Black Metal passe

I was recently shopping for todler toys at a WalMart in Arizona where I saw a black metal action figure (associated with Guitar Hero if I remember correctly).

Today, I was made aware of the KFC ad parodying black metal (see below).


Think it has jumped the shark straight into middle America?
Not too spooky.

I have given the genre a shot (especially the spooky ambient variety) but just can't dig it much.
I bet the originators of the genre never thought corpse paint would be so pervasive and so mimic'd. I also bet they don't see a dime from all of this... which is ok since they tend to be nazi types.


strange... very strange.

MLS In Trouble...?

Major League Soccer made a lot of progress over the past couple of years. Teams are moving into soccer specific stadiums. The league has a bit more visibility (on and off the pitch). More supporter driven areas have clubs. Even the level of play has picked up.
However, I think MLS is in serious trouble. The major force behind this trouble is the obscene pay discrepancies between top (designated) top players and the rank and file squad. You can't tell me that a team with players making $20,000/yr or less feel part of anything with the likes of Beckham, let alone a team. At the same time, the better players the league is luring to MLS with a lot of money are dropped into an immature league with odd behind-the-scene rules and players nowhere near the level of play they are used to.

Beckham is on loan and going out of his way to NOT be the MLS ambassador he proclaimed he was.
Donovan looks to be headed to Germany.
Blanco is on loan.
And now the essential player that flew mostly under the radar until him and his club won everything this year, Schelotto, has yet to finalize a deal with MLS and is already talking of returning to Argentina.

This is going to be a black-eye in the face of MLS and call for them to rethink their strategy.

Maybe Ruud Gullit has some suggestions.

Ben Edge On Music 7

Reason To Believe- "The Next Door":
"The 7" and LP by this band are amazing. They are the closest thing the west coast had to a band like Dag Nasty or Gorilla Biscuits (i.e., a melodic yet powerful and energetic hardcore band with melodic singing).
Jon Bunch is definitely the best singer in hardcore ever. Not by favorite per se, but technically the best. Maybe I'm tripping though. I don't know shit about singing.
I can't believe they were never a popular band."
_____


Discharge:
"Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing is the best Discharge record. It's so loud, powerful, and relentless.
That said, it's funny how they were the biggest influence on continental European and Japanese hardcore, when there were easily 30-40 American hardcore bands from the early 80s that were better than Discharge."
_____

Ben was asked his opinion on the following highly acclaimed drummers:

Keith Moon - "A very unorthodox drummer. Not skilled in the traditional sense. He had his own style, and played really well with his band mates. Just before he died, they recorded the WHO ARE YOU? LP, and there's a song with 6/8 time, and Keith just couldn't play it. He got worse in the end, because of the drinking, drugs, and lack of discipline."

Neil Peart - "Fucking awesome. He does not practice improvisation AT ALL. Every single drum hit on every album are played that way live, and always will be. That's why I understand a Rush show consists of dudes playing air drums. They know exactly what he's going to play. He also introduced right wing Ayn Rand politics into the band."

Dave Lombardo - "Yeah, he's good. It's pretty obvious. I can't get into Slayer, but that's my own problem."

John Bonham - "The best rock drummer ever. He could play circles around Keith Moon."

Tommy Lee - "More cowbell! He's great. The drums on that first Crue album are rad. And to think he's playing all that WHILE he's spinning his sticks the whole time? That's talent!"
_____

The Clash- "Combat Rock":
"My brother had the tape of it when it came out. I still have the tape. We loved the video for "Rock The Casbah". It's a good album. Way better than the one before it or the one after it. There's some strange stuff on there."
_____


Anthem 88- "Define A Lifetime":
"I didn't like this. It was these crusty thrashy dudes trying to do youth crew, but they couldn't help themselves, and they ended up making it sound crusty and thrashy."
_____

Post suggestions of bands/albums you would like to hear Ben's opinion on. (I am running low on good ones.)
Or ask him nerdy questions about early 80's punk and 70's glam.

Ian & Ben

More Than $4

A few weeks ago, I realized I had left all my cash at home right as I approached the Bay Bridge toll.
The only thing to do was to have them take my info and be sent a bill as I have seen countless people do. I assumed I would be sent a bill for $4, right? Wrong!

$29!!
Don't forget your bridge tolls.

$7.7 Trillion +

They are stealing our money.

Art For Bobby Hutton Foundation

Bobby Hutton Memorial Benefit
EXHIBITION OPENING
Nov. 29, 2008. 8-10pm
@ The Luggage Store, SF

To benefit THE BOBBY HUTTON FOUNDATION support artist fees to create a sculpture of Bobby Hutton that will be placed in Oakland's De Fremery Park (aka Lil Bobby Hutton Park).
featuring work by:
Joe Brook, Jon Brumit, Monica Canilao, Cuba, The Date Farmers, Emory Douglas, John Dwyer, Matt Gonzalez, Barry McGee, Jessie Michaels, Julio Cesar Morales, Shay Nowick, Shaun O'Dell, Nicole Okmu, Trevor Paglen, Kottie Paloma, Kamau Amu Patton, Hilary Pecis, Ricardo Richey, Rigo 23, Sham Saenz, Andrew Schoultz, Lucien Shapiro, Swoon, Ana Teresa Fernandez and Tracy Timmons.


and then
Onsix Gallery
10pm-2am
$10
with
Digital Undereground


BlackPantherBlvd
BabylonFalling

SF's Power Exchange Closed

I totally missed it but... San Francisco's "sex club" Power Exchange closed at the beginning of November.

It was quite the institution and it definitely leaves a void.
The club has relocated to Las Vegas apparently.

Scattered News

Sabotage shut down assembly lines at a Philadelphia area Boeing aircraft plant that produces military hardware.
_____


India's gulabi gang is fighting corrupt officials and patriarchy.
_____

US charity railroaded on financing terrorism with the help of a Unidentified Israeli witness.
_____


Red Army Faction leader Christian Klar to be released.
_____

Israel continues to cause a humanitarian catastrophe with its collective punishment of Gaza.
_____

CA is probing the Mormons' role in the Prop. 8 campaign.
_____

More people believe in aliens and ghosts than god... maybe.

"Capitalism as we know it appears to be coming apart."

"there is no obvious alternative... the last thirty years have seen the construction of a vast bureaucratic apparatus for the creation and maintenance of hopelessness... to destroy any sense of possible alternative futures.

"Maintaining this apparatus seems even more important, to exponents of the "free market," even than maintaining any sort of viable market economy.

"What is debt, after all, but imaginary money whose value can only be realized in the future: future profits, the proceeds of the exploitation of workers not yet born... For at least five thousand years, popular movements have tended to center on struggles over debt"

"Much of the reason the movement was thrown into confusion was because none of us had really considered we might win."

"We are clearly at the verge of another mass resurgence of the popular imagination. It shouldn't be that difficult. Most of the elements are already there."

"A debt after all is only that: a promise"

FMTM x Adam Davis

Vietnam To Iraq from Adam Davis on Vimeo.

Read commentary by sergio from FMTM

Star Trek: "Live Long And Prosper"

OK, I think most people have seen the trailer footage of the new Star Trek film.
HERE is the trailer with a little bonus at the end that should make fanboys bust a nut!

Shags And Taiko

Check out that shag!!

Love Lockdown Letterman Live
by yardie4lifever2

1. Ever since Kanye unveiled Love Lockdown, I could tell we were entering some new retro shit. (Malcolm Jamal Warner?)
2.That Taiko never gets old.

Congrats Crew

I am not a big supporter of Columbus Crew... I don't think I watched a single game of theirs this entire MLS season.
They won the Supporters Shield (aka real league title) and now have rightfully won the MLS Cup (unfortunately named the Philip Anshutz Cup after the Right-wing Christian fundamentalist).

Now get a new logo.
_____

FYI:
The combined total of the salaries of every player on both MLS Cup teams, plus head coaches Sigi Schmid and Juan Carlos Osorio, is less than the guaranteed wage paid to MLS’s biggest earner, David Beckham.

Burning Fight: SoCal

Satur​day May 9th 2009 at The Glass​house​ in Pamon​a,​ CA

Burni​ng Fight​ Book Relea​se and Benef​it Show

Unbro​ken
Swing​ Kids
Under​tow
Jenny​ Picco​lo
Fast Forwa​rd

NO bands​ will be paid.​

ALL money​ after​ expen​ses will go to chari​ty.​


(thanx Jose)

Stay The Course

CrimethInc. put out an analysis of the political climate following the election / a plea for anarchists to maintain networks and confrontational organizing.

(I am sometimes very critical of some stuff coming out 'CrimethInc.' approved but this analysis is right on.)

"Obama has ridden to power on the same social currents that radicals have relied on to propel their organizing and outreach over the past eight years: disgust with the excesses of empire, longing for more fairness and sociability in daily life, optimism about vague alternatives. It is no coincidence that the liberal anti-war movement died out just as the presidential campaigns got underway; the race effectively subsumed the energy of all not explicitly critical of representative democracy. This cooptation of popular momentum is as essential to the disempowerment of the populace..."

" it would be strategic for an anarchist mobilization to focus on economic issues and economic targets"

more Shock

Lately, I have really been digging Naomi Klein's 'shock doctrine' analysis of the current economic "crisis."
When all this wall street banking shit hit the fan, I sought out a progressive analysis of it that a lay person like myself could understand. I found Naomi Klein.

Turns out, my friend/comrade Pranjal did an interview with Klein for LeftTurn Magazine.

Klein explains how neoliberalism represents the counter-revolution of capital and thrives on disasters, wars, and crises to spread throughout the world.
"we are told about how free markets and free people go hand in hand, and that these are the same and an inseparable project. Now I'm not arguing that neoliberals are the first people, the first ideologues to use shock to advance an unpopular economic project"
She addresses the "middle class" we so often hear about in an election year:
"from the 30s through the 60s you had tremendous gains for workers' protection, growth of very powerful trade unions, the construction of social programs like public health care protection, unemployment programs, pension programs, much of what we think of as the welfare state. This was a period of tremendous economic growth, but it was also a period of redistribution of wealth, the rise of the middle class. So what that meant was that even though there was a lot of money being made, there was a lot of money being redistributed, and the elites not just in the US but around the world, were clearly tired of how much of what they considered to be their money was being redistributed to their workers, and to the rest of society through taxes."
Torture is also addressed:
"...the shock of torture, which is really the shock of enforcement. It's the shock that's used as a warning to society to anyone who would think of opposing the economic shocks...It's not just an interrogation technique; it is a technique of state terror... The primary role of torture is to communicate the message of obedience and the danger of resistance."

Ben Edge On Music 6

ANTIDOTE - Thou shalt not kill 7"
"My favorite early 80s NYCHC record!
Even though the lyrics for "Foreign Job Lot" are ignorant as hell. I don't know how NYCHC got hijacked by a bunch of right-wingers, but it happened a long ass time ago."
_____


Unbroken:
"I remember seeing them in the summer of '95, during the height of my "fuck all things metal" stage, and the only song I thought was really rad was "Fall On Proverb." Later, I got really into them. The lyrical content really drives the band. Musically, they weren't really pushing the envelope."
_____


Roxy Music:
"The first two albums (Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure) are the shit! Those are the two with Brian Eno in the band. Avalon is terrible. That's like their 8th or 9th album."
_____


Lou Reed:
"Lou Reed is supposedly the biggest asshole in rock n roll ever. I've never met the guy.
Velvet Underground has some great songs.
The first Lou Reed album (s/t) is pretty good.
The second Lou Reed album (Transformer) is a classic. David Bowie produced it and sang back ups.
Everything after that is spotty. I'm not a fan of that New York album."
_____

The Beatles solo albums:
"That John Lennon album is classic. I love that thing. Check out the song "Well Well Well". No one else screamed that loud for that long on a record before punk came around.
The Paul McCartney album has some great ones on it too. The first track is a swipe at Lennon. They really hated each other. The back cover of the record is an actual photo of a beetle fucking another beetle. Get it?
The George Harrison album is critically acclaimed, but I can't get into it. It's really happy, but there's sadness behind the music. It's like he's playing happy music to cover up the sadness. "My Sweet Lord" is a rip off of "He's So Fine" by the Chiffons. The writers of "He's So Fine" sued Harrison and won.
Ringo Starr - I don't fuck with that."
_____


Control Soundtrack-
"This has a lot of good, classic glam/early punk songs on it.
The Killers covering Joy Division - THEY'RE NOT WORTHY!
I got to admit that the song "When We Were Young" by the Killers is catchy, but the dude's voice makes it kinda suck.
There's a scene in Control that takes place in 1976, when the dudes in JD are about to see the Sex Pistols. Iggy Pop "Sister Midnight" is playing it the background. That album didn't come out until 1977! Am I the only person who was bugged by that?"

Chuck Norris on Gays & Anarchy

"If Democracy Doesn't Work, Try Anarchy

"The truth is that the great majority of Prop. 8 advocates are not bigots or hatemongers... Their pro-Prop. 8 votes weren't intended to deprive any group of its rights...

"...the blogosphere, where posts have planted ideas ranging from burning churches to storming the citadels of government...
Where are the hate-crime cops when religious conservatives need them?"

If it is one thing Chuck knows it is... plastic surgery?.. toupes?.. karate?.. oh, gays!
_____

We got 'em scared.

Ben Edge / Bad Reaction Car Crash

Last Friday, Nov. 15th, Bad Reaction got into a car accident with (this blog's contributor) Ben Edge driving.
The car is totaled but the boys are doing fine.

"We’re all fine. We’re all happy as hell to be alive. I’m the same person I was before. I have had no religious epiphanies. The only thing I really learned from all this is that you should replace your tires much more often than you probably already do.
I love you all"
-Ben Edge

_____

I am so glad you are all safe. I am going to have my tires changed very soon! (I was warned by a mechanic recently.)

LAPD Raid Anarchist Bookfair Fundraiser

The Revolutionary Autonomous Communities fundraiser for the Anarchist Bookfair at the food not bombs warehouse on 6th and Santa Fe was raided by the LAPD.

"Secular Fascism"

" I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion... you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite, of what you're taught in Sunday school."

That's right. Bring it on!
_____

It has been a minute since "culture wars" has been a right-wing rallying cry but they are bringing it back.
Luckily, their religion and values are as bankrupt as their economic system.

More Of This Needs To Happen

Right-wing O'Reilly wanna be, Glenn Beck, reportedly got accosted at a Wendy's.

Beck was stopped by a truck driver who called him a "racist bigot." He followed that with, "You conservatives that have destroyed this country!.. you better not let me see you in the parking lot because I've got a truck and I'll run your ass over!"

haha

This is why Bay Area resident Michael Savage is a fuckin' recluse. These mindless talking point agitators should get hassled everywhere they go!

Comite Invisible

20 anarchists in three cities across France were arrested by anti-terror police. Only ten remain to face charges. They are accused of being responsible for train sabotage that severely disrupted rail travel throughout the country and apparently was aimed at stopping transfer of nuclear waste from France to Germany. French pigs had been monitoring anarchists for months.
Two of those arrested Julien Coupat, 34, and Yldune L, 25 were detained back in January attempting to illegally cross the U.S. border into Canada, while in possession of English language anarchist texts and photos of the Time's Square army recruitment center weeks before the center was bombed. (Similar attacks occurred on British and Mexican consulates and are thought to be connected.)

Coupat and L had been surveilled attending anarchist meetings during their stay in the US- so, no doubt, we are being watched!
The FBI alerted French authorities and noted a possible international connection. They are alleged to have connections in Germany, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S.

Coupat has been labeled "the leader" of the anarcho-autonomist group dubbed "the invisible cell." He faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of heading a terrorist organization. Others face charges of causing damage, criminal conspiracy and participation in a terrorist enterprise.
_____

"Fan the Flames of Every Crisis"

"Blockade everything; this should be from now on the first reaction of anyone standing against the present order."

'The Insurrection to Come'
-an excerpt from a radical new book that just appeared in France by the Invisible Committee (Comite Invisible).

"Do You REALLY Know Obama??"

Bill Ayer’s recent media appearances brought up and sometimes addressed a line of thinking created by the GOP and their right-wing media lapdogs: Do you REALLY know Obama? What could he be hiding? This is significant not only in its major illustration using the caricature of Ayers and not only in providing a correct narrative of Obama but in explaining what is behind the continued attacks on Obama and progressives (namely racism).

The hack that tried to get tough interviewing Ayers on ABC continued to try and pry out of Ayers some info on his relationship with Obama. Just like McCain, Palin, and Hillary Clinton, he acted like something was being kept secret. The problem is, nothing is being kept secret and their relationship is minimal at best.

I heard a bit of Sean Hannity’s sorry excuse for a radio program. Hannity was also echoing the sentiments (aka GOP talking points) that this relationship needed further investigation and Ayers and Obama needed to answer to it. Of course, they both have and nothing is there.

I think all but the shrinking diehard audience of these automoton talking heads has dismissed this fear-mongering. And so, the rightwingers are left to demand that some nonexistent truth be uncovered. What this really means is they will not stop until it produces either the answer they want or the intended effect of severely damaging Obama (and progressiveness). Not dissimilar to a dog with a toy, these talking-point-regurgitators just can’t let go of what they keep hoping will stick.
Hannity insisted that the media would never allow McCain to get away with it if he had a coffee fundraiser in the house of an admitted abortion clinic bomber. This immediately made me recall Bush issuing a radio address “congratulations” to militant anti-abortion forces. This barely made the news. Sorry, Sean.
This constant hammering at Obama’s past also reminded me of when Bush’s history was questioned. Unlike Obama, who has been very forthright about addressing his own history, Bush refused to release medical records and declared the accusations of his coke use and the covering up of drug induced crimes as off limit. This was, of course, well respected amongst most of the media.

Of course, when your line of thought is based on nothing but pure speculation, it can’t be disproved. If the secrets you are waiting for never surface, perhaps because they don’t exist, it still allows your speculation to burn. This is the same rational the Bush administration used/uses for WMD’s in Iraq.
The obvious danger with promoting this non-thinking as Fox News and the rightwing are so excited to do is that it produces a populace with no rational thought; a populace that is grounded in fear and just waiting to be told what next. Oh, benevolent fascism.
__________

Perhaps, this is of little concern to radical circles. It certainly isn’t like we need to be allied with the fans of Fox News and rightwing talk radio. I am writing from a somewhat selfish position as my family falls firmly into this fear-mongering camp. No amount of logic or introduction of rational thinking can convince such people that Obama’s incoming administration will not create a totalitarian socialist regime.
Being in CA, I was sheltered from much of this fear-mongering dialogue as it occurred in GOP campaign ads for “swing states.”

"I'm An Anarchist"

"Power To The People"
Watch at 4:05:

what a douche

Zionists attack Palestinian students at UCB!

On the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, three organizers for the Zionist Freedom Alliance attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag.
The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racist comments directed at Arabs and Palestinians such as "I will kick your Arab ass," "Arab pigs," "we're about to take care of some fucking Palestinians," and "you Arab dogs, we will kill you."
Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month.

Student For Justice in Palestine Statement

SJP have called for UC Berkeley police to handle the matter and a peaceful dialogue.


(thanx Pranjal)

__________

PART 2:

As expected, it didn't take long for folks to find this blog entry. I have probably already been alerted to the JDL.

I removed a photo of one of the assailants and toned down my rhetoric. I did so only because I want no blame or harm to fall on SJP or Palestinian students at UC Berkeley.
I still harbor no love for these Zionists and wish them the worst.

Oh Capitalism

"The state acts to defend the interests of the capitalist class as a whole, to keep the system going. That means it needs to be a power above individual companies and individuals and be willing to control them in the wider interests of the system. This task creates the illusion that the state is above classes, that it could be used to further social reform. For those elements in the elite, this fear makes them subscribe to anti-government rhetoric while, of course, seeking government power and influence. Yet just as state action was needed to create capitalism in the first place, so it is required to keep it going. Problems always arise when the ruling elite starts to believe its own rhetoric and the ideological nonsense of economics textbooks about capitalism being self-regulating and stable. At times like this, anti-government rhetoric just gets in the way of a more sensible approach."

"right now a systematic shutdown of new world orders and restructuring plans 

hold tight cause here comes the latest craze i've got news baby and this is what i say 

yeah, a new morning, the weather's changing 

god damn let's build a new movement, dead time pacifies so let's do it"

"Disillusionment does not lead to radicalism, but it can be a fertile state in which to begin a discussion of broader issues. However, without the propaganda (of the tree, pixel, and deed) and organizing that can connect people to those radical ideas, apathy and reaction are all but assured."

War Expansion

When the US was waging war upon Vietnam and then leaked it into Cambodia, USAmericans stood up and demanded an end to the imperialist aggression and expansion of the war.
___


The US has been expanding its "War On Terror" in Afghanistan into neighboring countries- specifically Pakistan. Completely disregarding Pakistan's sovereignty, the US continues to conduct military operations inside Pakistan and kill Pakistanis.
It is barely a blip on the news and there is certainly no mass protests. We even just elected a man who practically promises to further invade Pakistan.

Gaza Blockade (Again)

There was a truce between Hamas, the elected governing party in Gaza, and Israel.
Then the Israeli military entered Gaza and killed people.
Hamas retaliated since Israel had violated the truce.
So, Israel inflicted collective punishment yet again on Gaza. Israel blockaded Gaza's borders and will not allow anyone in or out. No supplies, fuel, or food is allowed in.
Israel has made Palestinians dependent upon Israel via controlling their borders and now has destroyed the Palestinian infrastructure and economy.
It is a humanitarian disaster.
_____

Yet another reason why Obama's quick pledge of unwaivering support for Israel must be called out.

Ben Edge On Music 5

X:
"I love X.
Their first album "Los Angeles" is the best, but their first four albums are all great. They were all produced by Ray Manzerek (keyboardist for the Doors). Under The Big Black Sun is album #3. It's got some great songs.
I've heard that guitarist Billy Zoom is an extreme right-winger. He's 60 years old now. I've met the drummer, Don Bonebreak (Bonebrake?), and he was really cool. He's also an accomplished xylophonist."
_____


OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark):
"Don't like it at all. It reminds me of my shitty raver roommate in college.
I think that album came out on Factory before Joy Division even had an album on Factory. Joy Division however, is awesome, and OMD blow."
_____


The Make Up/Ian Svenonius:
"I'm against all things Ian Svenonius. I don't see any value in anything he's ever done. The Make Up was more benign than Nation of Ulysses. Make Up was him trying to be James Brown. Whatever."
_____


Refused-'Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent'
"The first song is cool. It sounds kind of industrial. "I'd rather be dead than alive by your oppression!" That's probably their best song.
I don't know if I could stand listening to that album all the way through though.
Shape of Punk hasn't aged well. And I'm ignoring the masses of POSEURS who love that shit when I say the music on it isn't that great after all."
_____


"I saw that. I think it's awesome. Especially when you listen to the original and how hard and fast it is."
______

Ben and Bad Reaction got into a car accident. They are all ok but they will not be playing at Burnt Ramen this weekend.

"scene"

I'll be honest- I only made it through 45secs of this before my head hurt too bad to continue.

"scene kids" "emo"
LOL

Attack The Stakes & Churches

Bash Back infiltrated a church as part of a anti-homophobia action.

They also shouted the wonderful slogan, “Jesus was a homo”
_____

In LA and Salt Lake, Mormon churches/stakes have received envelopes filled with white powder.
It was harmless but an obvious attack aimed at the Mormons buying votes to ban same-sex marriage in CA.

The Trail of Toxic E-Waste

Our first world trash = imperialist polution and death of humans and the planet.

Watch video:


It is unfortunate a piece like this often serves to make USAmerican's feel a sense of apathetic futility rather looking at their wants that cause these crimes.

(thanx Pranjal)

Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn on Democracy Now!

Bill Ayers on GMA

Good Morning America video 1:


Good Morning America video 2:


Look, that ABC interviewer did his best tough journalist act but Ayers wasn't really taken off course and wouldn't be manipulated.
The people that bought into the GOP talking points and somehow think the barely-there-past of Obama and Ayers matters probably won't be swayed any differently for Ayers is still a radical and has a clear analysis of political "violence." However, I never thought I would see Ayers on TV discussing The Weather Underground more-or-less on his terms, promoting his awesome book, and even mentioning Israel/Palestine as an American conflict!
USA, as a whole, may lack much progressive and revolutionary potential but those that do can now find direction from a source that I had trouble finding much info on when I first investigated at age 17 in the early '90's.

Watchmen: New Trailer

Amenity Reunion

A TON of reunion shows are announced all the time, so I pretty much stopped posting about them. I especially felt no motivation to post about huge reunion shows of bands I genuinely loved that are part of a "fest" etc etc.

Here is a reunion show I would like to see:

Amenity!
Apparently, they have reformed and will be releasing new material in 2009 on Gravity.
The guys in Amenity found a venue that they could be in control of, a place that was all ages, with a stage they are building themselves.
_____

Portraits Of Past reunited and caused a stir but I am wondering if any of the early 90's Bay Area bands will reunite. As much as an Econochrist reunion would be brutal, perhaps it is better some of these bands stay dead or their members start something fresh with a new name.

I <3 Beaver

(thanx Mel)

Bank targeted in Kansas

Reportedly, a bank was vandalized in Lawrence, KS by anarchists.
(I have only found this one report, so who knows.)

The time is most definitely ripe to attack the banks and their bailout in both word and deed.

Who doesn't need this?!

(thanx Mel)

Wanna hear what I was rockin' in the early 90's?

01. Intro/Old School - 2Pac
02. Case Of The P.T.A. - Leaders Of The New School
03. Live At The BBQ - Main Source Feat. Nas, Akynelle
04. Give To The People - EPMD/Funky Technician - Lord Finesse
05. Time’s Up - OC/Manslaughter - EPMD
06. Looking At The Front Door - Main Source/Ring Ring Ring - De La Soul
07. Mass Appeal - Gangstarr/Crossover - EPMD
08. Down With The King - Run Dmc/I Get Around - 2Pac
09. Vapors - Biz Markie/La Di Da Di - Slick Rick/Sittin’ In My Car - Slick Rick
10. Showstopper - Salt N’ Pepa/Top Billin’ - Audio Two
11. Check It Out - Grand Puba Feat. Mary J. Blige
12. Rebirth Of Slick - Digable Planets
13. It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube
14. They Reminisce Over You - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth
15. Breakadawn - De La Soul
16. O.P.P. - Naughty By Nature/It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ Eazy Rock
17. Mona Lisa - Slick Rick/900 Number - 45 King
18. Hip Hop Junkies - Nice And Smooth/Scenario - Tribe Called Quest
19. Protect Ya Neck - Wu-Tang Clan/Time For Some Aksun - Redman/DWYK - Gangstarr
20. Choice Is Yours - Blacksheep/Here Comes The Lords - LOTUG/La Schmoove - Fuschnickens

(Gotten from Nah Right)

Wall Street Bailout Breakdown

The current economic crisis is difficult to fully understand for most of us and all the corporate media just gives us the perspective of the bankers/capitalists.
Naomi Klein SERIOUSLY breaks it all down and the problems with the bailout.
Listen to her talk about it on Against The Grain's November 4th, 2008 show. Her whole segment is interesting but she gets into the juicy part about the bailout at the 28 minute mark.

I really encourage everyone to check it out.

FREE DOWNLOAD
Download for free as a podcast on iTunes.

Watch her on The Colbert Report for fun.

Night Vision Goggles for Kids

JAKKS Pacific/Eye Clops is marketing actual night vision goggles to kids!


They retail for approximately $70.
I don't know how well they work but real night vision goggles cost hundreds of dollars. I want some!

Bay Bread

The best bread I have tasted is Bay Bread's Organic Sprouted 8-Grain Bread!

You can pick it up at the Temescal Farmers' Market on Sundays.


(thanx Mel!!)

Shepard Fairey & Obama's Cult Of Personality

I have been very curious about Shepard Fairey's relationship with Barack Obama and the background behind the ever-present 'HOPE' poster.
I have long had issues with Fairey's motives in co-opting radical imagery and no one was probably more responsible for feeding the Obama hype as Fairey.
This SuperTouch interview has Fairey explaining the story behind the Obama posters and how much money they raised.

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I don't dig this dude's perspective but he has a very interesting collection of Obama images showing his depiction as almost messiah-like.