Polar Bear Stomp Review
930409
This is a recording of Jim Pepper performing live near the end of his life, in what sounds to my ears like a small, intimate club. There is a very warm feeling of connection with the audience, and nice playing by all.

I mainly got this because it has a version of Polar Bear Stomp, something he used to do live, a bit of fun, from the Polar Bear's point of view. The main reason that I am writing this is that, in this version of Polar Bear Stomp, Jim Pepper is actually doing a cover of a Don Cherry composition, Reggae to the High Tower, from the Don Cherry album Home Boy. I did not expect that, a very pleasant surprise, and it works great. The thing is, Don Cherry goes completely uncredited in the liner notes to the album, the piece is credited solely to Jim Pepper. An honest mistake, I am sure, but one that "bears" mentioning.

You know what? If you just get both these albums, I bet you might love them almost as much as I do!

Seriously, though, this does represent an important aspect of Jim Pepper's work, and he and Don Cherry played together, and had great admiration for each other's music. I think his adaptation of Don Cherry's original music into Stomp is a very nice and unique hommage to Don Cherry's art, and it would make sense to have both albums. (Don Cherry sings on Home Boy, Reggae to the High Tower has lyrics, it is completely unique, and it really is a beautiful album).

If you are interested in further listening, the seminal works by Pepper are (in my humble opinion) Peppers Pow Wow and Comin and Goin. Both are thankfully available now, after decades out of print. Part of the explanation for the survival of his music, at one point all but lost, is the excellent documentary film (also entitled Peppers Pow Wow), by Sandy Osawa, available from Upstream Productions. This film probably played a significant role in Pepper's subsequent postumous lifetime American Aboriginal Achievement Award, which has also likely been instrumental in bringing his music back to us, through a raising of awareness of his special and fantastic contribution to music.

For a deeper understanding of Don Cherry's admiration of reggae, which informs this version of Polar Bear Stomp, look to Michael Smith, an album entitled Mi Cyaan Believe It. (It was one of Don Cherry's favourite albums). A poet of a very high order, Smith was ambushed and stoned to death on his way home from college, by a party of paid murderers it is rumoured were sent by a Jamaican politician Smith had challenged for corruption at a political rally. (The album comes up more often on Amazon in the UK, probably due to a television appearance he made there in the early eighties). Some of the songs from Mi Cyaan Believe It can be found on Youtube. Try Picture or No Picture, Long Time, Roots. There is a documentary on him there as well. (Don's vexation at people judging reggae as inferior to jazz, expressed on high tower, will become all the more understandable after hearing this powerful work).
278518
Good  money well spent , try it your kids will tell you how they  feel  happy playing outside  in the cold
633924
My daughter loves the bear.  He is very cuddly.  She spends practically the entire day with the toy.  If she likes it - we like it, too!  Besides, it's a very affordable toy.  Makes a great gift, too.
1998651
the wubble came alive and ate my kids.  it is dangerous and dumb.  the commercials are false photoshop.  i am a polar bear name pablo.  pablo the polar bear.  i had 3 beautiful children until the wubble ate them.  their names were lafawnduh, darquisha, and jarvis.  please don't buy the wubble if u have kids.  the wubble is evil...goodbye
4152512
I used this GPS system on my second and third expeditions to the North Pole.  It is interesting that on the actual Geographic North Pole it almost instantly locked onto twelve satellites.  As I walked just a couple of feet, it would show a very accurate distance of my movement.  One day, while I was eating, I just let the GPS unit run so we could watch the drift of the ice.  We were moving at .2mph  Then suddenly our direction changed by almost eighty degrees and we were now moving in a different direction at .1 mph.  In a few minutes we again moved back to the original direction and speed.  When I stepped outside of the tent there was a huge crack in the ice, lead as is called on the pole.  I actually measured the breaking of the polar ice cap and seen it live on this GPS receiver.  It worked very well at extremely low temperatures of minus thirty five degrees with wind chills that were hitting minus seventy degrees.  If you are thinking of buying a GPS, buy one of the newer ones, they have better displays.  C. Jeff Dyrek, Expedition Leader 2005 North Pole Expedition, Look at my exhibits on the web.
427132
The product came on time and looks just like shown in the picture.  I got this for my 13 yr old daughter for Christmas because she loves polar bears!
3872430
Daryl the drummer for Tennessee Honey is the only Polar bear of the group.  And when he wants to relax he goes and finds a water hole and he and his bear are a bit happier.  But lately with everyone finding their mates its getting harder. But this night a young teen finds him and luck for him the teen is also a shifter not quite able to shift yet.  The boys mother finds him and Daryl gives her his number and tells her if she ever needs anything to just call.  Theres something about her that both Daryl and his bear both take notice to.  But the band is only going to be around for a few weeks, and she and her son just got settled back into her home town.  This is a very good and entertaining story to read with lots of little twists.  Well written and very fun to read.
2760716
This entertaining and award winning documentary from Kate Marshall Graphics features an abundance of well researched information about black bear cubs from birth through the first year and a half. It provides basic facts about necessary components for healthy bear habitats; explains how a lack of human understanding negatively impacts this and what is being done to minimize the problems. Some extremely delightful scenes in this DVD show close up views of a sow in a winter den grooming her cubs and guiding them to nurse successfully. As curious cubs emerge with their mother in the spring they learn everything they need to know as they explore their surroundings. It is amazing to witness the balance and agility of these growing youngsters as they search for fruits and nuts in the fall trees to put on the weight needed for the upcoming winter. This DVD offers fantastic photography and interesting information that increases awareness and positive understanding of the behavior and actions of the dynamics within bear families. I recommend all 3 DVD Season of the Bear by Kate Marshall Graphics.  - A. F. Carter, Michigan
3401084
Absolutely adorable!!!  LOVE it!  Going with Polar Bear theme for Christmas and this bear fits the bill perfectly!  Well made, stands on its own just fine, looks exactly as pictured.
1910301
Always great work about Polar Bears by Mr. Mulvaney.  I highly recommend this book to any polar bear enthusiasts or people that want to get a good close up look at polar bears.
1292450
Let's Explore The North Pole: Arctic Exploration and Expedition (Children's Explore the World Books). This book is full of fantastic pictures and information on the North Pole. The North Pole and the South Pole sit on an Axis that can divide the earth in two. The earth rotates on an Axis The north pole is one of those spots that controls the rotation of the earth. It is also so very magnetic that it's where all compasses point because of the magnetism of the North Pole. During the Winter, the Arctic ice pack grows to the size of the United States. In the Summer, half of the ice disappears.
The North Pole was "discovered" by Richard and Floyd Bennett when they were the first people to reach the North Pole by airplane. The ice pack is 2-3 meters in places (thick). it' floats above 4000 meters deep of water in the arctic ocean. It is not the coldest place on earth however, that record is held by the south pole. During the summer the sun rises in March and sets again in September (what a long day and night!).
Animals in the North Pole are the biggest - The Polar Bear.
Arctic Wolves - The pack animal
White endangered Whales
Snowy Owls
The bearded Seal
Northern Elephant Seals

What a great book with awesome photographs of the things being spoken of:::

My grandson is in 3rd grade and this book would be awesome for him. I believe this book should be a part of his extensive library. Something that should be a great read for him. He reads way above his age as he grows so does his knowledge of the world as did his mother at his age. Reading invokes imagination, knowledge from a foundational status. Reading makes the brain work where television arrests the brain function by not making any one think. I so do love these books for children and adults, making us think about what we can do and what might be if we open our minds.

****I am grateful to have received this product at a discounted or free rate in exchange for a honest, fair, unbiased and non-compensated review. If you feel that this review has assisted you in making your decision about this product or your shopping needs. Please press yes button indicating this review was helpful. This helps the sellers, as well as myself maintain a great relationship and the ability to be able to continue to give you the shopper a great relationship with the seller, if there is one.****
1830351
Fun product. My son enjoys singing into the microphone. It's great because it grows with the child. However, my son was able to break the dancing bear off the top of it so I wish it had a release mechanism in the event that it becomes broken or to come off when there is too much pressure put on the bear.
1652551
nice windsock.
go BEARS
DA BEARS
BEAR DOWN
GO BLACK HAWKS
GO BULLS
GO CUBS
MORE SNOW FOR CHICAGO YES
556986
.
Our friend the bear has been asleep all winter. The time for hibernation is over.
One by one bear's friends come by his cave and try to wake him up.
You'd think a lions roar would do the job.  What about an acorn dropped on bear's nose by squirrel? Snore, snore, snore. Bear sleeps on.
We have parrots, monkey and even a cat (who looks remarkably like Scarface Claw from the Hairy Mac books) come by the cave and try their best to wake bear. But nothing seems to work.
Eventually 10 different animals have tried to wake bear, with their own tricks, but none succeed. Just then, there is a buzzing sound and we all know what makes buzzing sounds don't we.  Z z z z z z
A bear gets very hungry after sleeping all winter and what do bears love to eat most of all?
This book is delightfully illustrated with the pictures and the story cleverly melding. This is one of Lynley Dodd's best books outside of the Hairy Maclary series.
2038898
Yes! I love the very special penguin nutcracker. We just returned from a wonderful cruise to Antarctica and this will be a lovely item to commemorate our trip.
4214766
First I bought FINAL STRAW a year and half ago and I was constantly playing it in the car and in my dorm room (great chilling/driving music).  Then I bought EYES OPEN for my birthday, and was thrilled with yet another amazing album from what I consider one of my favorite bands ever (right up there with GOO GOO DOLLS and COLDPLAY).  So naturally, when I listened to these two back-to-back, I went on a sort of SNOW PATROL binge and JUST HAD to buy anything else they had put out.  I found out about POLAR BEARS and another early release and bought them for a great combo price.

While POLAR BEARS doesn't quite carry the same impact as their latest releases, it's a nice album to get if you enjoy going back to a band's roots and discovering their progression.  It's really great just to play like four albums in a row, which I did on the way up to college recently.

I would definitely recommend this album along with WHEN IT'S ALL OVER WE STILL HAVE TO CLEAR UP, two of their early releases, which are great to play back to back and right before you go into another jam session with FINAL STRAW and EYES OPEN.  Seriously, one of the greatest bands of this next generation.
1570238
My kids, ten and seven, LOVE this thing.  It was easy to assemble, so I had my son do it with my supervision. He was able to do it all aside from the final tightening that I did to ensure it was safely done.
The front ski has about 1.5" of spring suspension which is cool, as well as a retracting tow rope which is plastic and I'm betting that feature won't last the winter. The whole thing is sturdy, for sure the envy of all the other kids.
Plastic and severely cold weather don't often mix well and there are SOME reports of skis breaking, but so far I have had no trouble. I probably wouldn't use this in weather below ten degrees because plastic often gets VERY brittle in single digit and below zero temps- plus, that's just to damned cold. :)
Pro tips:  Spray the bottom of the skis with furniture polish (wax) and it'll FLY down the hills. If you break a ski- old "real" skis are $10 at garage sale, so if we ever break one I'll put some old downhill skis on it that are cut down to length. I'm almost looking forward to it- it will add more speed and for steering- more control with better edges.  Protect that front ski- it seems as if that will be the most likely failure point in a crash.