pkern

I hate to disagree with you, Loch , but I think you might be confusing "mood" with lack of discipline. Changing your life - or the way you see and think about people, the world - is a difficult thing to do. It takes discipline and commitment. Yes, we are moody creatures, and yes, life certainly works in cycles, but we are also complacent creatures that can lose their resolve when life becomes difficult. This fall, I planted a flower called a peony in my garden. It's a tempermental plant that requires a lot of tending and patience. If you plant it too deep. it won't bloom. If you don't put enough bone meal in the dirt, it won't bloom. If you don't soak its roots in warm water as you pack the dirt, it won't bloom. If the rain washes away the top soil and the root becomes exposed, it won't bloom. But, if all goes well and I get it right, this flower will come back each years, grow 5 feet high, and spread itself into a thick, permanent and gorgeous patch. I'm not sure if I chose the right metaphor here, but the point is that I think we are actively involved in the creation of happiness. In Plato's Symposium, Diotima (the woman who taught Socrates) says that love (from which all happiness sources itself) is a verb, not a noun - it is the act of creation that requires our committed involvement. Rilke: "If your life seems poor, don't blame it. Blame yourself. Admit that you are not yet poet enough to call forth its riches." That's just my opinion, of course.

Absolutely beautiful. I too was lucky enough to share those first few streaks of light with distant eyes - an unseen presence that inspired me to jump in my jeep, drive to the shore at 4 a.m with a cup of tea and a warn-out copy of "Mirrorball" to wait for the celestial crescendo. I was reminded of a story I heard in an astronomy class many years ago. Kepler, an astronomer, discovered a harmonic relationship between orbiting planets (The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of its distance from the sun.) In the process of his studies, he also discovered what he believed to be a musical pattern underscoring the universe - music that somehow links each solitary thing with all other things. Of course, this latter thought discredited him in the eyes of the scientific community. I like to think he discovered the greatest secret of all - that even in the darkest, furthest reaches, in the cold, the caverns, there is music. And harmony. And intimacy. Last night, these eyes - eyes that were perhaps lit up by that other, distant, unseen pair - watched a symphony. Stars unhinged and raced like wild melodies. I saw myself in them. And felt I free. And musical. And somehow less alone. "Oh god, if you're out there, won't you hear me? I know that we've never talked..."

I wouldn't characterize Sassa's posts as unAmerican or unpatriotic. Quite the contrary, actually (see "Sassa is a Necessity" thread by loch). It's her sort of challenging and opposing views that make a democracy successful - in fact, democracy relies wholly on the watchful criticism of its people, to keep it from becoming oppressive or unjust. As to "real world solutions," how about finding an alternative to oil? If we changed our standard of living (i.e. sacrafice our SUVs) to decrease our reliance on it, we could cut financial ties with Middle Eastern countries and that would solve the problem peacefully. Of course, this "real world" solution means serious personal sacrafice and a dramatic change in lifestyle - sacrafices that most won't even entertain a thought of. So to suggest we don't have options about how we handle conflict is naive. Of course we have options (see Jesus, Ghandi and Martin Luther King). Bombing is just easier. Perhaps it's not America's job to help the world (though I could argue that one too). We, like most nations, pick and choose who we "help" based on what we receive in return. But be honest about it then - don't cloak it in "hugz and love" spin-doctoring where suddenly Laura Bush turns feminist, claiming that our presence in Afghanistan is motivated by humanitarian concern over the plight of women. That is a crock of shit, plain and simple. Patriotism does not mean blind acceptance. It means supporting your country in its efforts to refine and define itself - and to voice your opposition if you feel it has fallen short. I too have lost relatives in past wars, and I can't think of a better way to honor their memory than to make sure my son does not die for anything less than a worthy cause. From my seat, this current military engagement looks like revenge and money. I think the lives of our boys may be worth more than that.

I'm soooo glad to see that someone else picked up on this one. Each day in Africa, an outrageous number of young girls and INFANTS are raped and sodomized b/c of an imbedded cultural myth that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV. Are we planning to launch a feminist crusade in these nations as well? Or do we reserve our humanitarian concern for those nations that are strategically helpful? Or oil-rich? It's infuriating to suggest that this "War on Terrorism" (an oxymoron, btw) is somehow motivated by a concern for women's rights. It's insulting, and the worst sort of propaganda. :mad:

Artist: Audio Two Album: What More Can I Say? Song: Top Billin' Check it out: MC am I, people call me Milk When I'm bustin up a party I feel no guilt Gizmo's cuttin up for the Suckers that's down with meeee!! The One of us, that's how I feel To be down you must appeal To the Two, we're rated R We're gifted, and we're going far Down the road, to the bank While I'm here I'd like to thank Mom and dad, they knew the time Gizmo's scratching Milk Dee's rhyming Milk is chillin, Giz is chillin What more can I say? Top billin That's what we get, got it good Since you understood, would you Stop scheming, and looking hard I got a great big bodyguard So step up if you wanna get hurt Milk Dee's gonna pull the skirt I get money, money I got Stunts call me honey if they feel real hot That's how it is, you can ask Giz I stole your girl while you were in prison Jail, for MC assault You was jealous it's all your fault Milk is chillin, Giz is chillin What more can I say? Top billin That's what we get, got it good And since you understood, would you Clap your hands, your hands you clap If your girl's out of place it's your girl I slap And if you're dumb, you'll ask why I am from that Do-or-Die The Audio Two, the Two's Audio I got a brother and his name's Gizmo Milk is chillin, Gizmo's chillin What more can I say? Top billin That's what we get, got it good And since you understood, would you Bite a rhyme, if you dare I get the papers so I don't care My contribution to this jam Is confusing, because I am Milk Dee, dated all the way The super easy mightiest MC, okay? Yes I'm down, down by law I get the girlies out on the floor G is D, down is G Two the at the top is where he'll be That is us, call us odd Girls come in you won't be bored Milk is chillin, Giz is chillin What more can I say? Top billin That's what we get, got it good And since you understood, would you Do a dance, dance the Two If, you can dance it's easy to do This dance is on and on and on Dance until your breath is gone!!

SO weird - that's exactly how my boyfriend won me! Though the squirrel carcasses were lovely - for obvious reasons - it was the smell of decomposition that really melted my heart. It lingers still, like our love...

:bounce: Happy Birthday, fellow Scorpio! :bounce: May your birthday be sweeter than your screename!

For those who might be interested (though I STRONGLY suggest downloading a real version b/c the music is essential to the suggestions and rhythms of the poem): Gil Scott-Heron, "Revolution Will Not Be Televised" You will not be able to stay home, brother. You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out. You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip, Skip out for beer during commercials, Because the revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox in 4 parts without commercial interruptions. The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia. The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal. The revolution will not get rid of the nubs. The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner because the revolution will not be televised, Brother. There will be no pictures of you and Willie May pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance. NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32 or report from 29 districts. The revolution will not be televised. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay. There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process. There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving for just the proper occasion. Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day. The revolution will not be televised. There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news and no pictures of hairy-armed women liberationists or Jackie Onassis blowing her nose. The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth. The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be right back after a message about a white tornado, white lightning, or white people. You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution _will_ put you in the driver's seat. The revolution will not be televised will not be televised will not be televised will not be televised. The revolution will be no re-run brothers; The revolution will be live.

Okay: So about half-way through his set at Vinyl a few months back, David Seaman dropped this incredible track that blew me away. The track was hard drum-n-bass, and sampled (referenced) "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" - a spoken-word poem by Gil Scott Heron that many would consider the genesis of hip-hop/rap music (c. 1970). This poem is virtually unknown today - the only other place I've heard it referenced is by Public Enemy in the early '80s. So I launch a hunt for the song, wondering who in the world thought to use Heron, and to lay it over a drum-n-bass line which is the perfect fit (anything less than hard would be an insult to the meaning of the poem). I finally find the track on Autiogalaxy, by no other than BT - that mysterious name I've heard such conflicting reports about. Now, I'm certainly no expert on the subject of this guy, but Jesus! Talk about being educated. The Revolution is sampling at its best - historical, meaningful, thoughtful, and breathes new life into something that was at risk of fading away. My first BT moment: revolutionary.

Silent Lucidity - Queensryche (sp?)

I think it depends on where you are, what the vibe is, etc. Before I developed musical taste (lol) I would go out to clubs filled with guidos and alpha males who would virtually piss on your leg to mark territory. Dancing was always a challenge b/c some guy was inevitably moving in on you and yes, some would cross the line and suddenly there's a hand on your ass. In these cases, I would become extremely violent and flatten the guy, which usually made them go away (we also discovered that our 6-foot Jamacian friend was great deterent of horny white men - he'd just have to dance with us and immediately there was a six-foot perimeter). In these sorts of testosterone dens, I found that (generally) the women were competitive and judgemental - always evaluating the women around them with critical eyes. However, my new favorite places such as Vinyl have none of this. The women are great - looking out for one another, smiling, friendly - even complimentary. And I have rarely had a situation with a guy being out of line. The few situations that have arose were easily resolved too. Why the dif

These pills gave me the worst leg cramps I've ever had - I couldn't even dance. My shoulders completely tightened too.

Isn't Milgram the guy who did the obedience study? After WWII the whole question of obedience and "following orders" vs. moral obligation became center-stage (Eichmann). Milgram (I think) conducted an experiment to see how sadistic people would become under the auspices of "following orders." He had his subjects administer electroshocks to other subjects each time they answered a question incorrectly. Of course the shocks were fake and no one was actually hurt, but the "shockers" didn't know this. The study found that most people would in fact hurt others if they thought it was their responsibility or job.

yes - this thursday at Centro, as far as I know. And again in december at Vinyl.

Teklord: Go you! I noticed your sig. - you wouldn't happen to know where I might find a track listing for David Seaman's last set at Twilo, would you? I'm kinda new at this obsessive must know who spun what where and in what order thing... loch: Wait...how did you know my ass was fat?

hey loch. it's called delegating. an effective approach, apparently, since I now have multiple links to the information I requested. Thanks!

Does anyone have the playlists for Tiesto at World or Howells at Vinyl? Help! Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos - reflects both classical romanticism and baroque edgeness, and it's one of my personal favorites. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis - the best of jazz, audible emotion Elvis Presley's greatest hits - from jazzy southern blues to rock n' roll Bob Dylan - not sure which album - (I'd rather include The White Album but I don't want to break the no Beatles rule...) - how lyrics became paramount again, music becomes about the message, not the melody. Public Enemy - Nation of Millions - the word and beat finally meet on equal terms...

Add me to the list of venemous women! 10/31 - wouldn't change by b-day for the world!

Hey! Thanks for putting my article up, hacker! How did you find the site? Any and all feedback is welcomed, folks.

lol - I see! Do all of the bartenders look like LL Cool J too, because damn. That was a nice touch to the decor. thehacker: I was hiding in a corner, not really doing the meet-up thing, though I was introduced to a few cpers, including Tilly and lavendarmenace (a real pleasure, ladies - sorry if I wasn't more sociable. I was a bit out of steam...). lm - awesome history of your screen name! LOVE IT! mugz, I shoulda said hello to you too - next time!

Well, I'm no expert but here's what I can gather: The city (led by Guiliani) has launched an aggressive campaign against what it has characterized as the drug-filled New York underground, which primarily means dance clubs that lie outside the mainstream. As a tactic to close down these club, the city has resurrected caberet laws put into place in the 1920 during the Jazz age and prohibition. These laws are inherently racist, designed to further marginalize blacks from mainstream manhattan by closing down Jazz clubs in Harlem. The laws include the "no dancing" rule which (and I'm not certain on this) makes it illegal to dance in certain establishments (I noted a "please refrain from dancing" sign at La Leche this past Friday...). Anyway, some would argue that the city's "crackdown" on clubs has more to do with maintaining the real estate values of surrounding neighborhoods than with concern over drug use. Also, as maximan pointed out, there have been several overdoses of rich white suburbanites, including a pre-med student at Twilo, which drew a lot of attention from rich white Manhattanites who have a lot more lobbying power than the average clubber. Of course, these overdoses were primarily caused by dehydration or by a preexisting medical condition (the student at Twilo apparently had a heart condition that was exhaserbated by three pills, no water and six hours of non-stop dancing). There's a documentary coming out called "No Dancing Allowed" which explains all of this much better than I am. Also the Metro Channel (16) has been running a panel discussion about the topic.

Can you give us a bit more detail as to what you're looking for? Musical tastes, etc.?

phuturephunk: THANK YOU! I've been searching for a semi-intelligent description/breakdown like yours, but to no avail. Though I can sense the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) variations in genre, I have never been able to fully identify or explain them. I do have a ???: electronica strikes me as a sort of marriage between the turntablism of hip hop (GMF and Afrika Bambatta, as you pointed out) (I hear The Executioners and I think Terminator X on Nation of Millions "Night of the Living Baseheads") and the electronic New Wave stuff of Europe (Depeche Mode, etc.) - like the South Bronx taught London how to use tables as instruments, and they taught us how to use the more high-tech equipment, etc. Is this accurate? And if so, where/how did the actual crossover occur?

Great great great music. Who was that lanky white boy spinning anyway? Pleasure to meet all of you!