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Light blogging this week, I'll be in Cali premiering a new John Adams piece with Alarm Will Sound at Stanford.

As a follow-up to my recent post on DJ Spooky, which that Subliminal Kid didn't like none too much (though props to him for steppin' up!), I came across this article on a major AIDS charity called African Aid Action (supported by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu), that has sharp words for celebrity activists such as Bono and others.
Head of African Aid Action, Jobs Selasie states:

"Aid has failed because campaigners, charities and governments do not have the right plan and excluded African entrepreneurs and grassroots organisations from being part of the solution," said Selasie.

"You can't impose change from without," he continued. "It has to come from within and we won't end poverty with handouts. Africans need to fight corruption and work hard."

Africa will succeed only if international investors will take the risk of supporting African businesses. Handouts from the wealthier countries will always be a temporary fix. I will give money to homeless person on the street, but I never think that the dollar I gave him will pull him out of his situation. It will buy him a sandwich. Too often I hear of peoples' fear of globalization, specifically in that continent. Our capitalist liberal democracy may not be perfect, but anything would be better than prolonging the continued tragic situation much of Africa is in, most familiarly in the Darfur region of Sudan, and even more so in the DRC.

I've read many articles and blogs on the best way to maintain a readable blog. The most common recommendations are:

Write about what you are passionate about.

Write about what you know.

Keep the blog focused on a certain topic or subject.


This last one is extremely common, highly recommended for bloggers wanting to hit a niche market. For some reason I just can't seem to muster any interest into focusing my blog into one area of interest/expertise. I am the type of person who would announce that I am running the world's first blog devoted entirely to sexual undertones in Christian children's songs, then grow tired of it in about a month. Or I'd start a contemporary music blog and post sporadically, whenever the stress of being a contemporary musician didn't get in the way.

The thing is, I am passionate about a whole bunch of things. I can speak on at least above-laman's terms about many different topics and with expertise on a few. The most focus I can offer you is a concentrated exuberance about several topics.

Here are the subjects you will read about the most on this blog:

1. Politics and social issues - If you are a reader of this blog you are familiar with my high degree of cynicism toward those on the right and left end of the political spectrum. I live in New York City, so railing against the right, although it is an easy and worthy target, can often feel like you are preaching to the choir, shouting into an echo-chamber. Thus, often you might often find me valuing the criticism of the left over the right, because it isn't often offered by people who also think the right is equally full of shit.

2. Movies - I am definitely an armchair film buff, specifically extreme cinema. I am not specifically interested in art house or foreign cinema - as in I won't just go to the local indy theater and say, "lay one on me". I love certain art house and foreign films, specifically Japanese, but I'll usually seek it out because of the director. In the last few years I've began seeking out movies by director and it has changed how I view, and mentally catalog, films. Here are the most common directors you will find me writing about: Kubrick, Kurosawa, Miike, Tarantino, Cronenberg, Solondz, Scorcese, Lumet, Lynch, Miyazaki, Scott, Korine.

3. The Family Guy - It's no secret I think FG is currently the best comedy on TV. I know there are plenty who disagree with me on this one, but I hold to it! It's humor is a new type of intense irony and sarcasm that is only really understandable by members of my generation, we who were raised by our TVs, who learned to voice our praise and scorn using elaborate folds of sarcastic metaisms. Each episode of FG reaches new realms of absurdity, employing new methods of tedium, shock, and the macabre to achieve this. There are always jokes that fail in every episode, but that doesn't make the successful jokes any less so. Btw, here is a description on Wikipedia of the plot of an upcoming episode:

Peter believes he's a pirate; this episode will include a five-minute scene involving Peter trying to pick something up.

Hell yes.

4. TV - I am a fan of good TV in general. I do not think it necessarily rots your brain. It can, if you choose to watch mind-numbingly bad shows, pure and simple. There are shows that are smart and beautiful expressions of art. You just have to find them. My favorite shows, currently on, are Lost, The Family Guy, Battlestar Galactica, South Park, The Office, 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and The Wire.

5. Music - Yeah, under a very broad umbrella. I am a professional musician, so often this is my escape and you won't find me writing too much about music. Of course, many things are too tempting to tell, so you'll sometimes find me posting about: contemporary classical music; electronic music and technology; bands and acts I dig; shows I've played, seen, heard about, and/or want to attend.

6. Random Crap - Sometimes the stories I find on my Misc Blogs will prove too irresistible to repeat. That is why you will often find stories about musical roads, videos about wacky children's shows, and gross food I secretly want to try.

I'm not really following the story of the murdered British girl, but the hearsay in this article is really quite amazing.

The article is titled (of course):
Couple Suspected of Murder Planned 'Wild Sex' Romp Day After Roommate Was Found Dead

And here are some choice moments from the couple's sexy talk, while shopping for lingerie, as overheard by the Italian shopkeep:

"Afterwards I'm going to take you home so we can have wild sex together"

"You can put these on at home and we'll have wild sex"

I gotta remember those lines! Smooth as butter!

I bought two bottles of Fergon iron. Am I going to indy-hell now?

"Brian Eno once famously remarked that the problem with computers is that there isn't enough Africa in them. I kind of think that its the opposite: they're bringing the ideals of Africa: after all, computers are about connectivity, shareware, a sense of global discussion about topics and issues, the relentless density of info overload, and above all the willingness to engage and discuss it all - that's something you could find on any street corner in Africa.

I just wanted to highlight the point: Digital Africa is here, and has been here for a while. This isn't "retro" - it's about the future. "

Shut up DJ Spooky. Dropping an Eno reference and speaking with glitter-eyed optimism about the similarities between a continent and a tool, which computers still essentially are, don't make you hip. That's like saying ice cream and the Spanish language are similar. Let's see if I can do this. Um, they both involve interesting usage of the tongue. They can both make you smile on a rainy day. Yeah, you get the idea. Go back to being adored by the ignorant experimental music elite for having a shred of insight into an area of music they know nothing about.

PS Shareware means you pay, btw, ie. try before you buy...

If you needed any more proof that the farther to the Christian Right you are, the more gay-obsessed you are, Andrew Sullivan found this on Conservapedia (the ridiculously biased Right-Wing version of Wikipedia):

Most viewed pages

1. Main Page‎ [1,906,753]
2. Homosexuality‎ [1,572,873]
3. Homosexuality and Hepatitis‎ [517,087]
4. Homosexuality and Promiscuity‎ [420,690]
5. Gay Bowel Syndrome‎ [389,278]
6. Homosexuality and Parasites‎ [388,124]
7. Homosexuality and Domestic Violence‎ [365,972]
8. Homosexuality and Gonorrhea‎ [331,553]
9. Homosexuality and Mental Health‎ [291,235]
10. Homosexuality and Syphilis‎ [265,322]

-via The Daily Dish

Well, duh. Still, front-running Hillary has always been a major foe of video games.

Clinton said she would soon author a bill to create a federal law that would "put some teeth into video game ratings." Reminiscent of a California bill introduced by Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and similar measures in several other states, the legislation will "prohibit the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors" and make such action a federal offense. Clinton said the penalty for violating the law would be a mandatory $5,000 fine.

Jesus, lady. Take it easy. Of course that was in 2005, in response to Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (one of the best games ever, seriously, a work of art). Unsurprisingly I don't believe anything really came of that bill. She was just caught up in the controversy, playing to peoples' impulses. But I'm sure she would never, ever do such a thing as president, right?

Disgusting. The most telling part is near the end when the cop explains to his fellow officer why he tasered the man, blatantly lying. He says the man was "jumping around" and that he informed the man he would tase him, neither of which actually happened as you can see from the video. Couple this type of gratuitous use of the taser with the increasing amounts of deaths by taser.

-via The Agitator

I was just walking out of Starbucks, the Barnes and Noble one in Park Slope, when I saw a magazine (People?) with the Sexiest Man Alive on it. It was Matt Damon.

Ok, I was wondering. The last Sexiest Man Alive I remember there being was Matthew McConaughey, who knows what year that was. The thing is, he's still alive. I mean, I think he is. He died a hilarious Stewie-related death on Family Guy, but I'm pretty sure that was just fictional (Chris! Help me get rid of this thing!).

Are they saying that the former Matthew is now past his prime? He was fated to be replaced by a sexier, more youthful Matt? I noticed that the Sexiest Men Alive also tend to be in their forties. Does that mean when I'm a creaky, viagra-huffing, metimucil-spooner I'll be seen as Sexier? Perhaps the next variation on the reign of Matthews is the sleeker, redesigned Mafoo, due out in 2026!

PS sharing the Sexy magazine cover is the enigmatically-proclaimed "hottie", Patrick Dempsey (who may have also been a SMA). I've heard accolades to his Sexiness from countless women (including my own girlfriend!). Sorry ladies, that dude straight looks like a weasel. I don't care how alluring he might appear backed by warm lighting and a James Blunt soundtrack on Grey's-fucking-Anatomy, he's still that geeky guy from Can't Buy Me Love, no matter how much hair-product he currently employs.

Who knows if this will be good or not. I originally thought that J.J. Abrams was directing but apparently he is producing. Big difference there. This was "produced" by Steven Spielberg.
Still, it looks intriguing. I like that you don't see the monster (or whatever is killing Manhattan) and that the viewer seems to share in the characters' ignorance. That is one of my favorite aspects of Lost. Cloverfield is written by a Lost guy, Drew Goddard, so it could be cool. Though let's hope all of the build-up doesn't culminate in a monster as lame as this:

Uf! That was a buzzkill.

(PS it's the little green man from Signs)

How to get out of jury duty.
I haven't served yet. I almost had to, but it was the California court system that wanted me to serve and I had already been living in New York for a few years.
I do have a real, honest reason for getting out of jury duty, but I could easily see it not working: I am an anarchist. I don't believe in prisons. I would never vote guilty on anyone, no matter how harsh the crime.
I rue the day that I have to explain my philosophy to an impatient group of jurors wanting to get home to their families and deliver a prompt guilty verdict to an obviously guilty person of a violent crime.
That is why I should never serve.

New "anti-ad" in Oakland, Ca.
I used to be into the idea of culture jamming. I bought Adbusters and shit. Then I kind of realized that it is just another way for people to feel better about themselves, by illustrating that they themselves are not susceptible to the tyranny of advertising. And, of course, in their limitless grace, they will extend a hand to guide you to the true path.

Fuck that. Why not just make a sign that says "I'm better than you.".

Ok, while I may not "need" my third vinyl copy of Linda Ronstadt's Get Closer, I want it. I want it bad.

Because,

A. One can never own enough versions of Kate McGarrigle's Talk to Me of Mendocino.

and

B. The cover, featuring Linda in a red polka-dot dress (!) folds out. So I obviously need one to display, one to listen to, and one to keep in my collection. Duh!

PS feast your eyes on Mafoo's extravagant decadence anti-consumerists! Allow Linda's airbrushed blush to seduce you into the alluring world of excess!

I haven't really been deeply researching the motives behind the recent strikes, but in my limited knowledge:

I sympathize with the writers

but the stagehands can eat a dick.

Every since I began playing in the larger halls in NYC, the only real culture shock (a la "you're in the big leagues now boy, get used to it!") has been dealing with the stagehands. They are the most joyless, spoiled, bureaucratic stagehands I have ever met. Each time I play a venue outside of New York I am shocked at how down to earth and easy to work with the stagehands are. I have gotten used to the mentality of not being able to move your own stand and speaking through 4 people to get anything done, not to mention the surly attitudes and the fact that there are always extra stagehands present at almost every gig getting paid to literally do nothing.

But not to unfairly disparage the production level of things, the musicians union is nearly as bad. There I said it.

Gurf tipped me to this curiously meta posting on Alternet featuring video of Keith Olbermann criticizing Fox News and Bill O'Reilly on his show for showing somewhat explicit images under the guise of denouncing it, whilst obviously using the material in a sensationalist manner. Well yes, Fox News is really no better than those hilarious, in retrospect I'm sure, exploitation films from the 30s. But, Keith Olbermann shows the same material in his segment that criticizes O'Reilly for showing it. Couldn't one argue that he is just exploiting the material under the guise of denouncing O'Reilly. And perhaps I am just exploiting the material under the guise of denouncing Olbermann's hypocrisy. Quick, someone jump on the meta-wagon and denounce me for some reason as an excuse to link to the sexy material which shows, for example, sexy spring break footage during a story about a serial killer. See? Don't you wanna check out the story now?

Hey maybe plenty of people will be interested in my recursive-hypocrisy idea and will start reading my blog more. Then I can be accused of exploiting my own idea for the goal of receiving more hits on my blog. And if all goes as planned someone will denounce the accuser for trying to leach onto my success. Then I will criticize that person for being overly cynical under the guise of appearing open to criticism, but my sinister motive will be that I really just want to appear open-minded, when all I really want to do is gain enough hits so that I can start featuring advertising on my blog to receive some revenue. I'll decide that the quickest and dirtiest way to get some cash will be to feature ads for pornographic material. I'll be featured in an O'Reilly Factor segment on bloggers who try to cash in on their success by featuring explicit ads, banners, and pop-ups on their blogs. The segment will be called exploitative by Keith Olbermann.

Only in Japan.

-via Presurfer

I took a closer look at those Tin Man posters in the subway and noticed some familiar faces: Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cummins, Neal McDonough... It looks pretty interesting actually, a re-imagining of OZ by the Sci-Fi Channel for a mini-series. I'm going to keep my eye on this. The last time Sci-Fi had a re-imagining mini-series with a stellar cast we received the incredible new Battlestar Galactica.

Wow. That's all I can really say right now. I saw Southland Tales at the Angelika tonight. Hardly anyone was there, I'm pretty sure it will turn out to be a financial flop. It's too bad but honestly, it is one of the strangest, most mind-boggling films I have ever seen, and if you know me that is saying a lot. I really believe it is way too far out for its time. I came into the theater with several years worth of intense expectation, which is usually a bad thing, but it exceeded my expectations. It was more of everything that I hoped, and worried, it would be. It is lamentable, bbut unsurprising that so many critics fail to see deeper into the film. It is definitely convoluted, but it reaches plateaus of expression and spectacle that even the most experimental Lynch film cannot. It's somewhere along the lines of Lynch meets Korine meets Waters meets the fucking Disney Channel. And even that blunt comparison fails to adequately describe it.
My persistent worry is that Southland Tales will become Richard Kelly's Heaven's Gate, that the debacle surrounding the movie will discourage producers from working with him. If he can reign in some of his vision he could be making truly monumental work.
I'll post a thorough review tomorrow. One thing I'll say though. I believe you can only really appreciate this movie as a media-saturated, sarcasm-bred American young adult.

All performers, especially soloists, need to be aware of The Halo Effect. It has always been a struggle for me to maintain an air of confidence, especially when a performance is going less-than-stellar. This provides a psychological reason for why you should never let your body language or facial expression betray your inner fears, doubts, or regrets during a performance. People will enjoy a performance more if they are comfortable with what they are perceiving visually.

This and then this. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Hey check out some photos of my Sis and Robert's amazing house on their designers' website: Woodson and Rummerfield. They have the kind of dream home that I'll never have the patience to create for myself! It's very classic Hollywood, fitting since they live in that bastion of old Hollywood - Laurel Canyon.
Here are a few pics, which feature Suzy and her hubby Robert:







And hey, I'll include a shot of my own crafty design work. You can judge for yourself who's got the style in the family:



The dinosaur is named Louie.

I've blogged before about my annoyance with the inspiring messages on cups at Starbucks. Well apparently I'm not the only one. Back in 2005 the Concerned Women for America (sounds like a group you wanna party with don't it?) staged a minor campaign against Starbucks for their liberal agenda, specifically for promoting the "homosexual agenda".

The group believes corporations have a responsibility to reflect the diversity of their customers by taking a balanced approach — or staying out of divisive social issues altogether.

And while the group is not calling for a boycott, its position nonetheless raises questions about what role — if any — corporations should take on potentially sensitive matters, especially at a time when the nation is divided, largely along religious lines, on issues such as gay rights.

Look, Starbucks is a private company. They can say what they want, no matter how right or wrong, inspiring or aggravating. They are doing this whole campaign so they can be seen as slightly more maverick to their core consumers, urbanites and left leaning people across America. What's odd is that the CWFA cites the Boy Scouts as an organization that Starbucks could contribute to in order to appeal to conservatives and "people of faith". Ironically, the argument that kept gay scoutmasters out of that organization was that it was a private organization. I agree with the ruling, if I lament the organization's discrimination of gays.

Also ironic is the apparent willingness of the CWFA's numerous appearances on Fox News. The cable channel is obviously one of the clearest examples of the bias of a private company. But, like everyone I rail against, left or right, it only bothers them when the other side gets a break.

Wow! I just listened to my friends in Zs on the Howard Stern show!! Howard and Co. are completely ignorant and full of shit of course. Zs is some intense shit and they really have no idea what is going on in the music. It's rhythmically complex so Howard 'n' friends seem to assume it is just free or improvised. Far from it. It's really intense, beautiful music.

More importantly, it is AWESOME publicity for Zs! Anyone with any sense of good music will hear them on the show and be like, Damn! This shit is kinda sweet!

You can listen to to the show HERE.

And check out this youtube video of their performance a year ago in Oakland, California. If you look in the back, you can see me bobbing my head like it's about to come off!



PS double thanks to Ian Antonio, the drummer for Zs, who coincidentally lent me the parts for Scelsi's Khoom!

I had my microtonal horn recital last night at Roulette. Overall, I'm happy. Some things could have gone better of course, but I'm trying to ease up on my post-performance perfectionism. I got a lot of good feedback about my piece Tallulah for horn and laptop. I just need to get over my phobia that I am boring the audience to death while I do laptop stuff. I cut my piece short because I was convinced that it was dragging on, but most people I spoke to said they wished it was longer! Cool!
Scelsi's Khoom went really well too. Mad props to Mellissa Hughes who rocked out the vocals despite a cold that just wouldn't go away! I was super-pumped about the ensemble, some of my favorite musicians and people in the world were playing.

Here is the list of players:
John Altieri - Conductor
Mellissa Hughes - Voice
Caleb Burhans - Violin
Chris Otto - Violin
Brian Lindgren - Viola
Kevin McFarland - Cello
Shannon Zakarison - Percussion

Thanks to everyone who showed up. Mad Wuvs!!!

Maybe it's apathy, or boredom. I don't know. I have struggled to get worked up over recent crises regarding atrocity. Guantanamo, Darfur, torture... I think it has something to do with the protesters.

Independently I think about these subjects and feel disgusted, angered, saddened. Oddly enough, when I think about the multitude of affected responses to these subjects I feel completely different types of digust, anger, and sadness. I am a great believer in peoples' responsibility to organize and change things. Greater change happens with movements, not laws. Still, the screeching old woman railing against Bush, the hipster with the Save Darfur t-shirt, the players in orange jump-suits; why do they repel me so? I tend to agree with them. Strangely, they make me want to care less about these issues.

I will admit that my repulsion is most likely a matter of my own psychology, that given the ability to focus and join the group for the common goal I would find these protests to be inspiring. But I have been breeding myself as an individualist in recent years, for better or worse. Better and worse in that I feel I've become much more discriminatory. I agree with these people on so many issues but the people feel so foreign to me. It is similar to attending a church: I agree with valuing peace, love and altruism but the way they go about it is so fucked-up.

I used to be involved in protesting, most often before and just after the beginning of the Iraq War. I was in London for a large part of this and went to some of the largest protests in London's history. The one issue I noticed on both sides of the Atlantic was the problem with homogeneity. If you were against the war you also had to be accordingly for or against a slew of other issues, essentially adhering to the generic far-leftist party line. Being anti-war meant being anti-Israel, anti-gun, pro-gay marriage, pro-drug, pro-radical feminist, anti-McDonalds, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, anti-globalization; and specifically in the U.S. pro-choice, anti-death penalty, pro-health care, pro-hate-crimes laws, etc.

Now, I actually agree with almost all of these sentiments. But I didn't go to the protest to display my disgust at anti-homosexual legislation, I went because I was AGAINST THE WAR. That is it. Demonstration organizers need to get it through their head that a focused message, unencumbered by loosely related issues, is the best way to get their message out.

I have a problem with the protest culture:

Where you have to echo chants and slogans that some person you don't even know is shouting at the head of your line.

Where the dress code requires clever t-shirts, face-covering bandanas, vaguely junta-style fatigues, and restriction of brand-based clothing.

Where everyone is fighting to prove how much more devoted they are to "The Fight" than everyone else is.

Where agreeing with someone on one issue is acceptable, but disagreeing on another is cause to be shouted down.

Where people use complex-sounding words such as "plutocracy", "oligarchy", "globalization", and "totalitarianism", which are essentially basic concepts, but they make you feel smarter when you shout 'em.

Where shitty folk musicians, musicians from obscure countries, chick-rock bands, and obsolete punk bands write overwrought "songs with a message" that end up sounding like fucking North Korean Nationalist Pride songs.

Where they generally hate materialism, except when it comes to the multitude of clever buttons on their jackets and backpacks.

Where people think that they have found the real news because they have watched Democracy Now! a few times.


Ok I could keep going on this, but you get the idea.

The saddest thing is that you know they are going to approve Mukasey. Despite the diluted messages of the "people", another pro-torture shitbag gets in office. Damn! I could have sworn that dressing up in orange jumpsuits and shouting, "Death to the Plutocrats! Death to the Plutocrats!!" would have done the job...

Yo! Check out my sister, the illustrious Emmy Award-winning Suzanne Marques, interviewing Lance Bass for E News HERE. I love when Ryan Seacrest says, "Suzanne Marques, you know her!".

Suzy's a blogger as well. Check out her blog while you're at it.

Sasha Grey is my new hero. Sure it probably makes me appear somewhat slimy announcing a 19 year old hardcore porn star as my new hero, but so be it. She rocks. She is also one of many people to emerge from being a guest on the Tyra Banks Show offended by the chopping and editing job they made of her appearance. You can watch her appearance here. As is usual, the show had an opinion, the dull mainstream conservative and faux-feminist opinion that pornography is merely exploitative. Tyra and her cadre of editors did their best to edit Sasha's responses and tailor her questions to make her appear as an innocent mislead girl lost in the corrupt world of porn.
According to Sasha's blog (on Myspace):

When the camera would cut to my responses a majority of the time they were showing you a shot of me listening to Tyra's questions (ie reaction shots).... so it appeared as if I had nothing to say. Believe me, I had plenty to say. I started out by voicing my thoughts on the negative aspects of this business, I told Tyra she was judging me, I referred to Pasolini, Madonna, and Peaches... "Every edit is a lie"-Jean Luc Godard.

I have read several other accounts of the restrictive edited narrative of Tyra's show. Of course, railing at a trashy TV show is futile, it still pisses me off. The best is after Sasha describes a gangbang scene and Tyra says she needs a break to clear her head, wtf... like Tyra didn't live through shit 10 times more scandalous living the coke-addled life of a supermodel.

Luckily, despite the hack job, you can still get a sense of Sasha's insightful justification of her chosen life. She doesn't hide from the risks and controversies of her line of work (unfortunately the producers revel in these admissions) and she appears as a strong person who is not afraid to vastly explore her sexual side. Her background was anything but sordid and her introduction to the world of porn was clearly a matter of choice. But as expected, the show goes out of its way to portray Sasha as a wayward girl ignorant of what is best for herself.

This is also not the first time the Tyra show has reveled in this porn star exploitation to the offense of her guests. Alt-porn star Violet Blue recently explained her surreal Tyra experience on her blog. Fuck Tyra and her safe brand of "empowerment". If Sasha Grey is not empowered I don't know who is.

Let's hope that Sasha Grey is the future of porn: a smart independent starlet who does everything on film short of breaking the law, all with a solid moral justification. She refused to be victimized yet acknowledges the bullshit of the porn industry. If that weren't enough, in her newest movie, Dave Navarro's Broken (that's right, Navarro from Jane's Addiction), she opens the movie with a masturbation-while-crying scene. She's brought my favorite joke to life!

Hey, I'm back in town after a week or so of touring with AWS. Physically and mentally exhausted, but I had a good time. Audiences in DC and Virginia are weird, btw.

Here's a few pics from the tour:

Late night Holiday Inn drinkin sessions-


My impromptu halloween costume, which consisted of a Sweeney Todd poster stapled to my shirt-


My new favorite drink: Clamato and Budweiser! (ok, it was really weird, but not as bad as you would think!)-


And last but not least, me smoking a cigarette from a fake bloody hand I stole from a comfort in in Maryland-



I'll be back and bloggin' this week.