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Activist Times Inc. Issue 331
Live, from half way between Dahmer's house and Peltier's
first police beating it's ATI. Activism Trumps Idiocy.
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0210281776 hrs
Hello, I'm Prime Anarchist and
here's some numbers and stuff.
http://137.229.36.56
http://www.osmth.org
http://adam4shadow.com
http://www.tompaine.com
http://mojomusicstudio.com
http://www.jumptheshark.com
http://www.mp3.com/martharedbone
http://www.flagstaffactivist.org
http://sanderhicks.com/helms.html
http://www.justenough.net/home.php
http://www.chrisandjackie.com/23.htm
http://www.nodo50.org/cartelera_libertaria
http://home.earthlink.net/~dare2b/bush.htm
http://www.frucht.org/poems/knucklehead.html
http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/midweeks
http://home.earthlink.net/~emulsional/raw.htm
http://www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html
http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/MISSION.TXT
http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=35913
http://www.onmilwaukee.com/music/articles/redbone.html
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,55838,00.html
http://www.flagstaffactivist.org/campaigns/walfacts.html
http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/movies/jul02/59337.asp
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7672/index.html
http://chiapas.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=103582
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= O =
= L =
= U = mUsik iNduStrY - oXyMoRoN?
= M =
= N =
"This album cost me twenty bucks. It costs fifteen
on the Internet. Or it can be downloaded for free.
And it's been better therapy than any medical
authority has ever offered me for many times that
price."
That's publisher Al Giordano awarding Eminem
"Journalist of the Year."
[ http://www.narconews.com/eminem1.html ] Giordano
made a solid point I'd like to develop here. Can I?
The music industry is out of control. Yes, I said
that. I'd sooner toss it out on its ear than waste
such energy trying to save it. I feel there's no hope
industries that give about a buck to inventors, four
to slave-masters, seven to the self and then charge
what can only be called 2000% markup. Yes, of course
these numbers are rough, but I hit it on the head,
don't I?
Face it. You've asked yourself for years -- "Just
who IS the 'music industry' and who do they think
they are?" I'm telling you, I JUST DON'T THINK IT'S
REFORMABLE AND HERE'S WHY.
How many bands never cut a "record" for each that
do? I'm not sure, but it feels like 1/100 odds to me.
And how many published musicians still survive on part
time junk jobs? Again, I don't know but tons of
anecdotal stories imply they're the hefty majority.
I tried looking up industry statistics (why the word
"industry" anyhow? This is no machine screw being
invented, rather stories, myths, ideas. "Industry"
implies actual factories - there are, but more on
that later.) and I only found out each hit song comes
next to $6.3 million in losses on other records
tanking. They claim fewer than 5% of signed artists
ever get a hit.
I would question whether 95% had chances, or got
dropped right away for no "return on investment."
Places like Billboard were no help and for all I know
NYTimes was, but I'm not paying their online archival
fee to find out. But again, anecdotal evidence tells
me many artists got tossed like the weekly trash.
Last year someone ripped a Rage Against The Machine
CD which meant mp3's were freely downloaded. Instead
of suing, RATM put the same tunes on their own web-space
asking politely that people just consider getting it
from their site. And tell friends.
What did their slave-master, er, uh, I mean record
label do? What "everyone does," of course. They sued.
If I read the legalese right, RATM lost the battle and
was forced to remove their own mp3's, agreeing to
cease all self-promotion. When Seagrams bought the
rights to Aimee Mann's music and dropped many artists
at the same time, she was among the cuts. I'll spare
you the long complicated story how she got the rights
to distribute her own music, but essentially, she put
her current record on her own page selling about
30,000 copies in a year. When VH1 asked if she'd ever
return to major labels she chuckled saying it's not
possible for them to give her the markup she gets.
By their current structure they'd put themselves
right out of business trying to match the profit
she commands. (pronounced "deserves.")
Spitfire Tour brought Jello Biafra to Green Bay last
campaign season where he called the industry an
"electronic plantation." He said typical contracts
give a million cash, but it's really just "front
money" because Record Plant and Hit Factory each
bill you half a million even if they don't record
you or mix you down. Most labels give a year to sell
a million records or you're cut right away. In some
cases it's even worse. Many artists say they've now
got one quarter (three months!) to sell 250,000 copies
or they need a good line assuring they'll have better
luck in the next couple quarters. Or an attorney,
right?
What's next, selling your own product door to door
for them? Actually, I asked Biafra after the show why
he wasn't selling any of his own stuff or even tabling
literature; and he admitted he just forgot to even
think about it this tour. But he also pointed out
you'll see Michael Franti's newest album absent from
vending tables. Only place you're allowed to get it
is stores. Biafra said that if Franti's label is
typical he gets a free box of CD's and then must buy
others "at cost," and is forbidden from selling
current CDs until at least a full year out.
The fifth annual Native American Music Awards
ceremony came to Milwaukee this year during Indian
Summer. Now if you know anything about the NAMMYS
you know there's almost nothing grandiose about it.
A commercial endeavor sure; but it usually breaks
about even or loses a small manageable amount of
money each year. It's grown organically and holds
to its original path year after year. NAMMYS-5 was
a production and performance success, but failed
other ways, serving as a learning experience I guess.
What transpired was what I'll call a "feeding trough
of misunderstanding."
I won't detail much because I don't want anyone
feeling libelled, but let me say each step of the
way people outside the NAMMYS jacked the prices up,
or did their own personal bait-and-switch tactics
trying to get a little extra for themselves. Taking
a cold hard look I suddenly felt like we were building
a nuke submarine or a stealth bomber, rather than
showcasing music, know what I mean? Maybe kickbacks
and cost overrides are the norm for Grammys and Music
Video awards, but the NAMMYS are trying to do
something different here. Top priority in the NAMMYS
each year is first and foremost the human beings
honoring each other for their incredible creative
work. Do you see these same values at Radio City
Music Hall or the Staples Center? I won't even answer
that.
Every winter I watch Superbowl and Grammys. Why? To
see talent. But seldom do I see any in the actual show.
Ads showcase the year's best creativity, but not the
Grammys or the Superbowl. So I watch the ads. The
show's more like sub-theme for me now.
I have a friend at my volunteer tech job
[ http://www.indymedia.org ] who I won't name because
his father's brother resigned last year as CEO of a
major label when his board members were out of their
minds -- guess what they're entering this Christmas
season with? Yes, a new boyband and one more preteen
girl they can train to sing, dance and fashion a tiny
bit of clothing. And you heard right: they planned
this Christmas season last year. Another feeding
trough, but I digress. He found them a great
songwriter, and a couple bands who write AND perform
well; but his own board of directors rejected them,
voted him down. I'll bet he feels forsaken by not
just his company, the whole business. Has the industry
(dare I call it a machine) lost touch with humanity?
Speaking of machines, Digital Audio Tape recorders
go for almost $800. Do you know how much they were in
'89? Same price. Ever wonder why? Other electronics
drop naturally working their way into almost every
audiophile's home, but not so with DAT. The industry
felt threatened maybe? Well, it's about to get worse
for them. While DAT relied on proprietary machines
that can be locked up Sony-style; new technologies
don't. MP3s, "oggs" and gnutella might do the
"industry" worse than what DAT did in the 80s. What's
different here is once you have a recording, there's
almost no signal loss passing it to others. Just get
it somehow; then send it some other how. Free and easy.
Industry soon loses its stranglehold on human
consumption of music. Music transfers between any two
networked computers. And I'm learning that ogg vorbis
is even more devastating since it overcame the
remaining little tricks that industry can still do to
make an MP3 somewhat proprietary. Just how did "ogg"
do this? Stayed "open source" and "freeware" from
beginning to end.
As Aimee Mann proves, you no longer need a record
label to get your music to lots of people. But some
lawyers and accountants are starting to sound
desperate, aren't they? Record companies are "like
cartels, like countries, for God's sake," says Tom
Waits, "It's a nightmare to be trapped in one. I'm on
a good label now that's not part of the plantation
system. (Epitaph) But all the old records I did for
Island have been swallowed up and spit out in
whatever form they choose. These corporations don't
have feelings and they don't see themselves as the
stewards of the work."
"In the past 20 years," says Dixie Chicks manager
Simon Renshaw, "an industry that was led by visionaries
and music lovers has become dominated by accountants,
financial analysts and people who can't think ahead
more than 90 days."
So download Eminem's songs, or buy them, but listen
and live with them. Have an opinion. Share if you can.
He crosses boundries between singer, songwriter, poet,
rapper and journalist; but I've yet to see him enter
the realm of corporate thuggery. Which is more than I
can say for some "artists" out there; not to mention
names of course.
So, what have I written here that you don't already
know, or at least feel in your heart? Not much. Should
I really suggest tossing the industry out on its ear
without offering something constructive about what
could come along and take its place?
Sure.
Download all my music for free at:
http://www.mp3.com/marcocapelli
or if you don't want those pesky pop-ups and
nasty banner ads they run you through, just
go to:
http://www.frucht.org/anicmusic.html
*************
GNU FEET YOUR
************* s.i.f.o.d.o.h.
(NEW FEATURE)
*************
SITTING IN FRONT OF DAHMER'S OLD HOUSE
Trick Or Treating is rather weird around here. You can
imagine why. It began yesterday around 3pm and ended around
5. Well before dark. Hmmm. No one wants to be near Dahmer's
house after dark on All Hallows Eve?
Hmmm.
So yes, for this feature I hop on my mountain bike and
ride over to the plot of land where Dahmer's house used
to sit. As you know from last feature, the place is fenced
in, locked and overgrown. I don't get much vibe when I come
here yet. Each time I feel trepidation, but it's my own. I
don't sense any other spirits yet. But that's not the only
thing I came here for. You know that. I come for the quiet.
The thinking. And especially to wrestle with issues of
violence. Non-violence is a constant struggle. And what
better a place than the subtle shrine to such horror
could there be for doing this. Right?
C So this weekend somewhere between 99,000 and 250,000
L people protested George W Bush's plans for war. And that
O number's just for Washington! Another 100K protested in
S SF at the same time, give or take an hour or a time zone.
E And at least a million other people were dotted around the
globe by the hundreds and thousands in just about every
D major and medium sized city in the world. Almost all of
O them stand against the upcoming new invasions in Iraq.
W The No-Fly zones are coming under question, as is
N national autonomy. Of course George isn't trying to
hear this. He spent the weekend in Mexico, avoiding
T the press at all cost. He only spoke up to give condolences
H to people who grieve for Senator Wellstone who just died
E in a plane crash a week or so before his next election.
George W. Bush is a fairly violent man. Saying this borders
S on understatement. Check out his rhetoric each time he executed
O a young black man in Texas. So now he's going to lead a whole
A nation to attempt bloodbathing another nation. AND WITHOUT THE
SUPPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. No matter how hard he
! tried to manufacture consent -- and try he did, you can see it
oozing out of each pore -- he couldn't get any support. So the
Untied States are going to go it alone. How many more humans
need to die before someone in the world has the courage to call
Washington for what it is.
A belligerent.
The red brick driveway
Next to the Munson Company cyclone fence
Between Hong Fat Co.
And Ameritech
So Jeffery Dahmer killed many young boys, mostly black.
George W Bush is currently killing many young boys, mostly
black. Just a different way, huh? You could almost say Dahmer
has more courage, he did so with his bare hands.
George W Bush does the Franco thing. Sticks out his hand,
essentially, pointing someone out, saying "Matalo," (spanish
for "kill it") and hours or days later the person ends up
dead. That's what high tech war is like. You spin your globe
around, point out a thumbtack on it, and say "matalo." And
a month or two later, a year or two later, a decade or two
later, the genocide has been complete.
So I've called the pResident of the Untied States a mass
murderer. Many will not say it out loud, but how many don't
feel it? How many don't have that thought in mind? Really.
I wonder that.
And lastly, on the topic of violence. George W Bush hasn't
applauded the use of biochem agents on "terrorists" in Russia
this weekend. But he refuses to write a position paper speaking
out AGAINST it either. This is frightening. If you read Ari
Fletcher's rhetoric carefully, he's reserving the right to do
likewise in the EEUU. It's already wishy-washy in this nation's
psyche what is a terrorist and what is not a terrorist. How
quickly could Bush give the go-ahead say, to gas the next
David Koresh, Randy Weaver or Winona Ryder?
AND WHAT THE PLUCK FLUCK GRUCKETY GUCK, GIVES US THE RIGHT
TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST HUSSEIN "GASSING HIS OWN PEOPLE" WHEN
WE ALL BUT APPLAUD OUR TENUOUS ALLY RUSSIA DOING THE SAME
TO THEIR OWN??? Never mind the fact that there's a strong
likelyhood that the gas used in Iraq, and the gas used in
Russia came from our very own Pfizer, Warner-Lambert or
Squibb?
So that's the wider violence I'm wrestling with today.
Narrower is stuff like road-rage, flipping off a patrolman
at a signal light or browbeating a desk clerk, right?
And what about calling the cops on someone. Am I one of
the only ones who recognizes right away that clamping
down on someone using the State as your enforcer, is not
all that much different from punching their teeth down
their throat?
A policeman yesterday told me at the homeless shelter
I help run, that if a certain loiterer is as he says, a
guest of ours then he can't do anything to him. Would I
be willing to say he's not our guest.
Wow, to look him in the eye and say yes, the deed is
done. I lock this person up for 3 months to a year. It
hinges on my word.
I will only say that in the 4 months I've been here he
has never been our guest. I don't know he hadn't lived
here many years ago, or that he's not related to someone
who lives here currently, and I will NOT give a list of
who does. And I will not comply beyond that.
The cop thanked me for my time, offered to run my name
date of birth and address and go about his business.
I've dealt with this kind of energy for almost 9 years
now at various different shelters I've run. It's icky
every single time. Whenever I've had to call the police
because there's no other non-violent way to get a particular
person to leave, I've felt downright icky. Wrestling with
it the next 4 days or so, I'm always left wondering if
I wouldn't have less to process had I picked him up, carried
him to the porch and punched him a few dozen times before
throwing him down the stairs, shouting "and stay out."
Jefferey Dahmer is dead. The Bush administration is not.
And we as people are still alive.
So far.
=30=
[ed note: this feature was conceived just a
few weeks ago - shortly after a Milwaukee man
was beaten to death by children ages 10-14 here
in Milwaukee. Vigils began out in front of the
house where the beating happened. Candles and
prayer. Ummm. About 10 blocks walking distance
from Dahmer's house? Perhaps an even more
fitting memorial would be a weekly midnite walk
from that house to Dahmer's; while addressing
issues of nonviolence. Are we ready for that?
How many decades?? ]
----
SHORT JOURNAL NOTE: ---=>
----
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket.
Hmmm.
It's been a long time since I've turned off the
car but kept the radio on until a song ended before
going inside.
There just weren't any worthy songs in a long
while. This one got me. Catchy or something. Well,
that's Cake for you.
LINDOWS NOTE:
Straight from the Associated Press
"Users are logged on automatically as an administrator
making the system vulnerable to hackers and self-destruction."
Can you say, root@irc.dot.net ?
|||||||||
|CONCEPT|
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T-Shirt.
Picture of a Helicopter over a large palatial building:
Big black, block letters:
WAR IS OBSOLETE AND THE DRACONIAN CURRENT "PRESIDENT"
SHOULD BE NOT CONSIDERED FOR RE-ELECTION.
IMPEACHMENT IS TOO GOOD FOR HIM AND MURDER IS JUST
PLAIN WRONG.
I SAY WE SURROUND HIS HOUSE BY THE MILLIONS BANGING
ON POTS AND PANS FOR HOWEVER MANY DAYS IT TAKES BEFORE
HE TAKES A HELICOPTER OFF THE ROOF TO SOMEWHERE ELSE.
==============
BOOK PREREVIEW
==============
"The Pinochet File."
Can't wait to get my hands on this book. Can't wait
to read any new info about Victor Jara and I especially
cannot wait to make guesses based on what's included
about the SOA, and what's been excluded during the
upcoming censorship process that the galley pages are
no doubt gauntletting through right now.
Author: Peter Kornbluh, Isbn: no idea yet, additional
reading: "The Condor Years" by John Dinges. Both pubbed
by The New Press.
LINGUISTICS ALERT :
How come China and Iraq have "gulags" while at the same
time Leavenworth, USA; and Guantanamo, Cuba are "prisons?"
TAKE NOTE: Nice Quarter-page ad A27 of NYTimes for
http://www.tompaine.com
"Independent, commerical-free Public Affairs reporting
and commentary."
Wow, they've come a long way in a couple years. I
remember when it was something more akin to a blog. Have
you seen the pages lately?
Got feedback?
ati@indymedia.org
dedication: Paul Wellstone.
Soon as you're done mourning, get organizing, ok???
