The Amino Show, October 23rd at the Main Art in Royal Oak - (corrected version, from Real Detroit)

(This week's Real Detroit Weekly features filmmaker Colin Duerr and his 4-part series of sci-fi/suspense/horror films featuring The Amino Acids...retraction: presented here is the corrected version, as my article in Real Detroit does not properly credit prop-designer Wally Wojciechowski for his work in building a vital prop for the film.)

That said, parts 2 and 3 of the series (both running at or around 30 minutes respectively), debuts on the 23rd at the Main in Royal Oak. You can see part 1 here.

Real Detroit- "Character Sketch": local filmmaker, Colin Duerr


It's nearing closing time at Continental Lanes and filmmaker Colin Duerr is wheeling out the Death Machine. We're on-the-set for the 22-year-old Royal Oak native's latest project, The Amino Show, a series of "philoso-terror" explorative episodes of suspense and horror, starring the mysterious bizarro-surf-punk quartet, The Amino Acids – documenting the unpredictable guitar-n-drum-toting aliens blood-soaked bombardment on the human race during the last nights of existence.


"There's so much you could do with the Amino Acids," said Duerr, acknowledging the temptation to embrace campy-ness given the nostalgic ring of their rock style, but "I wanted to give it more meaning, to give it a soul and intelligence; something that really questions the meaning of our existence – I feel that's what [the film] boils down to…"


The Death Machine, built in a driveway from an old pool-pump by prop-designer Wally Wojciechowski, is to be used for zombification later in the evening—leading to a shotgun-showdown that results in the spillage of gallons of blood…and hot girls forced to bowl a game against the flawless Aminos to save their own lives. "…and in the process," said Duerr, "somebody loses a head."


"I'm just trying to prove myself," said Duerr, who already had his mind made up to be a filmmaker before he'd even gotten to junior high – even directing his own home movies as a kid. "When I go to shoot, I forget everything," he says, responding to the influences question—but later notes Paul Thomas Anderson, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch's unique flavors of psyche-devastation. He regards "style" the same way he regards life and his own questions of the meaning of existence, surmising, "I'm finding that out right now - this is me finding out what kind of filmmaker I am…"

The style, based from Part One ("Slack Removal Machine") which saw the Aminos attacking-and-zombifying a kid's birthday party ala terror-clowns, honors his influences in that flavor of tripped-out paralyzing eeriness, it disturbs with perplexity and feels cerebral while also spilling gallons of blood and upsetting your consciousness with downright chilling imagery and skewed angles framing the absurdity of humankind through the dull ether eyes of these expressionless inter-dimenional travelers (the Aminos), out to kick up a bit o fun with these strange meaty bipeds (us) before what could very well be the end of the Earth, the end of existence. And with that, you have the basis for 2: "Focusing Disintegrator Ray" and 3: "Good 4-U", debuting at the Main Art Theatre October 23rd (with a 60+ minute run time, described similar to two-Twilight Zone episodes) and promised to include retro '50's drive-in theatrics of live interaction with audience members!

The Dondero High grad attended the Motion Picture Institute but decided left, feeling more comfortable as his own teacher. He has since directed/released the concert film: Punks Vs. Cancer, documenting a charity show for cancer research with the Jollys, Troubleman, Toxic Shock Syndrome and his current stars The Aminos. Duerr is currently filming a documentary on the renowned debauchery-festival the Dirty Show.

Duerr said he owes much to his close friends who have dedicated themselves in numerous ways, via camera cranes, prop building or becoming cast members. Asked to hint at expectations for part four, Duerr says, "…millions of explosions all over the world."

10 / 23 – Main Art – Royal Oak – 9 p.m.

more info:

http://www.myspace.com/fatalepictures

http://www.myspace.com/aminoshow

(corrected post at http://www.realdetroitweekly.com/ coming soon)

Jay Reatard - Magic Stick Wednesday Night with the Terrible Twos and Cola Freaks; - album review: Matador Singles

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Jay Reatard - the Matador Singles (08)

(words: Milo)

It's a beautiful sunny day in mid-October and the glowing box upon which I type these jittery words is secluded down in a basement with very little natural light seeping in – so I'd like to crank this review out fairly expediently so I can get out and enjoy it…which would be appropriate considering my subject, Jay Reatard, industrious punk-ish rock and 60's garage pop harvester from Memphis, is known for his prolific pace of churning out songs. Having recently signed to Matador, a home for many stately acts of the indie-pantheon, Reatard (born Jay Lindsey) presents us with the Matador Singles –a statement of Reatard sort of spilling out his driving, shaking, up-and-grab-you shred-pop and saying, hey, welcome to my new house (Matador), I just hung my shit up in the closet and pulled in the garage, let's have a house warming party – but, simultaneously, it clears out all of the songs he's been working on through 07 and 08 since his latest LP Blood Visions, and clears the path for a new full length next year. (He also dumped singles from his In The Red days as well, this year).

What the Matador singles provide are a sequential presentation of Reatard's three primary modes, the first third features the power pop with a hint of punk-rock (see the run-n-gun "Painted Shut"); the second third shows the punk rock dominating the power-pop (machine-gun drums and nasally shouts over hand claps of "Hiding Hole")…or, on the last third of the album, a more somber singer/songwriter spilled out with the poignancy of fourtrack fuzz (see the rough-hewn doe-eyed goosebumps of acoustic ballad "No Time.") Opener, "See/Saw" highlights guitars that explode and careen and blur and buzz acerbically over ever tumbling drums that just drive and drive – while on "Screaming Hand," the rhythm goes into a more pounding up-down, left-right juke in a punky pogo recalling style with a chorus refrain that waves out viscerally over a screaming guitar.

Optimally positioned in the middle is the hypnotic cover of Deerhunter's "Fluorescent Grey," where Reatard does a fine job of making the song his own…shifting from his usual Gary Numan—Tubeway-Army—recalling style and more into a Mark E. Smith creepy shaman rant. A particularly favorite jam is the shoegaze-recalling 90's pop of "Trapped Here." Then the final 3 tracks wind things down for a more subtle and sly-pop style that lets the acoustics guitar lead the way over siren synths that meander around in pretty little melodies. "I'm Watching You" feels like a Reatard-flavored butane-lighter lit encore that, like Trapped Here before it, again brings out the shoegaze flavored guitar storms.

For a guy whose been playing and recording for almost 10 years now, with so much material out there and so many different areas of where you could start…I dare to conjure the cliché of saying – this (release) may be the ideal time and place to dive into the Reatard universe…then slowly work your way around.

Alright, 'nuff said—I'm heading outside…

see him live, at the Magic Stick, Wednesday night with
Terrible Twos
and
Cola Freaks





















Matador
Jay Reatard
Majestic Theatre

The RNC Protests and Ted Leo's Rapid Response

(photo: Shawn Brackbill)

(essentially, Deep Cutz State of the Union Part 4!)


Labor Day in St. Paul - Protests at the Republican National Convention were quashed in militaristic fashion by police, in complete disregard of constitutional rights.

Ted Leo: The Deep Cutz Interview
Jeff Milo

“In the world they’ve created, there is no accountability…”

Indeed – this came from the message Ted Leo provided with the Rapid Response EP – which he and his band, the Pharmacists recorded in a matter of days as a way of somehow contributing to the “real people” who had their rights trampled upon during the Republican National Conventions – (digital proceeds went to help those who had incurred bail fees, and to Democracy Now! and Minnesota—Food Not Bombs!)

What Happened: Police conducted “pre-emptive” pre-convention raids on homes of suspected protesters with warrants signed by Ramsey County Judges under suspicion of conspiracy and intent to incite a riot. (Update and review of the event, including recent news of a lawsuit brought against the city of St. Paul...)

Protesters were planning an anti-war march, as a simultaneous statement for peace, and against the characteristic policies of the Republican Party, during the convention

We’re talking the thrift-store shopping, casual hip/hop listening, open-minded, organic food eating, friendly and affable neo-hippie types…

They were met with foam tipped plastic rounds, tear gas, batons, horses, riot-gear, pepper gas, concussion grenades

It was described by numerous witnesses, and by those who were arrested, as a militarized zone with cops deployed in military formations, using military tactics…not discriminating between those actually causing trouble and those protesting peacefully…
Civil rights be damned…

800 people arrested, including nearly 50 journalists.

When they lock up the reporters – it is left to the artists to make a statement – and Ted has delivered in true valiant protest-singer form.

Ted Leo’s Rapid Response EP














(listen: Ted Leo - "the Sons of Cain")



Being such a geeked-out fist-pumpin wall-bouncing enthusiast for Ted Leo’s bristly energetic soul-meets-punk-via-pop percolations and protest balladry – it was surreal to have an entire music-free interview – as we discussed the protests and police reaction during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul from September 1 – 4th.

The young, fiery idealists with their love of peace and rejection of war, were met with tear gas, concussion grenades and foam tipped plastic rounds by armor-clad officers clenching batons marching in militaristic formations upon what they saw as a pack of noisy unpredictable riot-inciters. Protesters planning an anti-war march on the convention were surrounded by SWAT – forcefully restrained in what was described as a “militarized zone.” When it was over 800 people (including about 50 journalists!!!) were arrested – freedom of speech be damned! “They locked up Amy Goodman what makes you think you’re gonna stay free?” Ted would soon sing.

By the following week, Leo, with his band, the Pharmacists, recorded and digitally released the Rapid Response EP – with the blistering and exertive “Paranoia (Never Enough)” written as a direct reaction, with and all download proceeds going to help any fees suffered by activists groups and Democracy Now!

This was serious – and it was weighing on Ted, sighing wearily when I asked how he was doing… “It would just depress you if I really got into it…”


Milo: What was your initial reaction…



Ted Leo: …only slightly more ramped up than my usual initial reaction to whatever I’m reading: ‘This is fucked, this makes me so angry…etc’ When you see the video of what went on out there, just the completely bullying dick-ish-ness with which people were getting shoved around, having all rationality ignored, being led away…[what] sent me over the edge was seeing video of this girl who is doing nothing but keeping pace with this marching phalanx of police, just walking holding out a flower, that’s all she’s doing, and this burly cop in full gear steps out of formation and repeatedly-repeatedly pepper sprays her in the face…even now I have a physical reaction…it’s insane! The next night you have Sarah Palin on stage making a laugh line of the idea that someone should be read his or her rights…

Milo: Does it concern you though – that reaction begets greater reaction, the more they push the more we fight back…so the HARDER they push…



TL: Absolutely… and I don’t have an answer for that. What can I say? It’s not as though these incidence happen in a vacuum, people develop their world view based on many factors in history.

Milo: Leading a protest surrounded by cops, Tom Morello said he’d wager some of the officers, though following orders, were actually, also, Rage Against The Machine fans…did that hit you during Rapid Reponse—‘who are these people?’



TL: I’ve had the experience of people coming up to me, saying ‘I like your music, but I don’t agree with your politics.’ I’ve also had people who, stereotypically, you wouldn’t associate with a fan, people in various uniforms who say they are down with the entire program. It brings up lots of questions, [like] who are these people? I don’t have the answers. I’m 100% sure that any of these kind of monolithic stereotypes that we use to describe any side of any cultural or philosophical divide are never as monolithic as they seem – they’re always more diverse. I’ve certainly seen my share of bullying people, whether physically or other ways of intimidating and I saw very similar things [in St. Paul] and the personality vibe I get, specifically, from Sarah Palin – I imagine all kinds of conspiratorial ideas about how this kind of paradigm of entitlement and irrationality has become a real, not just a mean, but a norm.

Milo: Eight years of Reagan helped spur the hardcore punk scene in the early 80’s (mostly be giving them a daunting common enemy) but I wonder why its taken longer to motivate palpable musical movements against Bush…



TL: well, I think that there are a lot of very specific factors that play into that...one is that music, and the nature of music and the nature of interaction with music as a cultural force has really changed in the last 20 years, there is of course there's always been...a lot of signifying without understanding, what the signifiers were originally meant to signify within some cultures, but its really been blown open by the marketplace. Ideas and sounds that at one point you would've said--you wouldn’t have seen a band and considered them the pillar of integrity because even the sounds that they’re making are un-sellable, but I think we've found that anything can be sold if it's got the right kind of money and push behind it...that certainly de-fangs things, and then when you have another generation that grows up with an already de-fanged medium...you know, it makes a certain amount of sense that it wouldn't...that it becomes more diffuse and it loses a certain amount of power. It's not necessarily bemoaning that fact, it's just kind of the nature of the beast, there are other factors as well—I can tell you that I do try to use my voice in a way that I think...that I want to and that I think I should, which is by doing things like (Rapid Response)

After the first 4 years of Bush, I was just...completely dejected, I’ve put out a lot of music since then but I’m telling you right now, compared to the amount of stuff that I haven’t finished it's like a drop in the bucket because I just don't have the juice, I don't have the energy, I don't have a lot of the hope that I had in the first 4 years...


Milo: You’re playing on election-night – will you stay non-partisan that night?



TL: I don't attempt to be non-partisan, I also don't attempt to turn my shows into like rallies. When anybody enters into this mode of expression...you want to see that you do have an effect in ‘changing the world’ but,...I just try to express my thoughts about things; I try to make sense of what's going on for myself and by extension...other people, and hopefully help somebody else make sense of something or just make it through a day - thanks to music… in a way that music has been there for me in my life, so it's kind of in that spirit that I approach even something like playing on election day...whatever the outcome is...it's gonna be...celebratory and cathartic and it's gonna be community reinforcing, and I feel like that's kind of...I feel pretty okay about the fact that that's kind of the extent of my powers, if you wanna go beyond that...you gotta enter Sting or Bono territory and i really have no desire...to be Sting or Bono...

http://www.tedleo.com/


http://www.democracynow.org/

more info:

www.myspace.com/protestrnc2008

www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3993

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8aRxoRdBUs

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Rapid Response EP http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=478

Mick Bassett and the Marthas; Prussia; Child Bite, Weekend Recap...

"Are you gonna blog about this tomorrow?" (one blogger, asking another blogger...)

(Weekend Recap, including rubbing elbows with fellow Detroit-music chronicle-writers Elle and Scotter and Jasper at the Northern Lights...)


Another busy crazy explosive left-right-and-now-over-there and who's up next and did you know so-and-so's also playing over here kind of night…in Detroit

Prussia and Mick Bassett and the Marthas, both of them notorious favorites of Deep Cutz, both put on stunning performances – not in any guitar burning, windmill strumming jaw-dropping sense, but just in the taut, stalwart delivery of stellar performances of each song. Prussia opened with a Smtihs cover, the indelible "This Charming Man," in preparation for their upcoming Halloween show in which they'll take on the persona (in set list and possibly appearance as well) of the 80's UK lush-melodrama-popsters. The Marthas, meanwhile, presented their catchy calamity through energizing guitar-fuzz through older songs from their Here's The Whirlwind EP and a few newer songs floating in-waiting before an upcoming full length.

Between the two of them was the more prog-rock space grooves of Jason Croff's musical consortium, which started as a 5-piece and then adding a female vocalist. Tight musicianship and sweet sliding jazz-inflected pop-rock -

The thorn in the side of the night was I-75…and oh, indeed, there were many curses exuded within our car as we hastily traversed service-drives and around lesser known boulevards to try and make our way over to Small's in time for Child Bite (having, at this point, nearly 1 in the morning, missed the openers, F'ke Blood, Stnng and Benny Stoofy).

Child Bite…what can I say? They blow my mind. I know I'm supposed to pepper this slowly growing paragraph with all sorts of exuberant left-field adjectives and nearly-unwinding metaphors…but at some point you just have to sit down, throw all the word soup down the sink and say—this band just blows my fucking mind. Man, what a blogger-type paragraph…The site of them alone is enough to shock the senses – the sounds are spiky, whirling, noisy, cutting, but so poppy all at once. And, guitarist Zach Norton brought his cordless guitar…which meant the whole room became his stage.

So, after duly noting guest trumpeter Kevin Bayson's slowly building rivalry with a local singer from another band who may soon be named here, once I get his sober-in-the-daylight-approval to start pushing it…I started to gather myself and head out…with Carjack and I asking others, in regards to the fucked-up travel patterns that I-75's construction would cause us… "how did you get here?"

Most people took it in the more cosmic sense and started inebriated ponderings of the Universe…
…but we just wanted to get home.

(photos: mike milo)

Reviewing the Reviews....

Baltimore Round Robin: The 'Baltimore meets Detroit' discussions... ~ Recaps: http://www.post-rockist.com/ http://fivethreedialtone.com/podcastbox/ http://jasper.webvomit.com/?p=1770 Indeed, outside of…for lack of a better title, "the bloggers," this writer included, some Marthas and Mr. Carjack., there weren't very many other regulars from the…again, for lack of a better title, "Detroit Scene." But, in a way, it did feel like a diplomatic conference, which is why we all felt a vitality in supporting, not only the gesture of this traveling scene visiting our own arena, but also to share with them our own insights into the Detroit, ahem,…scene. The night, the format, the performances were, simply put, exhilarating. But the blogs listed above can give you much more details. The big debate revolves around the understandable sentiment of: why isn't Detroit like Baltimore…essentially, though it is much more nuanced than that…but that's the initial gut question. I can't answer that – but Dan Deacon, the transfixing, charismatic synth-fuzz dance-storm pied piper for armies of now anti-hipsters in big glasses and awful sweaters and fluorescent socks, is one of the key ingredients – Detroit would first need a comparable luminary to organize the countless artists of the Motor City's burgeoning music community. Next is, yes, motivation…but motivation is something that was blasting, oozing and spilling all over the place like some sort of hyper volcano of enthusiasm inside the walls of Wham City, the factory/flop-house/artist-enclave that bore many of the performers on this Baltimore stage. All these googly-eyed head expanders bouncing around together in a veritable endless pillow-fight of idea-sharing… Bring these two incomparable factors together and you're bound to get something close to Baltimore. To just have one would do Detroit a lot of good (in terms of equaling it)…because as I've said countless times here, the conditions, the people, the ideas, the talent…it's all here… Ready to burst… But at the end of the day, for as close as we feel in the heated swirl of a great local line up at the Magic Stick, the Belmont, Smalls, Lager, wherever...we all go home afterward and return to our scattered suburban positions...and there are much more deeper socio-political histories that have led to that...and it's way too much to unpack here... The point is, in Baltimore...they were synched up with each other 24-7...eating breakfast together and studying early 90's Disney movies for their neo-pop-art inspirations...TOGETHER so who wants to move in with me? We'll start soemthing....

More Reviews: Deerhoof - 'Offend Maggie!'

Next Saturday, (10/18), Deerhoof plays the Crofoot in Pontiac.
Yesterday, they released their 10th album, Offend Maggie on Kill Rock Stars


Deep Cutz Review:






listen: "Offend Maggie"








Deerhoof gets under your skin – and sometimes people don't like that. They shroud the sweetest kite-flying melodies in recklessly shredded guitar tones and oblique structures that embrace speak-sing airy female vocals that could bounce along like the happy-go-lucky doily edges of a children's storybook, or instead merge with more deep-rooted viscera of animalistic howls or shouts– and this is all propelled by thunderous and tight jazz-spaz drumming and ominous bass looms – essentially, they've helped forge the framework for this new century's sculpt of experimental indie-rock: highly expressive beyond regard for accessibility yet undeniably stimulating in its refreshing transformation of melody and the hooky riff of the pop sensibility.



After 2005's The Runner's Four (an unusually epic album for the typically succinct, or spastic quartet), the band shifted their line-up and recorded essentially the closest thing to a straight-forward, palatable rock record, (for them) with 07's Friend Opportunity. The difference now is – there seems to be more comfort, more confidence – they're back to the acerbic, the sharp cutting guitars, the off-feeling tones, the sprinklings of endearment, the enchanting acoustics, the sweet-grooves that mutate into wild left turns – whereas FO just sounded weird, Offend Maggie! feels more settled into the eccentric-pop-n-mayhem-zenith they'd found with 02's Milkman. This healthy re-familiarization sets in immediately with the hard drawing guitar scrapes of "Tears of Music and Love" that flow into a nice surf-n-shimmy garage riff under up-n-down siren vocals with the guitars later adopting this melody as the drums pound on… "Buck and Judy" exemplify the delicate haunting their stripped down booming march rhythms set beside the eerie harmonization of vocals-and-guitars; while the first verse is stalked by a bit of noisy stabs and crashes, the chorus lingers capriciously into some beautifully toned guitars that float like an ellipses before the destructing bass plods back… the taut drums and pedal-strained guitars of "Basketball Get Your Groove Back" dance along with the cartoon-painting-imagery of the wayward vocals and at some points it seems like the rhythm is thrown off by the guitar zooms, or vice-versa…with cheerleader-esque pep-cheers to an aspiring ball-playing bunny to "Go Go, Be Be Champyong!"



We get the cryptic acoustic pop "Don't Get Barn," the somewhat trudging all-out guitar-rock "My Purple Past," the more unsettling fair of nocturnal harmony-heavy possessors like "Family of Others" and the nerve-wracking guitar-n-drum build of "Eaguru Guru," the synthy-skin-crawling room clearers "This is God Speaking" and softer, sunnier, here's some steady hook-n-pop-romanticism "Offend Maggie" and a punchy-meandering rocker that gives the group to flesh out a lot of intricate instrumentations from each corner, "Fresh Barn."



Looking back on it, I wouldn't say Deerhoof would be the band to "return" to a sound or style – their credit for continued strength as stalwart noise-pop architects lies in their naïve defiance as they continue to kartwheel into new mutations…

(words: milo)

Reviews: The Fifty (from Detroit); Low Vs. Diamond; Willoughby

The Fifty - Laugh Until It Hurts

Detroit rock quintet The Fifty understand the necessity of balance, clasping grit-n-grime with polished poignancy…they can squeeze endearing piano-runs that shimmy with a playfulness over sidewinding shake-able percussion, but by the next track it could be all fuzz-blown guitar-muscle rock and cyclone solos over pounding bass and avalanche drums.

Vocal harmonies and piano intricacies and pounded-to-pirouette drumming and post-punk wavy basses and sweet guitar blitzes – a new take on the pop/rock format – not all the way sugary or all the way harmony-focused, or even all the way 70’s classic hard rock explosions, but yet dipping into all three.

The band plays 5th Avenue in Royal Oak on October 15th. (As part of a weekly residency.) Check them out at: myspace.com/thefifty

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~















Low Vs. Diamond - S/T (epic/red ink)


Smooth and shimmery pop-rock as grand as the wide open blue sky, as euphoric as the sun-spilled swing in the hammock or as writhing as that long drive home from an inevitably crumbling love – this is that youthful kind of escapism where you steal the car for the night and wander through the city streets finding new perspectives and breaking hearts and having your psyche torn this way and that in naivety-killing twists in the thick traffic-light spackled brush of the concrete jungle.

The lyrics are often melodramatic, the drums are these rousing runs that keep the engine rolling through alleys that throb with the steady bass-grooves and the guitars shoot across the sky like wondrous pedal-effected comets. It follows that same sort of brash and celebratory tract as Tokyo Police Club or the Killers, but adds the proper weight and wide cinematic scope that this Los Angeles-by-way-of-Colorado group of jam-band-players could conjure through their rebirth of theatric rock reverence that riffs on Echo & The Bunnyman, U2 and Coldplay – but really amps up the rhythm on the heavier rockers, (which are balanced by the occasional piano-pensive whirling.

High-gooey vocals and charging guitars, heavy on growing-pains documentation and lovelorn reflections, this is a steady debut in the pop-realm and should open up a rewarding future of plenty of soundtrack-slots and stadium shows for the ambitious rockers.

Listen: www.myspace.com/lowvsdiamond
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~














Willoughby - I Know What You're Up To (Sargent)
Sun-baked lo-fi melancholic singer/songwriter pop, with subtle humming grooves, warm soft toned organs and acoustics and the occasional spacey synth accompaniment, under sweet and shy vocals sung in that wispy harmony-ready California sunset glow (ala Byrds/Zombies.) After the pleasing pair of opening racks, William Gustavus Seyffert (Willoughby) drops the low-key Sea Change-era Beck or sunnier-Sparklehorse vibe to reveal a beautiful, distinctive piano-bar march and a spooky, bending guitar in the tingly ballad of unrequited love, ‘Frankenstein.’ Stripped-down sessions of one-man with a rotating cast of friends, perfect rainy-day music that Elliott Smith fans should take notice of - complete with an evocative cover of Lennon’s “I’m Losing You.”
Listen: www.myspace.com/willoughby

(all words: milo)

Deep Cutz State of the Union Part 3

Deep Cutz - State of the Union
-part one
-part two
(for part 3...a simple reflection on a passage from Howard Zinn...)

but, first... it's important to note that this recent editorial comes, not just from the opinion of one writer, but the ENTIRE New York Times:

McCain / Palin "frightening, intolerable" and running "one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember." Stay tuned here to Deep Cutz, for a discussion with musician Ted Leo - concerning the protests at the Republican National Convention, the de-fang-ing of a generation, the healing powers of music, and the reinforcement of community! In the meantime...consider this Deep Cutz State of the Union Part 3... and here...I can't put my feelings about this election, about the current state of -not only this country, but the world, any more aptly or inspiringly, than "radical" historian Howard Zinn did, in the closing chapter of his memoir, You Can't Stay Neutral on a Moving Train Zinn, on "The Possibility of Hope" "...to demand that America rethink it's beginnings, rethink it's values. It is this change of consciousness that encourages me. Granted, racial hatred and sex discrimination are still with us, war and violence still poison our culture, we have a large underclass of poor, desperate people and there is a hard core of the population content with the way things are, afraid of change. But i we see only that, we lose historical perspective, and then it is as if we were born yesterday and we know only the depressing stories in this morning's newspapers, this evening's television reports. Consider the remarkable transformation in just a few decades in people's consciousness of racism, in the bold presence of women demanding their rightful place, in a growing public awareness that homosexuals are not curiosities, but sensate human beings, in the long-term growing skepticism about military intervention despite the brief surge of military madness during the Gulf War...(this was written around the mid-90's) It is that long-term change that i think we must see if we are not to lose hope. Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act. We forget how often in this century we have been astonished by the sudden crumbling of institutions, by extraordinary changes in people's thoughts, by unexpected eruptions of rebellion against tyrannies, by the quick collapse of systems of power that seemed invincible. The bad things that happen are repititions of bad things that have always happened - war, racism, maltreatment of women, religious and nationalist fanaticism, starvation The good things that happen are unexpected. Unexpected and yet explainable by certain truths which spring at us from time to time, but which we tend to forget: Political power, however formidable, is more fragile than we think. (Note how nervous are those who hold it.) Ordinary people can be intimidated for a time, can be fooled for a time, but they have a down-deep common sense, and sooner or later they find a way to challenge the power that oppresses them. Human beings everywhere want the same things; ...they long for peace, for friendship and affection across lines of race and nationality. -Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zig-zag towards a more decent society... ...To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magnificiently , this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." (Zinn, 207-08)

JSB Squad; Barack N Bowl (10/10--Garden Bowl) and Post-Debate Politi-Cutz round up

Deep Cutz 10 / 8
Jeff Milo

It’s 1 a.m, the Magic Stick is closing down after a set from the Marthas…initially, I wonder if it’s exhaustion or the recent ill-advised shot of tequila that makes me think I just heard Jesse Shepherd-Bates say something about bringing "seven guitarists" to Friday's Obama rally/concert, Barack N' Bowl (in the Garden Bowl, with Satin Peaches , Pewter Cub, Rogue Satellites, Duminie and Smashed Windows, 10/10)














But really, it’s par for the course for the intriguing and exhilarating JSB Squad, spearheaded by the young multi-instrumentalist and aided by (almost-) countless local musicians, (including Satin Peaches, Mick Bassett). This line up could be as large as 14 players. Pure guitar-n-drums propulsions – like some relentless rocket-launched forklift of roots-rock's golden-hue n' rich flavor with inevitable flashes of punk's errant shredded exertion but wound up by often beautiful vocal melodies and goosebump-falsettos that mix an engaging singer/songwriter vibe with distinct hard-hooking exploration.

That said, I hope by now all of you are registered to vote – frankly, this may be one of the most tumultuous and important years in human history. Whatever happens, consider the future, and consider coming together. No more of this contemptible fear-inspired partisan tunnel vision. Consider unity, consider progress, consider where we've gone wrong. This is a torch-passing year between generations - and one choice embodies that…Vote!
Myspace.com/jsbsquad

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Moving on into more politics...

The entire debate (on film, and transcribed) can be found here:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/second-presidential-debate.html


Frankly, this is where things get nerve-wracking...the political bottleneck, the crystalization of opinions...the pieces get set in place and there's less of that idealistic fist-pumping march and winning hearts and minds (even though Obama still resonated more with independents again, for this debate...)...but, now, people are going to start making up their minds and there will be little, save another catastrophe on the scale of the recent financial crisis (which, at the end of the day, didn't seem to rattle us at all...mostly it just fed our mistrust of the government...) that will push them from their current choice...

No, now...it's all up the people and that both excites me and frightens me to no end...(set aside the fact that both 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen...) Now its feeling reduced to the young vs. the old, the liberals on the coasts vs. the conservatives in the heartland...

But I'm scared for other reasons...

Especially when we have Palin, self-described lipstick-wearing-pitbull, delivering speeches that actually would incite violence against Obama - by continually referencing his limited, brief interaction through a charity-board, in his past with community organizer (and, yes, former Weatherman) Bill Ayers...essentially, Palin, with her wretching folksy-ness, wants to have her cake of being racist and eat it too, by getting away with it by cloaking it in words like ...he associated with a known domestic terrorist... ...riiight, "he doesn't see America like you and I..." she said...constantly repeating the word "terrorist..." ...catering to the unconscious Id of the radical right and stirring their visceral passions - if you continually repeat the word "terrorist" in (attack-filled-) speeches about Obama...then eventually the red-eyed bulls of the deepest dark spirits of the right will eventually make the connection Terrorist - - Obama...

Immeasurably, indescribably contemptible...and evil-hearted - the GOP ticket is encouraging violence to the point where some are shouting out "terrorist" "treason" and "kill him!" during Palin and McCain's rallies.


Can you fathom this? The McCain campaign is ENCOURAGING...potentially-murderous-hatred toward their oponent...who is black...ENCOURAGING racially-charged violence...by cloaking it with words like "terrorism" and essentially only using Ayers as a scapegoat.

How do you even defend that?


















Anyway--back to the Debate from last night.



From Huffington: "[Obama] was centered where McCain was scattered. Forceful where McCain was forced. Presidential where McCain was petulant.
Obama's measured reasonableness totally countered that caricature. You could fault Obama for not being particularly inspiring, but you could not miss the rock steady competence he exuded -- authoritatively delivering substantive answers to questions on the economy, health care, taxes, and foreign policy. "

"[McCain] won't be elected because he has nothing relevant to offer for an economy in meltdown and a nation in fear. "

~

From Walter Shapiro on Salon.com

With the economy nose-diving, McCain did not achieve the surge he needed, while Obama looked masterly as the candidate of reassurance.

also from Shapiro: "McCain desperately needs to discredit Obama, since he cannot survive an election where the dominant topics are recession, Wall Street and George W. Bush..."

So, you have nothing left, McCain, but to embrace race-baiting and invite violent hatred against your candiate... Obama is your fellow American, John, he is your fellow-human-being...and you are catering to the most primal, malleable anger that would stilt us back to pre-Civil Rights Movement-hatred...

Contempitble...

~

"That one???"

Bob Cesca unpacks McCain's palpable disrespect for Obama, by calling him "That One..." during the debate.

"...referred to Senator Obama as "that one," calling to mind some of the not-so-subtle race baiting that has been the spasmodic, desperate tactic du jour for McCain and his airheaded coward of a running mate..."

~

Thomas L. Friedman (NYtime) asks, How in the world can conservative commentators write with a straight face that this woman should be vice president of the United States? Do these people understand what serious trouble our country is in right now?

Obama's closing statement...
"I know that I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the fact that this country gave me opportunity. Are we going to pass on that same American dream to the next generation? Over the last 8 years we've seen that dream diminish. Wages and incomes have gone down. People have lost their health care or are going bankrupt becuase they get sick. We've got young people who have got the grades and the will and the drive to go to college but they just don't have the money. And we can't expect that if we do the same things that we've been doing over the last 8 years, that somehow we are going to have a different outcome we need fundamental change. But we're going to have to have the courage and sacrifice, the nerve to move in a new direction..."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjPpf-C1WJQ

Deep Cutz State of the Union
part 1

part 2

VOTE

Debates Tonight - a new candidate arises (10-10 in Rochester)

It feels like most of us have our minds made up...but the town-hall style debates tonight (9pm, on any major network) will primarily aim for the Undecided...which is anywhere from 10-18%, depending on which of the many sources you scour on the internet...

It could get ugly from the Right...

And, keeping up with the financial crisis--are we watching light leave the eyes of American capitalism?

Anyhow...this isn't an official Politi-Cutz--rant...

But, when you're watching tonight - keep in mind how much space there is on that stage...room enough for a third candidate? ("“the people can change anything they want – corporations are not mentioned in the constitution…”)



or a Fourth Candidate?
(C.Jack-08)







in the meantime...
The Factory is on Rochester Road/Main Street...between 3rd and 4th street...you can see Carjack do his own stump speech campaigning their, along with Aleph-1 and My Dear Disco





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dipping again, briefly back into politi-cutz...
where is the outrage??


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Music News - tours coming through Detroit: BALTIMORE ROUND ROBIN + SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS w/SEX GHOST+Sucker DJs

A fun and feverish October lies ahead for Detroit... BALTIMORE ROUND ROBIN 10-8 & 10-9 - MOCAD This weekend, October 8th and 9th, at the MOCAD - (Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit) will host the substantially varying and crazy cast of south-by-southeast born musicians out of the fruitfully freak-friendly Baltimore scene, which includes the indomitable Dan Deacon, the dreamy Beach House and the intriguing Video Hippos... as well as The Death Set, Jana Hunter, Adventure, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, WZT Hearts, Nautical Almanac... The Dan Deacon-curated tour is known as the Baltimore Round Robin, where bands set up along the premiter of the venue/space, boxing the audience in like walls of a fort and commencing to go-round-the-room, band-by-band, one song each, until the show is done...with no headliner and no front, back left or right sides... Stopping twice in each city - the first night (Eyes Night) is dedicated to more atmospheric, cerebral folk-type stuff, which features beach house creepers ed schrader jana hunter lesser gonzalez alvarez lexie mountain boys nautical almanac santa dads teeth mountain wzt hearts The second night, (Feet Night) features the more jump-up-kick-out-wiggle-and-rock dance vibes, with adventure blood baby dan deacon the deathset dj dog dick double dagger future islands height lizz king nuclear power pants smarthgrowth video hippos One tour, 20+ bands, 60+ people - lots of enthusiasm, lots of fun... info

http://baltimoreroundrobin.com/

ALSO---Check out MOCAD photos, courtesy of Riaz K, of the strange and spectacular Carjack show, from a couple weeks back...where a 14-foot-tall, 20-foot-long orange tabby cat came parading into the venue mid-set to cause chaos with a cadre of mice.

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SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS October 17th - Pike Room

One of my new favorite bands...School of Seven Bells was started by guitarist Ben Curtis (from Secret Machines) and pairs his dreamy-lulls and charged buzz pop with twin sister singers Claudia and Alejandra Deheza (from On! Air! Library), sweet sirens with enchanting vocal harmonies that fly and thicken and sway and just seem to carry you away - over beautifully drone-pop-informed fuzz-charms leaning toward wall of sound aspirations but kept modest with lab top beats and measured guitar waves...

check out
"Connjur" and "Chain"
from their debut full length Alpinisms (and check out the Ghostly International Artists page)

(photo: Elle Muliarchyk)

Their visit to the Pike Room in Pontiac is the start of a fateful tour which sees them later meeting up with Black Moth Super Rainbow and M83 - but, the treat for us...is that we get to see them with local favorites - such as the consummate dance/punk trio Javelins, the ever transforming electro-pop of Deastro and the stalwart shoegaze of 800Beloved.

ALSO...if you head downstairs from the Pike Room to Vernor's Subterranean Lounge, you'll find the "Evil Dead meets Thriller" grimy sultry noisy dance pop of locals Sex Ghost - along with the stupdendous and affable Sucker DJs providing the soundtrack for the evening - as part of Phonotropic Phridaze.