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| Dana with Zyon |
While the rest of Sepultura were in Brazil, Max and Dana were sitting at our kitchen table going through some tracks Max had written on his 4-track machine. Earlier in the day, Dana had shown me some lyrics scrawled on a flier. They were cool and I said it was okay to show to Max. Max loved them right away and penned the song Attitude from the notes Dana had made. They were the lyrics of youth, of living in the '90s in an alternative lifestyle family..ours. They were reality!
"LIVE YOUR LIFE, NOT THE WAY THEY TAUGHT YOU! DO WHAT YOU FEEL".....this powerful sentence became the song you all love to sing along too!
IT BECAME AN ATTITUDE THAT WOULD SWEEP THE GLOBE!!!
In May of 1996, Max and I were on tour in Europe and realized Dana's 21st birthday was only a few days away. We called Dana's house in Venice, California and told him to pack a bag and get to the airport. There was a ticket with his name on it, to fly to Amsterdam. He about passed out from surprise and before you knew it he was in Holland, turning 21!
At night, quite late, Dana called our hotel room, excited about an idea he had for the Attitude video..."Who better than the Gracies, Mom?' He knew he had to convince me before I passed the phone to Popalos. And he did!! His idea was brilliant, full of Attitude!!
Max listened intently, as he had serious thoughts to consider..but soon he was smiling too. The idea to make a boxing ring, to incorporate the Gracies, to use a specific director..yes, it was all Dana's ideas.
Max knew the others would turn it down, no matter if it was a spectacular idea. The climate was getting muggy between everyone. Max could feel a tension that he had never felt before. I wasn't feeling it as I had seen it coming for the last few years. Spending 7 years with people and caring for every detail, you get to know the substance of a person very well. I had seen the envy growing silently like an ear of corn, a shaft of wheat, silently till it could grow no more. Max was always no-confrontational, choosing to be diplomatic. This can lead to a blindness. Now it was different though. We both knew something was brewing in the kitchen.
Max chose to say it was his idea, in order to get things approved. Of course, everyone loved the idea and before we knew it, the video was being shot and we were all standing in front of the boxing ring, cameras as our borders.
The most memorable moments for me were when I met all the Gracies, even the Father who invented ultimate fighting! Their gorgeous, super fit wives were there also. What a collection of badasses! And were those Gracie men ever refined and damn good looking too! And also, Dana introducing me to his friend, Danny Trejo! What a day!!
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| Max, Royce Gracie, and Myself |
The filming went on all day from scene to scene. Our friends and Dana were in the pit throwing down and shizzle was poppin'!
There was a scene where a businessman fights an Indigenous man and a scene where a jock fights a stoner. Dana was the stoner swinging the backpack. This was in sarcasm of the police who arrested us in the past year and let the jocks who shot at us get away.
Allin all the day was a riot from start to finish!
Dana died a short time after the filming of the video and never got to see it completed....,if I recall the timing. Things were heavy between his death and launching the Roots record. Being the Mother of many Dragons, I was able to handle it all. But now when I look back, for the love of God, I don't know how I did it. If I had known I would never see my loving son again, I would have held him much tighter and longer, that last time in the doorway...
The Attitude video was done and included on the Sepultura home video, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE. The official video is there for all to see, along with the stressful interviews where you can see the silent separation of the band and Max.
Real "Official Attitude" Video (Dana can be seen swinging a backpack at a jock at around 3:40 - 3:43)
As we all know well, Max and I walked away on December 16, 1996, after Dana'a death became the catalyst for an occupation of Sepultura. Silly them, they thought Max would stay. But...once you lose a child and the resulting love you receive from your team is like dominoes crashing all around you...you know the meaning of Life. You see through the green envy wrapping paper that was beginning to choke you anyway. Walking into the fresh air...that was life. This was the real meaning of freedom. This was attitude and respect.
A couple weeks ago rechecking my blog, I decided to review the Attitude video at the end. Imagine my surprise when i saw the video did not contain Dana anywhere! I looked on YouTube and saw this was the"official" video with over a million views!!! I searched and found the original video and began to understand. This was the climate at the time. A young man is murdered no less and you take his image out after his death? You tell the fans this is the "official" YouTube video. Classy. Cold. Hateful. That is exactly what we left. And so, dear Students, the joke has been on us all...But the proof speaks for itself.
Fake "Official Attitude Video" where Dana should be seen swinging a backpack at a jock at around 3:40 - 3:43. But isn't...
Oh and to the people who had heard "In America, it is legal to collect another mother's son's body,".....guess what, it isn't........it is a felony with a nice prison term....especially when you steal someone's Social Security Number."
Happy birthday, my dear son. We miss you with every sun that shines, every breeze that blows, every attitude that gains strength. This class is for you....
Class dismissed...