You say there's no good rock music anymore? Then you haven't heard The Parlor Mob. And You Were A Crow is the latest cd and Can't Keep No Good Boy Down is my favorite song on it.

MySpace | LastFM | Roadrunner

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Aung San Suu Kyi

When is someone going to be able to confront the ruling Junta in Burma and say 'enough is enough'? (To put it mildly) Suu Kyi's plight has moved me throughout much of her detained 13 years and the longer it drags on the madder we all get.

Maybe if some dynamite director made a film about her so the buzz could gather up a storm of publicity. Or if we snuck in under dark of night and miraculously planted massive amounts of oil down deep in the ground. Maybe then we'd go clean up their oppressive military regime that keeps their democratically elected female president locked away after rightfully winning the election.

Suu Kyi, I have enormous respect for you and still I pray for your swift release.

link

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(My last post on) Antichrist

Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe in Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," Zentropa, 2009

Five minutes after it ended (at Cannes), the first screening of Lars von Trier's new, outrageous "Antichrist" was already a thing of legend.

Journalists wobbled away ecstatic, furious, amused, bewildered or physically ill, and at a press conference the next day, the Danish provocateur proclaimed "I am the best film director in the world."

Is von Trier's new yardstick to measure success the barf factor? Or by how many people walked out?


A sample of some critic's reactions from Patrick Walker's piece in LATimes.com.

* Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum: "Blood spurts, bones are broken, genitals are mutilated. Hellooo? Are you still with me?"

* Time Out New York's Stephen Garrett: "I personally had a ball. [It's] gonzo drama at its most feral."

* Variety's Todd McCarthy: "Von Trier cuts a big fat art-film fart with 'Antichrist.' Traveling deep into NC-17 territory, this may prove a great date movie for pain-is-pleasure couples. Otherwise, most of the director's usual fans will find this outing risible, off-putting or both."

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You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring

YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING

by Paul Hawken

Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food, but all that is changing.

There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and in case you didn’t bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING.

Read more from the Commencement Address to the Class of 2009 | University of Portland

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Bands by Smell

Bands by Smell
by Molly Lambert

Bob Dylan: Opium and Latkes
The Rolling Stones: Mothballs and Burnt Toast
David Bowie: Amphetamines and Astronaut Ice Cream
Lil' Wayne: NyQuil and Martian Dust
Jim Morrison: Vomit and Leather
Devendra Banhart: Body Odor and Thai Stick
Mariah Carey: Champagne and Vaseline
Christina Aguilera: Marshmallows and Pleather
Prince: Purple Haze, Patchouli, and Pussy
Iggy Pop: Demerol and Expired Eye Makeup
Madonna: A-Rod and Formaldehyde

link

Well done!

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In these trying times don’t you wish you could go back to the womb?

Anthropodino - Inside the womblike space of Ernesto Neto’s installation at the Park Avenue Armory.

via: c-monster | nytimes.com

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In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto

Michael Pollan is one of the nations leading writers and thinkers in this country on the issue of food. He is author of several books about food, including The Botany of Desire, The Omnivores Dilemma and his latest, In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto. In light of what he calls the processed food industry co-option of sustainability and its vast spending on marketing, Pollan advises to be wary of any food that's advertised. 94% of it is spent advertising processed foods.

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If I had these shoes...

If I had these shoes...

...I'd be on the floor, too. Resting.

link

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Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

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* Rainbow Forest Fairy *

* Rainbow Forest Fairy *
Originally uploaded by pareeerica.

Manipulated photo by the very talented pareeerica. Love it.

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Twouble with Twitters, Part II

Twitter's blowing up, in this sequel to Twouble with Twitters, when celebrities take over the twittersphere.

Has Twitter, gasp, jumped the shark?

LINK

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Zoe Keating Plays"Escape Artist"

Zoe Keating gives Wired an exclusive performance of a song from her up and coming album.

She is the real deal and I'm betting she'll bring the cello to many people who didn't otherwise appreciate it.

Her melodies are full and sophisticated and can hold their own and then the cello comes in and adds this richness to an already fabulous foundation. Just magical.

I'm a big fan.

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On Being Over 40 & Phyllis Beals Hats

(from the page:) Experience as a sculptor, designer and ceramicist are all evident in the unique and graceful hats Phyllis Beals creates. Each hat is an arresting blend of color, shape, and texture, skillfully united with old world craftsmanship, and ranges from the classically beautiful to the wildly flamboyant with exotic ornamentation and intricately folded silken ribbons. The whimsy and spirit that makes these hats fun to wear has much to do with Phyllis's background in theatre, and her passionate love of music.

I like Phyllis Beals. (pictured left) Not because she makes killer hats but because she wears them.

I can relate to you, PB.

I assume you're over 40 and can see that you are a total original. And I relate to you. I was that girl in my hometown that everyone stared at because of the way I dressed. Now that I, too, am over 40, I maintain my funkiness. The folks not only stare now, they whisper and pull their kids a little closer. I'm exaggerating just a little but I applaud anyone who's gutsy enough to go out on that edge and dance all over it like a wild woman. Especially when you're over 40.

Today I applaud Phyllis Beals. And her hats.



link | about

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BLENDER Calls Bullshit

BLENDER Calls Bullshit
The 33 Most Overrated in Rock

Samples from list

2. YOUR FAVORITE BLOGGER’S NEW FAVORITE BAND
Thanks to the Web 2.0 bubble, it’s now possible for a next-big-thing band to go through the Hootie and the Blowfish career arc in four hours. Yay, Web 2.0! The problem is, the OMG! Best Band Ever! zombie rhythm of blogging doesn’t work for music, where it really does help if you play the song a second time. The hype-backlash cycle has gotten to where the next Black Rainbow Wolf Hunter go from novelty to has-been by the time they’re recording their second song.

32. KISS
Memo to Gene Simmons: Either take your shirt off or put your pants on. As a band, they’re about as perfunctory as Gene’s sex tape—they’re a tiresome, bickering circus act with a few decent glam songs.

29. GETTING RICK RUBIN TO PRODUCE YOUR RECORD
It’s not 1986, you’re not the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash is dead.
Underrated alternative: Getting Rick Rubin to produce your beard. LOVE it.

Daring to call out the media hyped crowd. I like it. Who'd they leave out?

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Queens of the Trinity

Queens of the trinity
Originally uploaded by Fifi Patchouli ☠.

by Fifi Patchouli

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Neil Krug

WHITE FLIGHT
Originally uploaded by neil krug.

Neil Krug's Photostream takes a psychedelic look back as he makes current photos look decades old.

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Interview with Kim Gordon

Portrait by Richard Kern

Interview with Kim Gordon

Attempting to pin a label on Kim Gordon is like trying to understand the lyrics of Sonic Youth's songs: it’s beside the point. She has worked for Larry Gagosian, written for Artforum, exhibited paintings and directed music videos, produced Hole’s first album and was briefly a character on The Simpsons. Currently, Gordon is at work on her second clothing line, Mirror/Dash. Of course, she is best known as the frontman/bass player for Sonic Youth.

Here, this true original sat down with her friend, photographer and filmmaker Richard Kern, to talk about sheetrock, Godard, fashion and how it can get lonely being an anomaly.

link

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The DIY Liberation Guide

The DIY Liberation Guide

Walk out, get free stuff, toss a flower bomb. Simple steps for day-to-day liberation. Go ahead: free your world.

-Visit Liberated Places
-No Frills Guide To Squatting
-Learn Activism
-Free Your Inner Space, and more

{via: YES! magazine}

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Rockers Meg White, Jackson Smith set to marry

Rockers Meg White, Jackson Smith set to marry

Meg White is set to marry Jackson Smith, son of rock icons Patti Smith and Fred (Sonic) Smith, the Free Press has learned.

The rock 'n' roll power couple will tie the knot at a May 22 ceremony in Nashville, sources said.

He’s a guitarist who has played with Detroit bands like Back in Spades. She’s the drummer for the White Stripes, the internationally renowned band she formed a decade ago with ex-husband Jack White.

Smith’s late father was a guitarist with the MC5, the group that helped cast the mold for heavy Detroit rock. His mother, a celebrated figure on the 1970s New York punk scene, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

link

How soon until Patti Smith joins the hip grandmother brigade?

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The Emperor Has No Clothes

Isn't anyone ever going to speak up? Then I must.

From the "Emperor Has No Clothes" file I give you Beyonce's Clothing Line, DEREON. It's been around a few years now and it just boggles my fucking mind.

With her accomplished music career, (save it for another time, Susan) and being such a cash cow for the family, no one ever thought to tell beautiful Beyonce that her clothing line sucks out loud?

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