Thursday, October 20, 2005

Undertone Underdog Commission Mush Up

This Weekend in NYC On Oct 21st & 22nd the folks behind Not In Our Name have organized a 2005 International Commission of Inquiry to discuss perceived crimes of the Bush Administration. They are pulling together speakers & witnesses to investigate the full scope of what the Bush administration is doing to the people of the world.

This concerned group of citizens will be looking into various information and evidence whether the current U.S Presidential Administration is potentially guilty of impeachable offenses, war crimes, or other acts and crimes against humanity. They'll probe evidence and analysis that may show a pattern of concerted efforts that have jeopardized the general welfare of humanity on a global level.

When the possibility of far-reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity exists, people of conscience have a solemn responsibility to inquire into the nature and scope of these acts and to determine if they do in fact rise to the level of war crimes " from the Charter



We need as citizens in a so-called "participatory democracy" to be exposed to a wide array of discourse, and hear out various matters and opinion of governmental responsibility, cases of potential neglect and related matters that concern taxpayers. That's why I've written to C-Span about the need for them to broadcast this event.



I hope C-Span can find this matter of interest to it's viewership, and not unlike other important and informative events, speeches, seminars, and panels of varying viewpoints and sponsorships they've covered and shared in the past.

Among those participating include Denis Halliday,ex-UN Assistant Secretary-General, former head of UN Humanitarian Mission In Iraq; Marcus Raskin from the Institute for Policy Studies, Michael Ratner from the Center for Constitutional Rights, historian Howard Zinn, and Barbara Olshansky who is an attorney representing the detainees at Guantanamo and one of her professional lawyer colleagues, embattled defense attorney Lynn Stewart.

The Commission is sponsored by the Not In Our Name statement of conscience ( see NION.us )and is endorsed by many of the country's most prominent voices of conscience, including Sen. James Abourezk, Edward Asner, Russell Banks, Michael Eric Dyson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Rabbi Michael Lerner, The National Lawyers Guild, Gore Vidal, Cornel West, Saul Williams and many more.



The event in question is being held at

FRIDAY OCTOBER 21, 6PM, AND SATURDAY OCTOBER 22, 10AM

GRAND BALLROOM OF THE MANHATTAN CENTER, 311 W. 34TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY

(on 34th Street just west of 8th Ave, two blocks from Penn Station)



The issues to be discussed include:
1) Wars of Aggression, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan.
2) Policies of Torture and Indefinite Detention;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, in particular systematic policies that
encourage waste & contribute to the catastrophic effects of global warming.
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights , in particular the genocidal effects of forcing international agencies to promote "abstinence only" in the midst of a global AIDS epidemic.


In the Friday evening opening session you will hear the shocking details of how the military is currently force-feeding detainees on hunger strike in the U.S. concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay.

In addition, there will be a special Saturday afternoon session on Bush's response to hurricane Katrina, featuring both experts and survivors telling their own vivid stories.



If you are in NYC, or just curious check it out on-line at www.bushcommission.org/

check out historian Howard Zinn on this historic - Bush Commission Hearing.mp3

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Hey, Check Out ABC's AfterNote, on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, out on bail today after turning himself in and is calling the warrant for his arrest "pure retaliation." Listen: Listen to the AfterNote Podcast (MP3

here's some more downloadable music & stuff for y'all...


One of my fave remix characters is Poj Masta, a technologically savvy teenage nerd / digital rapscallion from the UK who knows his way around a beat-matching session

For years now I have loved his quirky remix of my fave & ( the late John Peel's as well) Undertones tune - Teenage Kicks

Poj Masta - Undertones Teenage Kicks Remix

ˆÉ“¡•ÙŒì-‚b@

Japanese freaky self proclaimed "mush up killer"

I toubengo-c - RunDMC - Mush Up
洋モノならここいらへん要チェキ。


What would Nick Cave be without his loyal atmospheric musical cohort Mick Harvey?
Thankfully the world hasn't had to worry about it much... Haravey has been present creating the sonic landfill for Cave to plow through since his days in the seminal Australian act Birthday Party

here's two tracks from Mr. Harvey circa 1995 ( sans Nick )
[ Intoxicated Man sleeve ]

Here's stuff from Harvey's "Intoxicated Man" tribute take on the music of Serge Gainsbourg...

Lemon Incest is a tune that was originally recorded by Gainsbourg with with his pubescent daughter

Mick Harvey - Lemon Incest.mp3

p.s The female voice is Anita Lane , heard here as well:

Mick Harvey - the song of slurs.mp3

and just to finish in compleely different territory....

Macho NYC hardcore was never one of my main, or even peripheral loves...

However, I ended up being friends for a week with a particular NYC HC band called Underdog in the late 80's ...

Their UK based soundman was a friend of mine, who'd toured with my pals MDC across Europe...

Somehow he ended up on tour in SF in 1989 with Underdog, a combo that had it's roots in the particular clean cut NYC straight edge thing...The singer was Richie Birkenhead ( briefly w/ Youth of Today, and later of Into Another)
and they were putting out a new LP on Caroline.

Underdog had a gig at Gilman St and eventually I got em one opening for my grunge era band at The Chatterbox in SF...

CHATTERBOX: BIOGRAPHY OF A BAR, SAN FRANCISCO 1986-1990


Underdog didn't really fit in with the 21 and over Kiss pinball machine & "Glam, Slam Rock n Roll" vibe at The Chatterbox. They were troppers and didn't complain, but our band's Stooges/Jane's/Zep-tallica shtick wasn't from the same rockin' planet. Our gay guitarist & stubby bass player with his heroin chic complexion looked totally out of place with the healthy jock like presence of these vegan and straight edge guys....

The Chatterbox was a sleazy bar with Johnny Thunders drunken signature painted on the rafters, and Underdog didn't seem too impressed at the joint with their shiny equipment.

The place had a bug eyed speed freak soundman who lived in the basement,
and peeked down on ya from the rafters to do the sound... at the end of your set he'd bust out a used VHS tape and try to sell ya a security cam quality tape of your own set back at ya for $20.

I wish I'd just given the freak the dough in retrospect, but hey... $20 seemed like a lot of dough to pay to see your own band...

I remember hanging with Underdog for a bit longer, we rode around in their van looking for tattoo shops in North Beach and shit... and then I never saw em' again... I later saw that Richie joined Into Another, which moved from the Krishna-esque Revelation label onto Hollywood Records, but eventually had the typical corporate fall out realization in the later 90s and dissolved. Richie supposedly married & divorced a billionairess, put out a solo album not long ago, and did some Underdog reunion gigs as recently as this fall...
wonder what he up to today?




Underdog "Over The Edge" from their 1989 album Vanishing Point album, re-released via Go-Kart

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