This week was all about my outrage over an unjust system. Which system you ask? Just about all of them. But I guess without an unfair world, we wouldn't get those great documentaries about wrongfully convicted criminals, the Too Big to Fails and photos of people holding signs with words on them, would we. Onward to cool shite.
1) Paradise Lost: The Documentary Series
I saw the first of these three documentaries when I was in college. It was for a class called "Magic, Religion and Science Since the Middle Ages." Ah, liberal arts college. We watched this doc because we had been discussing the "Satanic Panic" that occurred in the middle and southern parts of America in the 80s and 90s. Satanic cults. Remember them? It was its own witches of Salem, it's own McCarthyism. Anyway, this documentary is famous, I'm sure you've seen it, but HBO just released the third installment. Seventeen years later, the West Memphis three, who were at the time teenagers accused of mercilessly killing three 8 year old boys in some sort of Satanic ritual, walk free, so clearly innocent of the crime it's mind-boggling that the case dragged on for so long. And the way it "ended" is also pretty messed up, but I won't give the whole thing away.
2) If They're Too Big to Fail, They're Too Big to Exist
David Stockman on Crony Capitalism from
BillMoyers.com.
As I was watching this man, David Stockman, talk about his book "Crony Capitalism" on Bill Moyers, I was ready to accept him as the second coming of Christ. Everything he said was so on point and pragmatic, yet dramatic at the same time. So I looked him up and discovered that he had served under Reagan as his Budget Director and was at the time a staunch supporter of the principles of supply side economics. That said, I believe in redemption, especially the redemption of brilliant people who can be turned around to use their intellectual powers for good, and I believe Stockman fits that bill. You know, not unlike Paul the Apostle -- dude, I'm just saying. I think the best leader for the country right now may well be a reformed republican. Like Lyndon Johnson for instance, a Texan democrat who certainly straddled the line, was probably the only president who could have gotten a Civil Rights bill passed in the 60s. Perhaps what we need is a politician who knows how speak the language of the opposition on the deepest level. Now is the time for Stockman to get back into politics, this time, fighting the good fight. And maybe pair him up with Ralph Nader. This clip is a little long, but engaging and worth the watch.
3) PBS American Masters: Phil Ochs
I oscillated between watching this and the Giants game. This was more interesting to me, but I felt I needed to be informed about the Giants too, since the whole country was watching that. Do you know Phil Ochs? He is the second greatest American songwriter (self-proclaimed). He did in earnest what Bob Dylan did on the surface -- write topical and political songs that he hoped would lead to action. He never reached Dylan's fame no matter how hard he tried, but he is an exceptional talent. Here is a clip of one his most famous songs. (Spoiler alert) he committed suicide at the age of 35, but had already accomplished a great deal. That seems to be the way with many great artists.
4) This New York Magazine Intelligencer on French vs. American Kids
Don't shoot the messenger, but from what I've seen in Manhattan, this feels quite true. I was raised by French parents and see how well adjusted I am? I know, life's totally unfair 'sigh'.
Dear Reader,
Below, please find a list of cool shit.
1) I'm Singing Vocals For a Band
Here is a rehearsal demo of me singing with Freak Radar at Smash Studios. A song called Hypocrite written by our guitarist, Kuch, and his fiance. Check out the video by clicking on this here hyperlink. Or you can click on the below video, but it seems to be taking a little time to download. Either way is cool with me.
2) Paris is Burning
The second I started watching this documentary, I was hooked. Shot in the mid-to late 80s in New York City, it depicts the Black and Latino Gay and Transgender "Ball" sub-culture. These "balls" are elaborate competitions during which participants "walk" to a specific theme, not unlike a fashion catwalk. Their themes cover a huge range: school girl, military, successful white business executive etc etc. I kid you not. And the winner is the walker who most realistically embodies the character. Being gay at that time was hard enough, but being gay in communities with very macho cultures was that much tougher. So the Balls provide an outlet and a family for these people, often runaways, often in their teens, who are rejected from their own families and communities. Issues of gender identity are complex, fascinating and a little heartbreaking. Remember Madonna's Vogue? This is where Voguing started.
3) PBS American Experience: Billy the Kid
If you've been going by Billy Joel's song "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," as I have, to get all your info about the legend, then we are all sadly mistaken.
Billy Joel: From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia rode a boy with a 6 gun in his hand...
American Experience: WRONG. Billy the kid, real name Henry McCarty,
was probably born in New York City.
Billy Joel: Well he never had a sweetheart...
American Experience: WRONG. He was in love with a 16 year old Mexican girl.
In fact, sticking around for her is probably what caused his downfall.
Billy Joel: Well he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma...
American Experience: WRONG. He pretty much stuck around New Mexico and robbed only when he had to and on principle.
Billy Joel: And the cowboys and their kin like the sea came pourin' in to watch
the hangin' of Billy the Kid.
American Experience: WRONG. That's not how he died, dudes.
Ah, well. Billy Joel, we still love you... and your historically inaccurate song.
4) My Apartment
I think my apartment is really cool, don't you?
I'm very lucky.
But also quite proud.
Because it's kind of my life's work.
