more on G-Money

Gary King (aka G-Money) is the name of the man in his early 20's that was killed by OPD on Thursday 9/20.

G-Money had apparently gone to buy some chips and soda. He "fit the description" of a "possible person of interest" in a homicide and stopped by Sgt. Pat Gonzales who felt a gun through G-Money's pants. They struggled. G-Money was tasered and then shot in the back. Then, supposedly, G-Money was handcuffed for 10 minutes and left to die.

Sgt. Pat Gonzales has been involved in two previous fatal shootings.
Gary King's family and community have a lot of questions for this killer pig and his handlers.
Monday September 24th Oakland City Hall Steps 12 Noon


(thanx Harjit)

OPD killed G-Money

As I drove home from work along MLK in Oakland on Thursday 9/20, the Oakland Police had 56th up to 52nd on lock and no traffic was allowed through. I have never seen that many police cars!

Today, there is a memorial on a BART pillar at 54th to G-Money.
Apparently "G-Money" is a young Black man killed by an Oakland pig. The cop tried to subdue the man several times with a taser. The cop shot the man multiple times after he reached for his waistband because he believed the man might have a gun.

Jena 6 update

You should recall the shit that went down in Jena, Louisiana. If not, READ HERE.
Basically, some racist White high school students provoked some Black students into a fight. Now that city is essentially trying to lock up the Black kids (the "Jena 6") for life.

Thousands have now rallied in Jena (a town of 3,500) to demand the release of the Jena 6.

David Bowie, doing what all loaded rockstars should do, donated $10,000 to the Jena 6 legal defense fund!

And, if you wanna hear some outrageously racist bullshit from a Jena schoolboard member go to the Democracy Now! podcast. He drops such gems as saying he doesn't see white or black only right and wrong. haha



(thanx Harjit!)

resident DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow is spinning a few hours everyday at Village Music in Mill Valley, CA up til the end of September when the store closes.
He even has some friends like Cut Chemist making appearances.
_____

Unrelated: read THIS funny article about The Sex Pistols reunion (again).
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Also:
Zach de la Rocha reportedly finished his solo album (yet again). He has been supposedly working on it for like 7 years!
No word on if any of the DJ Shadow / El-P / Trent Reznor tracks are making the cut.



(I stole all this news from Pitchfork)

VH1 Soul

Not too long ago, I got cable channel VH1 Soul. I never thought I would see a largely hip hop "oldies" channel (and I don't know why there aren't any 90's hip hop radio stations around). I am constantly getting excited and nostalgic about the early days of commercial hip hop, new jack swing, and my days in high school as a b-boy.

I've been seeing a lot of Guy videos. I was never a fan of Guy but now I can't seem to turn the channel as I watch this precursor to Jodeci who was a precursor to R. Kelly. It reminds me (as a young Mary J. Blige once said) of old friends, old crushes, high school, and some pretty awesome fashions.

This morning as I watched Special Ed's "Magnificent" video and hollered at the show's host to play some Audio Two (It was MC Lyte! C'mon, put your brother on!), I joked and laughed hysterically to my girlfriend about how hot clothes in mustard yellow were.

You would go to OakTree in the mall and pick up a mustard yellow "blouse" and some black Z Cavarricci pants that were pleated tight at the high waist and exploded into some serious looseness at the legs. Maybe if you were a girl, you would rock the blouses divided into either halves or quarters of floral patterns, polka dots, net, and/or mustard yellow. Girls also loved shiny shoes that used lace bows for actual laces.
My girlfriend got a kick out of me but I don't know how much she can relate to those fashions or the endless barrage of early 90's hip hop and r&b that excite me. I actually don't know if any of my friends have much of a clue about all that much less have lived it. Sometimes it makes me feel like maybe they don't know all of me.

So, as much as I hated on that r&b in high school, it definitely has a soft spot in my heart now.

Joma released!!!!!!

Prof. Jose Ma. Sison has been released by Dutch authorities after being detained on trumped up charges.

The Dutch court found that there was no strong evidence linking Prof. Sison to the deaths of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara.

This comes as The Philippines Arroyo government is offering amnesty to the New Peoples Army / National Democratic Front / Communist Party of Philippines. Arroyo is threatening an escalation to all out war against progressive/radicals in The Philippines.
I guess that means more military aid from the US and moving past simply assassinating any progressive grassroots activists.



(thanx xJoshx)

Coalesce v. Kurt Catalyst

My man and all around standup dude, Kurt Catalyst, got name dropped in the new AP Magazine oral history of Coalesce.
No matter that the incident if fabricated or has Kurt's name incorrectly attached to it.


As much as I liked Coalesce in 1994, I didn't know they warranted an article in glossy AP.
After throwing drum sets at crowds and trying to be offensive, Coalesce were basically all hype.

However, the drummer James Dewees, is the touring keyboard player for New Found Glory and My Chemical Romance.

Sheik Osama v.2007

"as you liberated yourselves before from the slavery of monks, kings and feudalism, you should liberate yourselves from the deception, shackles and attrition of the capitalist system"

"subjugation"

The other night on television, I caught a Travel Channel program where the host was in Central or South America. As he sampled various native cuisines, he entered a village where they seemed to specialize in cooking armadillo and iguana. The host walked past piles and piles of seemingly live armadillos and iguanas. All of them had their limbs bound and some had soe sort of string woven through their noses for easy handling.

The scene was pretty off-putting and sad to me.

I asked myself why I seemed to feel more sad for these animals than animals I have seen hunted and killed on television.
Attempting to reject any anthropocentrism, I told myself that these creatures were just the same as any deer I might see killed on another program. So why was I feeling different? Afterall, I have never had any relationship with armadillos or iguanas.

Then it occured to me.
These animals lying bound in piles waiting for a torturous death were being subjugated by the humans.
Maybe I am splitting hairs and I certainly do not condone killing any animal for food but I guess I do feel worse for an animal subjugated and waiting for death than an animal living out its life in its environment and then being killed.

Subjugation. That's it.

Control

new official trailer

X-Men: Disassembled?

hhmmm...

Women's Pro Soccer

A professional US women's soccer league is set to launch in 2009.

Teams will be based in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, St. Louis, and Washington.

Professional women's sports leagues, especially soccer, don't often do well. I wish this league the best since soccer is so popular with young girls who deserve to be able to continue to a higher level of play.
Some teams will have the benefit of playing at new MLS soccer-specific stadiums.

A big bankroller of this is Phil Anschutz, the owner of the MLS' Los Angeles Galaxy. Let's hope he isn't doing massive amounts of coke so that The Galaxy and MLS don't go the way of The Cosmos and USL.

Labor Day

...is for sellouts.


I celebrate labor on May 1st.


(thanx sergio)