-- SEX POLITICS RELIGION ARTS -- SERIOUS AND HUMOROUS --
It is just a place to come with an open mind,
though ours are not always-Please tell us if they're not!
Even in biblical times, they recognized the dangers of people making a living on derivatives and speculation. They were called "the moneychangers". In most Muslim countries it is illegal to loan money with an interest rate. Finally, in America many have been brainwashed to think people who handle money should make a lot of it.
Banks, insurance companies and the financial sector in general, are not real contributors to the GNP except possibly for their consulting and training services. The banks spend a ton of money advertising to appear to have a value greater than they deserve. Since all the successful banks do this, they simply pass on these costs to the consumer. Their marketing costs and profits are an inefficiency the world can no longer afford. Insurance companies were originally created to spread risk among members of a "group". Now they simply charge more to people who are at higher risk, defeating the purpose and they advertise, another inefficiency we pay for without any benefit.
Letting these industries operate as profit seeking ventures is like letting the accountant in your company keep all the profit and pay the CEO and others just enough to subsist. It is the tail wagging the do. Speculators are no longer dependable investors. Their money is daytraded and hedged to the point they destabilize markets and in some cases literally cause the fall of certain companies.
We are all now familiar with the recent practice of selling something twice, in the form of packaged derivative products. A bank sells a loan, derives interest, then additionally packages several loans, then sells stock in the performance of the collective package. The ultimate pyramid scheme. All of the money they make is money we could spend on improving the quality of life. All of these services are necessary to all citizens, therefore would be a natural fit for government administration.
Here are a few examples of how government can and does provide these services with near perfect efficiency. Medicare, whose administrative costs are 1%, outperforms its private counterparts by a full 29% as they don't have to advertise or pay out profits. Banks are allowed to issue loans guaranteed by the government, yet they charge healthy interest rates for these services. Direct lending to student and even small businesses cuts them out and saves unnecessary marketing costs and profits.
In many other countries, even if these sectors are private, they are highly regulated because they are considered a "trust", and entity entrusted with performing public service with guaranteed profits. It is truly amazing that Americans have justified private medical services and insurance to pay for it when they somehow consider the protection of property form fire or crime, a government responsibility. Everyone has health needs, some more than others, and none can be blamed for their health as if it is a choice. Why is it the public spreads the cost of police and fire departments among us all according to our income, while those services to protect your health are meant to be profitable?
Yes, doctors should make a good living, but once they have recovered their $100,000+ investment, why should they continue to become wealthy? Every company has an initial capitalization, but no other is guaranteed such returns. They are treating life and health as a commodity. If you can't pay their ransom, you die. This is why countries like Costa Rica, where there is no need for private medical insurance or doctors, can afford to provide quality health care even though the average income is $300 a month. A doctor lives well in Costa Rica. His education is paid for by the government and he is a public servant. A doctor of medicine and a doctor of philosophy are paid the same in government institutions. And they have no problem attracting enough people to the professions of medicine and education. We have something to learn from them.
Imagine how cheaply we could provide quality health, education and banking services, if the government simply acted as a conduit with no profit motive, only the goal of maximizing health, education and money management. All of these have become privatized and more are becoming so.
Even the military has been outsourced to contractors in Iraq for $100,000/year instead of $15-30,000/year for their government counterparts. The result, explosive war costs. Coca Cola and other beverage companies are in the process of privatizing water; yes, Coke is mostly water provided at a very low cost by the government, then sold back to people in bottles that will pollute forever. In Darfur and many other third world nations, companies like Coke take enough water out of the water table to dry up wells in the highlands. People have to migrate to the valleys and they are literally warring over water.
What is next? Let's reverse the trend and let the government manage those things that all of us must have to survive and thrive.
Editors Note: The article below is a result of a submission from a reader. As this site is not a simple "sounding board" for ill-considered ideas or knee jerk conspiracy theories, I was forced to either ignore or address this otherwise compelling piece. Ms. Masterson is not an employee or agent of this publication. Any of the content in black and red, remains intact, unedited and the copyright along with its liability remains with the submitter. The response is in blue and remains the sole responsibility and content of Bryan E. Hall, Editor of Duly Consider.
Please read this as you would an essay that has been commented upon by the professor. It is unusual to publish something in this fashion, but in all fairness, it would be irresponsible to do so without parenthetical consideration.
After the ashes of this so-called unprecedented presidential election, do you know who you voted for into office? What do you know of his policies? Do you know who controls him? Money is what controls him and do you know who controls the money?
The Federal Reserve is what controls the money in this nation and it's not the government or we who run it, it is private bankers who through a federation of twelve banks controls the money that flows through this land and that they vote privately on the money that controls us, that affects us, without our being able to have a say in the matter. Beyond being unconstitutional (the constitution, due to the threat of the monarchy of England, vanished the possibility of there being a central banking system due to the catastrophes caused by the administrators who deliberately pushed wars to make money by funding both sides and destroying a land's economy all in the name of power and greed), it is a gross act of defiance and hubris hostility against the voice of the American people by showing how powerless we are against controlling the very things that runs us; our money.
See, back in the good ole' days, we were once on the gold standard. The treasury had the ability to make money, but it was backed by gold. Nelson Aldrich, the Federal Reserve Act architect, met on JekyllIsland with JP Morgan and the Rothschilds to draft what would be the finished product of the Federal Reserve Act. Due to the passage of the Fed reserve act during a sleepy day in Congress when half of congress was absent due to Christmas, the fed reserve act was passed under strongly banker-backed President Woodrow Wilson, who later regretted his decision to let it pass (for more on the history of the Federal Reserve, see <http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1095269452.php> And you can check out the official whitewashed history at <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve> for comparison).
This set the stage for corporate and banker interest to take control of our government at the expense of the people since their interest lied in their bottom line and not our best interest . This set the stage for a government that is, even now, still under the control of bankers. When JFK tried to reintroduce Treasury Notes into the economy under Executive Order 11110, allowing for Treasury to regain control over the life blood of our economy, he was assassinated by CIA operative E Edward Hunt to keep him from freeing the people by creating a truly free-based economy where we aren't tied to illegal system that puts us into debt (source: <http://www.rense.com/general76/jfkvs.htm>).
In the case of Obama, that's what speaks for him, the bankers who control the reserve since it is the reserve who, like a mother to a child, gives the child an allowance, which is in turn given to us. In the President's case, let's say the government needs 1 billion. Without even sending real, printed money, the Federal reserve sends a bunch of numbers through the computer to the government and that is the money (For a more accurate and simplified way on how the Fed Reserve works, go to copy/paste <http://dulyconsider.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-make-trillions-of-dollars.html>).
There is no physical money printed, shifted or transacted, but imaginary money that only exists in a machine, a computer. This money, as debt instrument, is used in turn to give to the people at a fixed rate or interest and since only a fixed amount has to stay in the government reserve, this is what determines how much money exists in the supply based on contracting or expanding, or, in other words, inflation. Plus, to add insult to injury, we are charged interest on this fake money, thereby ensuring a lifetime supply of ingenious slavery in a workforce. Also, since the Federal Reserve runs the Presidency, wars are started to get us out of debt and in peace time we are put into debt to justify going into words, therefore sealing us into a vicious cycle of wars.
Thus, we are literally controlled by nothing. We owe nothing in return since no money was really given. To make matters even worse, we are forced to owe through the monopoly money that we are given trillions upon trillions of debt since the money we have isn't even money, it's literally debt (if you don't believe me, look at your $1 dollar or $5 dollar paper bill, what does it say; Note means in elementary accounting that you owe a debt and not get paid back for it.) Out of a lot of the Federal Reserve sprung corporations designed to put us to work to pay off this debt since the government pays interest on this fake money and pass it along to us as tax. Corporations don't become big overnight. A lot of them got to where they are due to cooperation with the banker monopolists. Without their cooperation, Nike wouldn't be where it is since, and neither would Reebok, or IBM since without their cooperation, they wouldn't have gotten the loans to start the businesses. Even worse is the fact that mostly bankers, these crooks, assisted inObama's campaign, such as Franklin Raines, who was fired as CEO of FNMA andPenny Pritzker, former CEO of Superor Bank of Chicago, which went belly up due to pushing sub prime mortgages (source: http://memes.org/alex-jones-infowars-home-failed-bankers-campaign-obama). Even though Obama is against some of those who lobbied for him, he still accepts their money (see <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Barack_Obama/Campaign_Financing>). Even more surprising are the donors who funded both campaigns simultaneously. Look at some of Obama's supporters, with Goldman Sach's being 2nd with Morgan Stanley not too far behind. (The list can be seen here at <http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638>). Now, look at the donor list of McCain (It can be seen here at <http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00006424>).
[Good info, but fails to demonstrate a relevant support for your thesis that Obama (more so than other politicians) actually falls under some control of the Fed and/or other insidious banking interests. Such a connection would be huge news but there is no evidence of this. He, like every other candidate, accepted money from bankers, employees of banks and PACs who may favor banking interests. The fact he got more than other candidates is only a testament to the fact he was highly favored to win the race; and to the victor (or likely victor) go the spoils. Sadly, all the candidates support the current corrupt banking system, except for Ron Paul and he is unviable in the political structure.]
Notice that they have the same bankers, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, giving to them. Do you see a correlation? Yes, I know I can. You can go ahead and think that they feel that they might see both candidates who represents their interest, but, who is the third candidate that they are trying to keep out? There was no real third party opposition that was a threat since they didn't receive equal media coverage, so why support two so-called separate idealogues?. Also why vote for two candidates with supposedly two different interests? Doesn't it make you think that no matter who wins, they are rooting for the same guy since they know that the same guy will pull the same result.
If you decide to look to the propaganda machines that are the news and other news entertainment outlets like Newsweek and the like you will be hard pressed to find accurate, unbiased information that can help the reader or viewer arrive to unbiased, informed opinions. For instance, Newsweek's News doesn't get printed until it passes through review by the Pentagon. However, the airwaves and screens are stuffed with fluff: mindless drones watching reality shows while sitting around lingering and drinking beer due to economic hard times is what the corporatocracy have in mind and want.The corporatocracy wants us to be consumed with this so that their product, our Presidential leaders, can lead us like the blind leading the blind down a path to oblivion much like the pied piper did with the little kids of Germany.They want us to think that this leader whom we didn't elect (the electoral college did).[Simply untrue as he was elected by a larger majority of the popular vote than anyone since Carter (and he followed Nixon)] will lead us into a great era of prosperity because she/he is black or some other diversionary tactic to keep the simple minded blind. However, the fact that these are the people who control him[Highly conspiratorial without any evidence] (remember, those with money have power) are the ones who control him[I am quite sure they would like to control him, but the proof of that is to be seen] and with their interests being selfish, do you think that these corps that don't mind overworking children to death in sweat shop factories are going to care about us? Do you think that these companies are going to care if Barack turns around and says that he wants to bring companies back from overseas and return them to America? No! You never bite the hand that feeds you and look at what happened to John F. Kennedy when he tried; he was owned(assassinated)!
Aside from understanding how the economy is used by the bankers to control the President and decisions in this country, another important, actually very imperative key to understanding what really runs this nation is the advisor to the president. Zbignew Brzezinski is going to be [one of] Obama's advisors. Do you know who Zbignew Brzezinski is aside from his name? Brzezinski was instrumental in the creation and support of the mujahideen, which later became Al Qaeda, in an effort to use them against the Soviet Union by creating strife with the then Soviet supporting Afghanistan and training what was to become Al Qaeda using CIA operatives [Failed interventionist policies go back well before Brzezinski as the British, even before WWII, IE-“Lawrence of Arabia”, tried to control them as they didthe Indians, and they created a hatred that has backfired, but it is true, the US created and supported the “Mujahideen” and the Shah of Iran, and Saddam Hussein and even Khadafi. The US has made a lot of money selling them weapons that they later have used against us, but who can blame them?] (Source: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski>)This man intends on using Obama to initiate his decades old war against Russia. Do you know the name Rahm Emmanuel? He is the son of a terrorist[“Terrorist” is a label that can easily be applied to anyone who uses the threat of violence to elicit fear and control, certainly to include all military power (except our terrorists are funded directly by and openly encouraged by our government)] who quelled opposition to Israel by slaughtering Palestinians and he was also picked to be Obama's right hand man (Source: <http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/us-election/rahm-emanuels-father-an-israeli-terrorist-14043727.html>). I am quite sure that will lead to more war and involvement with Israel. As a matter of fact, a top pentagon advisor warned of an international crisis after Obama takes lead 260 days into his presidency, with Biden even emphasizing the ruthlessness of this soon to be international crisis (Source: <http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/bidens-crisis-remarks-reverberate/>) (Source: <http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/21/mccain-uses-bidens-crisis-prediction-question-obama/>) . Also, other than what Obama says, let's find out what he has done. He has:
Voted for Wall Street $700 million Bailout (both him and McCain have the same donors) (Source: )[Obviously, a majority voted for the bailout, most of which did so with disdain, much as parents paying kidnappers reluctantly.]
He supports an invasion of Pakistan[This is what we call “spin”; He said he would support a strike within Pakistan if there was actionable intelligence that led us to Osama Bin Laden] (Source: <http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Story?id=3434573&page=1>)
He is for the Patriot Act as well as the FISA Act, which allows for greater spying powers handed to the NSA over the American population. (Source: <http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/20/obama_supports_fisa_legislatio.html>) [It is yet to be seen as to whether he will favor the extension of the Patriot Act, and most indications are that he will not. FISA is a perfectly suitable law, if enforced. Bush simply ignored it. Perhaps you should read it if you haven’t.]
His policy consist of getting us to borrow more money in order to spend more money by borrowing from foreign banks (which goes against what the constitution stands for), which will add to the cataclysmic cycle that will lead us into a bonded and indebted populace, which will lead to a much worse recession, otherwise known as a depression (Source: <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20915.htm>).
We are living in a hypocrisy and if we were to have done our homework rather than letting the mass corporate media feed us it's baloney, we would have been aware of this before we voted for him in office. Now, looking back at the Bush administration, the feeling is predominant that his tenure in office will look like the golden times rather than the real gloom and doom that's ahead of us now all because we choose to be asleep rather than awake.
In Africa, the leaders of a village, even all the way up to prime minister, bloodline is the determining force of everything. In order to be king or queen, PM, unless you are of a certain regal heritage, you can't ascend the throne or head of state position. Returning back to America, did you know that Obama is related to Bush and that his Kenyan father went to Harvard, thereby making him a legacy? America is also ruled by a bloodline. Obama is related to the Bush's, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney. [This is where the tinfoil hat comes out. Relax the paranoia. We have enough legitimate fears without the silly “American Royalty” theories.] They are all different colors and from different places but they all share a common lineage and through masking the media the Corporatocracy[The MNCs that rule this world couldn’t care less about bloodlines as long as leaders keep their financial pipelines flowing] has successfully ensured that this bloodline is here to stay, not to be usurped by we the people anytime soon by feeding us mass, rampant junk like Britney's panties and who's the next winner of American Idol[True, but more likely a result of Idiocracy than Corporatocracy; this really undermines your credibility]
If you don't believe the corporatocracy and their measures to keep the elite at the top, look at this profile of Federal Reserve Bank of New York's President Tim Geithner and Barack Obama, the played out story of the young man from nothing is pretty astounding considering that they had very similar lives and are now President respectively in their industries (Source:http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=6196682&page=1). True freedom lies with knowledge; andthough these mass channels of information or disinformation is caused by the powers that be that have an inherent interest in keeping us from being critical thinkers [absolutely true, and no doubt, a conscious intention of the rich], or just from thinking.
When was the last time you did your independent research on the President? Your elected leaders? Your state senators? When was the last time you knew how government worked other than what CNN told you? When was the last time you knew how the economy worked other than what MSNBC”s money market told you? This election has nothing to do with putting a black man into office? His color skin will not help us? This is about a war, a war on you, a war on all of us, a war designed to maintain the status quo at the expense of us and our minds is the battlefield. We live in a culture saturated by people who no longer want to think for themselves. We have become a nation of lazy thinkers where the boob tube speaks for us and our will is suppressed for the greater good against us. To all those out there who think that being passive is the best way to go: seeking solace in ignorance assures your part in the play, meaning you will still be affected by it no matter what.
The corporatocracy knows that we willfully consent to our slavery by ignorance. The most important thing in the world is to know the leaders you choose since if we don't know who we choose we all know what happens to sheep; ultimately you get sent to the slaughter. Complicity in slavery comes from submission in not knowing. Please, if you know in your heart this article to be true, please pass it around to as many people as you can just to get the truth out there (make sure though to give credit as I copyrighted it.) Thank you and love yourself by freeing yourself.
[Interesting reading, but perhaps, if published as is, would be irresponsible journalism. Just because something “could be true” is no basis for making such major illogical leaps. We need more than “possibility”, we need a logical, relevant and calculable “probability” in order to make fair editorial content. Anything short of this is simply muckraking and fear mongering. We have much proven evil to fear and much of this article is factual, but the conclusions are unfair and are tantamount to baseless character assassination. Stick to the facts, and prove your conspiracies and the mainstream media will gladly publish you. Hell, you will win a Pulitzer.
I am always impressed by fervor, even when misdirected or ill-supported. The Fed and the self perpetuating monetary system, are without a doubt, aimed at enslaving us by keeping us in “fake debt”, and as long as the rules are made from the top down rather than from the bottom up; as long as pay is determined solely by the employers without an equal say by the workers themselves (while they pretend this is “the natural law of supply and demand”), we are going to be locked into a worldwide domination of workers by the truly lazy and evil overlords who will do ANYTHING to stay in control.
Logic would dictate that we apply the same rules to the macro-economy as to the micro-economy, which is to say, that bankruptcy is intended to relieve the unmanageable burden of mounting debt. Our government is currently embarking on a path to greater debt, of which we cannot write off in a bankruptcy. Our unborn are expected to be born into debt slavery. This is the real horror. And only if there is a simultaneous readjustment of the books, in the form of worldwide debt forgiveness, we are destined to live in a constant state of fear of financial disaster. The truth is, that money and debt are not “real”, only material possessions are (as in “real estate”) Everything else, is an accounting game, just as clearly described in many parts of the Holy Bible. The moneychangers are truly evil and we must, as did Jesus, remove them from our temple.
It is not necessary, however to personally vilify Obama or any other pawns in this struggle. Keep your eye on the real enemies.]
Content in black and red: Copyright by Raven Masterson (Williams) 2008.
A recent story broke in the National Enquirer that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner. It is already spreading in mainstream British papers and will no doubt hit our networks soon. Despite the bad taste this publication puts in my mouth, they are most often correct in matters of political seriousness. John Edwards was but one example. Normally, I wouldn't care about, much less morally judge one's politics by their personal lives, but I can't help but to find it interesting that the party of Christian conservatism who has waved their fingers at far too many others, is the party with the most sex scandals.
The only thing that makes this an issue, is that of hypocrisy among self-righteous dominionists. Clinton never pretended to be a religious person, though clearly a man of strong faith and conviction. I just find it so interesting that a huge majority of evidence suggests the Dem ticket has the most "family values"; personally, I say Sarah should keep getting laid as long as she can, as she will not be very hot much longer. She will age quickly before our eyes. As with most movie stars whose only appeal is sex, hers is only a couple of years away.
Sarah Palin is a typical housewife in midlife crisis, having realized her mediocrity despite her clear intellectual yearning. She wasted her youth and squandered her formal education, lackluster at best. Like many beautiful women, as her beauty faded, she sought other ways to get attention. People no longer liked her just for being cute.
In politics, she is still young, but her "cuteness" is soon gone. What is left is a sarcastic prose, a grating voice and a penchant for low blows. Her affairs only fit into a psychological profile of a woman who has coasted on sexual allure without any intellectual substance.
The sad reality is (and hopefully the truth doesn't insult too many from non-competitive universities) a 3.3 average GPA is quite low compared to "competitive universities" that hover well over 3.7, and the average HS from which students come, is of far greater difficulty at Harvard and other top tiers. Most valedictorians cannot get into Harvard. It takes objective excellence. The quality of the average HS a U of I student attended would be nowhere near that of NY, Mass., well almost any other. Idaho is generally near the bottom when ranking public education, according to Kiplinger, #98 among publics.
It would seem to be common sense that Americans would demand such information about a Presidential candidate as GPAs, SATs, any objectively comparable data.
The fact is, Sarah Palin, by any stretch, is of a mediocre academic track, as is McCain. America allowed a coups d'etat (didn't elect) George Jr., and despite his poor academics, he went to the finest schools (with a D average). His presidency hasn't worked out very well. Hopefully, America has learned it's lesson from that fiasco.
Our President should be the brightest and best, not someone that simply "fits in" at the local PTA or drinking establishment.
I suspect Sarah's IQ is unimpressive or else it would be made public. The same can be said of any other data that somehow has been demanded in her "long political career". I guess Alaskans don't have much regard for objective standards, just redneck values and NRA membership.
1. Why didn't he just pick his wife Cindy if he just wanted a beauty pageant winner? 2. Why not Anita Bryant? 3. Sarah Palin, oh yeah, she makes great desserts, doesn't she? 4. Her foreign policy experience is that Alaska is adjacent to Russia. 5. Is that the best he could do? 6. Hey, anybody can be President in America! 7. Beauty Queen, Hockey mom, Mayor of a town of 5-thousand people, Governor of a rural state; hasn't she satisfied the Peter principle of being elevated to her highest level of incompetence yet? 8. Proof that McCain thinks with his guts; like a man with no head. 9. McCain, the next morning: "I'm sorry; what was your name? I was a little drunk last night."
Go to the shelter my baby, my baby...go to the shelter...
What do you find between the toes of Gongzilla?
Slow runners.
Run, don't walk to the nearest venue featuring the band! (But do so in an orderly fashion).
I can not recomend this band highly enough, their recordings are phenomenal documents in themselves, but live? Live they lay more than Tokyo to waste, certainly the show I attended at Philadelphia's World Cafe (one of the nicest places on the east coast to see live music by the way) was simply one of the best performances I have ever had the pleasure to experience. All these performances in August are CD release partys, which means aside from the mind expanding presentation of superb music many special guests will be joining the band for some of the numbers.
And the band will be available after the show for conversation, autographs, etc.
August, 15 2008 09:30 PM - Sarah Street Grill
550 Quaker Alley, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360 -
www.sarahstreetgrill.com (570) 424-9120
August, 16 2008 10:00 PM - Capital Ale House Downtown Music Hall
619 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219 -
An evening with GZ!
August, 19 2008 10:00 PM - The Pour House Music Hall
224 S Blount St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 -
August, 20 2008 09:00 PM - Double Door Inn
218 E. Independence Blvd., Charlotte, North Carolina 28202 -
Two big sets at 9:00pm and midnight!
August, 21 2008 10:00 PM - Empty Glass
410 Elizabeth Street, Charleston, West Virginia 25311 -
An evening with GZ! Two big sets
August, 23 2008 03:15 PM - 3 River Progressive Rock Festival
565 Rt. 18, Burgettstown (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania 15021 -
Full GZ show (1.5hrs) http://3rprogfest.com/ September, 11 2008 11:00 PM - Nectar’s
188 Main Street, Burlington, Vermont 05401 -
with Bad Suit
September, 13 2008 01:00 PM - Wormtown Music Festival
Camp KeeWanee Leyden Road, Greenfield, Massachusetts 01301 -
www.mainpub.com September, 20 2008 10:00 PM - River Street Jazz Cafe
665 North River St., Plains (Wilkes-Barre), Pennsylvania 18701 -
CD release party!!!!!!!!
The New CD (release Date Sept 4th)
But if you attend a CD release party,
you can get an advance copy!
The music on Five Even took me a bit by surprise at first. Not in any negative way. I have come to expect the unexpected from this band. I had no idea they were such good vocalists. Most of the early albums had more in common with the Mahavishnu Orchestra than the Manhattan Transfer if you know what I mean. So add great lyrics, precise harmonies, and some excellent vocal stylings from Hansford Rowe to the overflowing list of accomplishments of Gongzilla.
You can hear some of the tunes at the bands home page, but listen to more one - as any one tune might give you a idea how to categorize them, and could be quite misleading.
Hansford Rowe and his Warwick Just Intonation Bass
As luck would have it, my party (my son- who introduced me to the excellent recordings of this band many years ago, 2 of my guitar students, and my lovely wife) had the best seats in the house, literally at the front of the stage. Even though we had high expectations of the musicianship, we were all stunned and speechless. Certainly every musician who appeared on that stage was a monster. Some musicians who have recorded with the band include Percy Jones, Gary Husband, Allan Holdsworth, Chuck Garvey, Jake Cinninger, David Torn, David Fiuczynski, Ben Perowsky, Kai Eckhardt, Lionel Cordew, Benoit Moerlen, Pierre Moerlen, Bobby Thomas Jr., Phil Kester, Todd Barneson, Jameison Ledonio, and Sam Aliano. You never know who will be showing up at these CD release parties to do a guest spot. "Nadeen" came up and contributed some highly stylized transcendent vocals to a few tunes in Philadelphia and was given quite an appreciative reception from the audience.
The core band members are:
Hansford Rowe - bass, vocals
Bon Lozaga - guitar, vocals
Mike Miz - guitar, vocals
Nate Laguzza - drums
I had the chance to hang with Hansford and Mike a bit after the show, and they assured me they would be back in the area soon. I can't wait. Do yourself a great favor, and get to one these shows if you can. You will not be disappointed. If you miss them live, pick up some CD's:
Journalist Bill Milkowski called GZ “simply mind-boggling”. The group is a mass of contradictions in perfect balance. A band with international roots (USA, Quebec, Philippines); GZ has a reputation for concise songs and transcendent jams. All this emanates from the fusion origins of Bon Lozaga and Hansford Rowe who met while playing in one of the idioms seminal groups – Gong. Bon and Hansford decided to tinker further with the Petri dish that was Gong, and begat a further evolution. They formed Gongzilla and released a series of Mahavishnu-esque improvisational rock albums featuring second guitarists on each one, including jazz fusion legend Allan Holdsworth, David Torn and David Fiuczynski, and a number of drummers, including Pierre Moerlen and Gary Husband.
More recently, Gongzilla has included some U.S. jamband heroes in its live performances like guitarist Chuck Garvey and percussionist Jim Loughlin of moe., and has emphasized vocals, crafting songs which fuse with improvisational rock. Fans who have heard some of the more recent tunes have described them as Steely Dan-ish at times. The new studio record includes the aforementioned Garvey as well as Jake Cinninger of Umphrey's McGee plus guitarist David "Fuze" Fiuczynski (Screaming Headless Torsos) and bassist Kai Eckhardt of Garaj Mahal! Contradictions and balance; Rowe and Lozaga sing cool songs that will singe your soul while balancing both the hyper precision and the rockin’ mayhem this band is capable of live.
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
Field Report: Intelligence
Gathered On Artistic
Insurrection Dossier
Return To Forever...08
Return to Forever's show on Tuesday night at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia received more standing ovations than than than the combined scores of teams in the average (or above average) Super Bowl.
The enthusiastic ovations were to be expected - after a 25 year drought, the rain is welcomed as royalty. The legendary jazz fusion quartet rose to fame in the 1970s, with it's groundbreaking recordings that documented the concussions of jazz and rock colliding, but have been absent for 25 years, leaving behind fans who've remained hungry for more of their unique pioneering music.
Chick Corea on piano and keyboards, Stanley Clarke on bass, Al Di Meola on guitar and Lenny White on drums, have all had important roles as band leaders, composers, and producers since Return to Forever -- but the band was simply outstanding. There is something no less than magic, a synergy where the whole becomes greater than the sum of it's parts in great bands. Such is the case with RTF.
This is no "comeback-cash in" tour where a band's legacy is muddied. Instead these performances affix the band's place in the jazz pantheon for a new generation, who never heard the band live. The audience was probably 2/3s fans who were there at the band's seminal shows in the 70's but easily another 1/3 were not. While waiting for a fine libation, (did I mention I love the Mann? It's in Fairmount Park and has wonderful amenities - simply the best place I know of for summer concerts) a fellow concert goer mentioned (gushing with excitement) that he never thought he'd ever experience this band live, though he had their recordings. I suspect this was a fairly common story.
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
The show opened with a wonderful performance from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Just in case you've been duct taped in your basement for the last couple decades- Bela Fleck has reinvented the banjo and the Flecktones (Victor Wooten on bass, Jeff Coffin on woodwinds, and Futureman [Roy Wooten] on percussive devices) have left a trail of dropped jaws wherever they perform. This show was no exception. A dazzling performance well received.
FutureMan
Return To Forever took the stage and after a jovial greeting from founder Chick Corea, launched into "Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy" ( This brought a smile to my face because it is probably my favorite tune from their catalog, the original recording featured the great Bill Connors on guitar but Al did a fine job interpreting the song.)
Chick addresses the crowd
Each band member had a few pertinent words to say between tunes. Lenny White suggested that it was time we took the music back, that he found it implausible that people had "bands" in which no one actually "played" an instrument. ( "This is no boy band", he said of RTF, "...this is a man band." Stanley Clarke (who is from Philadelphia) praised the city's commitment to the arts, and asked the question that one only asks when in the city of brotherly love... "Genos? or Pat's?" Chick Corea, who hails from Boston thanked the crowd from coming out for this "historical or perhaps hysterical evening". Al (a Jersey guy) talked about how great it was to be with his buddies and praised the spirit of the 1970's era of music to some degree.
Stanley Clarke ... more than "Bass- ics"
Stanley Clarke was figuratively and literally the center of the band, standing in the center of the stage, anchoring the music's rhythms along with Lenny White's flawless battery. Clarke launched into miraculous solos. Muscular yet ethereal and sweet. Al DiMeola is simply one of the finest guitarists on the planet by any standard. His soloing was blazing, oozing technique, yet organic and inspired. Chick Corea was in top form, soaring effortlessly on both state of the art digital synths and his "of the era" instruments- the Fender Rhodes Piano with a Mini Moog perched on top. Needless to say, some of the finest moments involved his acoustic piano as well. The band was soulful, elegant, but POWERFUL!
Al remains one true master of guitar
The first half of the show was electric but the acoustic instruments came out for Romantic Warrior and the 2nd half of the show. The encore returned to an electric set. For those of us who invested our adolescence listening to this band, the program was familiar. However they didn't stick to the original recordings note for note. In jazz form, they laid down many of the themes and then took off for improvisation heaven. Many of the Corea compositions are similar to symphonies in terms of movements or themes. The band moves in and out of these themes, embellishes it all with improvisational solos, hits some more themes, more solos and in general creates new living, breathing, sentient versions of their classic music.
Al, Lenny, and Stanley whipping it out!
Interestingly enough, this music, conceived of in the 1970s, remains" futuristic". Why?
The same reason Charles Ives, Harry Partch, and other visionary music remains relevant. It has a quality of intelligence, a depth. It transports us. It opens doorways It takes us beyond the dimensions we normally perceive. It inspires and enlightens.
Aside from this, the band sharply executes the pieces, with improvisations that refresh, renew, and inform. This makes the music a living entity that constantly is adapting to the moment.
Brilliant compositions, players who know their instruments inside and out, playing on an intuitive level, a night to treasure and remember...forever.
Return To Forever
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
Even if not perfectly politically aligned with a particular voter, Obama presents several factors with which McCain cannot compete, the largest being "sex appeal". Despite the fact, most will not consciously admit that such a thing could possibly be a motivator for their vote for such an important office, psychologically, it is unavoidable and powerful.
A recent article in The Nation said, "Barack and Michelle Obama channel some of the style of the current early-'60s revival--sleeveless sheaths and chunky pearls, Ocean's 11 and Mad Men--without the alienation. America, they say, you can be cool and sexy again, "back!" and swinging, but secure this time. Those "excesses" of the '60s that Barack mentioned, those family fractures across the demographic board, they can all be resolved through hot married love."
Clearly, this is reflective of a deep attraction that many Americans share. Much like some of Hollywood's top stars, it is the kind of sex appeal that crosses many borders, both geographically and psychologically. Obama is old enough that young men don't feel threatened. He is young enough that old men can admire his virility and obtain a vicarious thrill. And because he is married to an attractive woman and he expresses a clear sense of family values and religiosity, even moderate Christians have no basis for accusations of sexual opportunism, while the right wing can find nothing true over which to judge him, at least of a sexual nature. As for women, gay and bisexual men (even those who simply fantasize), Obama's attraction is self-evident.
The fact he is black, it goes without saying, but I will say it, conjures certain stereotypes that cannot possibly hurt. He sizes up in every category, at least in the voter's imagination.
All of this reasoning stands firm even without considering his opponent. However, McCain couldn't possibly be in a worse position to compete with these factors. McCain's only sex appeal is his wife, and that certainly makes most voters wonder why a beautiful women like Cindy, would favor him sexually. He is a walking poster child for Viagra, which is probably why he shied away from questions given him earlier about Viagra versus birth control. No doubt he has lost the sexual stamina he might have had as a young man. This perception of impotence inevitably parallels a sense of political impotence. Just add to that, McCain's numerous "senior moments", and it is no wonder. The same would never be suggested about Obama.
America seems to secretly admire virility in its politicians, while outwardly condemning it. There seems to be no other explanation for the incredible support Clinton enjoyed while he was otherwise being impeached for his poor sexual judgment. Deep down, most people understand naughty urges , because almost everyone has had them. Europeans are more comfortable with a conscious recognition of this, but Americans at least still pretend to disdain sex while simply doing it or fantasizing about it while watching various entertainers.
Politicians, unlike other entertainers, are highly sexual beings. Anyone who has ever worked on a political campaign can tell you about the sexual attraction to power. When we add to the power, objectively powerful bases, Obama's physicality, intellect, smile, generally gentle yet bold demeanor and his race; it is no wonder many people feel a tingle that may cloud their other political motivations.
Brian Eno Music is many things to many people, what it is not- is static. It lives and evolves. And like the music itself, the means through which it is distributed are also in flux and perhaps never more so.
And what is change? (besides being a political slogan adapted by every single candidate).
Change, as a positive notion, is a continuity of sincere effort to release and let go of inefficient thought patterns from the past. Change is the agency of transformations and of growth. Some of us
change as a result of "seeing the light". Others change only when "feeling the heat".
In this article we see a little bit of both types of incentives for change. Some visionary, and some reactionary. Yet one thing is certain, change is inevitable. Change or die; and even then, the body in the ground will change.
Now here is a gentleman who knows a thing or two
about changes...
David Bowie's performance on A&E's Live By Request
Back in that bleak midwinter, the January of our discontent if you will, the social music service known as Last.fm announced that it would be launching something called the Artist Royalty Program that allows artists to reap royalties each time one of their songs is played through the site's ad-supported streaming music feature or Web radio. (They just have to upload their music first.) This is good news particularly for independent artists. As the music industry struggles to
find a relevant model that embraces the technological and economic realities of the last quarter century, this method (Championed in the UK by We7, a download service founded by Peter Gabriel) is emerging as viable.
On Wednesday July 9th, Last.fm announced that the Artist Royalty Program has launched and that over 450,000 tracks have been uploaded in tangency with it. In a press release the day of the launch Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel said of independent artists, "We're leveling the playing field by offering them the same opportunities as established bands to make money from their music. The young musician making music in a bedroom studio has the same chance as the latest major label signing to use Last.fm to build an audience and get rewarded".
Rupert Murdoch Politically savvy artists should take note that Last.fm is an alternative to using MySpace as a promotional hub. (MySpace has been owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp since 2005). Last.fm is owned by CBS Interactive. Try the service yourself at http://www.last.fm/music.
Kudos to Last.fm, this service benefits artists but it also benefits consumers!
At the moment it's available only in the U.S., U.K., and Germany,other countries are slated to be added later.
Peter Gabriel
How does such a service work? Let's have a look at We7. Site users can download legal MP3 versions of tracks with advertising attached to the beginning of songs. Four weeks after downloading the track, the user can then download a version without the ad. Artists get paid by the advertisers, music lovers get free tunes, and advertisers reach music fans.
Seems reasonable enough.
After all, artists do need to generate income from their art or eventually no one will be able to afford to be an artist.
We7 major investor and founder, Peter Gabriel, has been involved in several innovative music startups of late, including The Filter, an automatic playlist generation program that is also free to download. He and Brian Eno were major financial backers of OD2, a "digital service provider" that has formed the foundation of many European online music stores. Both Gabriel
and Eno penned the manifesto for MUTHA ("Magnificent Union of Digitally Downloading Artists"- a musician's union formed to give artists a collective voice in the development, implementation and general direction of new models in music distribution ) .
“When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice.”
--- William James, American Philosopher, Psychologist, and Pragmatist
If you haven't tried the Filter, give it a go at http://www.thefilter.com. In less than a minute, entertainment recommendations appear before your very eyes. It's a great way to discover new
ways to feed your brain! Looking back on the older methods of music distribution, one arguably positive service they performed was to filter amateur or just plain poor music from public consumption. Internet distribution offers so many choices that recommendations can be quite a time saver. After all, of the over 20 million music sites on MySpace, how many would you say are listenable?
“The artist is the only one who knows that the world is a subjective creation, that there is a choice to be made, a selection of elements”
--- Anais Nin
“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
--- Jimmy Dean (Yes, the sausage guy)
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
What is new in the world? Nothing. What is old in the world? Nothing. Everything has always been and will always be. -Sai Baba
The Universe is expanding, eventually it will be a cold dark place. In time, there will be too much space between the elements of subatomic particles to exist as matter, all matter will become energy, the universe will cease to exist. Time is just a line between 2 notions. Our first subject is a notion of something old. In music and art, time is relative too. Something that originated in a prior time can be quite new and exciting if you never encountered it before. I am imagining contemporary renditions of some "baby boomer" classics-
Bob Dylan: Like A Kidney Stone...
Herman's Hermits: Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker...
Ringo Starr: I Get By With a Little Help From Depends...
Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face...
Abba: Denture Queen...
Paul Simon: Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver...
Willie Nelson: On the Commode Again...
Johnny Nash: I Can't See Clearly Now ....
Papa's Got A Brand New Colostomy Bag...
I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore...
Or A Whiter Shade Of Gray...
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. This old advice offered to brides is well known, but where did the tradition come from? Well ,the often forgotten next line reveals the origin.
Something old, something new Something borrowed, something blue And a silver sixpence in her shoe.
A sixpence is a coin that was minted in Britain from 1551 to 1967. It was made of silver and worth six pennies. So this wedding tradition is definitely English, as is Procol Harum. SOMETHING OLD-
Did Someone say Procol Harum?
The British rock band, formed in the 1960s, who arguably laid the foundation for all progressive rock, symphonic rock, and art rock. They are best remembered for "A Whiter Shade of Pale" released in 1967, which is a staple item on classic rock polls. Procol Harum, largely known for their symphonic style, were equally adept at the blues, and pure pop. What makes this music so special? The velvet vocals of Gary Brooker, the Bach influenced keyboard lines provided by Hammond organist Matthew Fisher, Robin Trower's guitar musings, and the incomparable lyrics of Kieth Reid which tie the repertoire together.
Those familiar with the band's voluminous catalog hopefully will have some memories stirred, and those who are unfamiliar hopefully have some fertile grounds to explore.
2 of my favorite lyrics (though they all are quite interesting), are from the "Shine On Brightly" album:
Glimpses Of Nirvana Words by Keith Reid
In the darkness of the night, only occasionally relieved by glimpses of Nirvana as seen through other people's windows, wallowing in a morass of self-despair made only more painful by the knowledge that all I am is of my own making ...
When everything around me, even the kitchen ceiling, has collapsed and crumbled without warning. And I am left, standing alive and well, looking up and wondering why and wherefore.
At a time like this, which exists maybe only for me, but is nonetheless real, if I can communicate, and in the telling and the bearing of my soul anything is gained, even though the words which I use are pretentious and make you cringe with embarrassment, let me remind you of the pilgrim who asked for an audience with the Dalai Lama.
He was told he must first spend five years in contemplation. After the five years, he was ushered into the Dalai Lama's presence, who said, 'Well, my son, what do you wish to know?' So the pilgrim said, 'I wish to know the meaning of life, father.' And the Dalai Lama smiled and said, 'Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?'
Held close by that which some despise which some call fake, and others lies And somewhat small for one so tall a doubting Thomas who would be? It's written plain for all to see for one who I am with no more it's hard at times, it's awful raw They say that Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor and those unsure believed his eyes - a strange disguise Still write it down, it might be read nothing's better left unsaid only sometimes, still no doubt it's hard to see, it all works out
Shine On Brightly Words by Keith Reid
My Prussian-blue electric clock's alarm bell rings, it will not stop and I can see no end in sight and search in vain by candlelight for some long road that goes nowhere for some signpost that is not there And even my befuddled brain is shining brightly, quite insane.
The chandelier is in full swing as gifts for me the three kings bring of myrrh and frankincense, I'm told, and fat old Buddhas carved in gold And though it seems they smile with glee I know in truth they envy me and watch as my befuddled brain shines on brightly quite insane.
Above all else confusion reigns And though I ask no-one explains My eunuch friend has been and gone He said that I must soldier on And though the Ferris wheel spins round my tongue it seems has run aground and croaks as my befuddled brain shines on brightly, quite insane
At various points, the Musicians who performed with Procol Harum include : •Gary Brooker • Geoff Dunn • Matt Pegg • Josh Phillips • Geoff Whitehorn • Keith Reid •Dave Ball • Graham Broad • Dave Bronze • Mark Brzezicki • Alan Cartwright • Chris Copping • Matthew Fisher • Mick Grabham • Bobby Harrison • David Knights • Dee Murray • Tim Renwick • Ray Royer • Don Snow • Pete Solley • Henry Spinetti • Jerry Stevenson • Robin Trower • Ian Wallace • B.J. Wilson • Guy Stevens • Bill Eyden • Tim Renwick
Their studio albums include: Procol Harum • Shine On Brightly • A Salty Dog • Home • Broken Barricades • Grand Hotel • Exotic Birds and Fruit • Procol's Ninth • Something Magic • The Prodigal Stranger • and The Well's on Fire . (Also Secrets of the Hive, a "best of" double CD released in 2007) They also have the live recordings:
Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and One More Time - Live in Utrecht 1992.
Douglas Adams's second book in the Hitchhiker Trilogy, "The Restaurant At the End of the Universe," was inspired by the song "Grand Hotel", from Procol Harum's album of the same name; according to his account in "The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time" - a posthumous collection of previously unpublished material which was published in 2001. Why should this be in your MP3 player? The melancholy vocal delivery of Brooker, combined with the brilliant poetry of Keith Reid, the dark humor, excellent orchestrations, dramatic drumming, imperial Hammond organs, and virtuous guitar explorations should merit your attention.
SOMETHING NEW-
The Mayfire
Bolero Punk Often new musical trails are blazed by combining existing genres that have not previously been deemed compatible.
This band is led by guitarist Cattarina “Cat” Tasso - who refers to herself as a “Chilean girl playing a Canadian guitar”—The May Fire is a staunchly independent act with an ironclad D.I.Y. ethic. Their style mixes musical and cultural influences from three different countries (co-guitarist Nachito and drummer El Pipe are Columbian, and bassist Rob Gwin hails from Connecticut,USA). The band shifts through grunge, indie, latin, and punk gears in a calculated and quirky manner.
Cat Tasso
Cat Tasso
“Moving to San Francisco from Los Angeles did something to me,” said Tasso in a recent interview with Deirdre H. Jones for Guitar Player Magazine. “I was so mad that the weather was cold and gloomy all the time that my style began to morph to reflect my dark surroundings. My guitar playing became sullen and loud and more to the point. The volume became a wall that I could feel as much as hear. Now I love my sound, so I think the weather grew on me!”
"In Chile, I would stay up late with my parents, and listen to opera, as well as boleros and tangos from Argentina. My mom taught me a little Spanish riff on the guitar when I was 12, but I mostly studied classical piano. I quit piano because I didn’t like to practice, and I picked up the guitar again after somebody mysteriously left some old guitar lesson books in my mailbox." "My style is messy and raw. It’s decent by accident. It developed through time as I tried to figure out why my power chords weren’t cool. There’s nothing too complicated about power chords, but I discovered that you need to have a special mojo when you play them. When I heard David Gilmour on Pink Floyd’s Animals, my mind understood life in a completely different way. I think maybe he brainwashed me. In the May Fire, I typically play the body of the song and the riffs, and Nachito dresses things up with his solos and tones. He can play with a lot of precision, but he can also be strange and moody."
The Spanish Bolero is a noticeable influence on the songwriting though it is heavily filtered through a punk lens. The steady pulse is prominent, this is dance music. But it is not limited to dance music. It's unusual combination of flavors, akin to an aguardiente flavored toffee candy dusted in a fine habanero powder, makes this something new. Their music is available here.
SOMETHING BORROWED-
Bryan Ferry's Dylanesque I am a longtime fan of Ferry's approach to music, I've always believed he possessed one of the most unique voices in modern music. The fact that he did not get the gig with King Crimson allowed Roxy Music to flourish. I had the pleasure of seeing him do an entire evening of Cole Porter tunes a few years ago with a full orchestra. Truly stunning. Bryan is no stranger to "borrowed" songs but this CD is remarkable and a "must have". Here is a clip of "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues" from the David Letterman Show.
Though I imagine the purists may believe Dylanesque is sacrilege or perhaps view this CD as simply blasphemous, but the Roxy Music singer vastly refines Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues and All Along the Watchtower with an edgy agitation and his personal classicist touch. His treatment reveals both flaw and beauty in the songs of Bob Dylan gone previously unseen. A breathtaking and exquisite listening experience. Cue it up!
SOMETHING BLUE-
The extraordinary Chicago Blues Festival has grown leaps and bounds since it's inception twenty-five years ago and now spotlights over ninety performances on six stages from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The Chicago Blues Festival is undeniably one of the biggest and best Blues events on the planet, attracting hundreds of thousands of people from all around the globe to Grant Park, year after year.
This Year the Festival is June 5-8, 2008.
Admission into the Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park is Free!
All the concerts are free admission.
Food and beverage tickets are sold in strips of 12 for $8.00.
The Main Stage at the Petrillo Music Shell events are as follows:
Thursday, June 5, 2008 "Catfish Blues"
6:00-7:00 - Big Time Sarah and the BTS Express 7:10-8:20 - Duke Robillard's Tribute to Louis Jordan featuring Plas Johnson and Red Holloway 8:30-9:30 - Johnny Winter w/James Cotton
Friday, June 6, 2008 "Sweet Home Chicago"
6:00-7:15 - "Blasts From the Past" featuring Ruby Andrews, Cicero Blake, and Sugar Pie DeSanto with Willie Henderson 7:25-8:25 - Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater's West Side Strut with special guests Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Johnson, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Otis Clay and Billy Branch 8:35-9:30 - Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine
Saturday, June 7, 2008 "Let the Good Times Roll"
5:00-6:00 - Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials 6:10-7:05 - Barbara Lynn with Lil' Buck and the Buckaroos 7:15-8:25 - Theodis Ealey 8:35-9:30 - Buckwheat Zydeco
Sunday, June 8, 2008 "Everyday I Have the Blues"
5:00-6:10 - Karen Carroll w/ Charlie Love and special guest Lurrie Bell 6:30-7:25 - Magic Slim and the Teardrops 7:35-8:05 - Little Willie Littlefield 8:15-9:30 - B.B. King
Other stages include:
The Front Porch Stage-
Thursday, June 5, 2008 "Catfish Blues"
11:00-12:15 - Blues in the Schools w/ Katherine Davis, Erwin Helfer, Eric Noden and the Stone Academy Blues All Stars 12:45-2:00 - Professor Fernando Jones Columbia College Blues Ensemble 2:30-3:45 - David Honey Boy Edwards and Friends (Billy Branch, Louisiana Red, Paul Kaye, Aron Burton, and Johnny Yard Dog Jones) 4:15-5:30 - Pinetop Perkins with more friends (Willie Smith, Bob Margolin, Bob Stroger, Kenny Smith) 6:00-7:00 - Inetta Visor
Friday, June 6, 2008 "Sweet Home Chicago"
11:00-12:00 - Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band 12:30-1:30 - Little Willie Littlefield 2:00-3:15 - Jo Jo Murray and Joy Hills 3:45-5:00 - Peaches and the Groove Shakers 5:30-7:00 - Tear Drop Sessions
Saturday, June 7, 2008 "Let the Good Times Roll"
11:00-12:00 - Shorty Mack and the Magnificent R&B Blues Band 12:30-1:30 - Liz Mandville and the Blue Points 2:00-3:00 - Charles Hayes and the Hayes Family Band 3:30-5:00 - Recapturing the Banjo Project featuring Otis Taylor, Don Vappie, and Guy Davis 5:30-6:30 - John Hammond 7:00-8:00 - Milwaukee Blues All Stars ftg Stokes and Milwaukee Slim
Sunday, June 8, 2008 "Everyday I Have the Blues"
11:00-12:30 - Victory Travelers 1:00-2:00 - Marie Knight 2:30-3:30 - Tony Joe White 4:00-5:30 - Davell Crawford 6:00-7:30 - LaVelle White
At the Louisiana Bayou Station and Social Club stage-
Thursday, June 5, 2008 "Catfish Blues"
11:30-12:30 - Louisiana Red 1:00-2:00 - Nuwki Nu 2:30-4:00 - Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band 4:30-5:30 - Little Willie Littlefield
Friday, June 6, 2008 "Sweet Home Chicago"
11:30-12:30 - Little Arthur’s Backscratchers ftg. Reginald Cooper 1:00-2:00 - Les Getrex and Creole Cookin' 2:30-3:30 - Omar Shariff 4:00-5:30 - Bryan Lee & the Blues Power Band
Saturday, June 7, 2008 "Let the Good Times Roll"
11:30-12:30 - Little Willie Littlefield 1:00-2:00 - Guy Davis and the High Flying Rockets 2:30-3:30 - Bumble Bee Bob 4:00-5:00 - Omar Shariff
Sunday, June 8, 2008 "Everyday I Have the Blues"
11:30-12:30 - Geraldine and Donald Gay 1:00-2:00 - Davell Crawford 2:30-3:30 - Paul Geremia 4:00-5:00 - John Boutte
At the Gibson Guitar Crossroads stage-
Thursday, June 5, 2008 "Catfish Blues"
12:00-1:30 - Patricia Scott w/J.W. Williams 2:00-3:30 - Big Ray and Chicago's Most Wanted 4:00-5:30 - Sharon Lewis and Texas Fire
Friday, June 6, 2008 "Sweet Home Chicago"
12:00-1:30 - West Side Tribute to Jumpin' Willie Cobbs featuring Joe B Band 2:00-3:30 - Larry Taylor's West Side Blues and Soul Band 4:00-5:30 - The Taylor's Family Band
Saturday, June 7, 2008 "Let the Good Times Roll"
12:00-1:15 - Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band 1:45-3:15 - Chick Rogers 3:30-5:00 - PG Man
Sunday, June 8, 2008 "Everyday I Have the Blues"
12:00-1:15 - Rodney Brown's salute to Louis Jordan 1:30-2:45 - Big James Montgomery and the Playboys 3:15-4:30 - Charles Wilson
On the Mississippi Juke Joint stage-
Thursday, June 5, 2008 "Catfish Blues"
12:00-2:30 - A Day with Jimmy Burns featuring the Chicago Blues Round Robin 3:00-4:00 - L.C. Ulmer 4:30-5:30 - Jimmy Burns Blues Band 6:00-8:00 - Jam hosted by Jimmy Burns
Friday, June 6, 2008 "Sweet Home Chicago"
12:00-12:30 - Rising Star Fife and Drum featuring the Thomas Family 1:00-2:30 - Afrissisppi 3:00-4:00 - Sam Lay 4:30-5:30 - L.C. Ulmer 6:00-8:00 - Jam hosted by Kenny Smith
Saturday, June 7, 2008 "Let the Good Times Roll"
12:00-12:30 - Rising Star Fife and Drum: featuring the Thomas Family 1:00-2:00 - Theodis Ealey (Brothers Reunion) 2:30-4:00 - Juke Joint Duo: Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm 4:30-5:30 - T-Model Ford 6:00-8:00 - Jam hosted by Rosa's All Star Jam Band Featuring James Wheeler
Sunday, June 8, 2008 "Everyday I Have the Blues"
12:30-1:00 - Rising Star Fife and Drum: featuring the Thomas Family 1:30-3:00 - Juke Joint Duo: Cedric Burnside and Lightnin' Malcolm 3:00-4:30 - T Model Ford 5:00-7:00 - Jam hosted by Kenny Smith
There are also more stages with performances throughout the festival.
The festival’s final night will be a majestic event with headliners that include Little Willie Littlefield, Bobby Parker and Karen Carroll with Charlie Love and special guest Lurrie Bell, and of course, B.B. King.
B.B. King, oft referred to as the King of the Blues, has honored stages worldwide, and now, at age 82, continues to tour as often as he did in his salad days. King has not played the Chicago Blues Festival since 1988, so this year will be a welcome return! Born Riley B. King, B.B. (Blues Boy) King has recorded more than fifty albums, many of them classics. With his agile left-hand vibrato and haunting vocal-like string bending, he is easily one of the most identifiable guitarists in the time space continuum, and of course nothing less than royalty in the blues world.
King has been an influence on an incalculable number of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and George Harrison; he has won numerous awards including a NARAS Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, honorary doctorates, and in 1984, was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
Duly Consider joining Little Willie Littlefield, Karen Carroll, Bobby Parker, Buckwheat Zydeco, Lil’ Ed and the Imperials, Koko Taylor, Eddy “the Chief” Clearwater, James Cotton and Johnny Winter this June. More information about this free festival can be obtained at www.chicagobluesfestival.us!
“Blues music is easy to play, but hard to feel”-Jimi Hendrix
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
"Did you ever hear anyone say 'that work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very dangerous to me?’” -Author Joseph Henry Jackson
Up until about half way through the twentieth century, laws about censorship only applied to newspapers. They didn't apply to other mediums like motion pictures, broadcast radio, or TV. The internet was not in the equation yet.
Today, media dominates the lives of most inhabitants of planet Earth. On average, Americans for instance, spend 3,400 hours a year consuming media. Roughly, this is 40 percent of our lives devouring television, books, newspapers, computer and audio media. If you consider that we sleep on average 8 hours a day, or 33.3 percent. Our conscious hours are simply filled with media of one kind or another.
The works of some of our most influential writers have been condemned; classics that even changed the way people saw their world. Here’s a short list.
1984. By George Orwell.)This novel is "pro-communist and contains explicit sexual matter." (Apparently Big Brother doesn't want people reading books like this.)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain [Samuel L. Clemens]. Excluded from the childrens' room in the Brooklyn, N.Y. Public Library (1876) and the Denver, Colo. Public Library (1876). Confiscated at the USSR border (1930). Removed from the seventh grade curriculum in the West Chester, Pa. schools (1994) after parents complained that it contains racially charged language. (Novels from 1876 about a young boy growing up in the Antebellum South, must of course, be politically correct by today’s standards…Right!)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll. Banned in China (1931) for portraying animals and humans on the same level, "Animals should not use human language." (This story has a mock turtle in it!)
Analects. Confucius. The Chin Dynasty ordered all books relating to the teachings of Confucius burned. Oh, and hundreds of followers of Confucius buried alive as well (250 BC).
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank. Modern Library. Challenged in Wise County, Va. (1982) due to "sexually offensive" passages. Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee (1983) called for the rejection of this book because it is a "real downer."
Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights. Anonymous. U.S. Customs held up 500 sets of the translation by the French scholar Mardrus, which were imported from England (1927-31). It was confiscated in Cairo, Egypt (1985), on the grounds that it contained obscene passages which posed a threat to the country's moral fabric. It was judged inappropriate for Jewish pupils by the Israeli director of the British Consul Library in Jerusalem, Israel (1985). (Arabs and Israelis can agree, after all, on some things eh?)
Beloved. Toni Morrison. This 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel that is required reading in many advanced placement English classes was challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, Fla. In 1995. It was again challenged in Madawaska, Maine in 1997.
The Bible. William Tyndale who was translating the Bible into English, was captured, strangled, and burned at the stake in 1536 by opponents of the movement to translate the bible. Beginning around 1830, "family friendly" bibles, like Noah Webster's version began to appear which had “exorcised” passages considered indecent.
Brave New World. By Aldous Huxley was banned in Ireland in1932. Removed from classrooms in Miller, Mo. (1980). Challenged at the Yukon, Okla. High School in 1988; challenged in the Corona-Norco, Calif. Unified School District (1993) because the book "centered around negative activity. (Someone didn’t take their SOMA I presume.)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. ByDee Brown. Removed by a district administrator in Wisconsin for being "slanted." The administrator also said "if there's a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it."
The Call of the Wild. By Jack London. Banned in Italy (1929), Yugoslavia (1929), and burned in Nazi bonfires (1932). (Nazi’s were against sled dogs I guess.)
Cannterbury Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer. People have long been squeamish with this one...It was subjected to revisions as 1928, and editions today tend to avoid four letter words. It was removed from a senior college preparatory literature course at the Eureka, Ill. High School (1995) for sexual content. (Would Chaucer be entertained? I imagine so.) (Purchase The Riverside Chaucer, complete and untranslated)
J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye which waspublished in 1951, became an instant best seller and simultaneously a perennial target of censorship. Numerous attempts were made in Fla. to have it banned due to "profanity, reference to suicide, vulgarity, disrespect, and anti-Christian sentiments."
The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.By Vito Russo. Challenged at the Deschutes County Library in Bend, Oreg. (1993) because it "encourages and condones" homosexuality. (The title might have been a tip off that it was about homosexuality…)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl. Removed from a locked reference collection at the Boulder, Colo. Public Library (1988), where it had been placed because the librarian thought the book espoused a poor philosophy of life. (I always did think this was pretty weird, but banning? Oompaloompa!)
Clan of the Cave Bear. By Jean Auel. "Hardcore graphic sexual content." got this book removed in 3 school districts in the U.S.
The Color Purple. Alice Walker. Deemed inappropriate reading material for an Oakland, Calif. High School honors class in 1984 due to the work's "sexual and social explicitness" and its "troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality." This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was finally approved for use by the Oakland Board of Education after nine months of debate. Banned in the Souderton, Pa. Area School District in 1992, because it was "smut." Removed from the Jackson County, W.Va. school libraries in 1997.
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jacob and Wilhelm K. Grimm. Translated by Jack Zipes. excessive violence, negative portrayals of female characters, and anti-Semitic references.
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Galilei Galileo. Banned by Pope Urban VIII for heresy and breach of good faith (1633). ( Time wounds all heels…).
Different Seasons. Stephen King. Removed from the West Lyon Community School library in Larchwood, Iowa (1987) because "it does not meet the standards of the community." Removed from the Washington Middle School library in Meriden, Conn. (1989) after a parental complaint. Challenged at the Eagan High School in Burnsville, Minn. (1992). (This collection of novellas, which include stories on which the acclaimed movies Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption were based, is arguably King's best writing.)
A Doll's House. Henrik Ibsen. Members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee (the same who objected to The Diary of Anne Frank?) called for the rejection of this work because it propagates feminist views.
Don Quixote. Saavedra Miguel de Cervantes. Banned in Madrid for the sentence, "Works of charity negligently performed are of no worth." (There are cobwebs in the windmills of some minds I guess).
Earth Science. American Text Book. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because it "teaches the theory of evolution exclusively. It completely avoids any mention of Creationism...The evolutionary propaganda also underminds {sic} the parental guidance and teaching the children are receiving at home and from the pulpits." (I guess they banned the spelling book too!)
The Egypt Game. Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Award-winning novel was challenged in the Richardson, Tex. schools (1995) because it shows children in dangerous situations, condones trespassing and lying to parents and ostensibly teaches about the occult
Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury. In a burst of irony, students at the Venado Middle School in Irvine, Calif. received copies of the book with scores of words--mostly "hells" and "damns"--blacked out. (The novel is about book burning and censorship.)
The Figure in the Shadows. John Bellairs. Removed from El Mirage, Ariz. Libraries because of 2 uses of profanity allusions to magic.
Gone with the Wind. Margaret Mitchell. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel was banned from the Anaheim, Calif. Union High School District English classrooms in 1978 and Waukegan, Ill. School District in 1984.
Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck. Burned by the St. Louis, Mo. Public Library in 1939. Banned in Kansas City, Mo. (1939); Kern County, Calif., (where much of the story takes place), (1939); Ireland (1953); Kanawha, Iowa High School classes (1980); and Morris, Manitoba (1982). Challenged in the Greenville, S.C. schools (1991) because the book uses the name of God and Jesus in a "vain and profane manner along with inappropriate sexual references." I thought the turtle was cool.
The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher. M.C. Escher. Maldonado Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz. attempted to ban this for "pornographic", "perverted", and "morbid" themes. Perhaps dogs playing cards would be in a museum there. Or maybe it just didn’t match their sofa….
Grendel. John C. Gardner. This book has been challenged quite a lot by people who have not read Beowulf. The novel was “too obscene and violent”.
Gulliver's Travels. Jonathan Swift. Denounced as wicked and obscene in Ireland (1726), which was no doubt the effect Swift was going for.
Hamlet. William Shakespeare. Banned in Ethiopia in 1978.
The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason , by Thomas Paine. Not only was Paine indicted for treason in England but the publishers of The Age of Reason were also prosecuted just for printing the book.
Lady Chatterly's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence, went to many trials both in the U.S. and U. K. for obscenity.
The Happy Prince and Other Stories. Oscar Wilde’s book won’t be found at the Springfield, Oregon Public Library because the stories are "distressing and morbid."
Howl, a poem by Allen Ginsberg, survived many censorship trials and continues to be one of the most read poems of the twentieth century. The poem has also been translated into 22 languages.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya Angelou’s book gets challenged often, due to the poet's accounts of being raped as a young girl.
It. By Stephen King was challenged at the Lincoln, Nebr. school libraries in 1987; and placed on a "closed shelf" at the Franklinville, N.Y. Central High School library. Another story with a turtle!
James and the Giant Peach. Roald Dahl. Challenged at the Deep Creek Elementary School in Charlotte Harbor, Fla. (1991) as "not appropriate reading material for young children." Challenged at the Pederson Elementary School in Altoona, Wis. (1991) and at the Morton Elementary School library in Brooksville, Fla. (1992) because the book contains the word "ass" and "promotes" the use of drugs (tobacco and snuff) Removed from classrooms in Stafford County, Va. Schools (1995) and placed in restricted access in the library because the story contains crude language and encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults.
King Lear. William Shakespeare. Now considered to be among Shakespeare's greatest works, Lear was performed in drastically adapted form--Nahum Tate's Restoration version eliminated characters and had a happy ending in which Lear is restored to the throne and Cordelia survives. The play was subject to political censorship when it was banned from the English stage from 1788 to 1820, out of respect to King George III's alleged insanity. The tragic ending of King Lear was not restored until 1823, and the character of the fool was finally reintroduced in 1838.
The Koran. Penguin; Tahrike Tarsil; Quran. Ban lifted by the Spanish Index in 1790. Restricted to students of history in the USSR (1926).
Le Morte D'Arthur. Sir Thomas Malory. Challenged as required reading at the Pulaski County High School in Somerset, Ky. (1997) because it is "junk."
The Life and Times of Renoir. Janice Anderson. Restricted at the Pulaski, Pa. Elementary School Library (1997) because of nude paintings in the book. It is about Renoir, he did paint nudes….
A Light in the Attic. Shel Silverstein. Challenged at the Cunningham Elementary School in Beloit, Wis. (1985) because the book "encourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Removed from Minot, N.Dakota Public School libraries when the superintendent found "suggestive illustrations." Challenged at the Big Bend Elementary School library in Mukwonago, Wis. (1986) because some of Silverstein's poems "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. C.S. Lewis. The Howard County, Md. school system (1990) banned it because it depicts "graphic violence, mysticism, and gore."
Little House in the Big Woods. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Removed from the classrooms, but later reinstated, for third-graders at the Lincoln Unified School District in Stockton, Calif. (1996). Complainants also want the book removed from the library because it "promotes racial epithets and is fueling the fire of racism."
Little House on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Banned in Louisiana and North Dakota.I question the wisdom of ignoring the works of bygone days because they are politically incorrect by today’s standards. We miss the truth of history, palatable or not.
The Lorax. Dr. Seuss. Challenged in the Laytonville, Calif. Unified School District (1989) because it "criminalizes the foresting industry."
The Lords of Discipline. Pat Conroy. Challenged in the Cobb County, Ga. schools (1992) for profanity and descriptions of sadomasochistic acts.
The Martian Chronicles. Ray Bradbury. Challenged at the Haines City, Fla. High School (1982) for profanity and the use of God's name in vain. Challenged at the Newton-Conover, N.C. High School (1987) as supplemental reading due to profanity. Challenged at the Gatlinburg-Pittman, Tenn. High School (1993) due to profanity.
My Friend Flicka. Mary O'Hara Removed from fifth and sixth grade optional reading lists in Clay County, Fla. schools (1990) because the book uses the word "bitch" to refer to a female dog
The Odyssey. Homer. Plato suggested expurgating it for immature readers (387 B.C.) and Caligula tried to suppress it because it expressed Greek ideals of freedom
On the Origin of Species. Charles B. Darwin. This Book got teacher John T. Scopes a criminal conviction after he lectured to his high school class in 1925 Tennessee. The state legislature repealed the law that prohibited teaching evolutionary theory in 1967. People have been proposing laws ever since that would restrict teaching evolution in science classes. Banned from Trinity College in Cambridge, UK (1859); Yugoslavia (1935); Greece (1937).
Raisin in the Sun. Lorraine Hansberry. The Ogden, Utah School District (1979) restricted circulation of Hansberry's play in response to criticism from an anti-pornography organization. (Pornography?Is this the same play that I read?)
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll. Jim Miller Challenged in Jefferson, Ky. (1982) because it "will cause our children to become immoral and indecent." ( I recall the very same thing said about polyphony)
The Satanic Verses. Salman Rushdie. Banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Malaysia, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa, and India due to its criticism of Islam. Burned in West Yorkshire, England (1989) and temporarily withdrawn from two bookstores on the advice of police. Five people died in riots against the book in Pakistan. Another man died a day later in Kashmir. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, stating, "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses, which is against Islam, the prophet, and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, have been sentenced to death." Challenged at the Wichita, Kans. Public Library (1989) because it is "blasphemous to the prophet Mohammad."
Slaughterhouse-Five. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Burned in Drake, N. Dak. (1973). Banned in Rochester Mich. because the novel "contains and makes references to religious matters. Challenged at the Owensboro, Ky. high School library (1985) because of "foul language, a reference to 'Magic Fingers' attached to the protagonist's bed to help him sleep, and the sentence: 'The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the fly of God Almighty.'” Challenged, but retained on the Round Rock, Tex. Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent.
Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison.Challenged, but retained in the Columbus, Ohio schools (1993). The complainant believed that the book contains language degrading to blacks, and is sexually explicit. Removed from required reading lists and library shelves in the Richmond County, Ga. School District (1994). Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, Fla. (1995). Removed from the St. Mary's County, Md. schools' approved text list (1998) by the school superintendant over the objections of the faculty. (So it goes…)
The Stand. Stephen King. Restricted at the Whitford Intermediate School in Beaverton, Oreg. (1989) because of "sexual language, casual sex, and violence."
The Talmud. Burned in Cairo, Egypt (1190); Paris, France (1244); and Salamanca, Spain (1490). The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages tried to suppress this work. Pope Gregory IX ordered it burned (1239); Pope Innocent IV ordered King Louis IX of France to burn all copies (1248 and 1254); Pope Benedict XIII ordered the bishops of the Italian dioceses to confiscate all copies (1415); Pope Julius III ordered that Christians reading the Talmud be excommunicated; Pope Clement VIII forbade both "Christians and Jews from owning, reading, buying or circulating Talmudic or Cabbalistic books or other godless writing." (1592)
To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee. This novel has been challenged quite a lot due to its racial themes. Attempts to have it banned are as recent as 1996 in Texas.
Tom Jones. Henry Fielding. Banned in France (1749). So In France, they don’t think Tom Jones is very funny, but Jerry Lewis is a riot? Sacrebleu!
Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare Removed from a Merrimack, N.H. high school English class (1996) because of a policy that bans instruction which has "the effect of encouraging or supporting homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative."
Uncle Tom's Cabin. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Challenged in the Waukegan, Ill. School District (1984) because the novel contains an offensive racial epithet. Forget about the fact that this novel is often credited with raising public antislavery sentiment which led to the emancipation.
Vasilissa the Beautiful: Russian Fairy Tales. Challenged at the Mena, Ark. schools (1990) because the book contains "violence, voodoo, and cannibalism."
Welcome to the Monkey House. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. A teacher was dismissed for assigning this collection of short stories to her eleventh grade English class because the book promoted "the killing off of elderly people and free sex." The teacher brought suit and won in Parducci v. Rutland, in 1971.
Where the Sidewalk Ends. Shel Silverstein. Challenged at the West Allis-West Milwaukee, Wis. school libraries (1986) because the book "suggests drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for legitimate authority, rebellion against parents." Challenged at the Central Columbia School District in Bloomsburg, Pa. (1993) because a poem titled "Dreadful" talks about how "someone ate the baby."
Where's Waldo? Martin Handford. Little. Challenged at the Public Libraries of Saginaw, Mich. (1989), Removed from the Springs Public School library in East Hampton, N.Y. (1993) because there is a tiny drawing of a woman lying on the beach wearing a bikini bottom but no top. (I think they were just pissed they didn’t find Waldo.)
The Witches of Worm. Challenged at the Hays, Kans. Public Library (1989) because it "could lead young readers to embrace satanism." The Newbery Award-winning book was retained on the approved reading list at Matthew Henson Middle School in Waldorf, Md. (1991) despite objections.
A Wrinkle In Time. Madeleine L'Engle. Challenged at the Polk City, Fla. Elementary School (1985) by a parent who believed that the story promotes witchcraft, crystal balls, and demons. Challenged in the Anniston Ala. schools (1990). The complainant objected to the book's listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to those who defend earth against evil. (Why is this a bad thing?)
Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings. D.T. Suzuki. Challenged at the Plymouth-Canton school system in Canton, Mich. (1987) because "this book details the teachings of the religion of Buddhism in such a way that the reader could very likely embrace its teachings and choose this as his religion." (The last thing we need are a bunch of peaceful Buddhists!)
Does the government have he right to censor the words of Mark Twain, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Paine, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, or Jello Biafra?
"A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to." Granville Hicks
In Part 1 of a History Of Censorship, we looked at events up to the 1970s. Let’s have a look at what transpired in the 1970s and 1980s. (I will be posting a “part 3” with a look at the 1990’s and 2000s in the near future.) The Beatles song “The Ballad of John and Yoko” is banned from airplay on many stations. A group known as the Movement to Restore Democracy calls for the banning of rock music to end the spread of Socialism in America and the MCA Record label drops 18 acts from their record label because they suspect the performers promote hard drugs in their songs. Among the perpetrators are Connie Francis and the Cowsills.
Directed by President Richard Nixon, Vice President Spiro Agnew incites general interest in censoring popular music by claiming it is laden with drug imagery. Agnew claims among other things that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is about promoting LSD ingestion. The songs composer, John Lennon, maintains the song title was taken from his son’s elementary school artwork. Who would know better? Agnew further critiques ''I get high with a little help from my friends,'' pointing out that the ''friends'' meant were ''speed'' and ''bennies.
Claiming that the CSNY song "Ohio" will incite violence on college campuses following the killing of four students at Kent State University, Governor James Rhodesbans Ohio radio stations from playing the song.
Concerns over drugs and possible rioting cause protests of large rock festivals. Citizen groups in Chicago, Houston, Tucson, and Atlanta rally to cancel large, outdoor rock festivals in their cities. Country Joe McDonald is fined $500 for uttering an obscenity during a concert performance of "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag." Janis Joplin is fined $200 for violating local profanity and obscenity laws for her performance after a concert in Tampa, Florida.
In 1971 radio stations alter John Lennon’s song "Working Class Hero" without the consent of Lennon or his record label. Radio stations across the U.S. ban Bob Dylan's single "George Jackson" over it’s political themes. The FCC sends all radio stations telegrams threatening their licenses for playing rock music that glorified drugs. The Illinois Crime Commission publishes a list of popular rock songs that they claim contain drug references, The list includes Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff The Magic Dragon" and the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine." Chrysalis Records changes the lyrics to Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" without the band's knowledge or consent. Executives think radio stations won’t play the lyric "got him by the balls."
In 1972, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee issues a report on John Lennon and Yoko Ono, advocating the termination of Lennon's visa to live in the U.S. The report calls the couple "strong advocates of the program to 'dump Nixon'."Indiana Attorney General Theodore Sendak calls rock festivals "drug supermarkets," so Hoosier legislators adopt legislation meant to "get tough" on large rock concerts. In the process, the regulation accidentally outlaws the Indianapolis 500 and other large outdoor gatherings! John Lennon's song "Woman is the Nigger of the World" is banned by radio stations across the United States. All across the country, a radio ban on John Denver's hit song "Rocky Mountain High" is initiated. Some central scrutinizer has determined that the song's "high" refers to drugs.
In 1973 Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" gets edited without his knowledge during a live appearance on American Bandstand. (The irony is that it is hardly a song that promotes drug use, rather it is the contrary. I guess drug use can’t even be mentioned.) Record company execs change the cover of Mama Lion’s Preserve Wildlife after concerns over the album’s original image showing singer Lynn Carey nursing a lion cub. Atlantic Records decides to change the title and lyrics of the Rolling Stones' "Starfucker" in order to avoid protests. New York Senator James Buckley writes a report linking rock music to drug use. He calls for the record industry to eliminate drug-using or drug-endorsing rock musicians before the federal government feels it necessary to take action.
In 1974, The Richfield, Ohio, zoning commissioner Richard Crofoot attempts to ban all concerts at the Richfield Coliseum after witnessing marijuana use at an Elton John concert.
In 1975 Radio stations across the country refuse to play Loretta Lynn's "The Pill" because of its references to birth control. Reverend Charles Boykin of Tallahassee, Florida, blames popular music for teenage pregnancy. Boykin conducts his own survey of 1,000 unwed mothers and determines that 984 became pregnant while listening to rock music.
In 1976 a billboard advertisement for the Rolling Stones' Black and Blue LP (a photo of a battered woman) triggers protests by women's groups. And the RKO radio chain bans Rod Stewart's hit "Tonight's The Night" until the lyric "spread your wings and let me come inside" is edited from the song.
In 1977, Reverend Jesse Jackson calls for bans against disco music, (Maybe not such a bad idea…hmmm.) insisting the music promotes promiscuity and drug use. (That’s not why I might ban it; it’s just poor music…a hip version of elevator muzak). While 1978 saw British punk band the Sex Pistols denied visas to enter the U.S.A. for their first American tour. Frank Zappa's song "Jewish Princess" sparks vocal protests to the FCC from the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League in 1979.Zappa denied any anti-Semitic sentiments in an interview atRelix Magazine and discarded the ADL as a “noisemaking organization that tries to apply pressure on people in order to manufacture a stereotype image of Jews that suits their idea of a good time.” Of course Frank, being Frank, followed up with “Catholic Girls”, being an equal opportunity offender.
The 1980s, Traversing The Transmundane, And Beyond!
The new decade began with Mercury Records refusing to release Frank Zappa's single "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted." The New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services proposes a tax on musicians whose songs promote drug use. (Who decides what songs might promote drug use one wonders? Spiro Agnew? Jimmy Swaggert? Superman?)
In the fall of 1980, a Minister named Art Diaz organizes a group of local teenagers to conduct a record burning at the First Assembly Church of God in Des Moines, Iowa, including albums by the Beatles, Ravi Shankar, Peter Frampton, and the soundtrack to the movie Grease. A similar burning takes place a few months later in Keokuk, Iowa, (home ofauthor and Christian apologist William Lane Craig and NASCAR impresario Dick Hutcherson) where a church group burns the work of The Carpenters, John Denver, and Perry Como…(Perry Como? …Can you say clueless?) Elsewhere, a municipal judge in Newark, Ohio, bans rock concerts at the Legend Valley Park because they are “a public nuisance”. In Carroll, Iowa, a nightclub owner named Jeff Jochims renounces his transgressions and sets fire to $2,000 worth of rock records. The voices inside his head convinced him that rock music was responsible for drug abuse and promiscuous sex. And Provo and Salt Lake City residents are saved from eternal damnation when two radio stations ban Olivia Newton John's song “Physical."
In 1981, Ozzy Osbourne is forbidden from performing in San Antonio, Texas, after he is arrested for urinating on the Alamo. The story goes that his manager–wife Sharon tried to curb Ozzy's boozing by locking away his clothes. He allegedly put on one of her dresses, went out, and relieved himself on the wall of a building. That building turns out to be the Alamo. Ozzy was charged with defiling a national monument and banned from San Antonio for 10 years. He's also been unwelcome in Boston, Baton Rouge, Corpus Christi, Las Vegas, Scranton and Philadelphia and elsewhere that defiling national monuments is frowned upon. Elsewhere, in California, assemblyman Phil Wyman introduced a bill to outlaw subliminal messages in rock records.
In 1983, Voice of Americaissues a directive to staff that they are not permitted to play music which might offend any portion of their audience. Roger Wilcher, a Baptist minister in Emporia, Virginia, petitions the city council to remove MTV from the local cable system. (MTV, in these early days aired music videos mostly created by musicians and some concert footage. This was before advertising people took over the medium, and long before the dreadful non- musical reality shows appeared.)
In 1984, (a watershed year for censorship), ajunior executive at a machine tool company,Rick Alley, and his wife complain about a Prince album to their local PTA meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. The complaint goes national. (This action starts the mid-80s music censorship movement spearheaded by the PMRC that eventually results in the RIAA universal parental warning sticker). After a complaint from Wal-Mart, PolyGram Records changes the cover of the Scorpions' Love At First Sting. (The original features a partially nude couple locked in an embrace; the man is giving the woman a tattoo on her thigh.) Not to be outdone,the ever popular Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (who actually wore epaulettes as if he were really some kind of military Pooba), spoke out against rock music insisting that rock video fans have been "saturated with what I think is going to make them have trouble having satisfying relationships with the opposite sex.” The Dade Christian School in Miami, Florida, forbids students from attending a local concert by the Jackson Brothers, because they fear it will lead the youth to use drugs, drink, behave irresponsibly, and participate in lewd dancing. Any student who attends the concert is guaranteed fifteen demerits.
Critics call for boycotts of Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A. after it is rumored that the cover depicts "the Boss" urinating on an American flag, although President Reagan appropriated the song (without consent from Springsteen) as his theme. I wonder if he was aware of its lyrics?
BORN IN THE USABy Bruce Springsteen
Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground You end up like a dog that's been beat too much Till you spend half your life just covering up
CHORUS Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A.
Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man
CHORUS
Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says, "Son if it was up to me." Went down to see my V.A. man He said, "Son, don't you understand now."
Had a brother at Khe Sahn Fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there he's all gone
He had a woman he loved in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary Out by the gas fires of the refinery I'm ten years burning down the road Now here to run ain't got nowhere to go
CHORUS
I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.
After issuing a report on the violence in music videos, in December the National Coalition on Television Violence calls for the federal government to regulate rock music on television.
Fearing that MTV induces a "temporary state of insanity" over patients, Dr. Richard Bridgberg orders the staff of the Institute of Living, in Hartford, Connecticut, to remove MTV from the mental hospital's television system. Even though patients are allowed to listen to radios, recorded music, and watch the evening news and popular movies, hospital spokesperson Robert Fagan says MTV is "too inciting" and can potentially cause hallucinations.
In 1985, the parents of John McCullom sue Ozzy Osbourne, claiming that his song "Suicide Solution" "aided, or advised, or encouraged" their son to commit suicide. Ozzy said this song is about the dangers of alcohol, he claims he wrote it after Bon Scott, the lead singer for AC/DC, died as the result of a drinking binge. This, and subsequent copycat suits were eventually dismissed. Outside of the US, the idea that a song would make someone commit suicide was laughable.
Following attacks from a conservative group lead by the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart, Wal-Mart discontinues sales of all major music magazines such as Rolling Stone, Spin, and Tiger Beat.
The group "Women Against Pornography" provides a lecture program in public high schools about "the sexist and violent content of rock videos."
Provo, Utah, apartment complex owner and Mormon bishop Leo Weidner bans MTV from his tenant's apartments. Weidner says music videos are "pornographic" and feels they are harmful to his tenants. Weidner later admits that he has never seen a music video.
After a meeting at St. Columbia's Church in Washington, D.C. in May, Tipper Gore, Susan Baker, and twenty wives of influential Washington politicians and businessmen form the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). The PMRC's goals are to lobby the music industry for: lyrics printed on album covers; explicit album covers kept under the counter; a records ratings system that is similar to that used for films; a ratings system for concerts; reassessment of contracts for those performers who engage in violence and explicit sexual behavior on stage; and a media watch by citizens and record companies that will pressure broadcasters to not air "questionable talent."
Christian rock band DeGarmo & Key see their video for "Six, Six, Six" banned because it is too violent.
MCA Records sends radio stations an urgent letter that encourages them to stop playing Al Hudson's "Let's Talk." The company fears they may be subject to obscenity prosecutions because of the song's sexually suggestive lyrics.
After receiving a letter from the PMRC expressing their concerns over rock lyrics, the head of the National Association of Broadcasters, writes a letter to the heads of forty-five major record companies requesting that lyric sheets accompany all songs released to radio.
The PMRC writes to music industry presidents and CEOs and requests a rating system for music lyrics and imagery. The letter contains a list of the "filthy fifteen" (the artists initially targeted by the PMRC), those artists are AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Cyndi Lauper, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Madonna, Mary Jane Girls, Mercyful Fate, Motley Crüe, Prince, Sheena Easton, Twisted Sister, Vanity, Venom, and W.A.S.P.
During an addresses at the New York Television Academy, televangelist and presidential candidate Pat Robertson calls for content regulation of rock music on radio and television.
Determining that music videos are "decadent, morally degrading, and evil," two women in the Boston suburb of Weymouth, Massachusetts, petition city officials to eliminate MTV from their local cable system.
Under the leadership of mayor (and future Clinton cabinet member) Henry Cisneros, city officials in San Antonio, Texas, pass an ordinance forbidding children under the age of fourteen from attending rock concerts at any city-owned facility.
At the urging of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation holds hearings on music lyrics and proposed systems to rate or sticker albums that contain violent or sexually-themed lyrics on September 19th. Representatives from the PMRC and National PTA, Senator Paula Hawkins, and Dr. Joe Stuessy speak in support of regulating music, while three musicians - Frank Zappa, Dee Snider (of Twisted Sister), and John Denver - speak in defense of popular music. Here is a minor recap of what transpired from the transcript of the hearings themselves:
Supporting Witnesses
Paula Hawkins presented three record covers (Pyromaniaby Def Leppard, W.O.W. by Wendy O. Williams and Animal (Fuck Like a Beast) by W.A.S.P.) and the music videos for "Hot for Teacher", by Van Halen, and "We're Not Gonna Take It", by Twisted Sister, commenting: "Much has changed since Elvis' seemingly innocent times. Subtleties, suggestions, and innuendo have given way to overt expressions and descriptions of often violent sexual acts, drug taking, and flirtations with the occult. The record album covers to me are self-explanatory."
Susan Baker testified that "There certainly are many causes for these ills in our society, but it is our contention that the pervasive messages aimed at children which promote and glorify suicide, rape, sadomasochism, and so on, have to be numbered among the contributing factors." Tipper Gore asked record companies to voluntarily "place a warning label on music products inappropriate for younger children due to explicit sexual or violent lyrics."
National PTA Vice President for Legislative Activity Millie Waterman related the PTA's role in the debate, and proposed printing the symbol "R" on the cover of recordings containing "explicit sexual language, violence, profanity, the occult and glorification of drugs and alcohol," and providing lyrics for "R"-labeled albums.
In addition, Dr. Joe Stuessy, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, spoke regarding the power of music to influence behavior. He argued that heavy metal was different from earlier forms of music such as jazz and rock and roll because it was "mean-spirited" and "had as one of its central elements the element of hatred." Dr. Paul King, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, testified on the deification of heavy metal musicians, and to the presentation of heavy metal as a religion. He also stated that many adolescents read deeply into song lyrics.
Opposing Witnesses
Musician and producer Frank Zappa asserted that "the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcement problems inherent in the proposal's design." He went on to state his suspicion that the hearings were a front for H.R. 2911, a proposed blank tape tax: "The major record labels need to have H.R. 2911 whiz through a few committees before anybody smells a rat. One of them is chaired by Senator Thurmond. Is it a coincidence that Mrs. Thurmond is affiliated with the PMRC?" Zappa had earlier stated about the Senate's agreement to hold a hearing on the matter that "A couple of blowjobs here and there and Bingo! — You get a hearing."
Folk rock musician John Denver stated he was "strongly opposed to censorship of any kind in our society or anywhere else in the world", and that in his experience censors often misinterpret music, as was the case with his song "Rocky Mountain High". Denver expressed his belief that censorship is counterproductive: "That which is denied becomes that which is most desired, and that which is hidden becomes that which is most interesting. Consequently, a great deal of time and energy is spent trying to get at what is being kept from you." Incidentally, when John came up to give his speech, many on the PMRC board expected him to side with them thinking he would be offended by the lyrics as well but instead defended them.
Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, testified “Under the Blade", a song the PMRC claimed was about sadomasochism, bondage, and rape, was actually written about an impending surgery. He said "the only sadomasochism, bondage, and rape in this song is in the mind of Ms. Gore." He stated, "Ms. Gore was looking for sadomasochism and bondage, and she found it. Someone looking for surgical references would have found it as well." Snider concluded that "The full responsibility for defending my children falls on the shoulders of my wife and I, because there is no one else capable of making these judgments for us."
Notable snippets of audio from the hearing found their way into Zappa's piece "Porn Wars", from the “Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention” album. Senators Gore, Hollings, Gorton, Hawkins, and others appeared. The album cover featured a parody of the RIAA warning label. The LP included a note to send to Zappa's Barking Pumpkin Records for a free "Z-PAC", (a printed information package that included transcripts of the committee hearing, and a letter from Zappa encouraging young people to register to vote). The liner notes on the U.S. release read:
WARNING/GUARANTEE:
This album contains material which a truly free society would neither fear nor suppress. In some socially retarded areas, religious fanatics and ultra-conservative political organizations violate your First Ammendment Rights by attempting to censor rock & roll albums. We feel that this is un-Constitutional and un-American. As an alternative to these government-supported programs (designed to keep you docile and ignorant). Barking Pumpkin is pleased to provide stimulating digital audio entertainment for those of you who have outgrown the ordinary. The language and concepts contained herein are GUARANTEED NOT TO CAUSE ETERNAL TORMENT IN THE PLACE WHERE THE GUY WITH THE HORNS AND POINTED STICK CONDUCTS HIS BUSINESS. This guarantee is as real as the threats of other video fundamentalists who use attacks on rock music in their attempt to transform America into a nation of check-mailing nincompoops (in the name of Jesus Christ). If there is a hell, its fires wait for them, not us.
On the back of the European version : The original version of this album contained political material which would not have been interesting to listeners outside the U.S. This special European edition contains three new songs not available in the U.S. album. We hope you appreciate the difference.
F.Z.
Here is a 3 part interview with Mr. Zappa regarding censorship and the Senate hearings:
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
In October, President Ronald Reagan claims that "reactionary and obscene rock music does not deserve Constitutional protection”. Reagan states "I don't believe that our Founding Fathers ever intended to create a nation where the rights of pornographers would take precedence over the rights of parents, and the violent and malevolent would be given free rein to prey upon our children."
American Bandstand producers refuse to let Sheena Easton perform her hit song "Sugar Walls" because it has been targeted by the PMRC.
In November, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) strikes a deal with the National PTA and the PMRC to create a universal parental warning sticker that will be placed on all albums containing graphic depictions of sex and/or violence. Many refer to it now as the Tipper Sticker.
William Steding, vice-president of KAFM in Dallas, forms the National Music Review Council, whose mission is to inform broadcasters and parents about controversial music.
The title of Marvin Gaye's song "Sanctified Pussy" is changed to "Sanctified Lady" for a posthumous release, Dream of a Lifetime.
Columbia Records wraps the Rolling Stones' Dirty Work in dull red plastic, hiding certain words and song titles.
Yes 1985 was a busy year for censors. But in 1986, CBS Music sets a strict, but vague, company-wide policy on explicit lyrics. The policy was meant to dissuade artists from releasing any albums that may be controversial.
After complaints from groups such as the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Cure requests that radio stations pull "Killing An Arab" from airplay. Composer Robert Smith says the song "was a short poetic attempt at condensing my impression of the key moments in L’Etranger (The Stranger) by Albert Camus" (Cure News number 11, October 1991). The lyrics describe a shooting on a beach, in which the Arab of the title is killed by the song's narrator; in Camus' story the main character, Meursault, shoots an Arab standing on a beach after staring out at the sea and being overwhelmingly blinded by the sun, reflected on the sea, the sand and the knife the Arab was holding. The track has a controversial history, since it has often been viewed as promoting violence against Arabs. In the US, The Cure's first compilation of singles, Standing on a Beach (1986), was packaged with a sticker advising against racist usage of the song. It became controversial again during the Persian Gulf War and following 9/11."Killing an Arab" was the only single from the The Cure’s 1st album not to be included on that album's 2004 re-mastered release. The song was revived in 2005, when the band performed the song at several European festivals. The lyrics, however, were changed to "Kissing an Arab". When they performed at the Royal Albert Hall on April 1, 2006, the lyrics were changed to "Killing Another". The song was used in its entirety for closing both nights of their Sydney, Australia, concerts promoting their Greatest Hits album to a standing ovation.
Meyer Music Markets places an "explicit lyrics" warning sticker on Frank Zappa's Jazz from Hell – This is funny because the album is entirely instrumental!
First Lady Nancy Reagan withdraws support for an eleven-hour anti-drug rock concert because promoters refuse to drop certain acts that were targeted by the PMRC.
The families of two young men sue the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, alleging their 1978 album Stained Class encouraged the young men to commit suicide. The band’s vocalist Rob Halford commented “if we wanted to insert subliminal commands in our music, killing our fans would be counterproductive and we would prefer to insert the command Buy more of our records". Regarding the prosecution's assertions that the statement "do it" was a command to commit suicide, Halford pointed out "do it" had no direct message. The case was eventually dismissed.
Maryland Delegate Judith Toth introduces legislation aimed at amending the state's obscenity statutes to include records, tapes, and laser discs.
Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys is charged with violating section 313.1 ("Distribution of Harmful Materials to Minors") of the California state penal code for a poster included in the band's Frankenchrist LP. The offending poster contained a painting by noted Swiss artist H.R. Giger.
In 1987, a part-time record clerk is arrested in April in Callaway, Florida, for selling a copy of 2 Live Crew's album 2 Live Is What We Are.
Radio stations in Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Denver, and New York ban George Michael's single "I Want Your Sex" because of explicit sexual content.
In an attempt to thwart an upcoming concert by the Beastie Boys, the city of Jacksonville, Florida, passes an ordinance in August that requires all "adult" acts to put a "For Mature Audiences Only" notice on all concert tickets and advertisements.
An unidentified congressperson commissions a study by the Congressional Research Service to determine if Congress has the Constitutional authority to regulate albums that contain explicit lyrics by restricting their sale.
MTV refuses to air the Replacements "The Ledge" because of its suicidal theme.
In 1988 many retailers refuse to stock Nothing's Shocking, Jane's Addiction's debut album for Warner Brothers, because of its cover.
A faculty advisor, at a Newark, New Jersey, student radio station yanks all heavy metal from the station's playlists in April because he believes it will cause young listeners to commit suicide.
The co-owner of Taking Home the Hits in Alexandria, Alabama, is arrested in June for selling a 2 Live Crew record to an undercover police officer.
After initially agreeing to broadcast the world premiere of Neil Young's "This Note's For You", MTV refuses to air the video clip. (The song is Neil Young's critique of artists who "sell out" and allow their songs to be used in commercials. It mentions Coke, Pepsi, Miller, and Bud.) The video pokes fun at Michael Jackson, with the line "Ain't singing for Pepsi," a Jackson lookalike is shown with his hair on fire, referring to the Pepsi commercial shoot where a spark sent his hair into flames.
Retailers across the country refuse to carry Prince's Love Sexy, protesting the record's cover, which contains a nude, yet unrevealing, photograph of Prince.
Protestors in Santa Cruz, California, picket retailers carrying Guns 'N Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction, despite the fact that the offensive cover art has already been replaced.
In 1989, Yusef Islam, better known as folk singer Cat Stevens, is misquoted regarding the Ayatollah Khomeni's call for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie. Following press reports of the bogus statement, radio stations across the U.S. pull his records from play.
The City Council of New Iberia, Louisiana, enacts an emergency ordinance that adds music to the list of materials that must be kept from view of unmarried people under age 17.
The RIAA releases its black and white universal parental warning sticker in early March that reads, "Explicit Lyrics - Parental Warning."
A Pepsi commercial set to Madonna's song "Like A Prayer" is pulled after one airing because religious groups are offended by the song's video.
Guns 'N Roses are cut from the New York AIDS benefit "Rock And A Hard Place," because of the lyrics to their song "One In A Million."
Following complaints about Cher's video for "If I Could Turn Back Time," several video channels drop or restrict the music clip. Cher’s fishnet body stocking under a black one-piece bathing suit was the culprit.
MTV refuses to air a Fuzztones video that contains the lyric "rubbers" (a term for foul-weather footwear) they insist it be changed to "raincoat" before it will air the video.
The Hastings Record Store chain institutes a policy that states certain rap and rock titles cannot be sold to minors in its 130 stores nationwide.
The Pennsylvania house passes a bill requiring a warning label on all albums with explicit lyrics. The Pennsylvania legislators place the burden of enforcement and criminal liability on local retailers.
The Federal Communications Commission launches a campaign to clean up radio. They begin to hand out thousands of dollars in fines to stations in order to discourage them from playing risqué music.
Officials at the FBI write to gangsta rap group N.W.A. telling the performers that the bureau does not appreciate their song "Fuck Tha Police."
Also in1989, MTV enacts a policy that a lyric sheet must accompany all videos submitted to the network. The network rejects videos it feels endorses or promotes violence, illegal drugs, excessive alcohol consumption, or explicit depictions of sexual practices. ( Oddly enough, their programming seems to haveheaded into a less relevant mind numbing “reality” show format that maintains the violence, drug abuse, excessive alcohol consumption; but has nothing remotely to do with music.)
After protests from the gay community in September, Los Angeles radio station KDAY pulls from rotation the song "Truly Yours," by Kool G. Rap and D.J. Polo from rotation.
In Texarkana, Texas, city officials force the Dimension Cable Service to offer channel-blockers to prevent MTV from entering the homes of concerned families. After the channel-blockers are offered free of charge to Dimension's 22,000 subscribers, only 40 units are requested by customers.
"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist."
–Salman Rushdie
"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -- Mark Twain
The Root Note of All Evil
Throughout the entirety of musical history, self appointed critics and censors have blamed music for causing society’s ills. Every unfamiliar advancement has been disputed, whether it’s polyphony itself, Johann Sebastian Bach’s contrapuntal excursions, the syncopations of swing, the sound of distorted guitars, or the use of electronic synthesizers. In our so called modern times alone, jazz, bebop, swing, rock n' roll, and rap have all been lambasted seen as the root of all evil. These denouncements usually have been generational. That is to say adults attribute juvenile delinquency on some musical form that is popular with young people.
However, the voluminous majority of calls for censorship in the last century have been addressed to peripheral aspects of music. The dancing associated with it, visual images on its packaging, videos, and particularly prose attached to it. The lyrics. Lyrics however are words; and words are speech. Speech is very clearly protected by the 1st amendment in the U.S. constitution. Where music itself can indeed alienate people, (Often some understanding of underlying theories must be gleaned to comprehend its value), lyrics tend to be a more concrete form of expression. Only a working knowledge of the language is needed to understand the words, if not the ideas they represent. One can often construct a tenable, credible discourse on their value or non-value. Though I would suggest this is rather personal and subjective, as one man’s Ernest Hemingway is another mans Larry Flynt.
Is it a woman in front of a mirror or a nasty old skull? Who should decide?
Today we largely view censorship as a technique that has disappeared from liberal cultures since the enlightenment (with exceptions during wartimes). The enlightenment served to attenuate the intolerance of religious and government leaders, but did not stop censorship. Rather, bowdlerization of unacceptable ideas has merely fallen into new hands using new tactics. Censors masquerade as capitalist retailers, distributors, special-interest groups, and cogent religious or government agencies. The new methods are market-censorship (dominating and controlling the marketplace), institutionalized censorship (control of language itself), restricting knowledge, in addition to the traditional regulative censorship (laws). These new forces are at least as effective as the historical forces of ascendancy.
Once upon a time, the adventurous textures of J.S. Bach threatened his ability to make a living; the Elvis pelvis was a threat to society, and John Lennon’s political views vexed the FBI as well as the highest offices in the land. Today most objections regarding commercial music are about ugliness of some sort. “Those rappers are demeaning women, this song is about racism, that one promotes hate, violence and drugs are in this one, while still here is another that flies in the face of political correctness.Yet one must ask oneself if any song causes these things? Or are these songs simply reflecting the ugliness of the times? Does any piece of music really chisel away at society’s standards of morality? Does removing a song about beating women prevent anyone inclined to beat women from doing so? Is there really anyone not sure whether this is right or wrong, and only need to hear some hip hop lyric to push them into violent behavior? I suggest that censorship is not only more offensive than any words, it is also not effective. Making something taboo usually creates a demand for it, if only out of curiosity.
We live in a world where any subject covered in any song, that might be objectionable, is merely a mouse click away anyway. The question is do you believe the government, Clear Channel, or Wal-Mart should decide which music, books, newspapers, films, or photographs, etc. should be available?Shouldn’t parents be the supervisors of what they allow their own children to hear or see if indeed they are concerned about it? Regardless of whether we embrace or reject it, our world is full of genius, insight, and beauty but also worthless consumerism, devalued humanity, porn, hate groups, violence, insanity, grotesque greed, and tinseled trash. Is anyone terribly surprised music reflects this? If we accept that art does indeed hold a mirror to our world, our society, our subcultures, and ourselves; then if we dislike what we see in that mirror, smashing the mirror does nothing to improve our lot.
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
The music business is dead, passed on! It is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet it's maker! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If it weren't nailed to it's perch it 'd be pushing up the daisies! It's metabolic processes are now history! it's off the twig! It's kicked the bucket, shuffled off it's mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! THIS IS AN EX-INDUSTRY!! (Apologies to Monty Python...always one of their finest sketches.)
But this is not my assessment, at least not mine alone. Peter Gabriel, addressing the MIDEM conference who gathered to honor him in Cannes, said ""It's time to put the corpse of what we know as the record industry in the ground and let some other beautiful things start to grow out of it." Piano man Billy Joel unleashed his wrath while inducting John Melencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joel had a few choice words to say about the executives in attendance but, in his denouncements, he also claimed that the music business is dead. David Byrne also recently wrote an article for Wired magazine proclaiming the death of the music business.
Billy Joel Expresses his disdain for Music Executives
What exactly does this mean though? Is it true? Before we discuss the music business we must look at business in general, and examine how and why the models created in modern times, have lead to catastrophic failure.
"I was a securities analyst 70 years ago in London, so I can say that no financial man will ever understand business because financial people think a company makes money. A company makes shoes, and no financial man understands that. They think money is real. Shoes are real. Money is an end result." -- Peter Drucker
The tale of Peter Drucker is the tale of modern management. His philosophy (or at least selected bits of it) is responsible for the rise of the modern corporations and their managers. Without his analysis the rise of dispersed, globe-spanning corporations is unimaginable.
But Drucker became disenchanted with the capitalism of the late 20th century. Rewarding greed instead of performance was not something he saw as positive. He'd become repulsed by the excessive undue riches awarded to mediocre and incompetent executives even as they slashed the ranks of workers. And as he entered his 10th decade, multi-national corporate empires, who literally owed him their existence, and the academia who had embraced his earlier ideas, now said his time had passed, that he'd grown sloppy with the facts. In the meantime, a new generation of management punks and pundits were growing fat off books and speaking tours. Their Junk Bond philosophies displaced and eclipsed him.
The dubious misgivings and disillusionment with business that Drucker spoke of in his later years caused him to turn away from the corporation and instead offer his advice to the nonprofit sector. It was an obvious acknowledgment that business and management had miserably failed. Drucker points long forgotten or ignored are:
-- Decentralization -- Drucker recommended this in the 1940s.
-- He asserted -- in the 1950s -- that workers should be treated as assets, not as liabilities to be eliminated.
-- He originated the view of the corporation as a human community -- again, in the 1950s -- built on trust and respect for the worker and not just a profit-making machine, a perspective that won Drucker reverence among the Japanese.
-- He first made clear -- still the '50s -- that there is "no business without a customer," a simple notion that was not obvious to industry.
-- He argued in the 1960s -- long before others -- for the importance of substance over style, for institutionalized practices over charismatic, cult leaders.
-- And it was Drucker again who wrote about the contribution of the knowledge of workers -- in the 1970s -- long before anyone knew or understood how knowledge would trump raw material as an essential capital in the modern economy. Regardless of what field of endeavor one is engaged in, craftsmanship must be honored. Craftsmanship is never "cheap".
But Drucker's story is not mere echoes in the canyons of history. Whether admitted or not, the organization and practice of business management is derived largely from the thinking of Peter Drucker. His teachings form the blueprint. In a world of quick fixes, glib bandaids, and worthless exegesis; amongst a backdrop of fads and simplistic PowerPoint pablum, he understood leading people and institutions is filled with complexity, the building of trust, and is rife with codependencies. He taught the importance of picking the best people for jobs and treating them fairly, of focusing on opportunities and not problems, of getting on the same side of the desk as your customer, of the need to understand your competitive advantages, and to continue to refine them. He believed that talented people were the essential ingredient of every successful enterprise. That they must be valued, that money was simply the reward for doing something well, not and end in itself. The cult of greed with rewards for the few and disloyalty and exploitation for the many is a business model that simply can not sustain itself, even as an illusion, for very long.
What is a sound economic practice? One that is fair to all who participate in it. Henry Ford was called a "class traitor" for paying his factory workers a good wage and generally treating them well. But he understood what today's junk bond traders, profiteers, and self aggrandizing leeches do not. That to sell lot's of widgets, the buyers must have the capital to purchase them. If Ford's own employees didn't make enough money to buy his model Ts, how could he sell very many? Roosevelt too, was called a class traitor. It has been said that J. P. Morgan's family kept newspapers with pictures of Roosevelt out of his sight, and in one Connecticut country club...mention of his name was forbidden as a health measure, to prevent strokes and seizures. In Kansas a man went down into his cyclone cellar and announced "he would not emerge until Roosevelt was out of office." (While he was there, his wife ran off with a traveling salesman.) Most historians regard F.D.R.today as one the greatest presidents the U.S. has ever had, 2nd only to Lincoln.
Architect of the New Deal-F.D.R.
F.D.R.became President at a desperate time, in year 4 of a worldwide depression that seriously threatened the future of Western civilization. "The year 1931 was distinguished from previous years...by one outstanding feature," British historian Arnold Toynbee said. "In 1931, men and women all over the world were seriously contemplating and frankly discussing the possibility that the Western system of Society might break down and cease to work." In the summer of 1932 John Maynard Keynes was asked by a journalist whether there had ever been anything before like the Great Depression, his reply: "Yes, it was called the Dark Ages, and it lasted four hundred years."
"The New Deal"struck a bargain between corporate marauders, tycoons, aristocracy (dragged kicking and screaming to table) and workers. The bargain was simply one that certified the rights of the workers to be treated with fairness, a degree of respect, and that government would attempt to supply jobs and human necessities that captains of industry were failing to provide. Starting in the 1980's this bargain has been chiseled away at and ignored. The partnership between owners and the workers began to be more and more lopsided, with profits through the roof, but wages less and less reflective of the prosperity of the companies. Every loophole was found to avoid management's obligation in this bargain. With exploitation of cheap labor from "Globalism" being the corporate Holy Grail. The New Deal attempted to have the US government step in where unrestrained capitalism failed. This bit of forgotten history has doomed us to a re-run.
By the time Roosevelt had been sworn in, incomes had been cut in half and over fifteen million Americans were unemployed. In every single state banks were closed or severely restricted their operations, and on the morning of his inauguration the New York Stock Exchange had shut down. For many, hope was entirely gone. "Fear bordering on panic, loss of faith in everything, our fellow man, our institutions, private and government. Worst of all no faith in ourselves or the future. Almost everyone ready to scuttle the ship, and not even women and children first." wrote the editor of Nation's Business. Hope, belief in the future, is a necessity for any type of prosperity.
Only a few weeks after Roosevelt took office, the spirit of the country was transformed. Gone was the listless torpidity and political paralysis of the Hoover years. (Republican President Herbert Hoover and his advisors believed in doing nothing, that the economy would correct itself. "Prosperity is just around the corner" was his slogan.) Business journals reported "The people aren't sure just where they are going, but anywhere seems better than where they have been. In the homes on the streets, in the offices there is a feeling of hope reborn."
Observers often referred to the imagery of darkness and light to describe the journey from the Hellish gloom of Hoover's final winter to the bright springtime light of day offered by First Hundred Days. Suddenly all the shops were open again, everyone was joyous, crowds moved excitedly. There was something in the air that had not been there before. The New Deal was perceived as a turning point. It was not just for the day, but forever. On the New York Exchange, where trading resumed on March 15, the stock ticker ended the day with the merry message: "Goodnite. ...Happy days are here again." (The song Happy Days Are Here Again was F.D.R's theme song).
People of every political persuasion gave full credit for the salvation to one man: Roosevelt. The British ambassador, Sir Ronald Lindsay said FDR's "conspicuous courage, cheerfulness, energy and resource, contrasted so markedly with the fearful, furtive fumbling of the Great White Feather, Herbert Hoover, that the starved loyalties and repressed hero-worship of the country have found in him an outlet and a symbol." The Republican Senator from California, Hiram Johnson, also praised the New Deal: "The admirable trait in Roosevelt is that he has the guts to try. ...He does it all with the rarest good nature. ...We have exchanged for a frown in the White House a smile. Where there were hesitation and vacillation, weighing always the personal political consequences, feebleness, timidity, and duplicity, there are now courage and boldness and real action." On the editorial page of Forum, Henry Goddard Leach summed up the nation's nearly unanimous verdict: "We have a leader." In the U.S. we now urgently have need again for someone with vision and imagination to occupy the oval office. Someone to stand up against the forces of unrestrained greed that again are fleecing the nation and the world. Someone who would again re-empower a middle class and return it to an equitable position. It can be done, but not by any conventional means. Perhaps a new "New Deal"?
I believe F.D.R. looked at the economic woes of his time much like a football coach looks at his tactics on game day. He had some general plans and plays, but tried all sorts of things to see which ones worked, and stuck with the ones that worked. This is no time for politics as usual. Bold new thoughts and deeds are needed, forget about party politics, this is way beyond those limiting parameters. Despite any claims about deceased actors who snoozed through their Alzheimer's dementia in the White House, the Soviet Union failed because their economy tanked. They went bankrupt in a foolish glut of military spending trying to convince the U.S. that it was a equal or superior military force. Now the U.S. faces a similar situation, in a world without cold war arms racing, the U.S. outspends all the nations of the world combined on it's military. This is completely unnecessary, a loss of treasure that could be used for the good of all, and directs the nation into needless conflicts that are not "defensive"in nature. Ironically the same mindset that bankrupted the U.S.S.R. is now bankrupting the U.S.A.
This gap between the U.S. and the rest of the world has widened considerably over the last 10 years. That's true because our own military spending has increased wildly during that time:
To sum up the article so far, the economy in general has been pillaged by supporting a cumbersome unnecessary infrastructure, by focusing on quick profits at the expense of the future, by adhering to ideology even as all evidence suggests the ideology is flawed, and by focusing on cheapness to bolster profits rather than value, quality, and particularly growth. In general, these same issues that are destroying the economy also apply to the music industry in many ways.
What is a business? The only function of a business is to create customer value. If that value is created, the business is viable, and is rewarded with profits. Music itself, of course, is not dead; musicians will always make music, with or without the aid of business. The "business" refers to the packaging, promotion, and delivery of recordings of their music. At it's best, it is a partnership that improves the circumstances of all involved. After all musicians are best left to make music, rather than conduct business, design marketing strategies, etc.
Businessmen are happy to have their talents rewarded in a profitable manner, and the consumer is served well when products have quality control, are readily available, and produced in a professional artistically sound way. Had the music business heeded the philosophy of Peter Drucker, and concerned itself with offering the best music possible, (instead of the cheapest to produce). If it nurtured, developed, and stuck by it's artists; and lead the way with innovations instead of fighting them-sticking to an ideology that was failing entirely, we would be talking about a completely different paradigm. But rather than dwell on the illness that killed the industry, let's look at what is growing out of it's grave.
There are literally hundreds of articles that cite Radiohead's recent success offering their latest collection of songs, In Rainbows, as a download that you pay whatever you think it is worth for. Most are suggesting this is the model of the future. Trent Reznor has a different view though.
"I think the way Radiohead parlayed it into a marketing gimmick has certainly been shrewd," But if you look at what they did, it was very much a bait and switch, to get you to pay for a MySpace quality stream as a way to promote a very traditional record sale."
Radiohead's manager has also said that the band likely wouldn't try a similar promotion again. The British super group ended the offer and has begun selling the record through traditional sales channels.
"I don't see that as a big revolution that they're kind of getting credit for. There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't see that as a big revolution that they're kind of getting credit for...to me that feels insincere. It relies upon the fact that it was quote-unquote 'first,' and it takes the headlines with it" Reznor said to the Australian press.
Reznor has a point. Though Radiohead's music giveaway pioneered new territory, did it actually search for a new way to distribute music? Peter Gabriel's We7 is another model for downloading music that is fair to artists. Of course there are 7 million bands on MySpace, but how many are even remotely listenable by any standard? (Maybe one in 10.) Reznor's latest release with his band, Nine Inch Nails, began with distributing a digital album, Ghosts I-IV a 36-track instrumental, in a number of ways. The offer included free samples, a $5 digital version and premium packages that came with downloads, discs, and varying merchandise depending on the money one was willing to pay. In a little over a week, Reznor told The Chicago Tribune that he generated 781,917 transactions and earned $1.6 million.
Artists who do this type of release, and are successful at it, have said they do quite well financially because the overhead is minimal, and they get to keep all the profit themselves. This has always been an area that record companies have been criticized for. Often deals were struck that didn't do much justice to the artists. (Often receiving only 4-5 % of profits for albums.)
In this new model, there are missing links however. Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails came up through the old system and have had the "label" treatment. They have an existing large fan base. How do new bands get promoted successfully? What do you do to hear new music? Why are there so few venues now for new live music? (Maybe you live in a region that this isn't the case, if so, I'd like to hear about it!)
Is the Music Business really dead? I think not, though the model that has been used since the inception of recorded media may be. Are record labels irrelevant? Only to the very rare musician who likes, and is good at accounting and promotion. So what is dead? In this period of transmutation, artists are their own publicists, accountants, promoters, etc. As a rule these are tasks most artists will not excel at, and will distract from actually making music. Distributors, marketers, and accountants will again be desired at some point. But here is the great possibility that could come to pass....perhaps this time the artists will not be "owned" by labels. Perhaps now a partnership will be the normality. A shared interest. This is my hope for the next phase. When artists have partners who are good at other aspects of business, genuinely work together to produce the best quality products, everyone including consumers benefit.
I understand today's label executives spend every day simply adding friends on MySpace, so "obituary" may be too strong a word. The labels are attempting to use, and control in a sense, the internet mechanisms that sprung up as an alternate route for music players and listeners. The same medium that they had so opposed and dismissed only a few years ago. Artists must band together to insure the mistakes of the past do not re-occur in the future. This is a somewhat unusual notion as creative people are often fiercely independent. But if they don't, the "level" playing field offered by the internet will be controlled by the likes of Clear Channel.
Peter Gabriel said in a CNN interview:I think that a lot of artists aren't very good when it comes to marketing or accounts or doing a lot of the jobs that record companies do, so we're going to want somebody to do that. And probably the people we will look to do it are probably those who have the experience. But what I fundamentally believe is that the relationship should be a partnership. It shouldn't be we own you therefore we do what we want with your work. Those days should be gone, and if artists aren't smart enough to get off their arses and change that now, then we deserve what we get, because we have the opportunity [to change that]. It's quite hard talking to artists sometimes to get them motivated because there is not a lot of money in it at this point. But I think there will be and it's more sort of a power balance and I just think people in record companies now are a lot more willing to consider power-sharing deals.
Peter Gabriel has been a major mover and shaker in the download business, OD-2, Loudeye, We7, are all innovations he has had a hand in. One of the most interesting I think is The Filter. If you have not tried it, here is the link- http://www.thefilter.com/ It's a service that recommends new music based on your existing tastes. Very good!
We stand at a crossroads, both in the music business and political-economics in general. Now is the time to see to it that the way forward features equitable and fair progress for all of us. And to lay to rest the failed notions of the past. The idea that a handful of people should make enormous profits on the backs of all others, who make very little is not only unethical, but unsustainable, and impudent. Craftsmanship must again be honored and valued above cheap labor or production costs. The market wants good value in products, not cheaply made shoddy goods that have huge profit margins. We know all too well what trickles down from the extremely wealthy on everyone else has never been prosperity...that is a blatant lie.
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
"The more artificial taboos and restrictions there are in the world, the more the people are impoverished." - Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism -
Molecular Mysticism and The Music of the Spheres
The musician integrates into the social fabric, but is not of it. Art simply does not exist unassailed by social forces and the material world. One must turn inward in a process that is both personal and universal, emerging in the end outwardly via art. Music requires that it's performer be completely centered, concurrently maintaining a delicate balance between self and selfless. These concepts are not mutually exclusive. There are direct parallels between the story of the Zen Archer and the musician. One must know, exactly who and where one is in the cosmogony, have accumulated a vast array of cognitive content, and honed variety of techniques and resources. Yet the creation of art then requires abandonment of all of this to the moment. The finest musicians serve the music. The essential musician becomes the music.
This is, perhaps, the largest struggle for the aspiring artist. The question of "self-consciousness" creeping into the situation. The answer is found within.
"One's essence is inherently complete." - (The Zen Teachings of Mazu.)
As one goes deeper inward, answers become apparent and beauty becomes simplicity. Isn't that what you hear in a great jazz solo? A completeness that is both compelling and fulfilling. This state is always present and available, yet elusive if deliberately sought.
For all those who stood up and were counted For all those for whom money was no motive For all those for whom music was a message I want to thank you for making me A little more sure A little more wise And courageous
So goes the opening lyrics to Music Matters, by Faithless. Enjoy the video.
It is possible lose one's self in the ethereal resplendence of this piece, Cass Fox's sensual vocals, and Maxi Jazz's dub-rap poetry just coexist nicely. Why do you suppose the 'simple' things in life are always the most rewarding?
Ah, But I digress, one can not speak of music that matters without talking about The Plastic People Of The Universe, who perfectly exemplify the essence of this article's title.
Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it or you don't, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you. -Vaclav Havel
Shortly after the close of the second World War, Czechoslovakia's Communist Party, with support from the Soviets, took over the reigns of government. (February, 1948.) Forty years of totalitarianism followed. The regime took over privately-owned businesses and property, removed the Catholic Church, and suppressed all forms of art deemed threatening to the party.
In response, playwrights, filmmakers, and musicians began creating works with concealed anti-Communist morals. The film school that the soviets revamped to produce propaganda (Filmová a Televizní Fakulta Akademie Múzických Umění v Praze) instead created movies with "Aesop like" commentary criticizing the regime. Sadly, these hints weren’t subtle enough, and almost all of the FAMU works were locked away in a vault. Even today, they are highly regarded as brilliant works of art. Humanities were subdued and generally suppressed during this period.
Prague Spring
Alexander Dubček lifted censorship of the press and arts when he came to power in 1968. Against the advice of his party, he adopted a program guaranteeing basic rights that were previously suppressed, such as freedom of speech, travel, assembly, and religion. These new freedoms threatened the regimes of the surrounding countries in the Warsaw Pact. 175,000 troops–23 divisions of the Soviet Army–invaded Czechoslovakia in late August. The people put up some serious passive resistance, changing street signs to confuse tanks , etc, but within three days, Dubček was deposed. Protests continued; the most sensational one I'm aware of being the suicide of Jan Palach, who was a philosophy student in Prague. He doused himself in kerosene and set himself on fire in the center of Wencelas Square.
What Do Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart have to do with the Velvet Revolution? Much. Although censorship was fairly effective with printed media, the appetite for music could be satisfied by radio stations outside of the Warsaw Pact nations. Their music, along with the Velvet Underground, in particular represented personal and artistic freedom; inspiring the Plastic People of the Universe, who became a catalyst in the revolt.
Normalization
The country underwent a process of “normalization,” a forced return to the totalitarian ideals. The government was purged of all reformist elements, and the freedoms that Dubček had secured were all taken away. Rock ‘n roll was viewed as a mouthpiece for the dangerous influence of western ideals. Almost all of Prague’s music clubs were closed down, and bands were forced to change their sound and appearance. This is when the Plastic People of the Universe distinguished themselves as the most important rock ‘n roll band in Czechoslovakia. The Plastics embodied the nonconformist spirit, they provided a rebuttal to the communist regime’s censorship, yet all they wanted to do was write some music.
The Plastics’ psychedelic rock draws influences from the John Cale, Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa’s Mother of Invention, (the group took their name from the Zappa song “Plastic People.) When they refused to comply with new music regulations, the government revoked the band’s professional license. They were prohibited from staging paid performances, and their equipment was confiscated.
The history of liberty is a history of resistance. ~Woodrow Wilson
Accidental Revolutionaries
The Plastic People of the Universe continued to perform as amateurs anyway, with cheap used instruments and homemade amplifiers made from old transistor radios. The Plastics were banned from Prague in June of 1972, after a downtown concert ended in a fight between drunk militiamen and fans.
The band carried on by performing in the Bohemian countryside in secret. Playing in farmhouses and barns in the forest, the locations of which were disclosed solely by word of mouth. Often, the police showed up and canceled the performance before it even started. On one such occasion in March of 1974 the Plastic People arrived at their undisclosed location only to find the authorities waiting for them. Thousands of fans showed up, and hundreds were beaten by the police. Students were arrested, and names were collected by authorities. Those on the "list" were expelled from school. The incident became known as the Češke Budovice Massacre. Two years later, the Plastic People organized a music festival of underground Czech musicians. Members of the band were arrested. They spent up to 18 months in jail, while their manager spent more than 8 years of his life in there for his unwavering belief in rock music.
The Velvet Revolution and Beyond
Václav Havel penned a manifesto called Charter 77 with a diverse group of Czech artists in response to the wrongful imprisonment of band members. This document would become an internationally-recognized defense of civil rights, and would land Havel in prison.
Chapter 77 did not directly criticize the regime , but it put forward a defense of human rights in light of agreements Czechoslovakia had signed in previous years (the Final Act of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, part of the Helsinki Accords for instance). Havel said that the Plastics were defending "life's intrinsic desire to express itself freely, in its own authentic and sovereign way", which is as close to a perfect explanation of not only democracy, but also rock and roll, as has ever been put forth by anyone.
Charter 77 would foreshadow the Velvet Revolution twelve years later.
The Chezk Republic has distinguished itself as a place unlike any other. Where else in the world would an artist have run a country? Havel’s story is beyond extraordinary. A playwright turned activist, turned president; who claims the Zappa/Beefheart's live document "Bongo Fury" is one of his favorite recordings (Can you name a single other leader of a nation who would admit to even hearing this album, let alone have a prominent position in their collection?) I recently finished his memoir, To the Castle and Back, translated into English by former Plastic People vocalist Paul Wilson. In the book, Havel explains that he had never aspired to be a politician, let alone a president:
"I hadn’t prepared myself for a presidential role from my schooldays the way American presidents do… In the end what probably won me over was the appeal to my sense of responsibility. You can’t spend your whole life criticizing something and then, when you have the chance to do it better, refuse to go near it."
Lou Reed with President Havel
Frank Zappa become a cultural Attaché despite protests from the U.S. Government.
Many rock bands sing about revolution and change, but how many ever have had such a direct hands on effect? The Plastic People openly defied a totalitarian regime in the name of art. They did not seek to become revolutionists, rather; they simply wanted to create music. They and their fans, believed enough in the importance of the music to accept the role of the revolutionary.
There exists more than a bit of poetic irony to think that A state that censored and suppressed art, was brought down by it in the end.
PPU RELEASES
Muz bez usi (Man With No Ears, concerts from 1969-1972) Vozralej jak sliva (Drunk As A Plum, concerts from 1973-1975) Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned (1974-75) this was more or less their debut it was smuggled out of the country and released, without the band's knowledge, in France in '78 Ach to statu hanobeni (Oh the State's Defamation, concerts 1976-1977) Pasijove hry velikonocni (Passion Play, 1978) Jak bude po smrti (What It's Like After Death, 1979) Co znamena vesti kone (Leading Horses, 1981) Kolejnice duni (Rails Rumble, 1977-82) Hovezi prazka (Beef Slaughter, 1983-84) Pulnocni mys (Midnight Mouse, 1985-86) their last record before breaking up The Plastic People of the Universe 1997
On Nov. 13, 1996, I attended a fantastic show at New York City's Knitting Factory. Gary Lucas, guitarist for Capt. Beefheart's Magic Band assembled a band that included (Talking Heads) drummer Jerry Harrison, Billy Ficca, Ernie Brooks and Jason Candler. They played a full hour set- opening up with Magic Night a composition by Mala Hlavas, before welcoming the Plastic People of the Universe to the stage. To my surprise, former Czech president Vaclav Havel was in the audience, along the new Czech ambassador to the UN, Martin Palous. David Byrne also was there for the show as well. Mala Hlavsa and the Plastic People's compositions fit just fine beside Dvorak, Janacek and Smetena. What a great night for music it was.
Vaclav Havel, Jerry Harrison, Gary Lucas, David Byrne, and Ernie Brooks at the Knitting Factory.
-Jim Morrison
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
Hello again fellow travelers. Have a seat here on my couch, take your shoes off and make yourself comfortable. Theres a fire dancing in the wood stove, how would you like a nice Irish Coffee? I've got my own twist on it, a bit of Appleton Estate Special Reserve, some Tia Maria, and a bit of Sangster's Jamaican Rum Cream mixed with Blue Mountain Coffee. I even have a fresh cinnamon stick to top it off. What's that you say? Oh sure, I will have a bit with you. We have a different sort of article here today. An art exhibit of sorts, a feast for the eyes. Though I bet as we stroll through this "exhibit" you will indeed hear strains of some beloved music echoing about the halls of Shambala in your mind's ear. As a creator of music myself, I have come to understand I dream a lot, I do more composing when I'm not playing. It comes from the subconscious. As a musician and composer I see the art of Hipgnosis (actually all visual art I enjoy) as similar, as rising up from somewhere in the sub conscience.
One of the great losses to music fans as we go to smaller and more compact mediums is the album art which developed to such a high degree with LP releases. The packaging of LPs, one could argue, became an integral part in the overall experience of the listener. Today I'd like to spotlight one of the best design teams in this field. Hipgnosis. All the art on display here was created by this design team.
Hipgnosis, the British design team consisted primarily of Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell, and later, Peter Christopherson. The group dissolved in 1983, but Thorgerson still works on CD designs. Their style was lavish, relying on photographic techniques and darkroom magic. Their 1st commisioned work was the cover of Pink Floyd's "Saucer Full Of Secrets". Being film and art school students, they were able to use the darkroom at the Royal College of Art, but when they completed their education, they had to set up their own facilities.
They built a small darkroom in Aubry Powell's bathroom, but shortly thereafter, in early 1970, rented space and built a studio. Remarkably, many of the memorable covers of the era were done in the bathroom darkroom.
Hipgnosis' unique approach to designing album packages pioneered many innovative visual and packaging techniques. In particular, they elaborately manipulated surreal photos (utilizing darkroom tricks, airbrush retouching, and mechanical cut-and-paste techniques). this was perhaps the film-based harbinger of what would, much later, be known as photoshopping.
Many of their album photos told "stories" derived from lyrics to songs on the album, often based on puns or double meanings of words in the album title. Powell and Thorgerson were film students and they would often employ models as "actors" staging their photographs in a highly theatrical manner.
Seldom did band members actually appear on the covers, but 10cc made it to the cover on a few occaisions.
The logos on Hipgnosis artworks are actually pen and ink artworks in their own right. Most were done by celebrated graphic artist George Hardie.
How About This One... From XTC?
Hipgnosis used primarily Hasselblad medium format cameras for their art. The square film format was well suited to album cover imagery.
O great creator of being grant us one more hour to perform our art and perfect our lives.
-Jim Morrison
Duly Consider and Considerable Sounds are TM of this publication and are subject to liabilities thereof
It would seem to be common sense that Americans would demand such information about a Presidential candidate as GPAs, SATs, any objectively comparable data.
The fact is, Sarah Palin, by any stretch, is of a mediocre academic track, as is McCain. America allowed a coups d'etat (didn't elect) George Jr., and despite his poor academics, he went to the finest schools (with a D average). His presidency hasn't worked out very well. Hopefully, America has learned it's lesson from that fiasco.
Our President should be the brightest and best, not someone that simply "fits in" at the local PTA or drinking establishment.
I suspect Sarah's IQ is unimpressive or else it would be made public. The same can be said of any other data that somehow has been demanded in her "long political career". I guess Alaskans don't have much regard for objective standards, just redneck values and NRA membership.