Yet another domino has fallen to the relentless corporate censorship being dished out by the U.S. Government, and this time it's every one's favorite quasi-hipster company Apple Corp. Apple has removed a Wikileaks iPhone app that allowed you to see Wikileaks documents on your iPhone. Nice one Apple. You guys really stand for something.
Caravan was what I would call a keystone or foundation band that was involved in the formation and establishment of the underground psychedelic sound and scene in London in the late 60s.You could call them a little brother band to the ones that broke big, such as The Pink Floyd, or a more mellow and docile alternative to the rowdy and edgy The Pretty Things. Regardless of their lack of chart toppers abroad and in the U.S., this album is a gem and one I highly recommend to anyone interested in the lesser known bands of the psychedelic heyday of swinging London.
This reminds me a little of The Move's first album, but without as much wry humor and more druggie and subversive. Yes you can hear some Pink Floyd in here, and maybe some mellower Pretty Things and Soft Machine, but they are an original sounding band on first listen, but don't expect fuzz tone drenched acid guitar feedback, it's much more tempered sonically, but experimental and edgy all the same. I definitely get the feeling while listening to this that these guys were into acid, no big surprise there, but I like their own take on the whole scene.
In the first song "Place of My Own", these lyrics really spoke to me -
I've got this place of my own
Where I can go when I feel I'm coming down
We'll do our best to ensure
You'll feel secure if you come
It's a very accepting line, and it's about having your own personal space in the world, coming down or not. And that you are welcome to take place in this special little place Caravan is going to take you. I'm on the bus guys.
Policeman is another standout, spooky and cool, very London hip, sarcastic and poking fun in all the right ways.
We can see you creeping, Mr.Policeman
Looking through the keyhole in our door
The album is not perfect, I am still finding all the spaces and corners in the music. But it is a seminal work no doubt. This is a must have album for anyone interested in British invasion bands, particularly lesser known ones that never broke big in America. The Move, The Pretty Things, Caravan, The Soft Machine, the whole Canterbury Scene is something to be checked out when you want to get beyond The Beatles and The Floyd and whatnot.
Oh wait...it is Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who made a website that people post pictures and stuff on. Wait, didn't Julian trounce Mark in the Time poll, with Julian being 1st by 150k votes, and the Zuck coming in 10th place?
Sure you will say, it was the safe choice for Time, go with the sure thing and the cute dorky guy instead of the rapist and criminal to all that is holy.
But, was it the profitable move as well? What could Time possibly gain from the promotion of Marky boy? Could it be that Time/Warner also owns The Social Network, and award season is coming right up, and cross promotion and profitability could be through the roof.
Getting the whole corporate controlled media thing I'm getting at here, and the manufacturing of consent that Chomsky likes to talk about? Go see the documentary if you find reading to be too tough or distracting.
Yet another development in the Wikileaks affair not being reported on in the US press.
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty and officers tell President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder that “while we hold varying opinions of Wikileaks’ methods and decisions, we all believe that in publishing diplomatic cables Wikileaks is engaging in journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment” and that “as a historical matter, government overreaction to publication of leaked material in the press has always been more damaging to American democracy than the leaks themselves.”
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
December 13, 2010
Dear Mr. President and General Holder:
As faculty members and officers of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, we are concerned by recent reports that the Department of Justice is considering criminal charges against Julian Assange or others associated with Wikileaks.
Journalists have a responsibility to exercise careful news judgment when classified documents are involved, including assessing whether a document is legitimately confidential and whether there may be harm from its publication.
But while we hold varying opinions of Wikileaks’ methods and decisions, we all believe that in publishing diplomatic cables Wikileaks is engaging in journalistic activity protected by the First Amendment. Any prosecution of Wikileaks’ staff for receiving, possessing or publishing classified materials will set a dangerous precedent for reporters in any publication or medium, potentially chilling investigative journalism and other First Amendment-protected activity.
As a historical matter, government overreaction to publication of leaked material in the press has always been more damaging to American democracy than the leaks themselves.
The U.S. and the First Amendment continue to set a world standard for freedom of the press, encouraging journalists in many nations to take significant risks on behalf of transparency. Prosecution in the Wikileaks case would greatly damage American standing in free-press debates worldwide and would dishearten those journalists looking to this nation for inspiration.
We urge you to pursue a course of prudent restraint in the Wikileaks matter.
Please note this letter reflects our individual views, not a position of Columbia University or the Journalism School.
Respectfully,
Emily Bell, Professor of Professional Practice; Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism
Helen Benedict, Professor
Sheila Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor of Professional Practice in Investigative;
Director, Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism
June Cross, Associate Professor of Journalism
John Dinges, Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of Journalism
Joshua Friedman, Director, Maria Moors Cabot Prize for Journalism in the Americas
Somehow, without my direct knowledge or participation, I had never listened to 10cc until a few weeks ago. This is in my 40th year of existence on this great and wild planet. That such an oversight could occur is no surprise to me, most people have barely heard of 10cc, much less consider them a monumental if not revolutionary force in the development of Art-Rock and popular music in the 70s and far beyond. Laugh you must, but laugh last will I, when this delightfully complex and accessible piece of Art-Pop, Sheet Music (1974), makes it's way onto your digital turntable for a listen.
Think of 10cc as a mix between early Eno-era Roxy Music fused with T-Rex, Brian Wilson, The Beatles, The Mothers of Invention, and probably about 10 other bands I could throw in there. If any of these bands are making you pant a bit you are getting my point. This level of musical diversity and integration typically occurs in the course of one song on Sheet Music. Sly British wit with surreal word play and social satire resounds through the album, with such classic one lines such as this during the Wall Street Shuffle - "To do the Wall Street Shuffle Let your money hustle. Bet you'd sell your mother. You can buy another." Complex key and time changes abound, but never too much by sacrificing the enjoyment of the beautiful angelic vocals and harmonies.
This group produced all their own music, had their own studios, and had complete creative control on this album, and it shows. The production is exquisite, the effects are there to enhance the music, never to distract from it.
The only thing that could possible deter the interested audiophile from picking up this up would be the pervasive British wit and humor, but in my opinion it adds to the complexity of the arrangements, that the surreal lyrics are another puzzle to be barely understood and perhaps deciphered at some point in the distant future on a cold distant planet.
If you have the vaguest idea what I am talking about above, you need to go get this album immediately and post a thank you comment below for good measure. If you have no idea who Roxy Music is, what Art Rock is, and well...just go pick up a Maroon 5 CD. I hear they're on sale this week.
I am disturbed on so many fronts in relation to every one's reaction to the Wikileaks drama. By everyone I am talking about the media, the government, and the populace. I will explain in as much detail I feel I can muster at this time. For muster I must. This is going to sound harsh so grab some coffee and an enema if you need it.
The American Mainstream Media's reaction to Wikileaks posting of leaked documents is a disgrace to everything the First Amendment stands for, and I think the very fact that nearly all stories in the press are vicious attacks on Wikileaks, with no discussion on First Amendment rights of the press, shows who's pocket the supposedly free U.S. Media outlets are in.
The Obamas administration reaction to the Wikileaks affair has been every bit as intolerant and hawkish as their supposed rivals in the more right facing corners of the GOP. While Obama has been losing favor with Independents and Democrats alike (we all know Republicans already hate him), he, for me at least, has now turned the corner into an a truly intolerant and corrupt politician. The bloom is off the rose Obama. (I do contend that if big bad W. was still in power, Assange would have been executed already)
The fact that so few people and media outlets have drawn any correlation to the precedent set by the Pentagon Papers in relation to the Wikileaks is another level of confirmation at the widespread and pervasive corruption and control over the flow of information, and the cozy relationship between the media and both parties the government. I am fully convinced that the American media is nothing more than propaganda dissemination engines and outlet for the left and right wings power set. No information will be printed by large media organizations that will ever seriously damage the power structure again.
The fact that no other media outlets, such as the NY Times or The Guardian, who released the exact same leaked information as Wikileaks, have had their hosting and payment methods shut down through government intimidation and influence, and that I cannot find many articles on the web that even calls this fact into light, this again points to the lack of press independence and the collaboration of the press and their government counterparts.
So you've heard all the hype, and you are in full agreement that Wikileaks are criminals, they stole information, they are terrorists and spies, they are the full descendants of Stalin and will bear the mark of the Anti-Christ and their father is the Beast. You say these are state secrets, and lives will be lost and the sky will fall and little British school children will be eaten by the Hun. Let's just be clear on a few tiny items and facts.
If any government has a problem, it's with the leaker, not the media outlet that publishes the leaks. This goes for our democracy at least, I'm certainly not speaking for Saudi Arabia or countries of that ilk. The leaker signed the agreements, he is not protected by the First Amendment, he is the one you have a beef with.
If you are going to attack, shut down, intimidate and coerce Wikileaks, a media organization publishing information significant to the people's understanding of their government's policy, a right protected by the First Amendment, then you must engage in those same behavior in relation to the NY Times and other media outlets who published the same information. You can't though, because it's illegal, and against everything America stands for, and everything our Founding Father's stood for.
You may say Wikileaks is not an American company, but a Swedish one. Well, Sweden has even more liberal press laws than we do. They have full right to publish anything under Swedish law. There is no legal precedent for the US or Sweden against Wikileaks, that is why the smear campaign and coercion of government-friendly corporations is being engaged in.
There is a new holy trinity for the world. On one stand is the government, on the other is the media, on the 3rd are the corporations that own and control the other two. Why would the same corporation that owns a TV station and donates tons of money to their favorite back pocket politician ever do anything to jeopardize their own interests? The corruption is deep and pervasive, and systemic to the core.
95% of the population has no idea what goes on in the back rooms where politicians and the wealthy elite decide the financial and social fate of rest of humanity. Wikileaks is peeling away the outer part of the onion, allowing you too see the inner workings and corrupt centers of the people who control your lives. The people who will deny you unemployment insurance, so they can buy a Saudi prince prostitutes and liquor, and give suitcases of cash to Pakistani politicians, who themselves are drug lords and criminals.
The system of checks and balances is no longer in place in America. The press no longer has the freedoms given it in the First Amendment. The people in government, even those seemingly nice liberal ones, no longer are operating for the people and by the people. Their interests, not ours, are what they are fighting for.
Sound crazy? Yeah it does to me too. Our rights and privacy have been eroded to the point of absurdity. Even more frightening are people's complacency to the situation. The very foundation of democracy is being threatened and not only are people not complaining about it, they are agreeing with it. Why? Because the level of propaganda and information dissemination has been going on for so long the populace has been lulled into complacency.
If it makes you feel any better after hearing all these terrible things, just tell yourself that I'm an Internet crackpot and it's all in my head. I do sometimes and it helps.
For what it's worth, here are a few of the only articles of people standing up and supporting Wikileaks, or even trying to paint an objective picture of the situation. I applaud Time for some of the best articles on this. Don't expect it from the NY Times.
Ecce Homo, the Latin words spoken by Pontius Pilate when he presented Jesus Christ to a hostile crowd before his crucifixion. This translates in english to the phrase Behold the Man.
Ecce Homo is also a later work of the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, one of his last books before he descended into syphilis induced insanity for the rest of his life. Ecce Homo is a self examination by Nietzsche of his own development and work, his autobiography if you will, albeit an unconventional one.
More than an attempt to document and comment on the human condition, and my own personal one at the same time, I hope to communicate some more unconventional viewpoints here, discussing a variety of subjects such as politics, society, philosophy, music, books, movies, really anything that seems of interest.
I leave you with a few quotes from our illustrious Founding Fathers (and some other guys too).Yeah, you know where I'm going with this.
"Creationists make it sound like a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night." -- Isaac Asimov
"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure." --Thomas Jefferson
"Fear is the foundation of most governments." -- John Adams
"Faith: not wanting to know what is true." -- Friedrich Nietzsche
