One of Guam’s most popular Chamorro-language rockers of all time is J.D. Crutch. Born in 1955, the son of one of the Guamanians
who captured jungle-hiding Japanese World War II “straggler” Shoichi Yokoi, John Anthony Castro Duenas became known as “J.D. Crutch” after he had to adopt the use of crutches due to a childhood bout with polio. When Crutch was young he was an enthusiastic singer of Kantan Chamorita, traditional Chamorro poetic songs that often take the form of competitions between two vocalists competing to impress the crowd, often by taunting their opponents. Crutch’s quick wit and broad irreverence made him a natural and propelled him through an energetic career as a Chamorro roots-rock star. Crutch passed away in 1996.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
