| Muirstock 07 - High Time
April 19, 2007 — After last year's underwhelming headline performance from Lit - climaxing early in the night, with their 1999 could-have-been-Blink-182 single "My Own Worst Enemy" - Muirstock's reputation is in a bit of a muddy quad puddle, with nowhere to go but up. Quite pleasantly, and in deserved homage to the first 4/20 landing in many, many moons (not that everyone wasn't stoned for those in between), this year's lineup bulges with a handful of highlights, and socks it to all lesser college's sucky fests. So let us be merry and "celebrate our independent spirits" with enough helpings of kid-friendly indie pop to feed two towering dorm buildings of off-campus-starved freshmen and enough fresh NorCal nugs of talent to put us happily to sleep once the wee hours crawl in and that long-burning roach begins to sear our fingertips.
Exporting pop culture
Richard Poplak lives for pop culture. As a teen who grew up in South America, his experiences with The Cosby Show and censorship, with Mad Max and military training have become the seeds of his book, Ja, No, Man!, a portrait of Apartheid. The book launch was last week. Not content to bask in the glory, Poplak, is already working on his second: Omar Simpson says D'oh!, which examines North American pop culture in the Middle East. I.D. chatted with Poplak about Duff soda, radicalized Muslim youth and the virtues of apathy. Q Tell me about your new book. A What sort of nudged me is a piece I came across online that said a satellite television station in Egypt was doing an Arabized version of The Simpsons. I thought that was so strange, it was such a North American phenomenon, it's such a sophisticated piece of satire.
Reunited and It Feels So Good
I will openly admit that I have never been much of one for electronica. But the Fanclub Facebook flyer (try saying that 10 times fast!) for Friday's show said “danceable," so I was pumped in any case. What I got was a darkly danceable, damn good show. Ike Yard is a groundbreaking no wave (or possibly industrial — it depends on who you talk to) electronica band from New York City, the first and only United States group signed to renowned UK record label, Factory Records. The band was spearheaded by post-punk experimentalist Stuart Argabright, a well-known driver of New York City avant-garde culture in the 1980s (along with other big names like poet Allen Ginsberg and Sonic Youth). Their Friday performance at the Lost Dog Lounge was not only their first performance in 25 years; it was their first ever performance outside of New York City.
Planet Pop
American Idol underdog Sanjaya Malakar has finally joined the ranks of losers but could end up parlaying his fame into a winning career. Malakar, 17, whose dreamy smile, wacky hair styles and soft, mediocre voice made him "Something To Talk About" across the US, said last week his months with the popular TV singing contest were the "most amazing experience" of his young life. "I wouldn't change anything for the world," Malakar told Los Angeles' KIIS FM radio on Thursday. Malakar became the most searched male celebrity on Yahoo, beating fictional boy wizard Harry Potter, and has reportedly attracted millions of dollars in potential offers. One pop culture expert said Malakar could be the next tween X pre-teen X idol, especially if he teams up with his stunning sister Shyamali, 20, who also auditioned for American Idol but failed to make it to the final 24.
How Imus' Media Collaborators Almost Rescued Their Chief
In his 1995 book Hot Air, Howard Kurtz wrote that 'Imus' sexist homophobic, and politically incorrect routines echo what many journalists joke about in private. '" "Later, host Don Imus brought up McGuirk's prior impersonations of African-American poet Maya Angelou asking, "[W]ho was that woman you used to do, the poet? . . . We used to get in all that trouble every time you'd do her. " As McGuirk launched into the impersonation, Imus said, 'I don't need any more columns. Come on. ' But Imus did not stop McGuirk, who delivered his impression in verse: McGUIRK: Whitey plucked you from the jungle for too many years. They took away your pride, your dignity, and your spears With freedom came new woes. Into whitey's world you was rudely cast. So wake up now and go to work? You can kiss my big black ass" George Curry, March 3, 2007
What began as a firestorm against Don Imus' remarks against the members of Rutgers women's basketball team ended, thanks to Imus' friends, who controlled a bogus "National Dialogue About Race," with a referendum on Gangsta Rap and the morals of Revs.
Promoting polycultural identities across the world
Hoda Mohajerani, 34, describes herself as an idealist working quietly to resist the status quo. Refusing to participate in the current "accelerated downfall" of humanity, this graduate of the London University School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) founded Hoopoe Productions in 2005 to promote the work of emerging artists with polycultural identities to collaborate with each other to counter mainstream popular culture. Hoda was born in Iran and came to England when she was six. When she visited Iran at age 20, Hoda was introduced to the philosophy of Suhrawardi, the 12th century founder of the Iranian School of Illumination who was executed at the age of 34 for his intellectually provocative ideas. Hoda lives in Vienna with her Austrian husband now. She was the Sufi consultant to the 1999 film, 'Hideous Kinky', starring Kate Winslet.
Why we must address both economics and values
From the 1970s through the mid-1990s, poverty policy was among the nastiest battlefields in the national culture war. Left and right slugged it out over why people were poor and how (or whether) to help them. Conservatives generally enjoyed the upper hand in these debates by focusing on individual-level causes of poverty, like family breakdown, drug addiction, and poor work habits -- pathologies said to be enabled by government largesse. This story line struck a chord with the American public, helping ensure the demise of the federal welfare entitlement and the introduction of strict work requirements in 1996. But since then, a structural understanding of poverty has come back in vogue, fueled by more awareness of globalization and dead-end jobs. Popular books like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and Beth Shulman's The Betrayal of Work have drawn a fresh picture of the poor -- as mostly hardworking Americans who can't make ends meet through no fault of their own.
|
