Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The Manifesto: Or What Music Will and Won't Mean To Me For The Rest of My Adult Life

Music isn't about what shirt you wear or how ripped your pants are. Music isn't about the pins and patches you wear on your designer messenger bag. Music isn't about proving how much cooler the bands you like are to other people. Music isn't about a certain body type. Music isn't about being fat or thin. Music isn't about how many friends you have or the large crowd you hang out with. Music isn't about censorship. Music isn't about headlines and the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Music isn't about being signed to a major label and getting a million dollar advance. Music isn't about different hair colors and different shades of eyeliner. Music isn't about social status or standing. Music isn't about being intimidated by what other people think. Music isn't about press shots and planned photo shoots and lead articles in Alternative Press.

Music is about being yourself. Music is about the visceral feeling you have that can't be summed up by anything but the butterflies in your stomach. Music is about finding a way to connect people with thousands of different backgrounds with one note or word. Music is about combining the mental, aural and visual. Music is about being eclectic and open-minded. Music is about growing and being experimental and different with the next note that comes out. Music is about the first amendment. Music is about screaming along with your favorite band from the first row. Music is about not giving a fuck what other people think. Music is about being both inluenced and influential. Music is about standing for something you believe in. Music is about saying something, anything meaningful. Music is about connections. Music is everything.

If you agree with the above, this is the begining of a long and beautiful friendship. If you don't, fuck off.

Currently listening :





S/T
By Stolen Bike Crusade
Release date: By 4 July, 2005

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Yes Mr Jourgensen...

"the invisible piss of the holy ghost
comes down like acid rain
they're making a profit off terminal guilt
the scavengers go on parade..."

I was just yelling this on the way home. Suffice to say, Al Jourgensen sums up all my feelings on religion in one song, and he's brilliant for it. Take away the shock value for a second and read the satire in this song. It's fucking brilliant.

(Digressing for just a moment as I type and watch SNL out the side of my eye....Korn is the most pathetic thing I have seen at this point in music. They had reached their creative and useful peak way too long ago and it's time to realize it's over. Done. Put a for..k in it. ANd it's not even that thier bad...their just painfully medicore. That's so much worse then being just plain bad. Because medicore will never inspire anything. AT least bad bands inspire others to be good. Korn doesn't even do that. Go live in your mansions and wait for your VH1 retrospective where are they now reunited we'll give you a million dollars to play one show...in 20 years Addenedum: now proven even more because they're covering a song from five years ago as their second song and sounds soooooooo dated....)

Anyways, listening to this song and thinking about the era that this was written in makes me think how much worse things are in this Gulf war to the last Gulf war, as ill-advised as that war was (liberating Kuwait? Yeah right...we all know that was also about the oil) Because not only are we talking about people going over and dying over there for even less of a reason then they were before (and don't give me that bullshit about how our troops supposrt our actions over their...they're doing they're job but I doubt for a second they'd all be risking their lives over there and away from their families and happy about forging the American way for the Iraqis...I someohow we're hearing the minority of positive opions of what the soldiers are doing over there....Mr. PResident...bring them home already...the pissing match is ver and you've proven you're the bigger bully than Sadam....and where's Osama exactly?)

Not only do we have a completely unjustified war going on right now, but we have corruption running rampant in thw hitehouse...the president's main advisor being one of the most morally banrupt people I have ever read about, willing to sacrifice thousands of CIA agents to winn his own pissing match...we have a president whose day to day decisons are seemingly being guided by the religious right who belive God picked hima s out president (the lack of seperation of chucrh and state makes me want to get a boat a discover another new counry...if there were one to discover...)

We have the head of the FCC who doesn't think the last commissioner fined people enough, and who would assuredly immediately fine the hell out of anyone who played the song above, is openly ingaged in racketeering against broadcasting companies in this country, and gets around the whole absolute first amend ment right "Congress shall make no law" thing by threatening to fine these broadcasters, which essentially boils down to why the RICCO statutes where passed to bring the Mafia up on criminal standards. But we all know you can't fight city hall.
We have two political parties who are more intersted in showing the other party up, finding their next candidate superstar, and blocking any other parties right to speak out in an election, then they are about the thoughts and concerns about their constituates.

And we have organized religon that's only raped and sexually abused children because thier priests are "married " to god and not allowed a normal outlet for their sexuality. We have organized religon which has been a main or secondary cause for every major bloody war in the history of the world. We have organized religion which is, in it's most extreme cases, able to be manipulate into allowing it's followers to belive that prejudice, segregaton, slavery, bigotry and murder are all right in the name of whatever God they serve. Even though many of those religons say we all start off as sinners, apaprently being a "bigger sinner" is enough reason to beat, rape, torture, and kill. We have organized religion which, although every major religon has the wording in some form of "Do unto others as you would have them due onto you" can't get over the fact that their one religon is the one true one and you must convert all the others over to your way of thinking, all the other heathens out there.

We live in a country where the top 1% earn and live way beyond their means, yet complain anytime they are taxed as much as the rest of us. A country where an average of 700,000 go to sleep without a home every night. Many of these people and families and they are hungry on top of it. And yet all out focus is on everything except the problem at home.

We live in a country where instead of embaracing thos ekids who have a love for the arts and music, we cut their program thus cutting off their potential for growth and creativity in those fields because they simply aren't supported. Again, the top 1% of the communties in these countries don't worry about these programs being cut, but the middle and lower class schools struggle to keep these progarms alive. Why? Because they can't even get simple things like new books and basic heating and repairs their schools need.

We live in a country where they only punishement for stealing millions of dollars from your company and thie future retirement plans of said companies are stolen and never compensated with time served fro good behavior and a slap on the wrist. You can go a ahead an either keep the money or give it back to the governemtn in fines and such. Well try, as a a government to filter soem of that back to the employees, but court costs were a lot to try you.

We live in a country whose Hollywood system allowed "8 Heads In A Duffle Bag" to be made. Someone actually pitched this to studio and they though, "What a great idea for a flick. Greenlight this and get it made immediately." In short, a Hollywood system full of boobs. (althought his is partially unfair as those same boobs also allowed movies like "Jarhead" to be made. A movie everybody should run out and see by the way.) However, I still can't beleive not only one person had the idea for "8 HEads in a Dufflebag" but then someone else heard it and thought it'd be a good dea. I hope those two chuckleheads are no longer making movies.
This is the world and country that we live in...one that many people are filled with doubt, hate, murdeorus thoughts, corruption, greed, malice, envy, and pride.

BUt don't play "Psalm 69" on the airwaves. Oh god no, don't see the humor or social and political relevence to what the song is saying. Instead, if it does get played, fine the fucking shit out of whoever plays it. I guarentee these are the words the FCC commish would use and he's far fromt he angel he portrays on TV.

It all makes me so angry I could spit.

Or fuck.

Or watch "The Boondocks". (Second gratituitous plug.)

One of those.

Currently listening :






Keianh (Psalm 69)
By Ministry
Release date: By 14 July, 1992

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Are you looking at the pretty words or comprehending them?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Hey Mr. President!!! Hey Congress!!! Hey FCC!!! I'm pretty sure the above, when it says NO LAW, I'm pretty sure it's not no meaning yes or no meaning maybe, but no meaning no. I see no provisions in there barring obscenity or anything saying "except under standards set by the religious right and the conservatives on Capitol Hill." Seems pretty cut and dry to me. It's an absolute right. Let me live my life and stop worrying about what I say.

Currently listening :





Change Is A Sound
By Strike Anywhere
Release date: By 14 August, 2001