Saint-Jean-Baptiste Playlist

Howdy!

As you may or may not know, June 24th is the Québécois National Holiday. Now, Québec's History is a tad complicated, born by treaties between the Aboriginals and French allowing for French settling, the French-Canadian forces helping the Americans first fight off the Brits to get their own country then assisting with some tribes in the "discovery" of the West, then modified by a losing battle against the British forces that resulted in the nullifying of the Settlers Pact, and subsequent attempt by the newly-formed English-Canadian political elite to assimilate and exterminate both French and Aboriginals on the Canadian territory, yet with all minority nations showing a sense of resiliency to remain alive - sometimes in name more than in fact - to this day.

Worth celebrating? I honestly don't know. Again, there are too many points to ponder and explain, with the word "nationalism" itself bearing a very different meaning in French (existence of a nation) than in English with the current undertones (superiority of or focus on one nation more than others), but I thought it'd be cool to concoct a hopefully-not-too-cheesy playlist for the 24 hours that will encompass June 24th.

Midnight - 1 AM:

ARCADE FIRE: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Lindbergh
SERGE FIORI & RICHARD SÉGUIN: Deux Cent Nuits À L'Heure
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Héloïse
HARMONIUM: Pour Un Instant
BRAN VAN 3000: Forest (French and English versions)
DANIEL BOUCHER: Chez Nous
COEUR DE PIRATE: Tu Oublieras Mon Nom
DEAD MESSENGER: Fat Black Heart
LES PARFAITS SALAUDS: 200 Jours
LEONARD COHEN: First We Take Manhattan
JEAN LELOUP: Balade À Toronto

1 AM - 2 AM:

ARCADE FIRE (with DAVID BOWIE): Reflektor
OCTOBRE: La Maudite Machine
VULGAIRES MACHINS: Compter Les Corps
TSPC: Connaître La Suite
DEAD MESSENGER: Toothcomb
GHETTONUNS: Invitation To Love
GROOVY AARDVARK: Dérangeant
HOT SPRINGS: Cellophane
PLUME LATRAVERSE: Bobépine
HOLE: Gold Dust Woman
GRIMSKUNK: Gros Tas d'Marde
B.A.R.F.: Wô Wô Tabarnak
ANONYMUS: Décrisse
PRIESTESS: I Am The Night, Colour Me Black

2 AM - 3 AM:

OFFENBACH: Deux Autres Bières
ROCK ET BELLES OREILLES: Bonjour La Police
VILAIN PINGOUIN: Délinquance
MEN WITHOUT HATS: Sideways
SCARLET BEAST: Our City
CANAILLES: Titanic
BRAN VAN 3000: Drinking In L.A.
FRENCH B: Je Me Souviens
LOCO LOCASS: Libérez-Nous Des Libéraux
RAY CONDO AND HIS HARDROCK GONERS: All Night Long
ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Entre Deux Joints
OFFENBACH: Chu Un Rocker
LES FURYS: Aide-Moi
LA RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE: Québécois

3 AM - 4 AM:

RENÉE CLAUDE: Le Début D'Un Temps Nouveau
JACQUES MICHEL: Un Nouveau Jour Va Se Lever
ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: The Frog Song
LOCO LOCASS: Le But
GRIMSKUNK: Looking For Gabbio
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Your Friend
ORKESTAR KRIMINAL: Der Schmayzer
ARCADE FIRE: Abraham's Daughter
SAMIAN & KASHTIN: Tshinanu
JEAN-PIERRE FERLAND: Un Peu Plus Haut
RICHARD DESJARDINS: Tu M'Aimes-Tu?

4 AM - 5 AM:

NUANCE: Vivre Dans La Nuit
DEAD MESSENGER: The Glass Hotel
GERRY BOULET: Un Beau Grand Bateau
DANIEL BÉLANGER: Respirer Dans L'Eau
PAUL PICHÉ: Mon Joe
VINCENT VALLIÈRES: On Va S'Aimer Encore
MITSOU: Lettre À Un Cowboy
LUC DE LA ROCHELIÈRE: Ma Génération
JEAN LELOUP: Je Suis Parti
LES COLOCS: Dehors Novembre
LEONARD COHEN: Closing Time

5 AM - 6 AM:

ALACLAIR ENSEMBLE: St-Roch
GEORGES DOR: La Manic
MARTIN STEVENS: Love Is In The Air
LOCO LOCASS: Le Mémoire De Loco Locass
LUC DE LA ROCHELIÈRE: Sauvez Mon Âme
LEONARD COHEN: Hallelujah
LEONARD COHEN: In My Secret Life
ALEX NEVSKY: J'Aurai Les Mains
COEUR DE PIRATE: Comme Des Enfants
MALAJUBE: Étienne D'Août
LES COLOCS: Pis Si Ô Moins
PHILÉMON (CIMON) CHANTE: Dors Poupée Dors

6 AM - 7 AM:

KEVIN PARENT: Fréquenter L'Oubli
GILLES VIGNEAULT: Mon Pays
RICHARD DESJARDINS: Les Yankees
LUC DE LA ROCHELIÈRE: Amère America
FÉLIX LECLERC: Le Petit Bonheur
PAUL PICHÉ: L'Escalier
COEUR DE PIRATE: Des Maisons
LUC DE LA ROCHELIÈRE: Si J'Te Disais Reviens
FRENCH B.: Quitter Son Pays
LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS: Mon Pays
LES COLOCS:  Tout Seul
KNLO: Justeçayinque

7 AM - 8 AM:

BAD NYLON: Jingle Dead
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Everybody's Got AIDS
MELISSA AUF DER MAUR: Meet Me On The Dark Side
LOCO LOCASS: M'Accrocher?
GRIMSKUNK: Head Games
MOZART'S SISTER: Mozart's Sister
GROENLAND: The Things I've Done
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT: Four Black Sheep
ALEXANDRE POULIN: Couleurs Primaires
RICHARD SÉGUIN: Sous Les Cheminées
JEAN LELOUP: Zone Zéro
BEAU DOMMAGE: Le Blues De La Métropole
VANESSA LAVOIE: Down By The Bonfire

8 AM - 9 AM:

LEONARD COHEN: The Partisan/Le Partisan
THE HOT SPRINGS: The Fog And The Horn
DEJA VOODOO: Down In Mexico
PRIESTESS: Run Home
NO JOY: Califone
DOUGHBOYS: Shine
THE DEARS: Lost In The Plot
FRED FORTIN: Mélane
SAFIA NOLIN: Va-T'En Pas
JIM CORCORAN: J'Vais Changer Le Monde
WD-40: Je Reviens De L'Est
ARIANE MOFFATT: Je Rentre À Montréal

9 AM - 10 AM:

DANIEL BÉLANGER: Dans Un Spoutnik
LYDIA KÉPINSKY: Andromaque
ARIANE MOFFATT: Jeudi 17 Mai
HARMONIUM: Comme Un Fou
FRED FORTIN: Gratte
SALOMÉ LECLERC: Tourne Encore
STARS: What The Snowman Learned About Love
THE BARR BROTHERS: Half Crazy
WD-40: D'Aussi Loin
RAID: Capitaine Vodka
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR: Storm

10 AM - 11 AM:

LUC DE LA ROCHELIÈRE: Cash City
JEAN LELOUP: Le Dôme
LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS: Les Étoiles Filantes
TRICOT MACHINE: L'Ours
ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Les Ailes d'Un Ange
GILLES VIGNEAULT: Les Gens De Mon Pays
PLUME LATRAVERSE: Les Pauvres
FRED FORTIN: Moisi Moé'ssi
RICHARD DESJARDINS: ... Et J'ai Couché Dans Mon Char
OFFENBACH: Seulement Qu'Une Aventure

11 AM - noon:

MARC DÉRY: Ostie Qu'y S'Lève Tard
ZÉBULON: R'viens Pas Trop Tard
JEAN LELOUP: Feuille Au Vent
LES COLOCS: Le Répondeur
MY EMPTY SCREEN: Deux Et Demi
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT: Leave Behind
RICHARD SÉGUIN: Journée D'Amérique
KANDLE: Not Up To Me
THE LINDBERGH LINE: Alissar
BRIE NIELSEN AND HER OTHER MEN: Be Alone
VILAIN PINGOUIN: Le Train
JEAN LELOUP: Printemps Été
MALAJUBE: Pâte Filo

Noon - 1 PM:

MARA TREMBLAY: Le Printemps Des Amants
GHETTONUNS: Blue Checks
LES ANTICIPATEURS: Sapoud
GHETTONUNS: Out On The Horse
LES DEUXLUXES: Springtime Devil
SÉBASTIAN HELL: Bitter End
KNLO: Mai (Ayayaye) (feat. Jam)
MANU MILITARI: Je Me Souviens 
SANS PRESSION: Vagabond Ma Religion
MUZION: La Vie Ti-Neg
YVON KREVÉ: Dans Nos Rues
KORIASS: Montréal-Nord
MANU MILITARI: La Traversée Du Lac Nasser
NOMADIC MASSIVE: Konba

1 PM - 2 PM:

LES ANTICIPATEURS: Findsemaine
MC LA SAUCE: Fuck You Estie
MANU MILITARI: Pour Chaque Goutte De Pétrole
BLACK TABOO: Police Plein De Pisse
SANS PRESSION & YVON KREVÉ: Pète La Coche
SANS PRESSION & AKHENATON: La Tendance Se Maintient
KORIASS: Nulle Part
ALACLAIR ENSEMBLE: Sauce Pois
BEAST: Out Of Control
VINCENT VALLIÈRES: Asbestos
JEAN LELOUP: Les Flamants Roses
PLUME LATRAVERSE: Les Humains
QUÉBEC REDNECK BLUEGRASS PROJECT: Tsé Quand Ça Va Ben 

2 PM - 3 PM:

LES COLOCS: Passe-Moé La Puck
BERNARD ADAMUS: La Question À 100 Piasses
WD-40: Ma Dépendance
FRED FORTIN: Tu M'Aimes-Tu?
LYDIA KÉPINSKY: Apprendre À Mentir
JASON BAJADA & JOANNE LABELLE: Tu Peux Dormir
WOLF PARADE: You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son
BEAST: Mr. Hurricane
PANOPTICON EYELIDS: Solar Mind
P/DO P/DRO: Jouïr
PONCTUATION: Obéïr À Ses Instincts Dans La Mesure Du Possible
MY DOG POPPER: We're Old, We're Fat And We're Slow

3 PM - 4 PM:

THE LINDBERGH LINE: Juggernaut
ARCADE FIRE: Ready To Start
OFFENBACK: Ayoye
MALAJUBE: Montréal -40
LES COLOCS: Le Pouding À L'Arsenic
BERNARD ADAMUS: En Voiture, Mais Pas D'Char
ZÉBULON: Job Steady
PLUME LATRAVERSE: La Pompe À Stime
WD-40: Gramme De Mort
LES MARMOTTES APLATIES: Détruire
BANLIEUE ROUGE: Sous Un Ciel Écarlate
BIONIC: Learn To Love The Goverment
LES HANDCLAPS: Pastiche

4 PM- 5 PM:

MITSOU: Mademoiselle Anne
JEAN LELOUP: 1990 (Original Rock Version)
MADAME: Propriétaire
THE BOX: L'Affaire Dumouthier
KANDLE: Control Me
ARIANE MOFFATT: Réverbère
DAVID USHER & MARIE-MAI: Je Repars
AVEC PAS D'CASQUE: En Attendant Que Ça Paie
DANIEL BÉLANGER: Rêver Mieux
SOUPIR: Les Larmes De Métal
NANETTE WORKMAN: Call Girl
THE BESNARD LAKES: Albatross

5PM - 6 PM:

LES SINNERS: Ne Reste Pas Sous La Pluie
LES CLASSELS: Si J'Étais Millionnaire
LES SULTANS: La Poupée Qui Fait Non
MITSOU: Le Ya-Ya
LES SKYLINERS: Wabash Blues
THE GRUESOMES: Don't Waste My Time
CÉSAR ET LES ROMAINS: Splish Splash Tout En Prenant Mon Bain
THE KINGPINS: Manon, Viens Danser Le Ska
LES DENIS DROLET: Dans Le Poulailler
RAFFY: Le Temps Des Vacances
PHILÉMON (CIMON) CHANTE: Vaincre L'Automne
LHASA DE SELA: Rising
MILK & BONE: New York
DUCHESS SAYS: Gainsbourg
JEAN LELOUP: Sang D'Encre

6 PM - 7 PM:

ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Je Reviendrai À Montréal
LEONARD COHEN: Everybody Knows
LEONARD COHEN: I'm Your Man
LEONARD COHEN: Suzanne
LEONARD COHEN: So Long, Marianne
LEONARD COHEN: The Future
LEONARD COHEN: Waiting For The Miracle
LEONARD COHEN: Bird On A Wire
LEONARD COHEN: Dance Me To The End Of Love
ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Ordinaire

7 PM - 8 PM:

ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS: Dreaming
LYDIA KÉPINSKY: Pie-IX
PONY UP!: Only Feelgood
THE STILLS: Still In Love
SALOMÉ LECLERC: Le Vent Nous Portera
JEAN LELOUP: Faire Des Enfants
LES HANDCLAPS: Cliché
WOLF PARADE: Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts
RAID (W/ I-RONEE): Wise Up
DUCHESS SAYS: Negative Thoughts
THEE SILVER MT. ZION MEMORIAL ORCHESTRA: Fuck Off Get Free

8 PM - 9 PM:

RAID: Prendre Le Champs
THE KINGPINS: Watch Your Back
THE CARDBOARD CROWNS: Hats Off
THE BEATDOWN: The Other Side
SHALABI EFFECT: Mr. Titz (The Revelator)
NUTSAK: Innuendo Schminuendo
RIPCORDZ: Your Mother Wears Army Boots
CAPITAINE RÉVOLTE: J'Ai Oublié
ÉMILE BILODEAU: J'En Ai Plein Mon Cass
GROOVY AARDVARK & YVES LAMBERT: Boisson D'Avril
KERMESS: Y'A Pas Grand Chose Dans L'Ciel À Soir
B.A.R.F.: Le Petit Poisson

9 PM - 10 PM:

PLUME LATRAVERSE: Lisa Belle
JASON BAJADA: Loveshit
VULGAIRES MACHINS: Légaliser L'Héroïne
HOT SPRINGS: Headrush
VILAIN PINGOUIN: Salut, Salaud
MELISSA AUF DERMAUR: Out Of Our Minds
OFFENBACH: Câline De Blues
THE GRUESOMES: Hey!
THE AMERICAN DEVICES: You Wouldn't Understand
JEAN LELOUP: Voilà

10 PM - 11 PM:

ROBERT CHARLEBOIS: Indépendantriste
HARMONIUM: Un Musicien Parmi Tant D'Autres
ALACLAIR ENSEMBLE: Ça Que C'tait
JEAN LELOUP: Le Roi Se Meurt
CLAUDE DUBOIS: Si Dieu Existe
MES AÏEUX: Dégénération
LES COWBOYS FRINGANTS: En Berne
SÉBASTIAN HELL: J'Ai La Vie Qui M'Pique Les Yeux
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Oh Well
ARCADE FIRE: Wake Up
SAMIAN & LOCO LOCASS: La Paix Des Braves
JEAN LELOUP: Paradis City
CÉLINE DION: L'Amour Existe Encore

11 PM - Midnight:

COEUR DE PIRATE: Adieu
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Anarchie
SÉBASTIAN HELL: Selfish
DEAD MESSENGER: Master Plan
LES DEUXLUXES: My Baby & Me 
ALEX NEVSKY: On Leur A Fait Croire
HOLE: Celebrity Skin
LES TROIS ACCORDS: Dans Mon Corps
LOCO LOCASS: Sheila Ch'us Là
VULGAIRES MACHINS: Anéantir Le Dogme
JEAN LELOUP: Isabelle
ME MOM & MORGENTALER: Pepita La Pistolera
GHETTONUNS: Ten Years Down

Suggested films to watch: Elvis Gratton, Elvis Gratton 2, Elvis Gratton 3: Le Retour D'Elvis Wong, 15 Février 1839, Octobre, Le Déclin De L'Empire Américain, Jésus De Montréal, Les Invasions Barbares, Lost And Delirious, The Trostzky, Un Zoo La Nuit, Le Confessionnal, Le Polygraphe, Le Nèg, Eldorado.

Video Of The Week: Tonnes

Sure, these are disturbing times, and as we sacrifice Liberty for Security and Bureaucracy, we are losing our Humanity. Franz Kafka wrote about this in Der Process (The Trial) in 1915, and published it in 1925, between the (first) two World Wars.

History has, of course, proven him correct time and time again. As bureaucracies get bigger and bigger, the "Big Picture" and "Greater Good" start constantly getting cited as the reason for doing and acting in certain conventional ways, except most people are at best only 90-95% conventional, meaning we're all exceptions in certain cases, and as soon as a government, State or otherwise leadership group looks into one of our behaviours, we are all likely to fall in some of the system's cracks at some point and be judged unfairly. Because at the end of the day, The System is unfair, rigidity is unrealistic, and we are all outsiders to some exent.

And so, Montréal indie rock "supergroup" Tonnes have enlisted director Giuliano Bossa (also the band's bassist) to set this reality into our own timeline, in this military-police-led present day - and the results don't even shock anymore, as we've seen these kinds of scenes happen on TV - and not just in fiction - and in film so often in the past two decades. The song is called In Trouble and, yes, we are.

TONNES - In Trouble from Giuliano Bossa on Vimeo.

United Nations Fire Wonder Woman

Here's a chain of stupidity:

It starts with the United Nations voting on a new Secretary General and electing António Guterres of Portugal to the position. This enraged some people of the "what about us" crowd, of course. You see, it had been noted that the U.N. had never - in the nine times the role had been appointed previously - chosen either a woman or an Eastern European.

Indeed, here are the past Secretaries-General:

Gladwyn Jebb, U.K. (Western Europe), 1945-1946.
Trygve Lie, Norway (Scandinavia), 1946-1952.
Dag Hammarskjöld, Sweden (Scandinavia), 1953-1961.
U Thant, Burma (Asia-Pacific), 1961-1971.
Kurt Waldheim, Austria (Western Europe), 1972-1981.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peru (South America), 1982-1991.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egypt (Africa), 1992-1996.
Kofi Annan, Ghana (Africa), 1997-2006.
Ban Ki-moon, South Korea (Asia-Pacific), 2007-2016.

So, uh, if we're going by "everyone should have a turn", it's missing members of the LGBT community, the Caribbean, and a North American. Also, of nations with Independence Movements in their midst: Canada (Québec), Spain (Catalonia), Russia (Chechnya), or even Czechoslovakia (Slovakia) pre-Annan.

Now, of that list, Jebb can be taken off because his term was merely the inception of the brand, he was there until someone else was officially appointed, which means no one from the G-7, G-8 or G-20 had ever held the position before Ban Ki-moon, and even then, when he took the position, the G-20 did not actually exist - the G8 stood as the world's economic summit until 2009, when it was deemed smarter to include emerging countries to the list.

Just to recap, the G-20 encompasses: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and the European Union, which was founded/conceptualized in 1993 but only got its traction and recognition when it was decided in 1999 that it would have its own currency, the Euro, effective in 2002.

So, in summation: there was outrage that out of eight (8) elected appointees in history, two groups out of possibly five or more had never held the position. One said group represents half the population of the planet, while the other one has had a pretty harsh 20th century and likely deserves a shot of optimism.

But not thinking it through, the U.N. bowed to a relatively low amount of pressure and instituted, for their 2016 selection, public nominations. Five candidates emerged: two men from Eastern Europe (Vuk Jeremić from Serbia and Miroslav Lajčák from Slovakia, who ran on the "zero tolerance policy on sexual violence and abuse by peacekeepers against civilian populations is a must; such violations must be fully investigated and perpetrators brought to justice" platform) and two women (Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, and Helen Clark of New Zealand), in addition to Guterres.

And though technically, Bulgaria is in Eastern Europe, the Southeastern part is often seen as having had less suffering than, say, Serbia or Poland. Of course, the four "minority" options split the vote and Guterres won.

Guterres, by the way, is highly qualified. He was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees between 2005 and 2015, Prime Minister of his country (which doesn't have a poor Human Rights record of late) from 1995 to 2002 and President of Socialist-International from 1999 until 2005; we're talking about a guy who has always been about equality, rights, and protecting the little guy.

Again, of course, there was outrage. Limited, Twitter-storm-type outrage, but still, some angry voices were heard, and the U.N. created a new position, that of "honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls". Instead of appointing one of Clark or Bokova, or German chancellor Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Françoise David, Madonna, Kathie Sarachild, Shamima Shaikh, Annie Sprinkle, Oprah Winfrey, Geena Davis, Naomi Wolf or even the actresses who famously played the part - Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot - the U.N. chose to name the character Wonder Woman to the position.

It wasn't wrong per se: famous feminist publisher Gloria Steinem had put the character on the front page of Ms. magazine in 1971. "She" is a powerful, strong-willed character who would never back down from a fight or a challenge, yet she is also a diplomat who would rather negotiate than wield her power, a lover of peace who strives to never escalate a conflict because she wants to give her opponents a chance; if a conflict does arise, she will prevail - with the utmost authority. You know, like the fucking U.N. is supposed to.

But hey, an online petition was started by a bunch of fucking idiots and the idea was canned, because she "dresses too sexily", among other reasons. That's right: the U.N.'s "honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls" - a fictitious character - was fired because of how she chooses to dress. I'm guessing it's suits like this one that led to one person being shocked enough to start the petition:

Which conveniently forgets that she has also been drawn as follows by Jim Lee, the guy who made all five of these drawings:

Wonder Woman is an Amazon Princess, a warrior, and a diplomat; she's Pocahontas, Mulan and Angela Merkel all rolled into one, when most other characters in her medium are one-dimensional.

Some people - particularly on the left side of the political spectrum, the one I identify with the most - just don't know how to pick their fights. That's why we can't have nice things, because everything has to be so fucking watered-down that it doesn't mean anything anymore, making sure no one gets offended by any of it (which is impossible for anything of substance), and no victory but the ultimate one (well, the translucent and aseptic victory devoid of taste, anyway) is ever good enough. The same short-sighted fuckers who want to fight for everyone's equal rights one minority at a time instead of the more efficient FOR ALL at once.

Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones

a.k.a. WHAT'S IN A NAME?

I grew up in the 1980s, and entered my teens as they turned into the 1990s. I knew old-school parenting: I remember not fastening my seat belt on the backseat and sleeping on that weird place separating it from the trunk. I remember reciting the ABCs in kindergarten (or was that pre-school?), and moving on to ''sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me'' in elementary school.

And when I was 11, a Chinese student stood up in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square and suddenly, even broken bones didn't seem so bad.

Oh how we get soft fast.

Political correctness grew like cancer and poisoned our society to levels unimaginable in 1988 when it was still a joke. Don't get me wrong: I am fully aware that not all humans are treated equally in any given country, let alone from one to the next, that racism is still both institutionalized and prevalent even in the Land Of The Free, and, within the borders I myself inhabit (notice I'm not using the word ''country''...) gender equality - which used to be a given and what was believed to be the basis of our society to some extent, and my father will argue that it led to the ''womanization'' (read: super-sensibility) of the masses, though I fully, entirely and completely disagree - is under attack at both the federal and provincial levels, so pretty much everywhere. So, yes, I realize there is plenty of reason out there for outrage, anger, fighting (for your rights), heated debates, compromise, rebuilding and evolving.

But there shouldn't be so much room for victimization.

Particularly, we have to stop being offended by words and pictures. And not just those of the Prophet, by the way. I'll get to pictures later, because the real reason I'm writing this post today is a post on Louder Than War on Monday talking about ''censorship'' and shitty band names.

This month's culprit of bad taste is Viet Cong, but a few years ago in my own town there was Rape Faction, and the 1980s saw Joy Division (a Nazi reference), New Order and Dead Kennedys get questioned for their wit (or lack thereof).

Just to ''clear the air'' (though it won't): Nazis were bad people, rape is the worst or second-worst thing you can do to a human, totalitarian states are not fun, and murdering political figures (and normal humans) is questionable at the very least.

But not only was there always offensive shit in music (Did you know all of Mozart's piece titles were actually scatological references? What kind of backlash do you think Robert Johnson got for having made a deal with the Devil so he could play guitar well enough to steal everybody's else's wife as he so clearly states in over half his songs? Remember how Murder Was The Case they gave Snoop Doggy Dogg, who was on trial for murder a year later? How many heavy metal acts were accused of inspiring suicides? Don't get me started with Marilyn Manson, perhaps the smartest but also least dangerous figure of pretend-satanism...), but a lot of it is (gasp!)... on purpose!

When I was in New York (1998-99), there was a band who named themselves Gay Dad. It was mostly funny, but some got outraged, usually super-conservative types; nowadays, that would probably also offend the LGBT community, even though the band itself had no issue with any cause they might have.

There's a part in the article I linked to above where Viet Cong talk about receiving tons of complaint letters, including one from someone whose grandparents were killed by the army known as the Viet Cong (1959-1975). I want to say two things:

1. The band may have done your grandparents a favor by being such insensitive pricks, because as of yesterday morning, I had no idea they (your ancestors) had even existed, and now they have entered my brain as people who have suffered at the VC's hand.

2. The fact that the band stupidly went ahead and called themselves that has the added benefit of people - particularly kids who are 14-29 at the moment and have no fucking education to speak of - now looking it up and finding out more about Human History. And, believe it or not, that's good.

That's not to say the band get off scot-free: they were ignorant when they went ahead and called themselves that (they really had no clue and just thought it sounded cool), and they're assholes for continuing to go with it now that they know who they were, and choosing not to use it as a tool to educate people on the history I just touched upon.

I repeat: they're free to be stupid and call themselves that, but you're free to call them out as assholes.

Can we not go back to just calling out the assholes instead of being afraid of their band's name? As long as they don't use your fucking name to discredit it (people I know were in a band called the Bill Cosby Anarchist Society of America, that's debatable even in spite of what he's not-quite-yet-officially-accused of), I don't give a fuck if a band calls itself Dyke Nigger Nazi Inbreds Of French Decent (''Maroon 5'' for short), it's their cross to bear and no one should cry over it, even if there was a concentration camp survivor from 1944 who marched on Selma in 1965 only to get shot in the Stonewall riots in 1970 (spoiler alert: there wasn't).

Censorship is always bad, anti-liberal, and undemocratic. Toronto band Fucked Up incited a re-write of an entire tour funding program on account that one person was offended by their name. That's, well, fucked up. Just don't go to the fucking show you fucking asshole, no need to ruin it for everyone else.

Everybody wants to be an abused minority, for some reason. And instead of uniting and going for a ''Let's All Be Equal'' platform - which they could obtain because, well, when combined, they'd easily be a majority - they each want their piece of the pie and stomp on others along the way if need be.

Women make up 52% of the world right now, and in Québec universities, at least 60% of any field (some up to 90%), meaning as soon as the old men retire and/or die, they'll be the only ones even remotely qualified to be in charge - of everything.

I'll put myself in with ''the poor'', though I'm more of the ''working poor'' variety, but as a whole, we've metaphorically called ourselves the 99%; those of us in Canada who make less than $20K per year are probably not nearly that many, because the ''99%'' includes the middle class, but we do have decent numbers.

It's been generally accepted that 10% of the population is gay. That's a decent chunk. There's a stereotype that they have money, too, that could help their cause even more.

French-speaking Quebecers make up 85-90% of their territory, but less than a quarter of Canada's population. They're a super-minority on the continent, a minority in their guest country, and a majority in their annexed land - they're an anomaly, a fun one to look into if you're a history buff - I suggest you start with the writings of Howard Zinn if you're interested.

''Blacks'' (as Donald Trump likes to call them) represented roughly 15% of the U.S. when I was growing up, I think we're around 25% now, but if the United States want to play World Police, then should Black folks of the world combine, their numbers would rival China's - and their anger and right to protest might be unparalleled.

Aboriginals are actually the minorit-est of minorities, considering they are but a fraction of the numbers they once were and are consistently not provided for nor given the means to prosper, save for the corrupt few who are in charge and steal the rest of their tribe's cash - the way the rest of North America works.

And the list goes on. This isn't meant as a sociocultural essay as much as a means to vent against those who cry wolf instead of standing up and making a meaningful change - for all, not just their own special-interest group.

And that's a point that encompasses something else that caught my attention this week, where clothing line company H&M created a host of fake metal bands to pretend to have a full roster of acts for its Heavy & Metal (get it?) line, complete with fake band websites, and fake songs.

So complete, in fact, that they tied two of those bands to the NSBM scene. Yes, fake white supremacist bands. So they can sell their t-shirts and patches:

That's taking trolling to some new extremes...

A lot of my circle of friends were deeply offended by the whole idea. I'm torn between 25% of me finding it funny in an adolescent way, and 75% finding it the dumbest thing I've heard all week, but ''offended''? Nah. That black model in the picture looks angrier to have the world's worst agent than he is of wearing those patches (granted, none of them feature a swastika or anything), and I choose not to get offended by words, pictures, or stupidity.

I'm amazed by how idiotic of a species Mankind is, yes, most of the time. I wish we could repair our societies, our systems, or take a minute to create a new one. Yes. Of course. But there isn't much you can throw at me that'll ruin my day.

My ancestors were killed by the British, trying to protect their language, culture and identity - probably less than 100 yards of where I live right now, but here I am writing in English.

My sister died of cancer, and yet I watched X-Files and hated Cancer Man because he was evil, not because he chain-smoked.

Friends have died in street violence, and I've been a victim of sexual abuse - and yet I listen to 2Pac telling me he'll rape Notorious B.I.G.'s wife, then murder him. And in Toss 'Em Up, he calls Dr. Dre a ''faggot'', and yet I don't skip it when my gay friends come over. And I feel pretty much the same way as Louis C.K. (see: Chewed Up) about the word ''nigger'', and I've been listening to Patti Smith's Rock And Roll Nigger a lot this week as well.

''Actions speak louder than words''. ''Words will never hurt me''. It's about fucking time we start living up to the shit we taught our kids for centuries. Starting with ''All men (sic) were created equal''. If we can make that change, then maybe we can stop being afraid of words.

Obama In Selma

Here's an except of Barack Obama's speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bloodbath in Selma, Alabama. If you're going to follow the embedded video to its original YouTube page, please, don't read the comments. Or do, and realize just how much 47% of the country he clearly still believes in isn't ready to step into the 20th Century, let alone the 21st.



Had I been in his position, I would have uttered the word ''motherfucking'' more times in those two minutes than Samuel L. Jackson in an entire Quentin Tarantino movie.

1132 Years A Slav

I've avoided writing about Ukraine thus far, but too many people have chimed in with wild theories - and too many of those with no facts to back their points of view up - that I had to at least mention it...

The city of Kiev was officially founded in 482. That's not a typo. Founded mostly by Slavs, the settlement was also inhabited by Finnics (ancestors to modern-day Finns, among others), and Khazars (think Turks, Kazakhs, Tatars and Bulgars) very early on.

The first agglomeration to consider Kiev as its capital was Kievan Rus', circa 882-1283 (that's where I start considering it the capital of a 'country', hence the title of this post). Mostly Slavic, modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia all claim to descend from that federation.

With wars and power struggles a constant in Europe, Kievan Rus' made way for the kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (a.k.a. Kingdom Of Rus). Like J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, the Kingdom wasn't a united country per se, more like autonomous provinces each with their own capitals within a loose border; Kiev was not a capital, but three other now-Ukrainian cities were: Volodymyr-Volynsky, Halych, and Lviv.

By 1283, the Grand Duchy of Moscow had come into effect, and though its leaders and official name came to change many times (Tsardom of Russia in 1547, Russian Empire in 1721, the USSR in 1922 after a few turbulent years of the 1917 Revolution, The Russian Federation of Independent States in 1991 and the current-day incarnation since 1993), was essentially the beginning of what is now Russia. Russians share the British taste for imperialism, as well as the ''father knows best'' mentality of many Eastern cultures. They like owning a large plot of land (currently occupying an eighth of the world's land mass though they are barely 2% of its population at 145 million people), and they really dislike opposition.

And so, Ukraine has shared countries, ownership or administrations (or been under the influence of) with Russia for over 1000 years. They only declared their actual independence in 1918, and though they tried to refrain Russians from formally entering and claiming ownership from then on by themselves being a socialist state (kind of like Canada signing on NAFTA with the U.S. in 1992), Russians took advantage of the turmoil caused by World War II (and a deal with Germany) to invade Ukraine in 1939, made easier by World War I-era territorial delimitations where the Ukraine was basically split in three.

There was another, short-lived declaration of independence in 1941 when the Soviet troops went back home, but the Nazis made sure to render that useless by jailing, torturing and killing the government in place, and when Germany fell to the Russians, the movement became nothing but a footnote in History.

When the USSR collapsed and became the Russian Federation, most Eastern European subject-states decided to assert their independence, and a lot were allowed to do so. Some chose to remain part of the Russian whole, others were forced to (see: Chechnya). Ukraine chose to proclaim its independence, if only for political reasons: the Russian version of communism/socialism/sovietism  was collapsing, and it was going to change political systems; Ukraine wanted to remain communist, so in an effort for self-preservation, decided to opt for a referendum asking its population if they wanted out of the union. 82% of the population voted, and 90% voted in favour of seceding.

Ironically, Canada was the first country to recognize Ukraine as an independent state, the minute the votes were in. Russian President Boris Yeltsin did the same in the evening, proving there were no hard feelings.

Fast-forward to 2014.

Ukraine was offered to enter the European Union - or at least enter into economic accords with them first, with a promise of future consideration - though many of its constituents (Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium especially) took issue with that, mostly for political reasons (how it treats its political prisoners chief among them). As a means of negotiation, some of the terms of the deal weren't as advantageous as those of other countries, with the underlying message being ''if you play nice, we'll be nicer with you later''.

President Viktor Yanukovych, rightly, refused to sign the deal because it wasn't advantageous for his country. He then signed a trades agreement with Russia, mostly for natural gas purchases, which could have worked in addition to a deal with the EU. Protests started as people demanded closer ties to the rest of Europe and European integration, and like scared leaders do (and like we saw here in Québec in 2012), the government passed anti-protest laws, which just fueled the violence.

Also, like here in Québec, the protests soon included anger towards the perception (and fact) of widespread corruption. Ironically, though, in Ukraine, a lot of that can be traced back to Yanukovych's opponent in the last election, the country's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is among the imprisoned that the EU is demanding better treatment for; Tymoshenko owns a bunch of gas companies, which made her one of the richest people in her country (Forbes ranked her as the third most powerful woman in the world). And though her arrest and eventual mistreatment when she was found guilty were undoubtedly politically-motivated by a direct adversary, the fact remains that she was convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, two facts that point to the sense that she at least participated in the corruption of the State.

And as the protests gained traction and Yanukovych resigned and political pressure mounted, she was released from prison - but she wasn't acquitted or even pardoned: the actions she was found guilty of were instead decriminalized. That's a big fucking difference, folks.

That is to say that all is neither all black nor white.

Except that Russia didn't have to send troops in Crimea, though it claimed it hadn't at first but eventually will/did. (of note, under international treaties, if an elected official asks another country for military help, that country is allowed to step in and intervene on a local level, which is what Russia claims Yanukovych has asked.) And while I'm not one to blindly trust Vladimir Putin, I will contend a point Jon Stewart hammers on daily since first reporting on the story a month after it had started, to wit: Putin claims the groups in place are local militias (or ''self-defense forces''), ''but they speak Russian, support Russia and have Russian weapons - so they have to be Russian''.

Dear Jon,

pretty much everyone in the area speak Russian, and they have for over 1000 years. Also, most Finns speak Swedish, a shitload of European countries have German as a first or second language, and most Quebecers understand English; surrounded by imperialists and conquerors, borders change, wars are started, people are annexed and/or assimilated. Until they no longer are... until they are again. Anglo-Saxons and Russians are expansionists and imperialists; one day they wake up and feel the need to own other people and/or their land and/or their toys and/or their food; it's what they do, whether it's to feel like Kings or to spread their ''superior'' culture (or race). Or to sell their sub-par fast-food culture. Or to ''spread democracy'' (still laughing at that one more than a decade later, by the way).

As for the Russian weapons, weren't those all for sale at discount stores in 1991? Doesn't the Russian mob own more nukes than the Russian Army? Why wouldn't a bunch of people buy some AK-47s and military garb, don't you guys have a right to purchase M-16s even with a criminal record and mental health issues, and can't you buy military clothes at both Army Surplus stores and The Salvation Army? And if you can, why shouldn't they?

'Cause to me, equating people who kind of wear military uniforms with no specific designation with the official military kind of makes it seem like your Bible-belt gun nuts and anti-Obama armed militias would then be a representation of your Army, and I guess that would make the Tea Party an actual political party, not just a fringe unrepresentative proportion of your political debate.

Thanks.

Seb

As I said, neither black nor white.

The whole world is going to shits, because the worst people have been in power for so long that they have instituted corruption as a rule rather than an exception. And those who lose their elections (or get ousted by the population) are only replaced by equally-minded career white-collar criminals, so the wheel keeps turning and, in doing so, always finds newer and better ways to keep its rhythm going.

Money needs out of politics. It needs out completely in everything, but especially in politics. And leaders need to feel they are liable for their crimes; I've long proposed their sentences be double those of civilians' when found guilty of crimes, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, because those fuckers are usually so well connected that they rarely even get prosecuted. They only lose their friends in high places when the shit has completely hit the fan and there is no longer a way for them to hide and melt back into the general population with their golden toilets and billions of dollars. They are but a small minority.

But, uh, yeah, Ukraine. How that turned into a battle of wits between Putin and Barack Obama is beyond me (and further proof that Americans don't view their own imperialism as such), I will never truly get it, but here's a novel idea: why don't we let the people of Ukraine decide for themselves? It worked in Iceland (where was Fox then, by the way?) recently, though there is something to be said both for and against how they made it impossible for foreigners to withdraw money out of the country (for: promotes re-investing within the country, which even foreigners can take advantage of, i.e. you cant leave with your millions but you can buy millions' worth of stuff; against: detracts foreign investors from coming in to invest for profits that would leave the country - theoretically, though, what it is meant to do is keep the economy rolling and increasing).

Punks Have Feelings Too

If you know me at all, you know my favourite punk rock band of all time were The Dead Boys, originally from Cleveland, Ohio but mainstays in the New York City scene of the late 1970s. They were mostly active 1976-1979, with brief reunions in 1986, and 2004-2005, though more people nowadays are aware of Rocket From The Tombs, the band that preceded them, because they took back to touring in 2003 and haven't stopped yet. RFTT sing about half of the Dead Boys' catalog nowadays, though many of them were existing songs or works-in-progress from the early days anyhow, including both classic songs Ain't It Fun and Sonic Reducer (both of which I also have been singing since I started playing live shows in the early 1990s).

The two main protagonists in the Dead Boys were singer Stiv Bators (né Steven John Bator) and lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome (Gene O'Connor to the I.R.S.), with Jimmy Zero (rhythm guitar), Jeff Magnum (bass) and Johnny Blitz (drums) completing the line-up. Bators and Chrome were the main songwriters, though most of the band shares songwriting credits on their first album, Young, Loud & Snotty (1977).

Bators died in 1990 in France at age 40, after getting hit by a cab, which caused a blood clot to form and causing a brain aneurysm in his sleep that night. Filmmaker John Waters (who had worked with him for Polyester) says Bators' then-girlfriend snorted some of his ashes before spreading the remainder of them over Jim Morrison's grave; Bators was a huge Morrison fan, as were many punks from Ian Curtis (Joy Division) to Iggy Pop.

Speaking of Iggy Pop, here is what he had to say to Bators' parents when he wasn't able to attend their son's funeral:

Lest We Forget

I'm usually big on Remembrance Day (Veterans' Day for my American friends), a day in which I tip my hat to those who have sacrificed so much for the general ''us'' (and myself in particular), our freedom, our present. It's like a more honest Thanksgiving, without the turkey, and celebrated privately rather than with relatives.

But I'm not feeling it as much. Not that I don't respect it, just... the world we live in isn't all that great, for starters, especially towards those who have served their country:

But also in light of natural disasters such as today's Typhoon in the Phillippines, there are countless people who give or lose everything they have, every single day, with no one to benefit from their actions and losses.

Then comes the thought of all the unjust wars, both ones in Iraq starring in that role, but also Vietnam, and on a lesser scale, the Korean war - in which my grandfather served as a sniper - which, lest we not forget, pitted a communist government (North Korea) against a right-wing government (South Korea), and despite being less than a decade removed from WWII, the United Nations supported the right-wing, starting a spiral for North Korea that, with the help of blockades and embargoes, left them bitter, poor, starving, technologically impaired even to this day, and pissed off at the Western world - for good reason.

It takes a special person to be willing to sacrifice their life for their country, for their beliefs; it takes an even better soldier to go through with it despite disagreeing with orders, as many U.S. troops have since 2003. It takes a righteous person to serve as a means of defense rather than invasion or regime change, though.

More than all of that, though, I really despise profiteers pinning poppies to their suits when they use other humans - mostly kids and young adults yet to reach their prime - to unjustly invade another country for profit or territory after everything we know now. And to, at times, even poison their own troops while doing so.

Then there's the ''after'': those who come back perfectly healthy still struggle to find decent work; those who come back mentally scarred receive no help whatsoever; those who come back maimed and missing limbs being refused any type of disability claim, financial help, often having their insurances cut soon after their (first) hospital release.

The problem is those in charge see it as a mathematical equation: what will it cost, versus how much do we/some of us get back? I've heard time and time again, if senators, politicians and big company executives were to send their own children to war, would they hesitate at least a little more before pulling the trigger?

That's the wrong question, though. When a soldier's life is equated with his $30K salary and negatively evaluated as a three-year investment, how many can you spare in order to help Halliburton make billions? Where is the cut-off line where they would have to think twice about putting kids in danger? What if they made $100K a year, $250K? With a life insurance worth 5 to 10 times their yearly salary, would insurance companies warn not to risk losing them uselessly?

Unfortunately, that is the world we are left with today. Corrupt leaders doing a small group's bidding, sacrificing everyone they have to in order to keep going at it. I used to love the picture at the top of this post, the sacrifices of the past supporting our care-free way of life. Except more and more, it seems like their sacrifice was for nil, that the hell they're in transposed to the upper level, that the grass is no longer green, the future is bleak, the people are poor, starving, bitter and rightly pissed off, but it doesn't even matter, because the powers that be have us all in check anyway, throwing fake laws and militarily-equipped cops at us, restraining our education, our means of purchase, access to decent jobs, clean air, fresh water, natural fucking food...

I'll tell you what: I'm pretty sure that's not what my uncle Jean-Marc (late 1970s), stepdad Daniel (late 1970s), grandfather Raymond (Korea, later Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau's personal bodyguard), great-uncle Gérard (WWII) and the others I'd rather not get into at the moment had in mind when they joined the Canadian Forces, nor what Joseph, Jack, Kevin, James and John had in mind when they joined the U.S. Forces.

Sarah Palin Vs Syria

Ever the genius (and craving media attention), Sarah Palin took to Facebook to voice her opinion about the U.S. possibly taking action in Syria, in a post called Let Allah Sort It Out:

“So we’re bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I’m the idiot?”

 Well, Mrs Palin, if you put it that way, then, yes, you truly are.

Which doesn't mean I support a military intervention. At the most, I think the capitol building in Damascus should be destroyed, as well as other key government decision-making places and perhaps a few army buildings. Take away their permanent locations so they have trouble orchestrating dangerous maneuvers against outsiders and mass quantities of their own people.

However, I am against an occupational invasion (as always), and even a single civilian death or the destruction of anyone's home is unacceptable. Let's not forget we're talking about one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, home to 2.5 million people.

This particular revolution is (yet another) previously-unseen situation, two years in the making: in the wake of the Arab Spring, millions of Syrians took to the streets in 2011 to protest against the government, which not only stayed in power defying its citizens' will, but effectively ordered its troops to shoot at protesters with live ammunition, even going so far as to go door-to-door to find some and execute them.

What started as a peaceful protest turned into a Civil War in the Fall of 2011, when army defectors started a counter-army (Free Syrian Army) and enlisted volunteers to join their ranks.

In terms of a Revolution, this one was ''going by the book''; ideally, you want to skip the armed conflict, but humans are prone to violence, and not everyone can achieve a ''peace process'' without resorting to guns - for every Slovakia there are dozens of Chechnyas. Even the Chinese went to war to unite; the United States revolted against the British to form several states, then went to war with each other to unite (and eliminate slavery).

But this one took so long to bear its fruits that the inevitable (for the region) happened: ''terrorists'' started helping revolutionaries. So instead of remaining a battle between ''good and evil'', it's ''the enemy of my enemy is my friend''. And while the world watches in horror as the State uses deadlier weapons against its own people every time, pressure is mounting on the U.S. to intervene, as the world's largest military structure.

Except the U.S. has already invaded two countries - one in a disproportionate retaliation, the other without a valid reason other than to depose its leader and take over their economy - in the past decade or so, now have a President who has vowed to not repeat his predecessor's mistakes, and - more importantly - would now be working hand-in-hand with some of their enemies to defeat Bashar al-Assad.

Which puts Barack Obama in a hard place.

Already labeled weak by his opponents, he is now forced to play into the Republicans' hand, who win on all sides: if he forgoes intervention, he's ''soft on terror''; if he decides to act, he's reneging on his promises - and going opposite his Nobel Peace prize - and ''working with the terrorists''. Which is likely just what some forces in the Middle East wanted to test him on. The United States remain the military equivalent of boxing's heavyweight champion - to get him on his knees even by means of an illegal blow is a feat worth bragging about, and to have him withdraw from combat even more so.

What's funny about Sarah Palin is she was probably explained all of this but didn't understand a thing, other than the conclusion: ''you mean to say I can still say the exact opposite of what Obama says, and this time I'd even be right? Bring me a laptop!''

Ironically, one of Obama's most ardent allies on this issue now is John McCain, the man responsible for giving Palin her platform. After toying with the idea of not supporting Obama on this matter, he had this to say this morning:

A rejection of this resolution would be catastrophic, not just for him but for the institution of the presidency and the credibility of the United States.

Ever the politician, he realizes image counts for a lot, particularly when it comes to pretending to have the means to take over the world.

Which is also the reason why everyone else on the planet is against a strike.

Dear CNN

If you can't spell out ''the N word'' on screen, you have pretty much answered your own question prior to the ''debate''...

We're not talking about the difference between ''dipshit'' and ''asshole'', here. The only thing that comes close to ''nigger'' (yes, I wrote it, because ''the N word'' is the worst euphemism in modern history, because we all know what the fuck is being said, yet the person using it wants to use it without having the balls to actually say it and instead forces you to think it, which makes the listener/reader the asshole...) is the modern use of ''sand nigger'' for anyone from the Middle East, which oddly enough seems more acceptable despite the fact that not only is it a direct attack on people from some 15-20 countries, it incorporates the previous ''nigger'' to imply one (sand) is worse than the other (regular).

I think now is an ok time for a debate on the use of words, on self-censorship and respect, and on the statute of limitations of the transgressions of the past in a time where education is at an all-time low. What I mean by that is the music selling the most units in the United States is rap, and the vast majority of the rappers are black, and even the smartest ones (like the cerebral Mos Def) use the word 'nigger' repeatedly. For adults in their 70s or older - not the target audience - the word conjures up images of the Civil Rights movement; for folks in their 40s and 50s, the images are still vivid, but instead of being from their own recollection, it's from education and their parents explaining how it went down; for folks like me, in our 30s, it's a struggle we haven't seen happen except in documentary footage, but with a legacy that lives on today in the disparity of the applications of the Law codes and how minorities are targeted most by the police and ''the system'' in general in the U.S.

But for suburban white kids, aged 10 to 25, rap is pretty much all they've known in terms of ''culture'', their education is a joke (schools teach Creationism as 'history' for fuck's sake!), not only do they not know about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, they barely understand the concept of slavery except maybe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves (although they probably think slaves were freed from the British), and the richest people they've ever seen are the gold-wearing rappers in YouTube videos. They have no idea of the struggle, Rosa Parks, the C.I.A. using the actual Ricky Ross to sell crack to ghettos, they don't understand half of what Public Enemy are saying. What they do know is that Black folks call themselves 'nigger' all the time, and that the ultimate acceptance from a Black friend is when he deems the white kid worthy of being called 'my nigger'.

None of which makes for a healthy society, by the way.

But it's where we're at. We need to address that. In a much smarter way than what CNN did. Because it's not about which word is worse (nigger ''wins'', hands down), it's about how widespread it is and how its meaning and implications may be lost on an entire generation and more to come as the young replace the old - which may or may not be a good thing (on the plus side it renders an offensive word weak and takes power away from the fuckers who abused and owned other people, on the other, we should never forget any part of History lest we be condemned to repeat it, though we often repeat it without having forgotten).

They Call It Progress

Cynics and religious figureheads claim we come from and will return to dust, when it settles, which is another way of saying ''who gives a shit about how you live your life, you'll end up dead anyway''.

And that belief, I guess, is what prompts economics giants like Monsanto and McDonald's to feed the world crap - oftentimes literally - because who gives a shit what you eat, as long as it doesn't kill you right away.

That's one part of the equation, the other being that it doesn't matter what you build, it will eventually crumble or erode, so we might as well destruct it ourselves first. Which brings me to this news story about greed a construction company destroying one of Belize's largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract rocks for a road-building project.

That's right: take a construction that has withstood the test of time - and the elements, and Conquistadors -  for over 2,300 years, and turn it into a fucking road, something that usually has trouble maintaining its integrity for 15 years. Awesome!

The human spirit knows no bounds!

Sure, the police are looking into it, seeing of they can't prosecute someone for what is the murder of a cultural landmark. But one man - it's always a man, isn't it? - spending 15 years in jail for finding a easy way to pocket millions of dollars won't bring the structure back. There's always that one asshole trying to fuck up what hundreds built to amaze thousands. That guy's organs and bones should be taken, one at a time, once per week, and given to people in need of transplants, until he is but a heart, a head and a stomach, kept alive by machines in a dungeon, serving a life sentence of watching the Mummy movies.

Video Of The (Past) Week: Slaughter

When I was growing up, the ''Classic Rock'' category included all rock-and-roll made prior to that soul-less, God-less, taste-less and balls-less decade known as the 1980s, from The Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin, from Foreigner to Kansas, from Cream to Gentle Giant - it encompassed prog rock, psychedelic-based, blues-inspired, country-tinged, and was used from every merchant from Sam The Record Man to HMV to the ''music-by-mail'' Columbia House.

Now, among many blasphemies, it also includes shit from the 1980s and (here's the sign I'm getting old)... the 1990s. We already had classifications for those types of rock, chiefly ''hair metal'' for the ones prior to Guns N' Roses, and ''grunge'' for all things post Nirvana and Pearl Jam until, say, 1998 and the rap-metal craze...

 I was playing a music quiz with friends lately, and the category was ''classic rock'', and the answer was the video I'm featuring today, Slaughter's Fly To The Angels, the band's highest-charting song - and I was appalled. I got it right, but I had to spend 15 minutes explaining how Slaughter was in no way ''classic''.

On the glam rock scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is Trixter, 5 is Ratt, 10 is Motley Crue and 11 is Poison (all that make-up did make up for something), Slaughter would probably rate a 4 - both impact-wise, and popularity-wise. Far from being Bon Jovi (a definite 9), they barely rank higher than Nelson...

Formed from the ashes of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion (who had overextended their line of credit with their record label, Chrysalis!), Slaughter consisted pretty much of singer-guitarist Mark Slaughter, bassist Dana Strum and guitarist Tim Kelly with a revolving door of drummer that somehow always seems to revert back to Blas Elias despite his never appearing on the band's first album, and the band even now booking shows without his being present. Kelly died in a car crash in 1997 and has since been replaced by Jeff 'Blando' Bland.

Having turned 12 at the end of 1990 - with everything that implies - and being a member of the Columbia House record club (they'd give you 12 cassettes or CDs by mail for a penny - plus $10 shipping - in exchange of which you agreed to purchase 6 more at $20 apiece - yeah, I know - in the next two or three years), I gave Slaughter's first two releases a chance on the basis of their covers alone, both featuring the same model, Laurie Ann Carr, a December 1986 Playboy playmate and former wife (divorced in 1991) of a member of Ratt:

 Stick It To Ya:

Stick It Live:

I didn't mind the music so much, but I was a real big fan of the covers. Truth be told, throughout the years, I probably looked at them more often (and longer) than I listened to them, though it was probably close to even at first.

This song appears on both releases, of course:



Their follow-up full-length, The Wild Life, was released in 1992, and featured a harder, heavier sound - an evolution also made by contemporaries Skid Row. Whether it was a natural progression or dictated by the rise of grunge acts and their straightforward, no-nonsense (and definitely no make-up or hairspray) approach remains unanswered, but the Western market did not embrace them anymore. They were, however, huge in Japan, as were Mr. Big.

They now mostly perform on nostalgia tours and cruises. And Laurie Ann Carr is now a chiropractor.