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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Know your enemy. Then bite that enemy in the face.

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Thoughts of Dan Choma of Junkyard Empire

So I’m sitting here at a college bookstore killing time at my temp job. (Random shout outs to the folks at Adecco, I’m eating fancy tonight thanks to a temp job!) The job has had a bit of down time, so it’s been fun getting to know the people I’m working with. I’ve also gotten a chance to catch up on the news via my new iPhone (I’m accepting name ideas, hit me up) and found out that due to the receding economy and rising unemployment (in spite of the increasingly pointless Dow Jones figures, top down economics fixes the top while leaving us all unemployed, go figure…) the military has officially reached quota for new recruits for the first time in quite a while. Army is at 103% capacity, and National Guard stands at a healthy 104%.

Alison, a woman I work with, is married to a National Guardsman. He’s been called to active duty recently, and soon will be shipped off overseas. Behind, he leaves his wife, twin girls, and a son. Alison, by the way, is liberal.

Alison complained my first day about a recent showdown she had with a gas station clerk. She said she was wearing one of her “I’m married to a National Guardsman” T-shirts, and the gas station clerk attacked her for being a “flag-waving war mongerer.” The man attacked her personally for being a supporter of war because her husband serves.

I know I’m gonna piss off a good amount of folks on this one, but what is this foolishness? I’ve seen it happen endlessly. I will be the first to say that I do not support war. I do not support our military action in Iraq, and I do not support our military action in Afghanistan. I do not support CIA training of terrorists in South America. But I support the troops, and I respect their families.

Alison herself would agree that she does not believe in the war in Iraq, and she does not agree with the war in Afghanistan. We both know many people in the service that do not agree with these wars.

But still, these men and women enlist and are required to go. These soldiers do not have a choice if they want to serve in a war they believe in, they serve in the war that their country sends them to fight. There is no military tribunal in charge of asking soldiers if they believe in the war. They are called, they go, end of story.

Individuals attacking military families that have no choice in the matter simply piss me off. Since Vietnam, the vast majority of our military serves voluntarily because they desire to get out of the economic class that they are in. The military offers a good paycheck in hard economic times, (see today’s New York Times) a way to pay for college, and a light at the end of the tunnel for families stuck in wage slavery. Although there are the folks that do it for the love of fighting, most sign up to give their families a way out of the poverty that has been inflicted by the very same system that made war their only option.

Attacking people that are serving their country voluntarily is wrong, and it’s the wrong way of attacking an amoral war. We live in a country where we have been provided with freedom of speech as well as venues with which we as individuals can participate in our government. We live in a place where we have access to our Republic, and we can organize in order to make a difference in what our government does.

To me, attacking an individual for the sins of a country is lazy. It denies citizen responsibility. It denies that there are proper venues for change. It denies that we have been given any rights by leaving them unused and forgotten. If we forget our rights and take our frustration out on individuals, we give up our right to check and balance our own system and replace it with silly name calling and fruitless bickering.

Plus, ostricizing the soliders makes for serious issues when these soldiers come home and become veterans. People who have served need our love and respect, not a hard shoulder from our collective moral compass. Looking down on soldiers who have served only guaruntees that we will relive the sins of our fathers by ignoring the wisdom that comes back from the trenches. And it leaves people who have given up a large portion of their lives for our freedoms left in the cold, alone when they need others the most.

Chris Hedges talks of the obsession that we have with war in his book “War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning.” He does an amazing job of expressing how in times of war, both sides of an ideological difference are negated by making violence out of ideology. The ideology is forgotten as war drags on, and all that remains is the propaganda from both sides making the other side of the war out to be the enemy. As both parties and news outlets move further away from each other on the political spectrum, this ideological battle is starting to rage on between people on the homefront.

And it’s dumb. Save the fight for your senators. Save the fight for your representatives. Save the fight for the protests. Save the fight for your blog. Save the fight and endite George Bush for war crimes. Save the fight to stop the next war and keep our troops at home with their families before there is even a need to send them away.

But don’t attack the soldiers soon to be veterans. And please don’t attack the families who will (God willing) accept their loved ones back into their homes soon. It just shows you have nothing better to do, and are too lazy to fight the real enemy. If we channel our collective rage into the inboxes of our senators, the streets of our cities, and the steps of our capitols, we might just get our troops to come home. And let’s do it soon, there are families waiting.

Posted by marc26 on 10/15 at 06:05 PM
Opinion • Politics • Permalink

Monday, September 21, 2009

Woah! It’s been a while since we updated.

And a hell of a lot as gone down in the interim.
So expect lots of blogs, and vlogs, and other announcements coming up in the very near future.
But for now enjoy a FREE MP3 of Junkyard Empire’s 1st single and title track REBELLION POLITIK!
(right-click to download)

Posted by marc26 on 09/21 at 03:56 PM
News • Permalink

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Bill Crinton!?

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Back in March two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were seized on the North Korean border and charged with espionage.  After being detained and found guilty it seemed as if the two women were going to have to settle into North Korean prison life for the long haul.  However to everyone’s surprise North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has just issued a special pardon to the two journalists.  This was all made possible by a surprise visit by one William Jefferson Clinton.  The amazing thing about the visit is Clinton was able to secure the pardon within hours of arriving in Pyongyang.  If this isn’t a clear example of Bill Clinton’s special baller status then I don’t know what is.
Now I’m an educated fellow, I know that there are other reasons besides Bill Clinton’s presence that contributed to Kim Jong-il deciding to pardon the two journalists.  But let us pretend for a moment that the negotiations occurred as they would on South Park.
I want to know what Bill Clinton said to Kim Jong-il that caused one of the world’s more oppressive leaders to immediately issue a pardon for two individuals charged with espionage. Since I don’t have a transcript or recording of what was said I’m just going to use my imagination:

(It’s important that the following be read with your best Bill Clinton accent and most clichéd Korean accent)

N. Korean Aid: Fearess Reader, Bill Crinton is here!
Kim: Bir Crinton?! OH NO!
Bill: Hey Kimy, how’s it hanging?
Kim: Oh…Hero Mr. Crinton, we are very derighted to have you.  How can North Korea Herp you?
Bill: Well I hate to bother you with this, but I hear you grabbed two young ladies on your border that just happen to be American citizens.  Now I know think you’re gonna prove a point with all this but the truth is you aren’t gonna accomplish anything.
Kim: I don’t forrow.
Bill:  Well you see Kimmy, the American people only really care if you have a blond southern girl hostage.
Kim: Reary? Damn it damn it damn it!
Bill: It’s OK Kimmy, what do you say you just hand them back over and I’ll see what I can do about hooking your country up with Penthouse TV.
Kim: Mr. Crinton, I am most derighted that our two great nations can come to an agreement.
Bill:  God bless us all…Everyone’s gonna get laid!

Now I’m paraphrasing here, but given my background in International Relations and my incredibly intuitive nature it is safe to assume that the conversation went something like that.  I think that since Bill Clinton managed to accomplish his mission in less than a day we should be giving him other important tasks to accomplish like reversing global warming or overhauling the healthcare system.  I mean honestly though, look at how Clinton took care of business.  He’s like President Obama’s new secret weapon.  Perhaps we have the wrong Clinton serving as Secretary of State.  In the end I hope that President Obama assembles an elite team of smooth talkers, a political rat pack if you will, who’s job it will be to make dictators bend to our will. 

Posted by Adam on 08/04 at 04:28 PM
Opinion • Politics • Permalink

Thursday, July 16, 2009

KISS My Ass

So Marc and I were watching the Henry Rollins Show last night and ended up having a disagreement about the interview with Gene Simmons.  Marc thought that Gene was just an industry tool who thinks music is all about money, not art, whereas I thought he was just sharing some truths he’d learned about the music industry and his sleazy nature masked what he was saying.  To sum things up Gene said that music as well as the music industry is in decline because of the selfishness of the fans. He also said money was the solution, not the root, to all evil, which was funny because in a sick and twisted way it’s true.  But now I’m sounding like a Republican.

I have mixed feelings about this whole issue.  The truth is there is more good music now than ever before.  Computers and the internet are a marvelous tool that have allowed us to do away with the middlemen but at the cost of not compensating the artist fairly (was it fair before?  That’s another issue).  But just like with the new journalism there is now way too much random music to sift through. The good stuff seems to get drowned out unless you really pay attention.  I am a hypocrite for writing this seeing as how I download music for free and my usual excuse for why I don’t pay for music is because there is simply no good payment system up and running yet. This is partially true but it doesn’t make it right. 

I suppose that seeing as how I don’t buy a lot of music it’s probably not fair when I get upset after hearing an Of Montreal song playing on an Outback Steakhouse commercial. How else are the poor lads to make a living?  We’ve castrated the people who bring music into our lives and we are leaving them to fend for themselves in the cruel wilderness.  After all, not everybody is smart enough to set up a retro label that deals in vinyl like Jack White’s Third Man Records.

However solutions seems to be on the horizon.  For example, Sweedish company Global Gaming Factory (GGF) have recently purchased the Pirate Bay and are developing a payment solution.  As if the idea was plucked from the mind of our fearless founder, the venerable Marc Nicolas, they have come up with a subscription scheme that would not only reimburse the artist but also the users who share music. Getting paid for uploads sounds pretty good to me. While the service is still in development it represents an idea that people have been playing around with for years

What’s particularly sad about music today is that an entire generation now is growing up with no record stores.  I think my generation might be among the last to experience going to a record store and just hanging out in that kind of environment.  Most record shops and chains are already closed with only a scattered few hanging on for dear life.  Depending on where you live there are options, I live in LA so we have Amoeba Music, so suck it. 

I’d like to go back to back in the day and ask people what they think of our music today.  I have a recurring fantasy where I travel back in time to play Woodstock and play only songs from the future.  I imagine how the people would react, whether they would get hip-hop or punk or indie.  Would the audience be like “oh wow what‘s that?” or would they just end up standing there pissed off.  I would play the new protest music that is way angrier than anything they had back then mainly because back then they actually expected to win, whereas now we are cynical and know that it’s going to take a lot more work than singing songs to fix things.  I digress. But seriously though, do you think that they would even get or appreciate the music.  I would love to play Junkyard Empire at Woodstock and see if they would be into it.  How would happy go lucky hippy folk react to Immortal Technique, The Roots or P.O.S.? 
On a side note one thing I think the protest movement today has going for it is a great sense of style.  Kids dressed up like bandits with kafiyas masking their faces make for riveting photos when a tear gas backdrop is available. 

So in conclusion, what’s my conclusion.  This all started out as a long winded response to Marc and now I don’t even know what my point is. 
I’ll just go for the gold.  IN CONCLUSION, the obvious fault with all of us is that we are petty consumers with no sense of morals or responsibility.  We are all part of the American money machine even if we hate Bush and voted for Obama. Even kids in Pakistan who hate us are part of it because if you look closely they are wearing Nikes and drinking cokes.  Damn that has nothing to do with music. Ok one more time.
In conclusion (again), if we set up micro-payment systems online for purchasing music where artists get a more just share of the profits then perhaps we will be on the path to fixing our democracy? I’m just gonna go with that.

Posted by Adam on 07/16 at 03:08 PM
Opinion • Permalink

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

McNamara’s War

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The Angel of Death has struck again.  In the latest of 2009’s KIAs former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara died on Monday, he was 93.  McNamara served under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and his watch included the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the escalation of the Vietnam War.  He was a controversial figure who later in life expressed regret over the decisions he had made.  After serving as Secretary of Defense McNamara went on to run the World Bank, later claiming it was out of sense of guilt and a desire to give back to people in developing countries.

I think that on the eve of McNamara’s death it is important to note that on July 2 the US along with Afghan forces launched a massive offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.  This incursion into the most volatile portion of Afghanistan has been described as a long-term operation.  According to the Pentagon the Marines are there to stay.  Obama has already stated that the troops he plans on withdrawing from Iraq will be sent to the Afghan theater.  This is a clear escalation of the war in Afghanistan, a proposition that has long-term consequences for the US.

Both Vietnam and Afghanistan are nation-building projects.  They are also both guerilla conflicts with no front lines.  So far nation building has not gone so well for the US.  The concept failed in Vietnam, probably because we killed millions of their people, and when it comes to Iraq the US seems to have only temporarily placed a lid on the seething ethnic inferno that is waiting to erupt.  Afghanistan has turned into a feudal state in which authority is centralized into fortified cities and the surrounding areas remain wild and untamed. 

Many like to paint Afghanistan as the good war, as the war that the US should be fighting. For those who take this stance I say remember McNamara’s mistakes.  He also thought that the Vietnam War was just at the time.  Mcnamara was from the generation that grew up witnessing the appeasement of Hitler and the spread of Communism following World War 2.  His was an outlook that was shaped by war.  So as President Obama sends more soldiers to Afghanistan, remember the words of Mark Twain, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

Posted by Adam on 07/07 at 09:01 PM
Opinion • Politics • Permalink

Friday, July 03, 2009

Super Franken

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The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday finally allowed Al Franken to assume his seat in the Senate.  After a mind numbing 7 months of waiting, Republican Norm Coleman finally conceded.  This of course makes him the fabled 60th Democratic vote in the Senate, a development that grants liberals a super majority, removing from the Republican arsenal their ability to filibuster and hold up legislation they do not like.  This would be great if there was actually going to be a super majority.  However as we’ve seen in the past 6 months the main factor holding back a new progressive and liberal agenda is the Democratic party.  As many of you have noticed, and Bill Maher recently pointed out, the majority of democrats in this country have moved to the center right, while the Republican party has just moved towards being bat shit crazy.  So even though the Democrats technically have the power to steamroll through legislation like FDR did during the New Dealhttp://www.ipcc.ch/ they won’t I’m sorry to say. 

So much of our hopes have been dashed these last 6 months, not by republicans, but by democrats.  Just look at the energy bill, it gives in to coal and increases our use of the fuel over the next ten years.  Not exactly the way to go when UN climate scientists tell us we only have 10 more years to mend our ways before shit really hits the fan on planet earth.  You could also look at the so called health care reform plan in Congress this Summer.  From what I can tell all it does is expand Medicaid a little and maybe slightly lower the co-payments, while keeping all of the HMOs of course.  From an economic stand-point employer provided health care is crippling this nation.  Companies like GM that could be conducting more research into cleaner vehicles and you know, staying in business, but are instead paying for the health care of tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom don’t even work there anymore.  Mind you I believe that these people should be taken care of, but it should be by the Government, the same people who’s job it is to provide security, educate you, deliver your mail, and put out your fires.

But back to Franken! Franken actually is a liberal and for this I am thankful.  He will be a welcome voice in the Senate and hopefully his freshman status won’t prevent him from making a difference.

P.S.
Norman Coleman sucks.

Posted by Adam on 07/03 at 03:08 PM
Opinion • Politics • Permalink

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The King is Dead

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Michael Jackson is dead!  It makes me sad that I am not old enough to have experienced Michael Jackson during his prime in the 80s. He is probably the first true musical legend to die in my life time.  I wish I could have been there when Thriller was released and Michael Jackson exploded as the King of Pop.  It is the biggest album of all time after all.  It doesn’t matter where you go in the world or who you talk to, everybody has a favorite Michael Jackson song.

My generation doesn’t have anything remotely approaching that.  It’s a sign of the times.  The internet has flooded the market with so much music, most of it not worth listening to, that it has become almost impossible to accomplish what MJ did.  Michael Jackson was never exclusively associated with any one fashion or scene whereas most of today’s acts are.

Today’s most listened to pop music lacks in the sheer joy and spirit that Michael Jackson evoked.  Despite some of his music being over 30 years old members of my generation still get far more excited for a Michael Jackson tune than we would for any contemporary music. 

Michael Jackson hit on something that most musicians can only dream of.  He captured that primal aspect of music that can’t even be described by this author because I’m not an eloquent poet. 

While his reputation has been quite thoroughly smeared in the US, he is still regarded with reverence in much of the world.  In a time before the internet and Ipods, Michael Jackson’s songs were one of the most tangible symbols of the west in many countries around the world.  People heard these songs that celebrate living and they thought what a place the west must be.

I’m not necessarily saying Michael Jackson brought about the collapse of Communism or anything.  But he did come up with some funky fresh tunes that got a whole bunch of people moving their feet.  I think that in the future when they make the Michael Jackson movie it will be just as epic and tragic as Amadeus.  Salieri will be played by various boys.  Not cool.

I think that maybe if the Iranian revolutionaries stopped chanting and started playing Michael Jackson they might stand a chance. Music did after all work for the American civil rights movement in the 1960s.  And hey, much of that music influenced MJ’s development.

I just read on the BBC that scientists have discovered a 35,000 year old flute on a dig in Europe.  This means that you can estimate music to be maybe 40-50,000 years old.  So just think, 50,000 years of development, innovation, experimentation all seems to have culminated in MJ’s musical genius.

My friend told me a story once about when he was studying in Beunos Aries.  He was taking a cab home one night and Michael Jackson was playing.  The cab driver was getting into and then asked in Spanish if my friend was from America.  Thomas said yes and then the cab driver asked Thomas to translate the song for him.  The man had been a fan of Michael Jackson his whole life but was not able to understand the lyrics.  My friend told me how elated the cab driver was to finally understand the words to a song he had loved for years. 

Does anyone remember the scene of city of angels when all of the gangsters are dancing to Michael Jackson.
Anyways like I was saying, it makes me sad that all I really got to see was self-destructing Michael Jackson.  I remember his last hoora in the early 90s but I was still a little kid. 

I thought I was finished writing my blog but I’m having a video chat with a friend in Paris and she is covered in tears.  The mascara running down her sad little face, it’s tragic. I’m moved by the MJ love.  She claims it’s because she forgot to get cigs, but I don’t buy it. 

The King is dead! LONG LIVE THE KING!

Posted by Adam on 06/25 at 07:33 PM
Opinion • Permalink

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Nothing is Better Than Getting Ourselves Fucked

It seems that for the first time since President Obama took office his administration is truly doing something right.  Iran is at a cross roads right now; the country’s ruling religious elite are expressing real fear over the prospect that a counter revolution, led by Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein, may be at hand. One might ask what is the US doing to respond to this potentially historic situation?

The answer is nothing.  And that is exactly the way it should be.  If we taint this remarkable process with the stain of American interventionism then we risk handing the Iranian establishment all the ammunition they need to squash this fledgling movement.  If a new government does arise from these protests it would be naïve to assume that it would be completely pro western.  However, this level of maturity on the part of the US hopefully signals a new willingness to work with other nations who do not agree with all of Washington’s policies. 

I think the American people will be impressed with these results.  If US had not assassinated Mossadeq back in the 1950s we would not even be in this mess.  And that right there is the point.  Without our interference Iran would today be similar to Turkey, perhaps even more prosperous.  So let’s not make the same mistake twice.  President Obama, I applaud your policy of doing nothing. 

Posted by Adam on 06/16 at 05:03 PM
Opinion • Politics • Permalink

Monday, May 04, 2009

Thoughts on a Global Pandemic

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“GLOBAL PANDEMIC!” Yeah, that’s kind of frightening. Especially if one is sitting in a hotel room in Washington DC, the epicenter of governmental paranoia. That’s where I was for the first half of this week, Washington DC. There is something really freaky about hearing the words “global pandemic” when you are in the belly of the beast. If I was at home in Saint Paul, I wouldn’t be so creeped out by the warnings and the increases in “threat level”, because I would still have plenty of control of my own destiny. However, as I sit here in Washington National Airport, minutes before boarding my flight back to Minneapolis, I get the feeling that I am narrowly escaping what could have been an absolutely terrible experience.

When the words “global pandemic” are heard on my hotel television while in Washington DC, visions of spooky government folks sheathed in impenetrable isolation suits rounding people up for some kind of “quarantine” rush through my head. [Shit, a woman right next to me with a baby just sniffed!] The visions remind me of one of those really bad made-for-TV movies that gin up some crazy strain of the flu that threatens to kill everyone on the planet Earth in a matter of days, unless the handsome, but mysterious doctor can come up with the virus in a matter of minutes; most likely this movie has the word “monkey” or “strain” in the title. Anyway, you get the drift. It is always in Washington DC where the spooky white-suited dudes are dispatched, the airport is promptly shut down, and everyone goes bananas because they are basically imprisoned there. Not that I am panicking or anything, but in truth, the more I think about what the world might be like if there was an uncontrollable spread of an extra deadly flu strain, the more I want to get the hell back home.

According to the USA Today, that wonderfully trustful paper that gets left outside your door at every hotel in the country (probably the only paper still bringing in a profit), we are now at a “Level 5” on the “flu pandemic rating system.” What does that mean? “Significant human-to-human spread in multiple locations.” Level 6 is the highest, which means “human-to-human spread is efficient and sustained.” The phrase “efficient and sustained” is extra frightening.

In short, it’s a little unsettling to think about what the government can and theoretically do with the ability to just lock folks up because they got sick. The vast majority of the people who would contract and die from some kind of pandemic like this are the very same folks who can’t afford the necessary preventative healthcare, and will therefore be only going to the hospital if it is literally a matter of life and death. And that’s because they know very well how much the private corporations who run most hospitals are going to charge them for what those of us with medical coverage call “basic services.” Nothing exemplifies the disparities between the rich and the poor than uncontrollable disaster or epidemic. The poor are the first to die because they are last to receive and/or seek services. And when they die it is kept quiet, because it is shameful, and everyone knows it, but doesn’t want to take on the task of changing that reality. When wealthy folks die from a flu outbreak, the government agencies and private hospitals will immediately snap to attention and get the job done. It’s the same reason we don’t help Darfur, but we are more than happy to support Israel, or any number of other countries with which we have a special understanding they when we help them, we get some of their resources or can use them to advance American hegemony in the region.

What’s all this have to do with the Swine Flu? Simple. It is the job of government to take advantage of every possible situation to advance policies that it sees fit for the American voting public. For the Bush Administration, than meant cutting the budget of the Army Corps of Engineers (what I would argue made Katrina inevitable) and passing any other policy they could that took money away from branches of government that were put together to see to the goal of basic economic justice. And so on, and so fourth. In other words, the government, by its very nature, will set out to advance the agenda that it thinks we the people want, and in many cases, what we the people need, according to them.

Perhaps this will not be a problem with Barack Obama in office. However, I am not convinced that our government is prepared for the worst on this one, and because of that, I do fear what they may end up doing with the additional power they inherit from such a situation, in which they - like the people they will be tasked with helping - are underfunded and over-armed.

In any case, I am very happy to be back home and not at the airport in freaky DC. I don’t plan to do a whole lot of hanging out in enclosed, heavily secured and policed places like airports anytime soon, as long as I can manage to stay clear of them. I suggest you do the same. And while you’re at it, cover your mouth when you cough, and don’t be what our dear friend Seinfeld calls a “close talker.”

I sense a new kind of online concert becoming a cool, virtual underground thing to do if and when the “global pandemic” becomes real. “Junkyard Empire, LIVE from the Basement! Log in here!” Hmm. Let’s think about this.

Posted by solarlion on 05/04 at 03:17 PM
Opinion • Permalink

A Thought About Art.

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Art’s relevance and potential is most often seen in times of great social and political upheaval. In times of peace and plenty art tends to turn in on itself and become more of a shallow vanity than a form of true expression. For example, when it became clear that Barack Obama represented a real chance for a change, a simple image produced by one Shepard Ferry was able to sum up a nation’s mood and desires so profoundly that it now hangs in the National Portrait gallery in Washington D.C.

We need art now more than ever. I think it’s fair to say that people have finally woken up to the dire circumstances we find ourselves in. Our economic house of cards has come collapsing down around us, we continue to wage two wars against an “enemy” whose only wish seems to be for us to leave them alone, and the environment seems to be on the verge of trying to get rid of us. In other words it would appear that the time of reckoning has arrived.

With all of these problems facing us it becomes difficult to sum up all that we feel into words. Conversation almost seems meaningless, people begin to shy away from the problems, wondering how can they possibly help. But the conversation is one of the most important things we can contribute. It represents the beginning, the formulation of ideas, the education of the people. We need art now to frame this conversation in all of the symbolism and importance that our age demands of it. To help remind us of the truths and ideals that were taught to us when we were young, but seem to loose their relevance as we get older.

Music’s roll in this is clear. When times are difficult people turn to song, we always have and we always will. Be it slaves or sailors, music aids us in toil. And to that I say let us toil, and bring this nation back from the Disney channel strip mall suburban hell to which it is plummeting.

Posted by Adam on 05/04 at 11:39 AM
Art • Permalink

Israeli Palestinian Polka

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At this point I think it is fair to say that the entire world is sick of the bickering going on between the Israelis and Palestinians. Their land feud has tainted the politics of the entire region, providing a constant line of stumbling blocks towards reconciliation between Jew and Arab. Everyone always wants to pick a side, to determine who is at fault. Well I think everybody is at fault.

The Israeli’s are at fault for using their conventional military against civilians and causing mass collateral damage.

The Palestinians are at fault for being too proud, and not even trying to follow the example of a certain peaceful Indian (Gandhi) who wore glasses and proved that, without firing a shot, you could defeat the world’s greatest empire.

The Arabs are at fault for not taking care of their Palestinian refugees and using the conflict as an excuse for carrying out their own agendas

The US is at fault for always championing peace in the region and then going and selling arms to all sides (with the best going to Israel of course)

The Russians just want to play and feel important.

And the Europeans…well fuck the Europeans, just like everything else in the world, this is essentially their fault.

Posted by Adam on 05/04 at 11:34 AM
Politics • Permalink

Sunday, April 19, 2009

MediaRoots Music signs Junkyard Empire!

MediaRoots Music has signed Junkyard Empire to a record deal for the release of their first EP Rebellion Politik. 

Watch this space for their first single as the EP enters post-production at Dharma Sound Studio in Santa Monica.

Posted by solarlion on 04/19 at 07:10 PM
News • Permalink

Media Roots Launch

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Yo, yo.

Check it out.  MediaRoots Music is all the way live!!

Blessup.

*

Posted by solarlion on 04/19 at 03:40 PM
News • Permalink

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