Sunday, December 14, 2014

We Don't Torture


As Laurence Lewis writes in The Daily Kos, "The United States tortures people. It isn't a matter of rogue agents and rogue government officials, it is systemic. The United States tortures people. One president may order the torturing stopped, but there is nothing to prevent another from ordering it resumed. Those responsible for torturing people are identified but not brought to justice. They are, in fact, given free rein to talk openly about it, to minimize it, to justify it, to continue to lie about it, and to act as if questions or criticism about torturing people is just another partisan political argument. The traditional media, the most powerful mass media, play right along. Some in the mass media all but gloat about it. The United States tortures people. It is known. It is not treated as a crime against humanity. It is normalized. It will happen again."


In 1981, the Au Pairs wrote a song about a prison in Armagh, Ireland that the British used to detain and torture woman prisoners suspected of being members of the IRA.  Different country and different cause, but same result: a civilized nation caught in the cognitive dissonance of believing that they were on the right side of morality, but at the same time maintaining that the ends justified the horrific means. The video at the top of the post is highly effective but contains an abridged version of Armagh that avoids the specifics of the British situation; the devastating, full version of the song is below.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Sallie and Anita

Sallie Ford with The Sound Outside at Smith's Olde Bar, March 2013
Sallie Ford has disbanded The Sound Outside and released an album last October with a less rockabilly-oriented, all-female band.



Notably, the band includes Anita Lee Elliott, formerly Robinson and formerly of Viva Voce, on bass. Here's Anita on guitar at Bumbershoot 2007.



Back during Rocktober 2011, Viva Voce played a set at The Earl that was as interesting as it was intimate.  Folks in the audience had driven all the way from Muscle Shoals, Alabama for the show, and a couple there had used Viva Voce's music in their wedding ceremony. 

Viva Voce at The Earl, Rocktober 2011
So, yes, I have an affection for Viva Voce and Anita, so it's nice to see that she's now part of fellow Portlandian Sallie Ford's band.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Shabazz Palaces vs. Animal Collective




Talk about your dream match ups, and why didn't I think of this before?, here's Shabazz Palaces remixed by Animal Collective.



Thursday, December 11, 2014

San Fermin

San Fermin at The Loft, Rocktober 2014
San Fermin's new album, Jackrabbit, comes out April 21, 2015.  Tour announcements sure to follow soon.




Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Swans


108 shopping days until Swans perform at Atlanta's Terminal West.  Better start shopping for earplugs now.

Monday, December 8, 2014

RIP John Lennon (1940-1980)


Thirty-four years ago today, also a Monday night. . . I was teaching high school (Earth and Physical Science) in Salem, Massachusetts, site of the famous witch trials of 1692 and 1693.  Relaxing that night, watching Monday Night Football - the Patriots (naturally) versus Miami - when sportscaster Howard Cosell delivered the one bit of news that I would have preferred to have heard anybody but Cosell deliver. 


The next day, I had to try and explain the impact of the event to a bunch of 9th and 10th graders. Words failed.