite an impression on me and many of my friends, and apparently Mr. Miranda as well, who claims the film "has been on two stone tablets in his head ever since" after seeing it on VHS at an inappropriate age. He initially dismissed the idea of adapting it when suggested by a friend in 2009, but after Hamilton's opening in 2015, realized he hadn't stopped thinking about it. He suggested a collaboration to Eisa Davis, a playwright and actress (and Pulitzer prize finalist!) who had never seen the film.

In a major departure from the film, the album Warriors are all women, which gave me pause but I have to admit works out really, really well for the story overall. It removes the trace homophobia and misogyny that were endemic to pictures of this type at that time, and an all-female crew adds a whole new level of both fear and triumph to surviving the night, a major theme of the album. 

The opening track, Survive the Night, does a fantastic job of recreating the film's opening exposition and montage (honestly a masterclass in tight storytelling) in sound only.

[DJ LYNNE PEN]
Hey boppers
At midnight
There's a gathering after dark
In Van Cortlandt Park

[DJ & CLEON]
Hey boppers
Cyrus needs five boroughs to see this through
This means you

[DJ, CLEON & SWAN]
Hey boppers
The truce is on
No weapons but your fists, she insists
Hey boppers
Keep your radio tuned tight

Rather than showcasing individual gangs, each of the five boroughs gets a shout out courtesy of some legendary names in hip-hop, like Busta Rhymes, Cam'ron, and Mas. My personal favourite is Ghostface Killah and RZA of Wu Tang Clan repping Staten Island with this crisp lamentation:

So how do we make it back home alive
When we gotta leave our crib at 9:45
For a midnight meeting, word up, what a fuckin' pain
Takin' a train to a boat to another train?

Cyrus is also a woman, voiced by the legendary Lauryn Hill, but her song "If You Can Count" maintains a tremendous amount of fidelity to the source material:

Can you count, suckas?
Yeah, right
I said, can you count, suckas
Yeah, right
The future is ours, the future is yours if you can count
Can you dig it?
You've got the Moon Runners right by the Van Cortlandt Rangers
Got the Jones Street Boys by the Turnbull AC's
And nobody's wastin' nobody
And that's a miracle
A miracle
And miracles are
The way things ought to be
Can you dig it?

Gender-swapping the protagonists makes a good character better in the case of Ajax (played by James Remar in the film and Amber Gray on the album). A violent and ambitious, well, a-hole in the movie, musical Ajax is just as rough and loyal, but instead of being lured away following a fight , siren-like, by a pretty lady on a park bench, she instead responds to catcalls from a creepy old man (played by James Remar!) with an entirely different motivation, but similar consequences. The Park At Night is probably my favourite track on the album, despite being less than three minutes long.

The Park At Night lyric video

The rest of the changes are pretty mild, overall, and the timeline is again astonishingly faithful to the movie. There is a great mix of musical styles across the 26 tracks, emerging from its hip hop base to find expressions of salsa, ska and even K-pop and metal-tinged pieces. 

The film's outlandish design, pronounced dystopian elements, bold costume choices and synth-based score give it a sense of enhanced reality and an almost cyberpunk veneer, like it is taking place maybe two weeks into a more troubled future as opposed to a present-day 1979 (even though things were getting pretty dystopian in NYC at that time!). It is hard to tell from listening alone if the album version of The Warriors is a period piece or not, but there are clues: the presences of only a single gun in a story full of violence and hierarchy, as well as a bit of exposition presented by a pay phone call. Most critically, news about the hunt for the Warriors is not shared by social media, but by a radio deejay (Jamaican singer Shenseea).

But this NPR article makes it clear that the project is not only set in but also a hymn of praise to that period. "We were inspired by the concept albums from the '70s that we love," Miranda said, "where you would sit on your living room floor and read the liner notes to your vinyl. And we wanted to create that feeling."

In truth, the product as a whole is probably a bit too musical theatre/ hip-hop for most of my circle, but I am desperately hoping my Hamilton-loving daughters give it a listen before too long. I've streamed the album a few times now since discovering it and enjoy it a lot. There is probably a lot of nostalgia behind my affection, but so what?

If you are the least bit intrigued, my suggestion is to check out this YouTube playlist of official lyric videos, which lets my eyes helps my aging ears to catch some of the more rapid-fire lyrics. Miranda and Davis suggest listening to the whole album at one go (about an 81 minute commitment with no ads) and if you can manage that, more power to you.

The stage adapation of the album is only in its earliest stages yet, with hopes of staging it on Broadway by perhaps next year. It is doubtful I will get to see it there, but if a touring production north of 49 gets anywhere near me, you can pretty much sell me a ticket.

Can you dig it?

a cool artifact from the long departed Coney Island Candy on Whyte Avenue

A Lay for Our Time?

Hammertheft and all the world bereft
Of reason and of right overnight
Left between a tyrant's temper mean
And treason and betrayal, cold and stale
Hue and cry, I can't sit idly by
We're hostages to greed, intercede

Even as viking legends go, the Lay of Thrym (Þrymskviða)is pretty wild. 

Thor's legendary hammer Mjölnir (crusher) goes missing, his half-brother Loki investigates the theft. The giant king Thrym brags that he has buried the hammer 8 leagues deep, and will only relinquish it if the goddess Freyja agrees to be his bride. 

Freyja unsurprisingly (and angrily) refuses this offer, so instead a scheme is devised wherein Thor will dress like Freyja and go to Thrym's hall in her place until the hammer can be recovered. Undercover work is not the thunder-god's forte however, leaving Loki to explain that Freyja's devouring multiple whole animals and three casks of mead is because she hasn't eaten in eight days due to travel and excitement. The fiery eyes Thrym sees when he lifts 'her' veil? Well, she hasn't slept either, has she?

By the time Thrym orders Mjölnir brought to the hall to sanctify the marriage, Thor is beyond ready to reveal himself. Grasping the hammer with both hands as it is placed on his lap by the duped jotun, he slays many of them, including the giant king himself (at least in the Danish version).

All you have is illgotten gain
You stand only for your own
Any man may throw you off the throne
Seat will not be set for thee
At the league of free nations

May this mark the end of your reign
Let the lay of Thrym be heard
Leave no tyrant out there undeterred
Thunderstruck theocracy
This theodicy heathen
In the end the giant was slain

My first encounter with this tale was not through my most common channels for Norse mythology: Dungeons & Dragons or the Walt Simonson run on The Mighty Thor comic. No, my exposure came courtesy of a viking metal band called Týr from the Faroe Islands, as both the title and closing track of their 2011 album.

The album itself is intriguing, being a response to the Arab Spring, as told by here by songwriter Heri Joensen:

I was inspired by the events of the Arab Spring. I am a very positive person...well maybe not totally positive, but definitely optimistic. And I was hoping for a better outcome. I found the story about a Tunisian guy who set himself on fire quite moving and it inspired me to write the song ‘Flames Of The Free’. So it’s mostly taken from those events but I drew parallels between mythology and present day events. You have Thor who tries to get his hammer back from the Giant Thrym, symbolising people from contemporary society trying to get their rights back from dictators who took them away from them.

The song came up on my power metal playlist ("The Riddle of Steel") the other day while walking Canéla. I am always drawn in by the slow intro and transition to one of the best horse-gallop drum rhythms I know of (even if, in truth, I suppose they should be goat-gallops), but this time the lyrics really got me thinking about current events and the rise of autocracy.

I mean, in the end, what is less credible: a giant believing the thunder god in drag is actually a winsome goddess, or watching the U.S. President deploy national guard and police around the deflecting reflecting pool in Washington to distract people from both his multiple mentions in the Epstein files as well as paying $300B in reparations for a needless war in Iran?

Hammer home to any despots dome
That tales of tyranny end with me

And it's not like we are particularly better off here in Alberta, where our increasingly despotic premier and her ditchbilly base cheer on the use of the notwithstanding clause to send teachers back to work and watch a needless and expensive referendum on immigration and separation get promoted, all while her party adds a $14 per solar panel "recycling fee" to help prop up her 'former' oil and gas patrons.

Hue and cry, I can't sit idly by
We're hostages to greed, intercede

Sigh.

It can be disheartening, sure. I am grateful that Canadian democracy has been largely spared the ravages of U.S. decisions like Citizens United in 2010 that equated money with speech and corporate limits from corporate campaign donations, but we are still subjected to waves of misinformation from foreign YouTube channels and bot farms.

Even so, more and more people are expressing concern and even anger at this malfeasance and bad faith governing, and I feel that only is a positive change inevitable (at some point!), I know in my heart that when the pendulum swings back the other way, it could end us taking us all somewhere positive for an even longer term. 

The unthinkable alternative is a lifetime spent under the thumb of increasingly authoritarian regimes, but even then I know that nothing endures forever. We have to have hope!

In the end the giant was slain

[Lay of Thrym lyric video]

'Que It Up

I love cooking outdoors, especially (but not eclusively!) in the summer. So when the opportunity to buy a discounted, quality grill with a good warranty, in a month where there was a little slack in the budget rope, Audrey agreed it was time to retire the old grill. 

The new shininess

And not a moment too soon either! I had replaced the burners once and grill plates twice over the 14 years that we owned our Thermos-branded Char-Broil barbeque, and I know think I gave it a thorough cleaning during the last transplant (oof, 2022?!). But yeah, the corrosion, rust and assorted detritus in the bottom was almost an inch thick in places, which meant carefully removing what innards I could before taking the shop vac to it. 

The old crustiness (detritus not shown)

With the burners and cooking surface in the bin, I had hoped to disassemble the rest of the unit in a similar fashion and save myself a trip to the EcoStation, but alas, it was not to be. Luckily, Glory was able to remove the two side shelves so that it would fit into the back of the 'Lander with the seats folded (after a tarp was laid down and the old vinyl cover draped back over the grill like a burial shroud).

Yestereday I took it to the Kennedale EcoStation (Coroniation is closer but blsoed until next year for some upgrades), wheeled it into the scrap metal bin and said good bye. Driving away I reflected on two things: 1) that was a pretty good run for a barbeque I bought for $189 at a liquidators in 2014, and 2) I really should have thrown the cover out while I was there, but didn't think of it in time.

At any rate, we've had a few opportunities to use the new grill now (including searing some smoked steaks and grilling asparagus on it just yesterday!) and it's been great thus far, although I am still getting the hang of using a thermometer with the infra-red side burner. Do I really need 1200 degrees?

With any luck this new Napoleon will last even longer than our last grill!

Call It What It Is

My church observed Pride Sunday today, like we've done for years. We fly the Progress Pride flag for most of June (and a lot of other times for good measure), we have a rainbow sticker on our street-facing sign and on the glass door leading into the narthex, which also contains a small display window we decorated for the occasion.

PFLAG meets in our church and has support met-ups for various groups. Because of the way Christian communities have treated people in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, that makes some visitors apprehensive, which is completely understandable.

What is not understandable to me is how some people think they can cloak bigotry within "religious belief."

At its heart, Christianity should really be about following the teachings and examples of Christ - loving our neighbours, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, etc. We all do some picking and choosing within the tenets expressed in the Gospel - very few of us sell our belongings and give the proceeds to the poor after all - but these ideals of compassion and justice should permeate what we call Christian acts.

So see a cartoon of a person holding a shield emblazoned with a cross over her children to 'protect' them from a rainbow, with the caption, "here's to all the other faithful holding the line this month!", it makes me unreasonably angry.

So let's break it down. 

First, these people should stop quoting Leviticus unless they follow all its other prohibitions, like not trimming their beards, eating shellfish, or wearing clothes made from two different fabrics.

Next, they should recognize that most of the Hebrew scriptures about "wickedness" that they cite to make their case are not referencing two adults in a loving, same-sex relationship, but human trafficking or the sexual abuse of prisoners of war.

Homosexuality as a word doesn't enter the Bible until a particular and comparatively recent translation, the Revised Standard Version of 1946, something I only recently learned.

In fact, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by the Angry Almighty in the O.T. was not due to licentiousness or sexual depravity, but because those communities refused to be hospitable and tolerated gang sexual assaults of outsiders.

Meanwhile, Jesus is repeatedly asking us to welcome the outsider. Consider how one of Jesus' most famous parables, the Good Samaritan, used the outsidey-est outsider imaginable to make his point - that all people deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.

But if you really want to make these people's heads spin, hand them a Bible and ask them to show you a verse where Jesus condemns homosexuality (for example).

Because they can't.

Because he doesn't.

You know what he does frown upon though?

Christians cozying up to power instead of standing up for the oppressed.

Hypocrites who pray loudly and publicly in Jesus' name but who support hateful laws and regimes.

And to be clear here, reasonable people can agree to disagree. I happen to feel that two adults in a loving, respectful same-sex relationship should be allowed to live free of judgement, shame, persecution, injury or death. I don't think two women holding hands in Edmonton should be spat at, but maybe you think that is just the cost of free spech. 

And if you think Matthew Shepard got what was coming to him (for, you know, daring to be an openly gay college student in Wyoming in 1998 and getting tortured and murdered for it), well, we just aren't going to get along.

And no one is demanding you celebrate or even observe Pride! Feel free to ignore it. I fail to understand how two people choosing to love each other (or trans or asexual or any other kids loving themselves for that matter) impacts anyone except them.

But when you speak to condemn these things, please do not hide behind Christianity, because there isn't anything in the teachings of Christ to justify hatred of other people. (Quite the opposite, actually!)

Please, for the sake of honesty and possibly the sake of your soul, just admit it. Call it what it is.  

You're a bigot.

Everyone else: Happy Pride!