Saturday, November 11th, 2006

Nobody Beats This Dude

Courtesy Ernie P! The Diabolical BIZ MARKIE Beat-Boxin Japanese Doll Video.

posted by @ 8:28 am | 0 Comments

Friday, November 10th, 2006

R.I.P. Ellen Willis

One of the pioneering feminist rock and cultural critics, Ellen Willis has passed. Another heroine I won’t meet in this lifetime.

Inspirational words:

“My education was dominated by modernist thinkers and artists who taught me that the supreme imperative was courage to face the awful truth, to scorn the soft-minded optimism of religious and secular romantics as well as the corrupt optimism of governments, advertisers, and mechanistic or manipulative revolutionaries,” Ms. Willis wrote in an essay collected in Beginning to See the Light (Knopf, 1981).

She continued:” Yet the modernists’ once-subversive refusal to be gulled or lulled has long since degenerated into a ritual despair at least as corrupt, soft-minded, and cowardly–not to say smug–as the false cheer it replaced. The terms of the dialectic have reversed: now the subversive task is to affirm an authentic post-modernist optimism that gives full weight to existent horror and possible (or probable) apocalyptic disaster, yet insists–credibly–that we can, well, overcome. The catch is that you have to be an optimist (an American?) in the first place not to dismiss such a project as insane.”

posted by @ 9:54 am | 1 Comment

Friday, November 10th, 2006

R.I.P. Ellen Willis

One of the pioneering feminist rock and cultural critics, Ellen Willis has passed. Another heroine I won’t meet in this lifetime.

Inspirational words:

“My education was dominated by modernist thinkers and artists who taught me that the supreme imperative was courage to face the awful truth, to scorn the soft-minded optimism of religious and secular romantics as well as the corrupt optimism of governments, advertisers, and mechanistic or manipulative revolutionaries,” Ms. Willis wrote in an essay collected in Beginning to See the Light (Knopf, 1981).

She continued:” Yet the modernists’ once-subversive refusal to be gulled or lulled has long since degenerated into a ritual despair at least as corrupt, soft-minded, and cowardly–not to say smug–as the false cheer it replaced. The terms of the dialectic have reversed: now the subversive task is to affirm an authentic post-modernist optimism that gives full weight to existent horror and possible (or probable) apocalyptic disaster, yet insists–credibly–that we can, well, overcome. The catch is that you have to be an optimist (an American?) in the first place not to dismiss such a project as insane.”

posted by @ 9:53 am | 1 Comment

Thursday, November 9th, 2006

Apathy :: Dead

Youth turned out for the mid-term elections in the largest numbers in 20 years.

Joe Garofoli writes on the front page of today’s Chronicle:

18-to-29-year-olds were compelled to vote because of one of the oldest media tactics: Somebody asked them, often in person.

Of course, many were angry with the direction President Bush has taken the country and wanted change, according to a bipartisan exit poll from a youth voter organization. Put the two factors together — and add the growing influence of new media tools — and some analysts say a generation of young voters is solidifying into a Democratic voting bloc.

“The 2006 elections show that Republican campaigns must mobilize their base of young voters to win,” said GOP pollster Ed Goeas, who conducted the poll of 500 18-to-29-year-olds with Democratic pollster Celinda Lake for Young Voter Strategies in Washington, D.C. The nonpartisan organization is a project of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.

Tuesday “proved that young voters can and will be a force in elections,” Goeas said. “Of the 28 seats in the House of Representatives that changed hands so far, 22 were won by less than 2 percent of the vote, 18 by 5,000 or less votes, and 4 by less than 1,000 votes.”

(Here’s a full list of related articles.)

You want to know how it happened? Just check the League of Young Voters site. In Ohio, they knocked on 50,000 doors. In Pennsylvania, they ran a massive registration and GOTV and election protection campaign, and backed up those efforts on the ground in Maryland, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Connecticut, and California. Not a few of those states turned on very thin margins–all made by young voters.

The Dems did not do this. The Reeps did not do this. Young people did it for themselves.

The result? Evan Derkacz at WireTap Blog says that young people made up 13% of the vote the other day, yet another surge along the lines of what we saw in 2004. (Check the CNN exit polls here.)

I have to admit it’s wonderful to see all the old pundits and their brainwashed young followers (beginning with NPR and extending all the way to the alt-weeklies) who have been bemoaning the waste of “apathetic youth” eating a large serving of crow along with Rumsfeld and Bush.

Unrelated note for t-shirt junkies: you’ll see an ad at Wiretap for the very last Origin limited edition Can’t Stop Won’t Stop tees there too. Mike found a precious few in his garage and he’s selling them now.

posted by @ 8:06 am | 0 Comments

Wednesday, November 8th, 2006

Turning Tides


Shades of 1986: Sandinista!

A small slice of history: In Reagan’s second term, the Democrats swept back into control of Congress as dissent began to open up around Oliver North, the Iran-Contra scandal and a needless war made by Washington bullets.

There’s sure to be lots of fallout from last night’s results, whether or not the Senate races ultimately shift the balance of power to the Democrats. Tom Hayden writes today that Henry Waxman will almost certainly begin hearings into war profiteering. Against the backdrop of Bechtel in retreat, and other war contractors reconsidering their death-to-profit ratios, it should be a very interesting 2 years.

In local races, one of our favorite hip-hop candidates, Jane Kim, won BIG for the SF School Board. Could this be the beginning of a starry career?

Aimee Allison lost in Oakland by a mere 800 votes. Hope she runs again.

In South Carolina, our man Anton Gunn also lost, but keep an eye on him too. Big things in store for him.

We’ll be hearing back from on-the-ground races around the country as the day progresses.

And hey, guess who’s bizzack in Nicaragua. Daniel Ortega.

posted by @ 8:20 am | 0 Comments

Monday, November 6th, 2006

Youths and Post-Youths Do It In The Voting Booth

Your favorite post-young part-time DJ non-savior is back, just in time for the elections.

Pop & Politics has a new look, and a bunch of compelling reads for election season, including a pointer to a report that kills that myth of youth apathy once and for all.

Eye-opening factoid: Blacks and Asians are the most politically engaged young Americans, and Latinos are catching up quickly.

It’s a must-read, especially since you’re not likely to hear about this snapshot from the future through the old MSM or your average white hipster pseudo-liberal bloggeratist.

Pop & Politics also has a great guide to the top races.

If you’re looking for hip-hop certified local youth voting info, check the the League of Young Voters website, or go directly to their local voter guides. There are almost 90 guides now, and more are still being added.

Here’s where I’m at:

* Phil Ting for San Francisco Assessor/Recorder
* Jane Kim for San Francisco School Board
* Aimee Allison for Oakland City Council
* Karen Hemphill for Berkeley School Board

Propositions:

1A: No
1C, 1D, 1E: Yes
Prop 86, 87, 89: Yes
Prop 88: No

Remember: Voting is not the only form of politics, but it’s a crucial one.

posted by @ 11:09 am | 0 Comments

Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

Victory For Kim Osorio

From AllHipHop.com:

“The Source Magazine, Dave Mays and Ray ‘Benzino’ Scott must pay $14.5 million dollars to former editor-in-chief Kim Osorio, after a federal jury in New York found she was fired in retaliation for complaining about sexual harassment and gender discrimination on the job.”

posted by @ 2:54 pm | 2 Comments

Monday, October 23rd, 2006

Red Bull Music Academy, Week 2


Just Shifting Gears Through All The Years: (from left) Yvonne Mizell, Larry Mizell, Wally Badarou, Rod Mizell, Fonce Mizell

Just started Week 2 of the Red Bull Music Academy, with an unbelievably great interview with the Mizell brothers, shared with Benji B. Click there to find out how the Jackson 5 squeezed out Gladys Knight, and the real deal on the Marvin Gaye/Mizell dubplates. Bonus!: why Bob Geldof is so wrong, and why Dubstep is so right.

Last week I got to interview Kutcha Edwards, Arthur Verocai, and Joe Bataan. Saturday night (participate) at the Espy–Joe, his timbalero Chukkie, and his wife Yvonne were backed by the mighty Bamboos. Was it all amazing? Do platypi swim?

(BTW the answer to both is yes, all you underachieving Americans.)

You can score the highlights via podcast here. The best of today’s Mizells session will be up soon.

Stay tuned to RBMA Radio for the entire live Bataan & the Bamboos show and my exclusive interview with him. Plus your boy goes live at 7pm Melbourne time Tuesday night (about 1am Tuesday morning PST). We’ll have some aboriginal deep funk and guest DJs from the Academy.

BTW Skream’s album just dropped today. If you don’t know…you know the rest.

posted by @ 6:39 am | 3 Comments

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

Just Begun


Mr. Spacek…in the place to be!

We’re now in the middle of Day 2 of the second term of the Red Bull Music Academy. You can click here for your boy’s take on Day 1.

I’m at the Red Bull Music Academy with our crew of 50+. About two dozen participants are here to make music and learn from masters like Steve Spacek, Marco Passarani, Patrick Pulsinger, and my roomie DJ Zinc, as well as enjoy conversations between us team members and our legendary special guests.

Skream and Just Blaze will be here, for instance, and I’ve been given the enviable assignments of interviewing Joe Bataan, Arthur Verocai, Black Milk, and (alongside man like Benji B) the Mizell Brothers. All that plus great food!

I’ll also be part of the radio crew, so just click on the Radio Player popup here. You will be able to hear mixes from the likes of Derrick May and my non-alter ego, the Chairman himself, Jeff Mao, who escaped the egotrip pressure cooker in LA for a couple weeks.

Holla back here and there for updates, and def go crazy running around on the RBMA site. The day after each of the interviews, the great folks at RBMA will be uploading edited podcasts of the interviews, so it’s worth your daily visit.

posted by @ 8:55 pm | 0 Comments

Sunday, October 15th, 2006

Rocking Hawai’i (Not In A Good Way)

Two earthquakes this morning near Kona, including one that was 6.6. Honolulu is experiencing blackout. Some roads on the Big Island are impassable, and there’s some structural damage to hospitals, hotels, and other buildings there and on Maui. Latest info is at here and here. Looks like most other media outlets are down.

It’s strange to be on the other side of the Pacific right now. Much love and strength to the ohana back home who will have to rebuild.

posted by @ 3:08 pm | 1 Comment



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