In Arthur No. 9, Dave Catching invited us into his kitchen and shows us how to make New Orleans Soul Red Beans, Rice and Corn Bread. We’re still using his recipe at Arthur HQ! Bless Dave Catching, a true American in the finest sense of the word.
Yearly Archives for 2007
Monday, June 18 in Los Angeles: DAVID AXELROD in person!
The Imperial dream.
Tomgram: How Permanent Are Those Bases?
The Great American Disconnect
Iraq Has Always Been “South Korea” for the Bush Administration
By Tom Engelhardt
Finally, the great American disconnect may be ending. Only four years after the invasion of Iraq, the crucial facts-on-the-ground might finally be coming into sight in this country — not the carnage or the mayhem; not the suicide car bombs or the chlorine truck bombs; not the massive flight of middle-class professionals, the assassination campaign against academics, or the collapse of the best health-care service in the region; not the spiking American and Iraqi casualties, the lack of electricity, the growth of Shia militias, the crumbling of the “coalition of the willing,” or the uprooting of 15% or more of Iraq’s population; not even the sharp increase in fundamentalism and extremism, the rise of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the swelling of sectarian killings, or the inability of the Iraqi government to get oil out of the ground or an oil law, designed in Washington and meant to turn the clock back decades in the Middle East, passed inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone — no, none of that. What’s finally coming into view is just what George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the top officials of their administration, the civilian leadership at the Pentagon, and their neocon followers had in mind when they invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003.
But let me approach this issue another way. For the last week, news jockeys have been plunged into a debate about the “Korea model,” which, according to the New York Times and other media outlets, the President is suddenly considering as the model for Iraq. (“Mr. Bush has told recent visitors to the White House that he was seeking a model similar to the American presence in South Korea.”) You know, a limited number of major American bases tucked away out of urban areas; a limited number of American troops (say, 30,000-40,000), largely confined to those bases but ready to strike at any moment; a friendly government in Baghdad; and (as in South Korea where our troops have been for six decades) maybe another half century-plus of quiet garrisoning. In other words, this is the time equivalent of a geographic “over the horizon redeployment” of American troops. In this case, “over the horizon” would mean through 2057 and beyond.
This, we are now told, is a new stage in administration thinking. White House spokesman Tony Snow seconded the “Korea model” (“You have the United States there in what has been described as an over-the-horizon support role… — as we have in South Korea, where for many years there have been American forces stationed there as a way of maintaining stability and assurance on the part of the South Korean people against a North Korean neighbor that is a menace…”); Defense Secretary Robert Gates threw his weight behind it as a way of reassuring Iraqis that the U.S. “will not withdraw from Iraq as it did from Vietnam, ‘lock, stock and barrel,'” as did “surge plan” second-in-command in Baghdad, Lt. General Ray Odierno. (“Q Do you agree that we will likely have a South Korean-style force there for years to come? GEN. ODIERNO: Well, I think that’s a strategic decision, and I think that’s between us and — the government of the United States and the government of Iraq. I think it’s a great idea.”)
Continue readingTonight (Thurs) in Los Angeles.
Arthur presents…
New Energy Music Sesh with djs Arrok and Paulus
Tonight!
Thursday June 7th 10pm
at Little Joy 1477 W. Sunset Blvd.
Paulus is inclined towards heavy moves and hesher rock.
This probably means Steeleye Span, Savage Rose, Cactus, and early Scorps.
Arrok favors ethno-psych and water brother vibes. He’ll be busting out
Moroccan hippy beat, California laid-back, and revolutionary French dropout rock primarily.
Cultures We Could Have, Part 2: WomanSpirit, the first magazine of feminist spirituality
From an Arthur contributor:
Womanspirit Magazine
The first magazine of feminist spirituality, WomanSpirit chronicled the exciting exploration of women’s changing lives through the decade 1974-1984. WomanSpirit showcased art and writing from women all over the world, from the academy to alternative cultures. Produced in forested Southern Oregon by an open WomanSpirit of volunteers, inspired and sustained by editors Jean and Ruth Mountaingrove, it was published quarterly as the seasons turned.
WomanSpirit explored creating women’s culture, ecology, ritual, healing, psychic abilities, feminist politics, women’s life stages, wicca, divination, death and dying, goddess myths and traditions, and many other topics. Gorgeous artwork, photographs, songs, stories, articles, discussions, poems, letters, and book reviews sparked and connected the international web of contributors and subscribers.
Simply and beautifully bound, this magazine is a snapshot of a different (?) era of identity based politics, where folks were developing incredible vernacular cultures, languages and spaces for their own cultures to thrive in, outside and far beyond the dominant culture.
When a magazines and the cultures they speak for get this wonderfully rich , we certainly begin to depart from any kind of traditional patriarchy.
'Tomorrow Hits' Tomorrow! (Teenage Frames perform/Jimi Hey DJs!)
“Dear Convention Guests,
Tomorrow,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6th
we stage the entertainment portion of our trade show.
The venue is:
LA CITA
(3rd/Hill St. Downtown)
Shuttle will be running every half hour from all our partner-hotel-properties.
Frankie Delmane & his TEENAGE FRAMES perform!
JIMI HEY DJs!
Be sure to wear your official placard at all times to guarantee admission.
Meet & Greet, light refreshments, and marketing seminar to take place simultaneously on the patio.
This is your one-stop networking dream!
Thank-You
-Your convention hosts
RAH-RAH-RAH”
"BULL TONGUE" by Byron Coley & Thurston Moore – June 2007
BULL TONGUE
Exploring the Voids of All Known Undergrounds Since 2002
by Byron Coley and Thurston Moore
Trans Industrial Toy Orchestra’s Alzheimer Underground LP (Ti Prod) [www.transindustriell.de] is a pip. They are a German troupe where the decidedly fluxus membership play and record by reading words without “e” with nuts cracked in a nut cracker and reading backwards while tearing a sheet. They also utilize record players in aurally illegitimate ways. Sounds dada, bizarre, unlistenable? Actually yes and no: it is indeed a fucked up thing but quite alluring in its tribute to brain blankness.
Very nice slab here from Liverpool’s Solar Fire Trio (Invada) [www.invada.co.uk]. Formed in ’05 by Spiritualized saxophonist, Ray Dickaty, alto player Dave Jackson and drummer, Steve Belger, their eponymous debut LP is classic squee-pileage in the post-ESP tradition. Unlike some Euro players, these three base their sound on loose sonic collisions and and interwoven blather in ripely extended fire-form, all revolving around theories of meat and its ability to burn. Solid, savage blurt.
Debut release by Weak Sisters is a cassette called Subterfuge (Basement Tapes) [myspace.com/boilerroomemissions]. Awesome cut up screams and dead-time pronouncements make this release unbearably savage. The fact that it’s not just wank but pretty taut and focused nihilist sense-slicing makes for killer listening. Weak Sisters is basically a solo spurt of Will van Goern of Other People’s Children and word on the streets of Fort Collins, Colorado is that this tape don’t come close to his live actions. Hopefully, we shall see.
The great Marcia Bassett is rightfully hailed around the globe for her work with Double Leopards, Hotogitsu, GHQ and plenty more. She’s been responsible for some beautiful visual projects as well, but we are here this time to praise her new solo LP, recorded under the monniker Zaimph. Mirage of the Other (Gipsy Sphinx) [myspace.com/gipsysphinx]. This album seems much more flowing and less harsh than the last Zaimph CD (not that flowing necessarily trumps harsh, it’s just different). The combination of voice and guitar here has lots of raspy edge, but there’s a deep gorgeousity to it making the record seem like it’s glowing when it spins. Long lunar notes have rarely sounded so fresh. Gipsy Sphinx also has a fine album by Bear Bones Lay Low [hets.tk] called Djid Hums. This is another solo album, cut by an 18-year-old Venezualan ex-pat living in Belgium. Guitar drones and tape loops pile up higher than kites and there are blasts of fuzz that will tweak every psychedelic bones in yr body. Beware!
Here's A Riddle, What's Both Nowhere and Everywhere?
An exhibit about the liminal, substanceless, and static space of automotive transience at The Center For Land Use Interpretation. Exhibit hours: Fri, Sat, Sun noon – 5pm or by appointment
Bring the War Home
First Casualty in Santa Monica
Political theater for the 00’s.
“this reenactment hits you so hard when you see it up front like this”
Diggers Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft on 1967
San Francisco Chronicle – May 20, 2007
Summer of Love: 40 Years Later
Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft
PETER BERG AND JUDY GOLDHAFT, directors of Planet Drum, a grassroots ecology outreach program that encourages regional sustainability around the world. THEN: Peter Berg and his wife, Judy Goldhaft, were original members of the Diggers, the Haight-Ashbury community group that served free food daily in the Panhandle, operated the Free Store and so much more.
BERG: 1966 was the Digger year. Emmett Grogan walked into the San Francisco Mime Troupe when I was the assistant director and Judy had been there a long time.
GOLDHAFT: I directed things and performed in things.
BERG: We were involved with the idea of taking theater off the stage and into people’s hands. So I had evolved a concept of guerrilla theater, and guerrilla theater was to actively engage people in some action, or witness some event that would make them sort of a conspirator. [The couple had participated in early guerrilla theater pieces during the Free Speech Movement protests at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza in ’64]. I had cast Emmett in a couple of small cabaret things, and it became obvious to all of us that the next step — you know, in the theater it’s called breaking the fourth wall — the next step was to have actors doing things that acted out alternatives. The label I put on that was ‘life acting.’ And by the way, Emmett was not a very good stage actor, but he was a hell of a life actor! He was a pretty charismatic person. He and Billy Murcott went on top of the building during the Fillmore riots [triggered by the September, 1966 police shooting of an African-American teenager suspected of robbery] and they saw this acting out of, one could say, revolution, maybe with a small ‘r.’ What it inspired them to do was to make a kind of manifesto for people who weren’t involved with the black struggle, that was on an equal footing. And to them it was to be communalistic and altruistic. Billy Mercott had been reading a book about (Gerrard) Winstanley, the leader of the English heretical, communalistic group — and very Christian, by the way — called the diggers. So Billy said, ‘Well, you know, dig, like to dig, dig this, man. Together they made a manifesto that they tacked up on the front door of the Mime Troupe on Howard Street, next to that journalists’ bar, the M&M. This was like [Martin Luther] tacking the 99 thesis on the cathedral door.
I looked at it, and I saw the life-actor potential in it. Which was, a group who called themselves Diggers could begin acting out a lot of the positive alternatives that the Left presumed would occur if there was a successful, small ‘r’ revolution. And for me, those were more anarchistic, than they were ideologically Lefty. It goes something like this: If you say something is wrong, then you can propose something that’s better. The better thing needs to be seen to be believed. So, we thought, if you act out the ideas — a lot of people collaborated on the ideas, ‘everything is free, do your own thing.’
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