Music

More bands need to take after Green Day and become politically active. Many people "hoped" for "change" last year, but it doesn't look like we are going to achieve it. It's up to us, to make the change we desire. Music (and art) have always been a reflection of our society. It would be nice to see more music reflect the political realities that we live in, just like music did a few decades ago.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Ghandi

Green Day's Arco fans seize the moment
cmeyer@sacbee.com - Published Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009

Soon into Monday night's Green Day concert at a mostly full Arco Arena, guitarist and singer Billie Joe Armstrong ordered audience members to "put away your (expletive) cell phones!"

The command, though on the surface impolite, helped create a sense of shared experience. The fans need not use their picture phones, Armstrong told them, because "We have this moment right here."

[Wow! These people are comedic gold. The initial reaction might be that this is an indictment on the public educational system, but alas, in this case that would not seem to be true.

Where I live in Sacramento County you practically can't turn around without hearing a family speaking in some sort of Slavic language (Russian, Ukrainian, ???). At any time. At all times: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, seven days a week. Or anywhere: in the grocery store, in the restaurants, in the library. And that last one is key -- they homeschool their kids. The entire family goes into the public library (which by some sort of fiat have now become schools - very loud, obnoxious, schools, with students and teachers talking loudly to each other and also on cell-phones, in between their eating and drinking). And why do they homeschool their kids? Because these people are ultra-ultra-ultra-Christian-fundamentalists who believe in the craziest, arcane, most obscure passages from the bible and that anyone who doesn't believe as they do is some sort of heretic. Somehow these kids pass the educational requirements to graduate from high school (don't ask me how) and enroll in the local junior colleges - and this is where my skepticism rears its ugly head - the facts are that a full 70% of all ESL learners at ARC are the Eastern European students - not the Latinos - not the Blacks - not the native born Whites

Why is that?

These people are not afraid to voice their opinion on any and every topic mainly it seems because of those obscure, arcane, bible passages, most of which were written by some crazy, greasy haired hermit living in a cave who claimed to have gotten some kind of exclusive vision from God. Or. From some busy-body-know-it-all who wanted to control his believers. All the while ignoring the words of the person they profess to follow

And they seem to be sexist and homophobic and revel in their dissonance as to science and English (and you never hear the wingers saying anything about how their tax money is being used on the Eastern Europeans [medi-cal, foodstamps, tax credits for businesses that hire them, government educational grants ...] Why is that?)

Please. Let knowledge and rationality win]

Controversial American River College student council faces vote

By Laurel Rosenhall

lrosenhall@sacbee.com

Published: Tuesday, Apr. 21, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 2B

The student council that's made headlines for opposing gay marriage and punk rock music is facing competition on the American River College campus, where student government elections begin today.

A group of students fed up with what they consider the influence of Christian fundamentalists on the student council have galvanized an opposition slate. They say the council's focus on religious issues has given the campus a reputation of intolerance.

"They spent this whole year preaching this social agenda," said David Fisher, 20, who is running for student council president. "I decided to come back and put a good campaign together to get rid of these people."

AUTUMN CRUZ/acruz@sacbee.com

Live Music? That's Swell: Partners help build Sacramento's scene a show at a time
rleibrock@sacbee.com - Published Friday, Feb. 27, 2009

For Mindy Giles and Steve Nikkel, it's the same question time and time again:

Have you figured out Sacramento?

As the founding members of Swell Productions, a local music promotion company, the pair don't just ask themselves – they ask their friends, they ask music lovers, they ask other musicians and promoters.

They ask as part of an effort to put on successful shows and build neighborhood ties, Nikkel says.

And they've discovered that this city is a tough one to crack.

Not actually political, but important none-the-less. The announcement of Lux's death is here. Sacramento should be proud to have The Cramps as part of our music history (albeit a small part).
--Bill

Henry Rollins remembers Lux Interior
By August Brown - February 7, 2009

Lux Interior, frontman for horror punk outfit the Cramps, gained a loyal following over the band's decades-long career as much for his gender-bending visual aesthetic and raucous live performances as the group's groundbreaking music. Henry Rollins, vocalist for Black Flag and Rollins Band, spoken-word artist and radio host,spoke to The Times' August Brown about his memories of the punk rock icon, who died of a heart condition.

I grew up in Washington, D.C., in the '70s, and when punk rock came along, I realized that my ship had come in. The Cramps would come down to D.C. and I would see them play in a space about the size of your living room. It was kind of scary being in the front row. Lux would find something to swing from -- if there were ceiling tiles, they'd all be on the floor by the end of the thing. Lux would somehow find his way out of his pants and be down to a pair of bikini briefs twitching all over the floor. He's a very large man, very tall and very pale and very sweaty. They all looked so amazing. Each one could have been a movie star.

I remember buying their first or second single from a roadie who was selling them for three bucks at the door. It's probably worth its weight in gold now. The first two Cramps 7-inches are some of the first independent singles I ever owned. Once I drove up to New York to see them in my little VW; it was me and most of the Bad Brains all crammed into my little car. It was at Irving Plaza, and H.R. from Bad Brains, he went backstage because he's a big rock star, and he came out with a slick of the album cover and the whole band had signed the back. I still have it to this day.

The offical Obituary as provided by the family. May 24, 2008
"Folksinger, Storyteller, Railroad Tramp Utah Phillips Dead at 73"

Nevada City, California:
Utah Phillips, a seminal figure in American folk music who performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents for 38 years, died Friday of congestive heart failure in Nevada City, California a small town in the Sierra Nevada mountains where he lived for the last 21 years with his wife, Joanna Robinson, a freelance editor.

Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935 in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early twentieth-century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it.