Poetry is Dangerous
by Kazim Ali
On April 19, after a day of teaching classes at Shippensburg University, I went out to my car and grabbed a box of old poetry manuscripts from the front seat of my little white Beetle and carried it across the street and put it next to the trashcan outside Wright Hall. The poems were from poetry contests I had been judging and the box was heavy. I had previously left my recycling boxes there and they were always picked up and taken away by the trash department.
A young man from ROTC was watching me as I got into my car and drove away. I thought he was looking at my car which has black flower decals and sometimes inspires strange looks. I later discovered that I, in my dark skin, am sometimes not even a person to the people who look at me. Instead, in spite of my peacefulness, my committed opposition to all aggression and war, I am a threat by my very existence, a threat just living in the world as a Muslim body.
Upon my departure, he called the local police department and told them a man of Middle Eastern descent driving a heavily decaled white Beetle with out of state plates and no campus parking sticker had just placed a box next to the trash can. My car has New York plates, but he got the rest of it wrong. I have two stickers on my car. One is my highly visible faculty parking sticker and the other, which I just don't have the heart to take off these days, says "Kerry/Edwards: For a Stronger America."
Because of my recycling the bomb squad came, the state police came. Because of my recycling buildings were evacuated, classes were canceled, campus was closed. No. Not because of my recycling. Because of my dark body. No. Not because of my dark body. Because of his fear. Because of the way he saw me. Because of the culture of fear, mistrust, hatred, and suspicion that is carefully cultivated in the media, by the government, by people who claim to want to keep us safe.
These are the days of orange alert, school lock-downs, and endless war. We are preparing for it, training for it, looking for it, and so of course, in the most innocuous of places--a professor wanting to hurry home, hefting his box of discarded poetry--we find it...[READ MORE]
Ruff Road Records Releases The Selfish Gene’s New Album
We're huge fans of supporting local artists, but unfortunately up here in Northern Wisconsin there's not a whole lot to choose from outside of your local supper club karaoke star. Fortunately, a few hours south of us great Madison bands like The Selfish Gene are pumping out great tunes to keep the Wisconsin music scene strong. More Flaming Lips than Wilco, The Selfish Gene turn out elegant and delicate sunshine rock that is sure to dance as lightly through your speakers as a dandelion in the summer wind.
[Press Release]
MADISON, Wis. – Ruff Road Records is proud to announce the release of The Selfish Gene’s second record, The Grand Masquerade.
The Grand Masquerade, which will be available on May 1, is the follow up to the band’s first record Self-Defeating Human Beings. Though the album was released independently, it received rave reviews and earned the band a dedicated following. This allowed The Selfish Gene to tour extensively and share the stage with acts like Kings of Leon, Cloud Cult, Leon Russell, and Blue Oyster Cult, among others.
Ruff Road Records looks forward to bringing The Selfish Gene to a national audience with their new record, which is based on Orwellian concepts of deception, false identity and doublespeak.
The new record showcases the band’s unique brand of pop rock; a style best described as thematic storytelling in a progressive rock format. Their three part harmonies and poetic, cerebral lyrics give their music a versatile style that ranges from delicate, hummable and poppy to grandiose and intense.
The following is a sample of what the media has said so far about The Grand Masquerade:
"An impressive piece of prog-inspired aural cotton candy that’ll turn the darkest souls into shiny, happy people." – Isthmus, 2007
"While it hasn’t been difficult to find albums attempting to make political and sociological statements over the past few years, it was quite impressive to hear a band pull it off so well...Original and thought-provoking." – morecowbell.info, 2007
The Selfish Gene will be touring nationally in the summer of 2007 to promote the new release. The album will be released locally and online May 1, and will be distributed nationally June 5.
The Selfish Gene - "Autopilot"
Also from The Selfish Gene:
"Sun Song"
"Prince Anthony"
"Mind for Minutia"
For more information, please visit http://www.theselfishgene.com or http://www.myspace.com/selfishgene.
Elliott Smith Weeks Continues
To continue with our Elliott Smith week, today we've got a great bio on Smith from Epitaph records, along with some clips of Smith covering The Kinks, as well as one leftover John Lennon track from yesterday's Beatles-heavy offering. Like I said yesterday, the audio quality on these isn't going to be great, but then again they are essentially all live bootlegs.
Elliott Smith was born Steven Paul Smith in Omaha, Nebraska on August 6, 1969.
His father Gary Smith was in medical school at the University of Nebraska, and his mother Bunny was an elementary school teacher. When Elliott was one year old his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother to Dallas, Texas. That same year, his father was drafted, assigned to the U.S. Air Force, and sent to the Philippines as a physician. After discharge, his father moved to Los Angeles to complete a psychiatric residency program at UCLA. By the time Elliott was 5, both his father and mother had remarried and his father and stepmother moved to Portland, Oregon. From the age of five to thirteen, Elliott lived with his mother, stepfather and two half-siblings in Dallas. At fourteen, Elliott moved to Portland, OR to live with his father, stepmother, and two half-sisters.
Elliott started to write and record songs at home in Portland on a four-track recorder. Elliott attended Lincoln High School. He graduated in 1987 as a National Merit finalist. While in high school he changed his name to "Elliott" and formed his first band, Stranger than Fiction. He attended Hampshire College and graduated in 1991 with a major in political philosophy. After graduation, Elliott moved back to Portland and formed the band Heatmiser along with Neil Gust, his friend and fellow-musician from Hampshire College.
Elliott released his first solo album, roman candle (Cavity Search), in 1994. He followed that disc with elliott smith (1995) and either/or (1997), both issued on the influential independent label Kill Rock Stars. He also recorded three albums with Heatmiser in the early '90s: Dead Air and Cop and Speeder (both on Frontier) and Mic Cit...[READ MORE]
Elliott Smith - "Jealous Guy" (John Lennon cover)
Elliott Smith - "Waterloo Sunset" (Kinks cover)
Elliott Smith - "Dead End Street" (Kinks cover)
Elliott Smith - "Don't Fear the Reaper" (Blue Oyster Cult cover)