Piece

A radical solution to end the Drug War: Legalize Everything

We've heard a lot about the terrible death toll Mexico has suffered during the drug war — over 11,000 souls so far. This helps to account for the startling lack of controversy that greeted last week's news that Mexico had suddenly decriminalized drugs — not just marijuana but also cocaine, LSD, and heroin. In place of the outrage and threats that U.S. officials expressed when Mexico tried to decriminalize in 2006 was a mild statement, from our new drug czar, that we are going to take a "wait and see" approach.

Still, we've heard nothing about the American death toll. Isn't that strange? So far as I can tell, nobody has even tried to come up with a number.

Until now. I've done some rough math, and this is what I found:

6,487.

To repeat, that's 6,487 dead Americans. Throw in overdoses and the cost of this country's paralyzing drug laws is closer to 15,000 lives.

@ 'Esquire'

Jerry Lawson from The Persuasions upcoming New York gig

God's In The Stones

Yesterday I received a really nice e/mail from Jerry Lawson thanking 'Exile' for pointing out that
The Persuasions a cappella Grateful Dead covers album 'Might As Well' was available to download from 'Never Get Out of the Boat'
Jerry who for nearly 40 years fronted the legendary a cappella group, The Persuasions and who has recorded and toured with numerous artists such as Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa also has an upcoming gig in New York at the Bitter End on September 19th. Details are above. Check it out.
It is also nice when artists recognise the power of blogs to spread the word about groups that we like as Julie (Jerry's wife) said in the e/mail:
"My husband is Jerry Lawson, lead singer, arranger & producer of The Persuasions for 40 years & 22 albums. I spotted your blog and showed it to him. He is not a computer person so he asked me to thank you for sharing his music."

Ricky Tic in 'Making Friends'

Ricky Tic in the 'Changing of the guards at Hell'

Ricky Tic in 'Ricky Tic & the Nazi'

...and don't forget Ricky Tic in 'How Germany Lost The War'

Notice also the painting on the wall of the flying 'thing' from the back of Ricky Tic's jacket which has been described as "like a pitbull body with fish fins and a horse’s head with doberman ears and a human ass being penetrated by the small end of a baseball bat.." LOL!

Leftfield/Lydon - Open Up

"Burn Hollywood Burn"

Bonus audio:
Leftfield/Lydon - Open Up
Public Enemy - Burn Hollywood Burn

More on Phillip Garrido

"...Phillip Garrido has been named as a "person of interest" by investigators looking back at the unsolved murders. However, questions are also mounting about why the authorities did not take a greater interest in Garrido and his wife in recent years. In 2006, the police received an emergency call in which the caller said Garrido was housing children "in tents in his backyard" and also accused him of being a "psychotic sex addict". Despite this, the police never searched behind his house...It has also emerged that since last December officials, including parole agents and sheriff's deputies, had visited the couple some 16 times for a variety of reasons yet had failed to detect anything was wrong..."

@ 'The Guardian'

If you enter his home address of 'Walnut Avenue, Antioch California' into Google Earth and follow the road away from it you can see
Garrido's van trailing the Google van for a while!

An interesting article by Beatrix Campbell at 'The Guardian'.

Jay Z featuring Kanye West - Hate

@ 'The Fader'

Yidcore -They Tried To Kill Us. They Failed. Let's Eat!

"After battling Adam Sandlers, Bettezillas and a fair few lawsuits, Melbourne band Yidcore now take on their greatest foe yet... PIGLER! The awesome new animated video - part Animal Farm, part 50's comic book and part South Park. Directed by Yeap Heng Shen and Produced by ANIMATION CLUB!"

Check this out

Might As Well - The Persuasions Sing The Grateful Dead (2000)
Dead a cappella
With only their collective voices, The Persuasions can turn almost any musical composition into smooth, groovin' doo-wop or gospel. They also have fun stretching the boundaries at the same time. It wasn't all that surprising with Frankly a cappella - The Persuasions Sing Zappa (their Frank Zappa covers disc) because doo-wop was such a crucial building block in Frank's early constructions. But the Grateful Dead? Those guys were into bluegrass and banjo music back when the Persuasions were first conceptualizing their stylistic blend of street corner harmonics and black-centric doo-wop. Since then, The Persuasions have transcended those root styles to encompass various musical genres, incorporating proper instrumentation when it serves their purpose (as in the gospel-tinged piano work in "Ship Of Fools," below). You like The Dead? You like a cappella? You should like this, even if you never really listen that much to either. (@320)


Here Comes Sunshine (0:28)
Might As Well (3:30)
Lazy River Road (5:34)
Loose Lucy (4:23)
Ripple (3:11)
Brokedown Palace (4:25)
Liberty (5:18)
Sugaree (5:38)
Ship Of Fools (8:20)
He's Gone (6:29)
It Must Have Been The Roses (4:51)
One More Saturday Night (5:34)
Bertha (5:37)
I Bid You Goodnight (2:05)
Black Muddy River (4:14)

@ 'Never Get Out Of The Boat'
Big thanx Willard!

Need...

Bugger it - a quarter to two in the morning, well and truly beer o'clock!

New Thom Yorke 12" due Sept 22

Nothing like (possible) news of even more new material from those busy Radiohead guys. According to an Exclaim! report (via TwentyFourBit), Thom Yorke is set to release a limited edition 12" featuring two new songs called "Apart by Horses" and "The Hollow Earth" September 22 via TBD. And limited means limited; the story claims only about 8,000 copies of the vinyl-only release will be available worldwide.

There's no official word on this release just yet, but it seems to fall in line with those Twilight soundtrack rumors and the modest bounty of new material put forth by the Radiohead camp lately, including the stealthy leak "These Are My Twisted Words", the string-y tribute "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)", and Yorke's cover of Mark Mulcahy's "All for the Best".

Meanwhile, Kid A, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief were reissued last week, too.

@ 'Pitchfork'

'Mind Shut Down' 2008 (sculpture by Subodh Gupta)