March 4, 2010
Communist In The White House!
The House of Substance: A Nut:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
November 29, 2009
My Heart Is Full Of The Pain Of Disco
So I roam in London, Paris, New York, San Francisco.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:31 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
October 10, 2009
Dhoom 2
Has anyone else seen Dhoom 2? We just rented it from Netflix... Amazing. The world is a lot bigger than most Americans think it is.
Update - Here's a bit of what I was talking about:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:48 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
August 24, 2009
Newstalgia
This is an awesome site: Newstalgia.
This is old clips, sound and video. Things like 1947 Claude Pepper on Meet the Press or Pink Floyd in 1967.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:24 AM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos
June 11, 2009
Too Big To Fail
I went and saw the Austin Lounge Lizards tonite. If you EVER get the chance to go see them...
They have an actual music video out now, Too Big To Fail:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:37 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
April 23, 2009
Speaking Of Violent Right Wingers
While we're on the subject of violent right wingers, I think "Take The Skinheads Bowling" is a candidate for the worst song for getting stuck in the head. Can't get rid of it.
And since it's in mine, here's a gift for you:
This cover is good, too:
And this:
And, to calm you back down:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:12 AM | Comments (1) | Link Cosmos
January 9, 2009
Max's New Song
New song from Max. He doesn't like people being appointed to the Senate because they come from certain families.
Max and the Marginalized: Date With Dynasty and scroll down to click the player button.
Lyrics:
Date With Dynasty
So the chattering classes said it's said and done, and this time they're probably right
Opportunity knocks and then it's ring and run, and disappear into the night
And I don't have a finger to point right out but I think it would be a mistake
To march in the order of the monarchy to the top of the Empire State
Honoring a legacy, long before I came to be
When birthright meets opportunity
You've got a date with dynasty
You've got a date with dynasty
And they said consecration was dead and gone, it's safe to say they were wrong
And they sang out a sun-soaked symphony but someone stopped singing along
So don't get me wrong, I think it all goes down with the best of intentions at hand
Oh what a concept, the purpose of process has turned up in desperate demand
Tell me just what happened to, hearing out two points of view
I know that isn't the life for you, but who's got the time with so much else to do
And that's why saints and royalty are better left to history
Be them, kings and queens or Kennedys
You've got a date with dynasty
You've got a date with dynasty
What good is entitlement, absent some accomplishment
Or maybe some shred of evidence, of some kind of semblance of interest
I guess we'll never take a leave of silly old ideas like these
In this land of opportunity
You've got a date with dynasty
You've got a date with dynasty
There's nothing quite like a legacy
You've got a date with dynasty
Posted by Sudeep at 9:13 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
November 18, 2008
The Company Takes What The Company Wants
The candy store paupers lie to the share holders
They're crossing their fingers they pay the truth makers
The balance sheet is breaking up the sky
So Im caught at the junction still waiting for medicine
The sweat of my brow keeps on feeding the engine
Midnight Oil
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:54 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
November 2, 2008
Hounds Again
I like this so much I'm posting it again.
Hounds
We’re saying what we’re saying, do what you’re going to do with it
A slur or a slaying, we’ve got nothing to do with it
You can phone in contrition, Hollywood Listerine
Wash you mouth with detergent, your hands will never get that clean
‘Cause when they call out the hounds there’s no calling them back
Without blood on their mouths or a corpse on their backs
And I can hear all the howls for miles around
But it still takes a caller to call out the hounds
Derringers, Berettas, old movie Tommy guns
To finish up a vendetta that you’re going to leave undone
No court would convict you, I’ll hold you responsible
For an uptick in tension or worse, something far more demonstrable
‘Cause when they call out the hounds there’s no calling them back
Without blood on their mouths or a corpse on their backs
And I can hear all the howls for miles around
But it still takes a caller to call out the hounds
‘Cause when they call out the hounds there’s no calling them back
So duck your head out of bounds and brace for attack
Long after it’s over, the odor will still stick around
In a faint ugly echo from when you called out the hounds
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:54 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
November 1, 2008
Now listen to this, and I'll tell you about the heartache
Some call it heavenly in its brilliance.
Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream.
I love the friends I have gathered together on this thin raft.
We have constructed pyramids in honor of our escaping.
This is the land where the Pharaoh died.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:22 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
October 25, 2008
Hounds
This is one of my favorites from Max and the Marginalized: Hounds. Go read the story of this song.
Max does a song each week, and posts it. He feels that this way his music is current and meaningful.
It still takes a caller to call out the hounds. Wow. He nails it. Watch the video to see what I mean.
Lyrics:
Hounds
We're saying what we're saying, do what you're going to do with it
A slur or a slaying, we've got nothing to do with it
You can phone in contrition, Hollywood Listerine
Wash you mouth with detergent, your hands will never get that clean
'Cause when they call out the hounds there's no calling them back
Without blood on their mouths or a corpse on their backs
And I can hear all the howls for miles around
But it still takes a caller to call out the hounds
Derringers, Berettas, old movie Tommy guns
To finish up a vendetta that you're going to leave undone
No court would convict you, I'll hold you responsible
For an uptick in tension or worse, something far more demonstrable
'Cause when they call out the hounds there's no calling them back
Without blood on their mouths or a corpse on their backs
And I can hear all the howls for miles around
But it still takes a caller to call out the hounds
'Cause when they call out the hounds there's no calling them back
So duck your head out of bounds and brace for attack
Long after it's over, the odor will still stick around
In a faint ugly echo from when you called out the hounds
Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:13 PM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
October 12, 2008
Hey, Sarah Palin
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | Link Cosmos
July 30, 2008
We Can't Make It Here Anymore
Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore
That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore
See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore
The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day
Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore
High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore
Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore
Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war
And we can't make it here anymore
Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore
And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why
In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore
Another version:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
July 24, 2008
Max and the Marginalized
I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Max and the Marginalized.
We are a political band in Los Angeles. We write and record a new song every week (as of this writing we’ve been doing this for 32 weeks straight), always about something that week which we find worthy of our protestations.Go see some videos here.
My current favorite:
Another:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
July 5, 2008
Try To Remember Peace
I'm listening to Neil Young's album Living With War. I think it is one of the greatest albums ever. (Note - I often say that about albums I am listening to at the time, but this one is one you must listen to.) You can hear it and updated versions of it streamed here: LIVING WITH WAR TODAY
Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
May 30, 2008
Do It Live
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
May 4, 2008
Sun Ra!
Over at Eschaton they're watching SUN RA!!!
Some of you know that Sun Ra is the official Arkestra from Mars of Seeing the Forest. So the vision is spreading!
And for fun, Pink Elephants:
Now that you have been introduced, here's Sun Ra: (Sun Ra was not born. Sun Ra arrived.)
Beautiful, beautiful.
Part 2:
part 3:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
May 2, 2008
Teflon John (McCain)
Here's Teflon John from Max and the Marginalized
Posted by Dave Johnson at 4:25 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
April 20, 2008
Now That We Know They Knew
New song from max and the Marginalized. Go listen to Max and the Marginalized: Now That We Know That They Knew
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
April 19, 2008
Chimes of Freedom
1963?, Bob Dylan
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Another version
And, of course, the Byrds:
And check this one out:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
April 4, 2008
Don't change before the empire falls
Lady, you keep asking why he likes you. How come?
Wonder why he wants more if he's just had some.
Boys, she's got more to play with in the way of toys.
Lady's eyes go off and on with a finger full of glue,
Lips are drawn upon her face in come-to-me tattoo.
Creamy suntan color that fades when she bathes.
Paper dresses catch on fire and you lose her in the haze.
Don't ever change lady, he likes you that way.
Because he just had his hair done and he wants to use your wig,
He's going off the drug thing cause his veins are getting big,
He wants to sell his paintings but the market is slow.
They're only paying him two grams now for a one-man abstract show.
Don't ever change people even if you can.
You are your own best toy to play with; remote control hands.
Made for each other. Made in Japan.
Woman with a greasy heart, automatic man.
Don't ever change people. Your face will hit the fan.
Don't ever change people even if you can.
Don't change before the empire falls.
You laugh so hard you crack the walls.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
January 9, 2008
Mike Huckabee Singing Beyond the Sea
For your musical entertainment:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
January 2, 2008
Benny Lava (Updated)
My loonie bun is fine, Benny Lava!
Update -
Nipple Song
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
December 27, 2007
A couple days late...
I missed putting this up the other day, but it's still good. It's all good.
Robert Earl Keen- Merry Christmas From The Family
And, the Dixie Chicks:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
December 21, 2007
A Holiday Music Present
I came across this gem:
Earl Scruggs & The Byrds playing You Ain't Going Nowhere, from 1971
And while we're at it:
Leo Kottke - I Yell at Traffic & Don't Call Me Ray
That's amazing.
Oh, OK, Julie's House:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
December 5, 2007
Today's Housing Bubble Post - Tech Bubble
This is the story of part of my life:
h/t Big Picture
There's more ...
So the song got me thinking, and I found this. I never knew that the words in the song were also in chronological order!
Here is the video from that page:
And lots of people have made their own videos. There is a great full-screen one here.
Here is one:
The original:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
November 29, 2007
Australia - How Cool Is This?
Former Midnight Oil rocker Garrett named Australia's environment minister
Peter Garrett - the towering, baldheaded former singer of the disbanded Australian rock group Midnight Oil - continued his long, strange tour from pop star to politician Thursday when he was named Australia's environment minister.With his wild dancing and strident voice, Garrett was one of Australia's most recognizable singers until his band broke up in 2002, after belting out politically charged hits for more than 25 years.
Garrett founded Midnight Oil when he was a law student in 1973, but the semi-punk rock group did not achieve global fame until its 1987 track "Beds are Burning" - a protest song about Aboriginal land rights in Australia.
Live version:
And another great one:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
November 21, 2007
Lives In The Balance
Ive been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that youve seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
And theres a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs
On the radio talk shows and the t.v.
You hear one thing again and again
How the u.s.a. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally cant take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
Theres a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we cant even say the names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But theyre never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
November 18, 2007
Your Time Is Tick Tick Ticking Away
David from the Art of Mental Warfare teamed up with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails to present "Warning." The project takes on the covert interests behind the war and our media saturated society. From war crimes to the destruction of the environment and a celebrity-obsessed culture, "The Warning" is a clarion call to action for an apathetic nation."
Some say it was a warning
Some say it was a sign
I was standing right there
When it came down from the sky
The way it spoke to us
You felt it from inside
Said it was up to us
Up to us to decide
You've become a virus
killing off his host
We've been watching you with all of our eyes
And what you seem to value most
So much potential
Or so we used to say
Your greed, self importance, and your arrogance
You piss it all away
We heard her cry
We've come to intervene
You will change your ways and you will make amends
Or we will wipe this place clean
Your time is tick-tick-ticking away
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
November 7, 2007
Obama Girl vs Giuliani Girl
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
October 30, 2007
Clear Channel Stations WOn't Play Sprinsteen Because Not Conservative
What happens when you let a few big corproations control all the media outlets?
DownWithTyranny! CLEAR CHANNEL, REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA NETWORK, OUT TO KILL SPRINGSTEEN'S MAGIC?,
Republican radio network Clear Channel, a monopoly in many cities and a dominant player in most of the rest, isn't interested. Is it because Springsteen has been an outspoken campaigner for Democrats and progressives? Clear Channel has taken a political stand with its programming in the past. Just think back to their boycott of the Dixie Chicks. Oh, no... not way back, just back to when they released their most recent album. Despite being one of the top 10 best-selling American albums of the year-- across all genres and demographics-- radio studiously ignored it. There were maybe half a dozen country stations that even played it at all. What Clear Channel did to the Dixie Chicks is a watertight case for the need to break the media companies up into a thousand pieces. (John Sununu disagrees; he's pro-censorship.) I spoke with an old friend who heads a record company and preferred to speak off the record.
"When you have artists like the Dixie Chicks and Bruce Springsteen who have overtly spoken out against this Administration, they are taken to task in spite the clear and undeniable indications from the marketplace that people want to hear their music. What seems to be happening-- if sales are any kind of a barometer of what the marketplace is-- is that these politically-connected radio networks like Clear Channel are not looking to succeed as radio stations as much as pushing forward some political agenda.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
September 2, 2007
A Musical Diversion
Betty Boop Minnie the Moocher with Cab Calloway
And a bonus: Reefer Man
Posted by Dave Johnson at 10:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
July 16, 2007
Two Heads
You want two heads on you body
And you've got two mirrors in your hand.
Priests are made of brick with gold crosses on a stick
and your nose is too small for this land.
Inside your head is your town
inside your room your jail
inside your mouth the elephants trunk and booze,
the only key to your bail
Want two heads on your body
and you've got two mirrors in your hand
Two heads can be put together.
And you can fill both your feet with sand.
Noone will know you've gutted your mind
but what will you do with your bloody hands?
Your lions are fighting with chairs,
your arms are incredibly fat;
Your women are tired of dying alive
if you've had any women at that.
Wearing your comb like an ax in your head
List'ning for signs of life;
Children are sucking on stone and lead
And chasing their hoops with a knife;
New breasts and jewels for the girl,
Keep them polished and shining;
Put a lock on her belly at night, sweet life,
For no child of mine. (Go to Coda)
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
June 29, 2007
Money
Is money bad for us?
We were talking - about the love that's gone so cold and the people, Who gain the world and lose their soul.
Sometimes I wonder, is music better when it is done for art and not for sales or popularity?
Are bloggers better because they aren't doing it for the money? Does a deadline make you regurgitate conventional wisdoms, or hopes of a paycheck douse the passion and anger?
How much have we lost to today's worship of "market forces?" Have we lost our souls?
We were talking about the space between us all and people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion never glimpse the truth then it's far too late when they pass awayWe were talking
about the love we all could share
When we find it
to try our best to hold it there
with our love, with our love
we could save the world
if they only knewTry to realize it's all within yourself
no one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
and life flows on within you and without youWe were talking
about the love that's gone so cold
and the people who gain the world
and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see
Are you one of themWhen you've seen beyond yourself
then you may find
peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come
when you see we're all one
and life flows on within you and without you
Posted by Dave Johnson at 3:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
June 15, 2007
Now I Find the Wind is Blowing Time Into My Heart
I have always been a fan of the 60's British rock group The Yardbirds. This band pioneered a lot of the British "psychedelic" rock scene and included at various times Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. (How many of you know that Led Zeppelin was originally named The New Yardbirds?)
My wife grew up in London and used to go see the Yardbirds perform. I only got to go to Woodstock.
ANYway, last year (oops, 2003) some of them got together and put out an album called Birdland. I've been listening to it, and it is turning into listening to it over and over. It is a great album and if you remember the Yardbirds I suggest giving it a listen. It has some great new material and excellent versions of some of the classics. John "Gypie" Mayo is great on guitar and there are "guest appearances" from Brian May, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Slash, and Jeff Beck. And there is awesome harmonica playing by Alan Glen.
Follow this Amazon link to hear samples:
The title line is a lyric from the song Still I'm Sad.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
January 29, 2007
Try To Remember Peace
I am coming to think that Neil Young's Living With War is one of the great albums. I've been listening to it over and over today.
I think there's a new mix of it up for listening, with videos and a lot of other stuff at LIVING WITH WAR TODAY.
Here is his MySpace page with more streaming.
While you're at it, take a look (and listen) at Songs of the Times.
No More Lies!
Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:00 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
December 8, 2006
There Are Lives In The Balance
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs
On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names
They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire
-- Jackson Browne
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
November 7, 2006
Iggy?
I'm sorry, but did I just see a Cadillac commercial with music by Iggy Pop?
Posted by Dave Johnson at 12:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
September 6, 2006
Tune for Today -- Have You Had Enough
Throw the rascals out.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
August 26, 2006
Free Music Downloads and MP3s
I was looking around the web today for music and thought I’d tell you about some of the stuff I found.
From Mike Crawford’s site, Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads,
You don't need to worry about getting sued by the Recording Industry Association of America or arrested by the FBI if you download legal music. Many independent and unsigned musicians offer downloads of their music in hopes of attracting more fans.Some of the sites he lists include:
• Jamendo - Open Your EarsThere’s lots more at his site, so go take a look.
• Ogg Frog Free Music Torrents - Bit Torrent downloads of Creative Commons-licensed music.
• Trotch - Music is Timeless. The Music Business is Not.
• Asian Classical Music in MP3 Format
• Public Domain 4U - Best in Public Domain MP3s
• kahvi collective - sound has the power to make the world a better place
• micromusic - (I'm not sure how to describe it -- Mike)
• Unsigned Band Web - We are a music portal featuring artists from all genres and all nations!
• Motagator Music - Cajun, Zydeco, Folk, Roots and Blues music
• ACIDplanet - your world of music
I usually prefer independent artists to the commercial stuff, so I looked around and found a few sites, like GarageBand.com. Also take a look at ArtistGigs.com, ArtistLaunch.com and AudioStreet.net.
Meanwhile, MTV has a free music download site. Artist Direct Free Music Download MP3 looks OK and keeps a featured download list.
Leave a comment and lt me know about other places and good bands that you know about.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:51 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
August 24, 2006
Come And Get Me Out Of Here
Are there any other Oingo Boingo fans out there? Come 'n get me out of here.
OK - that's enough YouTube for today...
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:59 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
Hendrix
Wow. Nothing else to say.
I saw him at Woodstock...
And of course, this:
Posted by Dave Johnson at 7:51 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
August 12, 2006
Musical Saw Festival
One of my favorite things about Santa Cruz is the music. The radio, the clubs and just on the street...
So today I'm in Santa Cruz for a bit, and walking down the street I come across this: (sorry, cell-phone pic)
It's a musical saw gathering in front of the statue of saw-player(and labor organizer) Tom Scribner. They're in town for a festival.
Researching this post I learned that,
Tom had been a logger, and a labor organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (aka the Wobblies). The Wobblies were active from 1905 to WWI, and their aim was to organize unskilled workers all over the world into "One Big Union". "Solidarity Forever" was their slogan. He also editied a local newspaper called "The Redwood Ripsaw" during the 60's.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 1:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
July 26, 2006
Brothers and Sisters?
If you were there, you know he didn't say "Brothers and Sisters"
My formative years... Ann Arbor... Who else remembers what he said? Discuss.
Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | Link Cosmos
