World Can't Wait

WORLD CAN'T WAIT

That Which You Will Not Resist And Mobilize To Stop, You Will Learn Or Be Forced To Accept.

Now is the time.

2008 is too late.

To allow this carnage to continue is unconscionable.


March 17: March on the Pentagon
March 20: Student Walk-Outs

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EDGE 203

EDGE 203

This EDGE edition, which includes graphics and links, is available online at here and includes these following stories and more.

Falling In Love
By Marvin Minsky
What is Love, and how does it work? Is this something that we want to understand, or is it one of those subjects that we don't really want to know more about? And should machines have feelings, too?

An Early Environmentalist, Embracing New 'Heresies'
By John Tierney
Stewart Brand who is now 68 and lives on a tugboat in Sausalito, CA, has stayed ahead of the curve for so long that as a publisher, writer, techno-guru, enviro-philosopher, supreme networker, he's become a cottage industry in academia. Read what he says about environmentalism and the direction in which it should be going. When Stewart talks, everybody tunes in.

Mosh Pit Meets Sandbox
By David Brooks, who declares Fatwa on hipster dads
Can we stop hearing about downtown parents who dress their babies in black skull slippers, Punky Monkey T-shirts and camo toddler ponchos until the little ones end up looking like sad-parody club clones of mom and dad? Can we finally stop reading about the musical Antoinettes who would get the vapors if their tykes were caught listening to Disney tunes, and who instead force-feed Brian Eno, Radiohead and Sufjan Stevens into their little babies' iPods? I'm over the 'hipster dad' stories, too, but only because it's been done to death. I don't know how I feel about an actual Hipster dad because I don't believe I know of any.

A Familiar and Prescient Voice, Brought to Life
By Dennis Overbye
Carl Sagan has rejoined the cosmic debate from the grave, with "new" words on the boundary between science and religion. The respect people had for Carl Sagan bordered on cult worship-- but in a good way. Nice to hear that his words live on.

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Tibet House Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Smith and Tibetan monks at Carnegie Hall Monday night. Photo: AP

Death loomed large at the Philip Glass curated benefit concert for Tibet House U.S. Monday night at Carnegie Hall, when a parade of legendary talents - among them Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and Michael Stipe - performed numbers in honor of deceased friends. And as if that weren't depressing enough, when the thrilling succession of reimagined hits and covers stopped, we suddenly realized that all our idols onstage talking about death will die, too. Oh, God.

There were chanting monks, a beautiful, minimalist set from Sigur Rós, and Ben Harper. Debbie Harry happily danced to an acoustic version of "Heart of Glass." And then came Lou Reed, the first to sing about getting old. Ray Davies harkened back to the Kinks' glory days, getting the crowd to sing along with "Lola," "Sunday Afternoon," and "Dedicated Follower of Fashion." He admitted to being foggy about why, exactly, he was there: "This is a great event. I'm not sure of all the details, but the spirit moved me." And then he, too, got wistful about age. "Being in a band at this point in my life is a separation anxiety of the worst sort," he said. "We never know when we'll meet again.

"A very chatty Stipe sang a duet of "Everybody Hurts" with Smith; then he performed "Chorus and the Ring," written in honor of two dead friends, Kurt Cobain and William S. Boroughs, and dedicated to Karin Berg, the A&R rep who'd originally signed R.E.M., the Cars, and Television, who died in 2006. "I've never sung it live before," he said, "other than with my band in my apartment yesterday."

It may have been the best concert we've seen in years, and the night belonged to Smith. She did an amazing cover of "Within You Without You," in honor of George Harrison's birthday on Sunday; she rocked "1959," the rousing antiwar anthem she wrote "addressing the rise of the Beats, the takeover of Tibet by the Chinese, and the beautiful Chevy Impala"; she and Glass gave an incredible tribute to departed friend Alan Ginsberg. Back in 1995, a few months after her husband's death, Smith explained, Ginsberg had brought Smith out of her seclusion to perform at a Tibet House benefit. Every year since Ginsberg's death, Smith and Glass have performed his poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra." Monday night it rose on a slow crescendo till Smith intoned in strident staccato, "I declare the end of the war!"

If only it were that easy. —Jada Yuan

Stipe sang the R.E.M. oddities "New Test Leper," and "Chorus and the Ring," which he said developed after conversations he had with the late beat poet William S. Burroughs. The latter song has never been performed by R.E.M., according to Stipe.

All of my favorite people were there --must have been really great. Let's see if I can find a podcast or mp3 link of the music.

link

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Insulting Mr Reed

Tai Chi master taught Lou some moves; Lou reciprocated when the master puts out a DVD and then writer attempts an interview.

"Is Lou Reed ('60s musician and heroin icon Lou Reed, he writes) even still alive?" was my first thought. "And what the hell is he doing being fit? Shouldn't he have, like, IVs of synthetic opiates trailing him on rolling cradles?"

Some junior tool is aghast that Lou Reed has the audacity to be in good physical shape. So what if he geezed a bit in his younger days. Do young disgressions preclude a fit lifestyle? And why must some media refer to Lou and heroin as if they're mutually exclusive of one another? He's newsworthy for being a musician, not for something he did 40 years ago. Damn.

He had a chance to write something new and fresh about Lou Reed and he blew it.

link

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Au Revoir Arthur, Part Deux

More on the sudden demise of Arthur Magazine

Arthur was oversized, free, colorful, patchouli-scented but whip-smart, unapologetically political, sometimes silly, often anarchist and always willing to listen to voices way, way outside the mainstream. Above all, it was prophetic, usually about two years ahead of the rest of the country in its loves and obsessions. But in the end, there just wasn't enough peace and love to go around.

"The magazine can't be restarted," Babcock said. "It's a done deal. It's dead. The situation can't be unfucked."

link

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