Creative thoughts for today...tomorrow...the weekend...and every day until this corrupt madness ends....

 Stand up.  Stand strong.  Make noise.

 

https://occupywallst.org/

                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                            

  

Thoughts about "the R-word" (REVOLUTION)...and the 40th Anniversary of the Attica Prison Rebellion...

Can I just say how much I've respected Cornel West over the past 30 plus years?? His voice has always been a steady stream of dignity, integrity and powerful discourse on the effects of imperialism, colonialism, and all forms of discrimination and corporate domination. I just mentioned this to a dear friend earlier today, but it feels like there are glimmers of hope shining through the acrid smoke and ash we're all engulfed in right now. I've been thinking so much about what's happening with the Wall Street protests and the calls for revolution.  I never imagined we would be living in times like these.  Where "union" has become a dirty, despised word.  Where a president, who showed such promise, determination and (dare I say it) "change and hope"...has surrounded himself with the same Wall Street cronies and corporate elites like so many presidents before him.  The rich, wealthy and corrupt are kept safe while the people languish and suffer.  I feel like I'm stuck on the old "Tilt-a-Whirl" ride at Coney Island -- but it's broken and just keeps everyone stuck in the same jerky, spiraling, endless motions.  I know I'm not the only one who's puking her guts out and wants this fucked up ride to end. 

CLick for the incredible Democracy Now! segment highlighting Dr. West's speech on the 40th Anniversary of Attica:

Attica Is All of Us: Cornel West on 40th Anniversary of Attica Prison Rebellion

And here's a little Nina Simone to stir the soul:

http://youtu.be/16a3BX-uV4k

  

Just 'cause......

....It never hurts to be reminded that if you put your heart into something you love, great things can happen.

  

Remember the blog post I did a bit ago on little Niizhoo Sullivan in the Honor The Earth Pow-wow's Hand Drum Contest this past July?? Here's how the finals played out...

**Click for Niizhoo's performance in the pre-finals competition:  http://youtu.be/okXVgh3SXic

And Happy B-day to you, too, Nick Cave! x0x

...God exists, but he ain't talkin'...

 I'm so glad he survived his darker, self-destructive days to evolve into the incredible artist he has become .  I remember a show when someone threw a bottle of pills on stage and he downed the whole bottle not knowing what they were.  I've loved his music ever since the early days with The Boys Next Door in the 70's.  Seriously dug the Birthday Party -- one of my absolute favorite shows of the early 80's was seeing them play at my fave punk club in '81 ('82?). LOVED the Bad Seeds (although I had some troubles with the last several albums after Let Love In -- with the exceptions of No More Shall We Part and the stellar Dig, Lazarus, Dig).  And now this new project with Grinderman has blown my mind completely.  It's like he's found himself all over again.  Great garage noise of the Birthday Party blended with the great dark post-punk of the Bad Seeds and so much more added to the sonic gumbo. If you haven't heard their 2 albums yet they're definitely worth checking out.  I can't wait to hear what's next -- and that includes the great soundtrack work he's been doing with Warren Ellis, too.  Brilliant stuff.

Happy Birthday, Joan! x0x

I've always liked her cover of this song better than Gary's version (I still can't get past the sordid stuff he entangled himself with). I  remember what it was like to see her live at ChicagoFest in '81 (or '82??). The whole place shook. Here's to a rocking chick who still knows her way around a fierce guitar and has still held on to her rocker edge.  Happy B-day, chica x0x0

 

Happy Birthday, OLGA!!!!! :oP x0x

"Hang in there, if you believe what you're doing is unique. Otherwise, give up or sound like Nirvana or Pearl Jam." ~ Joey Ramone

Remember how everyone used to chatter about Dick Clark being a vampire because he never seemed to age??? Over these past few decades, has anyone else been noticing how dear Michael "Olga" Algar still has the same youthful cuteness and vigor as he did in 1979?? I'm still just as mad for him as I was when I saw the Toy Dolls in L.A. with the Adicts back in '84('85??). Here's to 49 years of mischief and madness -- and a HUNDRED MORE to come!!!! x0x0x0x

Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus...and, NO, Marcus and Michele...You Can't Pray the Gay Away....

Thanks to my dear friend Michelle C. for sending this to me. This is the kind of flash mob that gets 2 thumbs up from me. No umpteenth Thriller tribute or tired Gaga/Britney insanity. I'll admit it...it made me smile and cry. I couldn't help but think of so many of the ones we've lost to AIDS, murder and suicide. The more the cameras did close-ups of the dancers, I kept thinking of how much so many of the fabulous, dearly departed queens I knew would've LOVED to be a part of this and support the Courage Campaign (FACE, dahhhling, FACE!!!! Rest well, dear ones x0x0x)

I'm starting to get that sinking feeling again....

Every time I look at Rick Perry, guess who he reminds me of???? Christ, if you close your eyes...he even SOUNDS like him.  I just can't shake the feeling of PR people and spin-gurus playing up that hypnotic, comforting notion of having a very white, rugged male president with a safe, anglo/Euro name. You know...someone you would feel more relaxed to have a beer with as opposed to a dark-skinned, multicultural, educated thinker who has a command of polysyllabic words and deep knowledge of the true history and dire issues of this country and its relations with the world around us. 

Either way...I'm reminded more and more of that old South Park episode where the kids were trying to choose a new mascot for the school...and their 2 choices came down to either a turd sandwich....or a giant douche.  No matter how old I get, this lesser of the 2 evils thing just kills me. Is it too much to hope for a progressive candidate who would really walk-his-talk, hold-fast and advocate more for labor, the poor and disenfranchised citizens of this country than banks, corporations and the wealthy??  Do you think Perry likes to jump into his jeans and clear brush on his ranch just in time for the clicks of the cameras, too??

Click for a great article featured in Truthout.org:

Between Race and Reason: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life | Truthout

48 years ago today....4 little girls....

Were robbed of the chance to live full, amazing lives.

11 year old Denise McNair, and 14 year old Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins were getting ready for their church service just like any other Sunday at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. But white racist cowards with a dynamite bomb had other plans for that morning.

We're living in strange times where the past is being forgotten and re-written like a script to a television show.  There are still so many lost chapters of the struggle for racial equality and civil rights and what people of color in the south truly struggled with under slavery and jim crow.  In my own family there was a lost cousin...a promising young man who was violently denied his future after being lynched and mutilated by the klan.  His death was never solved.  No justice.  No responsibility taken. But the message was as clear as it was deeply carved into his bloody chest when my father and his male relatives cut his body down from the tree: "Niggers, die".  That pain still resonates deeply today.  There is so much work that still needs to be done.  Each and every one of us -- all races...all backgrounds -- have a part to play.  If you have a child or children in your life, dare to sit down with them and talk about the story of these 4 little girls and how important it is that they never be forgotten.  Dare to make a difference.

Healing thoughts for the week....

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of 
political warfare.”

~ Audre Lorde

Audre in 1980 -- photo by K. Kendall

Frida Kahlo -- The 2 Fridas, 1939

Creative thoughts for the week....

"The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity."
~Alberto Giacometti 

                                                                               

Head of Diego, 1965

This song has been in my head all week....

Music and art have such an amazing healing power. When my mom was dying, I was totally numb and devastated. I isolated myself, lost interest in things I loved. But somehow during all of that time, and for a long time after her death, I used to hear this song played so much everywhere around me. Sure, it could've been simple coincidence by just walking into a diner at the same time it was being played on the jukebox...or scanning radio stations and suddenly hearing it ring loudly over the crackling static....or hearing it flow out of a car passing by on the street...but I'll always believe it was a little something more.  Even today, whenever I hear it I feel such a swell of emotion....like a gentle squeeze of my shoulder, it reminds me of where I am and what I've lived through.

I have several beloved friends going through some really hard times right now. Here's sending you guys some major love and hope. It will ease. Change will come.  Love you dearly x0x0x0xox

Happy Birthday, Freddie X0X0

Today would've been your 65th birthday. Has it really been 20 years since you've been gone?? I still remember where I was when I heard the news. My dear friend Cliff and I were sitting on the floor of my studio apartment in Chicago smoking cigars and listening to music. Turned on the radio and there was the news like a raw slap in the face. I was losing so many friends to the early AIDS epidemic and I remember how I felt when I first saw the gaunt pictures of him. I felt such a knot in my gut thinking that he, too, was suffering from the madness of this disease. It was hard watching him try to keep his privacy and battling against the tabloids. So much seething intolerance and bigotry. I hoped he was surrounded by love and acceptance instead of the judgment and abandonment experienced by so many of my friends. I'm glad Jim and Mary were with him in the end. 

He was an incredible spirit and showman. Who Wants to Live Forever and Somebody to Love are two of my favorite songs along with We Are the Champions and so many more.  I still remember how blown away I was to see them play in the mid 70's as a kid.  The whole stadium was on fire.  You are still so sorely missed.  You and Jim are finally together.  We'll see you again x0x0x

       Can't help resist posting these, too:

• http://youtu.be/cxbFLYa0_bw

•  http://youtu.be/mdXlA6m2qrM

Creative thoughts for the week....

"...Failure is opportunity in disguise.." 
           ~ author unknown