Friday, March 31, 2006

On My Friday Mind


I see that there are a million things going on in town due to Noise Poop being here...

man I remember when that amounted to like Kevin Arnold booking a Fastbacks gig, and that was that... now it just rolls on for daze... it's a concept , it's been sold, it's a marketing plan...yikes ...

anyway, here's one that doesn't look so bad...or even noise poppy


Annie's Social Club on Sat Night in SF ...good DJ's, possibly even an interesting Brazilian musician on Quannum label... not sure about the live show, but I've enjoyed what I've heard so far ( i first left y'all a track back in October, but i bet ya slept on it)

so here's anotha

Curumin - Guerreiro

anyhow...


Friday's Random Revelations & Hijacked MP3 Links For You

So I'm here hustling to get out of work so I can get my weekend started... and realize I ain't left none y'all with nothing to ferment over the long weekend...

So... it's time to get yer grooves on so I can get lost...


Here's a track from SF DJ Funkalicious now defunct funk mp3 blog Funk You, the last post was in April 2005 before dey left me hanging in the ether last spring. Ironically readers were stranded just like the citizens of the hometown of the singer here, Ms. Francine King. She was one of ol' New Orleans finest soul singers in the sixties, a woman who must've worked up a fury onstage round the ol' Dew Drop Inn...

Francine King - Two Fools ( featuring Sax Kari)




While out looking for a picture of Francine King , I stumbled upon a German site that will certainly stimulate if not satiate your soull sounds curiosity... SoulExplosion.de
It's a gem of a find, I imagine especially if you can read German... chock full of good soul nuggets... like this Manu Dibango cut, an artist I previously only knew via his version of Soul Makossa...

Manu Dibango - Salt Popcorn




hmmm...

from their Lost Weekend release, 90's Brit popping sensations

Elastica - Hold Me Now

and then a cut from the Radio One BBC session disc

Elastica - In The City

Speaking of the British Isles....

I was just lazily trolling the web, and came upon a fine Scottish site ripe for mp3 link poaching...Let's Kiss And MakeUp.

Named after a Field Mice song, the mysterious gentleman who has built such a twee pop & ramble damble of a place for prose & mostly Brit-pop tracks is an unabashed overeducated 35 year old. Apparently employed at the obscure, but no doubt prestigious University of Strathclyde I will assume certainly not enough people are glomming onto his recent posts & picks, so I'm gonna repost 5 of my fave recent mp3 links he hath offered up...

Cud were a northern English band that the late John Peel used to champion a lot back in the early 90's...Jon Langford of the Mekons produced some stuff for them when they moved over to A&M, but I'm not the only one who likely lost track. Here's a ribald & raw indie take (from an Imaginary records tribute disc) on a classic transgender-ified Kink's stadium rock pleaser...

Cud - Lola

Th' Faith Healers were a somewhat popular pasty college rock circuit group of the late 80's/early 90's that recently reapperared on the scene at SXSW in Austin earlier in March. Go Figger, here's one from their first and according to Mr. Scottish University type, their bestest release ever Lido... see fo yo bad self...

Th' Faith Healers - It's Easy Being You

Like almost all British Isle bloggers, this guy of course can't get enuf of ol uncle Mo...even the new stuff. I wonder how long it can all last, with more Mexican kids digging his scene than pasties, and it's been a decade since he done quit The Smiths, and gone out west. Heck last time I saw Morrissey it was in his hometown of West Hollywood, but at least he was hanging in an English pub, (The Coach & Horses if you must know).

Morrissey - 'I will see you in far off places'

Apparently our boy in Glasgow likes elongated proggy jams & stuff and even mentions 'Krautrock" , in his posting of a 2004 cut from US stoner drone meisters The Secret Machines while hyping their upcoming spring tour of the UK not so long ago...

The Secret Machines - 'Alone, jealous and stoned'

Here's the darn poppy lil track our no doubt kilt wearing baldheaded bad boy who salsaliciously ivates while dreaming of students in Glasgow hath named his entire blog after...

The Field Mice - 'Let's Kiss and Make Up'

anyhow... I digress, and what's new there



the weekend is firmly & stormily edging into view...

and I just gotta get my Friday on...



from the release Bang Bang Rock and Roll,

Art Brut - Good Weekend

Mike Reno & Loverboy, before they were retired & falling off their boats and drowning, these sweat banded Canadians were working in the 80s... here's a lil' proof

Loverboy - Everybody's Working For The Weekend

Yet, when in doubt turn to the groundbreakers of weekend troubadouring & junkie whoring

New York Dolls - Seven Day Weekend

and here's the 21st century indie mall punk version of a not altogether unfamiliar concept

Hey Mercedes - Our Weekend Starts On Wednesday


and a few mellower adult rock weekend jams for y'all

The Cure - Friday I'm In Love

Lloyd Cole - Lost Weekend



here's East Coast hair band veteran & former Chesterfield Kings,and Ace Frehley's Comet singer Richie Scarlet doing an Easy Beats cover. The original song version a big hit in the 60's, written by Vanda & Young, who later had a lot of success producing their protege's AC/DC...

Richie Scarlet - Friday On My Mind




well it's raining, and i gotta get outta here...


BYE

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Not only did I read this week that Apple Computer is still battling The Beatles over over twice litigated naming rights issues... but that The Beatles retro image is now caught up in the modern politically correct anti-smoking fervor.

Capitol/EMI has scheduled the reissue of some early Beatles recordings, and in a bit of historical revisionism, on the cover, they've yanked the cigarettes out of the bands hands... and it's not the first time.

The Capitol Albums Vol 2 ( marking the first appearance on CD of the U.S. versions of Rubber Soul, soundtrack of Help!, The Early Beatles and Beatles VI )- will see the Fab Four's former nasty tobacco habit and two of Ringo Starr's fingers magically eradicated.


82 of the 92 songs on the new boxset are versions that have never been on CD including many of George Martin's original & stereo mixes, with the set due out in stores on April 11th.

A previous 1980's reissue of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" had Paul McCartney's cigarette removed from the frame, and a recent poster of Abbey Road omitted Paul's cancer stick as well. Ironically, a quick web search reveals several sites that sell old Beatles cigarette cases and recently licensed from Apple Corp Beatles brand Zippo lighters...

As you may know, the late George Harrison and Paul's wife Linda McCartney suffered horrendous battles with Cancer which may or may not have been linked to cigarette smoking...


George's first recorded vocal song ...

Beatles - Don't Bother Me


another early tune:
Beatles - Baby's In Black



Of course the most notorious Beatles cover censorship was the the infamous "butcher cover" that featured the band adorned with meat & dismembered babydolls...



pssst...

Here's a 'cool' animated video of TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS

Do ya wanna know a secret?

Beatles - Do You Want To Know A Secret

A new book recently released by an Abbey Road sound engineer says that the original title of the Abbey Road record was to be Everest...

Everest being the brand smoked by the engineer of the album, Geoff Emerick. Paul was particularly keen on visiting the world's tallest peak, yet Ringo hated the idea.

With the release date drawing near, and the logistics of getting the band together for a photo on Mt. Everest seeming as insurmountable as the peak itself, a compromise was reached.


"'Well, if we're not going to name it Everest and pose for the cover in Tibet, where are we going to go?' a frustrated Paul asked one afternoon.

"John and George Harrison looked flummoxed. Finally, Ringo chirped in.

"'F**k it; let's just step outside and name it Abbey Road,' he joked.

"And that, believe it or not, is how the album got its name. It had nothing to do with how much they loved the studio, despite what the Abbey Road executives have claimed for decades. In point of fact, they hated the place. It was simply because they were unwilling to travel any further than they had to."


- from Geoff Emerick's new book : Here There & Everywhere:My Life Recording the music of the Beatles


here's an interview Emerick recently did on WMGK w/"Breakfast With The Beatles" radio host Andre Gardener


---------------

Meanwhile in the UK high court, the wigs are powdered and the stage is set for the ongoing litigation drama of Apple Corps Limited v Apple Computer Inc...

It appears the Beatles were always gentlemen about Steve Jobs blatant infringement on their corporate namesake. Upon George Harrison spotting the Apple computers advertised in a 1980 British mag, Apple Corp contacted the California computer makers. In what appears to be a noble gesture, The Beatles granted limited use of "Apple", in return for $80,000 in legal costs, and obligingly drew up an agreement to share their use of their trademark, in November 1981.

The terms basically allowed Apple Computer to operate under it's chosen namesake exclusively in the "computer" business, where as Apple retained rights in the field of "Entertainment". Apple Computer basically agreed not to place its name or logo on any products used for the "recording or reproduction of music" or "intended for synthesizing music."

Things went along well enough until 1989, when Apple Corps began court proceedings, claiming the computer company had breached their 1981 agreement by creating sound capabilities, music production software and computers utilizing the popular midi interface. In 1991, Apple Computer paid an undisclosed multimillion dollar out of court settlement believed to be in the neighborhood of around $30 milllion to continue operations under their now well established moniker. The final terms were somewhat circumspect though in regards to where the legal jurisdiction lay for the parties in any future disagreements.

Fast Forward to 2003, and the launch of the I-Tunes Music store, as the Beatles' Apple Corps states in a complaint that Apple Computer has definitely entered the entertainment business and breached their trademark agreement. Steve Jobs and Co. see the suit as a pain in the ass and figure if the The Beatles want to litigate, then send lawyers to San Jose for a prolonged American style tussle.

The Beatles have so far won the right to continue the matter in the U.K, and Apple Computer must pay for the hearings and an additional $181,940 for "final assessment of trial costs". Although the British judge did delight Apple Computer's chief counsel when he asked if he need be recused since he owned an I-Pod.

It appears that the case is a perfect example of how not to draw up contracts, with ambiguities everywhere, including most egregiously a failure to even commit to a legal jurisdiction for future imbroglios. Said Justice Mann, the presiding UK High Court judge who is hearing the reinvigorated case in 2006, "If their intention . . .was to create obscurity and difficulty for lawyers to debate in future years, they have succeeded handsomely."

The Beatles' attorney claimed in court in Wednesday's opening salvo that the computer company was eager to use the Apple brand on its iTunes Music Store, and had offered $1 million to Apple Corps for the rights in an earlier offer rejected outright by Neil Aspinall, Apple Corps' managing director.

Here we go again...

Beatles - Something

Beatles - Don't Let Me Down

Beatles - Here Comes The Sun

Beatles - Within You Without You

Beatles - Yellow Submarine

Hank Handy - Beatles Mash Up Medley

in more recent and rockin' happenings:

Next Sunday night I'm partcipating in a panel hosted by http://artsandmedia.netto help upcoming musician types foment the clout they'll need with booking agents...

You Can't Stop the Music
Ways to get your music moving - Music Booking Panel
Hosted by Independent Arts & Media and Lilycat.com

Sunday April 9th
7PM till 9PMish roughly
Edinburgh Castle
950 Geary (between Polk and Larkin)
San Francisco
$3 -5 (No one turned away due to lack of funds)

You have that band put together, have some songs that you think rocks, and
even have the merchandise; but you don't know how to get your music any
place where people will hear it?

Don't go at it alone, don't let some supposed experts lecture you on the
subject; "come and ask questions of our panel from the music industry
trenches, who are out there learning what works and what doesn't.

**Hear tales
and share a few of your own.

Our panel of real people from record label, radio stations, venues, bands,
and more
will be talking about such things as:
- Press kits
- Demos
- Best way to approach festivals, radio stations, labels...
- Booking venues
- Publicity
- Touring
- Do's and don'ts


***The panel will be largely casual Q&A from the audience.
DJ Puss Puss
Some of the people that you will be able to gain knowledge from will be:


Jesse Townley of Alternative Tentacles,
Killian MacGeraghty - of Gun And Doll Show ,
DJ Puss Puss - club DJ, music reviewer and Sister of Perpetual Indulgence
Jocelyn Kane, SF entertainment commisioner / Motogirl Productions
Charlotte Summer - local performer/recording artist


oh, and San Francisco's
underground music & art's scene jerk of all trades, yers truly, Lil Mike Martzke...

This educational and alcohol infused opportunity will be at a kick back 21+ locale with the best ales, single malt scotches and the finest fish and chips in town; so come upstairs into the Castle's dark performance enclave for a meet and great that will be running through the whole event.

FOR MORE INFO:
http://artsandmedia.net
http://www.lilycat.com

other stuff:

I see that PA based Relapse records has released some early & previously fairly rare Mastodon demo recordings... here's a couple samples from "Call Of The Mastodon"...




Mastodon - Hail To Fire

Mastodon - Slickleg

Monday, March 27, 2006

Don't Wanna Know If You Are Lonely

Dick Cheney's bird killing buddy Justice Scalia is on a roll. Not content to pick presidents, and enjoy his lifetime position with free robes, he's also enjoying shooting his mouth off and gesticulating to those that disagree with him, and asking that the diocese not publish photos of him doing so. What a guy...

UPI is running a piece about a moment this weekend when questioned by a Boston Herald reporter about whether he is questioned much about the separation between church and state.






"You know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."





gesture courtesy wonkette

anyhow, "his honor" is scheduled to hear matters regarding Gunatanamo detainees soon, but apparently already frothed out his opinion on their rights at a talk he gave overseas in March. Newsweek recently, and even that left leaning tower offish wrapping The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that

Challenged by one audience member about whether the Guantanamo detainees don't have protections under the Geneva or human-rights conventions, Mr. Scalia shot back: "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy." Mr. Scalia was apparently referring to his son Matthew, who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq, the magazine notes.

------------------------

speaking of D.C's astute judges

The DCist website has been running an informal poll that is a Zogbian beltway interwebs version I'd call "American Idle"... name a DC theme song.

Apparently due to the demographically skewed readership of lame elite pasty white collared & khaki'd criminals in their readership, the Magnetic Fields are leading this DCist poll thing...and this song is really sorta whiny & anti the monuments etc. Wha?

Magnetic Fields - Washington DC

Anyone who knows anything about D.C knows that those white Latte City people retire nightly to the safety of Arlington & Chevy Chase as soon as it starts looking like it might get dark and DC officially becomes the Chocolate City.

Parliament done it right back circa 1976, and nobody can truly top it... not even a pedigreed posse covering the tune, such as 2003's "Clinton Administration" ensemble with the almost equally legendary Chess Records keys player Phil Upchurch, and P-Funk/James Brown drummer Clyde Stubbelfield as well as modern compatriots like DJ Logic, Skerik, Robert Walters and members of his 20th Congress...

Parliament - Chocolate City (2003 Re-Grooved excerpt)

from the One Nation Under A Groove, Re-Grooved CD




Perhaps though maybe you'd like to chime in on your own DC fave... then hit the DCist polls interweb vote module and vote.




Nice to see that the NY Times, the supposed " Paper of Record" has caught on to some 3 & 4 year old memos that show the Bush & Blair admin's steam rolling over any possible thoughtful consideration or debate and insisting that war with Iraq is anything but a foregone conclusion. I love the part about heads of state and their staffs casually penciling in March 10th as a good start date, like it's a luncheon appointment.

Just imagine the phone call:

"I just wanna get it going real quick y'know, Karl says I've got something already on the 8th, maybe we can we push it to the 9th..oh, no that's a Sunday and I promised the wife I'd go shopping with her after church. Monday the 10th sounds better , how about you Tony?" says our Pennsylvania Ave resident in his good ol boy drawl...

"well certainly Mr. Bush we would like it to be a convienent invasion as well...the tenth sounds just fine. I'm sure there will be no problems here... toodles" comes the chipper reply from 10 Downing St

---------------------------


The same label that put out the George Clinton Re-Grooved , Magnatude seems to specialize in Jam Band fare, and one of their recent releases is a Rush Tribute. The musicians here include Testament's Alex Skolnick, as well as hair band vocalists Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, Jani Lane of Warrant and Kip Winger amongst others. For a look at the lineup and tune selection hit the Magnatude website...

Rush Tribute - Subdivisions Medley Mix

There never was a decent Husker Tribute disc...

So I don't know where this raw demo-esque track came from , likely an import single B-side, but I always thought that these boys owed a little debt to not only the Buzzcocks, but Grant Hart and crew... here's some blistering proof...

Green Day - Don't Wanna Know If You Are Lonely (Husker Du cover )

-------------------------------------

Sally Crewe and The Sudden Moves ...
she's an Austin Tx via London England transplant, a Gerard Cosloy fave, and just finished a tour supporting The Wedding Present... so why not prsent a track from her recent "shortly After Take Off" release on 12XU records.

Sally Crewe and The Sudden Moves - Pane of Glass



long my fave Depeche Mode cover, since gosh, high school I suppose,
Nouvelle Vague, have a vexing lil francoise-esque version that is even cuter than the new wave chicks at my old high school

Nouvelle Vague - Just Can't Get Enough

and speaking of school, and old school in particular... J5 wasn't afraid to take us back in time...

here they are doing it in their inimitable old school style...just click it & let Mr 2na & Co. rock the mic...

Jurrassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyard - Funky Precedent edit


I was cruising the local SF dj crewe bfamily website and found this background info and a half hour mega mix with The Roots, To0 Short, Dee Lite and other electro funk faves


The Story of : Party In Your Ear Hole, Part 1

What's the deal with Star Child, Sir Nose, Maggots, Clones, Funkateers, Honkateers, Flash Lights, Casper, Bootzilla, Bop Guns, and all the other characters in the Chocolate Milky Way Galaxy?

P.Funk sure had a way of coming up with characters and little phrases that kept snowballing as more albums were made. Eventually, a complete self-referential P.Funk mythology was born, where the forces of funk, fun, intelligence and sex would battle the forces of boredom, the status quo, oppression, stupidity, frigidity and falsehoods.

The seeds were sewn on Chocolate City. The DJ character on the title tune inspired Lollypop Man (alias the Long Haired Sucker), who was the DJ on "P.Funk". George has said that since the radio wouldn't play his tunes, he might as well invent his own radio station (W-E-F-U-N-K) and DJ. Mothership Connection brought us Starchild, a divine being who came down from the Mothership to bring Funk to earthlings. It was revealed on The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein that Starchild was the agent of Dr. Funkenstein, mastermind of outer space funk. The secrets of funk were laid in the pyramids, because humanity wasn't ready for it...until now. Dr. Funkenstein is creating Clones known as the Children of Productions who will go out and make sure everything is on the One. Dr. Funkenstein can fix all of man's ills, because the bigger the headache, the bigger the pill; and he's the big pill.

Starchild would not be unopposed, however. On Funkentelechy Vs The Placebo Syndrome, Starchild's arch-enemy Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk is unleashed. Inspired by the Pinocchio Theory of Bootsy's Rubber Band ("If you fake the funk, your nose will grow"), Sir Nose is driven to stop the funk. He's too cool to dance; he represents the Placebo Syndrome, which causes people to stop thinking and stop dancing. He wants to put your mind to sleep and extend the reach of the Zone of Zero Funkativity. Starchild is ready for him, having been given the Bop Gun by Dr. Funkenstein. He is ready to strive for Funkentelechy for all. This literally means "the actualization of funk rather than its potential"; in other words, that everyone has the funk in them, they just have to realize it and reach for it. Using the Flash Light on the Bop Gun, Starchild zaps the Nose and makes him dance. He finds the Funk and goes crazy, and everyone dances away into the night.

But it can't last long. Sir Nose returns with an ally, Rumpofsteelskin. This time the battle rages underwater, on Motor Booty Affair. The unfunky Nose is too cool to swim or dance, but with the help of Mr. Wiggles and the denizens of Atlantis (where you can swim underwater and not get wet), they make Nose dance the Aqua Boogie. Sir Nose tries again on Gloryhallastoopid, but he's undone by the Big Bang Theory: Funk set the whole universe in motion. He pops up one last time on Trombipulation, tracing his ancestors (Cro-Nasal Sapiens) back to the pyramids and understands his own funky heritage. His offspring, Sir Nose, Jr, promises to be funky forevermore.

Funkadelic had much less of a story, but there was a lot of interconnected- ness. It all starts with Maggot Brain, which describes a state of mind that transcends all the bullshit of the world. You either rise above it all or drown with the rest of the maggots on this earth. One Nation Under A Groove describes the ideal country, Funkadelia, ruled by funk. It's a nation on the move which can't be stopped and can't be labeled. We are all Funkateers. Its army is called together by Uncle Jam himself, and the mission is to rescue dance music from the blahs.

Then there's Bootsy. His laid-back character was born on "Be My Beach", sort of a funny Jimi Hendrix. On Stretchin' Out, Bootsy becomes Casper the Friendly Ghost (or is it the Holy Ghost?), coming out of his sheet to say a friendly "boo!". He's ready to educate the little ones at his PsychoticBumpSchool. On Player of the Year, he transforms into Bootzilla, a rhinestone rock star of a doll designed by Funk-A-Tech, Inc. He can sing and dance and play for you, unlike Barbie dolls. Bootsy was regarded as a lighter side of the funk, with sillier lyrics talking to his Geepies. His musical style was far more disciplined than Funkadelic, however, with tighter rhythms and arrangements.



BABY DADDY intro (feat. Thirsty - The Roots / Thats Just my Baby Daddy - T-Bird / Clit Control - Miss Thang)
Shake That Big Onion - Detroit Grand Pubahs
Windowlicker (Acid Edit) - Aphex Twin
I Need A Freak - Electrocute
I Need A Freak - Too Short
16th - Pametex
Bout Ready To Jack - Osborne
Kisses - Audion
Nympho - Bitch Ass Darius
Shake My Ass - DJ King Tut & Mega Man
Work It Out - Magic Mike
Groove Is In The Heart - Dee-Lite
Bout Ready To Jak (Shake Remix) - Osborne
Countdown - DJ King Tut & Mega Man
Chemical Warfare - Godfather
Buford Highway - Brian Prince
Trip To The Moon - DBX
Japanese Animation - Japanese Telecom
Outro (feat Clit Control - Miss Thing)

For an excellent, in-depth mix within the cosmological stylee of post modern porn & P.Funk,

check out B-Family's B Dizzle & the

Party In Your Earhole MP3 mix


-
and in the interest of continuing in a retro contemporary mode I present the electro-nit-picky housin' like a gay real estate agent re-edit of Prince's Black Sweat single, which I shoulda included in last week's mega Prince-centric post... but I didn't find until just now... uh, so scream like a white lady & deal with it...

Prince - Black Sweat (Atom's Ripe Pit Mix)


gawta go ...

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Milking It - Organic-Industrial Complexities

A new study came out this week warning consumers that some of America's largest organic dairy brands may not be as pastoral or wholesome as they'd like you to believe. Almost 70 organic dairy producers were researched , visited and graded on a scale of 1 to 5 cows. The vast majority scored highly, but nearly 20% scored a substandard 1 cow rating, denoting that their practices resemble the unethical & inhumane conditions of large conventional factory farms consumers likely think they're avoiding when they pay extra for organic milk.

The Organic Trade Association, an organic agri-business lobbying group, issued a statement defending it's largest members who control 70% of the organic dairy market claiming that the survey would "only succeed in sowing seeds of distrust in organic farming and organic products."

The large scale corporate producers attempt through PR to conceal that they use farms packed with literally thousands of "organic" cows that have never encountered a blade of grass, most dining in pens on dry "organic" feeds, spending their lives confined and hooked onto a milking machines three times a day. The milk is then pumped into mass tanks, "ultra-pastuerized" in a high heat process to kill any stray bacteria, as well as helpful enzymes and many of the vitamins, so it can be transported across the country & packaged for shipping to consumers hundreds and even thousands of miles away.

While most organic dairy operations use 50-75 cows, it is increasingly common in this fiercely competitive industry, to see larger corporate concerns superseding traditional family farm & cooperative methods and tightly managing thousands of production animals at one location.

For example take Dallas Tx based Dean Foods, an $11 billion a year agri-business concern, that took over the Alta-Dena and Horizon Organics brands a few years ago. Dean Foods one of the five largest dairy-focused companies in the world amongst Danone, Nestlé, and Unilever owns the popular Horizon Organics, a brand that is rated only 1 cow on the 5 cow Cornucopia standards scale. Dean Foods has vigorously defended their reputation, and says they still buy some milk from family farms, but cannot deny they also manage a 4000 head containment farm in Idaho, are building a new 2000 head lot, and also buy milk from a 10,000 head operation in California. In February in New York at a meeting with shareholders, Dean reps refused to disclose how much of their milk came from operations of 1,000 cows or more.



Another "substandard" rated producer is Aurora, the nation's largest organic dairy concern, based in Colorado where it manages a 6000 head operation. They also buy from other agri-biz operators and produce private label and in house organic brands for Safeway, Wild Oats, Giant, Trader Joes and Costco.


Here is a photo of some of the hutches Aurora uses to confine their calves







Below are some calves at an Aurora "organic" facility after a routine inspection found them dead amongst thousands of hutches .




Here are some of the folks who "control every part of this system," and stand behind these "sustainable" practices in which legal complaints have been to the USDA alleging organic livestock management violations.





With demand for organic dairy products jumping 20% per year, and current suppies of organic milk flying off the shelves, Aurora and the industry as a whole are under pressure to meet demands from grocery chains who want the hottest products in stock at all times. With ultrapastuerization methods, Milk is now moving nationally across statelines, with midwestern mega-farms and Texas supplying much of the east coast, especially in winter when supplies are lower. Stonyfield dairies of New Hampshire says a shortage of US organic milk has them seeking permission to import New Zealand raised "organic" milk powders for it's yogurts.

The Cornucopia Institute is a non profit that started the Organic Integrity Project to act as a corporate and governmental watchdog assuring profit motives do not compromise the credibility of organic farming methods. According to the report's primary author Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for the Institute “Even though these packages show cows idyllically grazing on grass-covered pastures, with glowing prose attesting to the marketer's commitment to organic ideals, the milk might well have come from dairies that confine their cows to dirt feedlots and small sheds".

One farming group that rated a solid 4 cows on the study, and is right in the middle of the battle to increase production without compromise of their standards is "Organic Valley". They started in 1987 as a small regional Wisconsin organic cooperative, but have grown to 417 farms in their home state, and a total of over 700 small farms in 22 states. They range in size from 20 cows up to their largest member's 400 cow farm. Unlike the largest corporate organics purveyors, they denote region of origin on their milk cartons.

They recently cut an innovative deal with "Green Bank" an Amish farmers cooperative from Ohio to meet the growing demand for organic dairy products. However, despite being the nation's largest organic farming co-operative, they had to cease milk shipments to Wal-Mart last year as they could not ethically keep pace. They want mor farmer's to convert to organic methods, and are reaching ot to the younger generation to get involved through their "Generation Organic" program that actively recruits on campuses to get young people into farming. Evidence shows it may be working, as 2/3 rds of Organic Valley's farmers are 50 or younger, in contrast to the 61 percent of US farmers overall who are 55 or older.


Almost 20 years ago, when Organic Valley started, their were no real organic dairy standards in Wisconsin so they actually had to create their own, which have been adopted as a model for elsewhere. Specifications require that no animal be denied access to pasture, and that cattle graze whenever possible. While the average dairy cow on a conventional farm using rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone) to enhance milk production lives 18 months, the average Organic Valley cow is already over five years old.

The cooperative prides itself on the healthy animals they raise, and the awards and strides forward their farmers have made in the face of increased competition and dairy industry awash in antibiotics and bathed in hormones, and cost cutting chemicals. In Vermont last month, one of Organic Valley's traditional 65 cow dairies received both state and national honors for top quality milk, as well as an award for lowest somatic cell count, which is an indicator for udder health. "Receiving the award for lowest somatic cell count was very meaningful as it sends the message that antibiotics are not the only answer in treating herd health issues," said Organic Valley family dairyman Steve Meyer.

Organic Valley's commitment doesn't stop on their farms, and their website (http://www.organicvalley.com/) even maintain's activist tools that help visitors send instant messages to their elected officials on concerns such as animal cloning, genetically engineered food labeling and the need for organic research.

If you want to more about healthy organics, how to stop factory farming etc... meet me at the Santa Clara Convention Center where I'll be represeting Organic Valley, and handing out samples of their award winning dairy products, juices etc.

anyhow, that 's the rant of the day:

here's some links and even some soundtrack music for y'all

tunes:

Kelis - Milk Shake

Organic - The Getaway

Bjork - Aurora ( hot blue mix )

Harry McDonough - Wait Til The Cows Come Home

Jacob Haller - Milk Cow Blues


Wayne "The Train" Hancock - Milk Cow Blues
(live @ Continental Club in Austin 2003)

(Not) Tom Lehrer - Cows With Guns

Kenefick - Cows Y'all ( Who Let The Cows Out)


Sam Desborough - On The Farm

Samuel Jackson Five - If You Show Off The Milk...

Deerhoof - Milk Man


Deerhoof - Milking




links:

Survey Ranks ' Organic-ness" at Dairies
NY times March 22 2006

Behind the Organic-Industrial Complex
Michael Pollan wrote this NY times article in 2001

Land of Milk & Money
A 2005 expose' on Horizon Dairies from salon . com



I'm adding an addendum here in early July 2006 , as I've noticed some heavy traffic to this page from people seeking additional info on the controversy surrounding organic milk...from the South Bend Trbune


Defining 'organic' dairy
Big feedlot operations causing concern among consumers, farmers.




Steve Karnowski, Associated Press







JORDAN, Minn. -- The cows on Pam and Jeff Riesgraf's farm chomped happily away on lush green grass on a warm, sunny afternoon. Their milk would soon find its way to grocery stores, where organic dairy products are a hot item.



The Riesgraf farm represents one vision for organic dairy -- small- and medium-sized family farms where the cows have names and spend the growing season on pasture.



A different kind of organic dairy farm is emerging out west -- corporate-owned feedlot operations with thousands of cows that are fed organic grain but, according to critics, get little chance to graze.



Fears that big operations will muscle out family farms have produced a backlash, including a boycott by the Organic Consumers Association against the country's biggest organic milk brand, Horizon Organic.



Organic farmers and consumer groups are hoping the U.S. Department of Agriculture will level the field. The agency is considering whether to mandate that milk bearing the "USDA Organic" seal come from cows that have significant access to pasture, a move smaller producers say would give them the protection they need.Chris Hoffman drank Horizon milk until she learned about the dispute and switched brands.



The Sherburne, N.Y., woman said she'd thought she was buying milk from "family farms with happy cows." To her, feedlot milk does not follow the spirit of organic farming.



"I just think it's patently dishonest. And it just really ticked me off," she said.



Horizon, part of Fort Worth, Tex.-based Dean Foods Co., sells about half of the organic milk in this country,



through retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Its president and CEO, Joe Scalzo, said Horizon is a strong supporter of family farms, helping hundreds make the transition to organic. Horizon is just trying to meet the "exponential" growth in a market where demand outstrips supply by some 20 percent, he said.However, Mark Kastel, senior farm policy analyst with the research group Cornucopia Institute, countered, "There's been a near consensus in the organic community that these factory farms are repugnant to the consumer and put organic farms at a disadvantage."



Kastel said organic milk consumers are willing to pay more because they believe it's produced to higher ethical standards that benefit the environment, the animals and family farmers.



The Organic Trade Association says the U.S. organic dairy sector racked up $2.1 billion in sales last year, up 24 percent from 2004. The OTA says organics now make up 3.5 percent of all dairy products sold in the U.S.



While Scalzo said the boycott has had "very, very little" effect, he acknowledged Horizon has had to spend time explaining its position to stores.



While Broomfield, Colo.-based Horizon has taken the most heat, the critics also slam Aurora Organic Dairy, of Boulder, Colo., which provides private-label organic milk to chains including Costco, Safeway, Giant and Wild Oats.Aurora says it milks about 4,100 and 3,500 cows at its farms near Platteville, Colo., and Dublin, Texas, and will open a 3,200-cow operation near Kearsey, Colo., this fall.



The company says its approach is unique in the organic dairy sector, allowing it to keep prices affordable while producing the highest quality milk. Aurora says its cows get a balanced diet that includes organic grain and hay, as well as grazing on organic pasture.



Aurora spokeswoman Amy Barr said organic standards shouldn't be based on an "image of Old MacDonald's Farm" held by people who may never have been on a farm. Pasture is important, but it's not the only measure of animal welfare, nor is an all-grass diet necessarily the best for a cow's health, she said.



Horizon milks about 4,000 cows at its farm near Paul, Idaho, and about 450 at its farm near Kennedyville, Md. But Scalzo said Horizon gets over 80 percent of its milk from 340 family farms, all but three of them with herds of 500 cows or fewer.



"Farms of all sizes are going to be needed -- at least for the foreseeable future, the next two to five years -- to meet demand," Scalzo said.


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In other news, or at least news about who makes the news,
The Washington Post hired a guy whose bio calls "the web's leading Republican community" blogger blowhard, and former Bush appointee( the youngest ever!) named Ben Domenech to write a conservative column called "Red America" that launched on March 21. ( hey I thought Red referred to commies... why does the right get control of the color of the commies? huh?? )
Well, anyhow Ben, whose previous credentials include home schooling before dropping out of college and working for the publishing house that bought you "Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry" was looking forward to a shot at using the Post's pulpit for his own punditry, and that apparently went bust within three days... I hear he was asked to move on dot org quickly as it were...


Why you ask ? well it's not that the guy is a ego maniacal nitwit, or rascist rabble rouser who in the past has referred to Coretta Scott King as a commie, or even that he recently wrote that The KKK has killed less innocent people than Supreme Court's support of abortion rights.

Nope, the Washington Post hired him & then fired him because he , well, he apparently wasn't even doing "his own" critical thinking...and the Post thanked it's readers for pointing this out... I guess since the news organ didn't have time themselves...

The reason he's gone, is that the Post got wind of multiple instances of irrefutably plagiaristic material, and even took the time to mention and report on them to it's readers. For his part Domenech is in denial and had old friends at a conservative Capitol Hill paper publish his denials under the headline "Domenech Strikes Back, Calls Washington Post Editors 'Fools'

The Daily Kos printed comparisons of another sample from Domenech's National Review writing that liberally borrowed from prases of an Altlanta Journal Constituition writer.

Salon.com's lead story yesterday was "A Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Plagiarist". While David Brock's Media Matters seized on the issue, including refuting denials of Domenech, in particular about a 2001 piece that blatantly cribbed from PJ O'Rourke( longtime right leaning yuppie Foreign Policy voice at Rolling Stone, and now a fellow at The Cato Institute)...

I don't really care much I suppose , as I probably wouldn't have read some privileged Bush-loving boy spouting his crazed creepo coments... but at least there are folks out there exposing liars and chumps.

Because , golly, I just wanna rock...

Twisted Sister - I Wanna Rock

Joe Strummer - The Road To Rock & Roll

Badfinger - Rock & Roll

Generation X - King Rocker

Kid Rock - My Name Is Rock

Speaking of Rock, I'm hoping to catch The Hellacopters tonight, but since I'm fairly broke, forgot to buy tickets ahead of time, and it's at one of my least favorite venues, so maybe not. Whatever, I have all I need because everything is on TV...

Hellacopters - Everythings on TV

The first time I had a chance to see Swedish rock revivalists The Hellacopters it was a pretty great bill, with The Supersuckers .

Eddie Spaghetti- I Don't Want To Grow Up ( Tom Waits cover )

Turns out Hellacopters frontman Nicke Andersson is also the drummer and main songwriter in Entombed and is involved in a new project called DeathBreath - go to there MySpace site and deal with it...

Well as meorable as the above mentioned bands might be, no one can top the live show of El Vez as far as i'm concerned... I wish he'd get off his Teatro Zinzanni dinner theater horse and return to playing his annual holiday show around here again...

El Vez - Power To The People ( John Lennon cover)

Turns out that Israeli metal band Acropolis are offering up a new track, replete with screaming, plodding riffs and some guy whose singing resembles a Jewish Bruce Dickinson

Acropolis - Lead The Wake







anyhow, gotta go... toodles








Monday, March 20, 2006

Randomly Running Thoughts

The Canadian Recording Industry Association ( CRIA) has released a 144 page study eh, showing consumer trends and actually suggests that home burned & ripped CD's are the number one source for new music in the Great White North. A similar study in 2004 found that Canadians are much more likely to download music via peer to peer networks than US citizens.

Surprisingly, the new CRIA funded phone survey found that the 33–45 year-old demographic has the largest proportion of downloaded files on their computers, with an average of 31% admitting their music comes from file-sharing, compared to 27% from their own ripped CDs. The new study also states that people 18-29 are the second largest purchasers of music, with 13 to 17 year olds buying the most CD's and DVD's, on average about 2 a month. For a more thorough analysis of the data see a survey of the survey by Michael Geist.


In further news of potential interest to Canadians and Canada-ophiles I suggest you study the works of the great prophets Bob & Doug McKenzie

and if that don't stop ya...note that Canada no longer has a monopoly on things Canadian. For example, note the curious name of Americana country rockers "Cross Canadian Ragweed" from Yukon Oklahoma ( Garth Brooks Hometown)...

Cross Canadian Ragweed - Juicy Fruit


Cross Canadian Ragweed - I Use To Love Her

or what about Philly via New England avant Chamber pop quintet Matt Pond PA who unashamedly went about flaunting a track called The Canadian Song on their Green Fury album...

Matt Pond PA - The Canadian Song

heck, Canadian references are creeping into every nook & cranny of the alt & indie scenes, from dancefloor ready workouts like Junior Boys own Manitoba remix onto the entire label "Secretly Canadian" , home of Lens Jenkman or Jens Lekman or whatever his freaking name is...

Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves

Junior Boys - Birthday ( Manitoba Mix)



If you keep clicking you may discover the always excellent work of longstanding American midwestern instituition The Evolution Control Committee or even try the many tentacled website of the well organized anti Canada activists known as The World Oligarchy movement ...

Evolution Control Committee - Boards of CanaDa-Di-Da-Di




World Oligarchy - No Canada

Bob & Doug McKenzie of The Great White North - Take Off You Hoser

Here's quite possibly one of the greatest experts on Canadian exports, science & recording industry matters, Mr. William Shatner...

William Shatner - I Am Canadian

William Shatner - It Was A Very Good Year

William Shatner - Rocketman

William Shatner - Elegy For The Brave

William Shatner - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

Shatner, 75, just appeared on a History Channel documentary entitled modestly "How Willliam Shatner Changed The World" and on Wednesday , TV Land will broadcast the special
"Living in TV Land: William Shatner in Concert."

uh, don't miss it! Just one of the many things Canada's no doubt proud of...






A Chinese internet search engine company has attempted to reach a settlement with record labels that have had their copyrights infringed upon by the Baidu.com search network. In September of last year, seven Hong Kong-based record companies and a Chinese version of the RIAA, asked for compensation of CNY 1.67 million. The seven plaintiffs are Universal Music, Warner Music Hong Kong, EMI, Sony BMG, Go East Entertainment, Gold Label Entertainment, and Cineploly, with their representative organization being the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Baidu has proposed sharing it's advertising revenue with the labels in exchange for copyright immunity, seeing that 30% of it's searches are related to .MP3 files. This solution may not please the record companies, as the released income of Baidu.com last year was no more than CNY 300 million, and the value at full market rate of downloaded material would far exceed that. For comparison purposes, Baidu.com's mp3 search has provided over a million free downloads and none of the major labels have expressed interest in the ad revenue plan as of yet. ( exchange rate $1 USD = CNY 8.04)




Meanwhile, Frank Quattrone, the high rolling dot com boom era stock broker who was convicted of various improprieties related to preferential IPO allocations has been granted a new trial by an appeals court in NY. Quattrone has already been banned from parcticing in his previous profession by The National Association of Securities Dealers for the remainder of his life. At issue in his appeal were jury instructions regarding his alleged obstruction of a Federal investigation into his activities. Quattrone's lawyers say the original judge made conflicting, biased & erroneous rulings, and that instructions given to the jury were faulty, and did not take into account whether Quattrone knew the documents he ordered detroyed were being sought by Federal investigators. Quattrone's now infamous emails instructed underlings to "clean-up those filesto thwart investigators while he pulled in 120 million a year at the peak of his gaming of the market. He was known for spinning hot IPO shares to top clients for favors, and accused by the NASD of pressuring analysts for favorable reports.


Sadly, what's missing from the news briefs , appeals & technical flaws that have plagued the process of his conviction since 2003 is much mention of the victims of his greed & malfeasance hat the manifested. Quattrone is emblematic of the sleaze that permeated the boardrooms & brokerages during the disgusting dot come boom of the late 1990's. In 2004 he was found guilty of obstructing a grand jury, obstructing federal regulators and witness tampering. CSFB has since paid approx 200 Million to settle the investigations into their activities at the time of Quattrones unbridled reign.

If ya ask me, Quattrone, whose Policy of Truth is way weak as he pimped IPO's of some of the biggest tech stocks through Credit Suisse First Boston belongs in prizzle for shizzle... Perhaps In Alcatraz y'all... Why he's free after all the Shame & Scandal he brought his family is beyond me...It's Madness Y'all...

Madness - Shame & Scandal

and so the scales of justice teeter in favor of the rich as usual, and we gotta stop punishing the poor in this country until the rich "white collar" m'frs pay their dues behind bars as well...!


Depeche Mode - Violated - Policy of Alcatraz Mash Up Remix

The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed

French Kicks - Trial Of The Century

The Hives - Main Offender


In completely unrelated news... annoint thyself with some DeerHoof

SF's wily undigestible noise mavens are starting to gain commercial traction, and are currently hitting Europa , and plan to be back in the US in time for Coachella...


mar 27 - London - The Scala
mar 30 - Nijmegen (Holland) - Doornroosje.
mar 31 - Kontich - Lintfabriek.
apr 01 - Bissegem - De Kreun.
apr 02 - Berlin - Magnet Club.
apr 03 - Stuttgart - Schocken.
apr 04 - Duedingen - Bad Bonn.
apr 05 - Paris - Instants Chavires.
apr 06 - Utrecht - Rumor Festival.
apr 07 - Koeln - Gebaeude 9. (w/ 31 Knots.)
apr 08 - Fernelmont - Rhaaa Lovely Festival.
apr 29 - Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

Deerhoof - Wrong Time Capsule

Deerhoof - Running Thoughts

Deerhoof - Rrrrrrright - Burmese Remix


And here's just a few tings from an upcoming whiteboy post-punker laptop rapper and self proclaimed member of the "iGeneration". Before heading out on a UK tour, the transplanted Californian to Brooklynite known as MC Lars plays The Mercury Lounge in NYC on Tuesday, the same day his new CD comes out... He's a Stanford Grad, has over 17,000 friends on MySpace, samples Iggy Pop and Supergrass, and must also have a real hella cute publicist, since he's getting hyped all over, and even featured in Rupert Murdoch's rag the NY Post... so why not here...maybe that cute publicist will look me up to!

MC Lars - iGeneration

MC Lars - Walmart Nation

MC Lars - Download This Song


Saturday, March 04, 2006

Never On Sunday Greedy Sundae


The Chordettes - Never On Sunday

Not U2 - Sunday Greedy Sunday

Last night I had one of the most absurd Ice Cream experiences of my life at this joint called Fenton's in Oakland. I ordered two scoops and was given twice as much Ice Cream as a typical pint of Ben & Jerry's contains...

they make the ice cream & topping onsite & the damn place was busy as hell...we needed to hold onto an electronic pager while we browsed a local bookstore just to get a table to then wait for another twenty minutes for the ice cream. But when these dishes came , hey were ridiculously huge, comically overkilling it on the chocolate sauce & so decadently wasteful, with cream dripping everywhere. It was a vegan nightmare, a diabetic blood sugar overload & damn good...

pic is what was left over after i ate most, & packed half of my 2 scoops in a to go container...

So in Illinois, the state legislature just passed a bill that will make Ice Cream truck drivers undergoe criminal background checks as a way to weed out potential terrorists, rapists and murderers from plying neighborhood streets with frosty treats...

but what about protection for Ice Cream men? because it's getting ugly for the cream wirlders... in Miami, one was shot in a late February truck robbery, and out here in California one was robbed by a man in a gorilla mask in the SF suburb of San Bruno & even in Steinbeck's central valley, a 74 year old Salinas ice cream man had his wallet lifted by two merciless latino teens described as having a "gang appearance,'' ...

Ken Nordine - Emperor Of Ice Cream
Pharell - The Ice Cream Man
Van Halen -
Ice Cream Man
Satanicide - Pussy & Ice Cream
Smokescreen - Buttermilk Sundae
Quix O Tic - Ice Cream Sundae
Trout -
Ice Cream Man From Hell
Stephen Lynch - Vanilla Ice Cream
Mac Dre - Ice Cream II
-------------------------------------------

Pity the poor Geography teacher, Jay Bennish, who is through the looking glass and suspended from teaching due to comments he made after an excerpt of one of his classes was played on a knuckle dragging conservative talk show in Denver... caught not on tape, but on mp3 player, brought by a student who comes from a family that disagrees with Bennish's worldview.


Sadly, I just listened to the "outrageous" comments, and I was not in disagreement with any so far... Bennish is not espousing anything that is patently untrue, and could have lifted his lecture out of noted historian Howard Zinn's "Peoples History Of The United States".

here listen to Bennish yourself & you decide how horrible & completely "off base" his comments really are

Geography Teacher Jay Bennish - Post State Of The Union Current Events Class

Unfortunately, Bennish lives in a very conservative state, where teenagers are more known for wantonly shooting their classmates and seducing lonely basketball stars, and we all know they are not supposed to have info & think for themselves. Colorado, where their Amendment 2 law prohibiting homosexual behavior was thrown out 6-3 by the US Supreme Court in 1996.

It was in Colorado where Prof. Ward Churchill was admonished & instituitionally ostracized by the administration of the University where he teaches for expressing "far left" points of view in a post 9-11 essay called “Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens.” Churchill basically said that the attacks could be viewed as a anatural response to yaers of US backed violence & meddling in the middle east, and that the victim's in the WTC whom he referred to as " little Eichmann's" were complicit via their participation in the military & economic system that oppresses the middle east.
Said Churchill later in his defense, "
Eichmann himself in his own context symbolized those nameless bureaucratic functionaries who performed in an absolutely conscienceless and immoral fashion. In knowledge that their functions created carnage, they did their jobs..."


Colorado's Gov. Bill Owens called for Churchill to be fired, and the campus began a formal investigation/witchhunt of charges of "research misconduct" including whether Churchhill engaged in plagiarism and fabrication or misrepresented his heritage as a Native American.

I feel one must remind Coloradan's who live high & mighty in a cold world , where the air is thin, of the words of Voltaire, who famously said:
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."


Heck, even their heroic & stoic Republican war maker pal Colin Powell once said
"Free speech is intended to protect the controversial and even outrageous word; and not just comforting platitudes too mundane to need protection."


To their credit, the students at Bennish's highschool rejected that they were damaged by Bennish and turned out by the hundreds to protest Bennish's suspension. Then over 100 teachers walked off campus in protest. Meanwhile a handful of what looked like to be classic white male "jocks" and "bully types" hung by their muscle cars yelling insults to to the "liberals"...

I got a chance to look at Bennish's syllabus and these are news sources & websites he tells students they may use ( but are not limited too ) to research extra credit papers ...

· NPR (National Public Radio) · The New York Times· The Wall Street Journal· The News Hour (PBS) · The BBC News ·

www.guerrillanews.com ·
www.tompain.org ·
www.cato.org ·
www.heritage.org ·
www.indymedia.org ·
www.freespeech.org ·
www.newamericancentury.org ·
www.brook.edu · www.zman.org

Looks "Fair & Balanced" enough to me, but too bad that mountain folk in charge aren't capable of thinking clearly.

Ironic that the world's newest "democracy", a happy place called Iraq, and provider of so much of our oil, now not only has long lines & gas shortages, but a newly imposed ban on private daytime vehicular travel. Keeps people from moving freely , using up "our" Oil, and stirring up trouble I suppose...

Benny Carter - Sunday
The Cutters -
Everyday
Clutch Cargo - Freedom of Choice
Margaret Explosion -
Beautiful Iraq

That's Merka's greatest export, "free dumb" at work...

Hey, Not only that, but I read in the paper that Herr Rumsfeld, one of the grand architect's of "free dumb", has recently said that putting more U.S troops on the ground to stabilize the country we destabilized would be imprudent because it "runs the risk of making the US look like an occupying force".

I guess that's something that we just would never want anyone to think... hopefully no one in the press noticed us being there, or saw any photos doing our highly sophisticated nude dogpile interrogation techniques at Abu Ghraib of us in the last few years...phew!

That's what good stealth intelligence & undercover work looks like... and just remember, you didn't see it... cause nothing we do ever fails...

Madonna - Nothing Fails

Plus: in a new era of open "free dumb"... we finally get a peek at the Guantanamo Camp X-Ray guest list... an exclusive gathering that rivals the attendee list at any Oscar party. There's no C-list Islamic extremists here...these are the best and brightest disreputable characters we could buy from disgruntled relatives and snitch's in the world's back alley deals. The Pentagon's decision to release 6000 pages of documents about the detainees came late Friday to meet a deadline set by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court in New York, who has rejected the Gov't argument that releasing the detainees' identities would violate their privacy and endanger their families.

Capitol Steps - Guantanamo

The court order came as part of a lawsuit filed by The Associated Press, against the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act to release the detainees' names. Ironically despite assurances from US officials & top party planners he would be invited, the name Osama Bin Laden is not on the Guantanamo guest list...sparking rumors he may be hiding with Angelina Jolie...

Daughters - Boner X-Ray
Screeching Weasal -
Guest List
The Network -
X- Ray Hamburger
FAIR CounterSpin w/ Slate's Dahlia Lithwick -
Guantanamo
Rocket From The Crypt , Live From Camp X-Ray -
I'm Not Invisible








We somehow all know what happened during Katrina, but now we have Freedm Of Information Act backroom briefing videos to clarify, enliven the dispute and then as shift the blame from FEMA to Bush back to Louisiana officials and then back to FEMA and Bush still ain't nothin happening but blame shifting... yay!

Public Enemy - Hell No! We Ain't Allright !
Secret Machines- It's A Bad Wind That Don't Blow Somebody Good

Lethal Incompetence / Flak Magazine - Katrina Editorial

Not U2 - Sunday Greedy Sunday

Away from the grim debacles of Guantanamo & the Katrina botch job rehash we find Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post who has a hilarious column on the Gmail experience, where your e-mail is not shared with US gov't snoops but will gladly peer into "your innermost thoughts and harvest them for marketing opportunities..."

Paranoid bully & right wingnut Bill O'Reilly , whose previous on air threats include inviting his diehard listeners to the homes of the callers he dislikes, has sunk to a new low. Not content to hang up on them, apparently "Fox Security" are now contacting those O'Reilly show callers he dislikes and investigating them for harassment for saying the things the "popular" talk show host disagrees with...

O'Reilly - On Air Threat To Mob Homes of Unwanted Callers
O'Reilly -
On Air "Fox Security" Warning To Caller



we'll squeeze in some Billie Holiday in honor of the dark clouds & chill in the air

Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday

and here's one more from the Cutters

The Cutters - Sunday! Sunday! Sunday !

now enjoy the rest of this post's generically danked hedonist hip hop audio exploration situation...

DJ Tom La Roc's Slowed & Throwed Remix of E-40 & Keak Da Sneak - Tell Me When To Go

Chris Brown feat. Jay Z -
Yo ( Evil Genius Remix)

Run DMC - My Adidas -
Chopped & Screwed Mix






-


Thursday, March 02, 2006

Haunted Celebrity Glitter Guilty Party

Bad News Outta Gary...

Police in Gary Indiana are reporting that Johnny Jackson, aged 54, a former drummer for the Jackson 5, was found stabbed to death Wednesday night. A witness heard a disturbance coming from Jackson's apartment and a female acquaintance. The witness went downstairs to see what was going on and found Jackson lying dead in the first-floor living room area before calling 911.

No one was in custody yet and detectives were conducting a homicide investigation. Police believe Johnny Jackson was a first cousin of Michael Jackson, but that is as yet unconfirmed rumor spead by the Motown PR machine. Johnny was likely just a neighbor with the same last name, who played drums starting in 1962, when they recorded for the tiny Steeltown label ( pictured on drums at far right). Some bios say he was ousted early on, but others say he played drums during live shows until the band left Motown in 1975. His last live appearance with the brothers may have been on a mid 1970's TV special called "The Jackson 5: Going Back To Indiana". Johnny played in Chicago and Gary Indinana based reggae & soul bands like "White Dove" and "Triple Dose".
Michael Jackson could not be reached for comment in Bahrain, but apparently looks good in a burqua, or abaya or whatever ya cal the proper black mourning beekeepers outfit he is sportin'...



-----------oh, and speaking of bad news from Gary ------




Gary Glitter was sentenced to a three year stint in Vietnamese Military Prison due to his conviction of sexually touching , fondling and kissing some very young girls (reportedly aged 11 & 12 ) who were pimped out by their relatives to satisfy the desires of the retired English rocker.

Glitter aka as Paul Gadd, left the UK after a 1999 conviction of possesion of child porn, that resulted from sending his computer in for repair. He then moved first to Cuba before travelling to south-east Asia. He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002 over allegations of child sex abuse, but was never formally charged, and the 61 year old arrived in Vung Tau, a seaside resort in Vietnam in the middle of last year. It was in a seaside villa that his alleged abuse of the children occured. The children testified as did the government prosecution's witnesses: an 18 year old prostitute who lived with Glitter, his maid, and the children's aunt who brought the girls to the home for sex, have all testified to Glitter's guilt. The Gov't's Chief investigator Colonel Nguyen Duc Trinh said he had also recovered 2,231 images of child porn from Glitter's computer

Glitter's lawyer has reportedly paid both girls' families about £1,200 in compensation, after which they wrote to authorities seeking to drop the case, but then said they wanted more money. Glitter could be out as soon as early next year though if his parole or appeals go through.


some audio appetizers & soundtrack starter selections

The Guilty Party - 1000x Yes


The Runarounds - Glitter Pussy

Gary Glitter - Rock n Roll pt 1

Gary Glitter - Rock n Roll pt 2

Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

Jackson 5 - Rockin Robin

Van Halen - Where Have All The Good Times Gone

Rolling Stones - She Said Yeah

Unknown Crank - Buttplug

------- and the butt ugliness just goes on & on don't it? -----

Jack Wild, the English lad who played the endearing Oliver Twist onscreen as a child actor in the 1960's and later starred in the bizarre Sid & Marty Kroft creation H.R Pufenstuf has died at age 53. Wild battled drug and alcohol addictions for years, and was just one in a long line of troubled ex-child stars.

---------------------

In other sad English news, Tony Blair, perhaps realizng his legacy on earth is forever tainted has now claimed only God can juge him on his decision to ignore reason & invade Iraq. Blair: 'God will be my judge on Iraq'

-------------------------------
Longtime humorous newspaper columnist Art Buchwald is in a hospice, suffering from kidney failure, and reportedly has had to have a leg amputated. I loved Art's columns in the Washington Post and read many of his books written in the 70s & 80s growing up. He is a truly funny guy, a Pulitzer Prize winning author of at least 30 books, and hopefully his life and work has not gone unappreciated...

here's an interview done very recently for WAMU radio from the hospice. Diane Rehm interviewer (24 February 2006) RealAudio, Windows Media


Looks like raving lunatic Christian hate monger & political assasination fan, Pat Robertson has lost his bid for re-election to the National Religious Broadcasters’ board of directors. God must have other plans for the aging acolyte...

---- other stuff -----------

Disturbing Scientific factoids to ponder this weekend... two new papers refute the claims against the existence of global warming that the fossil fuels industry continues to peddle.

first: Antartica is melting... & quickly. Data shows that the ice is melting at a rate that dwarfs the previous estimates, 5,200 square miles of West Antartica's ice has melted in the past three years, that mass lost each year is 36 times the amount of freshwater used by Los Angeles annually. `We can now see Antarctica melting,'' said lead researcher Isabella Velicogna who used satellite data, and is a member of the University of Colorado at Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research Environmental Sciences.

Slush - Icebergs Melt

Mariah Crey - Melt Away

Fuck Boyz - I Melt With You

2nd : An article in the journal Science show evidence that Africa is literally drying up...and the chaos and horror are not far behind... The African continent may lose up to 25 percent of it's surface water by 2100, said researchers Maarten de Wit and Jacek Stankiewicz of the University of Cape Town in Rondebosch, South Africa.

"Water is essential to human survival," they wrote, "and changes in its supply can potentially have devastating implications, particularly in Africa, where much of the population relies on local rivers for water."



News You Might Have Missed is a great info resource that I've mentioned before...and the water wars stories from Africa they are highlighting hi month are particularly intresting, if not outrageously galling ...



"Somalis clash over scarce water"
BBC (U.K.), February 17, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4723008.stm

Rival Somali tribes in Ethiopia are killing each other over access
to water during the worst drought in over 40 years.

meanwhile,
"Killer drought threatens to end way of life for nomadic African tribes"
As Kenya's cattle die of drought, children there resolve to better
their lives through education rather than herding.
Scotsman, February 15, 2006
http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000522.php

As Kenya's cattle die of drought, children there resolve to better
their lives through education rather than herding.





One other they found on Times.co.uk is an article on how the bottled water industry has become one the world's leading emitters of CO2 emissions.
http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000519.php


Ludicra - Let Thirst The Soil

Sim Redmond Band - Water Is Life

Roger McGuinn - Wade In The Water

T.Waters - Tears In My Eyes ( Inst)

Big Tone - The Drought Mix Tape ( 22 min)


The News Dissector discovered a link to a story in the Times Of India I at least found amusing

For Bush's Indian visit , 65 US security "officials " staying at a prestigious hotel in New Delhi are actually dogs...

”NEW DELHI: A five-star hotel in the Indian capital is playing host to a special team that is part of US President George Bush's security entourage - some 65 dogs that are referred to as "officials".

“The specially trained dogs were flown in as part of the multi-layer security for Bush and have been put up in deluxe rooms at the Le Meridien Hotel in central Delhi.

“... hotel authorities initially refused to accommodate the four-legged "officials", saying they did not have provisions for accommodating animals.

"But the US officials apparently insisted that they were not dogs, but skilled security 'officials' and no one should call them dogs," an Indian politician told reporters at Parliament House.

"These dogs cannot be called animals. They can be addressed either by their ranks such as sergeant, major, etc. And the hotel staff had to accept it," he said.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Bow Wow w/ Snoop - Where My Dogs At

Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out

Baha Men - Who Let The Dogs Out (Ext Remix)

Gogol Bordello - Dogs Were Barking

The The - Dogs Of Lust

Stan Ridgway/Tori Amos - Dogs

Hasil Adkins - No More Hot Dogs



anyway the post has ended


you can visit the archives

so rock on children, until i get time to share a new mess of messiness for y'all