Skatalites in Japan

Ska is huge in Japan, and has been since The Specials played in the 1980s.  Here is one of the Skatalites re-released CDs in that country, it is so cool the cover art. Brings a smile to my face : D

Stopping and Frisking

New York City has become a Police State, this recent report on Democracy Now talks with a former policemen, and a lawyer, who are trying to shut down "The Stop and Frisk" policy, which has become an avenue for racial profiling. Here is a 1st hand account of this policy in action by former Officer Polanco.

"We would stop a person on the street and on a corner, because the sergeant says, "Stop him." Why? You don’t ask. You just stop him, you frisk him. If it’s possible, you search him. And these kids, sometimes they’re just walking home from school. They’re just walking to the store. They’re just—they’re not doing absolutely anything. They’re not doing absolutely anything. And it’s a really humiliating feeling. When they go through your pockets, when they stop you, you don’t have no freedom. If you stop and then tell the officer, "I’m not—I don’t have to give you my ID. I don’t have to give you my name," which is within the law—the law allows you to do that—you’re going to get hurt. In the Bronx, you are going to get hurt.

My turning point was with a bunch of kids on a corner stopped by the commanding officer. There was a 13-year-old Mexican in the group. "Polanco, cuff him." I said, "For what?" "Cuff him. You don’t ask me questions. Cuff him, bring him back." His brother come to ask, "Why? What’s going on with my brother? He’s walking home from school. Officer, did he do anything stupid?" The commanding officer looked at my partner, told her, "Cuff him, too. Bring him in." "For what?" "Oh, we will figure it out later. Just bring him in." And that was my turning point. That was the time I said, "You know what? Why should I do it to a kid that’s just walking home from school, that we know is not doing anything? Why should I do that? This is not what I became a cop for. This is not what I wanted to do."

He says something later which needs to be echoed more by Law Enforcement.

"Harassing innocent people is not going to help the community, it only harms it."

Installing fear into people does not really work, especially in these strong urban communities with strong cultural identities. 

These quotas installed by the Police, forces for results, and does not give a proactive stance on crime that makes us feel safer, shit is still going down. Even off duty,  Officer Polanco was a victim of the "Stop and Frisk" policy, from an unmarked car and an undercover cop, and was never said sorry or why he was targeted.  He also talks about the Quotas being illegal, because it kind of perverts police power, but the whole system is pretty messed up.  The pressure of Police management and adminstrators to regular officers, about meeting their quotas, is sending New York City into an almost Orwellian city state.

Polanco ends his interview on the show, by saying that it is so easy to be a cop right now, go to some street corner and arrest a brown or black kid, and then put hours of overtime in, and no one is the wiser, especially not Mayor Bloomberg. Wonderful...

And here's a guide and how to "Be okay with having a communist friend." Not sure if serious or sarcastic, but point 4 kind makes me chuckle. Funny how everyone looks Chinese, with their history and whatnot (Mao).

Phoenix Wright Listening Hour

Yesterday, I was invited to be a guest on a local radio show, called "GG." The show refers the expression, "Good Game," an thing gamers exchange between each other after a worthy match or battle. The show is hosted by two of my good friends, Rob and Tim, and we all got together and talked about video games and music! This week's game franchise, the one I got called in to be an "expert" on, was Phoenix Wright, a character whose world I do enjoy immensely. The game is about a Defense Attorney, who goes by the very punny name "Phoenix Wright," His 1st name referring to him always able to pull out victory from the clutches of defeat, and his last name being a play on the word that is clearly associated with law interpretation.

While the gameplay is fun and really engrossing, like gathering evidence and making breakthrough with witnesses, the charm of the game comes from the dialogue, character designs, and lovely 2-D drawn graphical sprites. The game has character, which in a world dominated nowadays with online multiplayer capabilities and graphics, it is a gem. Also the music, which is the basis of the radio show, is phenomenal. Here's a track that showcases how well the compositions depicts a courtroom/law setting.

Some things about the night~

The recording of the show was a lot fun! Before, many years ago I was one of those people who didn't care much for my voice, like you don't enjoy the sound of it, but that is just such an idiotic position to hold, I mean it shouldn't deter you from doing anything. So it was nice to do something like this, which I have never really done, such an intensive recording experience with my voice and ideas, not my instrument, being on display.  As a kid too one my favorite sitcoms was NewsRadio, a show starring Dave Foley and Maura Tierney , and its setting is a radio station in New York City. So to record in Guam's own Public Radio haven, KPRG, was pretty fun and made me think about that classic show.  It was something I wanted to do, like talk and shit, and enjoy my time, which in the end I achieved that.

The show airs this Thursday, 10-11, at 89.3 FM!

And here's their archives, check it out!

Eff The Tories Freestyle by NxtGen

Found this "freestyle" rap the other day, from a Brtish rapper who calls himself NxtGen. I put freestyle in quotes because while could be rehearsed, as it is performed well, but it does not matter to me if its off the dome or written, because the actually rhymes are pretty amazing. Enjoyed it a lot, really appealed to the leftist in me. In the beginning he introduces he wanted to perform for SBTV, a British live music channel, but was never called back because of its strong political nature. Here's the vid.

Some Particular Lines I enjoyed in it~

"This is not a recession blood, it's a robbery."
A direct reference to the banker's bailout, fat cats still are fat.

"... Yet that is there project, putting public money into private pockets."
Just clever word play, public to private.

"What kind of society is this when pigs are profiting off dying kids."
Uninsured children not getting the care because it is too expensive, a crying shame

"You actually believe these hypocrites, hating people on benefits and demonizing immigrants."
What a damn true rhyme, and this is why the richer continue to get richer, because people really do believe these things, the social demeaning of the poor and equating them to economic parasites. Class consciousness has been subdued, it needs to be woken up.

Good stuff, been stressful at the homefront, had some good talks and some deep thinking kind of centered myself to a good place. Been playing more music too, its really great.

Frank Little

Can't wait for this book to come in. Ordered it a few weeks ago, been longing for it since I loaned my copy out to a friend who moved off island.  Frank Little, who was slain by capitalist interests for trying to organize strikes during World War I. The cahones of this man, unheard of, since that is treasonous and seditious behavior, especially during wartime. A group of privately hired thugs left him to publicly die in Butte, Montana. 

The Weekend

I feel so rejuvenated right now, finally got to rest an ample amount of time last night, with no distractions or waking up, 8 hours of constant rest. Been an eventful last 4-5 days around the house, with my Grandma and Grandpa getting older, and realizing the decline they are partaking in. It is a tough environment, but it has its moments and I really do care about them, so I try to take their complaining, with a grain of salt, and just remind myself it's their ailments talking. Did a nice walk around my street for about 30 minutes while the weather is still not too hot. Miss my pancake though. 

Want to finish some work for my Grandfather today, so he can make a little money and that will give him some temporary relief.

Hope though this afternoon I could get some writing done, been working on something for my brother Jack, while he is here, we talked about it in person yesterday quite a bit, it is like a post-apocalyptic story about a band of kids living in a world where every adult over 18 has disappeared. So much fun to write and stuff, I'm mixing like Mad Maxx, with Warren Ellis tech and imagination details, and topping it off with a Boondocks-like political/visual vibe. Excited to see it come to life.

Read lyrics through a song I liked and I band's music I really do enjoy, the World Inferno Friendship Society, the self named "Punk Orchestra." But one lyric annoyed from this song "Ich Errinere Mich An Weimar Republik." The line is, "Socialists are Boring." O man that is far from the truth, and it hurts me in the feels haha. Whatever the song is referencing, period or history, but man, people on the left invented fun. Than I watched in a live acoustic performance video of them, and how apolitical they are, telling Euros that they are from Canada because they don't want to talk about American politics (But don't even know the Prime Minister of Canada, which is of course Stephen Harper) Sad stuff, but hey, I guess know what they represent as artists and don't pretend to be anything they are not (I guess...). Here's the video I am referring to.

Spanish Civil War Poster

This type of propaganda/political art is visually, one of my favorite genres. To see how the artist demonstrates and exemplify whatever they are suppose to sell is an interesting sight to see. Either it can be incredibly heartwarming and beautiful things to witness, such as this Pro-republic poster during the Spanish Civil War, or be incredibly wrenching and vile imagery, such as Nazi art. But whatever side of the political spectrum the spectator belongs to, it will summon a reaction out of the audience, and we need more people to get riled up about these important issues.