Do you think this is an addiction

I had to go downtown in SF yesterday to renew my benefits for the school district. I'm a teacher, but I'm not tenured, so I have to renew every year for the first three years. This was the last time I need to do this. Anyway, I passed by Artrock; I couldn't help but step inside, it was calling me by name. I don't get paid until October 1st, and it's my wedding anniversary along with my wife's and my birthday this month; so, I was being a bit selfish and bought the two above posters.

The first one is by SF artist Mark Arminski. It's for a Patti Smith/Allen Ginsberg show in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I love the Yin yang concept for this poster. It appears to be showing the relationship between the punk which is in music, and the punk in prose.

Link here to Arminski's site.

The second poster is by Alan Forbes. I've been a Monomen fan since their early Estrus Records days; alcohol fuel injected rock and roll!!! The show takes place near my house too. The Kilowatt is still open too; a rarity in SF. This piece shows Forbes' Coop influence. If only the model was larger all the way around.

Link here to a site for Forbes.

Wake Up America!

The Prophet Unarmed, by Isaac Deutcher. I have just completed the second volume of a trilogy on Leon Trotsky. Tragedy is the word that comes to mind. This man, so intelligent, so confident in his abilities; failed in one respect, in my opinion: party discipline. He was so devoted to it; he refused to stand up for himself. By doing this, he allowed his enemies, mostly Stalin and his followers, to push him into a corner, where he was not able to defend himself at all.

I need to familiarize myself more with the French Revolution, especially the Jacobins and the Thermidorian period. I see something very similar happening in the US today. Trotsky believed that the Bolshevik party had become a monolithic party, and therefore given up their fundamental Bolshevik beliefs. It would take years, perhaps decades, Trotsky said, for the working class to learn about freedom again, and rise up against the oppressors.

Benjamin Franklin said anyone who is willing to give up a little freedom for safety, deserves neither. Today, our citizens, along with our media have allowed the ruling faction in our country to usurp the peoples’ power. The party has become monolithic in form. It is the party over the people. It is the leader over the party. It may be that the experiment of democracy is coming to its end.

I blame the people for being so apathetic. We go along with what we are told as long as our creature comforts are not affected. We rail against anyone who is not like us. We cheer when we catch the dark skinned man who has done something un-American, yet we have nothing to say when he is quietly released and all charges are dropped. We shout out against high gas prices, and vow to boycott Shell every Tuesday, and Exxon every Wednesday, but we refuse to recognize that the cars we drive and the labor that goes into those cars are just feeding the corporations our soldiers are dying in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect.

I blame the press for following the party line, for fear they will be banished to some far away land if they print the truth, or question the leadership in any logical manner. The press, the one outlet our nation has for spreading the “truth” to the people. What is the truth today? What does Socrates say it is? How about Thoreau? What about Gandhi or King? How about Murdock, or Limbaugh? What is the truth to you?

Isn’t it the job of the press to show us the truth from all sides? Will the president meet with the mother of a fallen soldier, and answer her questions? No. And the press won’t cover it. Or if they do, the White House will continue to say the President has a very busy schedule. Perhaps an event of national security will occur, which will take the attention off of this mother and her desire to know what “noble cause” her son died for. Wouldn’t that be amazing? “The President doesn’t have time to meet with you ma’am, we’re in code mauve right now.” And, of course, the nation will gather together once again and pry that those dark skinned terrorists are brought to justice.

When they came for the Moslems I said nothing, because I wasn’t a Moslem.

When will our country wake up from its slumber? 2008? 2012? 2020?

Wake up America, the Bonapartists are in control.

War Pigs

Some of you may know already that Black Sabbath actually started off as a pro-Christian band. It's true. As a matter of fact all you need to do is listen to some early lyrics. Take for instance "War Pigs". Don't take my word for it, check out this great Flash presentation, and sing along for yourself.

Link

Thanks to Hawkeye Joe for this great short.

Lindsey Kuhn Site

As many of you who read this blog know by now, I collect concert posters. Two recent posters I purchased from Artrock in San Francisco are shown below.

Take the time to check out premire poster artist Lindsey Kuhn's site here. His work is unprecedented. His well known for his swampwoman series. The poster above sells for $1000.00 today.

My next poster purchase comes from Kuhn. It's the "Season of the Witch 2" series; five posters put together to make one image.

If you haven't seen the site for the new book "The Art of Modern Rock", do yourself the favor and check it our here.

Enjoy.

My Cat's Breath Smells Like Catfood

It's true, you know?

Link