We Can't Make it Here (including the iPhone)

By James McMurtry

Sometimes my song, "We Can't Make it Here," seems a bit naive. It's still a pretty good song, and songs don't have time to be fair and balanced. Songs are mostly about emotion. So I still sing it. But I read the New York Times a couple of Sundays ago, and I now understand why we can't competitively produce iPhones here. It seems that Steve Jobs was not happy with the easy to scratch plastic screen on his prototype iphone and demanded that the screen be made of scratch resistant glass. Making good glass is not a problem in the U.S., Corning has been doing it forever. Cutting glass to specs at a competitive pace is a different matter. After the meeting at which Jobs expressed his dissatisfaction, one of his execs booked a flight to China, where he knew there was a factory that could mobilize three thousand workers on a moments notice, by which I mean, waking them up in their dorm beds, putting them on the production line, and training them to cut the glass for the iPhone screen. Corning did get the contract to produce the glass and a Corning plant in Kentucky was revived. But now, Corning is building plants in Asia to save on time and shipping costs. It takes thirty five days to ship glass from Kentucky to China - not competitive.

The Times article did a good job of detailing the intricacies of modern production. Cell phones employ materials from around the globe. The article mentioned, but did not dwell on, "rare metals from Africa". A memory rose from my mind like a pre-historic fish, long thought to be extinct. I was in a bar in Austin. The guy to my right was some kind of computer person, a nice enough fellow, but most of what he talked about was incomprehensible to me. Yet, he told a story that I at least partially comprehended. He told me that there is a rare metal in the Congo. This metal is necessary for the miniaturization of circuitry, without which, there would be no cell phones of any kind. People dig large chunks of this metal out of creek banks and carry it out on their heads, at gun point. The people who harvest this metal are slaves. So are the Chinese workers who can be forced to wake up at any time of night, paid though they are.

We can't make iPhones in this country because we don't want to tolerate slavery within our own borders. We tolerate it within the borders of other nations because, without slavery, there would be no cell phones and cell phones have come to be seen as necessary by every culture in the world. So we outsource our slavery.

People love to talk about fixing our country. The Tea Party wants to "take our country back," from whom, or to what, I'm not sure. Such talk is as naive as my song. The manufacturing jobs aren't coming back here as long as, elsewhere, there are people willing to enslave and masses of people desperate enough to be willing to be enslaved. Fixing the country would not be enough anymore. We'll have to fix the world. It could take a while.

Singer-songwriter James McMurtry lives in Austin, Texas. When he's not touring, you can see him at the Continental Club every Wednesday, ‘round about midnight. Full details at his official website.

Which side are you on, gal? Straight Talk with Cynthia Nixon

By Otep Shamaya

It is with deep regret that I find myself scribing this, a retort, to the festering homophobic twaddle spewed by the heretic, Cynthia Nixon. My initial (atomic) reaction was to target my riposte directly to Ms. Nixon in hopes of reducing her to a symbolic smoldering lump of charcoal and ash. But after a week furiously writing a rancorous volume of jibes, aspersions, and insults all briared within a pummeling of common sense by endless Shiva fists, it occurred to me that this might be a rather meaningless effort. It may well be entertaining for some, and definitely uplifting for me (to vaporize her to cinder), but in all probability will never reach the yuppie fields Cynthia Nixon pollinates nor will it dissolve the veil of invincible ignorance she burqas herself in. She has released an update (of sorts) to her original statement but it's just a bunch of condescending hooey. As liberating as it might be for me to fire bomb Cynthia Nixon from my righteous perch it would be an unnecessary distraction for the Gay Rights Movement if everything erupted in civil war.

I will instead write this to you, dear queer family and friends, who are most likely to endure the cruel, heartless thugs who can justify their hate-mongering and bullying by virtue of Cynthia Nixon's outrageous and unbelievably obtuse declaration that being gay is a choice.

Let me begin with what most of us already recognize, no one chooses their height, their race, their gender, if they have freckles or not, if they are right or left handed, or their sexuality. You are who you are, be proud of that.

Cynthia Nixon claims that she chose to be straight, and then chose to be gay, and that the gay community ignores the fact that being gay is a choice. She further asserts that no one should be allowed to define, as she puts it, her gayness. These unbelievably vacuous statements are corrosive, grossly offensive, and, plainly put, baloney. We, the gay community, do not ignore the fact that it's a choice because it isn't. Being gay isn't a lifestyle or a fad. And we can certainly define "gayness" with firm clarity. If you are attracted to the same sex, you're gay. If you're not, you're straight. Simple enough. In fact, it's quite easy to define Cynthia Nixon. She's half-gay. She's bisexual. By her own admission she proves it. She's attracted to both genders with heavy tendencies toward women. Gay people are attracted to one gender, their own. It's a natural attraction, it's etched into our DNA, there's no choice involved. Who would choose to be a second-class citizen facing discrimination, bigotry, criminalization, injury or death? Or choose to have to endure the consequences when lobotomite heretics like Cynthia Nixon use their celebrity "gayness" to wag the dog and get the self-important, opportunistic media machines grinding? Though she may want to be gay, she isn't. She can't simply dismiss the straight half.

And she can't possibly believe that the children who have been and are currently bullied for being gay have a choice. That they should just stop behaving this way and choose to be straight. In this delicate, powder keg environment, she should know just how unbelievably dangerous fraudulent claims like this can be. She has given gasoline to the arsonists. Bullies and bigots everywhere will now have her words to encourage and justify their cruelty. She has given validity to the bigots and ignoramuses who make salacious claims that lesbians just haven't found the right guy yet or that children can pray the gay away. I won't go as far as some who claim she has wounded the movement with her sloppy, inaccurate pleas for inclusiveness but I will admit to a slight bruising.

At this very moment, the Conservative Christian Right is bottling up her words and preparing to use them whenever gay people demand equality. Even if one of their children happens to own that moment of courage to come out these bigots will use Nixon (as if we needed another bad example bearing this name) to justify sending those kids off to some detainment camp where they use all manners of torture to try to de-gay them. They will reference Cynthia Nixon (as a high profile and, in some circles, well respected actress) to cement their point that we (gay people) do not deserve equality or civil rights because we (gay people) choose this lifestyle as if it's as easy as choosing what to have for breakfast.

To be clear, I am not seeking to destroy the alliance and common experiences gay and bisexual people share by making this distinction. Bisexuals encounter similar discrimination and bigotry that gay people do. We are all fighting to rise out of this swamp of intolerance together. But it's important that we do not confuse the two as one and the same. Because for those of us who have no choice, who struggle to exist in a world that criminalizes, dehumanizes, imprisons, banishes, and sometimes murders GAY people, her words are infuriating, dumbfounding, dangerous, and intellectually absurd. Hopefully her silly proclamations will sink with the shrinking minority of hate-mongers into the sludge of our collective dishonorable history and berth atop other cultural fossils like segregation, miscegenation, and denying women the right to vote. 

***

Our current fight is to overturn DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) and secure equal rights for all citizens in all 50 states. Currently, convicted felons and serial killers on death row have more rights than gay people. They can hetero-marry and it's recognized on a national level. Those seeping colostomy bags from the Westboro Baptist Church who protest military funerals with signs reading GOD HATES FAGS have more rights than gay people. These vile, diseased sacks of skin can get hetero-married and it is legal in every state, but Cynthia Nixon's comrade costar (of Sex in the City) Mario Cantone and his husband lose their rights the moment they set foot outside of New York. Why? Because DOMA defines marriage between one man and one woman and because it's federal law, it surpasses state's rights.

In instances of immigration, gay couples have been torn apart because the Federal Government doesn't grant them the same rights as straight couples. Not even civil unions protect gay couples even though essentially ALL marriages are civil unions but again DOMA is the culprit. Remember, it's supposed to be All are created equal, not some. Besides, marriage equality won't redefine marriage as the loonies claim. As it happens, King David and Abraham (both Old Testament rock stars) defined marriage as one man and as many wives as they could afford. And marriage equality doesn't mean a gay invasion of churches where ministers will be forced to preside over same sex services. Do Baptist churches marry Hindu couples? Do Lutherans marry at synagogues? No, and as it stands there are plenty of churches for gay people all across this land that hold ceremonies for gay couples even now. But it's not just the ritual we want, it's legalization. We want equal rights under the law. Our current marriage laws are antiquated and in some cases, quite bizarre. It is legal in more states to marry your cousin than it is to someone of the same sex.

President Obama should take a stronger stance in favor of marriage equality. He is, after all, biracial and while his mother was pregnant it was illegal in some states (due to miscegenation laws) for her to be married to his father. It seems to me an easy act of empathy for him. This goes for the Tea Baggers, forgive me, the Tea Party, as well for it was taxation without representation that led to the American Revolution and eventual birth of our nation. Gay people are taxed the same as heterosexuals but do not have the same rights.

To any heterosexuals (straight folks) reading this that might agree with Ms. Nixon's statement that sexuality is a choice, the same principle must apply to you. Which means YOU are able to choose your sexuality and your choice is straight. But the choice COULD be gay.

Ask yourself this question, "When did you choose to be straight?" If you find this ridiculous then you know exactly how gay people feel when someone asks this of us.

It's true many people live half their lives only to finally come to terms with who they are as gay or bisexual people. The famed "late in life lesbians" illustrate this perfectly but this does not mean it was a choice. It means they are a side effect of a puritanical prison that forces people to remain invisible in order to survive. If we use racial heritage as an example, during the deplorable systematic scourge of Apartheid in South Africa, it was easier if a black African looked like a white African and could blend in with the reigning minority, but it did not stop them from being who they were. It was the result of existing in and being confined to an abominable social construct and social engineering of extreme discrimination. For a large portion of the gay and bisexual population, this is exactly how they survive. They pretend to be something they are not until, hopefully, they can find the courage to come out. Some never do. Some will remain pretending for the rest of their lives.

But that's not choice and that's not what Cynthia Nixon is referencing. She declared that the gay community ignores the fact that being gay is an option. I didn't choose to be a woman, I didn't choose to be gay, I didn't choose my Irish ancestry, these are not choices one can make. But you know what is? Religion is a choice. Writing this was a choice. Being gay is not.

In closing, dear readers, thank you for taking the time to let me inside your hearts and mind. Remember, there is nothing wrong with you. You are beautiful just the way you are. Let no one rob you of that. They bully and demean you because they envy you and how far you are on your journey of self-love and self-discovery while they are still fumbling and tripping over themselves to fit in. Let love permeate your soul and toughen your resolve. It gets better and better. I promise.

 Blurt blogger Otep Shamaya is frontwoman for heavier-then-heaven outfit OTEP. She's also the contributing Cultural Arsonist to our print magazine and penned the essay "Happiness As Defiance" for our last issue. Watch for #12 and more of her writings this spring on bookstore and assorted indie retailer newsstands.

La Dispute

By John B. Moore

Post-hardcore rockers La Dispute could have easily churned out a paint-by-numbers collection of distorted guitars and aggressive vocals for their second full length and chalked it up to the clichéd sophomore slump. But in the three years between their debut full length (Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair) and Wildlife, the band faced a slew of life changes.

They managed to fill the three year gap with a handful of EPs, 7 inches and splits (seven in all), but quickly realized their next proper follow up would have to be more than just a collection of disparate songs. And it is.

The complex Wildlife has a conceptual theme that connects the songs together and rather than screwing it up with my own half-assed explanation, La Dispute vocalist Jordan Dreyer was kind enough to explain it to me, along with answering a few other questions about these Grand Rapids, MI-based punk band.

Can you talk a little bit about the concept behind the new record?

Wildlife is set-up as a collection of sort of stories/poems annotated by the author and split into thematic sections by four monologues. The idea was to find a way to discuss a more diverse range of topics than we have in the past while still maintaining a personal emotional narrative throughout--with those topics being what's addressed in the stories and the annotations/monologues that personal connection. At the same time, we wanted to write a record that was in a way conceptual, but didn't necessarily need to be thought in that context. Oftentimes, I think records with a linear narrative narrow the ways in which a person can enjoy it, and not everyone wants to sit down and listen to something front to back. Weaving that linear narrative throughout a set of somewhat separate songs/stories/whatever kept it open to listening to it both as an album-length story and as a collection of totally different and unrelated-if-you-want-them-to-be songs. At least that was the intention. 

When did you get the idea for this?

The initial idea came up pretty early on after our previous full length but really didn't fully materialize for quite awhile. Shortly after Somewhere... I decided that I wanted to branch out more from what I'd discussed on previous releases lyrically but wasn't quite sure exactly how to do that without straying too far from whatever niche we'd carved out. Part of that was I felt some of the stronger and more rewarding songs on that record were the ones that weren't about my own life and relationships, and part of it was that I, over time, became witness to some pretty astounding stories, either from a chance meeting or from just being in close proximity to something. On top of that, and on a more general note, we were at a different point in our lives; three years older and being confronted by a different set of questions and challenges. In a way I think the older you get the more complex things become, and the record is indicative of that. But I'm rambling, as always. Essentially, we had all these stories and we needed a vessel to house them. The book/annotations idea gave us that and gave us the thematic diversity to accomplish all the things we wanted to musically, which was quite a bit. Three years time didn't just give us new experiences and stories; it gave us a whole new understanding of who we are as individual musicians and as a group. We wanted to cover all of that musically and setting the record up the way we did allowed for that. Going back to the idea developing over time, the initial conversation about the idea snowballed every time we all sat down together. In a way, the idea got the wheels turning and writing the music finished the job; kind of transformed the idea into a whole new entity. I don't know. It's kind of a strange birthing process. 

This is pretty ambitious for a second full length. Any idea how you're going to follow it up?

I don't know, to be honest. We don't really think about it that way. Like I said before we were at a different point in our lives both as individuals and as a group as we were when writing Somewhere... and I'm certain we'll be at a different point in our life when another idea presents itself. Writing and recording an album for us is essentially just taking a picture of that time, so using a previous work as a measuring stick is kind of worthless. We'll have to see what happens.

What's the music scene in Grand Rapids like right now?

Grand Rapids has a fantastic music scene and we are forever in its debt. Really. There are so many phenomenal people writing incredible music, running amazing spaces for shows, and in general taking care of the arts there that I will eternally be proud to call it home. There's an arts cooperative that is communally run for shows and art showings and the like, a great bar with a 400 capacity venue run by some really good friends of ours, and a bunch of awesome bands. Jowls, Radiator Hospital, Procession, Damages, Cain Marko, etc. Look into it if you're reading this.

So what's next for the band?

Right now, vacation. We have the rest of the year off to recuperate from the first 10 months of it and we're all enjoying the down time. Of course, you never really shut it off, and even now we've started the ball rolling on some things we're all pretty excited about. None of which is concrete enough to announce at this point but you'll know as soon as it is. As for tour, we'll be heading to Europe and Australian sometime in the near future, and we're starting to formulate plans for a headlining tour in the States come spring or so. We'll let you know.

Occupy: "It's common feeling and common conviction that makes a movement."

By James McMurtry

About a week ago, at the end of a short solo tour of Southwest Alaska, I wandered down to Occupy Anchorage. The camp was only a block from my hotel.

The temperature was in the single digits with a light snow. There were three tents, the first of which was wide open. Inside were four young men, two white and two native, a dog, and a propane heater.  I offered them some smoked salmon and some CDs. They took great interest in the salmon and it was quickly consumed. The white guys introduced themselves. The natives did not.

I guess I should have introduced myself to all of them, but I felt sheepish and shy, like an interloper or a tourist. They all seemed to handle the cold pretty well. I asked them if they had any tips to help Occupiers in the lower forty eight get through the winter. They shrugged. John, the dog's owner, said, "It's pretty simple. You need shelter, heat, and food." About then, a nice woman named Wendy, who lived in the neighborhood, came in with a crock of hot soup. Morale improved instantly. Wendy struck up a lively conversation with a young man named Matt, who seemed like he could become a spokesman, if the movement wanted a spokesman. He had something of a thousand yard stare from, I guessed, fatigue and constant cold.

Matt considered himself lucky to be protesting in Anchorage rather than Portland or Oakland, because the Anchorage Police were not bothering the protesters, and some officers were openly supportive of the movement, stopping by to chat and to gripe about departmental budget cuts. Matt said he thought he preferred sub zero temperatures to pepper spray, horses, and batons. He offered me some of the soup. I'd had plenty to eat and had to catch an early flight, so I declined, wished them luck, and left. I was struck by their generosity. I liked the salmon, but they needed that soup.

Historically, it's always been pretty easy for the powerful to get poor people to swing sticks at other poor people. The powerful simply have to pay the stick swingers just a little bit more than they used to pay the strikers or the protesters or whatever group is causing them annoyance; divide and suppress. Police officers may not live in abject poverty, but they're certainly not rich. They need their jobs and they're trained to follow orders. They are not paid to care whether or not they belong to the one percent that gives the orders, though I don't doubt that some of them do care anyway. I'm curious about the origin of the orders.

With regard to Occupy and Law enforcement, mayors and college presidents seemed to be charged with giving the orders, at least officially, and they are subsequently charged with taking the heat when the execution of any of their orders goes terribly wrong and produces violence, physical injury, and embarrassing YouTube videos. Politicians and Administrators don't generally like controversy, it's bad for careers. I don't think such people would give orders that would likely result in some really messy controversy, unless enough pressure were brought to bear on them that they would fear for their careers anyway. I think there are bigger forces at work here.

In October, the New York City Police Department arrested over seven hundred Occupy protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge. Some were held for hours without charge. Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan/Chase, one of the recipients of the government bailout, derided by both Occupy and the Tea Party, donated 4.6 million dollars, partly in technology, patrol car laptops and such, to the New York City Police Department. This was the largest single donation ever received by NYPD. You can't tell me there were no strings attached. City Budgets are strapped. Departments are underfunded. A direct donation from a major corporation must be like manna from heaven to a police department. But of course, the department will need more in the future, and it won't get more if it turns on its new benefactor.

No one gives away 4.6 million expecting nothing in return. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is quoted as saying, "These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, we're incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work." I wouldn't argue that NYPD, or any police department, is not worthy of such a donation, but I must question the motive and the timing.  I wonder if Mr. Dimon actually lives in the City. The few New York CEOs I've had the pleasure of dealing with all lived in Connecticut and rode limos down the Merritt Parkway to work and back. Wherever Mr. Dimon lives, I doubt he fears for his safety.

 I hear complaints that the protest is unfocused, that the protesters' rejection of traditional hierarchy renders the movement ineffective as a political force, that it has no clear message. But I don't see a problem yet. Occupy has been effective simply by coming into existence. No one organized Occupy ahead of time. A call went out and people showed up.

They're still showing up and their numbers and tenacity do have an effect. They get noticed. As for the message, one can Google Keith Olbermann and hear the message, well written by Occupy and well read by Olbermann. Basically, occupiers want to take their country back from the banks and lobbyists. Their demands aren't that different from those of the Tea Party. The two groups should join forces. They're mad about the same conditions, though they disagree on where to put the blame.

The Tea party blames the government; Occupy blames the corporations that now own the government. Is there that much difference? Ultimately, we will all have to join forces if we are to call ourselves a nation. Right now, we are too polarized to be effective. We no longer recognize each other as Americans. The mayors and college presidents who call out the riot squads apparently don't know that those are their fellow Americans getting beaten and pepper sprayed. Those are American sons and daughters. Those are American students, American librarians, American grandmothers, and American veterans, and when they get hurt, we all get hurt. The stick swinging has to stop. It serves no useful human purpose.

I've taken part in very few protests. I attended one No Nukes march in Washington D.C. in the late seventies. It seemed to be conducted mostly by old hippies who wanted to do it again, and younger people like myself who thought we were sorry to have missed the sixties. My son and I attended several anti war protests in Austin at the start of the Iraq war. Our fellow Americans screamed expletives at us as we stood on the street, but we didn't get arrested. There were some "protest for fun" types there too.

I think Occupy is different. I'll have to go to New York and check it out. I'm pretty sure the guys in Anchorage weren't out there for the fun of it. They seemed to feel that they needed to be there, that they had no choice. It's common feeling and common conviction that makes a movement. And it seems that more and more of us feel that we have no choice.

Singer-songwriter James McMurtry lives in Austin, Texas. When he's not touring, you can see him at the Continental Club every Wednesday, ‘round about midnight. Full details at his official website.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels with Blurt's roving shutterbug - Fall, 2011.

By Scott Dudelson

Blurt contributing concert photographer Scott Dudelson hit some of the West Coast's biggest festivals these past few months and brought back these shots to prove it


(above) Andrew Dice Clay - Live @ The Roxy

Common - Live @ Rock the Bells Festival

Cypress Hill - Lice @ Rock the Bells Festival

Descendents - Live @ FYF Fest

Guided By Voices - Live @ FYF Fest

Guy Clark - Live @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

John Fogerty - Live @ Outside Lands

John Prine - Live @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Kid Dynamite - Live @ FYF Fest

Mavis Staples & Win Butler (of Arcade Fire) - Live @ Outside Lands

Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson - Live @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Muse - Live @ Outside Lands

Nas - Live @ Rock the Bells

Perry Ferrell (of Janes Addiction) & Peter Hook (of Joy Division / New Order) - Live @ The Music Box

Robert Plant & Patty Griffin - Live @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Steve Earle - Live @ Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

What Happened to the Border?

By James McMurtry

     Late in the summer of 1992, my tour manager and I crossed into the United States from Emerson, Manitoba, after a tour of Western Canada. We were tired and disheveled. The U.S. Border Patrol agent at the gate was a big man with a handle bar mustache and a big nickel plated revolver, with nice custom stag horn grips, hanging from his hip. He wore the green uniform of the era, and had a sense of humor, though a rather twisted one. He told me to pull into the bay on the left and park on the orange tarp. I did as I was told, he had a gun after all. Another officer, I think from U.S. Customs, met us at the open bay, took the customs form on which I had listed descriptions of our instruments complete with serial numbers prior to entering Canada, and told us to go into the building while he performed the inspection. The building was full of students yelling about their rights as American Citizens and silent, leather clad bikers. The bikers were not the insurance man, brand new Harley riders of today, their leathers looked live in, and they wore no helmets.  My tour manager, Danny Thorpe, now deceased, was led off into another room because he had the money. He came back only a few minutes later because there wasn't much money for Customs to count. He informed me that there was a biker by the door who wanted to kill me for parking on his tarp.

    I crossed from Emerson with my band two days ago. The place looked a little different than it had nineteen years before.  There seemed to be cameras mounted everywhere, one of which flashed brightly as we approached the booth. The woman at the window and the big man behind her both wore the blue uniform of the Department of Homeland Security. I handed her our four passports, as is now required. The woman asked the usual questions, twice asking me how long we'd been in Canada. Twice I answered that we had entered on the twenty-sixth of September. We hadn't counted our cash, so we didn't have an exact figure for the woman's queries regarding the state of our finances, but we were pretty sure we had less than ten thousand dollars. If you cross with over ten thousand dollars, you must declare it or Homeland security can seize it all. Since 1995, our only border crossings had been at busy crossings, Buffalo, Niagara, and Detroit, where we were never inspected, so we hadn't anticipated much scrutiny. The woman told us to pull up to garage door number one, and that we could have our passports back after the inspection. Where the open air parking bays had been in 1992, there was now an enclosed garage. I pulled the van up to garage door one and killed the motor. Garage door two opened and we were ordered to pull around. A stern looking woman waved us forward. There were several fast looking Japanese motorcycles parked to our left. I handed the woman the customs form and she ordered us to stand over by a stainless steel table and empty our pockets. A male officer told us to turn our pockets out so he could see that they were empty. They both wore the blue uniform, with light body armor, carried night sticks and modern, polymer framed, semi-auto pistols and neither seemed to have a sense of humor. The male officer asked me what we were bringing in from Canada. Usually they ask if we bought anything in Canada. The usual question was so ingrained in my mind that I replied, "We didn't buy anything in Canada." The male officer repeated, in a more intimidating tone,

     "What are you bringing in from Canada?"

     "Our gear", I replied.

     The woman kept grilling Tim, our current tour manager, about the money, tapping the declaration form with her index finger and telling him to answer the question of whether or not we were carrying more than ten thousand dollars cash. Her tone was that of a middle school teacher who had had enough of a disruptive student. There were two bags of cash. Daren, our drummer handles the merch money, Tim handles the gig money. We don't sell merch in Canada because the Canadians tax it too heavily for us to profit, so all the merch money had been earned in the states and carried through Canada, but there was no way to prove that. Tim counted his cash and Daren got out his paperwork and checked his figures. Now, it looked as though we had somewhat over ten grand. The officers took Tim off to another room to fill out forms and recount the money, refusing to give back his pocket knife, saying they would leave it in the van. I realized then, that I had a multi-tool in a belt pouch on my hip. They hadn't seen it under my shirt tail. I thought about offering it up but didn't. They hadn't asked if we had anything on our belts. After Tim left, the rest of us were told to wait in the waiting room, really more like a closet with a one way window through which they could see us. From the inside we could see our own reflections in the bright glare of the fluorescent lighting. The walls were cinder block and painted yellow. I didn't try the door to see if we were actually prisoners. A woman in two tone leathers sat quietly in the corner. There were two helmets on the chair next to her. In a while, a man in two tone leathers, her husband I guess, was led back into the room. She asked him if he had been treated nicely. "Oh, you know, third degree", he replied in a British accent. They were summoned shortly. As they left, I thought I heard someone say "English people are not allowed to enter this way . . . now, you're not under arrest . . . we'll have to move the bike . . ."  After thirty minutes or so, The male officer came and told us he had completed his inspection of the van and told us to pull it outside and wait for Tim. As soon as I pulled the van out, the formerly ever so stern female officer came up and asked to see Daren. There wasn't as much cash in the merch money bag as he had reported. He had forgotten to subtract credit card sales from his total, so it turned out that we had well under ten thousand dollars. We were proven innocent after only having been assumed guilty for forty minutes or so, not bad as border hassles go, but it left a bad taste. I haven't traveled the world extensively, but I've been in and out of the country a few times. I've never been treated like a suspect by officials of any nation other than my own. Sure, they have a tough job and we didn't have our shit together. But they were nasty from the get go. I don't know how such an attitude helps them do their job.

     Entering Canada was different this time, too. The U.S. officer who gave me the customs form in Sweetgrass Montana, actually insisted on looking in the van before stamping and signing the form, a first. Then, Canadian immigration charged us four hundred and fifty dollars for work permits, another first. The immigration officer folded the permits, stapled them into our passports, told us we were good until the fifth and to have a nice trip. I just took my work permit out and read it, here in Iowa. Apparently we were supposed to have stopped at the port of exit to tell the Canadians we were leaving and give the permits back. The immigration officer didn't say a word about exiting, and we'd never run into this requirement before. The last time we'd been in Canada, a couple of years before, one could simply leave Canada without a word. We'll have to get on this situation right away if we want to work up there in the future, mole hills just seem to want to turn into mountains these days. We mused on the changing world as we rolled toward Lethbridge, Alberta. Wasn't NAFTA supposed to make it easier to do cross border business?

     I spent a week in Canada and watched the news a time or two. Their news is different than our news. The Canadians are alarmed, to say the least. Apparently, we now have gun boats on the Great Lakes, drones and Blackhawk helicopters patrolling the land border. There's talk of building a fence or perhaps even a wall. What terrible threat is coming at us from Canada, I must ask? And how will we get enough Mexican Nationals to the Canadian border to build a wall? Canadians don't sneak into our country. They're doing pretty well up there, by the look of the place. Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg all looked prosperous. In none of those sprawling cities did I see the signs of poverty so often evident from crosstown freeways in the U.S., and I suspect their health care system works better than the elder George Bush would have had us believe. No doubt many of us can be fooled into thinking a wall would make us safer, keeping out drugs and terrorists, but I file such arguments under "Yeah Right". Where there are walls, there are tunnels and bribes, and most walls are built to keep people in rather than out, food for paranoid thought, given that Canada's economy is holding up relatively well, and they have the majority of the world's fresh water which will soon be the world's most precious commodity (If you doubt this, note that T Boone Pickens, former oil and gas tycoon, is now in the water rights business).  Big Brother paranoia aside, any real threat is most likely to arrive in one of the countless shipping containers I see piled up on our docks and piggy backed on train cars all over our nation. I don't know the current figure, but I remember that during the rough tough Bush administration, Home Land Security was allocated enough funds to inspect four percent of inbound shipping containers. There's no way to inspect them all. There are simply too many. So, the politicians clamor for walls, to make us think they're doing something to protect us, pad the pockets of a few construction firm and high tech CEOs, and keep the DEA funded to the gills. Meanwhile, a once friendly border grows more and more militarized and unfriendly. This can't be good for business.

Singer-songwriter James McMurtry lives in Austin, Texas. When he's not touring, you can see him at the Continental Club every Wednesday, ‘round about midnight. Full details at his official website.

Our latest look at dusty instrumental hip-hop, techno and bass includes Martyn (pictured above), HTRK, Walls, I Break Horses, and more.

By Dominic Umile

Disparate nuances and textures meet in a distinctive manner on several recent records that have had me thinking about what music I've been drawn to in 2011 overall. Just as the dour noisepop of Belong's Common Era or Andy Stott's stark, shadowy techno on Passed Me By presents a challenge to categorize other than "I've really been blown away by these," the releases discussed here - their repetition of colorful sonic themes, matched with a fusion of electronics and sampled instruments - aren't easily articulated in conversation. And there are similarly heady, much chatted-about albums on the horizon: M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming sees an October release; a "next level" Nathan Fake album is in the can, according to James Holden's interview at ClubbersGuideNewYork.com and Kompakt's catalog of experimental techno grows with albums from Gui Boratto, The Field, and, mentioned below, Walls.

In an unlikely mesh of lo-fidelity production and gripping headphone playback, HTRK (pronounced "hate rock") explores muddled electro/organic noise on Work (Work, Work). Vocalist Jonnie Standish partly talks, partly sings, with both configurations coded in watery delay on this droning, comely Ghostly International release. She's backed with dub-referencing basslines, old drum machine pops, and fraying guitar. The latter fizzes and peters out often, while the space between shitty beat claps on tracks like "Work That Body" grows miles wider by the second. Closer "Body Double" is crowded with the patter of snares and wafting organs. It's dark, lingering, and beautiful, while Standish, avoiding clarity at all costs, sings only when she feels like it. 

HTRK - Eat Yr Heart by ghostly

Walls has a similar preoccupation with delay pedals. The act's 2010 debut is loaded with blurry, equal doses live and machine-driven moments like HTRK's record, but members Alessio Natalizia and Sam Willis went for blissful techno on Coracle ala Border Community stuff or the forest-rave vibe of Caribou's Swim. With a punchy stomp taking shape midway through "Il Tedesco," this tune stuns as a two-parter. It's disorienting and strewn with bits of feedback, while the beatless end of Coracle is executed with similar tact. Check "Vacant" for just as colorful an arrangement of swells, soaring guitar fuzz, and a coda that sounds like early Pink Floyd. Elsewhere, potent kicks work to steady a sun-streaked record that feels light enough to dissolve on the turntable. 

"Sunporch" By Walls by Kompakt

Beds of keyboards and vocal layers produce a disorienting effect on Hearts, the debut full-length from Swedish duo I Break Horses on Bella Union. The battle is getting the weightless vocals from singer Maria Lindén further up into the mix - or does it matter? The title track feels like one sweeping buildup, as thick and overdriven guitar is matched with synths over a tense, unchanging rhythm. I Break Horses is shamelessly wed to the oft-cited My Bloody Valentine opus that had Creation's Alan McGee "tearfully pleading with (Kevin Shields) to deliver the record before the whole enterprise went bankrupt." On the impenetrable Heart, Lindén and Fredrik Balck come off like Loveless devotees indeed, as if Serena-Maneesh dialed back noise on No. 2: Abyss in B Minor for a more ambient end-product locked into dance music as much as it is to shoegaze. "Load Your Eyes" has Linden's slow verses floating over stuttering kicks, with nuances pulled out and tossed back in for cerebral effect. It works well, but a driving, acid-ridden "Wired" kills when it's dramatically impeded, as if the tape ribbon is backed up and snaking all over the floor. The beats (and tambourine) stay in place, but all of the syrupy tones are wound way down, yielding a stammering mess of choral bits and indiscernible instruments.

I Break Horses - Hearts by Bella Union

Most everything is prevented from advancing too quickly on Alec Koone's Wander/Wonder, a set of hallucinatory, deep-swinging beats issued under the producer's Balam Acab moniker. These eight static-rife instrumentals knock back and forth, each one swelling with sparkling loops and chilling vocal samples that seem to have been pulled from a place similar to the one tapped by Holy Other for With U, released earlier this year on Tri Angle. Koone hasn't ventured far from the spooky, lush hip hop/techno combinations on his See Birds EP, though Wander/Wonder is a more evolved set that sounds like it took careful, obsessive tinkering to finish. It incidentally only outplays his Tri Angle debut by 17 minutes or so.   

Balam Acab - Motion by TriAngleRecords

DJ/producer Max Cooper's tech house cooks gradually with bewitching flourishes. On his Empirisch EP for Cologne, Germany's Traum Schallplatten, "Echoes Reality" is layered in chimes, with screeches and an evocative melody that eventually engulfs the track. Its unpredictable flashes and speaker-cycling ticks are matched in "Qualia" (worked into an early slot on recent jarring live set "Loom"), if in a bit more clinical fashion.

Max Cooper Live - Loom (free download) by Max Cooper

The tones are quite clean on Chris "Tropics" Ward's jazz- and house-tinged jewel Parodia Flare on Planet Mu. Twinkling guitars line its cotton edges, dressed in little more than vibrato. The already warm keys on "Going Back" are padded with vocal harmonies, which slip cozily into a mellotron-rife backdrop on "Wear Out." But the record could use more juice on the percussive end. Churning glitch is welcome on "Figures," where even the dense swirl of whispered choruses can't much soften the growl of the engine beneath it.   

Wear Out (From Parodia Flare - Out Now) by Tropics

With no shortage of drum barrages, Martyn nailed it on Ghost People, a hard but intricate record for Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label (see my  recent rundown of TOKiMONSTA's EP). The Dutch producer found an artful home on his Great Lengths for techno, dubstep, and more in a way that no one had managed before 2009, at least not on an LP. Ghost People isn't as mysterious as Martyn's Great Lengths, but it's rooted in similar ground and is as urgent as his recent Fabric 50 mix, a series standout. Aimed at the DJ booth, Martyn's sophomore album burns fast. Jungle breaks tunnel under siren synths on "Popgun," a rave banger loud enough to summon Bomb Squad noise collage references, making it a good candidate for segues into hip hop records during recent FlyLo live sets. Boxcutter-edged chords dart between vocal samples on "We Are You in the Future," but none of those ubiquitous, pitched-up MC bits land on these tracks. The voices sewn into Ghost People's convulsive party cuts sound like they're coming from behind you on the club floor, as if nearby conversation is competing with the snare shots in the monitors. Fat chance, though - it's doubtful that anyone is going to be talking when this record is on.

Martyn - Popgun by 3024world

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BLURT contributor and blogger Dominic Umile lives, writes, and drinks in Brooklyn, NY. Follow him on Twitter: @DominicUmile

Bomb the Music Industry! Interview

By John B. Moore

For a whole generation of punks, the phrase "DIY" is little more than a t-shirt slogan hanging on the wall at Hot Topic down the street at the mall.

It's refreshing then to see a music collective like Bomb the Music Industry! not only understand the meaning of Do It Yourself, but have that concept as the band's ethos. DIY and fairness to fans have been part of BTMI! Since the group's beginnings in 2004. From spray-painting stenciled t-shirts to fans behind show venues (free of charge, of course) to playing only all-ages shows that agree to cap ticket prices at $10, this New York collection of punk rockers, led by founder Jeff Rosenstock, have a reputation even the guys in Fugazi would envy.

The band - using the term loosely as dozen of musicians come and go at any given time - is also behind the label Quote Unquote Records, which has been offering "name your own price" downloads long before Radiohead made headlines with the same business model.

Bomb the Music Industry! is out with a new full length, Vacation, and about spend the remainder of the summer taking the songs to (all age) venues across the country. Rosenstock was kind enough to answer a few questions recently about the band, the label and the true nature of DIY.

For those not familiar with the band, can you talk a little bit about the band's philosophy when it comes to DIY?

Bomb the Music Industry! basically started after my old band broke up. I moved back in with my parents, and I tried writing and recording songs on my own in my old bedroom. A lot of the idea was that if I figure out how to do all that stuff on my own, then I don't have to spend any money recording records, and then won't have to sell anyone anything, which after being in a band that did a bunch of Warped Tour, support shows and stuff like that, man was I sick of going to a punk show and it turning out to be just another store. It always seemed to me that a punk show should be a safe haven from commercialism. So as we grew into a real band, we approached things in the same way. After dozens of permutations involving sponges, paints, screens, stencils and paintbrushes, we settled on making stencils out of old cardboard, buying spray paint, and people bringing their own shirts to shows to get official Bomb the Music Industry! shirts. We used to have a stack of CD-R's with all of our songs on it at shows which were available to trade for another blank CD-R that we could later turn into a Bomb CD-R. As it grew, we had a handful of opportunities, for example putting out a vinyl record which I've always wanted to do, and at this point we do sell shirts and records. But we still have all of that stuff available for free, we still do everything pretty much ourselves or at the very least with friends. I even started up a record label with my friend Dave to put out the newest Bomb record. We still operate as far outside of the weird system that's set up for punk bands to sell themselves as we can. 

What made you decide to start Quote Unquote Records?

Basically, Bomb the Music Industry! had (and still has) a revolving door policy, meaning that if you couldn't tour full time, you could still be in the band. I didn't want this to be something anyone was counting on to make money, so obviously we all had to work, and if you couldn't get off of work I didn't want there to be any drama. Of course, when I went to book our second tour with The Rick Johnson Rock and Roll Machine, all twelve members were like "um, no, I've gotta work." Instead of canceling the tour, Rick said he'd play bass for me, I could play guitar for him, and we'd play to our programmed sequences that were on the record. Immediately on that tour, I was surprised how easy it was to just be one person doing his thing. A few days into the tour, we played with The Matt Kurz One and our minds were so blown that we just called up all the promoters and said "put this guy on the show please." The tour went really, really well, and a lot of it was due to the notoriety Bomb had gotten from putting out free music. I told Matt I wanted to do the same thing with his next record, but I felt kind of bad just saying "hey, I want to give away your music entirely for free!" so I set up a really non-intrusive option to donate for the record. People responded really well to it, so I ended putting out a couple of other friends records and it snowballed from there.

What surprised you the most about running your own label?

Not a whole lot to be perfectly honest. The great thing about Quote Unquote is that it is ridiculously cheap and easy to operate, so there hasn't been any big wrenches thrown in the works or anything. I'm not terribly surprised at the good response bands on Quote Unquote have been getting ‘cause I think those bands are great and should be getting good responses or else I never would have worked with them in the first place. It was surprising when years later "Pay What You Can" became a business model buzz word, but it was also extremely rewarding when I saw a handful of other labels get started with a donation-based digital model and give props to us. 

Is it still a solely donation-based model?

Yes and no. Quote Unquote records will always be a donation-based business model, but most of our artists press records and CD's, and we put links to that on our site if you want to buy it. Again, we try to keep it non-intrusive. The new label, Really Records, is not donation-based at all. That's more of a stressful and terrifying trip down the road of distribution, promotion, radio, sales and so on. The idea is to hopefully get people who are not necessarily part of the punk rock scene to hear some of the bands that we think are under-heard and also to create a place for all of us nerdy, friendly weirdo punks to put out records that may not sound like punk records.

Let's talk about the new record. What can you tell me about it?

I can tell you that it's a really long one for us. Our first record over forty minutes! I like it. Lyrically, it's still a lot about the fears of getting older and not finding your place in life, but it's more so about realizing that, okay, EVERYBODY is going through that and that shouldn't make me a jaded asshole. There's still a lot of great stuff and great people out there, and so what if everyone dies someday or it's hard to pay rent. Worrying isn't gonna fix that. 

Who joined you in recording this album?

Well the five of us who have been on tour together for the past three or so years made the record together. We recorded it in our guitar player Tom's practice/recording space, as well as in my apartment. Some buddies from Andrew Jackson Jihad, The Wild and Chotto Ghetto e-mailed over some parts of theirs. I was super excited that Ginger Alford (Good Luck), Chris Farren (Fake Problems) and Steve Ciolek and Matt Scheuermann (The Sidekicks) were into contributing those crazy Beach Boys-ish harmonies on a bunch of the songs. They all have such great voices and I was glad to waste their talents on my record. I was also excited about getting to record Aidan Kohler on violin... I've worked with her on a handful of Laura Stevenson and the Cans' recordings that I did and she is totally the ace up our collective sleeve. Anything she plays on immediately sounds better. It was also pretty cool to have my old band mate Dave Renz from ASOB sing harmonies on a few tracks. He walked into my apartment, it was like old times and I think he literally finished all of his parts in one take. We're gonna hopefully get all these folks to be regulars on Bomb records.

Is Sara Crow still working on a documentary about the band?

Yes she is! She told me she has her narrative arc now, although I have no idea what that might be. It's very strange when someone, who has now become a friend, is observing your life from a different perspective and can apparently kind of see what's going to happen with it? Sometimes I wish she'd just fuck up the documentary a little bit and let me know if all this shit I'm trying is going to work out, 'cause I have no fucking idea if it is!

Countless bands have proven that you don't need the backing of a label to be heard. Do you think a traditional record label still makes sense for most bands?

I don't know what makes sense for us, let alone other bands. I think the idea of having a ton of money up front to make a record and go on tour is definitely enticing, and the idea of a label getting people excited about records and making people aware that these records are coming out is also super important. I don't think it's necessary to be "heard" anymore though. I think you just have to put out good music. So many bands have started out, and sometimes continued, doing stuff on their own that have become me and my friends' favorite bands. And people go to their shows just as much if not more than whatever punk whatever thing that a major label is pushing. So, no, I don't think having the backing of a label has been necessary since high-speed internet has become widely available, but I can't imagine it hurts to have a support team that you trust.

You talked earlier about stenciling band t-shirts for fans. What made you decide to finally start selling t-shirts on the last tour?

 Since we started stenciling t-shirts, there were people coming to our shows that after finding out we HAD no shirts to sell were like "Well, that's cool... but I still wish I could buy a shirt and support you." After a while there were more and more people that felt that way and eventually it seemed like we were bumming more people out by not having that option than we wanted to. I think we waited until we were at the right level to start selling stuff like that, because the first tour we did with shirts we ran out of them and came home with rent money. Every other band I've been in had lost a shit ton on merch and stuff like that. So that's pretty cool for us, although a large part of me still wonders where this project would be had we never sold a single thing. 

What's next for the band?

We go on tour for the rest of the summer and see if anyone likes our new record. 

Hot Time, Summer in the City

By Coco Hames

No sooner did my old friend, the sun, and I start spending time together again, did a man come and taketh away from our times. There is a swimming hole on the Harpeth River where I, the Ettes, our friends, and all the other teenagers go (with dogs) and swim and frolic about. It is HOT in Nashville in the summer, and swimmin' holes (and ca-brewing trips) are necessary to not pack up and leave due to sweltering heat, terrible tourist traffic, general relentless bugginess (not even counting the cicadas, but that was intense) and just straight up boredom. That is why the Lord gave us swimmin' holes. And now this guy done come took it away!

Thing is, like all good things, it was not to last, our absolute rule of that swimmin' hole. Absolute rule corrupts absolutely. I think maybe some people got sloppy. Maybe some people got noisy. Maybe some people left too many beer cans and garbage behind. Either way, we blew it. We blew it, guys. Next thing I know, there are less kids around than there used to be, and way more "NO TRESPASSING" and "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs stapled all over the 20+ trees that line the entrance to the river.

So yesterday we're down there, and this very unfriendly man came down hollering at us, sassing us "I guess y'all can't read too good" (which... I just, you know) so we said we could read, but we just didn't think those signs meant US. He said this was no longer a hangin'-out spot. I said, well, it is whenever I want it to be (you don't own the river) and I gots two other BETTER swimmin' spots anyway. Then I gave him THE FINGER. No, I didn't. But I did say one sign explaining why this was no longer a public spot (dated, to be more effective) would work better than redneck-reiteration of all the signs. I was like, because that doesn't work. See? Then I flicked my cigarette into his eye, told him to get off my dick, aaaand had my dogs attack him.

This sort of thing has happened before, at what happened to be my favorite spot on the Horsepasture River in western North Carolina. There was a small bridge, where I used to go with my guitar, and no one was around. Just downstream from that spot were three small graded waterfalls, one with a (VERY) deep diving hole. It was so beautiful. And then one summer, some bachillionaire built a massive mansion lording over the whole of the riverfront, the whole of that area. Yes, it was my special place, but I shared it, with families, and other kids, and animals, and everyone. It belonged to everyone. Now -- it was implied -- it belonged to him.

I remember going down there once with my sisters and our dogs, and him standing out on his massive porch (this has to be like 500 meters away, anyway) and just staring at us and scowling (you can read a scowl from 500 meters) and then, eventually, yelling at us to get off "his" land. As someone with inherent bullying tendencies (which I do TRY to control) I know a real tough guy when I see one. And then I know a wussy rich guy with daddy issues who bullies simply with money. Which is pathetic. And I can take them ANY time. Money bully-ers? Pssh. Not a problem. Try it. I know about property limit laws; just because you can intimidate some people with the size of your house (ahem) you can't last forever with that schtick, and you certainly cannot outlast me. Fuck that guy, and mark my words: I will have my revenge.

So I of course encourage all of you within a day's drive to Nashville, Tennessee to come on down to THIS guy's so-called "private property" (the proximity to his purchased land notwithstanding, it happens to be a proper public input to the Harpeth River, fact) at any hour and have a good time! Swim it up! Bring beer! Bring your dogs! Make-out! Blast "Sweet Home Alabama"! That's what we do! And this guy likes it sooooo muuuch, just imagine how much happier you'll make him if we do it with MORE people! SUMMER TIMEZ!! Go here: old natchez trace nashville, tn Just follow the signs!

We'll keep you posted here on our special summer excursions as we tour the country in August for what has already been, without rival, the BEST SUMMER OF OUR LIVES. I've already got our Asheville excursion planned, ROB. If you've got things we absolutely must see in your town on this tour, let us know. We love an adventure. It's kind of our thing?

Can't wait to see y'all out on the road! Bringin' the rock and roll from Nashville with Heavy Cream and Hans Condor, y'all get ready, now...

Coco

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Blurt "co-co-editor" and advice columnist Coco Hames fronts The Ettes - Hames on guitar, Jem Cohen on bass and Poni Silver on drums. Their new album Wicked Will arrives in stores August 2. Check ‘em out at their official website and their Facebook page.

Out ‘n' about in the City of Angels with Blurt's roving shutterbug (April, May & June 2010)

By Scott Dudelson

(above)Slightly Stoopid - Live @ The Greek Theatre - 4/20

Bad Brains - Live @ The Greek Theatre - 4/20

Barrington Levy  - Live @ The Greek Theatre - 4/20

Atomic Bomb Audition - Live @ Cobalt Cafe - 5/5

The Raveonettes - Live @ Saint Rocke - 5/8

Mogwai - Live @ The Mayan Theatre - 5/10

Henry Clay People - Live @ Satellite - 5/13

Little Dragon-  Live @ UCLA Jazz & Reggae Festival - 5/30

Buffalo Springfield -  Live @ Santa Barbara Bowl - 6/9

Flaming Lips-  Live @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery - 6/14

Morning Benders -  Live @ Pasadena Make Music Festival - 6/18

NewVillager -  Live @ Pasadena Make Music Festival - 6/18

La Sera-  Live @ Pasadena Make Music Festival - 6/18