Sticky Fingers: Demonstration in Dub

This is how it's done. Victor Rice (aka Strikkly Vikkly Dubsystem) at the board.

Punk Rock Purple Haze (Lesbian Folkie Remix?)

You know that game, "Florida or Germany?", where you try to decide if the person/people in the photo are from the panhandle state or mitteleuropa, based solely on the hideous contrast of sock and sandal or the injudicious display of neon spandex?

Well, I've been playing a similar game with the video below, only it's called "Punk Rock or New Wave Folkie Lesbian?" I've wracked my brain over this one, but I'm unable to commit myself to one side or the other. I do know that what you're about to see is spirited and uplifting and highly original. In a word (snatched from 1986): Awesome!

The friend who retrieved this from oblivion suggests that the visuals are outdated, but I'm in love with everything I see here. This, to me, is the essence of civil disobedience. Context is key. This clip originally went out via PBS during the height of Reaganism. Bottom line? Inspired use of public broadcasting in an age of high conservatism to load the television sets of SW Texas with lesbian, freakadelic, creativity.



You can read a bit about Two Nice Girls in the Austin Music Database.

Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome

PE have uploaded a new video for the classic track, "Welcome to the Terrordome." Wicked remix and Chuck has not lost a step. If anything, he's harder and sharper now than in '89. This is the real deal.

It's weak to speak/and blame someone else.

And while we're giving props to PE, here's one a lot of folks missed from 2007, "Harder Than You Think."

You don't stand for something/You fall for anything.

Fela Kuti: Music Is the Weapon

Hard to fully appreciate what Fela was about without a basic understanding of the criminality, crookedness, and cruelties of the Nigerian regime. This French documentary does a great job of putting a true artist into context. Here, Fela's spirituality, music, and politics are unpacked about well as anything I've seen (including the Fela! musical).


Fela Kuti - Music Is The Weapon from Green Grin on Vimeo.

PBS Punk Rock Documentary (1995)

Directed by rock journalist Robert Palmer, this PBS documentary from 1995 turned up recently on Dangerous Minds.

Six video series, posted HERE.

CDH 2.9 - Sonic Reduction

On this week's show, we played the original Dead Boys recording of Sonic Reducer, a perennial favorite cover tune for all true rock bands. A cursory YouTube search quickly reveals at least 600 results, including:

The Vibrators
Overkill
Pearl Jam
Guns N Roses
The Valentines

'Sonic Reducer' was originally written by Rocket From The Tombs (RFTT), a visionary proto-(punk/alt/avant) band which quickly exploded into the spin-off bands Dead Boys and Pere Ubu. Subsequently, the song first appeared on the Dead Boys debut album, Young Loud And Snotty. The two bands followed strikingly different paths...

In 2003, RFTT reformed with most of its original members. They recorded an album of RFTT classics (Rocket Redux), which included, of course, Sonic Reducer.

Cheetah Chrome was the guitarist for RFTT, Dead Boys, and now The Batusis. Let him teach you how to make your own cover version:

Rare Footage: Sex Pistols' Final Concert (1978)

Recorded at Winterland (San Francisco) in 1978, this was the Pistols' final concert performance.



And speaking of Winterland, check out this vault of other performances given at that venue.

CDH 2.7 - Home Cooking

We had an eclectic show this week, with Xan getting back to some strong afrobeat grooves and me going off the rails with a 13 minute string quartet track... and not a single drop of hardcore, if you can believe that.

I think the standout cut this week was definitely Xan's lead-in: Tony Allen's Home Cooking (Wrasse Records). A couple of weeks ago Xan mentioned on a whim that he could be happy just playing Black Flag through every show, but I'm guessing if you warmed it up with some Tony Allen, you could get anyone up and moving and dancing and, eventually, leading marches on government buildings and joining together across the world in mutual support of, and respect for, one another. I'm sure of it.

There's definitely something about drummers that gives them a closer, more vulgar understanding of how to get people moving. Primal, reptilian shit. Home cooking.



Check out the playlist from the 2010-10-29 show.

The Minutemen: Angular Music for Angular People

Put my daughter down for a much needed nap yesterday and (on Joe's advice) fired up the disposable media pad to check out We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen. What a great flick. Hugely inspiring and more than a little bit wrenching emotionally. A good reminder in these days of rejuvenated synth-pop and skinny jeans that the 1980s weren't completely useless and self-indulgent.

For the uninitiated, The Minutemen were a three-piece punk outfit from San Pedro, California. After some early tinkering, the band's line-up solidified in 1980 with Mike Watt on bass and vocals, D. Boon on guitar and vocals, and George Hurley on drums (and occasional vocals). These three wrote music together, birthed a new funk-punk minimalist aesthetic, and gigged furiously until December 1985, when D. Boon was killed in automobile accident outside Tuscon, AZ.

The movie combines performance footage and old interviews with reminiscences from the surviving members (Watt and Hurley), along with the testimonials and recollections of other punk luminaries, including Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Joe Baiza (Saccharine Trust), and Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat, Fugazi, The Evens).

For something relatively short (81 minutes), the movie is exceptionally rich. Really, there's too much in it for quick condensation here. At least three threads, however, seem worthy of comment:

1. If you took the music away and stripped these kids (D.Boon and Watt were only 13 when they met) of their instruments, it's still a great story about friendship and the profound sense of loss that's registered whenever deeply bonded mates are ripped apart in the senseless way that these two were. Since 1985, Watt has dedicated every one of his creative projects to the memory of D. Boon. In the film, it's clear that he's still haunted by the absence of his other half. Watt says he was "smitten" by D. Boon after their first meeting. I doubt whether he'd object to me calling the film a love story, or a story of love lost.

2. The Minutemen signed their first recording deal with SST Records, the label which Greg Ginn (Black Flag, Gone) formed in Long Beach in 1978. While the Minutemen sound nothing at all like Black Flag, Ginn put his (then paltry) resources behind the former to get their first EP, Paranoid Time, recorded. This, I think, speaks not only to the uniqueness of Ginn's vision for the SST label, but also to the vibrancy of the So Cal scene circa 1980.

3. It's difficult to pigeon-hole The Minutemen or characterize their sound with a few short-hand gestures, but one word that came up repeatedly in the movie was "angular." Not being a musician, it's hard for me to know exactly what this term might suggest to those who do play an instrument. It seems to connote something discordant, or it points to a structure that is somehow unexpected and difficult to follow. To me, the term needs to be understood in the context of some of Watt's comments. In the film, he begins to explain how the San Pedro scene was open to and engaged with 20th century avant-garde art movements like Dada and Futurism. These movements first gained traction during World War One as Europeans tried to get their heads around the horrors of total war. When people describe the music of The Minutemen as "angular," I think we can (and should) make comparisons to the art works of this earlier era. As with the Dadaists, The Minutemen strove to be untimely, that is, they consciously sought to separate themselves from the social mainstream. For both, the most expedient route to separation entailed a quick and sharp and violent turning away from convention, and I think these maneuvers can readily be described by the term "angular." At least, that's how I understand the term.

Anyway, here's a trailer for the film, something I'd recommend whole-heartedly to anyone who can be moved by the things I've waved at in the three points above.

Slits Vocalist Ari Up Succumbs to Cancer

Sad news this morning. The Guardian reports that Slits vocalist Arianna Forster (aka Ari Up) died yesterday of complications related to cancer. Ari was 48 years old.

The Guardian has posted a stirring photo tribute, which gives you a good sense of Ari's passionate involvement in the UK punk community. More on Ari's life and music in a subsequent post. I'm sure Joe and I will want to feature something from her dynamic career in music on tomorrow's episode of the CDH.  Maybe something from Trapped Animal, The Slits' last full-length release (2009), or better yet, something from Cut, the Slits' original release, which started it all.

Here's Ari in action with The Slits.

CDH 2.5 - Past Mistakes

The show started off with Al-Thawra, a band featured on the soundtrack for The Taqwacores, a film about a Muslim punk rock movement inspired by Michael Muhammed Knight's book of the same name. Check out the video for 'Disorientation', which is chock full of Arab and Persian stereotypes sampled from American media:

The video collage technique in the 'Disorientation' video reminds me of the work of Negativland, a long-standing experimental A/V collage band from the Bay Area. We played a couple of their tracks, including an introductory announcement from their 1987 Escape From Noise album. Another track featured on that album is "Christianity Is Stupid", which is based on an audio excerpt from an obscure Cold War era film, If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (skip ahead to 34:00 to check out the source of the sample). See what frontman Mark Hosler had to say about it recently, or watch a newer version of the track, repurposed in the wake of The Passion Of The Christ.

I encourage you to check out Negativland's Wikipedia page to check out some of the wild stuff they've been involved in over the years. They are Sonic Outlaws, fighting for your right to Fair Use.

Speaking of copyright... Xan played several punk tracks from various midwestern bands, including The Copyrights cover of Kids of The Black Hole, a song about people flocking to Mike Ness' squat-like apartment to be part of the Southern California scene. One can imagine what growing up in the suburbs of Nowhere, USA may have been like for some of those kids...

Patton Oswalt - "The Gatekeepers Of Coolness"

Check out the playlist from the most recent show (10/15/10).

CDH 2.4 - Teenage Middle Finger

Got a text message from one of our devoted listeners during last Friday's show. (Okay, it was my wife.) Inside a green bubble, a simple one-liner:

You're an angry dude.

Nah. Just a dude who thinks it important not to keep his tension and aggression bottled up unnecessarily. Really, that's one of the most basic reasons I do the show: to create an outlet for stuff (thoughts, I guess) that would otherwise gunk up the system. Going into the WRCU studio every week is like opening up a pressure-valve to vent the steam that built up in the system during the week. It takes me back to a place of clear-headed inquiry and helps to restore my curiosity about the world.

Granted, there's only so much that agitated, guitar music can achieve in this world. But that doesn't mean it isn't a key ingredient in a much richer concoction. After all, you could say the same thing about teaching (my day job). Flapping my gums in front of a captive audience of college kids is a far cry from actually changing the world, but maybe it's a step in the right direction?

So if the most recent set list somehow resembles a teenage middle finger, I make no apologies for that.

And, by the way, if you dug that particular track or wish to see/hear more of Steel Pole Bath Tub, here's the video for Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride.



Other highlights from today's show:

>> Jello Biafra with D.O.A. - "Power is Boring"

This was one of Joe's high quality picks. D.O.A. out of Vancouver is a band I need to spend more time with. This is one of the seminal hardcore bands that, for whatever reason, kinda passed me by. These guys are still releasing new material after 30 years together. Founder Joey Keith currently runs Sudden Death Records.

>> Mudhoney - "Here Comes Sickness"

Hugely under-rated band, mostly forgotten except by a small number who still covet the grungy "Seattle Sound." I dedicated this jam to the legions suffering from the current zombie plague here in Central NY. Would have played "Touch Me I'm Sick" except that singer Mark Arm drops an F-bomb late in the track. As Wikipedia tells it, Arm is now the warehouse manage for Sub Pop Records.

See you this Friday, listeners. Joe and I plan to take things to the next level.

Murder the "N" Word

Coming back to a conversation Joe and I had two weeks ago about the "N" word and its place in/on college radio.

Here's the stand-out track from this week's episode of ANDYOUDONTSTOP.  Artist is Rob*Wes.

CDH 2.3 - Your Revolution

We're deep in it now. The Civil Disobedience Hour is in full effect, finishing up the third show this season.

For the second week in a row we put Chuck D on the air, playing a remix of the classic Public Enemy track 'By The Time I Get to Arizona' -- in 1991, a volatile message to the government of Arizona regarding their decision to deny recognition of a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The state finally passed an initiative in 1992 (but hopefully not just to get a Super Bowl). We followed that 1991 track with a new assault he made on Arizona earlier this year: as Mistachuck, he paraphrases Ronald Reagan in demanding "Mister Somebody, tear down that wall." Check out Chuck D's WBAI show ...ANDYOUDON'TSTOP, live or archived.

Xan started off the set with 'War Is A Crime' by Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. Antibalas is currently featured in the Broadway production Fela! which chronicles the life of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti. They're performing a free Fela! concert in Brooklyn this Monday Oct. 4 and you definitely do not want to miss hearing them live.

Speaking of Broadway, the next track we played was a 'Your Revolution' by playwright, poet, performer Sarah Jones. It's a great message to the dark macho and misogynistic corners of hip-hop culture, and was declared 'indecent' by the FCC in 2001 (rescinded in 2003). The piece is an homage to Gil Scott-Heron's seminal 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'.

So we played Gil Scott-Heron's 'H2O Gate Blues', an inspired critique of the Watergate scandal which still seems relevant 36 years after the initial recording. The man is truly the conscience of America, and he has the scars to prove it. He had a new album out earlier this year, the first in 16 years. The title track, which is a cover of a 1985 Smog song, is haunting and reminiscent of the unexpectedly powerful cover of 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash:

No matter how far wrong you've gone
You can always turn around
...
Turn around, turn around, turn around
You may come full circle -- and be new here again

We're all new here. This is why we must be eternally vigilant.

Click here for the playlist from today's show (10/01/10).

CDH 2.2 - Secret Agent!

Back on the air today for a new installment of the Civil Disobedience Hour. Joined in the studio this time around by my new partner in rhyme, the Duke of digital music, the Viscount of vinyl, the Archduke of anarchy, Joe Alfonso. Joe brought a world of goodness to the m-i-c today and significantly enhanced the show with a nifty set of bass-heavy and socially conscious tunes. I especially enjoyed hearing "Sound of da Police" by the inimitable KRS-One.

At the top of the show, we kicked off with a wicked string of Afrobeat, compliments of Tony Allen. Tony was a member of Fela Kuti's band, once upon a time.  In fact, Fela was quick to point out in many interviews, "There would be no Afrobeat without Tony." Lovers of Afrobeat and, indeed, anyone with an ounce of groove in her bones will definitely want to check out the latest album, Secret Agent, whose title track got us off to a thumping start. Like being in Lagos, but without the exploding pipelines and paramilitary goons!

I tracked down this interview with Tony Allen from PRI (May 2010):

http://www.theworld.org/2010/05/06/tony-allen/

Click here for a full set list from today's show (9/24/10).

CDH 2.1 Playlist

Just wrapped up the first show of the season. Came out swinging with Hip-Hop (Ancient Astronauts/Pharcyde) and Afrobeat (Kokolo), but settled into a stream of PUNK ROCK after the first break. Heart rate coming back down to earth after 45 minutes pegged in the red. I may be 40 now, but damn if sometimes I don't feel 37 again!

As ever, the full playlist is available through the station website: http://wrcufm.com/showPlaylist.php?id=1154&playlist=20100917.xml

Punk's Not Dead: CDH Back on the Air!

Civil Disobedience Hour returns to the airwaves in Fall 2010!

Fridays, Noon to 1 PM, WRCU 90.1 FM - Hamilton New York.

AND STREAMING, TOO: http://www.wrcufm.com

Like Chucky, CDH keeps coming back for more.

The Politics of Palestinian Rap

Rappers in Gaza. Words versus weapons in the fight against the occupation. A critcial (or at least thoughtful) take on extremism: "Hamas is a product of the occupation."

Hip-hop was always politcal. Always will be, too. Link to the original article
via Adbusters: https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/88/palestinian-rap.html

Blank Generation (1980) Coming to DVD

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/classic-1980-punk-film-blank-generation-starring-richard-hell-coming-dvd

Birthday Pony: Dischord Records Turns Thirty

My admiration for the Dischord label is already well documented here. As Dischord pulls up on its thirtieth anniversary, here comes another great opportunity to climb aboard and learn more about the scene in DC.

As of 1.28.10, Dischord will makes its box set anthology available at the extraordinary price of $16. The 3-CD retrospective (originally offered as a 2-CD set to mark Dischord's 20th anniversary in 2000) includes seventy-six songs from fifty-plus bands who have recorded their work on Dischord since the label was founded in 1980.

The box set comes with a 134-page booklet documenting the history of the label and the bands who have issues their music on the Dischord imprint. There are also six video clips and a coupon for .mp3 downloads of the "rare and unreleased" tracks included on disc three.

Full track listing is as follows:

Disc 1

1. Teen Idles Get Up and Go
2. The Untouchables Nic Fit
3. State of Alert Public Defender
4. Minor Threat Screaming at a Wall
5. Void Dehumanized
6. Youth Brigade Barbed Wire
7. Government Issue Rock 'n' Roll Bullshit
8. Scream Fight/American Justice
9. Iron Cross Live for Now
10. Red C Pressure's On
11. Deadline Stolen Youth
12. Artificial Peace Suburban Wasteland
13. Faith Subject to Change
14. Skewbald Sorry/Change for the Same
15. Marginal Man Missing Rungs
16. Gray Matter Oscar's Eye
17. Rites of Spring Drink Deep
18. Beefeater Just Things
19. The Snakes Snake Rap
20. Dag Nasty Circles
21. Embrace Money
22. Soulside Punch the Geek
23. Egg Hunt We All Fall Down
24. One Last Wish This Time
25. Fire Party Cake
26. Ignition Rebuilding
27. Three Domino Days
28. Shudder to Think Red House
29. Happy Go Licky Twist and Shout

Disc 2

1. Fugazi Blueprint
2. Lungfish Friend to Friend in Endtime
3. Fidelity Jones Destructor
4. The Nation of Ulysses Spectra Sonic Sound
5. Holy Rollers Perfect Sleeper
6. Jawbox Motorist
7. Severin People are Wrong
8. The High-Back Chairs Summer
9. Autoclave I'll Take You Down
10. Circus Lupus Pop Man
11. Branch Manager Mr. Weekend
12. Slant 6 What Kind of Monster Are You?
13. Hoover Cable
14. Trusty Goodbye, Dr. Fate
15. Smart Went Crazy A Good Day
16. The Crownhate Ruin Piss Alley
17. The Warmers Poked it With a Stick
18. The Make-Up They Live By Night
19. Bluetip Castanet
20. Faraquet Cut Self Not
21. Q and Not U Hooray for Humans

Disc 3

1. Teen Idles Get Up and Go
2. Teen Idles Deadhead
3. Untouchables Stepping Stone
4. State Of Alert Draw Blank
5. Minor Threat Straight Edge (live)
6. Minor Threat Understand
7. Government Issue Snubbing
8. Government Issue Asshole (with Ian)
9. Minor Threat Asshole Dub
10. Youth Brigade I Object
11. Rozzlyn Rangers Rozzlyn Rangers
12. Void Black, Jewish and Poor
13. Void Authority (take 1 and 2)
14. Scream Search for Employment
15. Deadline No Revolution
16. Faith No Choice
17. Marginal Man Manipulator
18. Dag Nasty All Ages Show
19. Fugazi The Word
20. Fugazi Burning (live)
21. Shudder to Think Drop Dead Don't Blink
22. Circus Lupus We Are The One (Rare)
23. Slant 6 Are You Human?
24. Interview 6 live video clips (Teen Idles, Untouchables, S.O.A., Faith, Void, and Deadline)

Alive, She Cried: D-E-V-O!

I've bitched and moaned endlessly about the return of the 1980s and the stupid profusion of synth-rock on the radio, but now I'm forced to eat my words.

A new Devo album to be released in spring 2010!

And a tour to boot!



See: http://www.clubdevo.com/home