[NewMusic] More anti-carbon floop-print poopoganda

[Travis Johns]

...or perhaps some sort of giant, mutated swan.

But regardless, many thanks for raising some amazing points, Gino. I
do have to admit that I sometimes feel that I've perhaps managed to
tune out the brainwashing tactics of the general populous to a certain
degree... perhaps a bit too well - which is undoubtedly a blessing and
a curse, especially with regard to the age old saying "ignorance is
bliss." And while it would be great to think that we, through our work
and our art alone could very well make a difference in the grand
scheme of corporate machinations, such, unless we happen to be the
aforementioned furry, mutated swan or perhaps one of them Radioheads,
might not have the capacity to stop the machine we're so adamantly
raging against... a fact that I'm slowly becoming more and more aware
of, especially in my current employ - namely being a substitute
elementary school music teacher. It's actually quite sad - a good
majority of the kids that I've had the pleasure of teaching honestly
consider a high score on Guitar Hero to be comparable to that of
competent musical training, let alone delving into the low-cost
dribble sold at your typical retailers. I hate to say it, but the
scene out there is pretty bad and the damage, unfortunately is
horribly widespread... And while it may be a fools errand, I too am
deeply concerned by the absolute evils of the current corpocracies, as
well as the unmentionable horrors they've subjected on the younger
generations of the world, all in the name of turning a quick buck.

So I only wonder, if not for our own personal art and creativity, what
all, or for that matter, what more or what else can we do to help
subside the damage already done? In our collective case, I feel that
in spite of my usual sarcasm and remarks uttered in the last couple of
postings, we on this list may be in a better place than most to
actually do something about this. I mean, seriously - we have the
extreme luxury of being in close company with a great deal of folks
who are not only legendary in our respective fields, but with the
proper agenda, could be not just merely subversive in the eyes of the
powers that be, but damn near INFLUENTIAL in steering a decent chunk
of the corporate media purse-strings into doing something that is
right and just as opposed to merely profit driven... and while it
would be perhaps TOO optimistic to say that we and we alone could
change the world, with the right agenda, outreaches and allegiances
with other concerned groups, ya know, I think we very well could at
least do SOMETHING... but again, this could just be my optimism
rearing its ugly head yet again...

But perhaps such optimism all around might not be a bad thing - at the
end of my off-grid adventure in Colorado, I started doing a lot of
reading on the personal accounts of various polar expeditions -
extremely decent reading material, especially when you're waking up in
a tent covered in snowdrift with a temperature that usually hovers
somewhere around negative 13... Surprisingly enough, while each
account differed, one of the constants of nearly every trek was the
insistence on maintaining a constant positive attitude at all times.
Granted, what we're up against is, erm, just a little different than
taking a long walk on a glacier, I feel the same constant rings true
for our situation. Regardless of our frustrations, simply expressing
our anger and bitterness, while therapeutic, could also be seen as
counterproductive - especially when we can instead use these
frustrations to fuel creativity at the communal level and hell, if
we're lucky, truly do something to counteract the sinister
machinations of our damaged environs. Y'know, I think Yoda might have
said something like this once...

But anyhoo, just thought I'd weigh in - apologies for the diatribe to
anyone whose just tuning in to this particular thread~




On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 8:24 PM, Sarah - 21 Grand <21grand at 21grand.org> wrote:
> I've suspected for years that Bjork is a furry ...
>
>  sl
>
>  Travis wrote:
>  corporate affiliations aside,
>  these critters are also thinking, feeling human beings with artistic
>  inclinations
>
>
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