I'm telling you now, I know it's been said before

As my friend RJ Eskow mentioned, we lost Desmond Dekker and Hamza El Din this past week. But we lost 2 other music related people recently.


Freddie Garrity:

Freddie Garrity, the lead singer of the 1960s pop band Freddie and the Dreamers, has died in hospital. The 69-year-old, originally from Manchester, had been receiving treatment for what were described as "circulation problems".

He died on Friday at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, north Wales.

The five-piece band had success in both Britain and the US with hits such as I'm Telling You Now and You Were Made For Me.

Sadly, they weren't taken as seriously as some of the other British Invasion bands, and often don't get mentioned in the same company as The Hollies, The Searchers, The Dave Clark Five, and of course, the Beatles & The Stones. Wikipedia has this:

In the end success for the group was limited. Despite Freddie's innocent novelty appeal, the Dreamers had a "wrong-side-of-the-law" look, a similar mix to that of their Merseybeat rivals Gerry & the Pacemakers, which made both groups looked older, "square" and past their sell-by date. This "mums and dads" appeal was a big contrast to image of The Beatles and the young and trendy beat combos starting to emerge, such as The Dave Clark Five, The Who, The Small Faces or The Kinks. Television shows such as Ready Steady Go! subtly stressed the point. Freddie and the Dreamers were also happy to appear on the popular BBC children's show Blue Peter.

Also passing this past week was Ian Copeland (from Pollstar):

Ian Copeland, founder of Frontier Booking International and brother of former IRS Records CEO Miles Copeland and ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland, died May 23rd in Los Angeles after a long battle with melanoma. He turned 57 on April 25th.

Ian got his start in the agency business at Paragon Agency in Macon, Ga., in the 1970s, working with Alex Hodges. Buck Williams and John Huie, before starting FBI - where he represented some of the top artists of the 1980s including the Police, R.E.M., Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Go-Go's, and Squeeze.

Copeland wrote an autobiography, "Wild Thing," in 1995 recounting his remarkable career and upbringing as the son of an American C.I.A. agent in the Middle East.

In recent years he owned the Backstage Café in Beverly Hills.

He is survived by two daughters, Chandra and Barbara.

While not household names lately, both men made a difference in the music world. That should provide some comfort to their families.

Identification cards: Every step you take, I'll be watching you

GWBush, a week ago Monday night:

Therefore, comprehensive immigration reform must include a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility. A key part of that system should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. A tamper-proof card would help us enforce the law, and leave employers with no excuse for violating it. And by making it harder for illegal immigrants to find work in our country, we would discourage people from crossing the border illegally in the first place.

Some suggestions for a "better system" and a "new identification card":











as worn by this lovely model on her way to the fabulous summer camp at Manzanar:










And of course, the Gold Standard for racial ID:






















David Niewert adds much to the discussion of racism:

What's missing from this analysis is that, in fact, the Latino migration is occurring in many precincts that, historically, were all-white by design. As James Loewen details (excruciatingly) in his study Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, there are literally thousands of towns across America -- relatively few of them in the South -- who for much of the 20th century forbade minorities, blacks especially, from living within their communities. Many of them placed signs at the town limits warning "Whites Only After Dark" or "Nigger, Don't Let the Sun Set on You Here" -- that all nonwhites were to be out of town by sundown. In many cases, especially suburbs, no signs were visible, but all-white covenants provided the same effect.

Most of the "sundown towns" that Loewen documents were in the Midwest and West -- the same places where we're hearing complaints about a "Mexican invasion" now. The same places where George Bush sees his base eroding.

These same "sundown towns" have, unsurprisingly, a history of following racial election appeals, including broad support for George Wallace in 1968, and Republican presidential candidates in the ensuing years, all of whom made use of the Southern Strategy's core appeal to white racial interests:

As a result of such leadership, Republicans have carried most sundown towns since 1968, sometimes achieving startling unaninimity. ... So the "southern strategy" turned out to be a "southern and sundown town strategy," especially in sundown suburbs. Macomb County, for example, the next county north of Detroit, voted overwhelmingly for Wallace in the 1972 Democratic primary. Wooed by Nixon, many of these voters then became "Reagan Democrats" and now are plain Republicans. The biggest single reason, according to housing attorney Alexander Polikoff, was anxiety about "blacks trapped in ghettos trying to penetrate white neighborhoods." [pp.372-373]

The core appeal of the Southern Strategy, as even the GOP admits now, was all about protecting white privilege, and so its reach ran well beyond the South.

The same is true of the newly emerging "Southwestern Strategy" -- and it is one that may similarly cut across regional and even party lines.

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping

Working in the recording studio business, it's pretty easy to become jaded. Sometimes it's because of exposure to the best and most well known musicians, other times it's a certain sense, however silly and misplaced, of self-coolness: "I hung out with so-and-so today."

But from time to time, one finds something really moving, really special. These are the kinds of musical moments that make one glad to be living in a world where music is so valued. And no, I mean real music, played by real people who have something to say and share. Not like American Idol.

Recently I discovered Jake Shimabukuro, who elevates the ukulele to a place previously reserved for Jimi's & Eric's guitars. Watch and listen to him play "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." If you're not moved, if you don't smile, you're beyond hope. This kid is the real thing. His soul sings.

a wailin' song and a good guitar, the only things that I understand

From my friend RJ Eskow, writing both at skippy and his own place, we learn of a musical crisis in the making (via NYTimes):

Mike Matthews, a sound-effects designer and one-time promoter of Jimi Hendrix, bought an unusual Russian factory making vacuum tubes for guitar amplifiers. Now he has encountered a problem increasingly common here: someone is trying to steal his company.

Sharp-elbowed personalities in Russia's business world are threatening this factory in a case that features accusations of bribery and dark hints of involvement by the agency that used to be the K.G.B.

For those of us who work in audio electronics, the "tube vs. transistor" debate has been going on for some time now. Ever since Lee DeForest put a grid into Fleming's Valve and turned it into the first voltage amplifier, tubes were an integral part of 20th century electronics. The introduction of transistors, followed by the integrated circuit (IC, or chip) largely did away with the need for tubes, since in many cases the "solid state" trnsistor based circuitry is more reliable, demands less operating power, runs cooler, in short, is more efficient.

But in the world of professional audio, tubes still command respect, and even awe. With their almost supernatural glow, they seem like science fiction props. But the real reverence is for their sound.

All electronics changes the signals going through them, hopefully in minimal ways. Tubes can, when pushed past their comfortable operating parameters, add 'distortion' to the sound that can be attractive to most ears. The adjectives "warm" or "smooth" are often used to describe tube audio gear. And nowhere is this more important than guitar amplifiers, where the tubes, or "valves" as our British cousins still call them, are driven far past the onset of distortion, to produce some of the characteristic growl and scream of the rock guitar.

Mike Matthews is most well know for being the founder of Electro-Harmonix, an innovative guitar effects maker know for such pedals as the Big Muff Pi (sorry, can't find the Greek symbol-the pun should still work). More recently Matthews has become one of the biggest evangelists for tube manufacturing with his New Sensor company, standing alonside Aspen Pitman of Groove Tubes here in Los Angeles.

The potential loss of the world's largest extant tube factory might not be a clear and present danger to rock'n'roll, but it would be a sad commentary on many things:

• Mike Matthew's and Aspen Pittmans' commitment to keeping the sound real,
• the music business again falling victim to thuggery,
• GWBush's adolescent crush on Vlad Putin ("I have looked into his soul...")

Send letters and messages of support to Mike at info@ehx.com.

Much thanks to RJ Eskow for finding this. We both play guitar, and for us, this is really personal.

Heaven is in your mind

WorldNutDaily writer and affirmative action recipient Vox Day has the courage of his convictions. He is quoted all over the web denouncing GWBush's Monday night immigration reform tapdance, saying:

Not only will it work, but one can easily estimate how long it would take. If it took the Germans less than four years to rid themselves of 6 million Jews, many of whom spoke German and were fully integrated into German society, it couldn’t possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don’t speak English and are not integrated into American society.

Read the quote and the resulting furor at Pharyngula, Martini Republic, Crooks & Liars, and many other places.

Only problem is, you can't read about it at Vox Day's (Gawd I hate to type that! It's a childish pun, and demeans the name of a great British guitar amp.) own place, where it seems to have been scrubbed:

It couldn't possibly take more than eight years to deport 12 million illegal aliens, many of whom don't speak English and are not integrated into American society. In fact, the hysterical response to the post-rally enforcement rumors tends to indicate that the mere announcement of a massive deportation program would probably cause a third of that 12 million to depart for points south within a week.

The complete absurdity of stating that enforcement of the national immigration laws is unrealistic, while simultaneously insisting that reshaping the entire Dar-al Islam to the liking of the World Demokratic Revolutionists is perfectly feasible, should be obvious. Dear Jorge's deceits are not only transparent, they are downright insulting to anyone capable of considering two concepts at the same time.

Not one mention of Germans. But wait, were we mistaken? Not according to the folks at Balloon Juice and Lucianne Goldberg, who write shimmering prose about Day's quote:

If Vox Day didn’t exist, I would have to invent him

Well, he does exist. From ConWebWatch:

We learn through World O'Crap, Bartholomew's Notes on Religion and Unscrewing the Inscrutable that the real name of the WorldNetDaily columnist is, apparently, the decidedly less U2-esque Theodore Beale. And he apparently has had quite a career under his real name -- he is authoring the "Eternal Warriors" fantasy series based on what he calls "the Christian concept of spiritual warfare," as well as a former member of the industrial-techno band Psykosonik. And just as Beale's site fails to mention Vox Day, Vox's site fails to mention Beale.

Pretty impressive resumé, and we don't begrudge him that. It's his WND involvement we find intriguing -- like the August 2003 WND interview with Beale that says nothing about his alter ego, even though it's conducted by Tom Ambrose, WND's commentary page editor, where "Day's" weekly column appears. (Beale does try to keep up appearances, though: "Vox" has a bad Mohawk, Beale does not.)

Even more intriguing are Beale/Day's family connections. A June 2003 WND story by Art Moore tells the saga of Robert Beale, who complains that Minnesota officials seized his $3 million, 30-room house for back taxes. Beale insists he was not a Minnesota resident at the time and doesn't owe the taxes, but he refuses to fight the seizure in state tax court because he denies its legitimacy. But it's not until we get to the end of the story that we discover the apparent main reason for the story: "By way of disclosure, Robert Beale is a board member and stockholder in WorldNetDaily.com."

The story links to a Web site that details Beale's complaints. The site's designer? His son, Theodore Beale, who apparently lives in Italy.

So his history studies are weak, his family connections are strong, and his rhetoric harsh. And his convictions, well, let's just say that someone removed his words from the WorldNutDaily.

Welcome to the Christian Socialist movement.

Spineless weasel.

Coming back from Houston, Houston, Houston

I'm flying back from Houston in a few hours, fresh from final touch up work on my friend Michael's studio, Lucky Run, and from the grand opening party yesterday.

Modern digital recording technology comes to a Red State. More about this later.

Back at work on LA studio tomorrow.

John McCain: but a tower of strength is somethin' I'll never be

In his latest and greatest ankle-grabbing and cheek-spreading act for GWBush, McCain says of Michael Hayden:

"In all due respect to my colleagues — and I obviously respect their views — General Hayden is really more of an intelligence person than he is an Air Force officer," McCain said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "I think that we should also remember that there had been other former military people who have been directors of the CIA."

As AP's Nedra "Pickles" Pickler points out:

If Hayden were nominated and confirmed, military officers would run all the major spy agencies, from the ultra-secret National Security Agency to the Defense Intelligence Agency.

This thought should have government hating Conservatarians and black helicopter wingers absolutely wetting themselves in frustrated fury. Heck, listen to Saxby Chambliss (R-Swift Boaters)

who said Hayden's military background would be a "major problem,"

Even Arlen Specter, who has never seen an issue that he can't take both sides on, is drumming his tiny fingers on his desk in, well, deep seated concern:

Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he would use a Hayden nomination to raise questions about the legality of the program and did not rule out holding it up until he gets answers. "I'm not going to draw any lines in the sand until I see how the facts evolve," Specter said on Fox.

Of course, since he said it on Fox, it's really just code words for "I'm really a Republican stooge, I just play a Senator on TV. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more." So it doesn't count one bit.

But ol' Straight Talk McCain, you'd think he would grow some stones. Instead they shrivel up smaller everytime he basks in Der Leader's radioactive glow.

But I'll ask the same question here that I asked Sen. Russ Feingold at the blogger's lunch a few weeks ago:

With GWBush's numbers well into the lower 30s, with Rove looking like a probable indictee sometime soon, with the Abramoff, Cunningham, DeLay, Libby, Burns, Doolittle, Scanlon, Goss et al scandals continuing to develop, exactly what 'juice' did (/Rove) Bush have? What could he threaten (/Democrats) Republicans with that carried any weight?

Why doesn't this little twerp, who clearly has given up any of his hard earned prisoner of war credibility, just tell GWBush to shove it, and take control of the Republican Party? Hell, that would be the Left's nightmare. McCain is the only Republican that could arouse any interest from the Left, however misguided it might be. But as GWBush's lifeboat continues to take on water, McCain is bravely trying to bail him out, not realizing that it's sinking.

Go Johnny go!

Bush to Abramoff: Come on-a my house, I´m gonna give you candy

From the San Jose Mercury News, (via Assoc. Press):

The Secret Service has agreed to turn over White House visitor logs that will show how often convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with Bush administration officials - and with whom he met.

. . .

Abramoff was a $100,000 fundraiser for Bush and lobbying records obtained by the AP show his lobbying team logged nearly 200 meetings with the administration during its first 10 months in office on behalf of one of his clients, the Northern Mariana Islands.

But GWBush never met him:

The president has said he does not know Abramoff personally. When a photo of Bush with Abramoff surfaced earlier this year, the president said he has his picture taken with "a lot of people." In the 2001 photo, Bush is shaking hands with a leader of an Indian tribe. Abramoff is in the background.

Yeah, right.

Bastard.

Immigration reform: Turn around, go back down, back the way you came

Tomorrow, 5.1.06, is the scheduled immigration reform boycott:

Thanks to the success of previous rallies plus media attention, planning for Monday's events, collectively called Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes - A Day Without Immigrants - is widespread.

I am ambivalent about the effectiveness of this, a pretty harsh course to take. Public perception and actual conditions for some folks may suffer. Schools will lose ADA monies by not having students in seats, for example. The only hurt there is to the students.

And Kevin Drum, a pretty smart guy, adds this:

I'm cautious by temperament, so I don't really trust my own reaction to the boycott. Still, there's no question that backlash is a real concern, and a militantly confrontational strategy strikes me as pretty risky right now. More importantly, though, I figure that if Marc, who shares neither my caution nor my inexperience at political protest, thinks the boycott is a bad idea, then there's a good chance it's a bad idea. So for now, that's where I stand.

From the ever-vigilant Mom, AKA Ruth, we have an opposing viewpoint making its way around the internets (not her feelings, just some winger email):

WASHINGTON (AFP) Immigrants' rights advocates, elated by the resounding success of last Monday's "National Day of Action," which drew the backing of hundreds of thousands of protesters across the United States, now are planning a national boycott which they hope will have an even greater resonance.
Organizers are planning the May 1 "Great American Boycott," urging illegal immigrants -- who cannot vote and who have only limited political power -- to flex their economic muscle.
Protesters are being urged to refrain from shopping, and to stay away from school and work.

You should take a moment to let that sink in.

This is a movement orchestrated by people who entered the US illegally,and then want to scream about their "rights." WHAT RIGHTS? YOU DON'T EVEN BELONG HERE!

Let's take a look at some of the many benefits that illegal aliens have blessed our great country with: Street gangs, graffitti, drugs, skyrocketing healthcare, depreciation of property value, illiteracy. The list could go on. What they actually have to offer (cheap labor) pales to what they have given our country to deal with. I'll take expensive vegetables over expensive healthcare any day!

And now, like terrorists, they are going to attack our economy -- the one entity that makes our nation stand out from all the others. The backbone of our nation. The country they came to like locusts so they could reap the benefits is now the focus of their boycott. You've seen it on TV: Marching on our American streets waving their Mexican flags, boldly showing that they can be more racist than who they accuse of, and yet the obvious is totally oblivious to them......

IF YOU'VE GOT IT SO BAD HERE, THEN LEAVE!!!

To all the real Americans, you can do one small thing on May 1st, 2006. It won't be racist, nor will it be violent. It will not be boastful, arrogant, selfish, nor distasteful. It will not be any of those things that our "guests" have already displayed. What it will do is nullify a movement.

All you have to do is buy something on May 1st. Make up for what they will try to take away. It doesn't have to be a new car or house (unless you were already planning on getting one). It simply needs to be a day of trading.

Hold off grocery buying until May 1st.
Take your wife out to eat that night.
Get the kids pizza, hamburgers, whatever!
Make several trips to the convenience store.
Buy your meals at work.
Fill up your tank.
Shop for clothes, furniture, outdoor equipment.
If it needs to be bought, BUY IT MAY 1st!

Those are just a few suggestions. We're not asking you to spend your inheritance that day, but just to spend more than you normally would. Even if it's only a few dollars, this will help soften the blow that the Mexicans will try to inflict on our economy that day. It sounds trivial at first, but if this idea gets around, what the Mexicans set out to do will fail.

NOW COMES THE HARD PART:
This email will not self-destruct if you don't send it to someone.
It will not cause bad luck, nor will it make you impotent.
It will not do some trick or show a cute little animation if you send it to "X" amount of people.
You will not get paid for doing it.

It will not spread the message though, if it just gets deleted.
Forward at will.....

Nice. Probably comes from the immigrant-focused VDare folks my friend tbogg (I call him t) mentions here:

Damn those African illegals stowing away on the slave ships and taking jobs away from Americans!

Next up: the meteorologists at Stormfront on that crazy hip-hop music....

Genocide in Darfur: I hear the drums echoing tonight

Pamela Leavey has a good piece up at The Democratic Daily about George Clooney's effort to raise awareness about the tragedy of Darfur:

George Clooney is on a mission — to Save Darfur. Clooney was in Washington today for the Save Darfur rally just days after returning from a secret mission into Darfur with his television-anchor father, Nick Clooney. They smuggled cameras into the Darfur refugee camps to report on what’s been called the 21st century’s first genocide. This Week interviewed George Clooney this morning, watch the video clip here:

The WaPo reports that among the speakers at today’s Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C., were: “Rabbi David Saperstein; Al Sharpton; Joe Madison, a liberal black radio talk-show host who has been pushing the issue; Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention; rap and fashion mogul Russell Simmons; and former basketball star Manute Bol, who is himself Sudanese.”

Please read. Thanks.

http://www.savedarfur.org/

http://www.darfurgenocide.org/

Human Rights Watch

Wikipedia-Darfur Conflict