Press release (?) from the Peoples’ Golfing Association (PGA):

“From July 6-8th, eight rulers plan to fortress themselves off from reality in the plush surroundings of Gleneagles. The luxurious club has long been the playground of the well-connected and privileged, and is widely viewed as an amusing and revealing location for the G8 summit. People from across the world are vowing that the well-tended lawns of Gleneagles will not be a protest-free zone. The surreal bubble in which the elite have retreated will be punctured.

“The PGA will be holding the Peoples’ Open Golfing Tournament which culminates on July 7th, and plan to be playing golf on the sumptuous greens of Gleneagles during the G8 schmooze-fest. The tournament is open to all freedom loving individuals who reject everything the G8 stands for (except golf). The golfing event promises the opportunity to brush shoulders with influential and dapper anarchists from around the world. It goes without saying that golf skills are not required. In fact, golf skills may even be frowned upon.

“We encourage the formation of autonomous golfing blocs for participation in the PGA Gleneagles tournament.”

New York Times
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

Published: June 5, 2005

When F. Scott Fitzgerald pronounced that the very rich “are different from you and me,” Ernest Hemingway’s famously dismissive response was: “Yes, they have more money.” Today he might well add: much, much, much more money.

The people at the top of America’s money pyramid have so prospered in recent years that they have pulled far ahead of the rest of the population, an analysis of tax records and other government data by The New York Times shows. They have even left behind people making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Call them the hyper-rich.

They are not just a few Croesus-like rarities. Draw a line under the top 0.1 percent of income earners – the top one-thousandth. Above that line are about 145,000 taxpayers, each with at least $1.6 million in income and often much more.

The average income for the top 0.1 percent was $3 million in 2002, the latest year for which averages are available. That number is two and a half times the $1.2 million, adjusted for inflation, that group reported in 1980. No other income group rose nearly as fast.

This huge 128 page issue features exclusive interviews with: Robert Wyatt and his wife, illustrator, lyricist, and muse Alfreda Benge, Masaki Batoh of legendary Japanese band Ghost, Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine, part two of our talk with Terry Riley, an extensive chat with Pat Thomas of San Francisco band Mushroom, the singular John Trubee, our pal Jose Marmeleira talks to Sun City Girls, we talk to Marissa Nadler, Elf Power, Bipolaroid, there’s a long lost phone call to the late great illustrator Rick Griffin, Jonny Trunk of Trunk Records, longtime contributor Sasa Rakezic aka Aleksandar Zograf talks to illustrating icon Gary Panter, Lee Jackson delivers his estimation of the most harrowing baker’s dozen recordings ever with his 13 Nightmares, we talk to Mats Gustafsson about the late lamented Swedish ‘zine The Broken Face, and he delivers a whole section of his inimitable record reviews, he also conducts interviews with Ed Hardy of Eclipse Records, Finnish explorers Kemialliset Ys‰v‰t, and Australian band the Lost Domain, our friend Nuno Robles talks to Donovan Quinn of Verdure, we also talk to Crashing Dreams, Swedish band Testbild!, Russian singer Julia Vorontsova, Tinsel, and as always there are an excess of record reviews, as well as DVD and publication reviews.

The complimentary CD included with issue #5 features excellent previously unreleased material by: Piano Magic, Volcano the Bear, Bipolaroid, Verdure, Mushroom, Julia Vorontsova, the Lost Domain, Jack Rose, AqPop, Testbild!, there’s also a great out of print John Trubee instrumental and Bob Moss lets us use a brilliant previously unrecorded Tom Rapp song from Bob’s album “Folknik II” on Soundcore/ Woods Cross.

Produced by Vernon Reid

Including the Tracks: Take My Music Back To
The Church, I Ainít Superstitious, Geechee
Joe, I††† Canít Take It Any More & Sittiní On
Top Of The World

†ìBirthright, indeed. Here, it’s clear that Ulmer was born to play with fire.î
ñ Steve Dollar, Time Out Chicago

ìThe number of bonafide original contributions to the musical language of the blues in the last 30 years are as scarce as hair on a Mississippi bullfrog. Junior Kimbroughís All Night Long and Otis Taylorís Respect the Dead come immediately to mind. One must now add James Blood Ulmerís Birthright to this short list and it may be the most groundbreaking of all.î
ñ Dave Rubin, Play Blues Guitar & Guitar Player Magazine

ìÖthese dozen tracks sound like they were played by the holy offspring of Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson… by far the most personal blues album the guitarist has ever recorded.î
ñ Robert Fontenot, OffBeat Magazine

James Blood Ulmer is in the midst of a career revivalóan artistic renaissance if you will. A new generation of music fans have discovered his music, while simultaneously longtime fans from throughout his 40-year career have shown a renewed fascination with the iconoclastic genius.† His previous two recordings, Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions and No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions led to much recognition, including a Grammy Award nomination, Rolling Stone Magazine ìBest Albumî honors, a performance at Martin Scorsese blues celebration concert at Radio City Music Hall and high profile appearances with the likes of Government Mule, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.† On Birthright, his latest studio album, Ulmer goes it alone. Itís just he and his guitar singing and playing 12 of the most stark, personal and spellbinding songs heís ever recorded. The blues hasnít sounded this fresh in a long, long time.† Itís clearly the work of an American music legend continuing to reinvent himself, while remaining as relevant today as at any point in his long and distinguished career.

In a review of Robert Johnson: King of The Delta Blues Singers for Downbeat Magazine in 1962, music critic Martin Williams wrote: ìThe best blues deal in their own way with basic human experience, with things that all men in all times and conditions try to come to terms with.î And here, nearly 70 years after Robert Johnsonís mythical recording sessions that bared those infamous sides, James Blood Ulmer continues down the path that Williams quite eloquently described.† Birthright is James Blood Ulmerís first ever solo album. Just James Blood, alone, singing and playing his blues with his fears, demons, prayers and history all laid out before him.† Once revered as a free jazz, black rock guitar master, Ulmer has come full circle, acknowledging the boy he once was who grew up playing guitar on his fatherís knee in the segregated South, singing gospel in the Baptist church and struggling to find the balance between the Lordís word and more earthly matters of the flesh. The 12 songs featured here, in each and every instance, are indeed James Blood Ulmerís Birthright.

ìIím gonna take my music back to the church where the blues was misunderstood, some people think that itís the song of the devil, but itís the soul of the man for sure,î moans Ulmer on the albumís opener ìTake My Music Back To The Church.î A precedent is immediately set.† Ulmer is not about to take a lighthearted romp through tired blues clichÈs, but is instead committed to a soul-bearing transformation.† If Ulmerís two previous records, Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, and No Escape From the Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions, found him finally confronting history and exploring the songs of the great American blues forefathers, then on Birthright, Ulmer is submerging himself in a lifeís worth of living the very experience, exploring its depths, searching for resolve and often reclaiming the music as his own.†

The taleís been told time and again of Ulmerís ongoing conflict between his love for the raw, primal release offered by the blues and the deep-rooted guilt instilled by his mother who made clear to him while growing up that the blues was the devilís music.† This is a subject thatís referenced throughout Birthright. Ulmer is continually searching for a way to impart the blues with the notion of sanctity and redemption.† On the snarling, slashing and guttural stomp of ìThe Evil One,î he declares ìGod called all of the Angels to show him what he had done, and they all bowed down to man except the devil, the jealous one.î† Itís a story of Adam & Eve, God and the Devil, but where most post modern blues of the present day cites the devil because itís a mainstay of the vernacular, Ulmer addresses it with no pretense.† He means every word he sings.

James Blood Ulmer does not suffer fools gladly who spend countless hours in the studio trying to procure the perfect recording. Every track on Birthright was recorded in one and two takes. Fortunately, producer Vernon Reid (back to produce his third album for Ulmer) was a proponent of this approach.† Ulmer would run the tune down once before letting the control room know he was ready to record. From that point on heíd seemingly transport himself to a different existential plane, rocking back and forth, audibly groaning, while excavating magical shards of tangled guitar notes from his black Gibson Birdland.† The pairing of Ulmerís voice and guitar, with all other instruments stripped away, is revealing in itself. His vocal phrasing, often behind the measure of his own rhythms, creates a counterpoint as distinct as any in the history of the bluesóas timeless as Son House, Leadbelly and Lightniní Hopkins, yet informed by the past half century of jazz theory and set within his own inimitable guitar tuning.

Over the last three albums, Ulmerís voice has come to the forefront. Heís begun to garner equal recognition as a singer as he had in the past for his guitar prowess.† His deep, husky vocals shimmer with a natural vibrato and resonate with emotion. On the Willie Dixon classic ìI Ain’t Superstitious,î one of two cover songs on the record, Ulmer injects his own character and life into the lyrics, while on the slow, haunting blues of ìWhite Manís Jail,î he conveys through pain, hurt and muted pride: ìI ainít never been in no white manís jail, my mama didnít send me to their school and I ainít never, never, never learned the white manís rule.î†

In the midst of Birthright are two beautifully wistful songs, exposing yet another side to Ulmerís complex personality. They each suggest wisdom gained from lifeís proverbial struggle.† The first is a reworking of a classic Ulmer number from his 1981 album, Free Lancing, entitled ìWhere Did All The Girls Come From?î† A funky, up-tempo, party jaunt in its original form, these many years later the song feels remorseful, like a lament for personal truths only now understood. The second is Ulmerís tribute to his grandfather, ìGeechee Joe.î† A folk song at its core, it tells of Geechee Joeís influence on Ulmerís life; an inspiration that resounds to this day.† The lyrics are simple on paper, but beautiful, strong and moving when Ulmer sings them.† This kind of pure emotional honesty takes courage. A notoriously elusive character, Ulmer was particularly proud of this song during the sessions.

ìThe Devilís Got To Burnî brings James Blood Ulmerís first ever solo date to a close by re-addressing the ongoing theme of the devilís lure, and within the context of the blues, finding a way for the divine to prevail.† Ulmerís ominous howl and cackle fade to silence, leaving weird abstractions hanging in the air.

Birthright gets closer to the root of James Blood Ulmerís genius than any album in his long and distinguished discography.† Itís a brave record for an artist to make this far into his career.† To strip the music bare and leave nowhere to hide, thus presenting the songs in an utterly transparent form is always a risky move.† Itís even more so when one considers that Ulmer is coming off two commercially successful records that would have him nominated for a Grammy Award (Memphis Blood) and selected as one of Rolling Stone Magazineís top 50 albums of 2003 (No Escape From the Blues).† But then James Blood Ulmer has never played by the rules or aspired to convention.† If a renascence is in the cards, itís going to be on his terms. He is an artist completely driven by the muse and will chase it to the furthest corners of his soul to manifest its cry.† On Birthright, James Blood Ulmer looks deep within to come to terms with lifeís experiences through the blues. These songs are his right, possession and privilege. This is pure James Blood Ulmer.

NME.COM
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS have revealed that their infamous onstage yetis will be replaced this year by something ‘so new it doesn’t even have a name’.

The band are currently on a stripped-down tour of small towns in advance of their new album ‘Love Kraft’, due in August.

On shows for their ‘Phantom Power’ tours, the band — who once drove an armoured tank through a Reading crowd — would come onstage at the end dressed as yetis, before those super furry animals were massacred onstage at London Hammersmith Apollo in April last year. They were “resurrected” later that year for festivals.

But on tour in Wrexham this week, singer Gruff Rhys told NME.COM that by the end of the year, their show would be back to full extravagance: “We’re building up; it’s gonna get mental in the next few months. We’re gonna be adding elements to the show. We have people behind the scenes working on new technology.”

Rumours have been circulating that the band’s new costumes will be robots, which Gruff admitted was close to the mark: “There is gonna be something but it’s gonna be post-robots. It’s very futuristic, whereas the robot is history. The thing is, this thing is so new it doesn’t even have a name.”

The band have been playing new songs from ‘Love Kraft’ on their tour, including the first single ‘Laser Beam’, out August 1, alongside ‘Atomik Lust’, ‚ÄôZoom!‚Äô, ‚ÄôOhio Heat‚Äô, ‚ÄôFrequency‚Äô, ‘The Horn’ and ‘Cloudberries’.

Of the album, Gruff said: “What I’m hoping is there’s talk of a heatwave hitting on August 12, and the album’s coming out on the 15th. We recorded it in intense heat, and mixed it, in Catalonia and Brazil. So because we’re not used to the heat, we ended up making a really slow album that’s really dense, really hazy. Not that you should make your record weather-dependent, but we think August is the month to release it.”

Gruff also admitted that the album title was partially inspired by the early science-fiction writer HP Lovecraft, whose work has also been a major influence on The Coral: “It could be about that, but there’s many aspects to the title,” he said. “It could be like Kraftwerk. Or the love of our craft. Or a vehicle like a hovercraft. It was almost ‘Kraft Love’, but it ended up being ‘Love Kraft’.”

Nine Inch Nails leaves†MTV†show over Bush image – May 30, 2005

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Nine Inch Nails dropped out of the MTV Movie Awards after clashing with the network over an image of President Bush the band planned as a performance backdrop.

The Bush image was to accompany the song “The Hand That Feeds,” which obliquely criticizes the Iraq war. It includes the lyrics: “What if this whole crusade’s a charade / And behind it all there’s a price to be paid / For the blood on which we dine / Justified in the name of the holy and the divine.”

MTV said in a statement to its news division that the network was disappointed the industrial rock band would not perform but had been “uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement.”

The Foo Fighters will perform in place of the Trent Reznor-led band at the awards being taped June 4 in Los Angeles.

Reznor said in a statement posted on the band’s Web site Thursday that the image of the president would have been unaltered and “straightforward.”

“Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me,” he said.

Nine Inch Nails’ fourth studio album and first in six years, “With Teeth,” debuted this month at No. 1.

CNN.com – May 26, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005 Posted: 9:42 AM EDT (1342 GMT)

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (Reuters) — A Brazilian Indian tribe armed with bows and arrows and unseen for years has been spotted in a remote Amazon region where clashes with illegal loggers are threatening its existence.

The tiny Jururei tribe numbers only eight to 10 members, and is the second “uncontacted” group to be threatened by loggers this month, after a judge approved cutting in an area of the jungle called Rio Pardo.

Accelerating rainforest destruction threatens the tribes. Deforestation in 2003-04 totaled 10,088 square miles (26,130 sq km), the most in nearly a decade, official figures show.

“The Indians have had conflict with loggers, who are cutting toward them from two different directions,” Rogerio Vargas Motta, director of the Pacaas Novos national park, told Reuters.