I went to Mexico, discovered another musical legend-of course he's dead.

Several friends and I just got back from a wedding in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Never having been in the country before left me with a great respect for it's people and appreciation of the great sacrfice they make to earn the depreciating American dollar in order to sustain the rich culture of life back in their small, ancient, quaintly cobblestoned hamlets.
The wedding was amazing, much fun cavorting through the streets, complete with mariachis, a donkey carting tequila and my inspired doffing of a wrestling mask.
What we tend to forget to do on vacation from your normal everyday existence, refreshingly, is watch television. Although my Spanish is rough but improving there was a limited understanding of what is being shows, but with an ironic eye can still provide some amusement. The one sitting instance of Mexican TV watching I did turned to familiar territory: American Football En Deportes. Throughout the day this turned out to be the most entertaining and competitive series of games to air all year, but I felt I should not disrespect the wondrousness around me, or incur girlfriendly wrath by becoming consumed by it. What saved me was musical program that immediately hit me as unique and distinctive.
Valentin Elizalde had a group that plays "Banda music". While he looks like one of those NORTEÑO Cowboys, his singing on this in concert musical broadcast seemed flat and laid back, not terribly romantic. This band was insane! Like some carnival group in a streetfight with the Latin kings. But what made this group more insidious was the additional front line clarinet section, battling for space with the brass section and a very insistent tuba. One of the most bizarre sounding common-ethnic groups I ever heard. After a quick search, of course I find out that to his people he was wildly popular, a hero to his people and a tragic story. Killed in 2006 by suspected drug gangs 20 minutes after a gig. I mean, come on now, can't humanity catch a break? I was down on Sean Taylor before too, but has he got into trouble this year? No, after his kid was born he cleaned up his act and gets killed for it too.
Just a few more names to put under the tree and pray in my agnostic way for these great departed souls to find a better place in the hereafter.

More Dupont Circle Social Club

A photographer came up with that title, why didn't I think of it? A catchy, yet self-explanatory description of what me and the gang have been doing all these Sundays has proved elusive. This day was fun, the weather was comfortable, been a few weeks since we cranked out some music, and it was well covered by the nu-media. Thanks to Elvert Barnes for the video, and Graeme King for the excellent pics which can be seen on my Facebook page.

It Only Tuesday

A brief history of bootleg rock recordings

My iPod thanks you

Bootleg Content on the Web Goes Mainstream

Since the late 1960s, the technology of music has been geared toward reaching more and more people. Part of the frustration the Beatles felt was that nobody could hear the sounds of the humble quartet over the screams of 50,000 girls. Clearly, their state-of-the-art 100 Watt Vox Amplifiers and ballpark PA systems were outmatched, and they ceased touring after their Candlestick Park performance in San Francisco in 1966.
Soon after, pioneers like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton necessitated the invention of louder amps that could maintain clarity, provided that they were utilized in a setting with decent acoustics. As the music critics at the time proclaimed, "pop rock" was elevated to the status of a sonic art form and not a disposable passing fad, thus more respect was given to the presentation of music.
Fans at the time were also attuned to the new technologies at hand. Uher 2-track recorders were small and portable enough to bring into arenas and fans surreptitiously created field recordings of legendary shows from small town VFW halls to chaotic outdoor festivals. Fearing the loss of record sales by this practice, some rock band managers instructed that bootleggers be found and their tapes destroyed, but some groups like The Grateful Dead embraced the practice as a sign of the fan's dedication, and not merely a capitalist venture.
Two-track field recordings were not the only source of uncontrolled preservation of performance material. European venues seemed to hold a greater appreciation for music, and were technologically more prepared. Soundboard recordings and multi-camera films were leaked without the band's knowledge of their existence.
Led Zeppelin was known as the band most notorious for enforcing control of their own product. Managed by the brutish ex-wrestler Peter Grant, the band was a touring machine, often playing shows over three hours long. Grant and guitarist Jimmy Page vociferously denounced the practice of bootlegging, condemning it as an inferior product compared to their well-polished and artfully packaged albums. While sometimes performed sloppily, perhaps self indulgent in terms of the solo lengths, their unauthorized concert recordings remain in circulation.
Frank Zappa was another 60s-70s performer who as a composer held tightly to the control of his recorded product. Feeling that bootleg recordings in whole form would show his music out of the context he desired, he had his live engineer record all of his live shows, assembling them later for a 12 CD compilation. Apparently he was aware of the significance of the performance ethos of the era in which these shows were created, and he called his live compilation "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore."

Pirated Digital Material

Over the years, diligent bootleg collectors weeded out multi-generational analog tapes and located high quality digital copies of their favorite shows. Artists like Zeppelin and Zappa furiously tried to keep up by issuing selected official versions of comparable shows, but the digital age continued to run it's course. Now the bootleg aficionado has only to search YouTube to see rare video clips that would have taken them years to collect. Complete audio recordings are available on sites like Concert Vault, where you can listen to a rare show for free with site registration, or download them for $9.99.
Ownership issues of bootleg recordings are still fairly nebulous. They don't belong to the shaggy guy with the fringed jacket and furtive microphone, or the industrious and overworked engineer of the era. The artist has seldom fought for ownership himself. If possession is truly nine-tenths of the law, now it's the guy with the server and cart application who claims ownership. The bootleg marketplace of vintage recordings is small and the attorney fees are too large to pursue every source of supply and demand that the musical completist at home enjoys.
Digital distribution of both legal and bootleg material demands high speed internet so FTP can reach the customer base. Net neutrality has been maintained, since an ISP provider would surely be too great a legal opponent for record label. It is doubtful that a label would choose this battle, judging by the marginal interest in a dated recording that specifically does not violate copyright infringement, even if the material is similar to an officially released recording. But if the record companies seek greater control of audio recordings in the digital marketplace, the legal battle would be directed at the ISP, not the distribution site.
The irony in this scenario would be for the consumer, whose concern for the life of the living breathing world has transmogrified to the world wide web, will likely direct his anger at the record companies, just like back in the 1960s. It's always the bread getting the way of the music. You dig?

The Times They Are A-Flaking.

Following another boisterous protest of the House Appropriations Committee, The Encampment sits just across the reflecting pool overlooking the Capitol. There, several anti-war groups including Code Pink have erected a stage, meeting tents and work tables for a week-long series of events, leading up to a March and gathering on the National Mall Saturday, September 29th.
Just as the timing of General David Petraeus' and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's testimony before the Armed Services Committee coincided with the anniversary of 9/11, the anti-war movement has stepped up its efforts to complement these events by holding protests on the Mall simultaneously. With another Defense Department request nearing $200 billion for 2008, Code Pink members attended the Hearings, heckling and chanting in an attempt to echo the indignation of the Committee. Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D. W.VA) was in quite the indignant mood, directing most of his wrath at Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with great alarm at the price tag, most of which is to fund the production of the latest Armored Humvees. After several declarations by Byrd were echoed by the women in pink, the Chairman had enough, evicting the group from the premises, declaring that "he should have evicted them before they'd ever been born".

Verne Huffman and Code Pink member Liz Hourican
"When somebody goes to your house and doesn't want to leave, then you understand what occupation is, then you understand the urgency that we feel" said Liz Hourican , a member of Code Pink from Phoenix. When asked about the viability of the protests of her group in contrast with lobbying she added "Protests are important, it's a great outreach but I feel that lobbying at this point and being in the halls of where the decisions and where the power structure happens to be really comfortable is the answer." She also maintains that her group of Women Against the War were founded out of love for our country, utilization of "Visually bright, savvy and creative methods" and "fun is a big part of it".
Vernon Huffman was also present on Wednesday Evening in front of the capitol. His organization emphasizes bicycling as a necessary tool to decrease America's reliance on the oil resources of foreign governments, often seen as the precursor to war. His outlook on the passing of the next supplemental was grim. "There's no doubt that the machinery of war profiteering is time-tested, it's been around for a long, long time, and it's going to take a lot of us throwing sand in the gears to make it stop. But we are closer now than we have ever been"
The presidential candidate currently held in highest regard by the small crowd was Dennis Kucinich. Citing his trip to Lebanon last year during the conflict with Israel, Hourican proclaimed "Kucinich has a plan. He's speaking my language he's a man of character and integrity."
Overall, the sparsely attended event at The Encampment resembled a much smaller version of protests held on the National Mall in the 1960s and 70s during the Vietnam War. President Bush has been consistently in the negative when asked about the similarities between the two conflicts. But to the anti-war movement they are inseparable. Currently, other events such as the Katrina disaster, the Jena 6, the Scooter Libby trial, warrantless wiretapping and the Alberto Gonzales investigation have been added to the cauldron of misdeeds invoked by the protest movement, cited as cause to call for Bush's impeachment. But regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's efforts to end the war or Bush's presidency, Huffman was resigned to to despair "She can take war funding off the table and put impeachment back on, certainly the people of her district would support her, I can't tell you what her point of reality is, it's clear to me what her constituents want ."
For the rest of the evening, singers recycled 60s songs by Dylan, Van Morrison & Buffalo Springfield, with updated lyrics ironically linked to Bush. Tie-dyed war veterans recounted their experience in detail. Strings of logic stretched far into the possibilites of improvement the protesters envisioned. For some it seemed just like the 60s. The same place, the same cause, only on a much smaller scale, but no less important.


Singer:Ron Malero

Why the Nooses?

With the notion of inequal criminal justice raised to the forefront over an exacerbated incident between white and black students, it is inevitable that an "Idiot Facor" enters the equation. Two white youths, 16 and 18 years old, adorned their pickup truck with nooses, which were the popular method of lynchings in the 1950s and 60s. Combine this with the fact that there are still as yet unpunished persons held responsible for civil rights crimes in the 60s walking the streets today, is affirmation of the long-held mindsets of racism and segregation still in existence today.

Driving through the streets of Alexandria, LA, teeming with post-rally revelers is a prank only to the criminal minded. The sad reminder of the most brutal symbol of our not-so-recent past is a tragedy. As we look to the black leadership for a response to the unfolding outrage, we have Jesse Jackson calling out Barack Obama for acting "too white" and then recanting it, while Obama isolated the incident into a "right or wrong" issue. In other words, one side is too passionate, the other not passionate enough. This leaves the middle ground screaming for justice of some kind. Inevitably it comes slowly.

Hector para el corazon.

It looks like I've been stymied from seeing El Cantante in theater, but You Tube has the real deal. Even if the film was never made, it can be argued that Marc Antony got his whole style of performance from Hector Lavoe.

Taking note of his Scarface-like appearance. Today we say "Oh, look at the big cheezy lapels and the big glasses...so 70s".
Back then, it was cutting edge and in a way, something of an outlaw message. And the bleachers loaded with screaming teeny boppers eating it up, good for TV, but sure to make parents and politicians nervous.

This and other clips however blurry show a true showman. He shows so much feeling and soul searching when he sings these ballads.

Entourage, for a moment overcomes it's self-imposed Doucheousness

When television programming is quickly growing further advanced that it is catching up to film, one can only be in decline, HBO and Showtime are making sure of that. But the blog has had a problem with Entourage since it came out. The reason?

Completely un-redemptive characters. Sycophantic parasites that glam unto Mr. Glamourpuss because they are old friends from "DA HOOD" Ooh, these are now some Hollywood badasses! Turtle in particular acts like he's never smoked a joint in his life. Drama-how superficial can you be?

Still, 2 weeks ago I finally witnessed an action on the show that helped it climb out it's fetid swamp of douche-water.
E, confronted with Anna Ferris' "Hollywood Boyfriend" talking like that judge from "Idol" and other selfish acts of douchitude "this is not working for me". And he managed to keep his cool and let the asshole evacuate himself in a Mushroom cloud of douche-smoke....it was admirable, and redemptive.

I'm not sure the show will continue this attempt at mature human behavior exhibited by these young Cro-maggots. Note the only non-promotional picture of Kevin Connelly I found on Google Images. This bar-room snapshot would be fine fodder for Hot Chicks with Douchebags