ooohhh! so cute!! that's what i have to say about this love letter to oakland, a re-make of jay-z's empire state of mind. really, why have an empire state of mind? much better to have an oakland state of mind.
the lyrics pay tribute to the flatland neighborhoods and legacy of movement & struggle that lives there still. and for those taking notes there are a few historic black panther party sites shown in that video, alameda county courthouse, defremery park, etc. know your history! those young people do.
one fist in the air for the town ya'll everybody come together time to stand tall no place in the world that can compare, put ya fist up in the air, everybody say yeah
Durante momentos como ahorita, cuando el racismo estanca nuestras comunidades, mientras el capitalismo corre como agua podrida por la tierra, tengo que acordarme que el amor todavia existe. Ya sea amor por tu vecino, amor por tu familia, amor por tu comunidad, o amor por tu amante, nos hace sentir algo que nos obliga ver afuera de nosotros, de pensar en algo mas que nuestras propias necesidades o interes. Durante estos tiempos dificiles, tengo que acordarme que el amor existe y alomejor no literalmente mueve montanas, pero si cruza fronteras fisicas y mentales.
Asi que aqui estan, en ningun orden, algunas de mis favoritas canciones de amor.
oh man, everyone's favorite non-food octopus has bitten the dust! apparently life expectancy for psychic octopi is no better than for regular ones. pulpo, it was good while it lasted!!
better late than never here is the reggaeton tribute to paul the octopus...
just in case you missed it, this small anti-islamophobia act of solidarity speaks for itself. but why not let it speak again & again in a re-mixed club version?
I don't consider myself a Nationalist. I am very proud of being Mexicana, but will more often than not prefer to be in solidarity with someone, to find a common ground under which to build a movement, a friendship, a good conversation, a connection.
I would say that there are only a few exceptions to this rule: 1. The World Cup before Mexico inevitably get eliminated. After that I am game to support non-imperialist countries. 2. In the presence of a Mariachi or a Conjunto, especially when there is an accordion involved. 2. September 16, Dia de la Independencia de Mexico. On this day I am consumed for my love for Mexico, yelling "Viva Mexico" to anyone within earshot and will give more than a few "gritos" to vocalize my Mexicanismo.
So imagine my sheer joy and excitement when I found out that Jaguares was playing at the Fillmore on September 15. In Mexico people usually gather the night of September 15 to begin celebrating Mexico's Independence.
Within the frenzy of the mosh pit I was able to take a couple of videos of the show, especially of "La Martiniana", which I had never heard live before.
One of the best part of the show was when Saul (lead singer of Jaguares) talked about joining the struggle to make Mexico the country it needs to be for its people, and reminded everyone that California was part of Mexico, and in a way still is.
my camarada & recent compañero de trabajo/co-conspirator sergio is sort of a jack of all trades.
for one thing he's kind of a rock star. for reals. as in he's played shows all over the us, uk, continental europe, and japan. as in he's one-third of this band, from monument to masses which plays its last show ever tonight at the great american music hall in sf. what kind of music? ummmm... post-rock? i admit to not really knowing exactly what that means except that it's the kind of music like electrelane or stereolab... maybe?? like heavy on the instrumental, light on the vocals, structurally unorthodox. i think. and in the case of fmtm anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist. ok, good.
it's the last weekend of august. weddings, birthday parties, panteon rococo... all kinds of good places to be. but maybe you also need to be at gamh to see fmtm? i hear they put on a great show :)
from monument to masses the final show tonight! saturday, 28 august @ great american music hall, san francisco doors:8pm, show:9 $15
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the quiet before (thunderbirds are now! mix)
deafening
comrades & friends (loquat mix)
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wow. on defening that's a translation of victor jara's lastpoem, written just before his assassination in the estadio chile (audio here by his widow?). beautiful.
but suddenly my conscience awakes and i see that this tide has no heartbeat, only the pulse of machines and the military showing their midwives’ faces full of sweetness. ...
how hard it is to sing when i must sing of horror. ...
to see myself among so much and so many moments of infinity in which silence & screams are the end of my song.
what i see, i have never seen what i have felt and what i feel will give birth to the moment…...
looks like wyclef might be disqualified from the haitian presidential elections after all. i had been wanting to post about what utter mierda his candidacy is...
... Promising to be the country's Obama, he claims to represent the "voice of the youth". Well, we'll see about that. The election process is sufficiently corrupt that, while the most popular party (Famni Lavalas) is banned from participating, a non-resident may well be allowed to participate against election rules. Wyclef Jean is an ideal candidate for the Obama administration, because his record is one of outright support for American imperialism in Haiti. He attacked the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and supported the death squad 'rebels' that overthrew him. He has continued to support the brutal MINUSTAH occupation, on the grounds that it must contain the 'gangs' (there are gangs, but his associates are involved in them - he's referring to Lavalas). He has schmoozed with Bill Clinton and Ban Ki moon, and the usual array of corporate philanthropists and entrepreneurs. His charity, Yele Haiti, is crooked, though it has made him a small fortune in charges for services rendered.
The only election in Haiti that could possibly be legitimate would be one in which Famni Lavalas was a fully legal participant, and Jean-Bertrand Aristide their presidential candidate.
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and mykel archiealready drew it for me (thanks to kiilu for passing it along):
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nothing much else to say really, except that more than 6 months after the earthquake haiti is still under military occupation, and democratic popular forces there still need our solidarity! so let's give some please!!
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