This Ought to Be Interesting

Seems that the newly reformed Rage Against the Machine will be playing in Minneapolis during the RNC convention in September (Nice of them to show up so late to the party, by the way....you'd have expected them to be raging against the Bush machine like bats out of hell these last seven and a half, horrible, dangerous years....wouldn't you?). From Rolling Stone's Rock and Roll Daily blog:

Following their near-riot-inducing performance at this weekend’s Lollapalooza, Rage Against the Machine have scheduled another concert they probably hope has similar results. The band announced that they’ll perform in Minneapolis’ Target Center on September 3rd, which is significant because that’s the same week the Republican National Convention rolls into the Twin City of St. Paul. In 2000, the band played an outdoor show in Los Angeles during the Democratic National Convention, and that show ended with police using tear gas and pepper spray. In the announcement of the Minneapolis show, Rage made no mention of the political overtones their show will carry, but Tom Morello has already revealed he will play a union rally with Steve Earle in St. Paul on September 1st, the first day of the RNC.

Steve Earle union rally. Love the sound of that. But speaking of that Lollapalooza Rage show, Pitchfork Media had this dispatch from the evening's festivities:

Rage Against the Machine [8:30 p.m.]

Rage Against the Machine probably weren't spoiling for a fight, but surely it must have been in the back of their mind. Grant Park, site of the 1968 riots, and in an election year, no less? Bring it on!

The band brought it, of course, along with all the repercussions that "it" generally entails. With its inchoate counter-everything message in full effect and the band's music as relentlessly intense as ever, the crowd went apeshit, with predictable results. Rage Against the Machine are an outlet, and its fans were all too ready to stick their finger in the socket. With great power comes great responsibility, so credit to the band for realizing when the switch needed to be flipped off.

"Brothers and sisters!" pleaded Zack de la Rocha, stopping the show just three songs in as the fans surged forward precariously. "Take care of each other! Please take five, 10 steps back. Save that shit for the streets!" The music eventually resumed, only to stop once again a short while later. "Please, this is serious!" implored the singer. "Take 10 steps back! People are getting hurt!" Backstage a triage unit was indeed treating a steady stream of injured fans, some crushed or trampled, others bruised and battered. A rumor spread that two fans had actually been stabbed, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that fans outside Grant Park tried to storm one of the security gates before the police swooped in on horseback.

Rolling Stone adds:

“Save that shit for the streets!” declared Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack De La Rocha. He was reprimanding an overly aggressive crowd that forced the band to stop multiple times to restore order amidst the fans (as many as 2,000 gate crashers among them)....

...De La Rocha’s politics haven’t eroded a bit, either: as the set ended, he threatened that if Barack Obama won the White House but didn’t withdraw troops from Iraq, then he’d have a nation of angry, militant youths at his front door. Strong words from a strong band that inspired strong reactions, and as Saturday night’s show proved, sometimes that leads to anarchy.

In any case, it will probably be quite a night in St. Paul. One which I'll watch with interest, happily from a distance.

By the way, I thought this commenter from the RS comment thread made a good point, grammar and spelling be damned:

dupacrash | 8/3/2008, 10:00 pm EST

i don’t get the return of RATM. they spent the clinton administration running around like leftist guerillas with their heads cut off. then when bush comes in zach de la rocha moves next door to j.d. salinger. the other guys go adult-contemporary with chris cornell. now with bush on the way out and obama knocking on the door their back to shout “EVERYTHING IS BULLSHIT!”?

From the Root Cellar - 7.29.08

Depending on where, who, and what you were in the mid-nineties, the name Finley Quaye may or may not be familiar to you. But if it's not, it most definitely should be.

When I first encountered Quaye, it was at a key moment in my life; I was a new husband and father, a barely reformed hooligan and, as has been mentioned elsewhere on this blog, also lucky enough to host a weekly local Mississippi radio show that featured above all else, good music. I was also writing a pretty well received weekly column for an alternative newspaper. I had lots of outlets for self-expression. In short, it was a good time for me, though one in which the world as I knew it was in a state of great flux. And also, a time when I was open and hungry for living breathing artists doing something different.

I came to his music already a pretty ferocious fan of reggae, hip hop, soul, rock and roll, jazz, and yes, occasionally even a little pop music. When I opened the infuriating packaging around Finley Quaye's debut CD, Maverick A Strike and put it in the old Pioneer carousel job (truly, my iPod has changed my life), I was immediately and irrevocably hooked. His was a sound that seemed to somehow pull together all of the above, while still coming across as something wholly new. The CD went on constant rotation and stayed there for months. For my 30th birthday party, not to mention the after party after our wedding party, the windows of our old cheap rental were opened wide to let the album serve as the perfect backdrop to good friends, good beer, good fellowship.

Consider this track from Maverick A Strike, "Sunday Shining." While the song practically takes its title, and completely lifts its (for lack of a better word) "chorus," from the phenomenal Bob Marley tune "Sun is Shining" (from one of Bob's best albums - and surely the best for lazing about Spring days, prone in a grassy field - Kaya), it uses Marley's song as but a starting point for something other, something that manages to pull in psychedelic 60's pop, soul horns, and the traditions of multiple crazed dub artists. In sort of the same way good hip hop can build an entirely new song from samples of other, more familiar tunes, drawing on predetermined connections to that music, while still creating a new and different experience of it on the listener's part. Check it out:

You see? But equally important is the way Maverick A Strike goes so many places, and no two songs sound alike. Finley Quaye hits on so many different traditions, many simultaneously, while filtering them all through a uniquely visionary approach to songwriting. And sometimes, honestly, lyrically as well as sonically, the music is so touching it haunts. For an example, listen to "Even After All," also from Quaye's debut, and actually, I'd suggest closing your eyes. I don't think the video adds anything, and may even detract from the simple beauty of the lyrics:

Beautiful, ain't it? Gives me chills sometimes.

I played track after track from this record for a couple of years running on my radio show, The Root Cellar (from which astute readers will realize comes the title of this post), and received many requests for more plays. His second album, Vanguard came out after the Root Cellar shut its doors, though, and I couldn't share it nearly as widely. In any case, it's a good one too.

I'd highly recommend you give this man a shot. Download his first album from iTunes, find a friend with a copy, or buy it from one of the sellers on Amazon (I'm guessing it's out of print at this point). Or pick up the new release of his greatest hits collection, Finley Quaye: The Best of the Epic Years for a wider view. But do get some of it. Especially Maverick A Strike, if you can, and give it a listen, like an album should be heard, with a full run through from start to finish.

And then let me know what you think.

Patti Smith in Beirut

By way of the LA Times' Babylon & Beyond blog, I see that one of my all time favorite artists, Patti Smith, brought her revolutionary soul to Beirut to "sing for the "regeneration" of the city of Beirut and to voice her rejection to war."

The celebrated 1970s rock icon turned political activist performed near the old Phoenician port at the opening of the Byblos music festival, one of numerous music events taking place this summer in Lebanon after violence has subsided in the country and tourists have started to flood in again.

"To all mothers and children who lost children, all unnecessarily in war, which seems to me in our time something we can make obsolete," Smith said before dazzling the audience with "Qana."

The song is pointedly political. It's about the children who died in an Israeli air strike on a Lebanese village during the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Here are some excerpts:

There's no one in the village, not a human nor a stone... Children are gone and a mother rocks herself to sleep. Let it come down, let her weep… Some stayed buried, others crawled free... Little bodies, tied head and feet, wrapped in plastic, laid out in the street… The new Middle East… The dead lay in strange shapes… Wine to blood, Oh Qana, the miracle is love.

If you're interested (but be warned, some of these images are quite disturbing...or at least they should be. If they're not, I fear for your soul), here's a montage of photos taken by Paolo Pellegrin during the 2006 war in Lebanon which spurred Patti to write Qana in the first place, set to the song:

For some local color, we look to Lebanon's Daily Star:

It's July 8, 2008, the year that she graces us with her presence. "She" is the legendary, multitalented multi-instrumentalist Patti Smith. The venue is the Byblos International Festival.

The shops and restaurants of the old souq in Jbeil (aka "Byblos") are full. The quarter's paved streets are overflowing with children running everywhere. The flower garden and the interlocking trees above your head give the place a surreal, magical feel as you walk down the road that leads to the Fisherman's Port with its old stone buildings and wooden boats.

Near the venue, people are stalled, waiting to be searched. It's now 8:30 p.m. The stars are shining and the people are whining because the security process is slow, with only two x-ray machines available and four irritated guards on the job.

Further along, there are tents serving drinks and another with a few tables serving saj sandwiches. Surprisingly, the drinks aren't that much more expensive than any normal night club or pub....

...Audience members are gently tapping their feet and swaying to the music. Smith dedicates a few songs to Lebanon and the crowd roars its approval. Some songs stick more than the rest, like the upbeat "Dancing Barefoot," an ode to heroin. People are listening to her every word, grooving to the song as she sings.

She sings the Jimmy Hendrix classic "Are you Experienced?" and plays the flute in some parts. The crowd rushes the front of the stage. People are dancing, jumping, singing and grabbing at her outreached hands. After this song, the security detail forces people back to their places, but not for long. As the band strikes up "Because the Night," the entire audience again rushes to the front for some dancing and singing.

Smith's band plays beautifully and smoothly, knowing how to complement the songs and when to put in a lick, knowing how to send shivers up the audience members' spines. You feel they are professionals, that they have done this a thousand times but you sense they aren't bored. The music sounds fresh. If people came to this show seeking a nostalgia act, they sure weren't thinking that now.

Smith speaks a few words about Lebanon and Qana before singing her song "Qana," which she composed in response to the Israeli Air Force's return to the southern village during the 34-day war of the summer of 2006.

As she sings, an eerie silence falls over the crowd. They are seated, pensive. For many in the audience, she sings the truth, she sings of peace. For others, its an unnecessary addition. After the show, some talk about "fun" and how rock music shouldn't be about politics.

The band walk off the stage at about 10:40 p.m., only to come back for two encores. First came Van Morrison's much-covered "Gloria." The fast-paced, energetic version of the tune has the crowd singing just as much as Smith herself. She and the audience belt out Gloria ("Gee-El-Oh-Are-Eye-Ay!") so many times, the song ends in laughter.

She then speaks a few words and leads the band into the Neil Young cover "Helpless" - requested repeatedly by yours truly during the concert. It's a beautiful rendition of the song, the audience listens, singing along softly. It's a calm, perfect ending to a beautiful experience felt by all.

Wish I could have been there.

Time to Go Home

A brief musical interlude for y'all. Michael Franti & Spearhead, a man and band that are doing wonderful things, and making some crazy-good music with a full appreciation for the weight of our times. Time to Go Home, from the album Yell Fire. A great political statement and a great song at the same time. That's a difficult balance to achieve, but one which Spearhead does time and time again.

Dig.

Michael's a true blue activist (and actually, I'd written about him here quite some time ago....worth a read if you're interested). I'd also reccomend the documentary he made while in the Middle East a few years back, I Know I'm Not Alone. In addition to being a really interesting and hopeful film, that also happens to be pretty fine song from Yell Fire in its own right.

Enjoy. Spread the word if you like it.

And just for a bonus, here's a shot of Obama getting slipped Yell Fire by a supporter and Spearhead fan:

OBAMA'S ABOUT TO YELL FIRE!
I had the opportunity to meet Senator Obama the other day and decided to purchase a Yell Fire CD as a gift, hoping it would inspire him the way it did me.... Dave Doebler, Spearhead Fan

I can't explain to y'all how much I hope Barack gave that disc a good listen. Y'all, too.

Quick Note on "Soul Food"

No, not the yummy kind you eat, but the yummy kind that feeds your soul, and maybe your body, too. I refer to the box over there to the right of this page, below the "Subscribe" icons.

Now, the Thorn Papers have never been much of a money making operation, nor was it ever intended to be, but there are expenses (including the new laptop my old, dying one keeps whispering, rasping, and groaning to me that I'll soon need). And so I've been trying to figure out ways to maybe bring in a little extra change through these pages. Ads suck, and I don't like them anymore than the next guy, or gal, and nobody clicks on them anyway.

Anyway. Let me take y'all back with me a minute here: One of the greatest and most enjoyable periods of my life was the four or five years when I was radio DJ with a weekly show. It was an eclectic show, to say the least, one of the only places where John Coltrane might fade into the Pharcyde, mix it up with Bob Marley and then bump up against the Velvet Underground or Bob Dylan. Reggae, soul, jazz, hip hop, world beat, rock and roll - you name it.

If it was good for the soul, it found a slot. Doing the show felt to me, as I often said, like I was inviting the whole town into my living room, exhorting them all, "Hey...you gotta listen to this." And in my own small way I brought a lot of new music to folks who might otherwise not have heard it. And like I say, it was extremely gratifying to do so.

Now, in that same spirit, what I've gone ahead and done is add that little Soul Food bar over there on the right. I figure that I'll fill it up with things - music, books, movies, that y'all may or may not be familiar with. I can promise you it's all quality stuff, and will do wonders for your disposition, booty shaking and outlook on life.

So, if and when you get a minute, click through the recommendations and see what's what. Most, if not all, of those links will take you to an Amazon page where you'll be able to dig on some samples (of the music anyway), and you just might find something new, something that really floats your boat. If, in the process, you make a purchase and add it to your world, The Thorn Papers will get a cut. Not a big one, but a cut.

But more than that, it'll give me that good old feeling of turning folks on to something new.

Over and out. Give 'em a look.

The Man in Black (and White)

Can't yet find the story these photos are linked to (if there even is one...if so, I'll update when I find it), but guardian.co.uk has a set of 9 great photos of Johnny Cash in the early days (circa 1959).

UPDATE: Seek and ye shall find:

They were sitting at the bottom of a wardrobe. After 45 years lost in the archives of Columbia Records, and then in the dark of a New York closet, these photographs of legendary country singer Johnny Cash were finally unearthed four years ago, beneath the skirts and the winter coats of Silvia Koner....

...What is striking about Koner's pictures is that they show a star poised on the edge of colossal success. A year earlier Cash had left Memphis's Sun Records for Columbia, and though he had already notched up several hits, he had yet to encounter the full wallop of fame. You look at him here, straight-faced and heavy-eyed, be-quiffed and pale-suited, and know that it was still all to come: the hits, the amphetamines, the marriage to June Carter, the collaboration with Bob Dylan, the shows at Folsom Prison and San Quentin jail, the Man in Black, the work with Rick Rubin that revived his career, the diabetes that would claim his life in 2003. They are pictures of a man before he really walked the line.

Some choice favorites:

God, I miss that man. And might I say, the Great Man's latter years, when he teamed with Rick Rubin as producer and recroded a series of phenomenal albums for American Records, may be his very best of all.

And y'all? That's saying something. For real.

I've seldom heard a voice filled with so much wisdom, so much knowing and knowledge, so much acceptance as in Johnny's last years of making music.. And openness at the same time. He was still at the top of his capacity, and the entirety his life, every single step that brought him to that point, every triumph, heartbreak and failure, resonates with every song. If you hadn't kept up those last years, please, let me do you a favor and recommend you treat yourself.

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.

Good Things

It's an unfortunate reflection upon the times we live in, but I realize it's not very often at all that I take time here at The Thorn Papers to speak of things good and right and hopeful. There'll be time enough for that come November, I tell myself when this comes to mind, but you know what? Life is too short, and given the lunatics in charge now, who knows if we'll make it that far. So in the interest of good things, I think I'm going to take some time, from time to time, to reccomend good books, good music, good movies. Life is short.

First on the block is Everyone Deserves Music from Michael Franti & Spearhead. I've been a fan of Michael's since an earlier project, the Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy, but it is with Spearhead that he has truly fulfilled his promise as an artist. He is a force of positivity on album and in concert and that would be enough to earn our support, but first and foremost, on top of everything else, Spearhead puts out some pretty phenomenal music. For some full length samples, check here. If you like hip hop, if you like soul, if you like pop music, if you're a fan of rock and roll, you'll appreciate this band. They're also not opposed to taping of their live shows and understand the new paradigm of file sharing as distribution. I've been a fan for years, and I'm glad to have this sort of forum to introduce them to potential fans.

Michael is also an activist, and his efforts, the band's efforts, have not been lost on Bush and company. See this Rolling Stone article from April of 2003:

Performing at protest rallies is nothing new for the politically minded hip-hop/soul band Spearhead. What made their March 15th anti-war concert in San Francisco different is that bombs started falling on Baghdad a few days later.

But first, on March 16th, across the country in Boston, the mother of the group's human beatbox Radioactive received a visit from two plainclothes Army officers.

"She'd spoken in an interview about her daughter who has been deployed in the Gulf, and her son who is in this band Spearhead," says Spearhead frontman Michael Franti. "They showed her a picture of her son wearing a t-shirt that said 'Unfuck the world' on the front, and 'Dethrone the Bushes' on the back. They told her that was an un-American statement. She said, 'That's free speech,' and they said, 'Well, things are changing these days.'"

The men who visited the frightened woman told her that her daughter's CDs had been confiscated, and that her son had recently taken two flights to Japan. "Why would he do that?" they asked her, according to Franti.

The men then showed her a list of names of people who worked in Franti's management office in San Francisco and a photograph of her son performing with Spearhead at the peace rally one day prior. "It kind of put a scare into all of us," says Franti. "The fact that people would be paying this close attention to what we're doing as musicians is a bit freaky. We're human rights workers -- we don't believe that people should be killed. We're not about wanting to overthrow the government, but we want to speak out. It's made us deepen our belief in what we do and work that much harder."

Also notable, which I've just learned, is this:

Musician, activist and poet Michael Franti will lead a delegation of peace workers, musicians, artists and film makers who are traveling to Iraq and Israel from June 2nd through the 15th.

The intention of the trip is to see first-hand the affects of the war on all those involved from Iraqi civilians to men and women in uniform. Although no concerts are planned for the trip, Michael and the others are planning on meeting with as many Iraqi musicians and artists as possible as well as students and other youth organizations.

They will visit bomb sites, hospitals, women centers, universities, radio stations, cultural centers, social justice organizations & refugee camps among others. They will travel thru Amman, Baghdad, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus, Jayyous, Bethlehem & Gaza Strip. Michael will be a correspondent for Pacific Radio Network station KPFA, and will call in reports to syndicated radio and tv program, Democracy Now! during the trip.

Michaels' Middle East diary is here. Support a bother.