Random Internet Quote #2

From a comment board making fun of the film Righteous Kill:

I've never heard the words "badge" and "gun" used more times than in the preview for this movie.

Literally, Pacino's voiceover in the trailer goes something like,

"Where I come from, you make a choice between a badge or a gun. You respect the gun? You hate the badge. You love the badge? You fear the gun. Sometimes a gun looks like a badge. And sometimes, well a gun, it looks like a gun. But there's no mistaking, that a badge is more powerful than the gun. When I wake up in the morning, I find my hand on my badge, when it should be on my gun. I ask myself, What came first? The badge or the gun? The difference between a badge and a gun, is that a badge knows that he's a badge, but a gun- a gun don't know he's a gun. If you got a badge, and gun, all you really gots a gun. And a badge. One fish, two fish, badge, gun, badge, gun. Knock, knock? Who's there? Oh, a badge? I though it would be a gun. Good one."

-a poster named JudgeFudge

Baseck/ Daedelus/ Hecate/ Captain Ahab/ Tleilaxu Music Machine

I am pleased to inform you that the electronic noise/breakcore/experimental scene is alive and well in Los Angeles. I went to a warehouse downtown on Friday and heard some of the best music I've heard all year. Darkmatter Soundsystem threw the party and the turnout was great. I missed The Tleilaxu Music Machine but I'd seen him before and he is rad. Daedelus was performing when I got there. This guy is the shit. He used an instrument called the Monome that is a big square pad with buttons that trigger samples in Max/MSP and allows for heightened improvisation. My friend Peter actually helped develop this instrument and, until last night, I had never seen anyone use it besides him. The music was frantic melodic electro rave that had people going nuts. Go see this dude when he comes to town, he is currently touring the planet. His new record is on Ninja Tune. There were a couple other breakcore acts that were pretty cool but kind of rehashing stuff Kid606 and Drop the Lime were doing 5 years ago. One guy named Tony, I didn't catch his artist name, played an extremely hardcore set with what sounded like 400 bpm beats and screaming death vocals. Great performance. He told me John Frusciante was at the last Darkmatter gig and that he is opening for him at his next solo show here in LA. Wow. Next was a girl named Hecate from Berlin that DJed hardcore electronic and shrieked over it. That is her in the picture above. Diamanda Gales meets Atari Teenage Riot. Pretty damn evil. Judging by her myspace, it seems she has taken her music around the world. I'm told she made an album entirely made up of the sounds of her fucking. Then local hero Captain Ahab played. He has a hype guy who is like the white Flava Flav- he really gets the party started. Thats them below. It seems Ahab is getting away from the wacky electro pop and into more hard techno. Check out this video, it is somewhat of an Ahab classic. Baseck, who put the party together, closed the night. He played a game boy and had a weird tribal looking kid with a cane on vocals and tom drum. I don't know what hes doing with the game boy but the music coming out of it is incredible. It only barely sounds like what you're imaging. Cevin Key from Skinny Puppy was there and I talked with him for a bit and that was cool. The next party is September 13th.

Joe Smooth: Promised Land

I haven't found much to post this month but here is one of the greatest house tracks ever, accompanied by the video. This has been a peak or end of the night party anthem all across the world for 20 years. Read all the comments on the youtube page to see the effect this tune has had on people. It doesn't get much better than this.

The Laughing Light of Plenty

New band alert! The Laughing Light of Plenty is Thomas Bullock and Eddie Ruscha. A lot of readers of this webpage probably know about Thomas from Wicked, Rub n Tug, Map of Africa, etc... He is the best DJ in the world and a phenomenal producer. Eddie Ruscha is the son of the famous artist. He does amazing art and music as Secret Circuit and Dada Munchamonkey. The art above and below is by him. The first Laughing Light song, The Rose, is coming out on Whatever We Want Records, another 12" limited to 700 copies. Compared to Thomas' other music projects of late (Bobbie Marie, MOA, Welcome Stranger) this stuff is more dancefloor friendly and- dare i say- commercial? I think it is among his best work. It also has the best bass line I have heard in long time.

Listen to The Rose here.

Save the Wild Apes

There only about 700 wild mountain gorillas left in the world. They live in themountains of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are an extremely endangered species for many reasons. Currently, the most pressing is the illegal charcoal trade in the area. The charcoal people have burned down most of the forest around the National park that the gorillas live in and now they want to exploit the park. They see the gorillas as a "hindrance". In 2007, a vindictive statement by the charcoal traders against the park rangers was made- 4 gorillas were found dead. They were shot but not harvested for there meat, skulls, or hands, as they usually are when murdered by poachers. Poachers also steal baby gorillas to sell to zoos or on the black market to sickos who like to keep gorillas as pets confined in basements or cages. Another problem is the heavy fighting amongst rebel groups in those areas. There are reports of rebels using gorillas as target practice with their AK-47s. It seems like that part of Africa is so war-torn and poor, the life of a gorilla is meaningless to some just struggling to survive.



There is also some amazing video over at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Fossey was the pioneering researcher that lived with and studied the gorillas from 1967 until 1985 and helped get rid of the "king kong" stereotype that gorillas were savage beasts. She was hacked to death with a machete. The culprit was never caught. Most assume it was poachers that didn't like her work. But one of her own trackers was arrested for the crime, though he hung himself in jail before anything was proven. People think he was working for Rwandas booming gorilla tourism industry that Fossey had accidentally ushered in- but hated and tried to stop.


Saving our closest relatives may be impossible. My co-worker thinks the only way it can happen is if a natural disaster or disease "levels the playing field". On a more positive note, you can donate money directly to the park rangers that are actively protecting them.


Another major problem is the extinction of Orangutans in Indonesia. They now only live in two parts of the world- on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They are in trouble for similar reasons as above, like kidnapping for pets, but mostly because of the massive palm oil industry. The Indonesian government is systematically cutting down the forests of Borneo to make way for palm trees. Palm oil is used in something like 30% of kitchen products in the typical American household (soap, bread, chips) so the demand is high. Locals regard the last five or ten thousand remaining orangutans as "pests" because they eat the baby palm trees that have been planted. In earlier centuries, locals would not kill them because they felt they were just people hiding out in the trees so they didn't have to work or become a slave. The word Orangutan translates to "people of the forest." They could be extinct within 10 years. More info here.



UPDATE Aug 5th: The July issue of National Geographic had an article about the gorilla killings. Apparently the man that orchestrated the killings is Honore Mashagiro. He works for the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature and he is in charge of protecting the National Park. He is totally corrupt and profits from the charcoal trade. He was trying to frame a man named Paulin Ngobobo who had found him out. Mashagiro is currently awaiting trial.

Warren's Song of the Month

Here is another one from Warren. A band at the height of their powers. Also check out this increible version of Rhiannon from the same show.

Loft Art

I found this painting on David Mancuso's Loft website. He started the dancing all night to music phenomenon with his Loft parties in New York in 1970. About the painting: "This work of art, painted by Penelope Grill, is a pastel. The characters were inspired by real Loft people at a Prince Street party. In the foreground are dj's, promoters and a writer. In the right background David is at the turntables while his devoted fans cluster around him. The paintings that hang on the walls around the dance floor were painted by Penelope Grill."

Here is another one: Around the Punchbowl. In the early days there was always acid in the punch.
About the painting: "All the characters were inspired by real Loft people. The refreshment in the large bowl was a lightly sweetened citrus punch. Slices of orange and lemon floated on top. The man in the Hawaiian shirt on the lower left is wearing an evil eye glass pendant. These were given out a gifts to everyone attending the party one evening. The party mascot, Wolfie, the cat, stretches out under the table. If you attended the parties on Prince Street you may know who some of the people were."

Derrick Carter: Illusions

Derrick Carter recorded these tapes sometime in the mid 90's. When I first got into house they were on continual rotation. Eventually, I think I traded part two and lost part one so I was stoked to recently find both archived on line and I thought I'd share them with you. I haven't heard Derrick DJ in along time but back then we would drive hours just to hear him. The best set I saw him play was at the JuJuBeats Rave in the Los Angeles National Forrest in 97. I couldn't get my head out of the speaker his whole set. If you've ever wondered what exactly house music sounds like, this is it. 2 hours of raw banging Chicago. Play this loud.

Illusions Part One Side A

Illusions Part One Side B

Illusions Part Two Side A

Illusions Part Two Side B

Guantanamo Bay and the Science of Torture.

The official word on Guantanamo is they are interrogating "enemy combatants" for information to stop the "terrorists." Most have been there for 6 or 7 years now, so after years of torture, what more could they possible reveal? Nothing. I don't think they are looking for information any more. Guantanamo is an experiment. An experiment in brainwashing. Through the use of shock, isolation, and torture, this is a major effort to erase the minds of these men to a blank slate, where upon they can begin to rebuild them to the governments liking.

The methods they use there were developed by two doctors the CIA funded in Montreal in the 1950's, Dr. Donald Hebb and Dr. Ewen Cameron. The work of these two psychiatrists was the foundation for the infamous CIA torture handbook the KUBARK manual. They took patients, often students, and under the guise of attempting to heal problems like schizophrenia or anxiety, subjected them to hardcore punishment and torture. The whole "blank slate" idea was Cameron's. To erase ones mind he used a variety of methods: Lots of electroshock. Extreme isolation. Lots of LSD and PCP. Usually all three together. One experiment went like this: He converted the horse stables behind the McGill hospital into isolation chambers. He put blackout goggles and soundproof headphones on his subjects. He wrapped their arms in weird pipes so they couldn't touch themselves, all of this to induce sensory deprivation and to cause the mind to "fold in on itself." He would stagger meal times and serve breakfast food at dinner, dinner a lunch, etc. No contact with anyone. He would leave them like this for MONTHS AT A TIME. At this point, when the personality is gone, there is a state of total vulnerability where the prisoner will comply with anything. Then the sensory overload part begins, usually involving days of blaring white noise and music, lights, yelling, tape loops. Torture historian Alfred W. McCoy calls this "the first real revolution in the cruel science of pain in more than three centuries."

In addition to stress positions (standing for days), water boarding (drowning), phobias (like fear of dogs), humility (nakedness), and beatings, Cameron and Hebb's technique is occurring at Guantanamo Bay. As soon as the Iraq and Afghanistan prisoners were captured, a hood went on and the shock and isolation treatment began. There is a section at Guantanamo called Delta Block that holds more than 50 men who have completely lost it. James Yee, a military chaplain that worked there describes what he saw: "I'd stop to talk to them, and they would respond to me in a child like voice, talking complete nonsense. Many of them would loudly sing childish songs, repeating the song over and over. Some of them would stand on their steel bed frames and act out childishly..." Indeed, those are the same results Cameron got. After experiencing extreme regression most would curl up into a fetal position and suck their thumb. Then Cameron would start playing repeating tape loops of positive messages to them for months at a time. Psychiatricly, a laughably sick joke. Obviously it didn't work, the patients never recovered. Most lost there jobs, some killed themselves, and many cant remember anything about there life before they came across Cameron. Thankfully, a few of them pulled it together and sued the CIA, as well as the government of Canada, and won.

So when we look at all this in relation to what has happened to the prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a different picture comes to light. Hundreds of thousands have been detained, tortured, and released months or years later, never being charged or accused of anything. Abu Ghraib is one of the main facilities for this purpose. As Naomi Klein, from who's book The Shock Doctrine I got most this information, puts it: "We are told it's about getting information but I think it's about more than that- I think it may also have to do with trying to build a model country, about erasing people and then trying to remake them from scratch."

Random Photo

Taken from JJs myspace. Click to see it bigger.

Schapelle Corby

For those of you with HBO, they are now showing a good documentary called Ganja Queen. It is about a 27 year old Australian woman named Schapelle Corby that was caught in 2004 with ten pounds of weed in her boogie board bag in Bali, Indonesia. Of course she claims innocence. If she is, she is either a really good actor and/or has convinced herself she didn't do it. Well, who did it then? Some say it was baggage handlers at the airport but there is no evidence at all and that doesn't seem likely when you consider the other suspects: her family. There are few options as to who the guilty party is.

Option one: her father. He is an obvious liar. When it comes out after the trial that his neighbor and best friend got arrested for growing weed, he claims he never knew about it. Bullshit. But the filmmakers do go to the neighbors farm and interview the guy and he seems pretty strait up. He grows dirt weed and Schapelle was caught with Hydro. But that doesnt mean he doesn't have hook ups. Another weird thing is the father was dying of cancer at the time- he is dead now- so why didn't he just say he planted the weed without her knowledge in the hope the court has mercy and lets her out?

Option two: the scumbag brother. She has a younger half brother that does not appear much in the film but when he does he can barely talk, they have to subtitle his speech... He seems like a half-wit or some kind of moron. After the trial he was sentenced to four years in jail for attacking and robbing some people of their money and weed. He was also holding the boogie board bag at the Bali airport when customs called him over to search it. When they asked if it was his, Schapelle stepped in and said it was hers.

Option three: the older sister, Mercedes, and her husband. Mercedes lives in Bali with her native Indonesian surfer husband. He seems chill and refers to pot as "god-plant." A close family friend that attended the trial came out recently, and while taking and passing a polygraph test, said that in the past Mercedes had offered to pay her to import weed for her. During the trial Mercedes is freaking out just as much, if not more than Schapelle. It seems like she is consumed with guilt and knows it is her fault.

So what happened? My guess is the brother or the father or both scored the weed and were going to have Mercedes and her husband sell it to their local connections. They probably offered Schapelle a bit of money to put it in her bag or just did it without asking. Either way that is pretty fucked up because she was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years. It could have been worse- the maximum punishment was the death penalty. All the appeals she is allowed have been filed and rejected. All for POT. More evidence the world is run by idiots. Devastating. You probably can't but try and help.


Schapelle as she learns her fate. This is a really sad scene in the film.

Naomi and Tavis

I wrote a bit about Naomi Klein's disaster capitalism idea in a previous article but wanted to go a little deeper into it here. The idea argues that, in Naomi's words, "today's preferred method of reshaping the world in the interest of multinational corporations is to systematically exploit the state of fear and disorientation that accompanies moments of great shock and crisis." Below is an enlightening conversation between Klein and interview master Tavis Smiley.

Star Eyes

I wanted to alert our readers to a really sick mix I found online, one of the best I've heard in a long time. It's by Star Eyes. It is, for the most part, a really focused blend of electro 80's and angry Wax Trax style industrial. There's some new stuff on there too like Pink Lunch. I didn't recognize most the tracks. I did recognize Alien Sex Fiend, Psychic TV and Nitzer Ebb. I'm always in wonder and amazement when I hear someone drop something as obscure and radical as Alien Sex Fiend in a mix... Star Eyes started one of the first Drum & Bass crews in San Francisco in the 90's called (if I remember correctly) B.A.S.S. Crew. I first heard her DJ when she was a resident at the Eklektic parties. Then she started playing two-step with her friend Siren as Syrup Girls. That sound was totally new and awesome at the time and they were the only ones I knew of that were reping it. Now she does the Trouble & Bass parties in NY with Mathhead, The Captain, and the phenomenal Drop The Lime. They play what they call Heavy Bass Music, a combination of 4X4, UKGarage, bassline, grime, and all kinds of other stuff. Check it out if you live out there. Definitely check out DTL too, he has been one of the best producers and performers out there for a while now.

Here is the mix:

Star Eyes- Haxor Mix

Will Smith Is A Moron

Are you as sick as I am of seeing this dudes face plastered all over everything? Hancock??? Are you kidding me? Anyone that goes to see that movie should be shot. Besides having never made a good film, and being pals with the leader of an evil cult, here is the main reason I do not like this guy: He is opening a Scientology school but wont admit it. This fall him and his wife are opening the New Village Academy in Los Angeles that will employ Scientology teaching methods. Many of the teachers will be Scientologists. But he wont admit he is in the cult because it would be bad for his stupid image. The school also denies being involved with CoS, though they are using a Hubbard philosophy called "Study Technology." They claim Study Technology is a way to teach and learn but it is actually base level initiation into Scientology brainwashing. Very dangerous. One of its education methods is to not have children "read past words they don't know." Isn't that counter intuitive to the idea of learning? If you come across a word in a sentence you would look it up to learn the meaning, discover the context it is used in, and enrich your vocabulary. Not stop reading. Scientology is anti-education and anti- intelligence because the dumber people are, the more likely they are to give them money. Beware of schools like this and programs like ABLE, HELP, and Narconon that are nothing but fronts for the Church. Church members have been trying to get these programs in California schools, with varying degrees of success, for years. I remember being told I would ooze purple goo if I did drugs by a Narconon representative that came to my school in 3rd grade. Even back then I knew they were full of shit. Thank God that twisted program is out of our schools now. We need to stop these people.

The Story of Honzagool

Our story begins with a man named Sam Sloan, a writer and chess teacher:


In Pakistan in 1980 he married Honzagool in her family home. They came to America for a few years and had a child, Shamema:


They enjoyed American things like Las Vegas. This is a pregnant Honzagool at Circus Circus:


One day a man named Aziz that Sloan had helped get into the country took Honzagool and tried to extort money out of Sloan. As Sloan was dealing with this a Pakistani lawyer and known member of anti American group Jamaat-e-Islami, named Raja Abdul Rashid, wanted Honzagool as his second wife. Second, as in he already had one, and wanted another. Honzagool was sent back to Pakistan under the false pretense of a two week visit to see her mother. She never returned. Rashid began petitioning to nullify Sloan and Honzagools marriage because in Pakistan adultery is punishable by death by stoning. Him and his cronies wrote hundreds of articles for local papers defaming Sloan’s character. He didn’t have much luck until he found a corrupt judge and bribed him. Sloan claims the men that did this were very dangerous people and he tried to tell the FBI about them but they wouldn’t listen. After 9/11 some of these same men were blamed for the attacks on the World Trade Center. In 1990 Shamema was kidnapped by two Christian Fundamentalists associated with Jerry Falwell named Cindy and Charles Roberts. This is Cindy with the captive Shamema:


They took her under the guise of adoption, and with help of the FBI, got her to America and enrolled her in Lynchburg Christian Academy. Sloan has been fighting to get her back ever since. He has even been jailed for claiming untrue kidnapping charges. The FBI thinks he is nuts, he says the FBI is in on the whole thing. Shamema is now in the US Military, loading and unloading bombs onto jets in the Middle East.

She acknowledges Sloan is her father but claims she was not kidnapped. Honzagool is back in Pakistan and probably jailed or dead because of the American attacks in the area:



The Internet is a strange place. I don’t know if this story is true. If you go to Sam Sloan’s site there are hundreds of pages about every little detail of it. You can click link after link after link. Down the rabbit hole of the Web and one mans obsessed mind, not unlike Ongs Hat.

P-Lords Music Mix #6: Ketamine Brothers

The new Ketamine Brothers mix is available for download for a short time. I'll post it for streaming later but you can get it here for now. It unintentionally encompasses forty years of dance music. 1968- 2008. We recorded it around 4 or 5 in the morning last month on two turntables and a cheap mixer.

Documentaries Part 3: Music

Here is Part 3. After I wrote this I realized most of the films are about punk. I guess punk makes better doc material than jazz or soft rock. If I am not aware of, or forgetting any great music documentaries- feel free to post something in the comments section.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston


A riveting portrait of insanity, DIY ethic, and the life of an artist. Daniel Johnston has been an underground icon for 20 years. His story is inspiring, sad, and often times very funny. He started out making films, comics, and music in his bedroom. He moved to Austin and worked at McDonalds while he went all over town playing his classic tape Hi, How Are You? to anyone who would listen. He went to a Butthole Surfers concert (who were in their psychedelic prime- see the concert film Blind Eye Sees All) and got dosed on LSD. As it usually happens when mentally imbalanced people trip, this led to him getting even crazier. There is some priceless footage of him having free association revelations while hanging out with Gibby Haynes. Eventually he gained popularity for his beautiful songwriting and even got mildly famous when Kurt Cobain wore a Hi, How Are You? T-shirt all over the world. This film is so incredible because Daniel obsessively recorded his life. Most the major events discussed here are captured on video or cassette. When Daniel gets caught drawing hundreds of Jesus fish all over the statue of liberty, he records the cop yelling at him with a handheld recorder. When he starts preaching in tears about Jesus during an in store performance in NYC- we see it all. One of my favorite parts of the film comes in the beginning. We see footage Daniel shot of his long lost love, Laurie, and he narrates some beautiful poetic memories over it. The extras are great- we see him re-united with Laurie and we see his reaction to watching the film at the premier. Definitely one of the better documentaries I have seen.


Westway to the World


The story of The Clash, as told by them. The film is mostly a series of intimate interviews with all four members with little live clips thrown in. Some complain about this format for a documentary about them but I found their stories so engaging I didn’t care about the lack of music. The Clash came from nothing, went all the way to the top, then the drummer got all fucked up on heroin and ruined it. The drummer, Topper, is in obvious distress over this and he looks 20 years older than he is, due to drugs. Paul Simonon, on the other hand, might be the coolest dude ever. He brought the heavy reggae influence to the band. He tells a memorable story about going to Jamaica, or the “promised land” as he calls it, and trying to record in Studio One. The entire film rides on the incredible story telling abilities of the group. I much prefer this to the recently released story of Joe Strummers life- The Future is Unwritten (reviewed elsewhere on this site). And as another reviewer put it: “For anyone ragging on this rockumentary...just thank Christ the film makers didn't include some cheesy interview footage with the insufferably pompous Bono giving his blessing to The Clash.”


The Filth and the Fury


The best film about punk ever made. It really paints a picture of punk rock as a social movement and a Cultural Revolution. The filmmaker, Julien Temple, gets deep into the motivations and reasons why punk happened in late 70’s London. The film focuses on the movements first major band- the Sex Pistols. The legendary footage of them misbehaving on TV and performing in seedy clubs is all here. Bands today are just so Goddamn boring compared to these guys. In Jr high my hero was Sid Vicious. My buddy Tim got arrested for spray-painting SID LIVES on a statue near school. Anyway, Temple paints a really nice portrait of him here and we see what he was really like- outside of all the stories about him. Even if you're no into punk or the Sex Pistols, this is a fascinating story of rebellious youth that changed the world.


The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years


The bands aren’t as cool as part one and the music isn’t as good, but this film is a bit more entertaining. The metal heads in this are just classic. Part one was a pretty serious film about Los Angeles punk rock. It had interviews and footage with Germs, Black Flag, etc.. Part two was filmed at the height of metal mania. You have to remember in the 80’s hair metal ruled Hollywood. All the shops on the blvd catered to rockers and there were headbangers everywhere you looked. In the film we get a little bit of each style of metal: Glam with LA Guns and Faster Pussycat, hard rock with Aerosmith and Ozzy, and strait ahead metal with Megadeath. There are also interviews with people that weren't famous yet but are absolutely convinced they will be one day. There is some great footage of groupies too. I first saw this when it aired on MTV in the late 80’s around the time I actually listened to this music. It was on instead of Headbangers Ball one night. There are lots of other movies about metal to check out. The creative process and egos of Metallica are explored in Some Kind of Monster. There was an excellent overview of metal that came out recently called Metal: A Headbangers Journey. Also the cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot is pretty rad. Unfortunately, Decline is not on DVD yet so you may have to catch it on cable or break out your VCR.


The Last Waltz


This is more a concert film than a documentary; I’ll include it here because the behind the scenes footage is so classic. Martin Scorsese directs the last concert, at the time- 1976, of The Band. They are in excellent shape and give an outstanding performance. Levon Helm has one of the greatest voices ever and him singing The Night They Drove Old Dixie down is downright phenomenal. Many guests come out and do their thing including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan. Legend has it Dylan would only play if the cameras were turned off. Since Dylan hadn’t performed much in public for a while and Dylan-worshipping was at its peak, Scorsese let the cameras roll against his wishes. Thank God he did. The backstage antics are amazing. Apparently there was a cocaine room with hundreds of plastic noses taped to the wall and sniffing noises playing on a recording. There are tons of great interviews, my favorite being with the keyboard/singer Richard Manuel. He is hysterically out-there and talking about bands called Chocolate Subway and Marshmallow Overcoat. He seems like a real cool cat, it was shocking to learn he hung himself a few years later.


Hated: G.G.Allin and the Murder Junkies


G.G. Allen is a legend. Born Jesus Christ Allen to abusive and crazy parents, he is known as the most extreme front man in punk history. Violence, shit, and rape all played a part in this wild mans performances. The film tracks his disastrous upbringing to his death by heroin in 1991. This is the one and only film about him. The guy that made it went on to direct big name Hollywood comedies. The film includes clips from his legendary appearances on the Jane Whitney Show and Jerry Springer. He brings his groupies with him who are so messed up it’s unbelievable. He says one of his favorite pastimes is having them piss in his mouth before he goes to sleep. When Tim and I were in high school the depravity of this dude fascinated us. We almost had a chance to see him perform on a bill with Reverend Budgreen (known for throwing joints out into the audience) but the club was 21 and over so we couldn’t get in. We had VHS tapes of his shows and spoken word performances and a bunch of 7”s. I remember the liner notes of one told a story of him grabbing a woman from the audience by the hair and raping her on stage. This may be folklore but if it happened that is real fucked up. Sometimes I felt bad buying this freaks records. Like the film, I in no way condone this mans behavior. He always said he would mark "the end of punk rock" by killing himself on stage on Halloween. But each year he was in jail when the time came around. Too bad, that would have been kind of cool.

Random Internet Quote #1

I pulled this one from Verne Troyers IMDB bulletin board.


"He's not as short as he seems in the movies. They use special effects to make him seem shorter than he actually is, which is a normal height."
-a poster named Jowel

Photo of the Day

A drunk Mexican guy drove directly into a bicycle race June 4th. Somehow, only one person died. Click photo for bigger image.

Warren's Song of the Month

It's been many months since Warren selected a song for us. But he returns with this one from 1976. Once again, the theme is magic.

It's Neither Chilean. Nor Sea Bass.

I have been alerted to the plight of the Patagonian Toothfish. It is sold under the name Chilean Sea Bass but it is not bass- or found in Chili. Apparently the first guy to import them didn't like the look or name of the fish so he made up a new one. The fish is threatened with extinction and over 80% of the them are illegally caught. In the Antarctic there are Toothfish pirates hiding them under crayfish for illegal import. In the 80's and 90's the fish became a high-end favorite. Rich folk gobbled them down. But, once the word got out the "sea bass" were illegally and extremely over fished, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart stopped selling the fish. A sea bass backlash occurred. Even Mr. Environment himself, Al Gore, was caught scarfing down the fish at his daughters wedding rehearsal dinner. It wasn't until 2006 that the Marine Stewardship Council certified 4000 tonnes of it had been legally caught that the stores began to sell it again. Still, it is not bass, nor Chilean. Don't be fooled. The pirates have returned and the Toothfish is still a threatened creature. After a three week chase, a 40 person Uruguayan crew was recently caught in Australian waters (pictured below) with 40 tonnes of fish, worth over two million on the black market. Ever heard of "Seafood Awareness?" From 1999 to 2004, the Seafood Choices Alliance has invested $37 million in seafood consumer awareness campaigns, partially out of exasperation with the government's failure to regulate fisheries or seafood imports. I guess it doesn't matter- people will be eating fish no matter what- until the end of time. "We did not co-evolve with fish they way we co-evolved with mammals," says Daniel Pauly at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre. "Therefore, we cannot wrap our minds around fish or our hearts around them either." That reminds me of something Philip K Dick wrote in VALIS: "Fish Do Not Ride Bicycles."

Documentaries Part 2: Artists

Here is part two of an ongoing series about documentary films. This one is about the artist, whether it be a writer, filmmaker, cartoonist, painter, inventor, or a combination of all five. Next time: music.

F for Fake


Orson Welles’ final film is a documentary like no other. He begins with the story of Elmyr de Hory, an art forger. Elmyr lives in Ibiza and perfectly re-creates classic art masterpieces. When many people think they own the same painting- chances are one, or both, are Elmer’s work. This leads to a critical look at the idea of “experts” and the difference between “truth” and “facts,” and how they can be distorted and manipulated to create new realities- usually to the benefit of the “expert.” He goes on to discuss forgery and the nature of art. He discusses Clifford Irving’s fake Howard Hughes biography. Welles is one of the original pranksters; his War of the Worlds radio show was the first major media trick. He creates another mind-bending experience with this film- worth seeing just for the absolutely stunningly beautiful Oja Kodar. This was Robert Anton Wilson’s favorite movie, he writes about it extensively in his Cosmic Trigger book series. Those are life-altering works, check them out.

The White Diamond


A Werner Herzog film from 2004. Astonishingly beautiful, insightful and wacky at the same time. I don’t know how Herzog does it. His camera just pays attention to the right things and then lingers for the appropriate amount of time. The story is focuses on aeronautical engineer and inventor Graham Dorrington and his massive helium balloon he built to sail over the forests of Guyana. The guy is nutty. He is extremely animated and enthusiastic, to say the least. We follow him to Kaietur Falls and throughout various forest canopies in Guyana. In the jungle Herzog comes across a man chilling out watching the balloon sail. As the camera approaches he starts talking and what he says is so hip and fascinating a lot of the film focuses on him from there on in. It is mesmerizing. If you have even the slightest interest in the world around you, I highly recommend this. It doesn't really matter what it is about- this is Herzog at his best. Check out any of his other 40 or so documentaries. My other favorites are Bells of the Deep, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and Fata Morgana.

The Cruise


Speed Levitch is a mad genius, a modern beat poet with extraordinary knowledge and humor. This man has read every book I’ve ever talked to him about. Ideas are flowing from this guy like water. Until last year he was couch surfing for 12 years strait- and proud of it. He has slept on my couch many times and we would often spend all night discussing life and hatching plans. He is also a master tour guide of New York and more recently San Francisco. This film centers on a New York tour. Its more than a tour, it’s a life philosophy— Cruising. Watch it. Read his book Speed On New York On Speed. He’s been working on a new one too- a book of one-liners. He told me this film did more bad than good for him. It kind of pigeon-holed him as the director portrayed him in the movie- when he’s really got so much more going on. There is another film Richard Linklater did of him touring Ground Zero after 9/11. Its called Live From Shiva’s Dance Floor. His idea was to put grass with live bison grazing where the buildings were. "The idea is that the central monument should not be an inanimate piece of stone but it should be something that's alive, that has a heartbeat and that propagates." He also does the Shakespeare Delivery troop, a home delivery Shakespeare theater group. Check out his band Sexual Vietnam if you ever get the chance. But start with The Cruise.

Crumb


This is a very in depth character study of cartoonist Robert Crumb. He is not the most likable guy and his family is really messed up. But director Terry Zwigoff goes deep into the mans psyche and creative process. Even if you don’t like Crumb or cartoons this is a fascinating look into the life of an artist. I haven’t seen this since it came out in 94 but I remember really being moved by it. Check it out.

Burden of Dreams


This is Les Blanks documentary about Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski making Fitzcarraldo together in the Amazon jungle. Required viewing. Fitzcarraldo is most famous because they pulled a boat over a mountain. No stupid CGI shit here. This is the real thing. Obsessed artists on a serious journey. We see Herzog get super philosophical about the jungle. We see Kinski get super emotional when the boat starts moving over the mountain. We see the natives stare in confusion. Just incredible, historical stuff. Make sure and check out Herzogs film about Kinski that uses some of the same footage- My Best Fiend. And of course the masterpiece itself, Fitzcarraldo.

Born Into This


The last time I remember tears falling from my eyes was in a theater during the end of this movie. The poetry was so beautiful, especially the way it was presented in that context, I actually wept at its power. They were the words of Charles Bukowski, one of the great poets. I don’t know where to start if you’re not familiar with his life and work. Read his novels Post Office or Women. Check out any one of his poetry books- The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills is an early favorite of mine. Or check out this movie, the filmmakers did and excellent job. It is pretty much the definitive documentary on his life. There is tons of rare footage of readings, interviews,and drunken behavior. Did you know Buddhist monks performed his funeral rites? I just learnt that. I asked fellow fan Tim Hicks for a quote about him, he sums everything up eloquently… "Bukowski is the quintessential spokesman for the underdog. If you thought that you had it bad, try reading Ham on Rye or Factotum. Better yet, don't try. He is a master of prose and a totally original poet, who listens to nobody and follows no trend. He truly didn't give a fuck what people thought, he couldn't, it would hurt too much."

Disaster Capitalism

Naomi Klein has written a book called The Shock Doctrine. It is about private companies taking advantage of natural disasters for profit. For example, when the Tsunami hit India, in the immediate shock afterward, while the local fisherman that lived on the beaches were displaced, companies came in a sold the beach front property to build resorts on. The fishermen never got to go home. A similar situation occurred with the privatisation of the school system in New Orleans after the levees broke. And of course Blackwater and Halibuton in Iraq after the invasion. She is doing some important work by exposing some very fucked up and outrageous behavior. Here is a short excerpt from the book:

"What happened on September 11 2001 is that an ideology hatched in American universities and fortified in Washington institutions finally had its chance to come home. The Bush administration... seized upon the fear generated to launch the "war on terror" and to ensure that it is an almost completely for-profit venture, a booming new industry that has breathed new life into the faltering US economy. Best understood as a "disaster capitalism complex", it is a global war fought on every level by private companies whose involvement is paid for with public money, with the unending mandate of protecting the US homeland in perpetuity while eliminating all "evil" abroad.
In a few short years, the complex has already expanded its market reach from fighting terrorism to international peacekeeping, to municipal policing, to responding to increasingly frequent natural disasters. The ultimate goal for the corporations at the centre of the complex is to bring the model of for-profit government, which advances so rapidly in extraordinary circumstances, into the ordinary functioning of the state - in effect, to privatise the government."
-Naomi Klein

There is short film about it you can watch here.

Documentaries Part 1: Politics and Media

I’ve been meaning to write about some of my favorite documentaries for a while now. The task seemed too tough because there are so many good ones. So I decided to break it into parts- by subject matter. I tried to think of all the films that had helped shape my thinking and a few crucial ones came to the forefront. The following films all deal with global issues, media, religion, politics, etc… They are disturbing and thought provoking films. The next set I write about will be based around arts and music. But for now revel in the accomplishments and embarrassments of mankind…

Capturing the Friedmans


This is a very disturbing film. The Freidmans were a seemingly perfect family living in New York until one day child porn is found on the fathers computer. The community flips out because he has been hosting after school tutoring for kids, with the help of his young son. Soon allegations are flying from every parent in the community. The father and son are accused of horrific, crazy, sex crimes: gang rape orgies with children being one. What makes this film so amazing is everything that happened was captured on camera by one of the other brothers. We see the most intimate and tragic details as the story unfolds. The film ends up being about the power of media, fear, and gang mentality. The truth is nothing happened at the tutoring sessions (the father admitted molesting two boys elsewhere). Stemming from their irrational fears- the parents and asshole cops coerced their kids into making false accusations. The saddest part of this film for me was the young son that got caught up in this- brainwashed into thinking he had done the crimes he was accused. He did a lot of time in jail. Watch the extras for a view of his life now- it is heartbreaking.

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations


This is thoroughly incredible and shocking film making. See the first Paradise Lost first. It’s about the “West Memphis Three,” three innocent redneck metal heads convicted of killing three children in a Satanic ritual. Wrongly convicted because the cops were dumb, incompetent, lazy, conniving, and most of all, prejudice. Like other films discussed here, the authorities coerced a confession- this time from a scared and inbred 14 year old. These boys are still in jail 14 years later.
The follow up film clearly shows the killer is Mr. Byers, a father of one of the murdered children. He is a drugged out fanatic “Christian.” A seriously, seriously evil human being. His answers are never the same, he is clearly unstable, and there is concrete evidence that he killed the children. During the filming of part one, he gave a knife to the film crew. They had it tested and the blood and fibers from the crime scene were on the knife. Still, the cops wont admit wrongdoing and that’s that- a psycho killer runs free while 3 innocent people rot in jail. Insanity.

Deliver Us From Evil


Speaking of evil, Father Oliver O’Grady, a Catholic priest, is as bad as it gets. This man has single-handily ruined hundreds of lives by raping and sexually abusing kids for 20 years. His victims range from teens to a baby of nine months. Yes, this freak raped a baby. Under the guise of a servant of God, he gained the trust and access to family homes, only to rape the sons and daughters in their rooms when the parents were asleep. The kids were so brainwashed by him and the religion- they either thought it was OK or were too confused and scared to say anything. When complaints and accusations eventually started the Church would cover up his crimes and move him to a different parish to start the abuse over again. The fact that Cardinal Mahony knew this was happening and let it occur shows the true nature of the Catholic Church. A church that demands celibacy from its young men is setting them up for perversions and trauma. The sickest part of all is when O’Grady was arrested; he did seven years in jail then was deported to his homeland of Ireland. There, he roams free, still working with families and kids. Since the film, there have been new lawsuits filed against him in Ireland. The film opens with him hanging out at a public pool, babbling about his problems, so detached from the torment he has caused, it is sickening to watch. If you like films that make you angry and sick to your stomach, this film is for you.

Manufactured Landscapes


This film uses the photography of Edward Burtynsky to show the enormity of industrialization in China. There is a lot of crazy shit happening over there I was unaware of until I saw this film. The film is made up of beautiful shots of landscapes altered by man- like chemical wastelands, mines (pictured at the top), massive factories, and cityscapes. Shots of poor people sifting through mountains of E waste (the remains of consumer products- computers, TVs, etc) are otherworldly. Entire towns in rural China are dedicated to striping appliances shipped in from all over the world. The underprivileged sit in dumps ripping apart computers, dividing them into recyclable metals and plastics- and toxic chemicals that just eternally pile up and help destroy the ecosystem. The craziest part of the film, for me, was about the Three Gorges Damn Project. They are building the largest damn ever built, or probably will ever be built, to supply energy for Chinas new ever-expanding mega cities. In the process they are tearing down 17 cities and covering them, over a 200-mile radius, with water. The most famous architects in the world have worked on this project, most walking away from it, claiming it to simply be “too big.” The weird thing about the tearing down of these cities is, in Communist China, the people that have lived there for generations are forced to tear down their homes by hand- brick by brick. There is incredible footage of these apocalyptic looking decaying towns (pictured in the poster) and cities being torn down by peasants. There are huge banners hanging everywhere with Communist slogans on them about working harder to improve society. The film was shot by Peter Mettler who did the criminally underrated Gambling, Gods and LSD. He has a really amazing hand held camera style and an eye for noticing insightful details. His style is very effective in one of the DVD extras, a tour through old Shanghai. Burtynsky narrates the film, he doesn't say much, but when he does it is very deep and effective. A must see.

The Corporation


This is a film about the nature of corporations and the ideology that goes along with them. Corporate entities are their own beast- compassion and thoughtfulness do not come into play when your dealing with a machine designed to make money and control- at all cost. Sure, CEOs and board members are to blame- but it is the misuse of the concept of a corporation that is intrinsically flawed. This is one of the messages of the movie- and also that multi-nationals are raping the earth, subjugating people, and destroying communities. Not a pretty picture at all. Globalization happens at the cost of the poor. One story that sticks out in my mind is how the Betchtel Corporation managed to privatize all municipal water- including RAINWATER in Bolivia. Protests occurred, people died, and the executives were eventually driven out, fearful of their safety. It was a complicated situation but explained well in the film. Also discussed is the military industrial complex, a subject explored thoroughly in the excellent film Why We Fight. The suppression and manipulation of news items that would hurt corporations are addressed, as well as the concept “the corporation as a psychopath”. There are interviews with a lot of inspiring people like Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, and Noam Chomsky.

Manufacturing Consent


I’m going to come out and say, for me, this is the most important piece of cinema ever made. When I finished watching this, I pressed play and watched it again to let the ideas and revelations sink in a little further. It is based on the understandings and ideas of Noam Chomsky. Chomsky is linguist and a political activist and is probably the most eloquent and well informed man on earth. The film is about propaganda and how it shapes public opinion. And how it is everywhere we look- in every part of our lives- and most don’t know it at all. It is about how history is reported, recorded, and manipulated to suit the needs of corporations and government. There are lots of other great documentaries on Chomskys work including Imperial Grand Strategy and Power and Terror. See this.