I was just woken up in a rage thinking of the argument I was having with an acquaintance of mine over the purposed Health Care Bill. This dispute happened over Facebook, making it drag out for 2 days, and be even more harsh as the two of us had plenty of time to research our responses and make sure they were 100% accurate, and filled with as much zing as possible. I should also mention, that this person is not exactly my friend, per se, but is in fact somebody that I used to smoke doja with to pass the time. I never did viewed him as somebody of intellect–after stumbling into managing a friend of his (out of necessity), he came to me when he was presented a record contract and asked me to look over it, see if it was “kosher”.  The same kid, subsequently, ask me for cocaine. (Which for the record, I do not do. I’m a downers kind of girl…) I saw on Facebook that he had mentioned something about Obama being a dictator, who was going to eliminate old people. This is ridiculous. Appalling. I never thought that America, as a whole, could dumb it self down any further. Although I suppose that this is the same country that invented Celebrity Boxing.

Do people really think that Obama is sitting in the oval office, planning out ways to make the elderly obsolete? I keep wondering: why they are so scared of Obama? By they, (by the way), I mean not only republicans, but anybody that has tried to convince me that Obama wants to kill me via my health care plan. Do they REALLY believe that Obama has plotted, for his entire life, to get into the White House for the sole purpose of taking down America, or that he is weeding people out to create his own elite army of people? If that is true, Obama is certainly conspiring with our old friend Dick.

I would be down with all of this controversial thought questioning the Presidents actions, if it were helpful or lead to intelligent, progressive discussion. But it doesn’t. Mainly because every argument these gun-toting, Obama hating, “THIS IS AMERICA!” screaming citizens have thrown up, have been proved completely farce. Fake birth certificates, rumors of “Death Panels” (my personal favorite); and lets all try to remember, that screaming out “liar” does not make it true. Not only does this not spark thoughtful dialogue, it does the wost thing. It provokes fear into the hearts of already edgy, over-paranoid and protected, I’ll say it, old people. The people who are my age that believe in these odious lies are products of the scared, misinformed people. For god sake the person I was arguing with over Facebook was talking about how our government is fucked up and needs to be overhauled as a result of what W left us. Are you serious? That’s exactly what’s attempting to be done. Not only by Obama, but all of us. More and more people have become politically aware, and more and more have becoming involved. This last presidential election had the second highest amount of youth voters, with 54.5%, in history.  (Second only to the elections of 1972, when 18 year olds were allowed to vote for the first time. We all care, and nobody is going to passively walk into the fire. As the gun-totters say, “this is America”, and if it’s not withholding internet porn that will make us rise up in rebellion, threatening our freedoms, the foundations of this country, will. Nobody is going to sit by while our country is torn to pieces, it’s just that most of us would like some evidence, some kind of proof beyond ludicrous rumors. From here, our point of view is that we’re chillin’.

Now here it is, the big bang; I’m about to admit something that every single arguing  American will relate with, but will never dare to admit or possible even lie about: I don’t fully understand the language of the Health Bill. Yes, I said it; and yes, I have read it, nearly all of it–but that doesn’t mean shit. I understand roughly 1/6 of what I read. What I didn’t see was anything that would make me board up my house. I didn’t see anything mandating panels of people to judge your status in our society, I didn’t not see anything that says health care would be provided for illegal immigrants. (I have seen this argument pop up a few times, my argument is, did we not all come here as illegal immigrants? Is this not that immigrant capitol of the world? I say give em’ health care, it’s not like they have not worked enough for us.)

My biggest fear is that these people are all afraid, mainly, because Obama’s skin color. Which would make me sick to my stomach. It would confirm my suspicion, that much of the “social acceptance of diversity” that I see happening is false. A facade to make themselves feel, but mainly look, like better people. I ask again, for the second time on this blog: how far have we come? When we are still willing to make childish name comparison, and openly throw out phrases like “the great white hope”. (Kansas representative Lynn Jenkins said that the republican party needed a “Great White Hope” to take back the white house from Obama in 2012. Read more here.) So what are we really about? Are we really the cultural melting pot we have praised ourselves for being?

I don’t have answers, only more questions. Right now I am tired and angry, having woke up at 4:30 am in a fury to write this. Now it’s 6, and I should sleep. I will publish this, but edit it later, so sorry if it’s a little more on the ranting side.

By the way, if Obama wasn’t president, do you all realize that Sarah Palin would in the White House?

Hardball MSNBC – The man who carried a loaded gun to the Obama public meeting

This guy scares me. Though I gotta say, the Hardball guy is always rough….

“Uh, wow, heh, who would be silly enough to carry an unloaded weapon?”

Yesterday I met a women who embodies everything that I hold sacred to my heart. She is a fellow Hip-Hop devotee, a spoken word aficionado, and she is a founding contributor to B-Girl-B, and continuous project that celebrates women in Hip-Hop. As Desdamona describes it, B-girl-B is her baby: something she wanted to start because she felt women were being misrepresented in Hip-Hop. She does what I talk about. It was empowering and inspiring to be able to sit with her. I am ashamed I to say that I knew next to nothing of this amazing woman, which is most likely the reason I felt out of place when I sat down to meet with her, and two of my friends/associates, for a meeting to see how we could best provide a street team for her.

I walked into Dunn Brothers 20 minutes before the meeting was going to start, hoping to be able to get my soy latte, dump about 1/8 a mini-bear of honey into it, and quickly suck down a cigarette before anybody arrived. If I timed everything right, I would even be able to wash my hands and put in some eye drops. But, as I should have guessed, (this being a meeting of passionate, willing and able women) the three ladies were sitting down at the table, excitingly discussing viral video campaigns, design, marketing & basic promotion: there was stacks of stickers, flyers, and CDs scattered on the side of the table. Needless to say, I had no idea what was going on.  A week earlier I had received a message from one of my friends, saying Desdamona asked if she could round up some women to help assemble a street team. I said yes because I figured it would be a great way to ride my bike before the summer is over, and it would give me a chance to explore my new city, ST. Paul. So, here I am thinking that  this was going to be a simple “here’s the flyers, post them everywhere, peace” kind of a deal, I walk into a whirlwind of ideas, all way above what I expected. After five minutes of listening to Desdamona talk about what she does, why she does it, what she loves, what she struggles with… I felt like a complete asshole. I wished I could have done anything but sit in silence. In awe, actually. I wished that I had known, or even thought, to prepare for this rendezvous, so that I would have had something to contribute besides my blabbering when she asked us each what we were about, what we wanted to do with ourselves. This question could not have come at a worse time, because a month ago, I had a stone cold plan, solid as a rock. I knew exactly what I wanted and had a concrete plan to get there. Slowly build an army of urban artist, to eventually breakthrough and inspire the world. OK, when I write it like that it still sounds like a great idea, but I would like to be realistic, without losing my ambition. Realistically, business work doesn’t make me nearly as happy as creative work. This is neither here nor there I am getting way off topic, back to the subject:

Desdamona, was speaking, literally, out of my memory bank. She was saying phrases I have uttered only with an adverb or two different. She spoke impeccable truth. Women are misrepresented in Hip-Hop. You could type Hip-Hop into any search engine in the world and what would show up? Half naked women, in a gold bathing suit. With high heals, and her ass hanging out. B-Girl-B is finally, our chance to break this bullshit, to show that we are just as much a part of Hip-Hop’s soul, as it’s body. I had the pleasure of listening to Desdamona’s  album “Inkling” (with beautiful artwork might I say), and found it enchanting. Spoken word artist, it seems (and maybe this is just where I’m from…I am still new to this area), are few and far between. Desdamona is a rhythm women, speaking to the heart beat of Hip-Hop. She is smooth, collected, yet her words burst, and pop into similes that beget metaphors that unfold into something that will make you close your eyes and lean into the speaker to make sure you don’t miss a word. I watched her video “The Source”, and felt progressed through every second. She has a magical way of weaving words and meaning leading any rapper to say: “damn”. I listened to Desdamona spit “We Will Always Be” off the Brother Ali album “Rites of Passage”:

“…vocals eclipsing ridiculously dope beats, and they are blind to the signs that the rhyme combined with the mind connects them to their feminine side, the groove slips through their thighs and makes their hips wide like mine, as mother Hip-Hop places her eternal child inside something impossible to see through these jaded eyes…..Redefining their DNA, so when archaeologists dig up the past, they will say these homo-sapients are from the era of Hip-Hop days.” (I apologize if this is misquoted, I had to write it out by ear).

Arguably one of the greatest rhymes about our culture, thought many men would disagree with me.

Fuck them, and thank you Desdamona, you have inspired me, and I will be there to support your poetry, and B-Girl-B, because you are one of those hand-full of people who are ready and starving to make change. To encourage better of people, as a whole. We need more Kick Ass Women like you.

“The Source” By Desdamona

“We Will Always B” By Desdamona

My head is full of all kinds of compulsive thoughts. Reoccurring ones that will not go away. Big questions are coming to light. Mainly, who and what am I? Right now I want to write about meeting with Desdamona about street teaming. (Desdamona is a Twin Cities Spoken Work artist and fellow Hip-Hop devotee. She is one of the founding contributors to B-Girl-B, a celebration of women in Hip-Hop.) But right now, my head is pounding weird pictures against my eyes and I don’t feel I could do Desdamona, (or my thoughts), any justice by writing about that now. Instead I want to rant about a couple random things, and hopefully find a clever way to tie them into each other while I re-read this. The first thing is the main reason my head is melting. I don’t know if I want to do music business anymore. Music is my love, Hip-Hop is my lover. I wanted to support Hip-Hop, through honest, fair business. That’s why I wanted to start the TrueMuse Collective . (TrueMuse Collective was what I had hoped to be my baby, my gift to the Hip-Hop culture. A place where artist could come together and collaborate, inspire, and basically create, at the lowest possible cost and stress to them.) After diving head first into efforts, I found my dreams intruding on my waking life, angered about their neglect. I was spending night and day working for the one artist I had involved in the idea of what I wanted to accomplish. I poured my heart into trying to slowly, but earnestly build our community. If you haven’t guessed by now, I got burned by that one artist. Pretty bad. I had always known that this was part of the job. Countless people would try to take advantage of me, and what mattered was how well I picked up and kept truckin’, right? I get that, and I wasn’t all sad that my feeling were hurt, but more so upset that through all this time, I ignored my own abilities, my talents, and the things that truly made me feel good, the things that made me feel like I was progressing as a person. Things like reading, writing poetry and songs and creative fiction and really, really opinionated articles. I always thought I didn’t want to be on the other side of things, a performer that is. I still don’t. I want to combine music and humanitarianism. I desperately want to directly intertwine music with raising funds and awareness about things I feel passionate about. Like bringing music into schools, keeping the arts a firm part of our education. I want to write about everything. I want to chronicle my life in an attempt to discover even more.

Not to mention my craving to photographing rappers on stage, break dancers on cardboard, graffiti on the streets and elegant, sleek turntables. I desperately want to capture time, frame my memories so will never forget. That’s my biggest fear: to forget all the good, and even the bad things that helped to shape me.

Here it is again, the too much coffee, too much herb, too much of myself for myself jelly forehead.

On that note, I will read World War Z, kill zombies in my dreams, and I just might have a new favorite Femcee.

Recently I found out that Hip-Hop is not supposed to be capitalized, as it is a genre of music. Or, perhaps it is that it is not supposed to be capitalized when it is referred to as a genre of music, but what ever. Hip-Hop is a culture, more importantly it is my culture, and I often get questioned on my knowledge and dedication to Hip-Hip. I would like to fully explain how much Hip-Hop means to me. It is more than your son in baggy pants finally having the courage to swear in front of you. It is most certainly NOT said baggy-pant’sd son in a gang, carrying a gun and so on. Hip-Hop is the ultimate lesson of what will happen to suppressed people. Art. Time and time again, through music, painting, dance, etc…; people who are put under the most intense socio-economic suppression tend to spawn new generations of art. I don’t want to trail off too much so I will get to the point. In my creative writing class last week, two people said that they thought “Bush Killa” by Paris was Hip-Hop at it’s finest. “Bush Killa” stands out as transcending time with its ability to resurface in relevance as George Bush number 2 entered the White House. Also, Paris sticks to Hip-Hop’s roots by calling out The Man. By verbally assassinating the man he felt posed a national threat. By taking every part of his aggression and composing it into a shoulder-dislocating jam to pump after watching our leaders fuck us into situation we wanted nothing to do with. (In my opinion, “Bush Killa” becomes MORE relevant the 2 Bushy around.) You might be asking why it is I disagree than. Here:
“Bush Killa” represents Hip-Hop well because Paris VERBALLY assassinated Bush. And while “Bush Killa” is dope, I would hardly call it “Hip-Hop” at it’s finest. I feel I thoroughly researched Hip-Hop (while there is always more to learn, because Hip-Hop is the collaboration of almost every and any genre of music, so it is constantly expanding…) and I have noticed a dual history. The trail leads back to two people : DJ Kool Herc, and Afrika Bambaattaa. (Personally, I find that Herc goes back farther) Both were DJ’s in the Bronx and the earliest stages of Hip-Hop, and both influenced our culture in unprecedented ways. This alone explains to me that Hip-Hop is full of many different voices, views, opinions, thoughts, and STYLES. Which is what makes Hip-Hop my first love. It incorporates so many things. My brother often complains, because he favorite music is Classic Rock (also near to my heart) and he rarely gets new music. It’s the exact opposite for me, because, like I said earlier, Hip-Hop is a collaboration of all genre’s, (Dj’s scratch all kinds of world music, jazz, blues, Dj Relm spins the Beatles), so as our culture changes and progresses, Hip-Hop progresses right with it. (That said I must point out that as a result of this vast array of changing music, Hip-Hop is not exempt from pumping out really, shitty, crap. )
The best is yet to come, the Hip-Hop that will truly represent will always be formulating, growing, sifting itself into something better, perfect. For example, local Twin Cities rappers Mug-B have some incredible shit. Their verses are well composed (no pointless fillers) and spit impressively, their beats are smooth; some are slightly grim, but all of them sound like they were compiled carefully. I would bet $100 they are incredible on stage. Two rappers out of Boulder, CO called Back Pack Symphony are probably the best new lyricists, period. Back Pack Symphony has continually brought gritty, meticulously written material. Muggshot Grins is known for his champion speed and accuracy, and M.O.N.E.Y. is on that word play shit that has you steady rewinding the track.  They are opening for David Banner in the next coming month, which is a phenomenal chance to display the point I am trying to make. Hop-Hop at it’s finest didn’t happen in 1992, it happens at a constant. If you don’t believe me, get heavy into Seattle or Portland’s Hip-Hop scene, or delve into the Twin Cities underground, because it happens every day.

All in all, this is why I will always capitalize Hip-Hop.

I was reading a few magazine articles today. I browsed through Paste and Pitchfork, stumbleing to the NY Times, (a far drift from music mags, I know), and I came across an article about how Indie movie producers are doing all of the marketing and distribution out of pocket. NY Times writer Michael Cieply was talking about this as if it was a revolutionary thing for a film maker to do. He proceeded to discuss the problems of starry eyed kids wanting to sell to major studios yadda yadda….but what I could not believe is that NO WHERE in his article did he make the comparison to the music industry. The Music industry has been doing this forever. It’s called a Vanity Label. It’s called Doomtree. Not to mention that every Indie musician AND film maker usually do everything out of pocket anyways. But what ever, that’s completely beside the point, and I truly have no descent segue, (as life normally doesnt), so Boom, new part of the story.

Continuing further into the NY Times, I found an article entitled “Do Women Make Better Bosses?”. I did not read this article, and I almost feel guilty saying that, HOWEVER, there is a very specific reason I did not read the article. Today at school I attended my first Women in Music “social event”, (I’m not even sure what to call it, but to me, it was free tacos), where of course we were encouraged to walk around and talk with each other, meet new girls, etc. I suppose I should explain that I am not exacly sure what the Women in Music club does at my school. Every so often I see a newsletter, and even less often, they will do something a little bigger and bring a guest in. All in all (and I say that really meaning “the only thing I understand about it is that”) it’s about empowering women. Which I am all for, but I am not sure how we accomplish that in a locked room eating tacos. Either way, I starting to think about what “women empowerment” really means, and to be honest, I don’t know. It seems to me that anytime women want to “empower” themselves, they all gather around in a group and either eat or read, or both. I am all for eating and reading, and empowerment, but I’m afraid books and food (although they feel powerful) are not empowering women as a whole. Another thing that truly bothers me is the fact that we always separate ourselves from men when we need empowering. Which, to me, only furthers the thought and image that we cannot FEEL powerful around men.

I asked a couple of women in the group why we could not bring men in to do this with us. Mostly, the response was, “well, they would just eat all the tacos and leave” (which forced me to stay longer than I had intended, as my agenda was to eat a taco and leave).  One girl even said to me “don’t men have enough stuff?” I don’t understand how tacos or boys having enough “stuff” relate to involving men in our club. It’s not going to change from Women in Music, the center of it will always be just that. Plus, it would be a great chance for the men in our school to be educated, and informed about women in the industry. I did a quick tally at school, and there is a significant more amount of girls that have come into my school this quarter than when I started over a year ago. This leads me to believe that in the near future, women will no longer have to “strap on the boots”. Perhaps, men will soon “lace up the boots”, in a sense. What I mean by this is that I believe the industry will become balanced, to a point where women will not have too measure up to a man in order to be taken seriously. (Personally, I don’t really feel like I have to do that now….but I AM A WHOLE DIFFERENT SPECIES.) Shouldn’t our talents, our abilities, our focus or our diligence measure us? Another point is that bringing men in our group would greatly help the communicative abilities between the sexes, especially when it comes to us working together. The more comfortable we become with discussing things like inequality, (when and where it is relevant) the more we have done to diminish its presence.  Lastly, and most important to me, is that boys and men join in our quest for empowerment. It is good for us to collaborate on that level, face to face, about this kind of this. Bring in women speakers, let’s learn about Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald, but lets ALL take an in depth look at how these women effected our society. Otherwise, all we are doing is furthering the very thing we are sitting in rooms, eating tacos talking about.

I am very close with many of the girls that make up the Women in Music club at my school, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for every single one of them. They each are amazingly talented, generous, and courageous women who are a glimmer of light in our industry. One in particular, is arguably THE hardest working person in our entire student body. She continues her dedicated booking positions in another state, and continues to spread into fields of artist management, and PR. I want to make clear that I do not think it is the women that have made the club that make it exclusive, but it is the idea of the “women’s club” itself. I am not talking about the “personal” sort of social women’s club, like a book club or a wine night. That sort of thing is comparable to a cigar club. But any kind of club that is oriented on education, or igniting social change, could not and should not be gender specific.

I would like to reiterate, that I am not against the idea of a Women in Music club. I think too often are revolutionary women in our industry like Florence Price and, I have to say, Mary Ann O’Doherty, forgotten. These women were so influential and important, why would we leave the men out of a gathering dedicated to their history?

Possibly what bothers me most about this social reoccurrence is that I am afraid of posting this on a networking site where the women who are heavily involved in this group would read it. It’s not that I fear I would offend them, (because if I am not offending at least 1 person a day, than I am too sheepish for my own liking), but because I fear they would take this as a hate article. Really, it’s just an opinion article, one that I feel, as a woman, I had to write. What I am most afraid of, (and very afraid to write these next few sentences) is that the organizer of the club could stand to make my final quarters of school very unpleasant if she does not like what I have to say about the Women in Music club. So I ask you, how far have we really come?

So me and my brother bought a Gun. A 44, partly due to the fact that we moved into a neighborhood where at any time there are three, count ‘em, three, white Cadillacs parked outside a slightly run-down house where “ma” or “mama” or any other generically named grandmother sits on the porch. However, it was really due to the fact that we are mountain folk, and mountain folk have at least one gun, and, of course, claim to have an arsenal. It did not take me long to realize that purchasing the gun was a mistake, as we had decided to keep it in my room, (my room being up three flights of stairs, a place no one would ever climb to.) As soon as I brought home the gun and the newly purchased case, I flipped open the Macbook to fill out all the stupid serial numbers online, (because yes, even guns are digital) and file them away—blah blah blah. No sooner did I click on the stretched-out fox at the bottom of my desktop than a screen popped up telling me “we can’t find your website.” First of all, I didn’t type one in, and don’t tell me you didn’t find it, it’s Google, motherfucker. Unless there has been some unfathomable mix-up in space and time that I am unaware of, Google is still there. My head wanders to thoughts about why, in the age of nano-bots, can’t I get a steady Internet connection at my house? (And why it scares me that Internet is supposed to be capitalized…) I mean what, do they expect me to live like a savage? Without the glory that is one-click shopping? Without the sanctity of Hulu and YouTube? Without 24-hour streamable fetish porn, for fuck’s sake? No, this will not stand. I knew the gun was a bad idea when in the midst of my fiber-optic meltdown, I looked right at it and wanted nothing more than to shoot my computer. Instead, I picked up the phone, and called the ever-challenged individuals who make up Qwest customer service. After precisely 17 rings, and two full verses and a chorus of “Born to Run” (by the way, fuck Springsteen), a muffled,  too-chipper voice answered. “Hello: thank you for calling Qwest. My name is Judy. How can I help you on this fine day?” Oh, fuck off lady. I was immediately surprised by how much this woman obviously loved her job. Which, of course, forced me to imagine her as an extremely overweight, middle-aged women who loved nothing more than to sit on the phone and eat fucking pie all day long. “I pay you 51 god damn 99 a month and my internet maybe works for a cumulative of three hours a month. Can you fix it?” Maybe I was harsh, but I’m sick of this shit. And after staring at blank screens for months, I think I’m going a little nuts. Now to me, my question was simple, “Can you fix my i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t?” But of course to answer that, she needed a vast portfolio of my personal life, and, of course, a medical and family history. Because that makes sense. Finally, she says, “well ma’am, what do you try to do while you’re on the Internet?” “Well, what do you mean?” I reply. “I check my email, do some social networking, stream some television shows, download from itunes…” “Whoa, whoa miss,” she says. “It sounds like you’re using a lot of internet.” WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?! Using a lot of Internet. I pay for the internet, and they are telling me I’m using too much?!?! That’s like a baker selling you a cake, then following you home and telling you “Whoa, you’re not going to eat that, are
you?” so I reply to Ms. Qwest Employee of the Month “Well Judith, all I know is that I am not getting my 51 dollars and 99 cents worth of fecal Asian porn, so I need you to flip the reset button on your end, because I’ve been unplugging and replugging my router like a teenage kid fumbling with his own god damn hand.” “Now ma’am, there is no need to be rude,” she replied and hung up. That was it, the final straw. I was done letting customer service cretins get the last word, or the last of ANYTHING for that matter.
I strapped the Macbook in my bag, hopped on my bike, and rode to the library to sit outside like some vulture scavenging the pickins’. It’s been said a million times, but it truly IS amazing, the things you find on the internet. Especially when you combine qwest.com’s customer service employee-of-the-month history, myclassmates.com, and, when you’re super-pissed like me, the $30.00 you pay backgroundcheck.org. Add wicked thoughts, and BOOM! Evil plot plus home address. In my background check of Judith Pumpernickel (her real last name is Pierson, in case you care), I found she lived alone (score) and was voted “best laugh” in high school, which only made me want to puke. I waited until late of course, and grabbed the .44 when I left for Pumpernickel’s lair. I was fully equipped with rope, a shovel, and my trusty gun.
Tying her up and getting her into the car was easy as soon as she saw the giant cock known as my magnum staring her in the face, she was more than submissive; (practically tied herself up) and quite lucid for it being 1:00 a.m. But I guess anybody staring down the wrong end of a barrel would be. “What are you doing?” she pleaded. “Why?” over and over, she could barely form words on account of choking on her own tears.
I always thought people in horror movies spent too much time screaming and crying. I guess they do in real life too. My only reply to any of her howls was “I’m fixing my god damn internet”. We drove until we got back to my house, safely into the ghetto, where it’s scarier than nobody being able to hear you because everybody hears you and nobody cares. I walked her to the side of the house, shovel in hand, gun in belt. I shoved her to the ground, the shovel coming shortly after. I untied her hands, and told her “dig.” “Oh god, oh god,” she sobbed. “You’re not…. Oh fuck you are, you’re gonna make me
dig my own grave.” “Oh shut up cunt! It’s not all about Y-O-U you know,  calm down, you’re not digging your own grave. Actually, its’ much worse than that. You are going to lay fiber-optic cable to my goddamn house. And then, I’m never going to see you again”. “What?! Are you crazy? I can’t do that! I could never dig that far, and also, I don’t have FIBER OPTIC CABLE you crazy bitch!”  “Well, all I know, is you are not going anywhere until there are little gold wires FLOWING out of my house, so I suggest you start digging, and I supposed you’ll have to figure the rest out later.” Needless to say, I had to kill Judith Pumpernickle. The worst part? I still have no Internet.

This is a song by Kimya Dawson called “Underground”, It means so much to me and I have listened to it about a thousand times; every time I cry. Useually I’m not big on posting other  people’s stuff but this means to much to me. Really, it is wonderful, and If you havn’t heard Kimya Dawson GO NOW. LISTEN. SHE’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING TO HAPPEN TO US (THE HUMAN RACE) IN A LONG TIME

here…hope you enjoy….

Kimya Dawson

my head is pounding I can’t stop the pounding
I think it is going to explode
and kill everybody who’s in close proximity to the place I call my home
and they’ll make a moving made for tv movie for Life Time all about my life
that ends with an epitaph one that will make you laugh
that says “great mom okay wife”
at it’ll be funny to the people who know me
who know if my body’s not burned
my soul will spend an eternity in misery
tethered and bound to this earth
so I’m not a dick or a stick in the mud always ruining things for my friends
I mustn’t forget when I see the sun set that tomorrow it will rise again

so I tattoo instructions on my ass
that say “don’t ever put this body is a casket
burn it and put the ashes in a basket
and throw them in the Puget Sound
I don’t ever want to be under ground”
oh no, oh no

I wearing size thirteen basketball shoes
and laugh at your fishnets
I’m freaked out and fucked up
and I’m standing alone in an alley with you
wanting to show you a cure for your hiccups
but instead I close my eyes
the needles are numbered so I’m writing you letters
and I cannot disguise the fact that I’m nervous when we are together
and so I fantasize
that the nights will get shorter and the days will get better
I feel a kick inside and decide
if this is a girl I’m naming her Heather
she’ll look just like you but her hair will be feathered
she’ll say how you died before you ever met her
her hair will be feathered

my head is pounding I can’t stop the pounding
I think it is going to explode
there are plus and minuses to sinuitus
like sometimes I get to go home
but mostly it hurts so bad I think I’m dying
I just blew my nose and now I feel like crying
and the dreams that I have are all of my past lives
and the seizures would paralyze me in the night
and I wake up clutching my teddy bear tight
I’m drooling and trying to turn on the light
all I can do is hold fast and sit tight
but what if they forget ’cause you know they just might

so I tattoo instructions on my ass
that say “don’t ever put this body is a casket
burn it and put the ashes in a basket
and throw them in the Puget Sound”
I don’t ever want to be under ground
oh no, oh no

See i’m crying again just reading it.  I’m highly considering having that tattooed to my ass.

I’m down to my last match in the pack I’ve had since my first day in Minneapolis,
I’m feeling lonely and senseless,
Weak and defenseless,
Stressed and still fenced in,
And I’m wondering when this will end.

Then I realize,
That every time B N E, Zion I or any other he
Refers to Hip Hop as a she
They must be talking about me

Because I’m the female entity
That embodies the self-esteem
You get when you are born an Emcee

I’m representing a new synergy
Defining a new energy
I’m inspired by a pirated industry
And I’m expecting you to protect your intellectual property.

Because it’s the dawn of new media,
And the spawn of the truth I’ve been feeding you

Call me the apple from the Garden of Eden
Taste me twice and they’ll call you a heathen
Speakin’ with demons
Dreaming about being that don’t fit their placement.

And then they lock you in the basement.

But I don’t mind it underground
Because it’s here that I found my sound,
Became bound to the words that bounced around my crown
Brought it back to my town,
And made that shit loud.

And if I sound proud,
Well your damn right I’m proud,
But don’t put me in front of a crowd
Because I’ll choke on my words
But always with a smile.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH A NEW ALBUM?

Today’s music industry is a very exciting time for emerging artists and record labels. The possibilities for mass exposure are higher than they have ever been, but as a result of that, the ability to protect your music is becoming increasingly more difficult. The newest challenge for upcoming musicians will be to re-build the model of the music industry, and figure out how to best utilize our new tools.  Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter offer a line of communication and intimacy with artists that was never possible before, and sites like YouTube and Hulu bring the mass exposure to the table. All of these things should be utilized should somebody release an album in the upcoming year. Furthermore, even though copyright law is in a somewhat unstable state because of digital media, one should still take all necessary precautions and “cover all your bases” by copyrighting your material.
If I were to release an album in 2009, I would of course apply for copyright on my material, but while I wait for that to process, I would make my music accessible from as many places on the Internet as possible. Right away I would post a couple singles from the album on Myspace and Facebook. I would use TuneCore to put my music on iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, as well as reach out to Independent, College and Net Radio stations to play my music on the air. I would make a few songs available for free download at these sites, so as to give people a taste of my music. The best strategy would be to put songs up for free download / steam that are 2nd best on the album. The goal would be to catch listeners ears while not giving them the “best” of the record, so if they were to purchase the entire album later (be it in tradition CD format, or digitally,) they would still feel they got new music that was worth their money.
When you put a song up Myspace, or on Facebook, and people become a fan of you page, you have access to information about their age, where they are from, and what other bands they are fans of. Before I decided to do a full album release, I would take time to study this information, to see what age group and geographical region was most interested in my music, as well as to see if any music groups who were in the same niche as me were looking for an opener, or somebody to tour with.  Then that area and that age group is what I would heavily market towards. I would study the same information about people who are fans of musicians that sound like me, or share my niche, and market to those people. This information would not only be helpful for marketing, but for event planning as well.
With a diluted stream of music, thousands of niche market will form. Before, the only music we had access to was the “Top 40” hits, named so by the people who produced these said “Top 40.” Now, we have such a greater selection of music, we have the opportunity to “fine-tune” our music taste, and focus our listening/buying in our niche. The statement “The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream”, (Anderson, 1) is one that every new artist should take into consideration. Yes, YouTube, Facebook and all these other communicative websites allow for mass exposure, for millions of people to have access to your music, but what they really do, is allow you to find a niche market for you music in France while you are still in Minneapolis. So that after you have toured around, built a name for yourself and you have the money and time to do an overseas tour, you wont waste your time playing gigs that nobody shows up too. If you search long enough, and give yourself good exposures, you are guaranteed to find a group of people who dig your style.
Example: Kimya Dawson. Kimya was 1/2 of the Moldy Peaches in the mid-to-late 90’s, and has since done 4 solo albums, 2 albums with the group Antsy Pants, and is working on a 5th solo album. Kimya plays obscure, melodramatic, folk songs with her acoustic guitar. Nobody had ever heard of Kimya Dawson, until a song she did with Moldy Peaches, “Anybody Else But You”, was featured in the movie “Juno”. The song immediately blew up and the Moldy Peaches albums sold like hot cakes after that.  As for Kimya, she’s touring and has never had more shows. Kimya has been an amazing artist for 10 years, but nobody knew she existed. The same people that love her music today would have loved it 10 years ago; they just couldn’t find it.  Similarly, because of iTunes and Amazon recommendations, other obscure, melodramatic folk singers are finding a new market in people they didn’t think listened.  It doesn’t take a hit movie to be a star, it takes a clever YouTube video; and it doesn’t take a big label, (or a movie like Juno) to get people access to your music.
Another step in furthering your Internet presence and creating mass exposure is to start a blog. I would start a daily “Journal” blog of my life and activities. I would make sure to update it every day, add links, widgets, and all sorts of interactive features. When I have a large fan base, I want a level of intimacy with my fans to always be prominent. In the upcoming music industry, fans will not rely on us to bring them new music, we will rely on them to pay our habit: making music. If I go the extra mile for my fans, they’ll spend the extra $10 on a sweatshirt on at my show.  To increase activity to my web pages, and my blog, I would also create an Album Review site under an alias and start reviewing albums. On this site, I would review albums that were released by me, or people I am in collaboration with, as well as post links to my other sites and increase traffic between them. Another idea to increase Internet presence is start a YouTube account, and upload videos of artists who already have a fallowing and whom are in your niche. That way, people will start subscribing to your account, and then you can upload your own music videos, which will automatically be emailed to the people who have subscribed to you account. Immediately your video and your music will be in thousands of people’s email inbox.
With music becoming more fluid, and rapidly on the way to becoming free in the “self-listening” format, the only way to monetize our creative expressions will be through live performance, and through merchandise. Albums will only be profitable if they come with a premium. For this reason, people cannot spend large amounts of money on recording albums, and don’t need too. Many places will sell you bundle-packages of recording gear that will allow you to record a decent sounding record in your basement. With brick and mortar record stores all over the country closing, there is almost no need to manufacture physical CD’s, unless they are to be used at each end of the spectrum: free for promotional use, or included in deluxe, limited edition packages for collectors. This is why I would focus mainly on digital sales, and trying to get as much stage time as possible for the first few years. After a fan base grows and my main revenue streams have been established, I would consider releasing albums with special premiums, or special packaging etc… For instance: An album that came with a book of poetry, or a Vinyl that was shaped in a special way, or a box set of some kind. Limited Editions are always a great idea, people love being able to say they have the only one, and will pay surprising amounts to do so.
The trade off for these opportunities is the diminishing capability of the government to help us protect our music. Copyright Law’s foundation is in tangible mediums. When our businesses are digital, most of our communications are virtual, and everything is available over the Internet, than music as a tangible unit is disappearing. We have all witnessed on the news countless people be prosecuted, fined, and even jailed for media piracy. Not to mention Hip-Hop, a music genre that is almost completely based on sampling and remixing music. While punishment for an inevitable act was a temporary scare, it is obviously never going work to the full effect that the present Copyright laws insist upon.

“To the extent that either law or established social practice exists in this area, they are already in dangerous disagreement. The laws regarding unlicensed reproduction of commercial software are clear and stern…and rarely observed. Software piracy laws are so practically unenforceable and breaking them has become so socially acceptable that only a thin minority appears compelled, either by fear or conscience, to obey them” (Barlow).

While the laws that have protected music in its physical form have attempted to keep up with the digital era, they have not. Making minor adjustments to the original laws will not be enough; a entire new format must be created. “We will need to develop an entirely new set of methods as befits this entirely new set of circumstances” (Barlow). As rising artists in a time of such great change in our society, we have an amazing chance to affect the future of our industry. I plan to keep my eye on the changes that the government makes to Copyright, and I feel that every musician should be writing letters to congress, their senator, and voice our opinions on the future of what will protect our creations. It is important that we be apart of these new decisions. “Laws developed prior to consensus usually serve the already established few who can get them passed and not society as a whole” (Barlow). It is up to us to make sure that these new laws sufficiently protect us.
If I were to start a record label, I would take the same route for my artists that I would take for myself. However, in this day in age, a major label’s model of business may not be the best answer. “The major labels are not about talent first, they are about money first” (Lefsetz). I truly believe that major labels will slowly die down and become less and less powerful; while smaller, Indie labels will grow in their numbers, and allow for the future of mainstream to be a smorgasbord of music genres and styles. Music would not exist without the artists who make it; so protecting those artists should be the first priority of a music label. Intellectual Property was created to “preserve Arts & Sciences” in America. In other words, Intellectual Property & Copyright Law was created to promote and protect Art and Education. Promote, and protect. Today’s major label’s are fantastic and promoting, and is great at protecting… themselves. Everything that is done is done with the best interest of the label, not the artist. Now, through years of “sketchy” business, the tables have turned to a position where what was best for the label, may not necessarily be best for the Artist, and vice versa. The artist and the label have been acting as two separate companies, who are buying and selling goods and services from each other. This is not how music and it’s creators can best be protected and promoted. “Want to save the music business? …Nurture talent…Talent. That’s where the business is focused today.” (Lefsetz). If I were to run a label, it would be designed more as a Music “Community”, rather than a label, because it is in a community that you truly work together to build something beautiful, to help sustain it, and to watch it grow. That is what labels should be about for the artists they represent: building a platform for exposure, and nurturing sustainable growth for talent.

This statement makes me agree with Barack Obama for one reason, because the Internet is the ultimate super high-way of free thought and expression. Not only can somebody Blog with somebody else from halfway around the world about the current state of foreign trade, but people can access goods and stores that would have otherwise been completely out of reach for the consumer. Censoring the Internet, in ANY WAY, would be the only thing to (excuse my language) piss off Americans enough that they would go into a full on revolution.

Obama also advocate increased privacy protection for American Internet users. Although this is a topic I share interest with him on, I believe that if Obama’s gonna fudge on any topic, It would be this one. If I have learned anything at my 3 months at IPR, it is that ANYBODY can hack ANYTHING. I do not believe that their would be an amount of Internet protection the government could provide us with that would be, effectively, any safer that what we have going right now.

Question: Explain why video games are outperforming other entertainment media in the marketplace, and whether you think the trend is good or bad.

Answer: I believe that Video games are popular because they allow the player to briefly engage in actions they would normally never have the opportunity to partake in. For example, who would not love to be an Army commander on a planet in the farthest reaches of the universe? The best thing? If you die, you just start over at the last save point. On the newer version of games, choices are given to the player that will effect the story line of the game. In these cases, the Player is not only Action Hero Superb, but he is playing Mr. Movie Director as well. As for this new trend being a bad thing…I’m not totally convinced of that yet. While some videos games are mindless, others are incredibly interactive and require a lot of mental thinking and good hand-eye coordination. Because of the social networking tools that comes with some games like Halo, people are aloud to play games with each other from thousands of miles away. I don’t see a fault in that. People have point out in the past that the violent aspect to video games could have contributed to the escalation in teen violence. I, personally, place the blame for the rise in teen violence on parents. Who is really at fault when a child was not raised to understand the difference between reality and fantasy. Can we honestly blame Grand Theft Auto 4 for every car-jacking committed by somebody under the age of 18? I believe that if parents played a more involved, healthier roll in a child’s development, these games could be beneficial.

Question: Aided by the RIAA, which formed SoundExchange (now independent) to collect royalties on behalf of artists and labels whether they wanted the royalties or not (to collect, you have to join SoundExchange, which costs money), broadcast media giants have done their best to wipe out net radio…and, so far, failed. )Go here and here for information on the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008.) Share your thoughts on the situation. A little assistance: Who does internet radio help more—artists in various undergrounds (extreme metal, experimental music, hardcore, modern folk, etc) and specialized areas (world music, classical, etc.), or mainstream artists already getting airplay? Does broadcast radio do anything at all to address the tastes of web-empowered listeners? For that matter, does broadcast radio serve anybody’s needs but its own? To what extent is web radio a labor of love?

Answer: Web Radio is almost EXCLUSIVELY a labor of love. Many Web and Net radio stations operate illegally, and because of that, have to change their IP addresses and Servers. Many have gotten caught and prosecuted, while the ones that haven’t are constantly running from the RIAA; and some have done this successfully for years now. Web Radio is as amazing for underground art today as tape trading was in the 80’s. Internet radio seemingly ONLY benefits the artists who are featured on it (Because it’s free exposure BABY!), and is almost a pain for the people who run it. Broadcast Radio stations are nearly all owned by Freaking Clear Channel, and because of that, they play a select list of songs, over, and over again. Clear Channel will also only play artists on labels who have direct relations to Clear Channel and affiliated people.(HmmHmmRupertMurdockHmmHmm.) So, Broadcast Radio really only benefits, well, Broadcast Radio. The Web-casters Settlement Act of 2008 I believe is a step in the right direction, allowing web radio broadcasters to negotiate royalty agreements with SoundExchange, but if Intellectual Property Law in itself is going to be looked at, this will need to be revisited.

Question: In September, Google filed a patent application for an open wireless network that—based on signal strength, price, and other factors—would essentially let users choose carriers on a minute-by-minute basis. After reading this blog post , discuss the prospect. Hint: Would most people benefit from open wireless networks? If so, how?

Answer: As a Internet consumer/customer, I believe that this model of open Internet is genius. So at all times, we, the consumer, would be automatically wired onto which ever wifi service provider has the fastest, cheapest Internet. This is a dream come true if you are like me, constantly wired up whether in your car, or in the shower! This day in age, it seems that the Map feature on the Iphone is many peoples only means of accessing travel information. I know a few people personally who use their smart phone as their ONLY Internet provider. Broadening the wireless network would be most beneficial to the phone companies and the consumers. I do see this being a major problem for Internet providers. Not only would they be struggling to keep up with the competitive prices and trying to maintain the fastest Internet, I feel they could run themselves into the ground trying to do so. I believe, However, that if a phone service provider could strike deals with several wireless providers, these deal could be very beneficial for both parties