Apodaca was born inLos Angeles and raised inTustin, California.[1] His father's family were from the eastern side of theNavajo Reservation, of the Ma'ii deeshgiishiniiClan (Jemez Clan), and his mother's family areMixton.[2] Apodaca received his masters' of arts degree in American Indian studies and his doctorate degree in Folklore and Mythology fromUniversity of California, Los Angeles. He was the Outstanding Graduate Student of 1996.[3] Apodaca lives inOrange, California.[4]
Apodaca was a curator at theBowers Museum in Orange County over a period of seventeen years.
In 2008, Apodaca was the Lecturer in Residence at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, a part ofAutry National Center, where he made presentations entitledThe Mayan end of the World?,Unravelling the mystery of cogged stones used in early California, andImagery and reality: the role of American Indians in film and television.[5]
In 2008, Apodaca was a keynote speaker at the University of California Native American Professional Development Conference.[6]
Apodaca recovered and restored once-lost recordings of traditionalAgua Caliente tribal leader Joe Patencio, Alvino Siva, and others singing bird songs ofCahuilla oral literature.[7] The collection is archived at the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum inPalm Springs.
He was a creative consultant for the Disney film,Planes: Fire and Rescue 2004, for which he helped develop the character Windlifter, a heavy-lift helicopter who is portrayed as an American Indian and voiced by actorWes Studi.[12] Apodaca assisted with design elements on Windlifter’s image, and in a script element in which Windlifter recounts an American Indian folktale of how Coyote was renewed by fire.[13]
Apodaca sat in as a spoken word performer withThe Dave Brubeck Quartet during the 2009 Brubeck Festival, a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Brubeck's legendary album,Time Out.[17]
Apodaca also appeared in a special feature segment of the DVD release of theNicolas Cage film,Knowing (2009) where he discussed the cultural significance ofapocalypse myths.[18]
Apodaca performed music for theAcademy Award winning film,Broken Rainbow (1986), a documentary film that helped to stop the relocation of twelve thousand Navajos in northern Arizona.[19][20]
Apodaca P. and Angelo G. "Gabrielino/Tongva culture" (1991) video.[24]
Apodaca P. "Permanent sandpainting as an art form" (1991)[25]
Apodaca P. "Sharing information: the Cahuilla tribe and the Bowers Museum" (1991)[26]
Apodaca P. "California Indian shamanism and California Indian nights" (1994)[27]
Apodaca P. and Labbe A. J. "Images of power: masterworks of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art" (1995)[28]
Apodaca et al "Archaeological, ethnohistoric, and historic notes regarding ORA-58 and other sites along the Lower Santa Ana River drainage, Costa Mesa" (1996)[29]
^Apodaca P. and Angelo G. "Gabrielino/Tongva culture" (video) Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc./Vision Maker Video, Lincoln, Nebraska 1991.
^Apodaca P. "Permanent sandpainting as an art form" in Heth C. (Ed.)Sharing a Heritage: American Indian Arts UCLA AISC Press 1991.
^Apodaca P. "Sharing information: the Cahuilla tribe and the Bowers Museum" inNews from Native California 5(2) February–April 1991.
^Apodaca P. "California Indian shamanism and California Indian nights" inNews from Native California 7(2): 24-26 1994.
^Apodaca P. and Labbe A. J. "Images of power: masterworks of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art" University of Washington Press, 1995.
^Apodaca P. et al "Archaeological, ethnohistoric, and historic notes regarding ORA-58 and other sites along the Lower Santa Ana River drainage, Costa Mesa" inPacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 32(1):1–36 1996.
^Apodaca P. and Saubel K. S. "Founding a tribal museum: the Malki Museum" in Kennedy F.(Ed.)American Indian places: a guide to American Indian landmarks Houghton Mifflin, New York 2008.
^Apodaca P. "Native American Art" in Beal T.(Ed.)The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and the Arts Oxford University Press, NY 2015.
^"Wikikmal: the birdsong tradition of the Cahuilla Indians" American Indian Studies Center, UCLA.
