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Chris
A Shout-Out To Leonard Peltier
Book Review: DO iT!
Book: DO iT! Scenarios of the Revolution
Author: Jerry Rubin
Year: 1970
This is easily the greatest and most inspiring manifesto ever written. Even before you begin this delicious work of incendiary material, just gazing at the back cover clues you in that your in for one hell of a ride! It reads in giant letters: “DANGER! This book will become a Molotov Cocktail in your very hands.” To the left of this summary is a photo of author Jerry Rubin being escorted out of the halls of Congress by the “pigs,” while dressed up like an American Revolutionary soldier: bare chested (with lots of hair!), covered in war paint, reeking of stench from weeks of not bathing, a head full of acid, and well armed ( a toy gun! albeit very real looking!).
As we open up the subversive memoir we are commanded to “READ THIS BOOK STONED,” a theme that is prevalent throughout the book.
Next, we experience one of the finest introductions by Eldridge Cleaver, the Minister of Information of the Black Panther Party For Self-Defense. Cleaver explains how “if everybody carried out Jerry’s program- there would be immediate peace in the world. Amerika, in particular would cease to bleed.” So, what exactly was Jerry’s programs? Well, his program is very simple: Go out in the streets and be a revolutionary, your own legislator. He shouts, “All you have to do to be a yippie is be a yippie.” Transform your ideas into actions. Fuck Ideologies. Fuck Rules. Fuck Religion. Fuck Everything…in the streets and bring some dope and dynamite with you! Destroy the Schools. Burn the Prisons down. Kill Your Parents. Drop out of society. Burn Money. Actions speak louder than words, so cut out long boring speeches on what your goals or demands are. Instead, use Yippie (Youth International Party) tactics to highlight your agenda. The Yippies nominated an actual pig named Pigasus as their presidential candidate, illustrating the point that all the other candidates were equally filthy pigs. And after all, don’t most politicians like to roll around in their own shit anyway?! If all of this sounds irrational to you, then it should. Our menacing Yippie informs us, “Yippies know we’re sane and everyone else is crazy, so we call ourselves “the crazies.” Jerry Rubin was indeed “crazy,” he was a dedicated revolutionary and a relentless outlaw in the true sense of the word. You know you often hear badass musicians, actors, or comedians like Bill Hicks, referred to as “outlaws.” But, they weren’t constantly in trouble with the law. Jerry, on the other hand was. In fact, at the time of this book’s publication, he and seven other defendants (Abbie Hoffman, Dave Dellinger, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Lee Weiner, and John Froines) were on trial for conspiracy to incite a riot while crossing state lines at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Grade: A 9.5/10- One of the most subversive books I’ve ever read!
Chris
Radio Stations vs. DIY
How do you find out about music? Me, I primarily use the internet via various websites (YouTube, Wikipedia, last.fm, etc) to listen to and discover new bands. Doing this myself is quite convenient. I can stop the music or X out of band web-pages that I don’t particularly enjoy. With the radio, on the other hand, you have very little choice. The stations may allow you to request a song or two, but for the most part songs are pre-selected. That way, you are almost forced to like whatever they play. I find that the people who are predisposed to KISS 108 and JAMN 945 often become immediately attached to the songs that are played. These “club anthems” stick with them, but do any of these listeners actually go online, do research, buy albums, and most importantly listen to more songs other than the hits? Even with independent radio stations like WERS, I suspect the average listener doesn’t log onto wers.org and look up playlists. Personally I get the vibe that the DIY approach that I often take makes me like a song for a longer period of time. Good songs don’t just disappear after they’ve had their “time” on the radio; they become apart of my regular, personalized playlist.
Sunday Morning Sermon
Greetings, fellow “Kids” and other readers.
For those who don’t know me, I’ve been blogging on various topics…news, politics, humor, music, stuff like that…for many years now. And I’m 19, so I’ve spent a good fraction of my life rambling like this. I’ve been taking a break from blogging after some personal trauma/drama, but this morning I finally got the inspiration to hop on the old soapbox.
I was talking to one of my best friends, the captain of this here website, Glen Maganzini. As we often do, we talked about the Catholic church we both grew up in, St. Florence in Wakefield, MA. Funny thing is, while he still goes there regularly, as I did for most of my life, I stopped about a year ago because one morning the preacher said some things about moral relativism…sympathizing with the moral standards of other religions or beliefs…that I highly disagreed with. Namely, that moral relativism is wrong, and that the Catholic system is the only proper way to think in moral and political matters.
To me, this idea emphasized the worst aspect of any religion: the divisive nature. After all, according to the dictionary, “Catholic” means “universal”. What’s wrong with this picture?
Ironically enough I still consider myself a Catholic despite not having gone to a Mass since the fall. I still love what my religion is at heart, a well-intentioned set of beliefs that encourages all the people of the world to love each other, to treat other people the way you’d want to be treated. But would any Catholic priest want…let’s say a Hindu, just because that’s arguably the one of the five major religions least compatible with Catholicism…would any Catholic priest want a devout Hindu to point his or her finger at the priest and tell him that his lifestyle, his beliefs, everything he stands for is immoral?
I absolutely support moral relativism because it promotes an understanding of all the different beliefs out there. It promotes empathy, but not necessarily sympathy. I had a great Social Studies teacher who is a devout Catholic, but never got preachy about his beliefs in a public school. And he stressed the importance of understanding other people’s beliefs and cultures, though not necessarily subscribing to all these ideologies. By nature, political and religious beliefs are divisive, but understanding, logic, science, practicality…those are universal, objective values. And as much as I love my politics and my religion, I have my limits, and I know that these subjective beliefs can…and must…coexist with the truly universal ideas.
Ben Tan
Song of the Day!
Elliott Smith- Between the Bars (1997) with clips from Good Will Hunting (1998)!
Chris
Late Night comedian has it out for Harry Potter
If you watch as much late comedy (Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmell, David Letterman etc.) as I do, you would see that one of these in particular has a target for Harry Potter fans. The one I speak of is Conan O’Brien. Over the past few nights, he has joked over the Potter fans dedication comparing them to that of Star Wars or Star Trek fans. Most recently, he shows a sketch which depicted Dumbledore drunk out of his mind, partying like a rock star. Now, when I saw this, I thought it was absolutely hysterical. However, when I showed it to one of my friends, they were offended as if I told an offensive black joke at the Apollo. Now, the point of this is to tell all people who worship all these entertainment icons to grow a pair. It’s a joke get the frick over it. That and I wanted to drop Conan’s name. Check out the show, its really funny. Again, Good Night and Good Luck.
Quotes of the Day
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
“God bless you all. I am an innocent man.” – Edward Earl Johnson
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” – Frederick Douglass
“I view the Framers as teachers, not wardens.” – Randy Barnett
“Speaking as a person who is supposed to be dead, I believe the death penalty should be abolished, period. Because you can’t be sure.” – Kirk Bloodsworth
“Life is full of close calls, but the question of O.J Simpson’s guilt was not one of them.” – George Will
KLYAM.COM New Domain
To make people’s lives easier and because I had twenty dollars to kick around, I bought klyam.com. This won’t make too much of a difference for readers who don’t clear their history/save URLs to favorites, but whatever!
Review: Head Automatica & Cubic Zicronia @ Great Scott (7/23/09)
Bands: Head Automatica and Cubic Zirconia
Location: Great Scott, Allston
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Cubic Zirconia: I’ll be straight up here, I focused more on the amazingly attractive, sexual chocolate lead singer than on the music itself. If you witnessed the band’s somewhat bizarre performance which included a song, proclaiming “FUCK WORK” about 20-30 times, then you would realize that the singer would probably not take offense to being referred to as “sexual chocolate” haha. I dug her sexually charged dancing and I particularly enjoyed when she stared right into my eyes and sang at me. Glen and others also noted this, thus confirming that I wasn’t merely delusional and horny. As Glen affirmed, “she likes you!” Besides being very appealing, in a stunning, gorgeous gold dress, she and her mates rocked out and were able to get the crowd moving in anticipation of Head Automatica. Continue reading Review: Head Automatica & Cubic Zicronia @ Great Scott (7/23/09)
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 