The History of
The Rez Dwellah Society
The Beginning of a Legacy
It was a warm, luxurious February day. The snow was melting. Puddles formed on the busy suburban street in southern Manitoba. You could never quite put your finger on Winnipeg weather. With the window open, he could smell the winter slowly fade into spring. He felt the cool breeze enter his room and swirl around; from the window to the closet, around the chairs, engulfing the bunk-beds with the sweet aroma of change. And he could sense it.
After much practicing with his friends Kyle Hiebert and Joel Kroeker, the trio was ready to perform.
There, on the lower bunk, he wrote, furiously, one line after another of passionate poetry. Words, though not connected to start, quickly took shape and began to form the beginning of a legacy.
He brushed his orange-dyed hair out of the way as he moved his pen swiftly. Always with the changing hair colour. He never could keep his hair "normal" as they say. He worked with a skill unlike any other. Writing. Stopping. Writing. Stopping again. Writing. Stop. Crumple paper. Toss. Start anew on a fresh sheet. Writing...writing.
He continued to write until it was finished. And perfect. He sat back and sighed, like always. Yes, he was always, and will always, be a "sigher." Sometimes for no apparent reason he'd just sit back and let out a deep, long sigh. But this moment, he had a reason.
Just as he relaxed, his room mate, Russ Dyck, entered briskly through the doorway.
"Hey," said Russ.
"Hey," he replied.
"Is that your rap?" inquired Russ.
"Yes, would you like to hear it?" he asked in return.
"Sure."
And he began to read the lines, first a little intimidated by their strange power, but soon realizing he had created something magnificient.
Russ snickered,"sweet!"
Russ was always one to encourage, even if only in a joking fashion.
"Man, that's going to kick!" he said.
"I know..."
The evening was cool, dark, and mysterious. Hundreds of youth and young adults swarmed across the busy street, joking with their new-found friends, some in groups, others alone, all oblivious of the quick approaching performance.
One after another the performers would go on. They played wonderful music: rock, classical, folk, and so on. Each lending their own special touch. And then, the lights faded. The crowd was quiet except for those few inconsiderate kids who were in the midst of leaving. And Joel calmly approached the stage. Sporting high socks, running shoes, shorts with his red boxers clearly showing themselves, a wife-beater, and two short bunches of hair Joel began mixing-it up unplugged on two turntables and a microphone. The beats were dropped and the lights shone. Kyle Hiebert began approaching the stage,
"Ohhhh Yee-ah!" Kyle shouted into his mic, his grey hat slightly off-kelter and his large clock hanging dangerously from his neck a la RUN DMC.
Then he approached. The butterflies began creeping up but the intensity of the volume forced them as far down as they could go. He began shouting, much like Kyle, echoing with member names, two by two, lyrics in hand. There is no doubt he was nervous, but his nervousness disappeared under his excitement. "This is it!" he thought.
They began to rap. Loud, soft, inter-changing voices, to Kyle and back again, to Kyle and back. And then a moment of relaxation as Joel brought in the tasty solo,
"Flo, flo, flo, flo, flo, flocon de maize, flo, flo, flo, flo, flocon de chikka chikka baw baw, chikka chikka chi-shpe..." It was truly inspiring.
He and Kyle began again, this time he said the first three words followed by Kyle joining in perfect rap-harmony very typical of the style of the Beastie Boys. But that's what he wanted.
Then came the climax of the song. This was the deciding factor. Both Kyle and he shouted loudly into their mics in unison,
"CA VA!"
And pointing their mics out to the crowd, completely deliberate in their action. Whether the crowd responded was key to their success.
With quite a bit of surprise and joy, the crowd shouted in reply,
"Ca Va!"
All three knew right then and there that they had succeeded. But they continued despite their great thoughts.
When they had finished, the crowd roared. And there he stood, shouting out to his members.
"DJ Kro!" he shouted as he pointed to Joel, the wizard of vocal-DJing on the turntables.
"MC Banshee!" he shouted again, this time pointing to the one and only Kyle Hiebert.
"And me, The Rez Dwellah!!!" for that was his name, his title, his legacy.
The Legacy Continues
Not long after their performance, The Rez Dwellah decided, with a little inspiration, to go ahead with the next step of the Rez Dwellah Society life-long plan: the RDS website. Choosing a simple to use site creator, with the pre-made tools, he created a small website. With only a main page, a list of the RDS Members, a guestbook, and a lyrics page, the small page had much room to grow. And grow it did.
I hope you've enjoyed this peek into the past, present, and future of The Rez Dwellah Society!
First, it was the addition of the RDS News section. A place where members and non-members alike can go to get the latest update of the Society. Next came hours of site improvement. Each page was converted from the sloppy site-building tools to clean, clear html. From there he added a simple guideline to becoming a full-fledged Rez Dwellah Society Member (NOTE: Although the guidelines go into great detail, you need only email The Rez Dwellah with your real name and your preferred RDS Member, a little known fact). He also added 2 differnet Flash 5 movies, one of which stars the famed RDS Member, Mate Hottay. After that he created a mission statement, a links page, and this wonderful and detailed history of the Rez Dwellah Society. In the future, The Rez Dwellah hopes to post member and non-member original ASCII art on the ASCII ART page as well as offer Official Rez Dwellah Society Merchandise (Look for it!).