Live, from half way between Dahmer's house and Peltier's first police beating it's ATI. Activism Trumps Idiocy. <><><><><\><|><><><><> <> <> <> AA TTTTTT IIIIII <> <> A A TT II <> <> AAAA TT II <> <> A A TT II <> <> A A TT IIIIII <> <> <> <><><><><3><3><1><><><><> 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 = C = = 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| ||||||||| 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???