Monday, October 23, 2006:
Allmusic.com tells me that Roscoe Shelton was in the Fairfield Four before joining the spinoff The Skylarks. I'd never heard of The Skylarks, though I'd heard of the Fairfield Four--I saw three of them in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (a Coen brothers joke, since there are five members in the group. Speaking of, the Radio Four also have five members. Is that some peculiar counting system specific to gospel groups?)
I can't help thinking The Skylarks were probably misnamed; Roscoe Shelton's voice, at least, is a trained falcon, snatching notes from the underbrush and soaring away until it's a speck in the sky.
Bloody writhing metaphors aside, this is a very nice soul track that I'm glad to be introduced to.
[Remember Me Baby @ iTunes]
[Remember Me Baby @ eMusic]
The African Brothers -- Practice what you preach (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Righteous political reggae taking some preachers to task for being hypocrites and leading children astray. Can I hear "amen."
[Want Some Freedom @ iTunes]
[Want Some Freedom @ eMusic]
Embee -- Send Someone Away (feat. José Gonzáles) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Embee is the Tin Man and José González is the heart. The producer is the Wizard, one of the few who can magic warmth into electronica.
[EP @ iTunes]
Pierre Ardene -- Cristalina (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
This track has such a warm and effortlessly welcoming feel to it that it puts me in mind of an infinitely generous host with a cozy house, the kind of place that in your weaker moments you might wish you lived. But you know it's absurd; you can't overstay your welcome, so you just thank the host, and mean it, and go on your way.
[Casa de Praia @ iTunes]
[Casa de Praia @ eMusic]
These four are all from IODA/Promonet, the site I mentioned a couple of months ago that lets mp3bloggers poke through their catalogue for tracks to post.
I'm not getting kickbacks (or getting paid for anything I'm doing here); I just like the service more than most of the PR firms that send me tracks. For starters, I get to pick the tracks, rather than having them foisted upon me (most of the ones I get sent are ones I'd never have any interest in posting), and the site's interface is good: the embedded Flash players give a brief sample so you don't have to download an entire track just to find out if you like it.
Speaking of usability, I reworked this site's HTML and CSS recently so that the main column appears before the sidebar in the source but the visual layout is the same. The result should be that the posts appear before the sidebar on PDAs and cellphones, as well as in Lynx and text-to-speech browsers. I've also tried to simplify the site's CSS for handhelds but I notice that Google's and MSN's mobile proxy both serve up the images that the stylesheet instructs it to strip. I'm still trying to figure out why it's done that; I think I have an idea but don't know how to get around it.
I'm still debating whether to strip the sidebar altogether from the information sent to handhelds; if you have one and use it to access the site, I'd love your feedback on it. I probably wouldn't use all my fingers counting the number of times I've used a cell phone, but I'm interested in making the content as accessible as possible.
Even if you don't use a PDA or cellphone to access the site, if you've noticed any bugs in the layout or behavior, or if you have any other suggestions, please send them along.
And now for some politics. Keith Olberman on The Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus. And again. The reaction to this law among the general population seems to have been a protracted yawn, and I can't imagine why. The points in brief: Congress has decided, and Bush has agreed, that people can be thrown into jail, without ever facing charges, and with no legal right to challenge their jailing. Since this new law states that people in jail under the law have no right to challenge their jailing in court, there is also arguably no standing to challenge the law's Constitutionality. Yet the new law goes against our entire history of legal precedent and also is blatantly un-Constitutional since it destroys the balance of power set forth in the Constitution, exceeding the legislative authority and the Presidential authority both also set forth in the Contstitution. It's a stupid, dangerous, reprehensible law, the kind of thing that absolutely must go before the Supreme Court anyway and be defeated.
End rant, climbing off the soapbox.
IODA , usability, habeas corpus
Roscoe Shelton -- Worry (1962) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)Allmusic.com tells me that Roscoe Shelton was in the Fairfield Four before joining the spinoff The Skylarks. I'd never heard of The Skylarks, though I'd heard of the Fairfield Four--I saw three of them in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (a Coen brothers joke, since there are five members in the group. Speaking of, the Radio Four also have five members. Is that some peculiar counting system specific to gospel groups?)
I can't help thinking The Skylarks were probably misnamed; Roscoe Shelton's voice, at least, is a trained falcon, snatching notes from the underbrush and soaring away until it's a speck in the sky.
Bloody writhing metaphors aside, this is a very nice soul track that I'm glad to be introduced to.
[Remember Me Baby @ iTunes]
[Remember Me Baby @ eMusic]
The African Brothers -- Practice what you preach (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Righteous political reggae taking some preachers to task for being hypocrites and leading children astray. Can I hear "amen."
[Want Some Freedom @ iTunes]
[Want Some Freedom @ eMusic]
Embee -- Send Someone Away (feat. José Gonzáles) (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
Embee is the Tin Man and José González is the heart. The producer is the Wizard, one of the few who can magic warmth into electronica.
[EP @ iTunes]
Pierre Ardene -- Cristalina (MP3, 192kbps. Left-cllick download.)
This track has such a warm and effortlessly welcoming feel to it that it puts me in mind of an infinitely generous host with a cozy house, the kind of place that in your weaker moments you might wish you lived. But you know it's absurd; you can't overstay your welcome, so you just thank the host, and mean it, and go on your way.
[Casa de Praia @ iTunes]
[Casa de Praia @ eMusic]
These four are all from IODA/Promonet, the site I mentioned a couple of months ago that lets mp3bloggers poke through their catalogue for tracks to post.
I'm not getting kickbacks (or getting paid for anything I'm doing here); I just like the service more than most of the PR firms that send me tracks. For starters, I get to pick the tracks, rather than having them foisted upon me (most of the ones I get sent are ones I'd never have any interest in posting), and the site's interface is good: the embedded Flash players give a brief sample so you don't have to download an entire track just to find out if you like it.
Speaking of usability, I reworked this site's HTML and CSS recently so that the main column appears before the sidebar in the source but the visual layout is the same. The result should be that the posts appear before the sidebar on PDAs and cellphones, as well as in Lynx and text-to-speech browsers. I've also tried to simplify the site's CSS for handhelds but I notice that Google's and MSN's mobile proxy both serve up the images that the stylesheet instructs it to strip. I'm still trying to figure out why it's done that; I think I have an idea but don't know how to get around it.
I'm still debating whether to strip the sidebar altogether from the information sent to handhelds; if you have one and use it to access the site, I'd love your feedback on it. I probably wouldn't use all my fingers counting the number of times I've used a cell phone, but I'm interested in making the content as accessible as possible.
Even if you don't use a PDA or cellphone to access the site, if you've noticed any bugs in the layout or behavior, or if you have any other suggestions, please send them along.
And now for some politics. Keith Olberman on The Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus. And again. The reaction to this law among the general population seems to have been a protracted yawn, and I can't imagine why. The points in brief: Congress has decided, and Bush has agreed, that people can be thrown into jail, without ever facing charges, and with no legal right to challenge their jailing. Since this new law states that people in jail under the law have no right to challenge their jailing in court, there is also arguably no standing to challenge the law's Constitutionality. Yet the new law goes against our entire history of legal precedent and also is blatantly un-Constitutional since it destroys the balance of power set forth in the Constitution, exceeding the legislative authority and the Presidential authority both also set forth in the Contstitution. It's a stupid, dangerous, reprehensible law, the kind of thing that absolutely must go before the Supreme Court anyway and be defeated.
End rant, climbing off the soapbox.
Labels: electronica, politics, PR, reggae, RnB, world pop
posted by Tuwa @
01:36 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Thursday, September 21, 2006:
I just saw Battle Royale and I think I can safely say that I don't get it. It's a film in which a classroom of students is gassed and brought to an island, collared with explosive devices, given food and weapons with which to kill each other. The students are warned that trying to remove the collars will cause them to explode, and warned also that the contest will last only three days: if more than one student survies by the end of it, every collar will detonate.
The story strikes me as "The Most Dangerous Game" crossed with Lord of the Flies, but unfortunately it has none of the brevity of the former or the mounting dread of the latter. It has a real visual audacity; and the plot is superficially transgressive but deeply flawed. The scenes range from suspenseful to predictable to downright silly; and the film, in spending so long on gore and spectacle, hints at an intellectual emptiness: a blood-soaked impaling commands the attention, yes, but the more troubling premise is not how to survive, but what to do with yourself after.
The film probably makes most sense when seen as part of a dystopian sci-fi/action tradition, but it doesn't have the satisfying conclusion of either Death Race 3000 or the more recent District B13, in which citizens put through their paces for the gratification of a corrupt government manage through pluck, cleverness, or sheer cussedness to bring that part of the government to its knees. No, these citizens manage to kill their most immediate tormentor and then escape, leaving the system itself intact. It's a callous film not just because of the body count but also because of the inherent selfishness of the conclusion, which considers atavism a briefly shameful memory rather than an ongoing threat and which posits that escape in itself constitutes a happy ending. The characters indicate in dialogue that they just want to sweep the last few days under the rug; and if polite company doesn't talk about barbarism, maybe it should. At least Lord of the Flies was sensible enough to posit paranoia and destruction of community as a tragedy.
Director Kinji Fukasaku was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly before his last film, a sequel to this one which is generally held in poor regard. He refused treatment so that he could make the sequel, and he died shortly thereafter. I like to imagine the sequel is one in which the surviving contestants spend the entire time in painful unfolding self-realization: a Bergmanesque sequel to a Bruckheimer original.
[Bettye Swann @ amazon.com]
[Battle Royale @ imdb.com]
...
A half-ton of awesome clips at Youtube. Mississippi John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, Professor Longhair, Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.... Amazing.
...
15 ways to get more out of Pandora Music.
...
Chavez shows a talent for hyperbole, calls Bush "The Devil." If anything, he's more like a shit demon.
Bettye Swann -- Don't You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me)
Bettye Swann -- Don't You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me)I just saw Battle Royale and I think I can safely say that I don't get it. It's a film in which a classroom of students is gassed and brought to an island, collared with explosive devices, given food and weapons with which to kill each other. The students are warned that trying to remove the collars will cause them to explode, and warned also that the contest will last only three days: if more than one student survies by the end of it, every collar will detonate.
The story strikes me as "The Most Dangerous Game" crossed with Lord of the Flies, but unfortunately it has none of the brevity of the former or the mounting dread of the latter. It has a real visual audacity; and the plot is superficially transgressive but deeply flawed. The scenes range from suspenseful to predictable to downright silly; and the film, in spending so long on gore and spectacle, hints at an intellectual emptiness: a blood-soaked impaling commands the attention, yes, but the more troubling premise is not how to survive, but what to do with yourself after.
The film probably makes most sense when seen as part of a dystopian sci-fi/action tradition, but it doesn't have the satisfying conclusion of either Death Race 3000 or the more recent District B13, in which citizens put through their paces for the gratification of a corrupt government manage through pluck, cleverness, or sheer cussedness to bring that part of the government to its knees. No, these citizens manage to kill their most immediate tormentor and then escape, leaving the system itself intact. It's a callous film not just because of the body count but also because of the inherent selfishness of the conclusion, which considers atavism a briefly shameful memory rather than an ongoing threat and which posits that escape in itself constitutes a happy ending. The characters indicate in dialogue that they just want to sweep the last few days under the rug; and if polite company doesn't talk about barbarism, maybe it should. At least Lord of the Flies was sensible enough to posit paranoia and destruction of community as a tragedy.
Director Kinji Fukasaku was diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly before his last film, a sequel to this one which is generally held in poor regard. He refused treatment so that he could make the sequel, and he died shortly thereafter. I like to imagine the sequel is one in which the surviving contestants spend the entire time in painful unfolding self-realization: a Bergmanesque sequel to a Bruckheimer original.
[Bettye Swann @ amazon.com]
[Battle Royale @ imdb.com]
...
A half-ton of awesome clips at Youtube. Mississippi John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, Professor Longhair, Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe.... Amazing.
...
15 ways to get more out of Pandora Music.
...
Chavez shows a talent for hyperbole, calls Bush "The Devil." If anything, he's more like a shit demon.
posted by Tuwa @
12:28 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, July 10, 2006:
Darcy Feels It posted two Barbara Lynn tracks on Thursday, and then this morning London Lee posted one. And I'm feeling it too so here's another, off her You'll Lose a Good Thing compilation, which unfortunately has the kind of liner notes that look like they were printed on someone's inkjet and more unfortunately seems to have gone out of print. (On further thought, I wonder if those two are unrelated....)
"Ring Telephone Ring" is a strange track: a lurching rhythm guitar, backed by a very subdued organ and "big" cymbal hits, with lyrics about a woman wondering about a failed or failing relationship. None of that gets across the stoned dirge-like mood of the track, though--allmusic.com describes the compilation as "idiosyncratic stuff with a bluesier, swampier feel than most any other soul being made during the time," but as far as I can tell, that's a good description of only this track. "Swamp blues" would describe this track perfectly, but not the rest of the tracks. The rest of the music has much more chipper instrumentation, giving a sunny, cheerful feel to the tracks even when the lyrics are about conniving women or relationships turning sour.
Standouts on the disc include "You'll Lose a Good Thing" (featured in Hairspray), "Don't Be Cruel" (yes, that one), and "Can't Buy My Love" (no, not a typo + the Beatles track).
[You'll Lose a Good Thing]
...
Another MuFi (HiFi? MeFi Music?) find: How To Fight Loneliness, a cover of a Wilco song I've never heard. Wilco fans, does it stack up to the original?
...
I missed posting this on the 4th of July: a sixth-grade essay on What the American Flag Stands For.
...
Mohammed Raffi can expect to have trouble wiring money to someone, as can Ahmed Ahmed.
In general I despise the IMF, not least because it values commerce over the will of democratic nations, but sometimes they get things right. (Which is to say, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.) Hey Western Union man, I wonder what Mesud Ahmed thinks about your policy.
Barbara Lynn -- Ring Telephone Ring
Barbara Lynn -- Ring Telephone RingDarcy Feels It posted two Barbara Lynn tracks on Thursday, and then this morning London Lee posted one. And I'm feeling it too so here's another, off her You'll Lose a Good Thing compilation, which unfortunately has the kind of liner notes that look like they were printed on someone's inkjet and more unfortunately seems to have gone out of print. (On further thought, I wonder if those two are unrelated....)
"Ring Telephone Ring" is a strange track: a lurching rhythm guitar, backed by a very subdued organ and "big" cymbal hits, with lyrics about a woman wondering about a failed or failing relationship. None of that gets across the stoned dirge-like mood of the track, though--allmusic.com describes the compilation as "idiosyncratic stuff with a bluesier, swampier feel than most any other soul being made during the time," but as far as I can tell, that's a good description of only this track. "Swamp blues" would describe this track perfectly, but not the rest of the tracks. The rest of the music has much more chipper instrumentation, giving a sunny, cheerful feel to the tracks even when the lyrics are about conniving women or relationships turning sour.
Standouts on the disc include "You'll Lose a Good Thing" (featured in Hairspray), "Don't Be Cruel" (yes, that one), and "Can't Buy My Love" (no, not a typo + the Beatles track).
[You'll Lose a Good Thing]
...
Another MuFi (HiFi? MeFi Music?) find: How To Fight Loneliness, a cover of a Wilco song I've never heard. Wilco fans, does it stack up to the original?
...
I missed posting this on the 4th of July: a sixth-grade essay on What the American Flag Stands For.
...
Mohammed Raffi can expect to have trouble wiring money to someone, as can Ahmed Ahmed.
In general I despise the IMF, not least because it values commerce over the will of democratic nations, but sometimes they get things right. (Which is to say, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.) Hey Western Union man, I wonder what Mesud Ahmed thinks about your policy.
Labels: out of print, politics, RnB
posted by Tuwa @
12:32 | permalink |
5 comments
|
Thursday, March 09, 2006:
There are things I like and feel mostly unqualified to talk about. This is one of them.
This track is originally from the film Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, which is apparently about the hippie culture in India at the time. It's the first track on You've Stolen My Heart, a collaboration between Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle which features Asha Bhosle, in her 70s, re-recording songs from earlier in her career (sometimes decades earlier) composed by R.D. Burman.
Apparently there was some controversy around Bhosle's re-recordings (here and in other CDs), as she changed sometimes the melodies. If anything, that makes me more interested in the originals, not less, because I think the ones here are all great. There's something about the texture of these songs that appeals to me a great deal, and Bhosle's voice is in fantastic shape for her age; if I didn't know otherwise I'd have guessed she was 30 or so. To me the entire album sounds great, and it's refreshing to find an album so solid that I'd be happy posting any track at all off it.
The liner notes tell me that "Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)" features two violins, a viola, a Farfisa organ, a cello, an Indian trap set, a tambourine, a madal, finger cymbals, breath, and--the instrument I'm guessing sounds almost most like it might not belong, but which somehow does--a pipa.
[You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood]
[wikipedia article about Asha Bhosle]
...
Found at boingboing: Radiohead's "Just" reimagined as a party-hopping song with animated graffiti interacting with its environment--a Lego castle broken up, turned into a terraformed space colony.
...
And here's this video of a skateboarding dog, which for some reason makes me giddy with happiness. (link found at metafilter, though I've had a time trying to find the thread again.)
...
"Look, if you want to stop theft, you can't think like a security guard, you've got to think like a thief. Same thing with terrorism. You want to stop terrorism, you've got to think like a terrorist."
He did not mean, as the Bush administration seems to think, that we ought to adopt the methods or the morality of the terrorists -- embracing indiscriminate killing, abandoning the rule of law and dismissing the Geneva Conventions as a "quaint" luxury we can no longer afford. He meant getting inside their heads and imagining how and why and what they're thinking.
Slacktivist has an interesting post and discussion on the nature of storytelling and the systemic forces against empathy inherent in conservative/free market capitalist ideology. This is the second on that theme, with the earlier post as interesting but saddled with train wreck of a discussion.
... There's a small movement afoot pushing for Bush's impeachment, and I guess it's a sign of my compromised ethics that I don't think it's worth it. I wonder if, hundreds of years ago, anyone seriously imagined a situation where the entire Cabinet isn't worth a shit. At any rate: Congress doesn't even have enough courage, integrity, and tenacity to vote down the PATRIOT Act, much less to do things up right, which would go like so:
Impeach Bush, swear in Cheny
Impeach Cheney, swear in Hastert
Impeach Hastert, swear in Stevens
Impeach Stevens, swear in Rice
Impeach Rice, swear in Snow
Impeach Snow, swear in Rumsfeld
Impeach Rumsfeld, swear in Gonzales
Impeach Gonzales, swear in Norton....
Personally I think that Congress would probably, at best, get as far as impeaching Bush, leaving us with a President who radiates evil more clearly than Hannibal Lecter. The satirist at the back of my mind keeps suggesting that maybe the hunting accident wasn't even an accident--maybe Whittington let it slip that his Ayn Rand shrine had gotten a bit dusty--or maybe he made the mistake of calling the Civil War justified, and preferable to letting market forces put an end to slavery....
Asha Bhosle & Kronos Quartet -- Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)
Asha Bhosle & Kronos Quartet -- Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)There are things I like and feel mostly unqualified to talk about. This is one of them.
This track is originally from the film Hare Rama, Hare Krishna, which is apparently about the hippie culture in India at the time. It's the first track on You've Stolen My Heart, a collaboration between Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle which features Asha Bhosle, in her 70s, re-recording songs from earlier in her career (sometimes decades earlier) composed by R.D. Burman.
Apparently there was some controversy around Bhosle's re-recordings (here and in other CDs), as she changed sometimes the melodies. If anything, that makes me more interested in the originals, not less, because I think the ones here are all great. There's something about the texture of these songs that appeals to me a great deal, and Bhosle's voice is in fantastic shape for her age; if I didn't know otherwise I'd have guessed she was 30 or so. To me the entire album sounds great, and it's refreshing to find an album so solid that I'd be happy posting any track at all off it.
The liner notes tell me that "Dum Maro Dum (Take Another Toke)" features two violins, a viola, a Farfisa organ, a cello, an Indian trap set, a tambourine, a madal, finger cymbals, breath, and--the instrument I'm guessing sounds almost most like it might not belong, but which somehow does--a pipa.
[You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R.D. Burman's Bollywood]
[wikipedia article about Asha Bhosle]
...
Found at boingboing: Radiohead's "Just" reimagined as a party-hopping song with animated graffiti interacting with its environment--a Lego castle broken up, turned into a terraformed space colony.
...
And here's this video of a skateboarding dog, which for some reason makes me giddy with happiness. (link found at metafilter, though I've had a time trying to find the thread again.)
...
"Look, if you want to stop theft, you can't think like a security guard, you've got to think like a thief. Same thing with terrorism. You want to stop terrorism, you've got to think like a terrorist."
He did not mean, as the Bush administration seems to think, that we ought to adopt the methods or the morality of the terrorists -- embracing indiscriminate killing, abandoning the rule of law and dismissing the Geneva Conventions as a "quaint" luxury we can no longer afford. He meant getting inside their heads and imagining how and why and what they're thinking.
Slacktivist has an interesting post and discussion on the nature of storytelling and the systemic forces against empathy inherent in conservative/free market capitalist ideology. This is the second on that theme, with the earlier post as interesting but saddled with train wreck of a discussion.
... There's a small movement afoot pushing for Bush's impeachment, and I guess it's a sign of my compromised ethics that I don't think it's worth it. I wonder if, hundreds of years ago, anyone seriously imagined a situation where the entire Cabinet isn't worth a shit. At any rate: Congress doesn't even have enough courage, integrity, and tenacity to vote down the PATRIOT Act, much less to do things up right, which would go like so:
Impeach Bush, swear in Cheny
Impeach Cheney, swear in Hastert
Impeach Hastert, swear in Stevens
Impeach Stevens, swear in Rice
Impeach Rice, swear in Snow
Impeach Snow, swear in Rumsfeld
Impeach Rumsfeld, swear in Gonzales
Impeach Gonzales, swear in Norton....
Personally I think that Congress would probably, at best, get as far as impeaching Bush, leaving us with a President who radiates evil more clearly than Hannibal Lecter. The satirist at the back of my mind keeps suggesting that maybe the hunting accident wasn't even an accident--maybe Whittington let it slip that his Ayn Rand shrine had gotten a bit dusty--or maybe he made the mistake of calling the Civil War justified, and preferable to letting market forces put an end to slavery....
posted by Tuwa @
23:36 | permalink |
2 comments
|
Tuesday, February 07, 2006:
The Clash -- Drug-Stabbing Time
The Clash -- London Calling
I love The Clash, but it's probably the kind of love felt only if you have some bit of simmering rage left unaddressed.... It's tuneful punk, and of course they're known for their punk/reggae bridge, which you can get a taste of on "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" here, from their U.S. version of The Clash.
"Drug-Stabbing Time" is a grittier track than "Hammersmith": distorted guitar and a brisker pace, with somewhat hoarse vocals and a saxophone that comes thundering over the hill like the lone horseman of the apocalypse, no others present or necessary.
I remember the first time I heard "London Calling"--the guitar and drums followed by those first few notes of the bassline skidding in, and suddenly I knew that there was some great music on deck. First hearing that LP reminded me of first digging into the Beatles catalogue, buying CDs my parents didn't have, finding plenty of songs I knew by heart mixed in with others that I'd never heard before but that were just as good. The CD London Calling is a great CD in general but particularly great for long drives: you'll be crooning, yelping, head-bobbing, banging the steering wheel.
These three tracks are from their first, uh, four LPs, I guess, if you count the UK and US versions as separate. I'll probably post some Clash again, from the other three; they have good tracks buried on them, though they're not generally held in as high regard.
[The Clash (U.S. version)]
[Give 'Em Enough Rope]
[London Calling]
... some films:
La Sentinelle: Either this film is very intelligent or I am very dense, but much of the plot seemed not to follow from what had already been established, with increasingly distancing effect over the course of the film. I can handle a few cases of "why did that happen? that's odd" but by the end, the film gave me a serious case of WTF which resolved itself into "WTF-ever."
Night of the Iguana. Right. Huston is usually a good director, but the boxing scene was silly and the story in general struck me as weak. As for the cast, it's got Richard Burton playing Richard Burton in a frock, in extended rehearsal for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, in which he plays Richard Burton with pockmarks. Instead of seeing the story, I kept seeing Tennessee Williams, talking to himself:
So he goes past the hotel. Why? He doesn't want her to get that telegram. Also, there's another hotel, more isolated, where an old flame is. Why is she there? She's visiting. So how does he know she's there? No, no, you're right, that's wrong--she runs the hotel. Yeah, she runs it. This'll provide a neat ending. Okay, but then she must be very busy. Uh, no, no, it's off-season. Ah. So why does she take him in? She cares for him still. So the story becomes a simple romance. No, she takes the others in too; it will provide some additional conflict. So she's a doormat? No, she's ... she's brusque, gruff, at heart a softie, but afraid of being hurt again. Okay. Who else works there? A cook. He sleeps a lot. And who else? Two handsome young shirtless Mexicans. What do they do? They dance around and shake maracas. What else? That's all. They must have personalities, regrets, ambitions.... No, they just dance around and shake maracas. Sometimes they put them down, for instance if dancing on the beach seducing the hostess or if chasing an iguana and not dancing. I see. Don't worry about it; no one will be thinking about what they're doing there, or not doing. Okay.... So what happens? Well, by the end he's no longer interested in little girls. So miracles do occur. Sometimes, if you're a defrocked minister.
Promises: Wow. Take half a dozen children living in and around Jerusalem, both Muslim and Jew, with differing levels of faith, interview them and follow them through their daily lives in dangerous surroundings--watch them at school, in sports events, hanging out ... introduce them to each other and watch them trying to feel their way through the treacherous intractable politics. I thought it was truly a wonderful film, not because of the political history but because of the voices of the children--certain, doubtful, thoughtful, flippant, patient, exasperated--each of them explaining, in their own way, what the conflict has cost them: a brother, a father, a constant needling fear. And it was a very nice and much-needed, though maybe unintended, bit of counterpoint at the end with Faraj, stateside, working in a Wal-Mart dealing with customers annoyed by the unavailability of stick pretzels. After the laughter died down I was wondering "and how much different am I from that, really? Didn't I, just a few days ago, post some trivial complaints based on relative comfort and wealth?"
... some politics:
The President has seen National Treasure, so he's heard about the Constitution; if he noticed any mention of the Bill of Rights, it really doesn't matter. It is his Divine Right to spy; after all, he's constantly talking to God and God is, uncustomarily, talking back. Besides, it's A Different World After 9/11: the U.S. intelligence community needs more things to know about and ignore, like people learning to fly planes and not bothering to learn to land them, which is obviously not a Big Red Flag. No, the intelligence community, intelligently, recognizes that the real threat is in breastfeeding mothers, war protestors, people who get off on anthropomorphic animals, people downloading movies rather than buying them in the subway, and anyone who happens to talk to any of those people. Luckily this includes most of the world, insuring the necessity of information-gathering (whether to ignore it or to act on it in violation of Constitutional law) for decades to come.
The shift in focus is part of that oft-touted ideal of small government, which means that Bush and Cheney can continue cutting public services, subcontracting them to companies headed by close personal friends so they can deliver fewer services more inefficiently, racking up private profit through the generosity of tax breaks provided by a public laid out over a barrel. And then complain about the lack of funds for public services, and claim the only solution is more contracting and more tax breaks. Which is not incongruent with one definition of insanity.
...
I'm having some computer troubles here: a borked video card making every page, document, and image look a bit like timid abstract art. More posts later. Or shorter posts sooner.
grand guignol and custard pie
The Clash -- (White Man) in Hammersmith PalaisThe Clash -- Drug-Stabbing Time
The Clash -- London Calling
I love The Clash, but it's probably the kind of love felt only if you have some bit of simmering rage left unaddressed.... It's tuneful punk, and of course they're known for their punk/reggae bridge, which you can get a taste of on "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" here, from their U.S. version of The Clash.
"Drug-Stabbing Time" is a grittier track than "Hammersmith": distorted guitar and a brisker pace, with somewhat hoarse vocals and a saxophone that comes thundering over the hill like the lone horseman of the apocalypse, no others present or necessary.
I remember the first time I heard "London Calling"--the guitar and drums followed by those first few notes of the bassline skidding in, and suddenly I knew that there was some great music on deck. First hearing that LP reminded me of first digging into the Beatles catalogue, buying CDs my parents didn't have, finding plenty of songs I knew by heart mixed in with others that I'd never heard before but that were just as good. The CD London Calling is a great CD in general but particularly great for long drives: you'll be crooning, yelping, head-bobbing, banging the steering wheel.
These three tracks are from their first, uh, four LPs, I guess, if you count the UK and US versions as separate. I'll probably post some Clash again, from the other three; they have good tracks buried on them, though they're not generally held in as high regard.
[The Clash (U.S. version)]
[Give 'Em Enough Rope]
[London Calling]
... some films:
La Sentinelle: Either this film is very intelligent or I am very dense, but much of the plot seemed not to follow from what had already been established, with increasingly distancing effect over the course of the film. I can handle a few cases of "why did that happen? that's odd" but by the end, the film gave me a serious case of WTF which resolved itself into "WTF-ever."
Night of the Iguana. Right. Huston is usually a good director, but the boxing scene was silly and the story in general struck me as weak. As for the cast, it's got Richard Burton playing Richard Burton in a frock, in extended rehearsal for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, in which he plays Richard Burton with pockmarks. Instead of seeing the story, I kept seeing Tennessee Williams, talking to himself:
So he goes past the hotel. Why? He doesn't want her to get that telegram. Also, there's another hotel, more isolated, where an old flame is. Why is she there? She's visiting. So how does he know she's there? No, no, you're right, that's wrong--she runs the hotel. Yeah, she runs it. This'll provide a neat ending. Okay, but then she must be very busy. Uh, no, no, it's off-season. Ah. So why does she take him in? She cares for him still. So the story becomes a simple romance. No, she takes the others in too; it will provide some additional conflict. So she's a doormat? No, she's ... she's brusque, gruff, at heart a softie, but afraid of being hurt again. Okay. Who else works there? A cook. He sleeps a lot. And who else? Two handsome young shirtless Mexicans. What do they do? They dance around and shake maracas. What else? That's all. They must have personalities, regrets, ambitions.... No, they just dance around and shake maracas. Sometimes they put them down, for instance if dancing on the beach seducing the hostess or if chasing an iguana and not dancing. I see. Don't worry about it; no one will be thinking about what they're doing there, or not doing. Okay.... So what happens? Well, by the end he's no longer interested in little girls. So miracles do occur. Sometimes, if you're a defrocked minister.
Promises: Wow. Take half a dozen children living in and around Jerusalem, both Muslim and Jew, with differing levels of faith, interview them and follow them through their daily lives in dangerous surroundings--watch them at school, in sports events, hanging out ... introduce them to each other and watch them trying to feel their way through the treacherous intractable politics. I thought it was truly a wonderful film, not because of the political history but because of the voices of the children--certain, doubtful, thoughtful, flippant, patient, exasperated--each of them explaining, in their own way, what the conflict has cost them: a brother, a father, a constant needling fear. And it was a very nice and much-needed, though maybe unintended, bit of counterpoint at the end with Faraj, stateside, working in a Wal-Mart dealing with customers annoyed by the unavailability of stick pretzels. After the laughter died down I was wondering "and how much different am I from that, really? Didn't I, just a few days ago, post some trivial complaints based on relative comfort and wealth?"
... some politics:
The President has seen National Treasure, so he's heard about the Constitution; if he noticed any mention of the Bill of Rights, it really doesn't matter. It is his Divine Right to spy; after all, he's constantly talking to God and God is, uncustomarily, talking back. Besides, it's A Different World After 9/11: the U.S. intelligence community needs more things to know about and ignore, like people learning to fly planes and not bothering to learn to land them, which is obviously not a Big Red Flag. No, the intelligence community, intelligently, recognizes that the real threat is in breastfeeding mothers, war protestors, people who get off on anthropomorphic animals, people downloading movies rather than buying them in the subway, and anyone who happens to talk to any of those people. Luckily this includes most of the world, insuring the necessity of information-gathering (whether to ignore it or to act on it in violation of Constitutional law) for decades to come.
The shift in focus is part of that oft-touted ideal of small government, which means that Bush and Cheney can continue cutting public services, subcontracting them to companies headed by close personal friends so they can deliver fewer services more inefficiently, racking up private profit through the generosity of tax breaks provided by a public laid out over a barrel. And then complain about the lack of funds for public services, and claim the only solution is more contracting and more tax breaks. Which is not incongruent with one definition of insanity.
...
I'm having some computer troubles here: a borked video card making every page, document, and image look a bit like timid abstract art. More posts later. Or shorter posts sooner.
Labels: movies, politics, punk, rock
posted by Tuwa @
22:14 | permalink |
3 comments
|
Thursday, November 24, 2005:
Thought I'd post some work by Thelonious Monk, whose music I love and have so far neglected. Monk's work is alternately exuberant, catchy, chilly, moody, introspective, typically angular, sometimes difficult.... He's rumored to have been difficult and moody himself, if not mentally ill, but rather than indulging in idle speculation and "tortured genius" mythos, I'll just say that I find his work as compelling as it is rewarding.
Thelonious Monk -- Nice Work If You Can Get It (alternate take)
"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is originally a Gershwin track; Monk here takes it and uses it to stretch out a bit. Serpentine oddly accented melodies, dissonance, unexpected pauses, pounded chords: all present and accounted for. This is typical Monk, off Genius of Music, vol. 1.
[Genius of Modern Music, vol. 1]
Thelonious Monk -- Four in One
"Four in One" is off Genius of Music, vol. 2; it's a catchy track that I have more appreciation for every time I listen to it--not just hear it, but actively listen to, paying attention to all the changes. That's Sahib Shihab on sax, Milt Jackson on vibes, Al McKibbon on bass, and Art Blakey on drums, all turning in some great work: Monk, Shihab, and Jackson in particular starting melodies and passing them on beautifully, making it all look as effortless as breathing.
[Genius of Modern Music, vol. 2]
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins -- I Want to Be Happy
On "I Want to Be Happy," Rollins' saxophone is warm and comforting over erratic piano stabs; it paints fields of grain stretching out to the horizon, a two-lane track up the side, an apple tree with low-hanging branches and roots deep enough that you can catch a nap on smooth ground. Early fall, chilly but not cold, no ants about, no flies. Perfect.
[Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins]
Thelonious Monk -- Bemsha Swing
"Bemsha Swing" is the closer to Brilliant Corners; this one has Monk on piano, Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, Clark Terry on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, and Max Roach on timpani. Brilliant Corners was Monk's breakthrough album, released in 1956, but I doubt that anything about Monk changed to award him sudden acceptance--if anything, I'd bet it was a change in audience expectations instead. Monk's always struck me as the kind of artist who leaped out of Zeus' head fully formed and ready to fight.
[Brilliant Corners]
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane -- Trinkle, Tinkle
"Trinkle, Tinkle" finds Coltrane and Monk leading off phrasing things in synch, standing back to let each other take the lead, twining through the spaces and supplementing the melodies, then stepping out again in synch. Two giants, both on point. It must have been something to see them play live.
I haven't exhausted Monk's discography--far from it--he has a lot to pick through, and typically it deserves active listening.
[Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane]
...
Had a nice French-Catholic two-fer recently with Monsieur Vincent and Au Revoir Les Enfants. The Malle packed a heavier punch--so far I've seen only three of his films (this one, Damage, and Murmur of the Heart) but they've all been hefty and fascinating.
Monsieur Vincent put me in mind of The Boys of St. Vincent, which I keep meaning to see, and have been meaning to even before the Church got itself into its recent trouble. Now apparently the Pope has banned gay priests, which is about as sensible as falling down the stairs in the dark, breaking your leg, refusing to go to the hospital, developing gangrene, and banning steps. It's one approach, I guess, but another might be to light the damn stairs and to call a doctor when you've broken something. By which I mean, I don't know, maybe they could encourage their cardinals to report crimes rather than just send the perpetrators somewhere else.
Other great Catholic films I can think of off the top of my head, Andrei Rublev, A Man for All Seasons, and Dead Man Walking (at least until that ridiculous ham-handed bit at the end where they raise Poncelet up, with his arms out to his sides, to speak to the audience. That scene just needs some blinking text at the bottom reading "Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me," complete with a choir glissando from high C to Ab. But for the most part it's an exceptional and fascinating film). One could arguably also include The Exorcist, since the cliche is that no one ever really leaves the Church.
... I haven't yet seen Lilies of the Field or Queen Margot, though I've heard great things about them.
Thelonious Monk (& Sonny Rollins & John Coltrane)
Thought I'd post some work by Thelonious Monk, whose music I love and have so far neglected. Monk's work is alternately exuberant, catchy, chilly, moody, introspective, typically angular, sometimes difficult.... He's rumored to have been difficult and moody himself, if not mentally ill, but rather than indulging in idle speculation and "tortured genius" mythos, I'll just say that I find his work as compelling as it is rewarding.
Thelonious Monk -- Nice Work If You Can Get It (alternate take)
"Nice Work If You Can Get It" is originally a Gershwin track; Monk here takes it and uses it to stretch out a bit. Serpentine oddly accented melodies, dissonance, unexpected pauses, pounded chords: all present and accounted for. This is typical Monk, off Genius of Music, vol. 1.
[Genius of Modern Music, vol. 1]
Thelonious Monk -- Four in One
"Four in One" is off Genius of Music, vol. 2; it's a catchy track that I have more appreciation for every time I listen to it--not just hear it, but actively listen to, paying attention to all the changes. That's Sahib Shihab on sax, Milt Jackson on vibes, Al McKibbon on bass, and Art Blakey on drums, all turning in some great work: Monk, Shihab, and Jackson in particular starting melodies and passing them on beautifully, making it all look as effortless as breathing.
[Genius of Modern Music, vol. 2]
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins -- I Want to Be Happy
On "I Want to Be Happy," Rollins' saxophone is warm and comforting over erratic piano stabs; it paints fields of grain stretching out to the horizon, a two-lane track up the side, an apple tree with low-hanging branches and roots deep enough that you can catch a nap on smooth ground. Early fall, chilly but not cold, no ants about, no flies. Perfect.
[Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins]
Thelonious Monk -- Bemsha Swing
"Bemsha Swing" is the closer to Brilliant Corners; this one has Monk on piano, Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, Clark Terry on trumpet, Paul Chambers on bass, and Max Roach on timpani. Brilliant Corners was Monk's breakthrough album, released in 1956, but I doubt that anything about Monk changed to award him sudden acceptance--if anything, I'd bet it was a change in audience expectations instead. Monk's always struck me as the kind of artist who leaped out of Zeus' head fully formed and ready to fight.
[Brilliant Corners]
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane -- Trinkle, Tinkle
"Trinkle, Tinkle" finds Coltrane and Monk leading off phrasing things in synch, standing back to let each other take the lead, twining through the spaces and supplementing the melodies, then stepping out again in synch. Two giants, both on point. It must have been something to see them play live.
I haven't exhausted Monk's discography--far from it--he has a lot to pick through, and typically it deserves active listening.
[Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane]
...
Had a nice French-Catholic two-fer recently with Monsieur Vincent and Au Revoir Les Enfants. The Malle packed a heavier punch--so far I've seen only three of his films (this one, Damage, and Murmur of the Heart) but they've all been hefty and fascinating.
Monsieur Vincent put me in mind of The Boys of St. Vincent, which I keep meaning to see, and have been meaning to even before the Church got itself into its recent trouble. Now apparently the Pope has banned gay priests, which is about as sensible as falling down the stairs in the dark, breaking your leg, refusing to go to the hospital, developing gangrene, and banning steps. It's one approach, I guess, but another might be to light the damn stairs and to call a doctor when you've broken something. By which I mean, I don't know, maybe they could encourage their cardinals to report crimes rather than just send the perpetrators somewhere else.
Other great Catholic films I can think of off the top of my head, Andrei Rublev, A Man for All Seasons, and Dead Man Walking (at least until that ridiculous ham-handed bit at the end where they raise Poncelet up, with his arms out to his sides, to speak to the audience. That scene just needs some blinking text at the bottom reading "Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me," complete with a choir glissando from high C to Ab. But for the most part it's an exceptional and fascinating film). One could arguably also include The Exorcist, since the cliche is that no one ever really leaves the Church.
... I haven't yet seen Lilies of the Field or Queen Margot, though I've heard great things about them.
Labels: jazz, movies, politics
posted by Tuwa @
12:55 | permalink |
10 comments
|
Friday, September 09, 2005:
I found this track weeks ago on a 45" in a dusty bin full of them stacked in, sleeveless, most of them in horrible shape. It was released in 1958 on the Roulette label (R-4063, if that's of use to anyone).
I originally picked this up to listen to its flipside, "A-Tiskett A-Taskett," curious if that was in any way the same song I knew from childhood (yes, but it's not very good). I listened a bit and then flipped it. "Every Night About Eight" is a slow R&B number that tells the story of a lovelorn man whose woman has left him: "I cried last night; I cried the night before / I used to hold my baby every night about eight."
Jones is (was? I'm having trouble finding information about him) from New Orleans.
...
FWMJ has some good hip hop tracks up for download, though I think they might be mistaking De La Soul and Phife Dawg as obscure ("shit you've never heard"). Still, they have plenty up that I had never heard, and was glad for the introduction. The Kanye West / "George Bush doesn't care about black people" track gets off to a choppy start but quickly turns good. It tells a story of, you guessed it, a city left to its own ends, ignored, unrescued, blamed for survival tactics: "Five days in this motherfucking attic / Can't use the cellphone; I keep getting static / Dying cause they lying instead of telling us the truth / other day the helicopters got my neighbor off the roof / screwed 'cause they said they was coming back for us too / That was three days ago; I don't see no rescue."
Right on. Now the city has declared evacuation "mandatory," or whatever is more mandatory than mandatory. I guess what they mean is that this time they'll actually provide transportation for people who need it. All under penalty of arrest, mind you, and with the excuse that the survivors are "delirious" (because, you know, a small group of people leaving a hundred thousand other people to die is just thinking oh-so-clearly. You could get locked up for leaving your dog behind chained to a tree in a hurricane; why is leaving broke people behind somehow acceptable?)
Some of the survivors are no doubt living there in the only house they've ever known, with no money and nowhere to go; and if they leave, their house is going to be bulldozed and some new property built in its place that's too damned expensive for them to afford. From homeowner to homeless in one easy step--all at the whims of some neglectful overlord with anything but your best wishes in mind.
If I'd lived through all this shit and was still in my own house out there, by this point it would be like that Stephen King story with the guy who just absolutely will not sell his house to make way for an interstate on-ramp. You know, the one that ends with him barricaded in with all the guns and explosives.
And that's it for me and talking politics here, for a good long while, at least.
...
Back to music--dictionaraoke has made the rounds before--I saw it years ago, but now it's come around again and I have somewhere relevant to share it. "Wild Thing" is now, in my mind at least, the definitive interpretation; "Word Up" is equally great. Hilariously bad, just as it was meant to be.
Joe Jones -- Every Night about Eight
Joe Jones -- Every Night about EightI found this track weeks ago on a 45" in a dusty bin full of them stacked in, sleeveless, most of them in horrible shape. It was released in 1958 on the Roulette label (R-4063, if that's of use to anyone).
I originally picked this up to listen to its flipside, "A-Tiskett A-Taskett," curious if that was in any way the same song I knew from childhood (yes, but it's not very good). I listened a bit and then flipped it. "Every Night About Eight" is a slow R&B number that tells the story of a lovelorn man whose woman has left him: "I cried last night; I cried the night before / I used to hold my baby every night about eight."
Jones is (was? I'm having trouble finding information about him) from New Orleans.
...
FWMJ has some good hip hop tracks up for download, though I think they might be mistaking De La Soul and Phife Dawg as obscure ("shit you've never heard"). Still, they have plenty up that I had never heard, and was glad for the introduction. The Kanye West / "George Bush doesn't care about black people" track gets off to a choppy start but quickly turns good. It tells a story of, you guessed it, a city left to its own ends, ignored, unrescued, blamed for survival tactics: "Five days in this motherfucking attic / Can't use the cellphone; I keep getting static / Dying cause they lying instead of telling us the truth / other day the helicopters got my neighbor off the roof / screwed 'cause they said they was coming back for us too / That was three days ago; I don't see no rescue."
Right on. Now the city has declared evacuation "mandatory," or whatever is more mandatory than mandatory. I guess what they mean is that this time they'll actually provide transportation for people who need it. All under penalty of arrest, mind you, and with the excuse that the survivors are "delirious" (because, you know, a small group of people leaving a hundred thousand other people to die is just thinking oh-so-clearly. You could get locked up for leaving your dog behind chained to a tree in a hurricane; why is leaving broke people behind somehow acceptable?)
Some of the survivors are no doubt living there in the only house they've ever known, with no money and nowhere to go; and if they leave, their house is going to be bulldozed and some new property built in its place that's too damned expensive for them to afford. From homeowner to homeless in one easy step--all at the whims of some neglectful overlord with anything but your best wishes in mind.
If I'd lived through all this shit and was still in my own house out there, by this point it would be like that Stephen King story with the guy who just absolutely will not sell his house to make way for an interstate on-ramp. You know, the one that ends with him barricaded in with all the guns and explosives.
And that's it for me and talking politics here, for a good long while, at least.
...
Back to music--dictionaraoke has made the rounds before--I saw it years ago, but now it's come around again and I have somewhere relevant to share it. "Wild Thing" is now, in my mind at least, the definitive interpretation; "Word Up" is equally great. Hilariously bad, just as it was meant to be.
posted by Tuwa @
23:50 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, September 05, 2005:
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Someone to Talk to (Gun-Shy)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Wall of Shame (Totally Religious)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Big Big Sky (Totally Religious)
"You're Gonna Change" has a dirty electric guitar groove, dirty and smoking, laid over a backbeat; the lyrics are all about a relationship gone wrong and going wronger still: "You're gonna change the way you're living, change the things you do / Stop doing all the things you oughtn't do." Particularly good: "You're gonna change and I don't mean pleeeeaaaaaaase," the vocals with some high-pitched heavenly delivery in stark contrast to the message. Like getting a note, calligraphied, gold-embossed, asking you to please choke on your own vomit.
"Someone to Talk to" won me over with its rumbling drums, lazy funky bassline, and casual in-your-face attitude ("If I die in a combat zone / box me up and ship me home"). Raspy vocal delivery here, the guitars alternating between beefy/distorted and light/piercing.
I find "Wall of Shame" more intriguing than illuminating, which is the case with a lot of The Screaming Blue Messiahs' work. The lyrics here are about a fall from grace and a man who doesn't want his name on the wall of shame--is there one? Where is it? Can I go read the names? (Am I on it yet?) Erm. It's probably just a metaphor, unless the author's twisting an existing wall to new purposes. What is clear is that there's an id/superego conflict here, though it's not at all clear why: "I used to be the killer on the lost highway / I used to be the dark just before the day / But I'd sooner have a hole in my head / Than to do what I want to do." Huh. All right, I can feel it. Not sure I understand it, but that's okay.
"Big Big Sky" seems to be a statement of existential crisis. I'd be inclined to take it as a statement of agnosticism if not for the calls to prayer ("Sister, you'd better be praying; time is winding up." But then the rest of the song doesn't exactly fit with Christian beliefs, does it? "All I do is live and die underneath the big big sky / I live and die and I don't know why." As with most of the Messiahs' work, this one's sporting a solid rocking groove. I like that funky instrumentation going on in the left speaker in the quieter parts, though I'll be damned if I can place what it is. Sounds a bit like a didgeridoo but bouncy.
The Gun-Shy tracks are digitized from LP; the Totally Religious tracks are ripped from CD. All of The Screaming Blue Messiahs' work is out of print, though some rereleases, or even a greatest hits comp, would do them right.
...
Sorry for the posting schedule; I've been busy with various "real world" obligations and when I've got a minute to sit I've been captivated, disgusted, and enraged with what's going on in New Orleans. A piss-poor showing on every level.
Of all the amazing crap that's been spouted on TV, the one bit that strikes me as true (unintentionally true, and revealing) is Bush's claim "we couldn't have predicted the levee break"--I think Bush could not predict it, in much the same way that an unbuckled two-year old couldn't predict what might happen if his father slammed on the brakes. Anyone who had done his homework, however, could have, and would have, and did. But far be it from Bush and his group to bother with homework; all they look for in filling positions is someone who shares their fundamentalist and thoroughly un-Christ-like ideology--experience and relevant knowledge are optional. I'm amazed that when they filled Rehnquist's slot that somehow they refrained from putting forward the first person they could find who's never even heard of the Constitution.
more Screaming Blue Messiahs
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- You're Gonna Change (Gun-Shy)The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Someone to Talk to (Gun-Shy)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Wall of Shame (Totally Religious)
The Screaming Blue Messiahs -- Big Big Sky (Totally Religious)
"You're Gonna Change" has a dirty electric guitar groove, dirty and smoking, laid over a backbeat; the lyrics are all about a relationship gone wrong and going wronger still: "You're gonna change the way you're living, change the things you do / Stop doing all the things you oughtn't do." Particularly good: "You're gonna change and I don't mean pleeeeaaaaaaase," the vocals with some high-pitched heavenly delivery in stark contrast to the message. Like getting a note, calligraphied, gold-embossed, asking you to please choke on your own vomit.
"Someone to Talk to" won me over with its rumbling drums, lazy funky bassline, and casual in-your-face attitude ("If I die in a combat zone / box me up and ship me home"). Raspy vocal delivery here, the guitars alternating between beefy/distorted and light/piercing.
I find "Wall of Shame" more intriguing than illuminating, which is the case with a lot of The Screaming Blue Messiahs' work. The lyrics here are about a fall from grace and a man who doesn't want his name on the wall of shame--is there one? Where is it? Can I go read the names? (Am I on it yet?) Erm. It's probably just a metaphor, unless the author's twisting an existing wall to new purposes. What is clear is that there's an id/superego conflict here, though it's not at all clear why: "I used to be the killer on the lost highway / I used to be the dark just before the day / But I'd sooner have a hole in my head / Than to do what I want to do." Huh. All right, I can feel it. Not sure I understand it, but that's okay.
"Big Big Sky" seems to be a statement of existential crisis. I'd be inclined to take it as a statement of agnosticism if not for the calls to prayer ("Sister, you'd better be praying; time is winding up." But then the rest of the song doesn't exactly fit with Christian beliefs, does it? "All I do is live and die underneath the big big sky / I live and die and I don't know why." As with most of the Messiahs' work, this one's sporting a solid rocking groove. I like that funky instrumentation going on in the left speaker in the quieter parts, though I'll be damned if I can place what it is. Sounds a bit like a didgeridoo but bouncy.
The Gun-Shy tracks are digitized from LP; the Totally Religious tracks are ripped from CD. All of The Screaming Blue Messiahs' work is out of print, though some rereleases, or even a greatest hits comp, would do them right.
...
Sorry for the posting schedule; I've been busy with various "real world" obligations and when I've got a minute to sit I've been captivated, disgusted, and enraged with what's going on in New Orleans. A piss-poor showing on every level.
Of all the amazing crap that's been spouted on TV, the one bit that strikes me as true (unintentionally true, and revealing) is Bush's claim "we couldn't have predicted the levee break"--I think Bush could not predict it, in much the same way that an unbuckled two-year old couldn't predict what might happen if his father slammed on the brakes. Anyone who had done his homework, however, could have, and would have, and did. But far be it from Bush and his group to bother with homework; all they look for in filling positions is someone who shares their fundamentalist and thoroughly un-Christ-like ideology--experience and relevant knowledge are optional. I'm amazed that when they filled Rehnquist's slot that somehow they refrained from putting forward the first person they could find who's never even heard of the Constitution.
posted by Tuwa @
12:38 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Friday, June 24, 2005:
Barney Bigard -- Sweet Marijuana Brown
Two vintage smoky jazz tunes today, a bit of pro and con like the faceoffs on a bad news show. Julia Lee wants you to know that marijuana can sooth her with its caress and help her in her distress; Barney Bigard warns that Sweet Marijuan Brown is frantic, directionless, and dangerous. I haven't known many people to get anything much like "frantic" from smoking out, and I can't help wondering if Bigard's getting his information from Reefer Madness. Lee at least is honest enough to admit she's indulging in fantasies when she talks about how she'll get her man back if she smokes enough.
... The U.S. Supreme Court decided yesterday that it's okay to seize private property for other private enterprise provided that the private enterprise (in this case, a strip mall) is for the "public good." Now, personally I consider strip malls for the public bad, just like SUVs and open sewers, but the Supreme Court seems to believe in trickle-down (was that ever anything more than a weak attempt at robber baron self-justification?)
It's a poor decision as I see it, but I wonder if it could be used for archivists and librarians to declare "eminent domain" on abandoned intellectual property. It's troublesome and counterproductive to have songs and films and books about which can't be re-used in some way originally intended by the Constitution (that is, in the progress of the arts and sciences--in commentary, in scholarship, in archiving) because the rights holders can't be found. At least in this case, you wouldn't be kicking a family out of its house; the work has been abandoned; there's no paper trail to contact the rightsholders (or compensate them!); and so the seizure would be victimless.
[Amazon.com] Barney Bigard -- 1944-1945 (Allmusic.com review)
[Amazon.com] Julia Lee -- Kansas City's First Lady of the Blues
Sweet Marijuana (Brown)?
Julia Lee -- Lotus Blossom (Sweet Marijuana)Barney Bigard -- Sweet Marijuana Brown
Two vintage smoky jazz tunes today, a bit of pro and con like the faceoffs on a bad news show. Julia Lee wants you to know that marijuana can sooth her with its caress and help her in her distress; Barney Bigard warns that Sweet Marijuan Brown is frantic, directionless, and dangerous. I haven't known many people to get anything much like "frantic" from smoking out, and I can't help wondering if Bigard's getting his information from Reefer Madness. Lee at least is honest enough to admit she's indulging in fantasies when she talks about how she'll get her man back if she smokes enough.
... The U.S. Supreme Court decided yesterday that it's okay to seize private property for other private enterprise provided that the private enterprise (in this case, a strip mall) is for the "public good." Now, personally I consider strip malls for the public bad, just like SUVs and open sewers, but the Supreme Court seems to believe in trickle-down (was that ever anything more than a weak attempt at robber baron self-justification?)
It's a poor decision as I see it, but I wonder if it could be used for archivists and librarians to declare "eminent domain" on abandoned intellectual property. It's troublesome and counterproductive to have songs and films and books about which can't be re-used in some way originally intended by the Constitution (that is, in the progress of the arts and sciences--in commentary, in scholarship, in archiving) because the rights holders can't be found. At least in this case, you wouldn't be kicking a family out of its house; the work has been abandoned; there's no paper trail to contact the rightsholders (or compensate them!); and so the seizure would be victimless.
[Amazon.com] Barney Bigard -- 1944-1945 (Allmusic.com review)
[Amazon.com] Julia Lee -- Kansas City's First Lady of the Blues
posted by Tuwa @
14:07 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, March 07, 2005:
So. Another post.
Dave Lippman -- I Hate Wal-Mart
Dave Lippman -- Thank You
Dave Lippman is a satirical folk/anti-folk singer with a career going back to Bush the First's tenure as Preznint. Lippman's alter-ego (or at least the most popular of them) is George Shrub, the world's only singing CIA agent; Shrub is a cold-hearted and borderline sociopathic bastard. But that's the kind of person you get when you're working to maintain oligarchy in the face of struggles for fairness and egalitarianism.
Lippman is not his character. Dave Lippman strikes me as intensely moral and clear-headed; he's got principles, and he's pissed when they're violated, whether it's the government or a multinational corporation violating them.
Which brings us to these:
"I Hate Wal-Mart" is a satirical song about some of the (many) reasons to hate Wal-Mart, most of them centering on its relentless hegmenozing of the cultural and financial landscape. What's so great about it, aside from its humor and its catchiness, is that it also makes the occasional stop to skewer hypocritical activists as well. ([I hate] "Starbucks ... not so much.") Would worker oppression by any other name would smell as dank? ... Why yes, I think it would; thanks for asking.
"Thank You" is a sincere number, sweet and thoroughly charming. It's a very peaceful track, one I put on repeat sometimes when I'm chained to this desk doing computer stuff.
Both of these tracks are from Lippman's CD I Hate Wal-Mart, available at his site. Other favorites on that disc include "Roy Jordan and Ed Morgan," "In My Younger Days," and his cover of "Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs." I haven't heard his other discs, though I think I will.
Lippman and the Shrub are on tour now; in some of his concerts Lippman performs a show called Star of Goliath, arguing in favor of a Palestinian state.
Why hate Wal-Mart?
Not enough reasons for you?
Dave Lippman
A number of miscommunications and non sequiters have led me to still have hosting until at least the 10th of March. (Yes, I wrote about it and yes, I cut it; it was not so interesting.)So. Another post.
Dave Lippman -- I Hate Wal-Mart
Dave Lippman -- Thank You
Dave Lippman is a satirical folk/anti-folk singer with a career going back to Bush the First's tenure as Preznint. Lippman's alter-ego (or at least the most popular of them) is George Shrub, the world's only singing CIA agent; Shrub is a cold-hearted and borderline sociopathic bastard. But that's the kind of person you get when you're working to maintain oligarchy in the face of struggles for fairness and egalitarianism.
Lippman is not his character. Dave Lippman strikes me as intensely moral and clear-headed; he's got principles, and he's pissed when they're violated, whether it's the government or a multinational corporation violating them.
Which brings us to these:
"I Hate Wal-Mart" is a satirical song about some of the (many) reasons to hate Wal-Mart, most of them centering on its relentless hegmenozing of the cultural and financial landscape. What's so great about it, aside from its humor and its catchiness, is that it also makes the occasional stop to skewer hypocritical activists as well. ([I hate] "Starbucks ... not so much.") Would worker oppression by any other name would smell as dank? ... Why yes, I think it would; thanks for asking.
"Thank You" is a sincere number, sweet and thoroughly charming. It's a very peaceful track, one I put on repeat sometimes when I'm chained to this desk doing computer stuff.
Both of these tracks are from Lippman's CD I Hate Wal-Mart, available at his site. Other favorites on that disc include "Roy Jordan and Ed Morgan," "In My Younger Days," and his cover of "Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs." I haven't heard his other discs, though I think I will.
Lippman and the Shrub are on tour now; in some of his concerts Lippman performs a show called Star of Goliath, arguing in favor of a Palestinian state.
Why hate Wal-Mart?
Not enough reasons for you?
posted by Tuwa @
16:07 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Wednesday, November 03, 2004:
Right. An illegal unwinnable vastly expensive war under false pretenses, torture of POWs, massive tax cuts to people who least need it, bin Laden uncaptured and gleeful that we're bankrupting ourselves as he had planned, civil liberties being axed right and left while decrying "enemies of freedom," global warming on the march and our government officials ignoring it because they'd hoped for stronger third-quarter returns from Halliburton ... and what most needed correcting was all that talk about gay marriage.
"My goodness, what happened to your nose?"
"I cut myself shaving."
"You ought to be more careful. That must really smart."
"Only when I breathe."
Cop Shoot Cop, towards the end of their run: they've given in and added a guitar player. Their earlier albums were much heavier--two bassists, drums, singer--this one (Release) had a guitarist and even snatches of piano buried in the mix. Sneaky. Like that fundamentalist zealot who thinks he's on a mission from God. Which one? Take your pick.
Cop Shoot Cop fan page
[Amazon.com]
I cut myself shaving
Cop Shoot Cop -- It Only Hurts When I BreatheRight. An illegal unwinnable vastly expensive war under false pretenses, torture of POWs, massive tax cuts to people who least need it, bin Laden uncaptured and gleeful that we're bankrupting ourselves as he had planned, civil liberties being axed right and left while decrying "enemies of freedom," global warming on the march and our government officials ignoring it because they'd hoped for stronger third-quarter returns from Halliburton ... and what most needed correcting was all that talk about gay marriage.
"My goodness, what happened to your nose?"
"I cut myself shaving."
"You ought to be more careful. That must really smart."
"Only when I breathe."
Cop Shoot Cop, towards the end of their run: they've given in and added a guitar player. Their earlier albums were much heavier--two bassists, drums, singer--this one (Release) had a guitarist and even snatches of piano buried in the mix. Sneaky. Like that fundamentalist zealot who thinks he's on a mission from God. Which one? Take your pick.
Cop Shoot Cop fan page
[Amazon.com]
posted by Tuwa @
13:01 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Sunday, October 31, 2004:
Hey!! Stop what you're doing! You're not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, you're not going to stumble across the b-side to "Hand In Glove", and you're not going to find the unreleased Pixies album. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important election of our lives.
Find your nearest polling place and get prepared to vote. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote. If you are not a U.S. citizen than please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Participation by all is crucial.
Many artists/organizations are stepping up and helping with the Get Out the
Vote campaign. Below are some links but please continue to add your own. And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
Moveon.com
RockTheVote.com
JohnKerry.com
GeorgeWBush.com
MusicForAmerica.org
DeclareYourself
JustVote
GetEducated
And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
V.O.T.E. by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo
Tom Lehrer -- We Will All Go Together When We Go
Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.
Thanks,
Bloggin' For Democracy
and everyone that has agreed to post
the big ticket
songs:illinois
last sound of summer
Moebius Rex
Pregnant without intercourse
Bars and guitars
scissorkick
radio babylon
Kingblind
Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again
The Napkin
Just vote
Hey!! Stop what you're doing! You're not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, you're not going to stumble across the b-side to "Hand In Glove", and you're not going to find the unreleased Pixies album. What you need to do is get ready to vote in the most important election of our lives.
Find your nearest polling place and get prepared to vote. Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote. If you are not a U.S. citizen than please call or email all your American friends and make sure they plan on voting. Participation by all is crucial.
Many artists/organizations are stepping up and helping with the Get Out the
Vote campaign. Below are some links but please continue to add your own. And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
Moveon.com
RockTheVote.com
JohnKerry.com
GeorgeWBush.com
MusicForAmerica.org
DeclareYourself
JustVote
GetEducated
And since this is an mp3blog we've added a song or two as well.
V.O.T.E. by Chris Stamey and Yo La Tengo
Tom Lehrer -- We Will All Go Together When We Go
Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.
Thanks,
Bloggin' For Democracy
and everyone that has agreed to post
the big ticket
songs:illinois
last sound of summer
Moebius Rex
Pregnant without intercourse
Bars and guitars
scissorkick
radio babylon
Kingblind
Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again
The Napkin
Labels: politics
posted by Tuwa @
16:10 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Thursday, October 28, 2004:
Track today from that notorious singer/songwriter/humanitarian Yusuf Islam, whose peace activism so alarmed the United States they had him deported. (To be fair, the U.S. claimed he contributed money to charities which contributed to Hamas, which isn't the sunshiniest group around; but, to be logical, W. and Osama have a similar relationship; and Bush's pop and Noriega did as well, so why is the administration pretending outrage?)
This song is from Harold and Maude, in the scene where Harold is in bed blowing bubbles. Quite the change from his previous hobbies--all macabre failed attempts to get his mother's attention.
...
non-partisan political message follows:
Everyone in the U.S., please be aware that you can vote early, and please do vote. And, if you're in California, please know that you have the right to vote on a paper ballot. Spread the word.
I am very skeptical of e-voting machines: you get a paper record even for buying a Coca-Cola at the gas station, so why should your voice in your own government be any different? Is it less important?
Representative democracy hinges on accountability and transparency, and with no paper record, there's no possibility of a recount. So please do vote and please do request a paper ballot. If you've got one of these confounded e-voting machines in your area, you should take it up with your elections supervisor: the purpose of HAVA was to get away from things like hanging chads; that can be accomplished as easily with an optical scan machine (they work as expected and leave a paper record that can be recounted if need be. So they are, IMO, a thoroughly superior solution--the voice of the people being important and all). There have already been numerous reports of e-voting ballots being "lost," of people pressing the box for one candidate and a check-mark appearing for the other, of the machines crashing.... Please, please, regardless of whom you're voting for, vote on paper.
Official Site
[Amazon.com]
I think I see the light
Cat Stevens -- I Think I See the LightTrack today from that notorious singer/songwriter/humanitarian Yusuf Islam, whose peace activism so alarmed the United States they had him deported. (To be fair, the U.S. claimed he contributed money to charities which contributed to Hamas, which isn't the sunshiniest group around; but, to be logical, W. and Osama have a similar relationship; and Bush's pop and Noriega did as well, so why is the administration pretending outrage?)
This song is from Harold and Maude, in the scene where Harold is in bed blowing bubbles. Quite the change from his previous hobbies--all macabre failed attempts to get his mother's attention.
...
non-partisan political message follows:
Everyone in the U.S., please be aware that you can vote early, and please do vote. And, if you're in California, please know that you have the right to vote on a paper ballot. Spread the word.
I am very skeptical of e-voting machines: you get a paper record even for buying a Coca-Cola at the gas station, so why should your voice in your own government be any different? Is it less important?
Representative democracy hinges on accountability and transparency, and with no paper record, there's no possibility of a recount. So please do vote and please do request a paper ballot. If you've got one of these confounded e-voting machines in your area, you should take it up with your elections supervisor: the purpose of HAVA was to get away from things like hanging chads; that can be accomplished as easily with an optical scan machine (they work as expected and leave a paper record that can be recounted if need be. So they are, IMO, a thoroughly superior solution--the voice of the people being important and all). There have already been numerous reports of e-voting ballots being "lost," of people pressing the box for one candidate and a check-mark appearing for the other, of the machines crashing.... Please, please, regardless of whom you're voting for, vote on paper.
Official Site
[Amazon.com]
Labels: politics, rock, soundtrack
posted by Tuwa @
13:18 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Monday, October 25, 2004:
I put off today's post because I still hadn't decided what to post by the time I had to go to work. Then I came back and picked up this month's Wired, not because I wanted to read it--I didn't; I'm not that tech-savvy and not sure I want to be--but because I wanted the CD that came with it. It's got 16 tracks under a Creative Commons license, all cleared for sampling and sharing: from Dan the Automator to David Byrne to Zap Mama to My Morning Jacket.
I'm posting one of these because I think they are, in general, pretty damn good. Especially for $5. There's a brief writeup and track list here; the tracks are free to share so you can probably find them on your favorite p2p network.
Feel free to skip all the following: I haven't decided if I'm really making sense or if I'm just being a pretentious windbag. But if you do read it, I'd love to hear which you think it was. ^_^
I think the Creative Commons is exciting because it reverses the traditional position of copyright: copyright assumes that you must get permission before doing anything with anyone else's creation, which is a problem if you can't find the copyright holder or if the copyright holder doesn't want you using his or her work (that happened recently with a documentary made criticizing Hollywood's glorification of violence. Obviously for a film like that it's helpful to use the footage you're talking about, but the studios weren't interested in cooperating, so the film never got distribution.) Apparently the First Amendment is for the wealthy only--licensing footage, samples, excerpts etc. is not cheap--and sometimes it's not even for them, if you're saying something too much against what the copyright holders already think. I'm not sure if I agree with the film maker's premise--I haven't seen the film--but I would have liked to have a chance to see the work and decide for myself.
People tell you to vote with your pocketbook, but copyright is standing there like a poll tax collector--if you can't afford to buy the right to free speech, your only vote is an abstention; you are not allowed to speak in public.
Creativity results from the intersection of ideas, right? Metcalfe's Law, talking about the value of a computer network, has it that the value of any communication system grows exponentially with the number of users on the network--it makes sense, if you've ever logged onto AIM when none of your friends are on. Just a decade ago it was nearly unimaginable to have first-person accounts of something going on on the other side of the world, and to be able to talk frequently and at length with people on the other side of the world, but it's becoming increasingly common. Globalization is networking the world. IMO the value of that network is in the communication; and the value of the communication is in the number of ideas available on the network: with each new input the potential for creativity increases exponentially. Or it would, except for copyright.
Intellectual property isn't property; I can give my idea to you and it doesn't diminish its value--all it will diminish is my ability to make money off that idea, and then that will happen only if you can execute my idea better than I can. The only intellectual property I can have is an idea that I never share, and even then people can still arrive at "my" idea independently. It's happened with any number of inventions, so why not be able to patent or copyright everything, up to and including the combination of beans and rice? IP is an artificial monopoly, and it's getting an unhealthy bit of government protection. Creative Commons matters, and the public domain matters, and every time copyright is extended there's much less you and I can talk about meaningfully and forcefully, and public discourse loses.
I'm not sure when it was decided that commerce should trump freedom of speech, but that's not a decision I agree with. I think it's exactly backwards. Using economics as a barrier to free speech is inherently classist and undemocratic; the public welfare is more important than private wealth (and no, I don't believe trickle-down works--if it did, would the middle class be vanishing, and at such an alarming rate?)
Anyway, now that Creative Commons has come about, artists have a clear and easy way to be proactive about allowing others rights to their work. I think it's a good start towards a solution of a thorny problem.
In which I post a song and then rant a bit
Le Tigre -- Fake FrenchI put off today's post because I still hadn't decided what to post by the time I had to go to work. Then I came back and picked up this month's Wired, not because I wanted to read it--I didn't; I'm not that tech-savvy and not sure I want to be--but because I wanted the CD that came with it. It's got 16 tracks under a Creative Commons license, all cleared for sampling and sharing: from Dan the Automator to David Byrne to Zap Mama to My Morning Jacket.
I'm posting one of these because I think they are, in general, pretty damn good. Especially for $5. There's a brief writeup and track list here; the tracks are free to share so you can probably find them on your favorite p2p network.
Feel free to skip all the following: I haven't decided if I'm really making sense or if I'm just being a pretentious windbag. But if you do read it, I'd love to hear which you think it was. ^_^
I think the Creative Commons is exciting because it reverses the traditional position of copyright: copyright assumes that you must get permission before doing anything with anyone else's creation, which is a problem if you can't find the copyright holder or if the copyright holder doesn't want you using his or her work (that happened recently with a documentary made criticizing Hollywood's glorification of violence. Obviously for a film like that it's helpful to use the footage you're talking about, but the studios weren't interested in cooperating, so the film never got distribution.) Apparently the First Amendment is for the wealthy only--licensing footage, samples, excerpts etc. is not cheap--and sometimes it's not even for them, if you're saying something too much against what the copyright holders already think. I'm not sure if I agree with the film maker's premise--I haven't seen the film--but I would have liked to have a chance to see the work and decide for myself.
People tell you to vote with your pocketbook, but copyright is standing there like a poll tax collector--if you can't afford to buy the right to free speech, your only vote is an abstention; you are not allowed to speak in public.
Creativity results from the intersection of ideas, right? Metcalfe's Law, talking about the value of a computer network, has it that the value of any communication system grows exponentially with the number of users on the network--it makes sense, if you've ever logged onto AIM when none of your friends are on. Just a decade ago it was nearly unimaginable to have first-person accounts of something going on on the other side of the world, and to be able to talk frequently and at length with people on the other side of the world, but it's becoming increasingly common. Globalization is networking the world. IMO the value of that network is in the communication; and the value of the communication is in the number of ideas available on the network: with each new input the potential for creativity increases exponentially. Or it would, except for copyright.
Intellectual property isn't property; I can give my idea to you and it doesn't diminish its value--all it will diminish is my ability to make money off that idea, and then that will happen only if you can execute my idea better than I can. The only intellectual property I can have is an idea that I never share, and even then people can still arrive at "my" idea independently. It's happened with any number of inventions, so why not be able to patent or copyright everything, up to and including the combination of beans and rice? IP is an artificial monopoly, and it's getting an unhealthy bit of government protection. Creative Commons matters, and the public domain matters, and every time copyright is extended there's much less you and I can talk about meaningfully and forcefully, and public discourse loses.
I'm not sure when it was decided that commerce should trump freedom of speech, but that's not a decision I agree with. I think it's exactly backwards. Using economics as a barrier to free speech is inherently classist and undemocratic; the public welfare is more important than private wealth (and no, I don't believe trickle-down works--if it did, would the middle class be vanishing, and at such an alarming rate?)
Anyway, now that Creative Commons has come about, artists have a clear and easy way to be proactive about allowing others rights to their work. I think it's a good start towards a solution of a thorny problem.
posted by Tuwa @
18:40 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Tuesday, October 19, 2004:
Now I'm going to ask the question that's been on my mind for several years:
What is up with these these douchebags running our country?
They got nothing. They've trashed the economy, cut countless social programs, eviscerated the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments, and cut every environmental protection they can think of. And then there's that war on a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no WMDs (and no, did not have "38,000 liters of botulinum toxin" and "the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent" "in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad," or anywhere else). What did they find? A hazmat suit. Big deal; there are half a dozen in the chem lab building on campus. Then when someone brings that up, they fall back on the "isn't the world better now that Saddam's out of power?" bit as if the whole thing were just some grand humanitarian mission, nothing whatsoever to do with Bechtel and Halliburton contracts and Bush's complaint "he tried to kill my Daddy."
They try to cover it all up by sending out a steady stream of messages that reduce to "here's why you should be afraid," and painting dissenters as unpatriotic and immoral--always on about their own peculiar brand of "Christianity," which is so thoroughly divorced from what Christ taught that it's both hilarious and enraging. Christ taught love, humility, fairness, acceptance, and voluntary poverty; and Bushco are into pre-emptive war, profiteering, torture, and taxcuts for the wealthy. Not quite the same thing.
All those pederast priests were religious, so I don't see why faith is supposed to prevent evil. It's absurd. I know that one definition of "Christian" is that you aspire to be like Christ, and I'm well aware that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," but I really don't think that definition excuses anything Bush has done. I might as well call myself a "Jordanian" because I'd like to be like Mike, even though I can't dribble and don't practice.
So here's a track in honor of Bush and Christ. It's a Cole Porter tune; Reinhardt was most known for playing acoustic guitar with Stephane Grappelli, but here he is on electric. As you probably know, he was in a fire that badly burned his left hand, leaving two of his fingers mostly immobilized. It had a dramatic effect on his guitar playing, but I think he rallied nicely. Our democratic principles are currently on fire in the U.S., but maybe those can rally as well.
[Verve Jazz Masters 38 @ Amazon.com].
Night and Day
Django Reinhardt -- Night and DayNow I'm going to ask the question that's been on my mind for several years:
What is up with these these douchebags running our country?
They got nothing. They've trashed the economy, cut countless social programs, eviscerated the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments, and cut every environmental protection they can think of. And then there's that war on a sovereign nation that had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no WMDs (and no, did not have "38,000 liters of botulinum toxin" and "the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent" "in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad," or anywhere else). What did they find? A hazmat suit. Big deal; there are half a dozen in the chem lab building on campus. Then when someone brings that up, they fall back on the "isn't the world better now that Saddam's out of power?" bit as if the whole thing were just some grand humanitarian mission, nothing whatsoever to do with Bechtel and Halliburton contracts and Bush's complaint "he tried to kill my Daddy."
They try to cover it all up by sending out a steady stream of messages that reduce to "here's why you should be afraid," and painting dissenters as unpatriotic and immoral--always on about their own peculiar brand of "Christianity," which is so thoroughly divorced from what Christ taught that it's both hilarious and enraging. Christ taught love, humility, fairness, acceptance, and voluntary poverty; and Bushco are into pre-emptive war, profiteering, torture, and taxcuts for the wealthy. Not quite the same thing.
All those pederast priests were religious, so I don't see why faith is supposed to prevent evil. It's absurd. I know that one definition of "Christian" is that you aspire to be like Christ, and I'm well aware that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," but I really don't think that definition excuses anything Bush has done. I might as well call myself a "Jordanian" because I'd like to be like Mike, even though I can't dribble and don't practice.
So here's a track in honor of Bush and Christ. It's a Cole Porter tune; Reinhardt was most known for playing acoustic guitar with Stephane Grappelli, but here he is on electric. As you probably know, he was in a fire that badly burned his left hand, leaving two of his fingers mostly immobilized. It had a dramatic effect on his guitar playing, but I think he rallied nicely. Our democratic principles are currently on fire in the U.S., but maybe those can rally as well.
[Verve Jazz Masters 38 @ Amazon.com].
posted by Tuwa @
22:07 | permalink |
0 comments
|
Saturday, October 16, 2004:
Anyone see Jon Stewart on Crossfire? Tucker and Carlson expected him to come on and talk a bit about his book, make a few jokes, do a little song and dance, and leave. Instead he played along very briefly then started pressing the point that they were failing at their job of improving democratic discourse in the U.S.. It was very impressive. "Must see TV," indeed--or, if you're like me, and try to avoid TV whenever possible--must-see downloading.
STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one.
The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...
CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.
STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.
Now he's in a bit of a strange position, because his show is political but he's trying to say it's "only" comedy. Well, it's only comedy about very serious stuff, but as long as people can laugh it off his show doesn't get canceled, so he's toeing a line. I'm happy to see him do it as long as it keeps his show on the air, though I know it's uncomfortable and--honestly--the Kerry interview was Not Good. Not deep or thought-provoking and, yes, the questions were generally weak. But this Crossfire appearance was awesome. I wanted to send the man a telegram reading "RAWK!!! \o/"
...
Cafe Tacuba are a Mexican rock/metal/ska/jazz/hip-hop band started in 1989. The singer & lead guitarist "Anónimo" isn't entirely anonymous, though he is ... what? multi-pseudonymous? (... Suddenly I feel like a Coen bros. character--"Jesus, Tom, I was just speculatin' about a hypothesis.") Dude changes his name a lot, I mean. Two brothers, Joselo and Queque Rangel, on guitar and bass; Emmanuel Del Real on keyboards & guitar.
"Metamorfosis" seems appropriate enough today--not for the lyrics; they're about a woman that the singer met who used to be down to earth and became a snob--but for the jaunty happiness of it. Whistling down the street twirling a cane. It's a cover song, like everything else on Avalancha de Éxitos and, like everything else on that album, I've never heard the original. I'm guessing it's a lot different.
Will Stewart's appearance change anything on Crossfire? I doubt it. Will it change his own life? Maybe. Maybe the format of his show, or maybe whether he works on it. But what had me so excited about it was not the sincerity or the persistence of it, but the audience reaction. At first they were taken aback--this isn't what I ordered--and then they were applauding.
bittorrent -- Jon Stewart on Crossfire
[Amazon.com]
You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks
Café Tacuba -- MetamorfosisAnyone see Jon Stewart on Crossfire? Tucker and Carlson expected him to come on and talk a bit about his book, make a few jokes, do a little song and dance, and leave. Instead he played along very briefly then started pressing the point that they were failing at their job of improving democratic discourse in the U.S.. It was very impressive. "Must see TV," indeed--or, if you're like me, and try to avoid TV whenever possible--must-see downloading.
STEWART: You know, the interesting thing I have is, you have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.
CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think.
STEWART: You need to go to one.
The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...
CARLSON: Wait. I thought you were going to be funny. Come on. Be funny.
STEWART: No. No. I'm not going to be your monkey.
Now he's in a bit of a strange position, because his show is political but he's trying to say it's "only" comedy. Well, it's only comedy about very serious stuff, but as long as people can laugh it off his show doesn't get canceled, so he's toeing a line. I'm happy to see him do it as long as it keeps his show on the air, though I know it's uncomfortable and--honestly--the Kerry interview was Not Good. Not deep or thought-provoking and, yes, the questions were generally weak. But this Crossfire appearance was awesome. I wanted to send the man a telegram reading "RAWK!!! \o/"
...
Cafe Tacuba are a Mexican rock/metal/ska/jazz/hip-hop band started in 1989. The singer & lead guitarist "Anónimo" isn't entirely anonymous, though he is ... what? multi-pseudonymous? (... Suddenly I feel like a Coen bros. character--"Jesus, Tom, I was just speculatin' about a hypothesis.") Dude changes his name a lot, I mean. Two brothers, Joselo and Queque Rangel, on guitar and bass; Emmanuel Del Real on keyboards & guitar.
"Metamorfosis" seems appropriate enough today--not for the lyrics; they're about a woman that the singer met who used to be down to earth and became a snob--but for the jaunty happiness of it. Whistling down the street twirling a cane. It's a cover song, like everything else on Avalancha de Éxitos and, like everything else on that album, I've never heard the original. I'm guessing it's a lot different.
Will Stewart's appearance change anything on Crossfire? I doubt it. Will it change his own life? Maybe. Maybe the format of his show, or maybe whether he works on it. But what had me so excited about it was not the sincerity or the persistence of it, but the audience reaction. At first they were taken aback--this isn't what I ordered--and then they were applauding.
bittorrent -- Jon Stewart on Crossfire
[Amazon.com]
posted by Tuwa @
14:51 | permalink |
0 comments
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Thursday, October 07, 2004:
A track in honor of the recent debates, mostly because I'm reading this spotty ponderous text for class but the author recently got interesting when he brought up Karl Popper's "Worlds of Knowledge" theory and implied that people spend their time in deeply ideosyncratic personal worlds, unaware of or unable to perceive "objective" reality. (It sounds sensible enough to me--I've been puzzled enough by peoples' reactions to various things not to question it--and I'd like to think the theory also calls into question what we can know. But that's probably just my agnostic bias, and it's certainly more than I can expect a politician to admit.)
At any rate. Asian Dub Foundation don't want to get into discussions of objective reality or subjective personal worlds. The truth is out there, even if we can't always find it, and they're pissed when people hide it.
I was listening to the Asian Dub Foundation a few years ago when one of my friends asked if I had anything by them that wasn't dub. Um. No, I don't. Sorry. They do tend to focus on dub, though they cut it with rock and ambient and punk and Bengali and dancehall and whatever else they take a mind to. But it works.
The group hails from the U.K. and came about as a result of a project to teach Asian children the basics of music; the group is unabashedly political, anti-racist, and collectivist; they can get a little didactic at times, but I think they're great. (On that note ... tomorrow, a track from The Coup).
Official site (with downloads)
review of the band--their place in, and reaction to, British culture.
[Amazon.com] Behold the puzzlement of distribution systems--no US distribution for this disc.
...
I was thinking of posting Salif Keita's "Ananaming" tonight, but benn loxo du tàccu beat me to it. All right then. I should have known better; the man did say he was on Mali this week. So go give "Ananaming" a listen; it's very good. And check out everything else he's posted; they've all been winners.
Truth Hides
Asian Dub Foundation -- Truth HidesA track in honor of the recent debates, mostly because I'm reading this spotty ponderous text for class but the author recently got interesting when he brought up Karl Popper's "Worlds of Knowledge" theory and implied that people spend their time in deeply ideosyncratic personal worlds, unaware of or unable to perceive "objective" reality. (It sounds sensible enough to me--I've been puzzled enough by peoples' reactions to various things not to question it--and I'd like to think the theory also calls into question what we can know. But that's probably just my agnostic bias, and it's certainly more than I can expect a politician to admit.)
At any rate. Asian Dub Foundation don't want to get into discussions of objective reality or subjective personal worlds. The truth is out there, even if we can't always find it, and they're pissed when people hide it.
I was listening to the Asian Dub Foundation a few years ago when one of my friends asked if I had anything by them that wasn't dub. Um. No, I don't. Sorry. They do tend to focus on dub, though they cut it with rock and ambient and punk and Bengali and dancehall and whatever else they take a mind to. But it works.
The group hails from the U.K. and came about as a result of a project to teach Asian children the basics of music; the group is unabashedly political, anti-racist, and collectivist; they can get a little didactic at times, but I think they're great. (On that note ... tomorrow, a track from The Coup).
Official site (with downloads)
review of the band--their place in, and reaction to, British culture.
[Amazon.com] Behold the puzzlement of distribution systems--no US distribution for this disc.
...
I was thinking of posting Salif Keita's "Ananaming" tonight, but benn loxo du tàccu beat me to it. All right then. I should have known better; the man did say he was on Mali this week. So go give "Ananaming" a listen; it's very good. And check out everything else he's posted; they've all been winners.
posted by Tuwa @
13:04 | permalink |
0 comments
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