Series of posts

  • R.I.P., M.C.A.2: More Than a Feeling

    I wrote a post on Adam Yauch’s passing in August of 2012 that I thought at the time would be the first in a series on posts on the ironies and interests of the intersection of rock and hip hop with the dharma, but never got around to continuing with it. I pick up the…

  • Corporate Welfare.7: Walton Welfare

    Tens of thousands of protestors participated in some 1,500 strikes initiated by the organization OURWalmart against the largest private employer in the country yesterday, which of course was Black Friday, known as the “Super Bowl of Shopping” in this country.  To mark the occasion, Amy Goodman interviewed Catherine Reutschlin, a policy analyst at Demos who…

  • The Core is Getting Soft.8: Couture on the Cheap

    When you have friends with similar interests and desires as you, sometimes you have to be willing to experience the pangs of jealousy.  I’m not just talking about romantic jealousy – for us musicians, it can be about the gear.  When I was in grade school, there was a bright and talented kid a year…

  • Corporate Welfare.6: Pulling a Fast One

    UC Berkeley’s Labor Center has published a new study on the role public subsidies play in the business model of fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s.  Like the other corporations in this series of posts, it turns out that these firms surreptitiously pocket billions in public subsidies while preaching the doctrine of…

  • Top 40 over 40.14: Susan Te Kahurangi King

    This series of posts is mostly about musicians who had growth spurts after 40, but today I’m posting about a visual artist I read about today thanks to Alastair Galbraith, whose records I very much admire.  I consider his album Mass to be among the finest in our genre. Alastair posted a link to a…

  • Corporate Welfare.5: Pigskin welfare

    Some corporations, like GE and Bank of America, have to resort to creative accounting to make it look like they lost money to avoid paying federal taxes.  The National Football League is not one of them.  A recent Change.org petition reads as follows: “Despite the fact that it is a $9Billion/Year industry, the National Football…

  • Top 40 Over 40.13: Weird Al’s “Party In the CIA”

    I can think of few more unlikely candidates for creative growth after 40 than Weird Al Yankovic.  Back when I was in grade school, he came on the pop culture radar with “Eat It,” his parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”  His string of similar Dr. Demento style hits willfully sucked all of the sexual…

  • Corporate Welfare.4: Avoid Amazon

    Salon.com published a piece today with the provocative title, “Amazon is worse than Walmart.” Their argument centers on the notion that Amazon’s business strategy for years has been to accept near-perennial losses on a quarterly and yearly basis in exchange for achieving a near monopoly size “market share.” Walmart, by contrast, actually makes a profit.…

  • The Core Is Getting Soft.7: The Kunst of Kunz

    A quick look at ebay tells me that a used Roland Juno 60 can run you in the neighborhood of $550 to $1,195.  If you’re really lucky, you can pick one up that was used on tour by Ministry, with their own presets still intact!  I once considered purchasing a used Juno 60 at a…

  • Corporate Welfare.3: Welfare Wings

    Today the Real News Network, who I encourage you to support during their current drive to win a matching gift, is reporting that “the Michigan strategic fund has decided to issue $450 million in bonds for a new stadium for the Detroit Red Wings, 44% of which will be financed publicly,” while the city is…