John Allen Hill / John Two Hawks / John Twohawks

[Diana]

John Allen Two-Hawks Hill, age 45
Currently lives in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Also lived in Owosso, MI, Ovid, MI, Corunna, MI
and Hannibal, MO

Born Sept 25, 1967. Wife is Peggy. If anyone comes across the name of at least one of his parents, please let us know. I've been looking for a family obit that might help, other public records, so far no luck.

Epiphany, I read an another form that John 2 Hawks said his legal name is John 2 Hawks. Maybe he had it legally changed. that may be something to look into.

Diana

[Epiphany]

Thanks Diane, yeah that is my thought too, he's had his name legally changed. He is John Two-Hawks in county assessor records, with Margaret Hill, I'm assuming that is his wife Peggy.

Looks like he is John Allen Hill originally. I could email him a "Hey! Who are your people?" but doubt I'd get an honest answer.  Finding name change record would be great, an obit or other leads on parent names would be would very helpful. I'm looking at the public records ancestry.com has too, even with his full birth date not having much success yet.

John Two-Hawks is a gentle, humble man who credits his late mother and father - who were Lakota and Potawatomi

http://www.johntwohawks.com/theEKit.html

[Epiphany]

A note on Jim Two-Feathers, he is a different person than John Two-Hawks. They do events together. Will start a separate thread on him.

http://www.rquickphotography.com/Events/The-World-Drum-Comes-to/3763154_xnKqHQ#!i=216564192&k=QvTJhJm&lb=1&s=A

[Superdog]

Couple more vids...this one is the same Creek Mary's Blood performance from Nightwish's End of an Era DVD, but includes John playing one of his own songs (called Stone People) as a prelude to the Creek Mary's Blood performance.....I see where the "Hey yahoo hey"s come from now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDHWn0DE_0

And behind the scenes rehearsal and backstage footage.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89fsOMciUy0

Also a few interviews John did (which the Nightwish forums quote in their takedown of John's misunderstanding of basic Lakota syntax and grammar):

http://www.beyondearcandy.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=120
http://www.beyondearcandy.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=120

Honestly...reading the interview etc...in a way I feel bad for the band.  But then again, when you just do an internet search to find a musician to fill in the concept for your song...you don't really know what you're gonna get...so, it's hard to be too sympathetic.  Ultimately, the band and JTH have gotten years worth of mileage out of this song and performance.  Now, their biggest fans have found out there was a lot of bs they were selling...gotta be embarrassing. 

Superdog

[Epiphany]

Much credit due to Superdog's ongoing research.

John A Hill's paternal great grandparents are all white in census, all of their respective parents listed as white also. If he has heritage on his father's side, it is distant.

So the facts don't match his claims:

John Two-Hawks is a gentle, humble man who credits his late mother and father - who were Lakota and Potawatomi

His father has passed on, don't know if his mother has. Her birth surname is Gerstenberger.

[loudcrow]

Great work, Epiphany!

[Epiphany]

Great work, Epiphany!

Superdog gave me some great behind the scenes clues & leads, we done good.

John A Hill's father's obit is here http://miserybay.usanethosting.com/sjindy/archives/obits/000729.shtml - scroll down for John H Hill. Note the "John A. (Peggy) Hill of Arkansas" included as a surviving child.

[Superdog]

Ok...here's some things I've found out.  Basically, I just took information from JTH's website or from the transcriptions of the interviews I've been reading and checked some of it out.

Honestly, I'd never ever heard of John Two Hawks before he showed up here in this thread.  My first impression of him came from the youtube video of his performance with Nightwish.  Some things stood out even back then.  Appearancewise I felt he was tanned dark (not natural, you can see the tanline at his hairline in several still shots and in the video), his hair appeared flat ironed or treated.  The behavior on stage was another clue...the stoic looks, holding out arms in grand poses...the bad dancing.  And the singing...wow...it's obvious to me he doesn't understand what he's doing when he makes up these "chants" he uses...(Hey yahoo hey anyone?)  What I've found is he's a master of manipulating gray areas of information...saying enough to not necessarily lie, but leaving out details that are definitely misleading. 

John Two Hawks was born John Allen Hill in 1967 and went to high school in Ovid, Michigan.  This is certainly information that can be confirmed.  In several interviews, John stated he was formerly the front man for two metal bands named "Embraced Wisdom" (he joined as a teenager and supposedly toured nationwide and sold out convention centers) and the harder thrash metal band "Kingdom Glory".  What he doesn't say (and what you could guess from the names) is these are Christian rock bands.  Which led me here:

The Argus Press, Owosso, MI (Jan. 14th, 1988) pg 12
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19880113&id=OF0iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7akFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1230,921175

Christian Rock at Owosso Baptist Church

"The Christian rock group "Embraced Wisdom" will be performing in concert at Owosso Baptist Church....."
"...Band personnel are:  Ben Sexton of Owosso, drums; John Hill of Ovid, lead vocals......"

 
JTH went to high school at Ovid-Elsie High School as John Hill.  This is another blurb about an upcoming comedy being performed at his school during his junior year:

The Argus Press, Owosso, MI (November 15, 1984) page 8
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FFwiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AasFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3026,1326983&dq=john-hill+ovid&hl=en

O-E Juniors to Present Comedy Play

".....The cast includes.....John Hill as Luigi Lanconi......"


And for those that need visual confirmation, here's his high school yearbook picture.  Ovid-Elsie High School class of 1986 yearbook page 7, John Hill (upper right corner of page):

http://clinton.migenweb.net/CCHS/Yearbooks/OV/1986OEHSeniors7.PDF

Notice the curly hair....knew it was straightened...

From there we were able to figure out his relatives, parents, and paternal grand parents and even a little further.  Epiphany has already reported on what we found there.

Superdog

[Superdog]

Some more I found along the lines of manipulating gray areas.  One of JTH's other projects is folksy bluesy rock band named The Badlanders.  On itunes their CD "of dirt and dreams" is listed as being released on October 23rd, 2008.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/of-dirt-and-dreams/id295275973

Here's the official website:

www.thebadlanders.com

A lot of the regular fluff you'd see from a commercial musician, but (like all JTH websites) very cleanly written to not name him specifically as a Native artist...merely of "Native blood" and music has "Native inspiration".  All in all, a quick glance at the site...nothing wrong really.  It's basically an advertisement get you over to his flute website...but it looked ok.

Until I looked here:
http://www.thebadlanders.com/Shows.html

There's a small line that the musicians are presently in the studio and not on tour, followed up by two huge advertisements for the CD's debut parties:

"The Debut CD Release Concert!
The Official 'of dirt and dreams' CD kickoff!
Get ROCKED and MOVED
at the Nokia Theater
New York, NY
7:30pm
$150 at the door, $120 IN ADVANCE
or Buy Two Show Tickets in advance for only $199.99!
ORDER YOUR ADVANCE SHOW TICKETS ONLINE NOW"

And:

"The 2nd Debut CD Release Concert!
An Official 'of dirt and dreams' CD release Event!
  Get ROCKED and MOVED again
at the Staples Center
Los Angeles, CA
7:30pm
$150 at the door, $120 IN ADVANCE
or Buy Two Show Tickets in advance for only $199.99!
ORDER YOUR ADVANCE SHOW TICKETS ONLINE NOW"


The things that stand out: 
1.  The CD was released in 2008...why are they selling tickets for an event 4 1/2 years old.
2.  Outrageous prices for a concert...any concert...
3.  There is no date listed for either party either on this page or the order page
4.  The locations..."Nokia Theater, NYC" and "Staples Center" in LA....This is JTH...not Jay-z

This is much more than fluff...this is dishonest.  The Nokia Theater in NYC is in Times Square.  The naming rights were bought in 2010 so now it is named The Best Buy Theater, but at the time of the release would've been Nokia.  The info states it seats about 2100, but a search through tour sites and bands associated with Nokia Theater as well as searching for terms associated with The Badlanders or their CD title turned up nothing.  Same thing with Staples Center (which seats more like 20,000).  It's obvious these "debut concerts" are lies...sure looks cool, but they weren't true.  To top it off....they make it look like you can still buy tickets....

https://thebadlanders.com/onlineorderBLtickets.asp

You can enter all of your personal information including credit card info (it says only Visa/Mastercard accepted, but they don't ask which card you are using) and then submit it to them for an event, that even if it did happen, is in the past.  Shady dealings....


Superdog

[Mahekun]

I can't help but add that as a graphic designer, I'm cringing, CRINGING at his album cover.

Some people think having image editing software automatically makes them a designer. It's a 3 year college program for a reason.

[Sparks]

Seems John Two-Hawks has been visiting Scandinavia:

Music and Wisdom with John Two-Hawks
   Gaia Garden in Sweden

JTH comes to Sweden! This will be a special experience featuring healing music and wisdom to feed the soul. Get your tickets here!

The Beautiful World Tour
Gaia Garden
Sweden
4:00pm - 7:00pm [28. September 2013]
TICKETS: $49 USD (300 SEK)

Coming events: https://www.facebook.com/johntwohawks/events

[Sparks]

For Wikipedia, this kind of bio is unusual and quite amazing in its laconic shortness:

Background and early career
For the authorized biography, click here: http://www.johntwohawks.com/biography.htm

The "authorized biography" is very vague. No Lakota or other NDN claims, only once is "Native heritage" mentioned, no further details.

I have been asked about this artist by Norwegian friends who recommend him, I am so uncertain what kind of response I should give.

[Epiphany]

Visionary John Two-Hawks is a gentle, humble man who credits his late mother and father - who were Lakota and Potawatomi - for teaching him that the most important life lesson is to be kind.  He has also learned throughout his life about the power of respect, honor, humility and wisdom and the importance of perspective.

http://www.johntwohawks.com/press-kit.htm

His claims of NDN heritage are still on his site. Public records show that his claims are not true.

[Autumn]

He's pathetic and ridiculous, IMHO.  He seems to be pulling in huge crowds according to his videos, but he's not going to change his role-playing.

[Epiphany]

He's pathetic and ridiculous, IMHO.  He seems to be pulling in huge crowds according to his videos, but he's not going to change his role-playing.

I agree, he's pathetic and ridiculous. He's a white dude playing NDN dress up, lying about his heritage, all for attention and money.