Last night Evil Vince busted out Music Is The Weapon, a documentary from the BBC on Nigerian musician/politician, Fela Kuti. I’ve seen his son Femi Kuti perform as an opener for String Cheese Incident. But I really knew nothing about his radical, “James-Brown-of-Africa” father until last night. And I did not know much about Nigeria, an oil-rich nation one in every four Africans calls home. This is an important film to see.
Megan Basten, Darby’s homegirl came through again with the lead on Peter Case playing an early show at Schuba’s on Friday. Word has it Megan was a big fan of his punk band The Plimsouls while a high school student in Hudson, Ohio. Last night, we saw Peter play a folk set, solo acoustic in one of Chicago’s great rooms for music. Sitting on a wood bench in the front row, we witnessed up close and personal the song stylings of a true and well-traveled master craftsman.
Dennis Kucinich, the most radical elected official in America today, won the Democratic caucus on this small island in the Pacific this week. He took over 50% of the vote. According to news reports several lifelong Republicans and a number of Independents crossed over to the Democrats in order to vote for Dennis. Dennis also took 30% of the vote in the state as a whole, coming in second to Kerry. Thank you Hawaii for voting your hearts.
Illinois voters do not declare their party affiliation at the time of voter registration. Thus, our state’s Tuesday, March 16th Democratic Party primary is an “open primary.” You can walk up and declare at the voting place. I’m very pleased with this news (I called the elections bureau to confirm) and now plan to abandon my fiercely Independent stance in order to become a Radical Democrat and cast my vote for Dennis. At least for a day.
A good segment of the Chicago ad industry exists in a handful of interconnected buildings on North Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. In the main cluster–111 East Wacker, 233 N. Michigan, and 225 N. Michigan–you can take an elevator up to Frankel, Ogilvy, Y+R, Burrell, Slack Barshinger, or Cramer Krasselt. Nearby on Randolph, Element 79 and DDB share an address (200 East) and fortress-like scraper of sky.
Leo Burnett, Upshot, and Zipatoni are within earshot. Cross the bridge to the north, and you have BBDO, Draft, FCB, Laughlin Constable, Fusion Idea Lab and Campbell Mithun, all within a few blocks. Then, as in any healthy system, there’s interesting activity on the fringe–Point B and Hadrian’s Wall in River North, Tom Dick and Harry on Ravenswood in Lake View, and Storandt Pann Margolis in a converted theatre in historic downtown La Grange.
This dense concentration of “black turtlenecks” has the attention of the mainstream press. Sun Times columnist, Lewis Lazare covers the ad community on an almost daily basis. It’s a good read and an excellent source for information.
Jane and John Kerry (in background) at protest for peace
There are men in American who love to hate Jane Fonda. I will not give them the service of a link, nor any further mention here. I will say being outspoken for peace demands integrity, honesty, and bravery especially during times of great national peril, as is any time during war.
This map shows, by county, how well Bush and Gore fared in the 2000 Presidential election, an election Gore won by 500,000 popular votes. Only Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah had zero counties reporting for Gore. Alaska had one county that went to Gore. Anyway, it’s interesting to see who lives where. For other great maps, check out National Atlas dot gov.
Broadcast news organizations, for the most part, no longer deserve to be thought of as news organizations at all. Owned by entertainment conglomerates, their offerings resemble something much closer to “reality” TV, than what we once thought of as objective reporting. It is a particularly sad state of affairs for this nation when celebrity trials (or publicity stunts, as the case may be) dominate the news. Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Martha Stewart, and Kobe Bryant, no matter how twisted, sick, or misguided they may be, are distractions. Our fascination with celebrity is a distraction, and in my view, a dangerous one.
Right now, the US government is conducting a war in Afghanistan, one in Iraq, and several more at home. Haiti and Australia are experiencing riots. A Russian candidate for President went missing for five days. American jobs are being shipped overseas, poverty is on the rise, education is on the decline, civil liberties and the environment are under attack…I could go on at length here listing real news items in need of in-depth media coverage. Gay marriage and Bush’s National Guard service record are more distractions. Our country is at war under false pretenses. Our military is over-extended and being blatantly abused for corporate gain. And no one seems to care. Well, I care. If you care, it’s time to become a dedicated media activist, peace activist, environmentalist, and humanitarian.
To get a better grip on why the media is so out of touch with reality, Noam Chomsky can be of great service. I also recommend the documentary, Manufacturing Consent, about Chomsky and his critical work.
Once upon a time, I was a finely tuned political person. I worked on Capitol Hill for a leading wilderness concern, and I believed deeply in the importance of participating in our so-called democracy. Looking back, I may have gotten too close to the reality of the situation–that our nation is, in fact, an oligarchy–leading me to turn away from the overtly political and toward the personal, or spiritual. My new mantra became, “If you want to change the world, start by changing yourself.”
I did change myself. I exorcised the anger that threatened to destroy me. And while anger can clearly fuel one’s work, it makes it hard for people with opposing views (or similar views, for that matter) to accept anything you have to say. One thing I had to say, then and now, is political dissent is often generated from love. Love of country, in particular. Dennis Kucinich is coming from a place of love. That’s why he is so utterly remarkable.
I came of age in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s shenanigans. Now, we face more of the same from the Texas oilmen in possession of the White House. Thus, my political consciousness, and those of millions of Americans, is being re-ignited. It is time to act again, to speak out, and do whatever is necessary to dethrone this illegitimate would-be-king and his sycophantic court. For not only are foreign nations under attack, but our entire way of life, as granted in the Bill of Rights, is under attack.
Greenpeace is under attack for acts of civil disobedience off the shore of Florida. Protestors in Iowa are now under attack. Anybody who dares oppose King George and his idiot lawyer from Missouri could be next. At times like this is it crucial to know our nation’s history–the sickening facts and the noble truths. There’s a long history of dissent and an equally long history of attempts to quell it. Boston-based scholar Howard Zinn is the de-facto expert on these matters and I urge you to read or re-read his landmark book, A People’s History of The United States (shown below).
I have recently commented elsewhere on the new consumer promotion from Pepsi and their tie-in partner, Apple Computer. The commercial in support of the promotion, which debuted during the Super Bowl (to the tune of a 2.3 million dollar media buy) features kids who were sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for downloading copyrighted music. The hero of the spot, a fourteen year old girl from Staten Island declares, she will continue to download music for free and “there’s not a thing anyone can do about it.” The spot is made even more ironic by the use of “I Fought The Law,” a 1960s classic remade here by Green Day.
Pepsi and Apple are giving away 100 million free song downloads. This is an instant win game, where one looks under the cap for a winning code. As a consumer promotion this is brilliant work. The RIAA and its constituency wins by getting two huge and powerful marketers to share in their “this stuff shouldn’t be free” world view. Pepsi wins by tapping into what’s hot today among its core audience. Apple wins by gaining more market share for its iTunes product, now available for Windows users, as well. But what about the consumer? Does the consumer win?
One aspect in this debate that seems to be consistently overlooked is the fact that a digital download of recorded material does not equal a compact disc. Not only does the consumer miss out on the liner notes and such, but the sound quality of a downloaded file is most often inferior (due to file compression) to that of the original CD. My contention here is MP3 files are but samples of the real thing. And true fans of the music will download the songs AND buy the CD.
I tuned in tonight to MSNBC for the entire 90-minute Democratic Presidential debate from Greenville, South Carolina. Dennis Kucinich, a congressman from Cleveland, Ohio (and the city’s former mayor) is my new candidate. I was for Howard Dean six months ago, although my support lacked true conviction. After Iowa, I began to believe a Kerry-Edwards ticket can deliver the much needed knock out blow come November. I still believe that combination is the country’s best bet for change at the executive level. Yet, tonight after paying close attention to all the candidates, I have new found respect for the free-speaking Rev. Al Sharpton of New York City and Dennis Kucinich.
Of course, Kucinich’s progressive views will not attract enough market share to put him in the Oval Office. I recognize that, but it bothers me not. I prefer to support and vote for the candidate I want to win, not the one I think has the best chance to win. After all, it’s an election, not a horse race.
During the last Presidential election, many progressives voted for Green Party nominee and consumer advocate, Ralph Nader. This outraged many liberal Democrats, as they accused Mr. Nader of stealing votes from their pal Al, which sadly led to the reign of George the Horrible. No. Al Gore lost the White House on his own accord. If more people wanted Gore to be President, they would have voted for him. It’s really that simple.
