Don't you wish you had been there?

Four nights of the best the post punk world had to offer in 1979 in the bowels of the London YMCA in Tottenham Court Road. Never had been there for a gig before nor again. It was a great place to watch bands though.

The unannounced band on the first night was Echo and the Bunnymen, still with 'Echo' (their drum machine). It was one of the first gigs that they and The Teardrop Explodes had played in London. I got given a mixing desk tape of both band's performance, very unfortunately long since gone.

Joy Division? Well another powerful performance, they truly were an amazing live band and while the records are brilliant, live it was something else completely, much more visceral and raw obviously without any of Martin Hannett's studio trickery.

'Autosuggestion' (Live @YMCA)

Rema Rema were enjoyable, with Marco Pirroni on guitar and I fell in love with Max the drummer (who later released the single 'I Confess' as Dorothy on Industrial Records).

Cabaret Voltaire's performance can be heard on their 'Live At The YMCA' album. (EDIT: It was another performance at the YMCA)

Though to be honest it doesn't give justice to their sound as it was recorded on a boogie box.

What can you say about Throbbing Gristle that hasn't been said before? Well again the performance has been released (as part of the TG24 box set) but unfortunately it omits the dubbed/fucked up version of the Village People's 'YMCA' that led into their performance and featured some amusing dance poses by Genesis but the highlight for me was that night's version of the 'Chat Up' at least that is what has stayed all these years in my memory banks

Of the other bands that played Scritti Politti were as usual superb, so different to the entity that they became, this was spikey/angular music influenced by the spaces of dub and joined by Pee Wee Pasqual (AKA Ian Penman) on sax. 
Lastly Mark Perry from the Good Missionaries really pissed me off that night by smashing his guitar at the end of their set. 'We Destroy All Rock'nRoll'? Nah, just an empty cliche Mark!

The promoters 'Final Solution' (!) went on to become the promoters of choice in London for that whole post punk crew and as I sold tickets from record shops that I worked at (Bonaparte in KingsX and then Kentish Town's Honky Tonk) it meant that I could get into all the gigs for free!
UPDATED POSTER:

(Which I guess is the reason I couldn't remember anything about The Monochrome Set)

"Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."

MORE

HERE

WTF?

A federal judge has dismissed all charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards charged in a deadly Baghdad shooting.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina said Thursday the Justice Department overstepped its bounds and wrongly used evidence it was not allowed to see. He said the government's explanations have been contradictory, unbelievable and not credible.

Blackwater contractors were hired to guard State Department diplomats in Iraq. Prosecutors say the guards fired on unarmed civilians in a busy intersection in 2007, killing innocent people.

After the shooting, the guards gave statements to State Department investigators. Prosecutors were not allowed to use those statements in the case.
More 
HERE

Wilco - Jesus etc (Lowlands 2009)

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei loves caviar and vulgar jokes, defector claims

A catalogue of the private opulence and eccentric tastes of 70-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei and his family has been compiled by Iran's opposition Green Movement from the accounts of the defector, who is said to be in hiding in France.
 Among his claims are that Ayatollah Khamenei has a voracious appetite for trout and caviar; is an avid hoarder of collectables from bejewelled pipes to fine horses; and that he suffers regular bouts of depression which are treated in part by audiences with a mid-ranking mullah who tells vulgar jokes.

Claims from three intelligence officials, who have also fled Iran, have additionally documented the Khamenei family's wide-reaching business connections, including interests in European manufacturers, African mobile phone companies and international commodities markets.

But the glimpse at the imperial lifestyle of an otherwise austere theologan is groundbreaking. Ayatollah Khamenei is said to be a keen collector with a prized assembly of antique walking sticks said to number 170. The Supreme Leader was once a fanatical equestrian enthusiast and his extensive stables reportedly include more than 100 of the country's leading horses. His cloaks are said to be woven from hair of specially bred camels.

Ayatollah Khamenei is claimed to have accumulated a sprawling private court that stretches across six palaces, including Naviran, the former resident of the Shah in Tehran. Two of the palaces - Naviran and Valikabad - are equipped with deep, reinforced concrete nuclear bunkers said to be capable of withstanding nuclear attack. A fully functioning hospital is overseen by a former health minister.

The accounts provide new information that links Ayatollah Khamenei to the brutal assault on protestors following the presidential elections in June.

The man alleged to have carrying out interrogations of prisoners at the notorious Khazirak detention centre, where at least three people were tortured to death, is a key part of the inner circle. Hossain Taeb is said to have run an extensive surveillance operation for the personal use of Ayatollah Khamenei for almost 15 years. Each evening the leader is said to listen to recordings of senior officials and colleague talking about him in a compilation that normally lasts 20 minutes.

Mojtaba Khamenei, the leader's second son, has meanwhile emerged as an influential figure with extensive business interests who has played a prominent role in organising the Basij militia that has meted out violence against protesters.

Ayatollah Khamenei has since 1989 been the Islamic Republic's supreme guide under the Shia Muslim doctrine of Velāyat-e faqih, which dictates that a designated cleric has the final say in state matters. His position has been challenged by the protest movement, which sprung up after leading presidential challengers Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi decried the landslide re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June's election as rigged.

The bodyguard was a member of a 200-strong permanent personal protection team who provide the Supreme Leader's primary security. He is currently staying at a safe house in France organised by the Green Movement's exiled leader, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a film director. The credibility of his account is enhanced by his denial of widespread rumours in Iran the Ayatollah has used opium.

Mr Makmalbaf claimed the Green Movement had gathered information about the Khamenei family's investments abroad. "If the Western governments are serious enough in putting pressure on the regime by applying economic sanctions, then they should follow these leads and find these bank accounts and confiscate their deposits to be returned to the Iranian people at a later time," he said.

Iran's embassy in London refused to comment on the allegations. "I have no comment on those things," a spokesman said.

@'The Telegraph'

...from down here to wherever you are!

Happy New Year...

buon anno

šťastný nový rok
godt nytår

gelukkig nieuwjaar
manigong bagong taon
hyvää uuttavuotta
bonne année
Frohes neues Jahr
ευτυχισμένο το νέο έτος
שנה טובה
नया साल मुबारक हो
selamat tahun baru
happy new year
laimīgu Jauno gadu
laimingų Naujųjų metų
godt nytt år
szczęśliwego nowego roku
с новым годом
feliz año nuevo
gott nytt år
chúc mừng năm mới
كل عام وأنتم بخير

Jahtari mix

Phlow Jahtari Mixtape

01. disrupt - "Tubby ROM Module (7")" (MP3)
02. Mikey Murka - "Sensi Addict" (MP3)
03. Jahtari Riddim Force - "Depth Charge" (MP3)
04. Ras Amerlock - "Farther East" (MP3)
05. Wheeler - "Breeze Blow" (MP3)
06. disrupt - "Jah Red Gold And Green" (MP3)
07. disrupt - "Bomb 20" (MP3)
08. Tapes - "Ticker Tape" (MP3)
09. disrupt - "Samurai Showdown" (MP3)
10. Jahtari Riddim Force - "Enchantier" (MP3)
11. Illyah & Ltd. Candy - "Fight The Formation" (MP3)
12. Normaa - "Give Thanks To Be Part" (MP3)
13. disrupt - "Blast You To Bits" (MP3)
14. Volfoniq vs Kik The Hypez - "Speak'n'Sex Maaagik Dub" (MP3)
15. Fleur Earth w/ Gringo Starr - "Brennen Euch Ab" (MP3)
16. Blue Vitriol - "Re-Entry Dub" (MP3)
17. Blaze Dem - "Martial World" (MP3)
18. disrupt - "Central Dubbing Unit" (MP3)
19. Bo Marley - "Bauhelm" (MP3)
20. Jahtari Riddim Force - "Loose In Space" (MP3)
21. Dubmood - "Kick De Bucket" (MP3)
22. disrupt - "The Stars My Destination" (MP3)
23. Blue Vitriol - "Breeder" (MP3)
24. disrupt - "International Karate Championship" (MP3)

@'Phlow'

 

Jahtari 

Drexciya - Sighting in the abyss
Underground Resistance ( 1994 )

My most played artists of the year

(Click to enlarge)

Cause of deaths in the US in 2009

Since we still seem to be having a national freakout over some loser who got on a plane with a bomb in his underwear, which was apparently worthy of a presidential address, it might be a good idea to put the actual danger posed by terrorist attacks in some numerical perspective.

If you count the Ft. Hoot shooting as a terrorist attack, which even the likes of Pantload doesn’t, 16 people have died in the United States as result of terrorism in 2009. The other three deaths include the Little Rock military recruiting office shooting (1), the Holocaust Museum shooting (1), and Dr. George Tiller’s assassination (1), the last two coming at the hands of right-wing extremists.

On the other hand, 45,000 Americans died because they didn’t have health insurance and 600 died from salmonella poisoning.

Clearly, providing health care to all Americans is beyond our capabilities, so when do we launch the $700 billion-a-year War on Salmonella?

@'FDL'

(Thanx Fifi!)

Shaikh’s death: how many would 4kg of heroin really kill?

On Christmas Eve this was part of the Chinese statement about the impending execution of Akmal Shaikh:

Akmal Shaikh was convicted and sentenced to death penalty for serious drug trafficking on solid evidence. In fact, 150mg of heroin of high degree of purity would be lethal. The amount of heroin he carried was 4030g, enough to cause 26800 deaths.

Of course, this is misleading claptrap and anyone with a firing neurone will raise an eyebrow at these numbers. It is possible to do a ‘back of an envelope’ calculation of how many deaths 4kg of heroin might cause.
Let’s imagine that the whole 4kg of heroin got through to London. In the UK purity runs at around 40% so by the time the heroin is cut with the usual crap then there might be approximately 10kg to sell. Now, generally heroin is sold in £10 bags and the NTA Treatment Outcome Profile form (used to monitor drug treatment in the UK) regards 0.2g as the equivalent of a street bag. The annual Drugscope survey suggested it is more likely to be about 0.15g but for this simple calculation we’ll stick with 0.2g heroin per bag. So, that gives us 10,000 grams or approximately 50,000 street bags.
I would suggest that a moderate heroin habit might be around 3 bags of heroin daily – that’s pretty middle of the road and possibly on the low side if anything. It would need around 46 users taking 3 bags per day for 365 days to use up the 4kg. Let’s say they eke it out a bit and we will round it up to a nice even 50 users.
The estimated mortality of heroin users is undeniably high. One study in Spain which followed a cohort of heroin users showed an annual mortality of 3.4%. However, a UK cohort study over 22 years in London gave an average annual mortality of 1.84%. For this calculation we’ll go for 2% – I suspect this is probably a bit on the high side; treatments have improved and the first study readily admitted that it had an unusually high mortality.
But we’ll go with it and a mortality of 2% works out at as one death in our notional cohort of 50 users smoking 3 bags daily until the 4kg of heroin is gone.
The statistic presented by the Chinese is clearly misleading. There is a bleak irony in Shaikh’s death by injection and in a stroke the Chinese have doubled the death toll attributable to 4kg of heroin.
Of course, this is all largely a side issue and the arguments around the death penalty seldom dwell on such a trite analysis of the numbers. Perhaps the Chinese (and certainly a large number of Daily Mail readers) may suggest justice is still served if there is a single death that can be blamed on drug smuggling. And I would readily agree that the wider costs of heroin addiction have a much wider impact.
However, we may not agree on how to manage the issue of drugs. If the Chinese are going to bandy around meaningless statistics to justify their tawdry policies then the numbers deserve some scrutiny.
Particularly when they are used to justify a grim act of abject inhumanity.
@'Northern Doctor'

نبرد تن به تن و نفس گیر مردم با گارد ویژه - عاشورا